The Vampire Diaries "No Exit": The Good, the Bad, and the Bloody

By Shannon Vestal Robson

Updated on 2/28/2014 at 11:28 AM

Guys, I really miss Elena. This week's episode of The Vampire Diaries is devoid of her again, though not Nina Dobrev, who still gets to be in the episode; she's just playing Katherine playing Elena. The facade is getting tiresome, so thankfully, the very end of the episode seems to promise a resolution to the problem. The body-snatching, meanwhile, does come into play for this week's central issue: Damon is a vampire-eating vampire.

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All the fun this week is in the couple scenes — there's a pretty good kissing scene that's hot despite its participants, a fakeout hookup, and lots of funny awkwardness between exes Caroline and Tyler. Let's break it down further in the good, the bad, and the bloody!

The Good

  • Its nice that Damon has another dude friend again, since Alaric has been gone for so long. Too bad his devoted friend Enzo is a vampire, and Damon has been infected with an urge to eat other vampires. That's how we find him this week — Enzo is helping Damon survive by procuring victims, but when Wes and his traveler army find them and trap them in a victim's house, it's only a matter of time before Damon has to turn to friendly feeding.
  • Stefan and Elena are worried about Damon — did I say Elena? I mean Kathlena, the unattractive but necessary name for Katherine while she's inside Elena's body and pretending to be her. She's desperately trying to get with Stefan, so she devises a plan to get them out of town (pretending to go help Damon), then works it so they have to get a hotel room. When she "accidentally" leaves a door ajar while she changes (oops!), Stefan turns to jelly, and he's toast when she goes to kiss him. Though he kisses her for a little bit longer than he should, he guiltily stops it, feeling bad about Damon. Stefan, always doing the right thing! If only he knew how right it is, considering he's really kissing Katherine.
  • Caroline joking around with Tyler about awkwardness is entertaining at first, but this uncomfortable friendship better not be the seed of a reconciliation. Gotta keep her options open in case a certain New Orleans resident comes a-knockin' again.
  • Caroline and Tyler are hanging out in the first place because they're trying to find Matt, who's been spirited away by Nadia. Things are kind of friendly between them for a while — so friendly he actually makes a move, and it's looking like Matt and Nadia are heading into the pantheon of legendary TVD hookups. Happily, it's all a distraction so he can get a text out (rude but funny) to warn his friends that Katherine's in Elena's body. He's not fast enough, but he does get out a cryptic message before losing all his memories: "Help, K."
  • Plan No. 2 for Kathlena? Get rid of Damon. When Enzo says Stefan will kill Damon if he feeds on Elena, she can't get to Damon's teeth fast enough. Stefan, for his part, does get Damon away from Kathlena, but he knocks him out rather than kill him. We sort of knew that. When Damon is chained up later, he says he knows Elena has given up on him, just not why. And finally, Caroline and Stefan deduce that her odd behavior plus "Help, K" means Katherine is in Elena's body. OK, now let's get ready to go back to normal!

The Bad

  • Oh no, Nadia got bitten by Tyler. Just kidding — it's time for her to go. Hopefully the hybrid blood works faster than ever this time.

The Bloody

  • I expected Damon's feeding on other vampires to be more gruesome, but it's pretty much the same as feeding on humans. Interesting!