Tonight on the CW The Vampire Diaries starring Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley continues with an all new Thursday March 19, season 6 episode 17 called “A Bird in a Gilded Cage,” and we have your weekly recap and spoilers below. On tonight’s episode, Damon [Ian Somerhalder] and Elena [Nina Dobrev] embark on a plan to rescue Damon’s mother who is trapped in a 1903 prison world. Meanwhile, Caroline’s [Candice Accola] plan for Stefan [Paul Wesley] backfires; Enzo and Alaric’s attempt to reel Caroline back in doesn’t go as planned; and Bonnie’s unexpected gift shakes up Damon.
On the last episode, after shutting off her humanity following the death of her mother, Caroline (Candice Accola) gave her friends an unexpected ultimatum. Not knowing how to handle the new Caroline, Stefan’s (Paul Wesley) attempt to intervene set off a dangerous chain of events, leaving him and Elena (Nina Dobrev) in a race against the clock. Meanwhile, after seeking answers from Kai (guest star Chris Wood) about the prison world, Damon’s (Ian Somerhalder) world was turned upside when he learned some devastating news about his mother Lily (guest star Annie Wersching). Elsewhere, Enzo (Michael Malarkey) found himself becoming increasingly intrigued by Sarah Salvatore (guest star Tristan Mays), and Bonnie (Kat Graham) began to struggle with the effects of being back in the real world. Ian Somerhalder directed the episode written by Brian Young and Caroline Dries. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we recapped it all right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CW Vampire Diaries spoilers synopsis, “With the help of Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Kai (guest star Chris Wood), Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) set forth a plan to rescue Damon’s mother Lily (guest star Annie Wersching), who is trapped in the 1903 prison world. Meanwhile, when Caroline’s (Candice Accola) plan for Stefan (Paul Wesley) backfires, she is left to pick up the pieces. Elsewhere, back at Whitmore College, Enzo (Michael Malarkey) and Alaric’s (Matt Davis) attempt to reel Caroline back in doesn’t quite go as planned when they realize they’re outmaneuvered. Lastly, an unexpected gift from Bonnie leaves Damon shaken to his core.”
You’re not going to want to miss any of the action tonight, so tune in at 8PM EST to the CW to catch the latest. We’ll be live recapping the season 6 episode 17 for you right here and in the meantime, hit up our comments section and tell us your thoughts on this new season!
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On #VampireDiaires, Caroline cleans the bar up after her party. Enzo shows up and she yells at him for walking on her freshly mopped floor. He calls her Cinderella and asks why she cares now that she flipped her switch. She says she wants to stay in college so needs to cover her tracks. She says she has an audition tomorrow for the school musical – she reminds him she’s a drama major and asks why he’s there. He says he needs his phone back and asks why she needed Sarah’s number. She says she blackmailed Stefan into switching off his humanity by threatening her life and says Sarah may or may not have survived Liam’s game of Operation.
Stefan comes home and tells Damon the rave was loud and lame. Damon asks if there’s anything he’d like to talk about. Stefan asks where Jeremy’s hunter gear is – grenades and crossbows. Damon comes at him with a syringe of knock out stuff but Stefan spots it and snaps Damon’s wrist then tells him to stay out of his way today. He zooms off and Damon curses. Sarah wakes in the hospital in Jo’s care who tells her she drank too much last night. She says she needs to get home but Jo says she needs to stay put for a while. Jo tells Alaric she’s not cool with this but he says it’s just until Elena’s blood is out of her system.
He says unless she wants another Salvatore vampire at their wedding. Jo says maybe they should elope. Jo says she’s thinking baby names and Ric is caught off guard. He says Junior and she tells him to get lost. Damon is beating the sofa when Elena shows up. He says he’s trying to let his rage out in a healthy way. He says Stefan without his humanity is one step away from Stefan the Ripper. Elena says they lost their chance to spark Caroline’s humanity since he was her link to humanity. Damon then fills Elena in on the fact that his mom Lilian is in witch prison in 1903.
He says she’s a vampire and a ripper. Elena is shocked. Damon says Stefan always was a mama’s boy and Elena asks how much. Damon says they both loved her and she was their world. Elena wants to retrieve Lilian to try and bring Stefan back. Damon says you don’t use one Ripper to try and fix another. Damon says maybe Bonnie would help. He goes to see her and she rants at him. He says sorry for being a dick and says they need her and Kai both to get Lilian to switch Stefan to then switch Caroline. She offers her blood but Damon says she should come along.
Bonnie talks to Kai and asks about the 1903 Ascendant. He says it’s a lot of studying of texts under magic cloaking spells. But then he pulls it out of his pocket. He says when Damon told him about Mama Salvatore, he started looking for it. He says he doesn’t even need a celestial event and says he’ll go if Bonnie goes along. He says the Guilded Age is exciting. She says she would rather die of cholera then spend an afternoon with him. Kai tells her she’s much more likely to die at Caroline’s hand than from cholera and that stops her cold.
Caroline is at her audition. It sounds perfect. She tells the guy she crushed it but then Stefan is there and kills the theater director. He mocks her and says this good student routine is trying. He reminds her she ruined his life and she says with his switch off, he shouldn’t care. Stefan says unlike her, he doesn’t have an elaborate system to keep his in catch. He tells her he’s going to make sure if his life falls apart, then so will hers. He shows her his bloody hands and says he’s a control freak’s work nightmare. He says he will undo her one day at a time until she breaks.
He swipes a bloody finger across her mouth and she’s tempted by the blood and Stefan both. He takes off and she looks concerned. Bonnie cuts her hand open and Kai tells her that Crocodile Dundee called and wants his knife back. She says that joke is over. Elena wants to go but Damon says no. But she gets her way. It’s Bonnie and Kai, Damon and Elena headed to the 1903 prison to check on Mama Salvatore. Bonnie says they can go ahead and find his mom while she and Kai find the mirror of the Ascendant. Elena doesn’t want to leave her with Kai but Bonnie says he’s goodish now with the new leaf.
Kai asks if Bonnie really buys his new leaf and she says hell no but they need to find her mom. Stefan goes to get on his motorcycle and finds that she’s taken it apart. She tells Stefan to go away or else. He tells her she’s great at control and terrible at revenge. He says he tore her director’s head off with his teeth while she took one bolt off his bike. He tells her she’s an embarassment to humanity free vampires. So she kicks a hole in the gas tank. Jo calls Alaric and says based on his own name he can’t pick the baby name. Enzo shows up and he ends the call.
Enzo asks Ric if he has enough vervain to get blondie and her sidekick into the Salvatore cellar. Ric reminds him that he’s human now and Enzo calls him a coward. Ric says he has weapons at his place. Elena and Damon are at his childhood home and she admires a baby photo but he says it’s Stefan then shows her one of him. He says they’re only there to nab his mom then head back to flip Stefan’s switch. Elena says Stefan was a Ripper and is fine now. Damon says his mom died when they buried her empty coffin as far as she’s concerned. Then Lilian is there.
He says – hello Mother. Lilian is stunned. She tells them she long since gave up marking time on the calendar. Elena says it’s been more than a century. Damon says he would have stopped by but thought she was dead and buried. She says she died in a TB ward after a vampire nurse gave her blood. She says she was attacked by a coven of witches in 1903 and woke up here. Damon says she must have pissed off a lot of people to be in witch prison. She says that night seems like a forever ago.
She says she is down to the last of her blood and has two drops a week to stay awake. Elena says it sounds miserable. Lily says she heard they turned during the war and he says Stefan ripped their dad’s throat out. She says she hated that man and Damon says so much that she abandoned her kids with him and went out and joined the Ripper coalition. Caroline hears a noise and goes to investigate – it’s Stefan and he says he brought her a peace offering. He throws a grenade at her then comes at her with a stake. He tells her this is how a vampire with no humanity is supposed to ask.
She tells him to stop and he tells her to let go and says it will feel good. She says she won’t let him ruin her life and he says he’ll end it. He goes to stake her and she bites him, flips him then stabs him. Kai tells Bonnie that his guilt keeps him up at night and begs her to give him another chance. He grabs her hands and tells her to listen. He drew blood when he hit her hand. He says he didn’t mean to do it. Bonnie says even if he’s telling the truth, the old him is still in there. Elena and Damon tell Lily that they need her to fix Stefan. She says she’ll alert the others.
She says she assumed he knew about her traveling companions. She brings them to meet some other vampires that sit around a table looking like dried up vampire husks. Ick.
Ric and Enzo are weaponed up and head to hunt the no humanity vampires. Ric asks why he’s there since he hates Enzo. He says he has a whole revenge thing planned against Stefan and can’t have that with his humanity off. Ric tells Enzo he thinks his life is sad and lonely. Enzo says Ric’s life sounds lovely – girl, kid, death. Caroline is dragging Stefan down the hall when a girl asks if Stefan is okay. He springs up and throws the stake into the girl’s stomach. He tells her no saving strangers. She smacks him back and tells the girl to run.
She lectures Stefan but he hears a noise and shushes her. They hide and then Ric sees a bottle bomb. Enzo says bollocks and whisks them both away before it blows up. Elena asks about the other vampires. She says they were with her on the boat that night. Damon asks if they’re Rippers too. Lily says they saved her from that part of herself. She says she had to confront the animal she had become and says her friends sacrificed their rations for her. She says she learned to control her blood lust so she would have enough left to wake them.
She says they made her feel human again. She goes to get the blood to revive them. Damon says his mother is not just a Ripper but an insane Ripper. Elena spots the Ascendant and asks why Bonnie isn’t there. Damon says Bonnie isn’t looking for the Ascendant. Bonnie tells Kai that maybe part of her deep down believes there’s a sliver of good in her. He turns his back and she stabs him in the back. He asks what she’s doing. She says she’s stabbing him in the back after he trusted her. She says she’s going to leave him there all alone until he wants to kill himself.
Kai tells her he’s changed and she tells him she has too. She goes to stab him again but he magics himself away from her. She looks around frustrated. Caroline checks on Ric and Enzo and says they’re still breathing. Stefan says Damon must be busy if he sent the B team. He wants to kill them but she grabs the gun and tells him to back away. Stefan says fine and walks off. She follows him as he comes into the girl’s room. He says he taught her how to control her blood list. He compels the girl to stand still and not scream and he bites her neck. He feeds and Caroline says tempting her isn’t working.
Stefan says deep down, they’re the same and then he bites the girl again. He feeds messily and Caroline struggles. Her hunger flares and she fights it then digs in. Stefan steps back and lets her feed. She shoves the girl aside and pins him to the wall with a kiss. He flips it on her and pins her and consumes her with a burning kiss then lifts her up against him. Wow. Hot. Damon tells Lily they’re down a witch and can’t take them all. Bonnie says they need to go and then his mom takes off.
She doesn’t want to leave her friends. She goes to wake her companions but Damon slaps the bottle out of her hand. She says they’re her family and that pisses him off. He says those freaks may be her family and says Stefan is his and he will leave her there to rot if she doesn’t come on alone. Bonnie starts the spell as instructed and then Damon shows up with Lily. An injured Kai staggers close and calls to Bonnie but then they’re gone and he’s stuck there in the 1903 prison. Enzo comes to see Sarah in the hospital and compliments her hospital gown calling it a negligee.
She says she saw a text and asks if they met last night. He says it was a mistake to bring her into his life and says it was loneliness. He then says she was a pawn in a game he’s lost interest in playing and says she deserves better. He called her Sarah Salvatore and she asks why he called her that. JO checks Ric and smacks him then says she’s marrying an idiot. She says she needs him alive for 18 years then he can run around with guns and knives and be an idiot. She says fine. Lily sits in shock in front of a computer. She asks him to teach her and he says that’s more Stefan’s thing.
She says an angel did visit Stefan the night of her funeral. She says she had just turned and wanted to see her boys. She says she leaned down to whisper in Stefan’s ear and she heard his blood and wanted to attack so she fled for their sake. She says no matter how deeply he felt their absence she felt theirs twice as much. Damon says – good to know. He tells her to get some sleep. She says she’s looking forward to getting to know them but wants the ones she left behind. She asks when they can go back and he says soon. He tells her that her prison world isn’t going anywhere.
Kai staggers into the vampire nest and is terrified. He curses. He looks more closely at them and asks – who the hell are you. The one that got a small drop of blood before Lily left reaches out and grabs Kai by the neck. Damon catches Elena with the baby photo of him – she stole it. She says she liked seeing that side of him but Damon says Lily is just a means to get Stefan back. She says it’s never a waste of time to look for the good in someone. He says she ran off and left her kids to be a den mother to vampires. She says it’s a good thing they have forever and kisses him.
Stefan and Caroline are naked in bed and she says he’s terrible. He says control is overrated. She asks where her shirt is and he says it’s near the girl they left bleeding out in the hallway. She giggles and tells him he’s right – she says his way is much more fun. She rolls on top of him and kisses him deeply. Damon is kissing Elena and undressing her then sees Bonnie there. She says awkward timing. Elena says she has to go check on Ric and takes off. Damon says this better be good. Bonnie thanks him for helping her find closure today.
Damon switches on the water and says there’s a crazy woman upstairs who wants to go back there. They agree they’re not going back. He switches off the water. Bonnie says she has a gift for him from 1994 and says she would have given it to him earlier but he was being an ass. It’s the vampire cure. She says she knows he wanted it for Elena. Damon asks what if he doesn’t want it for her now. Bonnie says it’s none of her business and says it’s up to him. She squeezes his hand and goes. Damon looks very thoughtful.
THE END!
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