'The Vampire Diaries' Season 3 Episode 20 Recap: Which Fan Favorite Died During The Decade Dance?

The decade dance has brought nothing but pain to Mystic Falls, and this year was no different. The Vampire Diaries crew were in for a very eventful dance...a dance one person wasn't going to make it out alive of.

Last week on the Vampire Diaries we saw Esther's (Alice Evans) plan unfold as she took over her daughter Rebekah's (Claire Holt) body in an attempt to slay her son Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and the rest of the race of vampires. In a shocking twist, Esther enlisted the help of Alaric (Matt Davis) who happened to have his crazy eyes on.

This week was the Roaring 20's Decade Dance, and there was no better time for Esther to put her plan in full action. Possessed Rebekah (let's call her Rebesther) managed to con Klaus into attending the dance and with magic managed to bind him to the school. With Klaus stuck in a building with a bunch of high school kids (and an awkward love triangle between him, Caroline and Tyler), Rebesther had crazy eyed Alaric stab her with an ash-brushed dagger so that Rebekah would be placed in a coffin and Esther would have control over her own body again.

Meanwhile Elena (Nina Dobrev) had a big decision to make: Which Salvatore brother does she ask to the dance? After last week's steamy (so so steamy) hook up outside the motel room, viewers thought that Damon (Ian Somerhalder) might have a chance to be Elena's date. Unfortunately Caroline (Candice Accola) butted in, telling Elena to ask Stefan (Paul Wesley) to the dance because she has to explore her feeling for him as well. Delena fans everywhere sighed.

Surprisingly Damon took it like a champ after overhearing Elena ask Stefan. Damon also realizes though that Alaric isn't Alaric, and that his crazy side has taken over.

Crazy Alaric is at the Salvatore's tomb with Esther (the place where Klaus just happened to rip his mother's heart out years ago), where she is channeling magic to kill her vampire children. Esther uses Alaric's magic ring (the one that made him crazy) to make the one remaining white oak stake indestructible, allowing all the Original vampires to be killed by it.

While Alaric and Esther are working on their vampire killing plan, the dance is in full swing. Caroline and Tyler (Michael Trevino) are realizing that the sire bond to Klaus is a lot more difficult, especially with Klaus breaking out all the stops to mack on Caroline. Another couple is having a difficult time as well. Elena decides to tell Stefan about kissing Damon at the motel, but is stopped when he tells her that if they find their way back together, then she could tell him. The always sweet Stefan (when he is not Ripper Stefan) then tells Elena the he is just honored to be her date. I'm sure Delena fans were even awwing. Of course every sweet moment comes to an end, and Damon showing up put the cork in it for these two.

Damon dropped by the dance to warn about crazy Alaric returning, suggesting that now is the time to kill him. Obviously Jeremy (Stephen R. McQueen) and Elena aren't having Damon kill the closest thing they have to a parent (those two really seem to fly through guardians).

Right on cue, Esther shows up, telling Elena that if she wants to help Alaric she must follow her. Of course when the Salvatore brothers come rushing out to defend her they can't get past the binding spell locking them within the perimeter of the school. Thank goodness Bonnie (Kat Graham) is always on hand to work some magic. Unfortunately for Bonnie she was macking it with her fake brother Jamie (Robert Ri'chard) in a classroom when Damon came storming in looking for help.

As Elena walks into the woods with Esther, she finds out that the crazy witch wants to turn Alaric into a vampire, more specifically a vampire to end all vampires. It was then revealed that the reason why Alaric turned into a nut job is because whenever he died, Esther was on the other side nurturing him with hatred.

Back at the dance Bonnie is working her magic to break the bond that is keeping the vampires inside the school. Jeremy has other plans though, as him and Matt are able to leave the school, making it possible for them to go up against Esther to save Elena. Obviously we all know humans fighting a witch is a bad idea, and Stefan breaks the news to them that they'd be on a suicide mission. Matt (Zach Roerig) and Jeremy go anyway.

At the tomb Esther magically cuts Elena's hand to get blood for crazy Alaric to drink. After drinking Elena's blood Esther stabs Alaric with a stake. As Elena waits for Alaric to come to (it's possible he might wake up as good Alaric), Esther reveals that he will kill the Originals and then just end up dead himself when the task is done.

At that point Jeremy and Matt show up to do some fighting (that no one thought they would succeed at). Esther uses her magic to make the weapons they are pointing at her, point at each other. As usual, Elena is screaming for it to stop, and just when things looked grim, Alaric wakes up (thankfully it was good Alaric) and stabs Esther from behind.

That's when Alaric realizes that he is doomed man. From that point forward I'm not sure if any viewer could hold back tears.

With Esther dead, the vampires race over to where Esther had Elena. Klaus takes Esther's body while the rest give a touching goodbye to Alaric. Elena and Jeremy have a private moment with Alaric in the tomb to say goodbye. Of course Elena says that his death is all her fault (truthfully a lot of things do seem to be her fault). When the trio walk outside the rest of the gang have candles lit as a nice way to pay tribute to the dying man. Tears were flowing on screen and tears were definitely flowing off screen.

As Alaric goes to sit inside the tomb to die alone, Damon follows after, sharing a couple drinks and laughs before Alaric finally closes his eyes.

Meanwhile the rest of the gang has parted ways. Elena and Stefan are back at school where Elena has to clean out the mass amount of vampire weapons that Alaric had in his classroom (A. I had no idea he was still teaching. B. How did he hide such a large amount of weapons in a classroom?). Bonnie has went home where Jamie is staying over to protect her. Jamie unfortunately does a poor job protecting her because Bonnie is visited in her dreams by Esther who tells her she has to finish the job that Esther started. Viewers think Bonnie will ignore the whack job witch, but as if in a trance she gets up to follow Esther's wishes.

Back at the tomb, Damon is just about to leave when Bonnie shows up, using her magic to make Damon collapse with a killer headache. Not sure what she was about to do, viewers were shocked when she went into the tomb, cut her hand, and forced Alaric to drink. In an instant Alaric's fangs are out and he is having a Bonnie smoothie straight from her neck. Just as Esther stated, Alaric picks up the special stake they created and he's off to kill the Originals.

If you think this was an intense episode, just think what next week will bring with a crazy almost indestructible Alaric on the loose.

What did you think of the Vampire Diaries Episode this week?