Damon attempts to jog Elena’s memory of their time together, while Stefan, Enzo, and Caroline face off with Tripp and his men. Here is a recap of the Vampire Diaries episode “Do You Remember The First Time?”
Recap:
No memories come flooding back when Elena sees Damon. All that’s there is the terrible things and the pain. Still mad at Alaric, Damon messes with his vital monitors until Jo discharges Alaric and invites him to the hospital fundraiser. Enzo, Stefan, and Matt disagree on what to do with the captive Tripp. With a hammer to Tripp’s hand, Stefan gets him to confess that his guys are tacking vamps, like Caroline. Liam tells Elena that the corn maze girl doesn’t remember getting hurt, then asks Elena to be his date to the fundraiser. With a gun to her head, Sheriff Forbes calls Caroline. Tripp’s men will kill her if they don’t get their leader back. Caroline and Stefan spring into action.
At the fundraiser, Liv teaches Tyler how to fill Champaign glasses. As Alaric enjoys every miserable human moment of the pain, Jo reveals she wanted to escape her crazy family, so she put her magic somewhere safe. Damon joins Jo and Alaric for a bit, before compelling Liam away from Elena and taking her onto the dance floor to stir up memories. It doesn’t work. Elena admits feeling guilty about what she did, and Damon says he’d never erase what they had. After a breath of fresh air, Elena begs him to remind her.
Enzo spills the beans to Stefan about Caroline having a thing for him. Caroline doesn’t deny it, but they’ll never speak of it again. The two sides meet at the town line. Sheriff Forbes is returned safe and sound, but when Tripp crosses over, his throat appears slit and he dies. Enzo turned him. Dropping Sheriff Forbes off for a checkup, Stefan asks Caroline why she had a thing for him. Maybe she thought he was worth having a thing for. She accepts his apology, but still hates him instead of hating herself for running their friendship.
Damon rehashes his favorite memories to Elena under the stars just outside the town line, but still nothing makes him not a stranger. Elena bolts over the town line and gets flashes of her past while spurting up water until Damon drags her back. He tells her he’s letting her go because she’s found part of that normal, happy life she always wanted. She asks him about her flashes – about watching the comets and getting rained on. He says that story ends with her being cold and miserable.
While Jo changes into something more comfortable back home, Alaric notices the scar on her abdomen. Her brother tried to gut her with a hunting knife. It was Kai! Liam’s determined to figure out Elena’s secret, starting with the file on the corn maze girl. Visiting the cemetery, Damon flashes back to the night of the comets. The rain pours on them. Elena wants him to promise that this is forever, and they kiss.
Bonnie, still wounded, wakes to see Kai fixing the ascendant. She refuses to let him out of this prison, stabs his neck, swipes the ascendant pieces, and bolts. Raiding the hospital, Bonnie downs painkillers and gets to work on the ascendant. She can’t find the last piece because Kai appears holding it. After throwing him out the window, Bonnie gets in a car, only for Kai to take her captive from the back seat. In the cave, Kai gives her her teddy bear, then has her do the spell, not seeing her blood drop onto the bear. They don’t escape. Bonnie’s magic’s gone because she put it somewhere safe, having sent it and the bear to the present day Salvatore crypt, where Damon finds it.
Comments:
– Fraught with tension, “Do You Remember the First Time?” was an entertaining and emotional hour, continuing the trend of excellent episodes they’ve had this season.
– After two seasons of attempting to make the college storyline work, it’s actually working this season. That’s due in part to the fact that, as of now, the main characters are not fighting off a big bad while worrying about which classes to take. It’s a more balanced struggle of responsibilities without losing the high stakes and the real life conflicts.
– Bonnie’s storyline is slowly crawling along and with every setback, there’s a new ray of hope. What are the chances Jo or Liv can tap into the bear’s Bennett magic and save Bonnie that way? Once Jo finds out Kai’s there, she certainly won’t be thrilled or jump on board, but I can’t wait until that drama happens.
– It seems that taking a walk down memory lane has become a staple to this show whenever they need to stir up some emotions. It worked equally as well here as it did when Katherine was on her deathbed and when Alaric was erasing Elena’s memories, but it’s also losing its strength as a narrative device. We expect it more often now, so the surprise is gone. That being said, it was rather heartbreaking to see Elena so determined to get her memories back that she put her life in danger, which then only led to more upset when Damon lied about what she recovered. It’s worth noting that Damon didn’t play the “selfish” card when he let Elena go, showing some real growth in his character.
– This season has seamlessly introduced several new characters without it feeling like we’ve lost track of the main characters. It may be due to the characters being introduced to different regulars: Damon and Bonnie have Kai, Elena and Caroline have Liam, Alaric has Jo, and Matt has Tripp. They’re welcomed with the partial exception of Liam. Although he has been a convenient way to lighten Elena’s mood, he’s also the standard “you’re hiding something, and I’m going to figure it out” character that nearly every season has tried and failed to use. Remember April? If you do, you remember how well that didn’t work out. If you don’t, well, there’s my point.
– Speaking of new characters this season, how did I not put it together that Jo and Kai are siblings? Not only are they the two most interesting characters out of the one’s they’ve recently introduced, but they’re also the two with the most pivotal roles in the characters’ lives.
– R.I.P. Tripp. While he was a devilishly amusing character, I can’t help but think that Colin Ferguson was not utilized to the best of his ability. Other than a spark of charm and a threatening look here and there, he was a rather underdeveloped character.
– Tyler’s scene with Liv in this episode was rather cute and a nice little reminder that he’s still trying to make up for that time she decided to kill someone to keep his werewolf curse from triggering, but it didn’t serve much of a purpose in the story. To make things more odd, we never even saw Tyler interact with anyone else he knew at this event. Then, Luke showed up for a quick second to remind Liv that their coven can call them back at any moment. Can you say, “Obvious foreshadowing”?
– So, the #DelenaRainKiss actually happened. Never underestimate the power of Twitter.
– I’ve missed these guys’ interactions.
Damon: Keep going. We were on a roll. All the terrible thing I did to people Elena cared about. Let’s see. I turned Caroline into my own personal blood juice box. I turned Matt’s sister into a vampire. And threatened to kill Bon Bon a couple times.
Alaric: More than a couple.
Damon: Subjective. Sometimes I was being funny.
– Only on The Vampire Diaries does this exchange happen.
Caroline: What took you so long to answer your phone?
Enzo: My fingers were covered in blood, and the touchscreen wouldn’t work.
– “I literally went through time and space to be with you.” – Damon (to Elena)
