Well, it seems not everything always goes Klaus’ (Joseph Morgan) way after all. After a very dark opening episode (Andie (Dawn Olivieri) was murdered by Stefan (Paul Wesley), in order to teach Damon (Ian Somerhalder) a lesson; Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) was haunted by two dead ex-girlfriends; Caroline (Candice Accola) was taken captive by Tyler’s mom), we get a bit more action and a hint of this show’s customary speedy plot advancement and surprise reveals.
Last week Damon was discouraging Elena (Nina Dobrev) from looking for Klaus because he thought he recognized a familiar pattern. It seems that though we first met a gentle Stefan and a raging Damon, things were not always so clear cut between the vampire brothers. Flashbacks have shown us a kinder, less confident Damon, and a blood-drunk, violent Stefan. Thanks to the interference of Klaus, Damon was sure evil Stefan was back, probably for decades, and knew that couldn’t be good for Elena.

Her brilliant plan is to track Stefan in Tennessee, never mind that he and Klaus are hanging with a literal wolf pack and tonight is the full moon. She figures they’ll find him before the sun sets, which is really poor thinking, actually, but that’s Elena’s secret power: she can talk anyone into anything, as long as it sounds right, and I guess that’s how she’s hoping to free Stefan from Klaus.

This happens largely off-screen, as we’re more concerned about Alaric, Elena and Damon (yeah, he figured out what was happening and trailed them) in the woods with the few rabid wolf vamps that make it out of the camp. And things would go pretty badly, if not for Stefan saving his brother, like always.
This lets Damon know, of course, that Stefan can be saved, after all. They’ve just got to deal with the Klaus situation. My advice: find the way cooler Elijah, and let him loose. What could be better for this show than a double-brother-on-brother battle to the death?

There’s something beyond ironic about Jack Coleman, once TV’s first gay son on Dynasty, now becoming the supernatural patriarch of choice on genre shows. Bringing in a real actor for the role means we’re probably going to find out more about Mystic Falls early supernatural legacy, but I don’t see this dad betraying his little blonde angel any more than Noah could ever do to Claire.