'The Vampire Diaries' Recap: Episode 4.08 “We’ll Always Have Bourbon Street”
Elena and Damon share some great pillow talk followed by another hot love scene–a little spoilt by interrupted flashes of Caroline and Stefan chatting about the sire thing. Again. Great to see Damon and Elena both smiling and happy–haven’t seen Elena smile this much in…well…forever.
“Sired? Really Stefan? That is the most pathetic nonsense I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth and you’ve said some crap in your day.” ~ Damon
Stefan spills the beans on the sire thing to Damon. Damon’s not a happy camper but he takes Stefan up on the challenge to test the sire theory. The result? Elena’s sired to Damon. Talk about bursting a guy’s short-lived bubble. Come on, couldn’t they at least have given him more than a day of rockets and fireworks with his girl?
“Thanks to Damon, I’m a functional, dysfunctional vampire.” ~ Elena
Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline have a girl’s night at the Salvatore house. Champagne, music, laughter, and blood bags are the order of the night. Great fun, despite Caroline’s bitchy, judgie little comments thrown in along the way.
An argument breaks out when Caroline tells Elena about the sire bond to Damon. Two hybrids on a warpath with Tyler burst into the Salvatore house, interrupting their tiff. Bonnie intervenes with some witchy joo joo but not before the hybrids snatch Caroline.
“The bond affects how you act, not how you feel.” ~ Tyler
There’s a hierarchy glitch in the wolf pack and Tyler is challenged as the Alpha male. He intercepts the hybrids’ little torture scene with Caroline with a bad-assed attitude and a leadership spew that regains him the Alpha male status. Go Tyler!
“I kinda told her to count every brick in every building in New Orleans and I’d meet her on the corner. I was gone by morning.” ~ Damon
Through a series of flashbacks, it’s revealed that Elena’s not the first vamp sired to Damon. Back in 1942 in New Orleans, a newbie turned vampire, Charlotte, is sired to Damon. Fatal Attraction stuff. A little road trip, and Stefan and Damon are back in New Orleans to track down the witch who’d initially helped Damon break the sire bond. Loved the fact that we saw glimpses of Lexi during the flashbacks. She’s gorgeous, sexy, and fiercely protective of Stefan as usual. Love her.
“The bond can’t be broken with magic. A vampire only bonds to her sire when she has feelings for him before she turns. Human feelings. Vamperism only heightens those emotions. You want her free, you have to set her free. Tell her to live her life without you and never think of you again. To stop caring about you. And then leave her. That’s the only way around the sire bond. ” ~ Nandi
After a little searching, Damon finds Charlotte. Seventy years later and she’s still counting bricks and waiting for his return. Creepy. She helps Damon track down a witch named Nandi, the daughter of the original witch who helped break the sire bond by sacrificing twelve human souls. Nandi sheds some light on the sire bond and a new kind of black magic called expression. She also tells Damon that there was never a spell to break the sire bond (hence the fact that Charlotte is still sired to Damon) but thanks to him and the twelve human souls that were sacrificed, her mother was able to tap into some dark magic by channeling the power of the human sacrifices. Grim news, but with this new light, Damon sets Charlotte free.
Professor Shane needs twelve unsired hybrids for his mystery plan. Twelve? Sound familiar? And Bonnie reveals that he’s helping her access her magic the natural way, not by accessing the spirits…a new kind of magic called expression. Hm…what’s Professor Creepy up to?
“I don’t want to do this, Elena. I’m not the good guy, remember? I’m the selfish one. I take what I want, I do what I want. I lie to my brother, I fall in love with his girl. I don’t do the right thing. But I have to do the right thing by you.” ~ Damon
Elena and Damon share a powerful moment at the end of the episode when they discuss the sire bond. Elena’s determined that nothing has changed, that her feelings are real, but Damon isn’t convinced that her feelings stem from her own free will. She stops him from calling it off, challenging him on the sincerity of her feelings for him. Touching moment.
What is Professor Shane’s master plan? Is there a link between the twelve human sacrifices back in 1942 versus the twelve unsired hybrids that he seeks? Will Damon set Elena free or is there still hope for them?
Be sure to watch the mid season finale of The Vampire Diaries on the CW, Thursday 8/7c.