Yellow Ledbetter

The Vampire Diaries

Season 6, Episode 2 (113)

Air date

October 9, 2014

Written by

Julie Plec

Directed by

Pascal Verschooris

Episode Guide
(Transcript)
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I'll Remember	Welcome to Paradise

“	Damon: Look who got 27 across. Bonnie: Huh, I wish. 27 across is a rock I am pushing up an endless mountain. Damon: It's an old tongue twister. "Eddie turned top 40?" Eddie Vedder, Pearl Jam? "Yellow Ledbetter." Bonnie: Are you messing with me? Damon: No... You messing with me? Bonnie: I didn't finish this. Damon: Well, neither did I. Bonnie: (stunned) There's someone else here.	”
	— Damon and Bonnie in Prison World

Yellow Ledbetter is the second episode of the sixth season of Template:The Vampire Diaries and the one hundred and thirteenth episode of the series overall.

Summary

The_Vampire_Diaries_6x02_Extended_Promo_-_Yellow_Ledbetter_HD — The Vampire Diaries 6x02 Extended Promo - Yellow Ledbetter HD

A LONG WAY HOME — Knowing she needs to come to terms with the loss of Damon, Elena turns to Alaric to help her move on with her life. Enzo convinces Caroline to join him as he tracks down a lead to get Damon and Bonnie back, but Caroline is shocked when they make an unexpected detour and uncover what Stefan has been up to. Meanwhile, Matt worries about Jeremy who is spending time with Sarah, a mysterious girl who has recently arrived in Mystic Falls. Elsewhere, Tripp, leader of the community protection program, makes an interesting confession to Matt about his connection to the town. Lastly, with the Other Side destroyed and gone for good, Damon and Bonnie reluctantly bond together to uncover the mystery of where they are and how they are going to get back home.

Plot

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Cast

Trivia

Antagonists: Enzo and Tripp.
This episode is Elena and Damon-centric and is also the first flashback episode of the season by relating to key moments of their relationship.
The dimension where Bonnie and Damon were trapped is first seen in full depth.
- It is revealed that Bonnie and Damon are stuck in a temporal time loop of the same day-- May 10th, 1994.
- Damon gave it the nickname, the "Otherworldly Time Dimension," but it was later revealed in Let Her Go that not only is it really known as a Prison World, but there are actually more than one.
Katerina Petrova was mentioned in this episode by Elena when she recalls that in As I Lay Dying, Katherine told her that it was okay to love both Stefan and Damon, because she did as well. It is also the first mention of doppelgängers this season, as Elena calls Katherine her "evil doppelgänger."
Elena is seen packing up reminders of her relationship with Damon to be put in storage before Alaric compels her to forget their relationship. She's seen packing up photos, some of Damon's clothes, and a diary, among other things.
Elena recalls several key romantic memories with Damon. These are also the memories that are later shown to be altered by Alaric's compulsion.
- Damon and Elena's first meeting in Elena's flashback in The Departed.
- Damon and Elena's first kiss in The New Deal.
- Damon and Elena's first dance in Miss Mystic Falls.
- Damon and Elena's make out scene in Heart of Darkness.
- Damon giving Elena back her necklace, which was originally given to her by Stefan, on Elena's birthday as a gift in The Birthday. This is also shown to be the moment when Elena first knew she loved Damon.
Alaric compelled Elena to forget about her feelings for Damon, and without her memories of loving him, she now sees him only as Stefan's brother and a monster. Alaric was shocked by the hatred she showed of Damon right after her "signature" memory was altered, when the sound of Damon's name caused her to remember that he tried to kill Jeremy in The Return.
Elena is surprised that Caroline is against her plan of having Alaric compel away her love for Damon, but Caroline reminds her that they're following a lead to bring back Damon and Bonnie, and worries that if they're successful, Elena being compelled to forget her relationship with Damon will make things awkward and confusing for everyone. Elena assures Caroline that Alaric can compel her to remember her altered memories if Damon does end up coming back.
- However, this "failsafe" ends up not working out (at least not in the way Elena originally thought), because Alaric is thrown over the anti-magic barrier in The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get and is returned to being a human before he is able to return Elena's memories with compulsion.
  - Despite this issue, Elena's memories are eventually returned in I'd Leave My Happy Home For You when she takes the cure Bonnie brought back from the 1994 Prison World and becomes a human doppelgänger again.
Tyler, Stefan, Matt, Alaric, and the reluctant Jeremy and Caroline all agree to keep the fact that Alaric compelled away Elena's memories of loving Damon a secret from her.
- Though Elena assumed in her letter to herself in her diary (to be read in the case that she was told about the compulsion) it would be Caroline to "spill the beans," it was actually Stefan who ultimately told her the truth about Alaric compelling her at her request in Black Hole Sun.
Enzo demonstrates that he has a soft spot for Caroline during his fight with Stefan.
Believing Stefan is being selfish by giving up on his brother and wanting to give him payback for hurting Caroline, Enzo snaps Stefan's girlfriend Ivy's neck and promises that he will deliver on Damon's old promise for an 'eternity of misery' himself.
- It was later revealed in Black Hole Sun that Enzo had actually fed Ivy his blood before he killed her, and she ultimately completed her transition into a vampire while she was being buried by Dean in Welcome to Paradise.
Sarah reveals to Matt and Jeremy that she is in Mystic Falls to look for her father.
Tripp reveals he is a member of the Fell Family, one of the Founding Families of Mystic Falls. He is also shown to have at least a little knowledge of the anti-magic spell over Mystic Falls, because he uses it to kill vampires that he finds lurking around the borders.
Tripp reveals that he grew up with Elena's adoptive father/biological uncle Grayson Gilbert before his mother divorced his father and left Mystic Falls. He tells Matt that the name Tripp is a nickname, that his real name is Thomas Vincent Fell III, and that he took his mother's maiden name, Cooke, so he wouldn't be known as Tripp Fell.
Tyler and Luke don't appear in this episode, but they were both mentioned by Elena.
Abby and Grayson Gilbert were mentioned in this episode by Jeremy and Tripp, respectively.
Bonnie and Damon discover that they're not alone in the "Otherworldly Time Dimension."
Matt learns that Sarah stole the car she used to get to Mystic Falls, and as a result of that and the fact that Sarah was attacked by Elena, Matt decides he can't allow Sarah to stay at the Lockwood Mansion anymore.
- Jeremy, still feeling rebellious due to his grief regarding Bonnie's death, then decides to stay at the Salvatore Boarding House and tells Sarah she can stay with him there while she looks for her father.
Bonnie goes into her own home in the 1994-world she and Damon are in, where she finds Ms. Cuddles, a teddy bear she lost when she was nine years old. She also goes into her Grams' house and retrieves her grimoire in hopes that she can use it to reactivate her magic so they can finally leave the dimension and go home to their loved ones, as she was sure that Grams sent them to their mysterious dimension knowing that Bonnie would be able to get them out.
- It was later revealed in The Day I Tried To Live that Bonnie didn't actually lose her bear as a child -- Caroline stole it after she and Bonnie got in a fight, and because she didn't want her mother to find out that she stole it, she ran out into the woods and buried Ms. Cuddles there. Caroline would later go back to the woods with Stefan to dig her up in the same episode.

Body Count

Ivy - Broken neck; killed by Enzo
Several other vampires - Forced into the Mystic Falls "anti-magic" barrier and burned in sunlight; killed by Tripp Cooke.

Locations

Mystic Falls
- Lockwood Mansion
Savannah, Georgia
- Stefan's new home
Whitmore College
- Elena and Caroline's dorm room.
- Alaric's office
1994 Prison World
- Salvatore Boarding House
- Gilbert House

Continuity

Enzo was last seen in Home.
Katherine was last mentioned in While You Were Sleeping by Damon and Elena. She was last seen in Gone Girl.
Abby Bennett Wilson was last mentioned in The Devil Inside when Bonnie and Jeremy went to visit her.
Grayson Gilbert was last mentioned in Fifty Shades of Grayson.

Behind the Scenes

This episode had 1.67 million viewers in the USA, which is 0.14 million less than the previous episode.

Cultural References

"Yellow Ledbetter" is a song by Pearl Jam, released in 1992 as a B-side to the single "Jeremy". In 1994, it reached 21 and 26 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and Modern Rock Tracks chart, respectively.

Quotes

"I would write... Dear Diary"

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Webclip 2

Elena (to Caroline): "You're the last person I think would object to me erasing positive memories of Damon from my head."

Caroline (to Elena): "Yeah, but we are literally chasing a lead. W-what if we find something out? Yeah, you know what if Damon returns home and everything returns back to normal? And you're just sitting there all confused and weird?"

Elena (to Caroline): "Then Alaric will bring back my memories."

Caroline (to Elena): "But --"

Elena (to Caroline): "But what? Go ahead, Caroline say what you need to say. I don't want to...pressure you into agreeing."

Caroline (to Elena): "I--don't know what to say, I was actually trying to think of what Bonnie would say."

Elena (to Caroline): "And?"

Caroline (to Elena): "And...she'd say that you should do what's best for you."

Elena (to Caroline): "Look, I think it's great that you still have hope, I really do but--for my own survival I need to let him go."

Caroline (to Elena): "Well, then go on with your what-would-Bonnie-Bennett-do plan. I'll make bumper stickers."

Elena (to Caroline): "I love you."

Multimedia

Soundtrack

"Salvation" – Gabrielle Aplin
"Hello Goodbye" – Israel Cannan
"I Got Something For You" – Tim Murdock
"Now You Know" – The TVC
"All That Glitters" – Romans
"Whatta Man" – Salt N Pepa feat. En Vogue
"Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" – Spin Doctors
"Connected" – Stereo MC's
"All Through The Night" – Sleeping At Last
"Everybody Hurts" – Bread & Butter
"Everybody Hurts" – REM