Elena and Damon in "The Vampire Diaries."
Did Elena choose Damon in the season 4 finale of "The Vampire Diaries"? CW/ The Vampire Diaries

O.M.G. “The Vampire Diaries” season 4 finale aired on Thursday, May 16 and it was epic. Let’s recap!

The veil is still down come graduation day, and while a couple ghosts like Lexi are happy to be back for a couple hours, others are hell-bent on revenge. Kol is gathering the dozens of supernatural beings slaughtered for the sake of Silas to wreak some havoc on Mystic Falls, while the ghosts of vampire hunters past are trying to fulfill their destiny to kill Silas.

Connor, Alexander and Vaughn team up to get the cure back so that they can give it to Silas and murder him. Calling up Elena, Connor threatens to blow up The Grill unless she hands over the cure and tells them where Silas is. Fortunately Alaric is still around, and no one threatens his bar. “This is my bar,” he tells Connor before racing him out of the building. “No one is going to blow it up.”

Alexander is taking a different approach, putting Matt on some explosives while Rebekah is forced to watch. But after finally getting Matt to drop his guard, Rebekah isn’t going to let an ex-boyfriend kill him. Matt’s initial plan is to let Rebekah detonate the bomb because he’s wearing the Gilbert ring, but Rebekah has other plans. In a flash she switches spots with Matt, letting him escape before setting off the explosion.

As for Vaughn? He definitely hates Damon. Despite Damon not actually killing him, Vaughn does reveal that he starved to death in the cave. Demanding the cure and not receiving it, Vaughn decides to shoot Damon with a werewolf-venom laced bullet.

Meanwhile, Bonnie is still in shock over her own death. She is struggling to find the words to tell her friends that she died. Planning to still head to graduation, Gran warns her to say good-byes while she still has time … and time is running out. Bonnie supposedly needs to wait until the full moon to have enough power to put the veil back up.

With a couple hours to spare, the whole crew manages to get to graduation, and the whole ceremony actually goes smoothly … for the most part.

Elena finds out that Damon is dying from werewolf venom and that he refuses to take the cure. Caroline tries to call Klaus, but is stopped when the dozen witches she killed return to get revenge. Fortunately Klaus is back in town and saves the group from an epic witch headache by beheading the main witch with a graduation cap (best kill of the episode).

With Klaus’ return Damon is able to survive the werewolf venom. But that isn’t the only reason why Klaus is back in town. He received a graduation invite from Caroline! Taking her aside, Klaus tells Caroline that his graduation gift to her is Tyler’s freedom.

“He’s your first love,” Klaus tells her in one of the most romantic moments of the night. “I intend to be your last. However long it takes.”

Caroline and Klaus’s relationship isn’t the only one getting wrapped up. Elena finally made a decision between Stefan and Damon. Taking the cure that Damon initially gave her, Elena hands it to Stefan.

“The only person worse at being a vampire than me is you,” she tells her ex. “You deserve whatever you want out of life. You deserve this.”

Elena then goes to talk to Damon … and it’s everything fans have been waiting for. Upset with Damon over him choosing to die rather than take the cure, Damon tells her that he’s not sorry.

“You would rather die than be human and you expect me to be ok with that?” she asks him. “I’d rather die right now than remember how good I had it,” he responds.

Damon won’t budge on the apology, and Elena tells him that she’s not sorry either. “In death you’re the one that made me feel the most alive,” she tells him. “You’ve been a terrible person … I’m not sorry I’m in love with you. I love you Damon.”

Stefan, of course, overhears their declaration of love and decides to head off with Lexi to bury Silas. Telling Lexi that he is going to leave town in an attempt to move on from Elena, a slight change of plans occurs when Bonnie puts up the veil between both worlds.

Without Lexi, Stefan takes the body he thought was Silas' out of his car to bury it. It’s then that he realizes that he’s not carrying a body. Behind him Elena appears, except it’s not her. With Bonnie dead, Silas is no longer stone and is ready to show his true face … and it’s Stefan!

Like Elena and Katherine, Stefan is a doppelganger of Silas. And just like Katherine hates Elena, Silas hates Stefan. Stabbing him, Silas traps Stefan in a metal box and throws it over a waterfall to let him stay trapped for eternity.

As for the rest of the crew?

- Rebekah and Matt are heading off on an adventure, traveling the world.

- Jeremy and Bonnie got to say good-bye … except with a major twist. As the veil closed, Jeremy didn’t go with it. Bonnie’s spell ended up being successful and Jeremy finally learned that she was dead because he could see her but not feel her.

- Bonnie walked off with Gran, but promised Jeremy that she would visit him as a ghost.

- Elena went to say good-bye to Jeremy and Bonnie at the high school and instead encountered Kol. While Kol wanted revenge, Elena lucked out when the veil closed. However Kol wasn’t the only danger lurking in the halls. Katherine is angry for not getting the immortality that Bonnie promised, and attacks Elena. About to kill her by ripping out her throat, Elena pulls a fast one and shoves the cure in Katherine’s mouth ... making her human.

- A flashback reveals that Stefan refused to take the cure from Elena, telling her that it’s hers whenever she wants it.