Previously, on The Vampire Diaries

Matt's parked on a bench in beautiful downtown Mystic Falls when Katherine approaches from the rear, clapping her hands over his eyes and asking, "Guess who?"

Talk about a loaded question

She plops down next to him and after a bit of chatter about the party he's throwing tonight asks if he's still drinking vervain. He points her to his vervain-infused bracelet. Declaring, "This will hurt me more than it hurts you," Katherine tears it off and tosses it away, burning her fingers in the process. I really don't understand vervain. If it's in contact with the skin it offers protection but when it's removed the effects fade instantly? This shouldn't still be this confusing.

Katherine comes out as Katherine to a puzzled Matt and exposits that while they were all celebrating her impending death with drinking games about how awful she is she was figuring out a way to hop a lift in Elena's brain. Now she needs a crash course on "all things Elena Gilbert" so she's turned to the only one of Elena's friends who can be compelled. Hilariously she starts with his opinion on her dress.

Matt refuses to play her reindeer games and moves to depart, only to have his ass sat back down by Nadia. "Just compel him already." Katherine does, and Matt signs off on the shoes for the evening's party but not so much the dress. Next up, the red streaks in Elena's hair (a by-product of pulling her emotion chip, so they can go). Then in rapid succession she asks for Jeremy's birthday, Elena's birthday, Elena's address and whether Elena likes Caroline or Bonnie better. Kathy's rooting for Caroline but Matt says she loves them both equally. Last thing she needs to know, because she'll need it for later, is how exactly Elena broke up with him. Title card!

We jump back in time to earlier that day, where we find Katherine and Nadia checking into a motel. Nadia busies herself attaching chains to the bed as she exposits that Mia the Traveler need Katherine's body to seal the deal of Katherine's control of Elena's body. Katherine just finds the whole thing creepy. Right there with ya, girl. Katherine is also irritated by the constant barrage of voice mails Damon is leaving her, and again I agree. If she's not answering, she's not answering, and one well-crafted voice mail is way more effective then a torrent. Nadia chains her up against the eventuality of Elena's unplanned re-emergence and heads out in search of the corpse.

Damon pops in the front door of Casa Salvatore with a shovel to find Stefan, asking where he's been. Out burying Katherine somewhere is the answer, which Nadia, skulking in the background, refuses to accept. She claims it was Katherine's dying wish to be buried with her family in the old country; Damon could not care less. Nadia pins Damon to a wall, demanding the burial site. Damon, despite being about 350 years younger than Nadia and theoretically far weaker, nevertheless overpowers her, pinning Nadia to the opposite wall and reiterating his intention to let Katherine rot.

Matt searches through Lockwood Manor for his phone, rousing a hungover (or possibly still drunk) Tyler. Tyler downs a breakfast shot. Atta girl! Matt asks what happened in New Orleans. Thankfully Tyler declines to go into detail and declares himself as making a fresh start. Matt announces that he's throwing Tyler a welcome home party so Tyler needs to clean the place up, invite some people and grab a shower. In that order? Foam party at Tyler's!

Speaking of cleaning, Caroline is stress-cleaning her Improbably Large Dorm Room when that Whitmore boy pops by looking for Elena.

Caroline offers to deliver a message. His trust fund has come to fruition and he's cut the funding for Augustine and Doctor Evil has been kicked to the curb. See you on The Flash, Doctor Evil! Aaron returns to his dorm room, where he is intercepted by Enzo.

Stefan calls Caroline to try to get her on board with his plan to reunite Damon and Elena. She is adamantly opposed until Stefan suggests she ponder being judged solely on who she's attracted to. He convinces her that it's in everyone's best interest to bring them back together because Elena makes Damon happy and happy Damon is also less murdery Damon. The point is temporarily moot as Elena has pulled the old slumber party trick, leading each of them to believe she's with the other.

She's actually in the motel room, coming back into her own head and realizing that Katherine is the Whorfin to her Lizardo. Elena breaks her chains and snatches up her phone but before she can answer Caroline's call Nadia returns. She summons Katherine back out.

Over shots and pool at the Grill Damon continues to refuse to divulge Katherine's body's whereabouts so Stefan can knock off his pouty face. Stefan replies that he's making his "you're being a dick" face. Caroline arrives to exposit that Bonnie and Jeremy are visiting Abby and haven't seen Elena. Damon doesn't appreciate the double team and bails. Caroline texts Elena and Katherine rants about the constant interruptions. That it never occurs to her to shut off the phone is hilarious.

Nadia is not amused since she interprets the constant calls and texts as growing suspicion amongst Elena's friends. Stefan's texted inquiry as to whether Elena will be attending Tyler's party prompts Katherine to formulate a plan. She'll go, cozy up to Damon and wheedle the location of her body out of him. Nadia is aghast, insisting that despite Katherine's demonstrated skillz at impersonating Elena short-term she isn't prepared to assume her life in its entirety. She notes such knowledge gaps as Elena's birthday. Katherine has a notion as to who can help fill in her gaps.

Tyler and Matt unload supplies for the party and they bro-bond for a sec over how Matt legally owns Lockwood Manor which means he has to be on hand to invite the vampire guests in.

Matt twigs that this is a roundabout way of asking if Caroline is coming to the party, and yes she is. Tyler hauls in some kegs and Matt gets a call from "Elena" asking for a favor. This brings the flashback full circle.

Later that evening Damon returns home to find Enzo camped out in the library. Damon spots the body bag on the floor at Enzo's feet. Damon feels like this is old business, what with his having saved Enzo's life that one time but Enzo counters that he's figured out that Damon's been adhering to the "kill every Whitmore save one" pledge he made while they were cellies. So he's brought Damon a present, that Whitmore boy, alive.

Enzo: "Do you want to kill him, or shall I?"

Katherine arrives at the party but can't enter. She captures Matt's attention and he invites her in. She sends him off to hit on a blonde and zeroes in on Stefan. She answers his inquiries about where she's been and asks in return how he's handling Katherine's death. That he's OK with it pisses her greatly which entertains me mightily. She suggests a funeral or at least letting her know where the body is buried but Stefan only knows that the body is where Damon believes Katherine always belonged.

Over at Casa Salvatore Enzo can't figure out why Damon is resisting his impulse to kill the Whitmore boy when he's already murdered the rest of his family. Damon: "Would you believe he's a friend of a friend?"

Enzo keeps pushing but Damon's getting a call from Caroline breaks the momentum long enough for the Whitmore boy to revive. Enzo again asks whether he or Damon is going to kill the Whitmore boy; instead, Damon snaps Enzo's neck. He can't kill the Whitmore boy because of Elena so instead he tears off the Whitmore boy's vervain-infused wristwatch and compels him. "Go back to college and pack up your entire life. There's one highway that heads out of town. Take it North until you hit ice." So, Maryland? "Don't ever come back."

Katherine weirdly hauls a bag of trash to the garbage bins as Nadia arrives. Katherine exposits that she's figured out that her body is in the tomb in which Damon believed she was interred for over a century. Nadia tells her to say her goodbyes. Back inside Caroline buttonhooks Katherine and confesses that she had sex with Klaus and wonders if that makes her an awful person. Katherine replies that Caroline is one of the least awful people she's ever met, then blows up the moment by asking for deets in a manner calculated to allow Tyler to overhear with his vampionic hearing. Katherine feigns shock and remorse and Tyler leaves the room in disgust.

Commercials! Can I just say, I loathe the commercials for the iPad Air. Between them and the trailer for The Boxtrolls I may open a goddamn vein.

Nadia has fetched Katherine's corpse and Mia; Katherine joins them in one of the underground tunnels. Mia starts the ritual, which involves harvesting some of Katherine's blood, gutting Katherine's corpse, and chanting. Mid-chant Elena emerges.

Back at Lockwood Manor Caroline tries to explain why she had sex with Klaus and Tyler is not having it. He orders her to leave and she refuses. He hybrids out but Stefan zhoops in and smacks him down.

Tyler shouts, "She screwed Klaus!" and even Stefan is taken aback. Caroline flees and Stefan hits Tyler. "Drunk or not? She doesn't deserve that."

Nadia asks Elena about planning their world tour and Mia is all, I'm chanting here! With only a few seconds before Katherine's possession becomes permanent, Elena decks Mia. Nadia tries to summon Katherine but before she can Elena impales her on a torch.

Damon arrives at Tyler's party and can't enter the building. Snerk.

Nadia revives and yanks the torch out of her abdomen. Mia revives and Nadia orders her to finish the spell. Elena, having escaped, finds herself zhooping through the woods. She tries her phone but Katherine has set a PIN. 911 calls go through without a PIN, Elena. As she continues to zhoop around the woods Mia resumes her chant and Elena starts experiencing Katherine's memories. It is very cool that the show's various flashback episodes allow for material to represent aspects of Katherine's life from outside the actual show's limited timeframe. Mia lights Katherine's body on fire and the flames appear to completely consume her. Elena finds her way out of the woods and spies Damon. She runs to him, throwing her arms around him and exclaiming "Thank God!"

Before she can speak again, Mia completes the spell and Katherine takes control. Oblivious, Damon pours out his heart. Elena is the best person he has ever known and without her in his life he is surrounded by immense darkness.

Katherine-as-Elena responds. Elena loves that she makes Damon happy and a better person but she can't handle the responsibility of what he might do if they have a fight or break up again. Damon tortured Katherine in her final moments. She can't change him from being the person who would do that, the person he really is. That person was right to let her go; they're over. She turns to go with a self-satisfied smile at how effectively she twisted that knife.

Of all the sad puppies Damon is the sad puppiest

The party breaks up and Matt starts clearing the debris. He stumbles across drunken Tyler, who lays out his litany of pain. Matt suggests getting the hell out but Tyler can't even. Matt reaches out to comfort him.

Down in the depths Mia assures Nadia that Katherine is permanently driving Elena's body. They speak of payment but Katherine arrives and yanks Mia's heart out. She was a loose end and Katherine hates those. Nadia: "She gave you the creeps anyway." Katherine: "Cold. Manipulative. Good hair. You really are my daughter."

Katherine shocks the hell out of Nadia by declaring that she's staying in Mystic Falls. Because Stefan is her One True Love (puke) and she intends to win him back. Nadia decides to stay as well.

Stefan returns to Casa Salvatore to find Caroline drinking her pain. She asks whether she deserves to be slut-shamed for sleeping with Klaus. Stefan says no and cites his own tawdry relationship with Katherine as a counter-example. Continuing to love the ongoing friendship between these two.

Final scene is that Whitmore boy stopping his car at the sight of a body at the side of the road. It's Enzo and Damon's there as well. Damon delivers version 109,985 of his "I'm a monster" speech and kills the Whitmore boy.

THE END

A better title for this episode might have been "Clear the Decks". We've swept away that Whitmore boy, Doctor Evil and the Augustine in one fell swoop. With the destruction of the Founders' Council there has been no organized body poised to stand in opposition to the vampires. Augustine seemed primed to take that role but with their funding dried up they seem destined to wither and die.

This positions Enzo to become the Big Bad for the remainder of the season but the world-building needed to establish that has been lacking. There's been nothing outside of his Augustine association to inform us on Enzo and if he's expected to carry the rest of the season what we have so far won't work.

I'm really torn on how the show has been handling Caroline's sleeping with Klaus. On the one hand it's way too easy to dismiss criticism as "slut-shaming" but on the other she kind of deserves to be shamed. Not because she had sex but because by sleeping with Klaus she overlooked his literal millennium of terribleness. The show needs to course-correct to emphasize that aspect.