There was a lot of relationship drama in tonight’s installment of “TVD,” and not a ton of plot development—but somehow, I bet most of you didn’t mind.

As the episode opens, Ric is sitting in one of the Salvatores’ cells, waiting for his dark side to come out. The gang figures that when that happens, they’ll be able to figure out where he hid the last white oak stake. Elena and Damon, meanwhile, are heading to Denver to see Jeremy. They’re going to ask him to speak to the ghost of Rose, the vampire who sired Katherine. Hopefully, she can tell them which Original sired the Salvatores.

Our third plotline begins at Mystic Falls High, where students are setting up for an upcoming Decades Dance. Matt is acting extra nice to Rebekah, sticking up for her when Caroline attacks the other vamp and giving her a ride back to the Original mansion. What Rebekah doesn’t know is that she’s doing this so she can secretly meet with Tyler, who’s back in town—and ready to pick up right where he left off with Caroline.

Elena and Damon’s trip to Denver hits a snag when they discover that Kol has befriended Jeremy (who doesn’t know his pal is a vampire). Though the Original attacks our heroes, Damon manages to incapacitate him with a wooden bat, and the trio takes refuge in a seedy motel. There, Jeremy manages to make contact with Rose. She reminisces about the dream Damon gave her before she died, then tells them that she was sired by someone named Mary Porter. Though she doesn’t know where Mary lives now, she promises to do some detective work and find out.

Evil Ric isn’t cooperating, so Stefan decides to try to draw him out by getting Regular Ric drunk. As they’re having a meaningful discussion about the darkness within both of them, Klaus suddenly enters and savagely attacks Ric, intending to knock him out so that his evil side will come out. Instead, he kills Ric, and the vamps have to wait for him to revive.

Back at the Original Mansion, Rebekah discovers that she’s not alone. Her mother, Esther, is there—and she says she’s dying because the Bennett bloodline has been weakened. Rebekah is suspicious of Esther, but the Original Witch apologizes to her daughter and grabs her hands. Then she starts shaking and falls to the ground—apparently, Esther has died.

Back in the motel, Elena pretends to sleep and watches Damon brood. He notices she’s awake and lies down next to her. She asks why he doesn’t let people see the good in him; according to Damon, it’s because he doesn’t want to live up to anyone’s expectations. The air between them is charged, and it only gets stronger when Damon grabs Elena’s hand. She tries to diffuse the situation by getting up and leaving the room—but Damon follows her, and within a few seconds, she’s kissing him passionately.

The two make out until Jeremy walks out and catches them. Through his shock, he manages to reveal that Rose found Mary; she’s living in Kansas. The trio heads out to Mary’s place and gets there in what must be record time. Once there, Elena and Damon walk through the dark, creepy house, only to find that Mary’s been staked—by Kol. The Original taunts Elena and Damon, saying that now they’ll never find out which vamp the Salvatores are descended from. He savagely beats Damon for good measure before heading out.

Ric, meanwhile, is alive again. Unfortunately, his dark side still hasn’t come out. He tells Stefan that the only way they’ll get Evil Ric to emerge is to activate his sense of self-preseration… and to do that, Stefan’s going to have to nearly kill him. The plan sounds crazy, but of course it ends up working. Once Ric’s face gets bloody from Stefan’s beating, Stefan gives into his dark side, and his vicious attack draws out Ric’s alter ego.

By threatening to kill Evil Ric, Stefan gets him to spill that the last stake is in the cave that no vampire can enter. Klaus and Rebekah appear and get down to business. Rebekah’s going to go with Evil Ric to the cave and make him fetch her the stake, while Klaus will stay with Stefan. Klaus tells the Salvatore that he’s waiting for his old pal Ripper to come out, but Stefan says that he’s learned to accept his darkness. Now it can’t control him, and neither can Klaus.

Before Elena and a wounded Damon can share another moment, she pulls away. Damon intuits that she’s hoping he’ll do something to screw things up between them; that way, she won’t have to decide between the two brothers. This time, though, Damon’s determined not to make things easy for Elena. He tells her that she has to figure things out on her own.

In the car on the way back to Mystic Falls, the ghost of Rose appears to Jeremy—guess his Colorado sojourn is over—and tells him that though he doesn’t like Damon, he challenges and surprises his sister. Though Stefan’s definitely good for Elena, Damon is either the best person for her… or the worst thing that could ever happen to her.

Tyler and Caroline hit a snag when he spots the drawing Klaus made of her. He asks if the Original has a thing for Caroline, and she says he’s incapable of real feelings. Still, Tyler is jealous, and he decides not to spend the night at Caroline’s place.

A bloodied Evil Ric takes the white stake out from its hiding place as Rebekah watches. But before handing it to her, he tries to make a deal, saying that if she helps him, he’ll make sure she isn’t the Original who gets staked. And then Rebekah drops a bomb: She wants all the Originals to die. But, she isn’t really Rebekah—she’s Esther disguised as Rebekah. And she intends on helping Evil Ric get rid of the vamps once and for all.

沪江娱乐快讯：本周四《吸血鬼日记》播出的是第3季第19集Heart of Darkness，Elena和Damon一起出发，确定她的弟弟Jeremy在丹佛是不是过得好，并且想看看他的特殊能力是否可以帮助他们揭露那古老吸血鬼血缘的秘密。很快，他们发现Jeremy和一些坏家伙们混在一起。Stefan和Klaus都在极端地寻找他们失踪的武器。当Tyler回到小镇上时，Caroline非常兴奋，但他很快就开始怀疑在C和Klaus之间，似乎发生了些什么……

CW预定的第3季一共为22集，剧情将越来越攀升到一个新的高潮。第20集Do Not Go Gentle-无需仁慈将讲述在学校举行的1920年风格复古舞会上发生的事，Elena邀请了Stefan当她的舞伴，Tyler、Klaus和Caroline的三角戏码将会非常好看。

而在第21集Before Sunset-日落之前中，Klaus希望Elena和他离开小镇，但是惊奇地发现了一个新敌人。准备困难新咒语的Bonnie叫来了Abby帮忙，为了让咒语生效，Bonnie和Jeremy必须经历非常恐怖的冒险。Damon和Stefan坐下来十分坦率地进行了一次对话，两人谈到了未来。

而本季的大结局也是众人非常期待的，因为《吸血鬼日记》每一季的季末都不会令人失望：第22集名为The Departed-逝者，Jeremy为了保护自己的姐姐，下了一个将改变一切的决定。在本集中，Elena的父母也将会登场，Elena很希望她的父母和Jenna阿姨都还活着，她和Matt的关系也令她很担心。Stefan和Damon离开Mystic Falls小镇，一起去进行一项任务，不过他们很快就分开了，因为Elena需要他们其中一人的帮助。Caroline和Tyler被迫将做出一个改变他们生活的决定。而Bonnie则做出了一个秘密交易，换来的则是令她心碎的后果……每个角色都将面对新的选择，新的道路，特别是Elena，她将会面对最难抉择的：Stefan还是Damon？

《吸血鬼日记》最后三集将分别在北美时间4月26日，5月3日和5月10日播出。