'The Vampire Diaries' 'Bring It On' recap: Elena without a care

"The Vampire Diaries" season 4 returned with new episodes Thursday, March 14, with episode 16, "Bring It On," which explored what life was like in Mystic Falls with Elena without her humanity.

This episode of "The Vampire Diaries" saw Damon propose a temporary partnership to Klaus: they'd find Katherine, get the cure, and give it to Elena. But instead, the Original sent Damon after a dying vampire who may or may not have information, and during his search, he ran into Rebekah, who had Klaus' blood to use to interrogate the vamp. They went looking in a hospital and found another depleted blood supply, but no vampire. To lure him out, Damon fed on a nurse, and when the dying vampire appeared, Damon recognized him: Will. Damon tore out his heart.

As for Elena, she lay in the middle of the street, waited for a car to stop, and fed on the (vervain-free) driver until Damon showed up and told her to show some restraint. "I thought this was supposed to be fun," no-humanity Elena pouted, throwing the woman to the ground. Stefan thought school would be a good idea, and Damon told Elena it would make him happy (and not to feed on anyone), but Elena rejoined the cheerleading squad and fed on the (vervain-free) competition, taking the ribbon she wanted. And then things just kept getting worse. Caroline tried to talk to her, but it became clear the sire bond wasn't working; without her humanity, she had no feelings.

After Elena let Caroline fall to the ground during the cheerleading routine, Stefan got her to let her guard down by suggesting somewhere more private to have fun (a dive bar) and injected her with vervain. She wondered why he even cared, and when he brought up what killing would do to her, she suggested he turn it off too. And then he found out that she had organized a party at the Salvatore house. She was at the center of attention, dancing on tables, and Caroline suggested that Stefan have some fun too since he deserved it. And so, showing yet again why the Stefan/Caroline friendship is one of the best on the series, he picked her up and carried her off. But when Elena saw them laughing, she came over (though she denied being jealous). And when Liz showed up to shut down the party, Caroline had to intervene when Elena attacked her mother. Stefan held Caroline back from going after Elena, who left, leaving them no choice but to go after her.

Elena found Caroline, and after a brief fight, Caroline told her it wasn't her. But Elena couldn't care about anything and suggested she too turn it all off. If she did, she'd stop whining about Tyler and wouldn't feel bad about the dirty thoughts about Klaus. They began fighting again, and Stefan and Damon had to intervene when Elena was a little too close to maybe staking Caroline for comfort.

Meanwhile, Klaus turned to Hayley for information about Katherine and offered her protection in return. Katherine told her she could help when she found her in New Orleans looking for information about her real parents. Hayley found his paintings, and after he talked about his childhood, she wondered if this was his play: art and whining in exchange for secrets. She knew he let Tyler go because if he killed him, Caroline would hate him forever. Klaus explained the true punishment was the paranoia. And during their conversations, Hayley revealed she knew a couple of Katherine's helpers. Neither really had a chance with Tyler or Caroline, so why not have sex with each other?

This week's endings were... Caroline wondered why Elena would even want to turn her humanity back on after everything. Stefan refused to give up on Elena after she didn't give up on him. Meanwhile, Elena told Damon that she had enough of people telling her to feel when she felt amazing. She reminded him that he had wanted to be with her and wanted him to be honest that he liked her like this. Speaking of Caroline, she kept leaving Tyler messages, holding onto any hope that he'd come back to her. But then she found Matt in his house--and he had to invite her in. Tyler had sent a package and a letter. He left Matt the deed to the house and wasn't coming back.

Klaus recognized the mark on Hayley's back from the same bloodline, a werewolf clan that thrived in Louisiana. And then Stefan found out that there have been more blood bank thefts. Someone's storing up on blood, and Stefan thought it was Silas. Damon told him he wasn't in the mood to look into it and to hold the fort down until he returned. Where was he going? He was taking Elena to New York City.

"The Vampire Diaries" season 4 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on the CW. What did you think of "Bring It On"?

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