The time has come, it’s The Vampire Diarie’s mid season finale….and no finale on TVD diaries is complete without some serious drama, can’t wait!

Last week Damon was supposed to tell Elena to hit the road in order to break the sire bond…did he do it?

We open up on Elena and Damon in bed together…but it’s not what you think, they are fully clothed. Damon is immediately regretful over letting Elena stay the night and that he hasn’t broken the bond yet. Elena realizes that what she feels might not be real but she’s not ready to let go of her feelings yet. You can tell Damon is super torn, on the one hand he wants to do right by Elena and Stephan but on the other hand he wants to be with the woman he loves.

Right as he’s about to make the latter decision Elena gets a call from Bonnie. She has to leave and go meet up with Bonnie and Jeremy (I guess Bonnie is trying teach Jeremy how to not kill vampires). Elena invites Damon to come along.

Stephan arrives at Klaus’ and finds him doing a little painting, a donation for the Winter Wonderland Charity Event (yes! nothing like an event in Mystic Falls to bring the drama and angst). Stephan arrives and lays it out for Klaus, Elena is sired to Damon, so they need the cure asap. Luckily, Klaus found the sword that will help them decipher the map currently growing on Jeremy’s body, problem is they can’t figure out how to keep the map growing without Jeremy coming after them.

At one of the Lockwood caves, the hybrids are complaining to Tyler that they are tired taking orders. Tyler promises that a revolution is coming, and soon. Hayley comes in gloating about finding a witch to help them take Klaus down.

At the Winter Wonderland Charity Event Tyler lays out the plan for Caroline. Use this mystery witch to pull the body switching spell on Klaus. Move him into another body, encase the body in cement and bury him while the hybrids escape to far away lands. Caroline asks the obvious question, who was willing to volunteer their body? Take a guess, Tyler….Caroline does not take the news super well.

In the woods Jeremy is chopping some wood. Sidenote: Jeremy is looking good in that tank top. Anyways Elena and Damon pull up and Jeremy is immediately on alert, but Bonnie comes to his side and calms him down. She leads him back to the cabin they are staying at and who waltzes out but creepy Professor Atticus Shane. Turns out Elena invited him….LAME.

In a touching scene Jeremy invites Elena into the Gilbert cabin, but that moment ends quickly when Jeremy pulls a stake and tries to take out Elena. This is going to be a long day.

Caroline calls Stephan freaking out over the Tyler situation. Before she can lay it all out Stephan informs her that Klaus found the sword, and the key to the cure. Caroline realizes that if Tyler and the hybrids go through with their plan then the sword may be lost forever. Caroline tells Stephan they have to get the sword TODAY!

The Winter Wonderland is in full swing and the party is hopping at the Grill. MATT! I missed him. Sometimes I need a little human time on this show. Caroline is admiring Klaus’ painting when he walks up. They share some nice Klaus/Caroline time but Caroline is of course playing him and texts Stephan to find the sword.

Stephan looks in the safe where Klaus had the sword but it’s gone. Damon suggests killing Tyler to stop the hybrid plan. Stephan stumbles across some old love letters that seem to pique his interest. Of course he can’t not ask Damon about Elena, and Damon kinda skips over the part where he technically did not break the sire bond….but instead rushes off the phone to thwart creepy Atticus Shane.

Inside the cabin, Shane is talking about using some voodoo nonsense on Jeremy that will hopefully let him choose to not kill Elena, basically hypnotizing him. Elena starts to talk about their family, the place they are in and their bond as brother and sister. But that doesn’t seem to work, because he throws out these gems about Elena, she’s the one that ruined their lives, she’s not his real sister and he’s going to kill her. Shane brings him out of it and Jeremy doesn’t seem to remember what he said. Like I said this is going to be a long day.

Stephan rushes to find Caroline, they have to call off the plan. Tyler overhears and insists that the plan is going to happen and starts to walk away. Stephan steps in front of him with a, “I can’t let you do that”, Caroline calls out and you think it’s because she’s scared for Tyler but actually it’s because all of the hybrids have appeared, surrounding them.

At the cabin, Elena is out by the lake distraught that the plan with Jeremy didn’t work. She remembers that they last time she was there she was completely in love with Stephan and now it’s barely a memory. She wonders aloud to Damon if that’s because of the sire bond or because she’s so happy to be here with him…..UGH I really hate vampire Elena. She’s kinda a jerk.

At the Lockwood caves the hybrids are holding Caroline and Stephan hostage. It doesn’t look good for Caroline and Tyler…I think she should get back with Matt, who’s with me?

At the cabin, Damon states the obvious, using a vampire to suppress the need to hunt vampires isn’t going to work. Jeremy has to express his detour type feelings to someone else…namely Bonnie. Back out on the lake creepy Atticus Shane goes to talk to Elena. She asks him if he knows a way to break the sire bond, and he reveals that he has never found a cure for loving someone too much. He also reveals that he lost a wife and child…before Elena can pry into that further Damon walks up holding an axe, ready to kill creepy Atticus Shane. Damon wants to know once and for all why Shane wants the cure. He claims he doesn’t but that he can lead them too it because he’s already be there. DUN DUN DUH!

Back at the Winter Wonderland, April (UGH) is talking to Mrs. Lockwood. Tyler approaches and tells him mom about the whole cement plan thing. She is upset but wants him to do what he has to do.

Back at the cabin, Shane once again tells the story about Silas, who turns out to be the key. Dig up his body and find the cure to immortality.

In the caves, there is about to be a stand off between Caroline and the hybrids when Damon calls and tells Stephan the good news, they no longer need the sword.

At the cabin Shane explains the symbols and why they still need the map growing on Jeremy. It holds the spell they need to raise Silas from the grave. Damon is still not 100% convinced.

Released from the hostage situation Caroline rushes to find Tyler and Hayley. She has a new idea. Instead of using Tyler’s body for the switch they use Rebakah’s who is already staked and buried. Tyler loves it, but Hayley is not pleased. She texts Shane, “We have a problem…the plan is falling apart.”

Caroline calls Bonnie to confirm that her new plan will work. Getting a confirmation she goes to leave the bathroom, when Hayley pulls a I’m going to twist your neck and kill you move. Luckily Caroline’s not really dead but it’s definitely going to slow her down. Knew I didn’t like that Hayley girl.

At the cabin Elena finds out that Damon believes Shane was involved in the explosion at the Pastor’s farm. Shane denies it but before there can be any more disucssion Jeremy comes in to try out his new detour trick. He starts to approach Elena and it looks a little touch and go but one look at Bonnie and he hands over the stake goes to Elena and gives her a big hug.

At the Winter Wonderland Hayley is whispering something to Klaus as Stephan walks up. That can’t be good. She rushes off and Klaus lays into Stephan about his whereabouts all day. Stephan reveals that he broke into the safe and that he found the letters. Turns out they were just letters from his various victims, keepsakes. Klaus gets a look from one of his hybrids and stalks off.

In the bathroom April actually gets something useful to do. She discovers Caroline and freaks out because she’s unconscious and doesn’t have a pulse. Right as April goes to find help Caroline springs into action, even calling Stephan and describing Hayley as a little werewolf slut in front of April and describes the plan using Rebakah as the body. Obviously April is freaking out but no worries Caroline compels her to forget.

As Caroline comes out of the bathroom Matt rushes up and says that Stephan has been looking for her…they are taking Klaus to the cellar to put the plan in motion. Caroline describes what just happened in the bathroom with April and Matt freaks out, little did Caroline know, April is wearing a vervain bracelet and can’t be compelled….UH OH!

At Winter Wonderland Hayley finds Tyler and finally tells him the truth, there is no “witch” to take down Klaus. Hayley needed Klaus for the sacrifice…I KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING. This is why they needed 12, to unlock the power of “expression”. If you don’t remember from last week’s episode a witch told Damon he had to kill 12 people in order to break a vampire sire bond, but in reality she just needed those sacrifices to unlock uber bad magic. Ok back to the action….and we’re right Klaus is quickly killing all the hybrids in the forest. But wait there were only 11….RUN TYLER RUN! Klaus is once again alone, covered in the blood of his precious hybrids and on the hunt for Tyler.

At the cabin Bonnie, Jeremy and Elena sort through old Christmas decorations as Damon watches from outside. Elena tries to lure him inside with some mistletoe but Damon isn’t budging. He realizes watching her that he wants to see Elena normal and happy again. He sets Elena free…

At the Salvatore residence Stephan is feeling guilty over Klaus being led to slaughter (he doesn’t know about what really went down)….when Caroline walks in, she also feels bad. Stephan waxes on about trust and Caroline reveals that Damon and Elena have been together all day, lying to him. He asks the question, how together are they? He’s not going to like this…..she doesn’t even have to answer for him to know the truth.

At the cabin Bonnie and Elena depart. Elena now is ready to leave, no longer fighting to stay with Damon.

At the Salvatore residence Stephan throws a fit (literally he throws stuff).

Tyler asseses the dead hybrids in the forest and the one in the Lockwood cellar. Hiding in the corner is April, who has come there to find her friend Rebekah, who she discovers in the coffin.

Back at the Winter Wonderland Mayor Lockwood is waiting for Tyler. Klaus walks up covered in blood and confronts her…and proceeds to drown her in the fountain…while a haunting Christmas song plays.

No one is having a Merry Christmas tonight. What a better way to end the mid season finale with 12 deaths, I think that might be a record even for TVD. As always Julie Plec and writers, well done.

BEST QUOTES OF THE NIGHT:

Damon to Elena: “This would be so much more fun if we were naked.”

Stephan to Klaus: “Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves you know….”

Caroline to Tyler: “Freak out? Freak out? I’m about to hemorrhage!”

Caroline to Tyler: “Well I can think of better ways for us to spend our senior year than with you buried in concrete Tyler!”

Caroline to Stephan: “If I’m going to be a friend in your time of need you’re going to need to work on your punctuality.”

Caroline to Klaus: “Don’t want to be a high school cautionary tale at the next town meeting.”

Stephan to Damon: “Nobody’s killing Tyler.”

Damon: “Bonnie’s enlisted Dr. Evil in her plan and I have to thrwat him.”

Creepy Atticus Shane to Damon: “You threatened to kill me what like 3 times this week?”