The Reckoning

The Reckoning is the fifth episode of the third season of The Vampire Diaries and the forty-ninth episode of the series overall.
==Summary==
A SENIOR PRANK NIGHT TO DIE FOR — Despite all that has happened, Caroline is determined to see that Elena, Bonnie, Matt and Tyler all enjoy the traditional Senior Prank Night before the school year begins at Mystic Falls High School. However, when uninvited guests show up, it doesn't take long for the evening to take a deadly turn. Damon convinces Jeremy that he can use his new connection to the other side to help find a way to defeat Klaus. Finally, Klaus deepens his hold on Stefan and uses him for an increasingly violent and dangerous purpose.
==Plot==
Things pick up quickly from where they left off as the seniors of Mystic Falls High prepare for the first day of their final school year by setting up pranks around the school in a time-honored tradition. Klaus and Rebekah turn up unexpected at the school. After capturing Elena, Klaus announces that because she's still alive, all the werewolves that have drank his blood have died horrible, painful deaths. He then force-feeds his blood to Tyler, snaps his neck, and challenges Bonnie to find out why he hasn't been able to sire any hybrids yet.
Knowing there is only limited time before Tyler will die for real, Bonnie races off with Matt to find Jeremy whom she believes can help her make contact with an elder witch in the afterlife who might have some answers. Stefan eventually shows up at the high school gym where all of this is going down and tries to pledge his loyalty to Klaus once again by killing two hapless teens. This works for a second, until Rebekah figures out that Elena used to be in possession of her magic necklace. Elena admits that Katherine stole it from her. Klaus laments that if he had the necklace, things would be easier for Bonnie to solve his problem. Instead, he sets the scoreboard timer for 20 minutes. Klaus compels Stefan to feed on Elena if Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then, and to break her spine if she tries to run.
Meanwhile, Bonnie and Matt search around for Jeremy, but can't find him. Turns out he's in the trunk of a car being driven far away by Damon and Katherine. He is along for the ride only so they can use him to communicate with his dead girlfriend Anna, whom they think can reveal who Klaus and Rebekah were running from. Anna refuses to give them any info, but she quickly relents when Damon smacks Jeremy's head against the bench. She reveals that they're looking for Mikael, a vampire who hunts other vampires, and where he is entombed. Damon checks Jeremy's phone and sees the frantic texts from Bonnie about what's going on, so he dashes off to the rescue despite Katherine's urgings not to.
At this point, Bonnie and Matt still can't find Jeremy so Matt decides to take one for the team by drowning himself and hopefully communicate with his dead sister Vicky, who has been haunting him recently. His plan works and after Bonnie does CPR, he is able to give info directly from Vicky that Klaus' transformations aren't working because Elena isn't dead. Back in the gym, time runs out and Stefan tries to fight the compulsion to drink Elena's blood. He tells her to run despite Klaus' threat, because she'll also be dead if she stays. Elena bolts out of the gym with Stefan in pursuit, and he's just barely able to derail several of his own attempts to sink his teeth into her. Then, Klaus steps in and compels him to turn off his humanity. The compulsion finally overpowers him, as he lunges at her and bites into her neck.
Klaus feeds some of Elena's blood to Tyler, which saves his life and successfully turns him into a werewolf-vampire hybrid like Klaus. Tyler makes a full recovery and actually ends up being the happiest we've ever seen him. Klaus decides to stop Stefan from killing Elena, because he realizes her doppelgänger blood is the key to making more hybrids. He brings Elena to the hospital and compels a nurse to believe that he's been in an accident, and Elena is there to donate blood to him, therefore making her into his own personal blood bank to continue turning werewolves into hybrids. But his plan is quickly foiled when Damon shows up and mentions that he and Katherine found Mikael, which sends him running for cover.
Damon takes Elena back to the Salvatore house, where he apologizes for leaving and promises never to leave her again. Then Stefan nonchalantly arrives and announces that in Klaus' absence, he has been tasked with watching over Elena. Jeremy and Katherine arrive at a tomb that presumably is the one Mikael lies in. Katherine flings the gates open and pushes the cover off of the crypt, revealing the body of Mikael, wrapped in chains. The episode ends with the shot of Mikael opening his eyes.
==Cast==
===Starring===
*Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert/Katherine Pierce
*Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore
*Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore
*Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy Gilbert
*Kat Graham as Bonnie Bennett
*Zach Roerig as Matt Donovan
*Candice Accola as Caroline Forbes
*Michael Trevino as Tyler Lockwood
*Matt Davis as Alaric Saltzman (credit only)
*Joseph Morgan as Niklaus Mikaelson
===Guest Starring===
*Claire Holt as Rebekah Mikaelson
*Malese Jow as Anna
*Sebastian Roché as Mikael
*Kayla Ewell as Vicki Donovan
===Co-Starring===
*Anna Enger as Dana
*Mark Buckland as Chad
*Vicki Eng as Nurse
==Trivia==
*Antagonists: Niklaus Mikaelson and Rebekah Mikaelson.
==Body Count==
*Tyler Lockwood - Broken neck; killed by Niklaus Mikaelson but transitioned into a hybrid
*Dana - Drained of blood; killed by Stefan Salvatore
*Chad - Drained of blood; killed by Stefan
*Matt Donovan - Drowned; killed by himself but was revived with CPR by Bonnie Bennett
==Continuity==
*Matt and Vicki were last seen in The Hybrid.
*Dana was last seen in The Last Dance.
*Pearl was mentioned. She was las seen in Blood Brothers.
*Mikael was last seen in a flashback in The End of the Affair.
==Locations==
*Mystic Falls, Virginia
**Mystic Falls High School
**Salvatore Boarding House
**Mystic Falls Hospital
*Charlotte, North Carolina
**Pickett Mausoleum
==Behind the Scenes==
*This episode had about 2.89 million viewers in the USA.
*This is Kat Graham's favorite episode.See this video at around 4:30 mark
==Cultural References==
*Senior Prank: The idea is to do something memorable, that future generations of students will talk about.
*When Katherine suggests to Damon that they could stop at a Truck stop for a "bite" it could be a reference to From Dusk till Dawn, a Quentin Tarantino movie from 1996. At a truck stop by the Mexican Border, the employees of the bar are all vampires and drink from the patrons before dawn.
* is a reference to boys that are raised by wolves, like Mowgli, from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.
*Teenybopper: Teenage girls who wear everything that everybody is wearing, listen to the music that everybody is listening to, giggle, gossip and are very superficial.
*Petty Little Thing is the name of a song by Fink.
*"Tick Tock Goes the Clock" is the name of an episode of Doctor Who.
*One Pony Town is an expression meaning very small and boring place.
*The Reckoning is also the title of episode 10 of the second season of the TV Series Medium.
*In the bathroom stall next to R.I.P. Vicki Donovan there's a writing that says Ziggy Rules which is a reference to 's alter ego Ziggy Stardust.
==Quotes==
:Bonnie: "Listen to me, I know you wanna help and I know you miss your sister, but what you did was reckless and stupid."
:Matt: "I know, Bonnie. I know. But it worked. It was worth it."
:Bonnie: "You don't want to be part of all this, Matt. You're the only one of us who actually gets to live their life like a normal person, no matter how lost you feel. Don't forget that."
----
:Elena: "Where were you, Damon?"
:Damon: "I shouldn't have left. I promise you, I will never leave you again."
----
:Rebekah: (to Stefan) "You took a beating. My brother's been breaking your neck all afternoon. Quite the temper."
----
:Klaus: "Attention, seniors! You have officially been busted. Prank night is over. Head on home."
----
:Klaus: "Fascinating, I've never seen this before. The only thing stronger than your craving for blood is your love for this one girl... Why don't you turn it off?"
----
:Damon: (to Katherine after making out with her) "Thought I'd give it a shot. Truth is, you just don't do it for me anymore."
----
:Caroline: "Do you think Matt's gonna be okay?"
:Tyler: "I'm kissing you and you're wondering about your ex-boyfriend."
----
:Matt: "Do you realize that just last summer, you and I were lifeguards at the pool?"
:Bonnie: "Hmm."
:Matt: "And the only two problems I had in my life were that Elena was breaking up with me and I sucked at CPR."
:Bonnie: "Everything was so different then."
:Matt: "Yeah, I know. Elena's dating a vampire, you're a witch, my sister's a ghost, and I'm just a guy who's wondering how life got so screwed up."
----
:Klaus: "I assume you're the reason Elena's still walking around alive."
:Bonnie: "That's right. If you wanna blame someone, blame me."
:Klaus: "Oh, there's no need for blame, love. Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects. And, since you caused the problem, I'm gonna have you find the fix."
----
:Klaus: "Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during the transition. It's quite horrible, actually."
:(Klaus feeds Tyler his blood)
:Klaus: "I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie. And for Tyler's sake, you' better hurry."
:(Klaus snaps Tyler's neck)
----
:Matt: (about Tyler) "He killed him."
:Elena: "He's not dead. Klaus' blood will turn him into a vampire."
:Klaus: "And if Bonnie's successful, he'll live through his transition. (to Bonnie) Go on, then. Go and fetch your grimoires and enchantments and whatnot. I'll hold on to Elena for safekeeping."
----
:Bonnie: "I can't contact the dead, but Jeremy can."
----
:Katherine: "What if I told you there was a way to kill Klaus? And not dagger dead. Dead-dead."
:Damon: "I'd say you were desperate and lying. Or drunk. Or a desperate, lying drunk."
----
:Klaus: (to Stefan) "Let's drink on it. Kill them."
----
:Klaus: (to Stefan) "All I wanted was your allegiance. Now I'll have to take it."
----
:Katherine: (to Damon) "My advice: If you want to make an omelet you have to break a few legs."
----
:Rebekah: "Why is that doppelgänger bitch wearing my necklace?"
----
:Matt: "You don't need magic, Bonnie. You just have to be better than I was at CPR."
----
:Stefan: (to Elena) "The more blood I get, the more I want. And if I get so much as near yours, you are dead."
----
:Klaus: (to Stefan) "Come on. Your humanity is killing you!"
----
:Klaus: "You know how much the Original witch hated me. Do you honestly think I would do anything other than the opposite of what she says?"
:Rebekah: "One thousand years in the grave, and she's still screwing with you."
----
:Elena: "Don't, Klaus. You don't have to hurt anybody."
:Klaus: "Oh, come on, love. Of course I do."
----
:Stefan: "I've done everything Klaus has asked me to."
:Rebekah: "No, you just failed to mention that the doppelgänger's still alive."
:Stefan: "Where is Klaus now?"
:Rebekah: "With any luck, ripping that cow's bloody head off."
:(Stefan leaps at Rebekah)
:Stefan: "Where is she!?"
:Rebekah: "You really do love her, don't you?"
:(Rebekah hits Stefan with a crowbar)
:Rebekah: "Consider me jealous."
:(Rebekah stabs him through the chest with the crowbar)
----
:Stefan: (to Elena) "I owe you everything. Because through all of this, you are the one thing that kept me from giving up, from turning it all off."
----
:Rebekah: (to Caroline) "Tick-tock goes the gym clock."
----
:Tyler: "This is going to be an amazing year."
----
:Klaus: "There's my girl."
:Elena: "Klaus."
:Klaus: "You are supposed to be dead. What are we gonna do about that?"
----
:Caroline: "Uh, do we know you?"
:Rebekah: "You're Caroline, Elena's friend, which makes you Tyler, the werewolf."
:Caroline: "And who are you?"
:Rebekah: "I'm the new girl."
----
:Klaus: "I'd like you all to meet my sister, Rebekah. A word of warning, she can be quite mean."
:Rebekah: "Don't be an ass."
==Multimedia==
===Soundtrack===
===Pictures===
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|-|Behind the Scenes=
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==References==
==See also==
Category:The Vampire Diaries Episode Guide
Category:The Vampire Diaries Season Three