The Vampire Diaries - O Come, All Ye Faithful

 The best laid plans comes to mind considering Tyler's plans to execute Klaus was inevitably doomed to fail. Anytime any character plans to kill Klaus, or even just send him away so he's not there to be a thorn in their side, they are ALWAYS doomed to fail. Tyler and his hybrids had a traitor in their midst: Hayley. She wants to know how her parents died. She wants answers. Atticus Shane is who Hayley believes can get her those answers. But Klaus can't die and her hybrid colleagues are sacrifices she is willing to give up. So when it appears Tyler might finally be rid of Klaus, the Atticus Shanes and Hayleys are there to deter him in that quest. And what does Klaus do to further his rivalry with Tyler? He kills Carol, Tyler's mother! Fucking Klaus, man. So "O Come, All Ye Faithful" is an absolutely shitshow for Tyler because he loses everything. Well, he still has Caroline, but Klaus killing all the hybrids and Carol sure would be incentive to want total revenge. I can only imagine the bloodlust.

The episode features Damon and Elena coming to terms with severing the sired bond while Caroline tells Stefan that they were still together, enraging Stefan. Stefan, in this episode, works with Caroline to try and locate the sword needed to help in securing the vampire cure. The vampire cure that would seem to be tied to a map that Jeremy himself has since he is the current hunter. So Jeremy has the hunter inside him that yearns to kill all vampires. Atticus Shane working with Bonnie to use witchcraft to keep Jeremy from attacking Elena (or Damon, for that matter) while telling Damon and Elena that there is a witch buried with an immortality spell that can remove the blood craving for vampires is also elaborated. So you get a ton of information, along with the preacher's daughter, April (Gracie Gillam), wearing the vervain bracelet that keeps her from being compelled, finding an incapacitated Caroline with no pulse in the bathroom after Hayley snapped her neck (to keep her from carrying out the Tyler plan).

So Klaus doesn't die (surprise, surprise), Shane and Hayley pretty much hand over hybrids to Klaus to perish, Bonnie helps Jeremy keep the hunter from wanting to kill Elena (Elena and Jeremy hugging it out at the end is a good dramatic moment, considering how awful Tyler has it), Damon sends Elena away so she doesn't have to be sired to him, Stefan is angry at both of them for staying together, Caroline (who has been very involved in some high school town Winter Wonderland festival) just wants to keep Tyler safe and has to deal with forces seemingly at odds with that, April realizes Caroline should be dead but isn't (locates Rebekah's whereabouts and notices Tyler there, hiding behind a corner so he doesn't see her), and now Shane has provided a new chase for what could be another type of cure for vampirism.

The episode has Stefan locating letters of all Klaus' victims but the sword that was shown to him is missing; Klaus made sure he couldn't just grab it but did want Stefan to know he had it. The Klaus/Stefan rivalry and relationship is fascinating because they hate each other but seem to always keep each other alive. All Stefan cares about is freeing Elena from her vampirism. Damon seems keen on helping her as well, but he's conflicted because he sees benefits in her being a vampire. 

The show with all its entanglements can be dizzying and hard to keep track of for sure!

Caroline looked beautiful in this episode. And telling Stefan about Tyler's plan hurt her, but she cares about his safety. When Elena learned of Caroline telling Stefan about her being with Damon (in the next episode, "After School Special"), Elena gave Caroline that look similar to Tyler's in this episode. Caroline is often the one making the tough decisions in the hopes of sparing others further injury. Concealed motivations often are hard for Caroline to keep hidden to herself. 3/5