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The Vampire Diaries
Season 3, Episode 19

Air date	April 19th 2012
Written by	Evan Bleiweiss & Brian Young
Directed by	Chris Grismer
Episode Guide transcript
previous The Murder of One	next Do Not Go Gentle

Heart of Darkness is the nineteenth episode of the Third Season, and sixty-third episode in the series.

Summary

TYLER RETURNS TO MYSTIC FALLS — Elena and Damon set off together to make sure Jeremy is safe in Denver and to see if his special abilities can help reveal the information they need about ancient vampire bloodlines. It doesn’t take them long to learn that Jeremy has been hanging with the bad people. Stefan and Klaus both go to brutal extremes in their search for the missing weapon. Caroline is thrilled when Tyler returns to town but Tyler soon suspects that something has been going on between Caroline and Klaus. Matt has his hands full trying to keep Rebekah busy organizing the school’s upcoming 1920s Decade Dance.

Plot

SPOILERS AHEAD

Alaric is locked in the dungeon, where he will hopefully morph into his other half and reveal where he hid the last white oak dagger. Stefan decides to stay and watch over him while Damon and Elena take a road trip to find Jeremy. Soon Stefan and Alaric are drinking away the time to try and speed up the turning process. Alas, it doesn't work, and neither does Klaus killing him so they soon resort to physical violence to see if Alarics inner persona wants to stay alive.

On the road, Damon and Elena find Jeremy at the batting cages. They explain they need him to get in touch with Rose to find out who had turned her so they can figure out the bloodline of the Salvatores. (Rose turned Katherine, unwillingly, who then turned Damon and Stefan.) There conversation is cut short when Kol, Jeremy's supposed new friend, appears. Jeremy is shocked to learn he's an Original, and soon Damon stakes him to give them a heads start to get out of Dodge.

The threesome arrive at a motel where Damon, after being sarcastic, recalls how he gave Rose a dream on her deathbed to ease the pain and fear. It's enough to summon her, and soon she's communicating with Jeremy. She says hi, that she's rooting for Delena, but that she doesn't know whose bloodline she comes from because an Original didn't turn her, some vampire named Mary did.

Back in Mystic Falls, Caroline is finally reunited with Tyler, and immediately after embracing they head straight to sexy time. After, as they lay under the stars, Caroline explains that finding out if the sire bond is broken isn't his biggest problem. She reveals that if Klaus isn't responsible for the Salvatore bloodline, then he can be killed, regardless if that then kills Tyler. But the two are hit with another bump when they go back to sleep at Caroline's house, and Tyler finds the drawings from Klaus. She says nothing happened between the two, but Tyler insists on finding another place to stay for the night.

At Klaus's mansion, Rebekah returns home to find Esther there. Esther explains that her body is weakened because Abby died and her power comes from the Bennett line. In an emotional exchange, Esther also tells her daughter she's been looking over her for 1,000 years, but that no one should live that long and that's why they should all be killed. Esther grabs Rebekah's hands, but then falls dead to the ground.

In the motel room, a shirtless Damon is sipping on alcohol as Elena watches. They stare at each other until he joins her in bed. She brings up what he did for Rose and asks, "Why don't you let people see the good in you?" Damon responds, "When they see good they expect good and I don't want to have to live up to anyone's expectations." He then slowly takes her hand, but she jumps out of bed to get away. He follows and as she can no longer resist, she kisses him. They make out, until Jeremy interrupts. Rose has found an address for Mary. At the "vampire hoarders" house, Elena and Damon find Mary dead. Turns out Kol has already gotten to her. Now they'll never know who turned Mary.

Back at the dungeon, Stefan is fighting Alaric so that he'll be threatened and hopefully turn into his psycho alter ego. It actually works, and a beaten-up Alaric reveals he hid the stake in the cave — where vampires cannot go due to an old spell.

Damon, meanwhile, wants to pick up where he and Elena left off but she walks away. "What the hell is this?" he asks. "Stefan thinks I have feelings for you," she says. Damon then calls Elena out on the fact that she was waiting for him to screw it all up, because that's what he does, but he says this time he won't. "This time I'm not going to make it so easy for you," he says. They end up driving home in silence where Rose quietly joins Jeremy in the back seat. She knows Jeremy isn't on Team Delena so she tells him why they might be a good thing. "It's not just that she makes him a better person, but he changes her too. Damon challenges her, surprises her. Stefan is different. His love is pure. Damon is either the best thing for her or the worst."

In the final scene, Rebekah accompanies Alaric to the cave to retrieve the stake. While in there he tries to strike a deal that because only one Original has to die, if she helps him, he'll make sure it's not her. But then Rebekah crosses the so-called spell threshold, much to Alaric's shock. "I don't want one dead; I want them all dead." It's revealed that it isn't really Rebekah, but Esther, who is possessing Rebekah in order to kill the Originals.

Cast

Main Cast

Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert
Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore
Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore
Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy Gilbert
Candice Accola as Caroline Forbes
Zach Roerig as Matt Donovan
Katerina Graham as Bonnie Bennett (credit only)
Michael Trevino as Tyler Lockwood
Matt Davis as Alaric Saltzman/The Darkness
Joseph Morgan as Niklaus Mikaelson

Recurring Cast

Guest Cast

Trivia

Antagonists: Niklaus Mikaelson, Esther and Kol Mikaelson.
Tyler returns in this episode.
This is the 4th time that Elena and Damon share the same bed after As I Lay Dying, The End Of The Affair and Ordinary People.
It is revealed that Rose's sired from a vampire named Mary Porter.
Jeremy meets Kol and Rose (as a ghost) in this episode.
It is revealed that Kol has been posing as Jeremy's friend in Denver.
This episode was watched by 2.21 million viewers in the U.S. making it the least watched episode of season 3.
This episode marks the fist time Kol and Elena speak directly to each other.
Kol mentions how he'd never get used to aluminum baseball bats. This is because he was daggered in the early 1900s, before aluminum bats were widely used.

Continuity

Rose was last seen in The Descent. She died from Jules' werewolf bite, which was first seen in By the Light of the Moon. This episode marks her first appearance as a ghost and also her only appearance in season 3.
Tyler was last seen in The Ties That Bind. His voice was heard in Dangerous Liaisons.
Jeremy's last appearance was in Break On Through during a phone call, and seen on Klaus's cell phone (through Kol) in The Murder of One.
Kol and Esther were both last seen in All My Children.
Kol was shown to be spying on Jeremy in the previous episode, The Murder of One. This was followed up on in this episode where it is revealed Kol has been posing as Jeremy's friend.
Kol brings up Damon's past offences to him: breaking his neck in Dangerous Liasons, being a part of the plot to kill his brother in The Murder of One, and further humiliating him in this episode.

Cultural References

"Heart of Darkness " is a 1902 novella by Joseph Conrad. It refers to the unfathomable darkness within human beings when they commit heinous acts of evil.
There is also a movie named Heart of Darkness it is about a trading company manager that travels up in an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul. This movie was released in 1993.
In the abc's "Once Upon A Time" TV series there's an episode called "Heart of darkness. In this episode Snow White wants revenge and she's even ready to kill the Queen and have justice in her own way just like Rebekah (possessed by Esther) wants all the Originals to die in TVD.
"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde " is a 1886 novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. It's about a case of split personalities. Dr Jekyll is the moral one, while Mr Hyde is evil. the impact of the novella was such that the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" came to mean a person who is vastly different in moral from one situation from the next.
Damon calls Jeremy "Whoopy". In the 1990 movie "Ghost ", Whoopie Goldberg plays the psychic who allows the ghost of Sam to communicate with his surviving wife Molly. Their most poignant scene happens around a pottery wheel.
"Home! Sweet Home! " is a 1823 song. It has become a cultural staple for many generations.
"Moby Dick " is a 1851 novel by Herman Nelville. It's became the metaphor for single mindlessly pursuing one's objective, even if it brings one's own destruction.
"Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary " is a popular nursery rhyme, although it's meaning and origin are unknown.
"Groupie " is a person who seeks intimacy with a celebrity.

Quotes

Jeremy: "You traveled across the country to get me to talk to a dead vampire?"

Damon: "Dead vampire is redundant, but yes."

Rose: "Tell Damon I'm rooting for him and Elena."

Rose (to Jeremy about Damon): "Tell him he is still dripping with sex."

Elena: "Stefan thinks that I have feelings for you."

Damon: "Do you?"

Stefan: "No matter what I go through to get her back, fighting my bloodlust, trying to gain control my life again, none of that matters if she has feelings for somebody else."

Damon: "Next time we compel him, remind me to make him better at baseball. (to Elena about Jeremy)."

Kol: Quite, the contrary

Elena: (to Alaric) "Stefan thinks I have unresolved feelings for Damon."

Alaric: "Do you?"

Elena: "I guess that’s why I’m going on this trip."

Rebekah/Esther: "I don't want one original to die, I want them all to die"

Stefan: "Kill an Original vampire, kill his entire bloodline."

Klaus: "So the fate of the entire vampire race depends on you finding a stake."

Stefan: "Tell me where the stake is before I kill you... Where's the stake?!"

Elena: "Why don't you let anyone see the good in you?"

Damon: "When people see good they expect good. And I don't wanna live up to anyone's expectations."

Caroline: "We are gonna do this an actual bed, right?"