‘The Vampire Diaries’ Recap: Shane Reveals His Ulterior Motive For The Cure

Last week on The Vampire Diaries, the gang finally uncovered the map of the cure after killing Kol. However, their journey to the cure’s site is not as clear-cut, as “Into the Wild” goes to show.

The episode begins with a flashback to one year ago – a Native American man chases Professor Shane (David Alpay) through a forest. Shane loses him and finds the cave dwelling he was searching for on the side of a cliff. There are weird scrawls on the inside of the cave and a massive stone hole at its center.

Flashback to the present, where Shane and his troupe of supernatural warriors, Elena (Nina Dobrev), Damon (Ian Somerhalder), Stefan (Paul Wesley), Rebekah (Claire Holt), Bonnie (Kat Graham), and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) dock on a mysterious, booby-trapped island two-hundred miles off Nova Scotia’s coast. While Bonnie feels up topless Jeremy, trying to find the exact coordinates to Silas’ grave, Elena asks Damon what he would do if they found the cure. “You shouldn’t speculate,” Damon deadpans, leading us to believe that he’s not as excited for the cure as Elena is.

Darkness falls as the group enters uncharted territory and Shane retells the legend of a mystical well, which, upon a blood sacrifice, will reunite the dead with their living loved ones. In small flashbacks, we see Shane lowering himself into the cave’s gaping well after offering a few drops of his blood. Overcome by disembodied voices, he falls and sees his wife Caitlin, a witch who died trying to resurrect their dead son. While Shane relates this experience, Jeremy falls behind and is shot at by the Native American who pursued Shane a year ago, who in turn has a hatchet buried in his back. After they set up camp, Elena vows her love for Damon so he won’t die if she becomes human again, while Rebekah and Stefan mope about the miseries of being immortal.

Meanwhile, back in Mystic Falls, Tyler (Michael Trevino) visits Klaus (Joseph Morgan), still under house arrest in the Gilbert house. Klaus tells Tyler in so many words that he drowned his mother, the former Mayor Lockwood. Before Tyler and Klaus can fight, Caroline (Candice Accola) intervenes. Klaus stakes and bites her to spite Tyler, who looks on, horrified. Klaus is half-werewolf, after all, and a werewolf bite will kill a vampire.

Back at the island camp, Damon suspects Shane is up to no good. Shane reveals to Bonnie and him that his wife was practicing “expression,” when she died, the same technique Shane is teaching Bonnie. Bonnie is livid. As they argue, Jeremy is attacked in his tent by the Native American man and disappears. The next morning, Elena, Stefan, and Rebekah search for him, and Damon ties Shane up in an abandoned cabin and grills him about why he’s so interested in resurrecting Silas. Shane admits that by resurrecting Silas, his wife and child will be resurrected too. He needs Bonnie because – shocker! – she’s related to Silas. Outside, Bonnie creates a trail of fire that weaves into the forest, which she follows intently.

Shane goes on to explain that three massacres are needed to complete the resurrection. One involved the pastor and a couple of Mystic Falls’ citizens, the second involved Klaus’ hybrids, and the third is intended for the island group he amassed. Before Damon can torture the location of Silas’ grave out of him, Elena intervenes. Elena, once again, vows her love and begs Damon to take the cure with her. It’s an emotional moment, one not shared by Damon. He says he despises mortality and sulks off into the woods. Elena looks for Bonnie, but finds her, Shane and Silas’ piece of headstone missing. Uh-oh! Rebekah accuses Elena of stealing the headstone, but Elena pleads her innocence and forms an alliance with her and Stefan.

Back at the Gilbert house, Caroline is dying from the werewolf bite. Klaus wants Tyler to beg him to save her, but Tyler leaves Caroline so Klaus can watch her die. Caroline says she knows a little piece of humanity remains in him and that Klaus loves her. Klaus says she’s delusional, but he’s begun to tear up. Just as she loses consciousness, Klaus has a change of heart and feeds her his blood. She sucks on his wrist as he cries and strokes her hair. I smell another supernatural love triangle…

In the forest, Damon is attacked by a mysterious man he deems to be one of the five vampire hunters. The hunter snaps Damon’s neck before he can retaliate.

Will Shane really raise Silas? And, most importantly, will Silas actually help Shane out with his family? Who else thinks Caitlin’s advice was a bit suspicious? See how the gang spirals further “Down The Rabbit Hole” in next week’s preview:

– Jill Wronski