Fool Me Once

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**Fool Me Once** is the fourteenth episode of the first season of *The Vampire Diaries* and the fourteenth episode of the series overall.

## Summary

**SECRETS OF THE TOMB** — Stefan helps Alex and Bonnie out of a dangerous situation. Jeremy asks Anna to a party in the woods, unaware that she has her own reasons for wanting to meet him there. When Stefan, Damon, and Alex work with Bonnie and Grams to open the tomb, everyone is shocked by what they discover.

## Plot

Alex wakes up and finds herself in a strange hotel room. She sees Ben sleeping on and tries to slowly sneak out but Ben wakes up. Anna arrives and drags Alex to the bathroom locking her in. Alex finds Bonnie lying unconscious in the bathtub. She tries to help Bonnie and Alex informs her that Ben is with Anna and they want to open the tomb but they need a witch to do that.

Meanwhile, Stefan looks everywhere for Alex all over Mystic Falls but he cannot find her. He goes to Damon asking for his help but Damon, who is still mad at him, does not want to help. Damon leaves Stefan alone and goes to Bonnie's grandmother, Sheila, asking for Bonnie but Sheila knows really well who he is and tells him to go away.

Back at the motel room, Anna explains to Alex that she wants to get into the tomb to free her mother Pearl who's trapped in there. Anna calls Stefan and asks him to bring her the Grimoire otherwise she will kill Alex. Stefan does not have it but promises he can get it and they arrange to meet Damon at a public place.

While Anna goes to meet Damon, she runs into Jeremy who invites her to a party. Anna tries to avoid him at the beginning but she changes her mind when she hears where the party will be — near the old cemetery. She takes off to meet Damon. Damon insists that he works alone but when Anna threatens to kill Alex, the two of them get to an agreement.

In the meantime, Stefan appears at the motel room and helps Alex and Bonnie. As they run out of the room, Stefan warns Ben to leave town otherwise, if he sees him again he will kill him. Anna comes back and finds Ben hiding behind the bed to avoid the sunlight. Ben tells her that Stefan came and he couldn't do anything. Anna realizes that she lost the witch but she knows that Damon will open the tomb no matter what and she has to be there when that happens.

Bonnie, Alex, and Stefan are at Sheila's house talking and Alex thinks they do not have choice but to help Damon get Katherine back. Sheila agrees to open the tomb as long as the rest of the vampires are burned. Alex has to earn Damon's trust back and leaves to go and find him and talk to him. She finds him at the Salvatore house and she convinces him to trust her again. Stefan, Bonnie and Sheila wait for Damon and Alex at the church ruins. Stefan brought along arsonist tools. Damon, who brought and IV bag of blood for Katherine, and Alex arrive and Sheila and Bonnie start the process to break the spell and open the tomb. Stefan runs outside to get his arsonist tools.

Meanwhile, Jeremy gets at the party and looks around for Anna. Anna shows up and the two of them go for a walk away from the crowd. Anna tells him that she is leaving town with her mom and Jeremy kisses her. Anna's face begins to show that she is a vampire and Jeremy asks what is going on when Ben appears and knocks him out. Anna tells Ben to drag Jeremy close to the tomb so they can use him for Pearl to feed on when they'll get her out of the tomb.

Stefan runs into Ben while he is getting his tools. Anna also appears and tells him that she will take her mother out and gives Stefan a choice. He can try to stop her or save Jeremy from Ben. Stefan leaves Anna go and stays alone with Ben who tries to attack him believing he is stronger. Stefan uses the arsonist tool and burns him.

Meanwhile, Bonnie and Sheila keep chanting the spell and the tomb's door cracks open. Damon, to be sure that Sheila won't seal him into the tomb, grabs Alex and takes her with him in. Inside the tomb, Alex hears whispering and asks what is happening. Damon informs her that they can sense her but he runs off to find Katherine leaving Alex alone. Alex searches for him while she stumbles over the desiccated bodies of the vampires and freaks out.

Anna arrives at the tomb finding the door open. Bonnie wants to stop her but Sheila does not let her, so Anna gets into the tomb. Bonnie wants to know why her Grams let her in and Sheila says that no vampire will come out of the tomb. They managed to open the door but not break the seal spell so whoever vampire gets in, is not coming out. Stefan comes back and wants to run into the tomb when he hears Damon took Alex with him but Sheila stops him, explaining him as well why.

Inside the tomb, Anna finds Alex and explains her how Stefan and Johnathan Gilbert are responsible for her mother's imprisonment and that's why she decided that it would be Gilbert family's blood that will bring her mother back to life. She bites Alex who starts screaming making Stefan run into the tomb to find her. Anna feeds Alex's blood to Pearl but Stefan gets there in time before Pearl kills her. Alex runs away to get out of the tomb.

Bonnie wants to help Stefan get out and she begs Sheila to lift the seal just for a while so Stefan can come out. Alex gets out and Bonnie tells her about the seal. Stefan gets to the door but cannot step outside and Alex realizes that he got in only to save her even though he knew. She also remembers the promise they gave Damon and Stefan goes back inside to find his brother. Bonnie and Sheila do a spell to lift the seal and Anna comes out with her mother.

Damon is still in the tomb but he cannot find Katherine anywhere. Stefan comes to him and realizes that Katherine is not in the tomb, never was. Damon is frustrated and throws the IV bag of blood against the wall breaking it. Stefan urges him to hurry so they can get out before the seal closes again. Alex runs in to beg them to leave. The three of them get out just in time before the door closes again.

Bonnie and Sheila go back home while Sheila looks exhausted over the energy she spent for the spell and goes to lie down. Alex and Stefan rush to find Jeremy who is waking up and he is fine. Damon is shocked for not finding Katherine and Alex hugs him telling him she is sorry. Alex takes Jeremy home who says he cannot remember anything but when Alex leaves to go to Bonnie, Jeremy starts searching on the Internet about vampires.

Anna brings her mother at her motel room where they find Damon waiting for them. Damon grabs Pearl threatening to kill her and accuses Anna of knowing the whole time that Katherine was not in the tomb. Anna admits that she did know but she did not tell him because then he would never help her open the tomb. Pearl explains to him how Katherine got away and Anna tells him that she saw Katherine few years ago. Katherine knew where Damon was but she did not care to find him. Damon is heart broken over the information and leaves.

Bonnie goes to check on her Grams but she finds her dead. She starts yelling for help while she desperately goes through the spell book to find a spell that will bring her back and Alex calls 911.

Back at the tomb, a vampire manages to get to the blood bad Damon threw against the wall and he feeds on its contents. He gets up, slowly gets to the door sliding it open and exits the tomb revealing that the seal spell did not work.

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Nina Dobrev as Alexandria Gilbert/Elena Gilbert
* Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore
* Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore
* Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy Gilbert
* Sara Canning as Jenna Sommers (credit only)
* Katerina Graham as Bonnie Bennett
* Candice Accola as Caroline Forbes
* Zach Roerig as Matt Donovan
* Michael Trevino as Tyler Lockwood
* Matt Davis as Alaric Saltzman (credit only)

### Recurring Cast

* Malese Jow as Anna
* Kelly Hu as Pearl
* Sean Faris as Ben McKittrick
* Jasmine Guy as Sheila Bennett

## Trivia

* Antagonist: Anna.
	+ This is the first episode where Anna is an antagonist in the series.
* Anna before she took Alex in *Children of the Damned* must have overheard Stefan and Alex talking about the vampire blood in her system as to why she didn't break her neck when she took Alex hostage and threatening not letting her complete her transition. Note: This is due to the fact that the producers decided to keep Alex human in Season 1 but had planned originally to make her vampire near the end of Season 2.
* Katherine is revealed to have escaped the tomb under Fell's Church before it was sealed shut by Emily Bennett to protect the victims of the vampire-round-up of 1864.
	+ It will later be revealed in *Memory Lane* that Katherine was able to escape due to a deal she made with George Lockwood in which she gave him the moonstone and a promise not to tell the Founder's Council about him being a werewolf in exchange for her freedom and his assistance in faking her death.
* Anna tells Damon the last time she saw Katherine was in Chicago in 1983. She also tells him that Katherine knew where he was the whole time and didn't care.
* Anna is the first character to refer to Alex as a doppelgänger in the series, in this case, she was describing Alex in reference to Katherine. It's also the first time doppelgängers are mentioned.
	+ The mythology of doppelgängers as a supernatural species is explored more in Seasons Two and Five as they become increasingly important to *The Vampire Diaries'* story.
* To prove to Damon that she is being sincere about helping him free Katherine, Alex removes her vervain necklace and asks if she's lying now, risking being compelled by Damon in order to prove herself as being genuine in her offer.
	+ Damon tells Alex that he never compelled her in Atlanta, as they were having fun together, and he wanted it to be real.
* Alex goes into the tomb with Damon of her own free will as reassurance for Damon that he wouldn't be sealed into the tomb by the Bennett witches afterward.
	+ After Damon learns Katherine was never sealed in the tomb, Alex comforts him with a hug.
* Alaric and Jenna do not appear in this episode .
* This is the first episode in which Matthew Davis is credited as a series regular, and he remains as such until the season three finale, *The Departed*. Interestingly enough, his character (Alaric Saltzman) does not appear in this episode.
* While this episode is aptly named for its numerous 'fool me once' moments, it is notable in several ways regarding Damon's trust issues:
	+ His trust is betrayed twice by Stefan in this episode; once in 1864 and again in the present day.
	+ Katherine fooled him (and Stefan) once when she allowed him to believe that she had been entombed in the cellar of Fell's Church with the other vampires for 145 years.
	+ Alex fooled him once, when she helped Stefan recover Emily Bennett's grimoire behind his back.
	+ Sheila Bennett fooled him once by tricking him into entering the tomb without actually lifting the magical seal that trapped the vampires there.
* This is the final episode of the second chapter of Season One, **The Tomb Chapter**.

## Locations

* Mystic Falls, Virginia
	+ Anna and Ben's Motel Room
	+ Salvatore Boarding House
	+ Mystic Grill
	+ Sheila's House
	+ Town Square
	+ Woods
		- Fell's Church
			* The Tomb
	+ Gilbert House

## Body Count

* Ben - Burned; killed by Stefan Salvatore.
* Sheila Bennett - Overuse of magic; (unintentionally) killed by herself.

## Cultural References

* Escape clause, any clause, term or condition in a contract that allows a party to that contract to avoid having to perform the contract.
* Duke University, a private university located in Durham, North Carolina.
* The expression, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" means that you should learn from your mistakes and not allow someone to take advantage of you again and again.

## Quotes

**Stefan**: *"It's Alex, Damon if you know something, tell me."*
**Damon**: *"I mean this sincerely, I hope Alex dies."*

**Anna**: *"Well, well. Alex Gilbert. You really are Katherine's doppelgänger. You must have the Salvatore boys reeling."*
**Alex**: *"Who are you?"*
**Anna**: *"I'm Anna. Your brother may have mentioned me? I mean, we're, like, practically dating."*

**Alex**: *"Bonnie's not gonna open the tomb."*
**Anna**: *"Oh, I think she will."*
**Alex**: *"Do you really want Katherine out that bad?"*
**Anna**: *"Trust me. No one I know wants to see that girl again. Except Damon, the love-struck idiot."*
**Alex**: *"Then what is it? Or who is it?"*
**Anna**: *"My mother's in there. Katherine couldn't help herself. She just had to toy around with both of the Salvatore brothers. Then when she got caught, so did my mother. I watched Johnathan Gilbert take her away."*

**Bonnie**: *"How did you know where we were?"*
**Sheila**: *"Many things can fuel a witches power. Worry, anger. After Stefan told me that they had taken you, I had a lot of both. A simple locator spell was easy after that."*

**Damon**: *"I didn't compel you in Atlanta because we we're having fun. I wanted it to be real. I'm trusting you. Don't make me regret it."*

**Alex**: *"The Duke party. I forgot. I hope they stay clear of the church."*
**Damon**: *"Your hope, not mine."*

**Pearl**: (gasps as Damon chokes her) *"The guard, the one at the church, the one who locked us in. She promised to turn him. He was obsessed with her. She had him under her spell like everybody else. He let her go."*
**Anna**: *"Last I saw her was Chicago, 1983. She knew where you were, Damon... she didn't care."*

**Damon**: *"Fool me once, shame on you."*

**Damon**: *"I told you, I work alone."*
**Anna**: *"Yeah, so do I. But you're minus a witch and I'm minus a spell book. So, what do you say?"*
**Damon**: *"Stefan will come after you, you know that. For messing with Alex."*
**Anna**: *"Then he won't be too happy if I kill her when I don't get what I want."*
**Damon**: *"When do you wanna do this?"*
**Anna**: *"God, it's like 1864 all over again. You Salvatores are truly pathetic when it comes to women."*

**Caroline**: *"So, I have a speech. It is fully scripted and well-rehearsed. Are you ready for it?"*
**Matt**: *"You wrote a speech?"*
**Caroline**: *"Yes. It's a 'you kissed me and I don't want things to be weird' speech. It's preemptive."*
**Matt**: *"Preemptive?"*
**Caroline**: *"Yeah. You know, in case you were having second thoughts, or regrets or were, like, ooged out..."*
**Matt**: (laughs) *"Ooged,' huh?"*
**Caroline**: *"Can I just get on with the speech part?"*
**Matt**: *"Yeah, go for it."*
**Caroline**: *"So, I know that you don't think that this is going to work out between us. I just wanna let you know that right here and right now, I'm offering you an out. Like an escape clause."*
**Matt**: *"Why are you giving me an escape clause?"*
**Caroline**: *"I don't wanna make assumptions about what it is we are doing here."*
**Matt**: *"Got it."*
**Caroline**: *"So...if you would like to exercise it, just let me know."*
**Matt**: *"I'm good, but thanks."*

**Anna**: *"So you're finally ready to go out with me, are you?"*
**Jeremy**: *"It's been a while since I've been to a party, and I kinda wanna get back out there. You know, not be such a loner. And, uh, I like you. You're fun, and... you're also kinda strange and lurky, but, uh, I guess I like that too."*