In what looked like it could have been an epic ending to the story about the originals, this sure did end in fizzle. I figured that something was going to cause Esther's plans to fail, but I didn't expect it to be so anti-climatic.

Elena let her conscience take hold and decided she didn't want to loose Elijah, although she didn't seem to have a problem allowing him to drink the blood mixed wine the previous night. Too bad his goals were slightly less noble, which led to her being at the mercy of Rebekah for the evening, while Stephan and Damon had to do the hard work.

One thing this episode did well, was leaving a pile of new questions behind. How did Elena find the protected area of the cave in such a short period of time? Why didn't Klaus get affected like the rest of his family, I thought they were linked? How did they know that they needed both witches to stop the ritual, Esther only told Bonnie and her mother? Is Esther gone for good, or is she going to be back with a vengeance? So many questions, and so few episodes left this season to answer them.

Apparently Rebekah found something interesting about the caves, which led her and Klaus to the conclusion that more weapons probably still exist that might be used against them. We don't know for sure that Esther is completely gone, so it is nice to see they are leaving that second option. Too bad Alaric didn't notice that marking before they let the cat out of the bag, or the coffin in this case.

So, Bonnie's mom is now a vampire, and Elena is in the bad books again. She wasn't even part of the killing, and had no ability to even have a say in it, but because Damon did it in her name, she is now the evil one. I would have expected Caroline to at least understand, but she was the bitchiest of them all. Nice friends Elena has, no wonder she keeps pushing everyone away.

In the end, Alaric finds out, the hard way, that his 'sexy psycho doctor' really is part of the murders that are happening. Why did she just leave everything on the table to find? Really stupid move. I still think that Katherine is involved, somehow. They did note it might be a vampire since Alaric had his memory wiped, but shouldn't he be protected against that? Doesn't make too much sense.

I found myself disappointed in this episode since everything seemed to go off without a real spark of excitement. Perhaps now that Esther is gone, things can start getting back to it's normal quality. Too bad we have to wait almost a month for a new episode.