'Vampire Diaries' Recap: The Best and Worst of 'Woke Up With a Monster'

Chris Wood as Kai in 'The Vampire Diaries'
Chris Wood as Kai in 'The Vampire Diaries'

Paul Wesley, who directed this episode of The Vampire Diaries, said the notes he received back after turning in his cut were all about how much everyone loved Kai (Chris Wood). Perhaps that explains why instead of locking Mr. Powerful in the Salvatore dungeon after finally rescuing Elena from his clutches, they simply laid drugged Kai on Alaric's couch: It'll be no fun if Kai is in solitary while they wait for the magic to leave his body. You want to see how he behaves around others. After all those years alone, the sociopath who should be a loner can't help but want to talk to people. That's why he was speaking to Elena, upon whom he has a little crush it would seem, even before she came to at the start of the episode, and found herself his magic crash test dummy.

Of course, Kai's capture isn't the only major development in the hour: Caroline, after hearing from a specialist at Duke that her mother's cancer is incurable, fed her blood to another patient with the same illness. He made a miraculous recovery and felt well enough to raid the hospital vending machine. But like Stefan, we suspected it wouldn't be that simple. Later, after Caroline and Stefan left, the man spit up the blood, crawled into the dark, empty hospital hallway begging for help (worst hospital ever!), and died. Caroline should've been smart enough to wait a few days — she could've compelled the doctor to phone her with daily updates on the patient — but she's so desperate to save her mother that she gave her a teacup of her blood that same night. Caroline's sped up her mother's death and doesn't know it. But we do. And we have a week to think about it. Brutal. Someone (read: Stefan) hold us.

Related: Paul Wesley Teases 'Vampire Diaries' Return: Get Out Your Tissues

Here's the best — and worst — of the rest of the episode.

Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen)
Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen)

Best Shirtless Moment:

OK, it's the only one — Jeremy having his morning coffee. Would it have been too comical to have Stefan also be shirtless when he spotted Jeremy and felt a little inferior, or would it have been your new favorite GIF?

Best Running Joke: Jo's appreciation of alcohol (mimosas this episode), which Alaric — the man who's always been Damon's drinking buddy — rightfully supports.

Worst Waste of Money: Why is Sheriff Forbes watching the Friends box set when it's now streaming on Netflix?

Best Truth Bomb: "Stefan, I know all of your friends: Elena, me… and then that's it." — Caroline, after Stefan suggested he'd drive her to Duke because he had a friend to visit.

Best Line Delivery: The way Kai told Elena, "If Ricki [Lake] taught me anything, it's that liking yourself is the most important thing. And I like me." It could have been over the top with the ghoulish enthusiasm of Jack Nicholson as the Joker, but Wood imbued it with a softness that made you remember Kai is literally an outcast with self-esteem issues, and almost forget that he's a serial killer.

Best Use of Cloaking: The show's writers are finally having some fun with this. You get the sense that Kai has been marathoning Hannibal and The Blacklist since his return, because his first trick — cloaking the dead body of the murdered Mystic Grill manager, who was lying on the table that Kai was eating off of in front of Elena — was gloriously twisted. Still, my pick is the scene that successfully tricked us into believing that Damon and Jo's bickering had distracted them enough not to hear Kai coming around the corner at the high school during their attempt to rescue Elena. Ian Somerhalder and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe really sold it. Jo's cloaking spell was, however, already in effect.

Related: Chris Wood on How He Prepped to Play Sociopathic Witch Kai

Best Wink-Wink Joke: After Jo's spell wore off, Kai cloaked Elena and then gave Damon the illusion that she was Kai — meaning Damon believed he threw a stake at Kai but it was really Elena. Once crossbow-wielding Jeremy and syringe-toting Alaric sedated Kai, Elena insisted to Damon that there was a splinter near her heart — and if he had anything to say to her, he should do it now because she's dying. Nina Dobrev is so convincing, you can see how Damon would buy it. But Elena's never felt more alive. We know those words mean she's falling for Damon again.

Best Hand Holding: Elena reached for Damon's hand in that scene, but Stefan taking Caroline's in his on her porch, as she thanked him for the North Carolina trip, wins for being unexpected and tonally appropriate. It could just be supportive, but it's at the end of the night, on her porch, after he's told her the truth about Sarah Salvatore (or is that Sarah Nelson?). The slight smiles exchanged mean they both know Stefan is now starting to look at their relationship differently. She can't deal with that now, so it's a gesture to let her know that he'll be there for her. At least that's how I read it.

Worst Twist: Luke decided not to return home when his father demanded it after Liv finally verbalized her fear that he'll definitely kill her if they merge. On the one hand, it's like, what took him so long to admit he didn't want to do this merge that would require him to kill his sister or die himself? On the other, there's no way Liv and Luke's side of this story will ever compare to Jo and Kai's — especially if Liv and Tyler aren't having sex in every episode. Maybe Luke being a total jerk would've been slightly more interesting.

Best Remaining Mystery: What revenge is Enzo patiently plotting against Stefan now? After Enzo followed him to Sarah's student art show, Stefan just up and came clean about keeping her a secret from Damon. Stefan knows Enzo needs to have something to obsess over. Why did Enzo acquire all of Sarah's work?

Worst Remaining Mystery: When is Matt going to get a good storyline again? Or are we just building to him realizing that he's not happy in Mystic Falls and it's OK if he leaves? We know Steven R. McQueen will no longer be a regular. Perhaps Zach Roerig needs to follow suit.

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.