'THE MORE YOU IGNORE ME, THE CLOSER I GET'

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES 6X6 'THE MORE YOU IGNORE ME, THE CLOSER I GET' RECAP

He's back!!! In last weeks episode we saw the epic return of Damon Salvatore and that emotional reunion with Stefan, but what happened this week was even better. Shaken by Damon's return Elena does everything she can to avoid him. Alaric faces a personal problem of his own with Jo, but is glad to have his BFF back and Stefan tries to wirte his wrongs by helping the gang save Enzo.

This weeks episode opens in Tripp's van, the vampire hunter has loaded Ivy and two others into the back of his van and is heading straight over the Mystic Falls border. For a moment it looks like Ivy might escape but the newbie vampire becomes scared as the other two die, one by a gunshot to the head. Ivy fears at what's happening but not for long as her neck snaps, brutal. 

Finishing of that killer hug Stefan and Damon agree to keep what happened to Bonnie a secret, Damon wants to tell the gang that he was alone the whole time, suggesting that Bonnie found peace. Before Damon runs off to find Elena, Stefan breaks the news of her mysterious memory loss. Obviously Damon is hurt but believes that just by seeing her the love between them will break through the compulsion. 

In what I think was his office, Alaric attempts to persuade Elena to let him compel her memories back. Elena tells him that she's happy and doesn't want them, why would she want to remember loving a murderer. Alaric promises her that he wont force the compulsion and will only bring back her memories if she asks, the professor agrees but fears that his resurrected BFF might be mad at him. 

At the Salvatore mansion Jeremy is in a rush to escape but is kept behind by Sarah who wants him to answer more questions about the Salvatore family, her ancestors. Clearly Jeremy has learned of Damon's surprising return and he wants answers of his own, I think he'd of preferred Bonnie to come home. 

Matt brings a small shot of blood to Enzo. The vampire asks when Matt intends on helping him escape but is surprised to hear that Matty believes Stefan knew what he was doing when he turned Enzo over to Tripp. Enzo threatens to tell Tripp about Stefan, Caroline, Elena and the others if he doesn't help, I think Matt's convinced.  

At the college Matt tells Caroline and Alaric about Enzo, Alaric doesn't want to see anyone get hurt and agrees to save the charming British vamp. Caroline is mad at Matt for not telling them sooner but he tells them that he can't keep track of which vampires he's supposed to like. I like the direction the show is taking Matt, it looks like we might be seeing a new vampire hunter in the only remaining Donovan. 

Damon goes to Elena's dorm to see his girlfriend, when he gets to his door he notices it's locked. From outside Damon begs Elena to let him in, just so they can talk, she almost looks prepared to twist the lock but hesitates, finally Damon threatens to kick the door down if she doesn't unlock it. When the door is unlocked Damon is hurt to see that Elena jumped out of a window to avoid him. 

On the phone to Elena, Stefan tells her that jumping out of the window was a stupid decision, what if somebody had seen her. Elena has gone to the hospital to distract herself from thinking about Damon, and to hide. Elena tells Stefan that she kissed Liam, I'm not sure she feels guilty about doing it or doesn't want to let Damon back in because she likes Liam. Elena hangs up when she see's her boss Jo, heading into a room. Alaric told her that Jo couldn't be compelled and asked Elena to investigate. Elena slyly takes a sip of  Jo's coffee to check vervein, no luck. Jo is definitely hiding something though. 

In Tripp's office Matt is trying to find out what Enzo has told the vampire hunter. After having no luck on the computer he almost thinks he's caught when somebody walks in, it's Sarah who is trying to find out anything she can about her family, which means checking the animal attack files. 

Damon pays a visit to Alaric on campus, overjoyed to see his best friend back to life the two do what they do best, share a drink. Damon asks Alaric to compel Elena's feelings for him back but the original-type Vampire refuses, saying he'll only do it if Elena agrees. To punish Alaric I really though he was going to snap his neck, but settled on stealing the whiskey, a punishment worse than death for Alaric. 

In the woods Caroline and Stefan have an other argument, this time Caroline's pissed that Stefan turned Enzo over to Tripp. When they reach Tripp's abandoned building Stefan saves Caroline before two thugs see them. When they get inside Enzo is missing. 

At the hospital Elena continues to shadow Jo, she still hasn't discovered how the Dr can escape compulsion. Jo tells Elena to stop playing games, she announces that she knows what Elena and Alaric are and is cool with it. Elena asks Jo if she's a witch, witches are the only thing we know of that can resist compulsion - I on the other hand aren't convinced, Jo didn't specifically say she's a witch meaning we could be looking at a new creature in the TVD universe. 

In Elena's dorm room Damon looks around and is sad to see that no photo's of him are stood in the room. Jeremy shows up and asks Damon why Bonnie didn't come back, sticking to his lie Damon says that she was never there, that she found peace. Jeremy tells him that him that he's been paying Bonnie's phone bill, just to hear her voice. Damon promises that he'll give it a call, something that confuses Jeremy because he thinks Bonnie died hating Damon. 

In Tripp's office Matt discovers Ivy's phone in a locked drawer, when he checks it he see's that the last number dialled was Caroline's, meaning Tripp knows what she is, and where to find her. 

Back in the dorm Jeremy is gone and Damon calls Bonnie's cell, he thanks her for sending him home, and tells her that today's the day he gets to see Elena and it's because of what she did. He announces that he misses her before Elena calls. On the phone Elena tells him that they should talk face to face asking him to meet her. When someone enters Damon thinks it's Elena but is surprised when he see's Tripp standing in the doorway with a vervein gun, Damon catches the first dart but is hit with three more before he can kill Tripp. Elena returns to find blood and Damon's phone. 

Elena calls Alaric panicking, he tells her that everything is going to be ok, and to get to old miller road quickly. They need to stop Tripp crossing the border. As he leaves he is trapped in the hallway by Jo, she tells him that it's time the level with each other, Alaric warns her to get out of the way and stay as far away from him as possible. 

Damon wakes up in the back of Tripp's van, with him is Enzo who tells him what Stefan did and what Tripp's up to. The Sheriff was warned about Tripp and closed down the entrance into Mystic falls meaning there's only two possible routes, Elena and Caroline take one and Alaric and Stefan the other. Elena tells Caroline that she wants her memories back and when they save Damon she'll have Alaric compel her. 

Tripp loaded with two vampires comes down Alaric and Stefan's route, they've set it up to look like a broken down car. Alaric tells Stefan to stay out of sight and approaches the van. After getting close enough Alaric attacks Tripp forcing him to push don on the pedal dragging Alaric as well as Damon across the border. Stefan tells Elena what's happening before heroically stepping across the border to save his brother. We find out that Enzo was dying of consumption before he became a vampire, so crossing the border wasn't fun for him. On the side of the road Alaric is dying slowly of his stab wound, but just before he dies Dr Jo appears and promises to help him. He tells her that the only thing she can do is to get him across the border but she can't move him. Instead she performs CPR on what looks like a dead Alaric, bringing him back to life. As he awakes something feels wrong, he feels Human. 

Stefan, Damon and Enzo are able to cross the border safely and turn to see Jo save Alaric. On the phone Stefan fills Caroline in on what happened, she tells him that she'll tell Elena something. When Elena returns Caroline tells her that while across the border, Mystic Fall's  stripped the magic off of Alaric, making him once again human, but before he died Jo saved him, meaning our favourite history teacher is permanently Human. Unfortunately this means that the compulsion is still in effect with Elena with a limited amount of options. 

Matt takes Sarah home and warns her to stop digging into her family. He tells her that Stefan and Damon are her relatives and that they're Vampires who only bring pain. They hear a sound coming from another room where they find Jeremy drunk trying to cancel Bonnie's phone but can't remember her pin. Scared that he's forgetting her Jeremy starts throwing glass across the room before crying into Matt's arms. 

In the hospital Alaric talks to Elena, he says how sorry he is that he can't compel back her memories, but she tells him that it was her choice and that all she wants is to look at Damon and know what she feels, she also says that Alaric isn't the one to compel them back, but that doesn't mean no one can give them back, there's more than one Original vampire out there. Could this be the focus of our crossover episode with the Originals?? 

After he hangs up Jo enters the room, she tells him that she's having him transferred to Whitmore where she can take care of him. He thanks her not only for saving him but for giving him his old life back. 

Elena has agreed to still meet Damon, but before he potentially loses everything he catches a drink with his brother. He tells Stefan that he's sick of people telling him how hard it was for Elena, it was hard for him too, and he doesn't want her to be happy without him. As Damon leaves Stefan see's Caroline walking down the street, and finally he makes the right decision to chase after her. Stefan asks what he needs to do for her to forgive him, he wants them to be friends again. He clearly doesn't understand what Caroline feels for him. She tells him that she doesn't want to be friends any more and walks away. It seems everyone except Stefan understands that it's because she wants more.