The Vampire Diaries
Season 3, Episode 5
Air date	October 13th 2011
Written by	Michael Narducci
Directed by	John Behring
Episode Guide transcript
previous Disturbing Behavior	next Smells Like Teen Spirit

The Reckoning is the fifth episode of the Third Season and the forty-ninth episode in the series.

Summary

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A SENIOR PRANK NIGHT TO DIE FOR — Even after 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

SPOILERS AHEAD

Things picked up quickly from where they left off last week as the seniors of Mystic Falls High prepared 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 proceeds to feed his blood and temporarily kill werewolf Tyler and tasks Bonnie with finding out why this act hasn’t turned other werewolves into half-breeds yet. Knowing there is only limited time before Tyler will die, 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 has it now but they don’t believe her and therefore set a time limit for the necklace to show up. If it doesn’t arrive, Klaus compels Stefan to feed on Elena. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Matt search around for Jeremy but can’t find him. Turns out he’s in the trunk of 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 who happens to have info about Mikael who is a vampire that hunts vampires who was most recently hunting Klaus and Rebekah.They get some info about where this Mikael is entombed (by torturing Jeremy) but then Damon gets 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’s transformations aren’t working because Elena isn’t dead. Back in the gym time runs out and Stefan tries not to drink Elena's blood, but Klaus compels him to turn off his feelings, so Stefan has to drink Elena's blood. Klaus feeds some of Elena’s blood to Tyler and it stops him from potentially dying by turning him into a werewolf-vampire half-breed like Klaus. But instead of being grumpy about it, Tyler actually ends up being the happiest we’ve ever seen him. All of this means though that rather than let Stefan kill Elena, Klaus is just going to keep her around as his personal little blood bank to continue turning werewolves into half-breeds. He apparently reached this conclusion on a whim. Too bad his plan is foiled when Damon shows up, mentions that Mikael is coming, and sends him running for cover. Then Stefan arrives as the new house guest for Damon. Jeremy and Katherine arrive at a tomb that presumably is the one Mikael lies in. Katherine flings the gates opens 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

Main Cast Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert/Katherine Pierce 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 Michael Trevino as Tyler Lockwood Matt Davis as Alaric Saltzman (credit only) Joseph Morgan as Niklaus Mikaelson

Recurring Cast Claire Holt as Rebekah Mikaelson Sebastian Roché as Mikael Malese Jow as Anna Kayla Ewell as Vicki Donovan Guest Stars Anna Enger as Dana Co-Starring Mark Buckland as Chad

Trivia

• Antagonist: Niklaus Mikaelson and Rebekah Mikaelson.
• Although he has been part of the main cast from the very beginning of the show, this is the first episode ever in which Zach Roerig does a Previously On-voiceover.
• This is the second episode (this season) not to feature Alaric.
• This is the first time Katherine and Damon kiss (Third time counting the whole series) in Season 3.
• Tyler Lockwood becomes a hybrid and the first successful hybrid sired by Klaus.
• Klaus and Rebekah meet Matt, Tyler, Bonnie and Caroline in this episode.
  • Rebekah meets Elena.
• Matt becomes a medium in this episode, just like Jeremy became in As I Lay Dying.
• This is the first episode this season that Jeremy has the least amount of screen time.
• Although Sebastian Roché was credited at the beginning of the episode his character (Mikael) only appeared at the end of the episode.
• Mikael will be fully introduced in Smells Like Teen Spirit and his origins will be explained in Ordinary People.
• This episode is where the last of the main characters (Matt Donovan) dies (minutes) and returns to life.
• This episode had 2.892 million viewers in the USA.

Deaths:

• Dana - killed by Stefan
• Chad - killed by Stefan

Continuity

• Matt returns in this episode. He was last seen in The Hybrid.
• Mystic Falls High School was last seen in Season 2's The Last Dance.
• This is Klaus' first visit to Mystic Falls High School. In The Last Dance, he was in Alaric's body.
• Dana was last seen in Season 2's The Descent and The Last Dance.
• Vicki was last seen in The Hybrid.
• Klaus mentions his unsuccessful sacrifice ritual to Bonnie, which it happened in The Sun Also Rises. And in The Hybrid, his plan to make hybrids went horribly wrong.
• When Matt referring the 100 witches, Bonnie mentions her part in bringing Jeremy back to life, which happened in As I Lay Dying.
• Pearl was mentioned by Katherine. She was killed by John Gilbert in Season 1's Blood Brothers.
• Damon mentions Anna's death (killed by John), which happened in Founder's Day.
• Klaus meets Elena and Bonnie the third time in this episode. He previously met them in Season 2's The Last Dance (in Alaric's body) and The Sun Also Rises.
• This is the third episode to have Jeremy and Katherine interacting. The previous two episodes were Masquerade and The Sacrifice.
• Mikael was last seen in The End of The Affair.
• Katherine (as Elena) stole Elena's necklace from Bonnie, which happened in Disturbing Behavior.
• Rebekah mentions the Original Petrova to Elena. Her name would remain unknown until Bringing Out The Dead.

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.
• Wolf Boy is a reference to boys that are raised by wolves, like Mowgli, from Rudyard Kipling's book.
• Sexual Tension: when two individuals interact, there is sexual desire from one or the two, but sexual act is never consummated.
• Teenybopper:Teenage girls who wear everything that everybody is wearing, listen to the music that everybody is listening, 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.

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'd 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."

Rebekah: "So this is the latest Doppelgänger. The original one was much prettier."

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."

(Klaus 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 throught 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

"Will Do" – TV on the Radio "Please Ask For Help" – Telekinesis

"10,000 Lovers" – Ida Maria "Torch Song" – Shady Bard

Videos

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Pictures

• Set Photo - Katerina Graham and Joseph Morgan
• Klaus and Elena
• Matt drowning himself
• Matt & Vicki - ghostworld
• Anna and Jeremy
• "I'm the new girl."

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