On Friday’s episode of The Vampire Diaries, Stefan awakens to a life-threatening situation. Can Damon save him before he gives up?
Stefan wakes on a dark road. He sees a school bus on fire and helps some teenagers get out. Others don’t make it. The police arrive.
An EMT questions Stefan. He has amnesia. When he finally remembers his name, he thinks he’s in the hell stone.
Valerie sticks up for Mary Lou and Nora destroying the stone. She says they didn’t know Stefan was inside. She yells at Damon for not taking the scar when he had the chance. Damon’s convinced Stefan’s not dead. He asks Valerie to do a locator spell to find Rayna. She says she’ll do it without him.
Stefan thinks being a failed hero is part of a looping nightmare in the stone. He talks crazy to the EMT and police. A cop calls him Marty and asks if he’s been drinking. He thinks Stefan was driving under the influence. Stefan is arrested and catches his reflection in a side mirror. He looks like someone else.
Rayna calls Matt for help. She tells him all the souls are free. Valerie finds her. Rayna tells Valerie that every vampire in the stone is now wandering the earth in the body of corpses because she burned their real bodies.
Damon can’t find Stefan’s body where he died, but he sees him standing on the side of the road. Stefan doesn’t remember him.
In Marty’s body, Stefan escapes the police and takes off running through the woods.
Matt calls Rick who yells at him for using Caroline as bait. Matt says he’s sending some visitors his way. Valerie and Rayna appear at Rick’s door.
Valerie wants Rick’s help saving Stefan. Rayna says Stefan should be the least of their concerns. Some of the most evil vampires of the last 200 years have escaped.
Damon has Stefan read his journal to get a better sense of who he is. Stefan says he’s hungry.
The real Stefan is in the forest. He breaks into a boarded up cabin. He uses a vice to break his hand out of the handcuffs.
Damon and his Stefan stop at a restaurant where Stefan feeds on the waitress. He offers her to Damon. Damon excuses himself to call Rick. Rick tells him it’s not Stefan, but to keep him close because they need his body. Rick tells him that if the real Stefan is in a human body, it will break down in 3 days like Jo’s.
Stefan tapes up his broken thumb. He starts up the generator and checks the TV for news. The newswoman talks about Marty fleeing authorities. He’s a known drunk. If the coming blizzard doesn’t take him down, detox will. Stefan has the shakes.
Rick takes notes on various news stories trying to figure out which one might be the real Stefan. Valerie asks Rayna if she sees the victims of the stone. Rayna says she sees pieces. Valerie asks for a picture of Stefan. She tells Rayna to concentrate and then syphons her visions. She sees the forest and an anchor tattoo. Rick remembers the man in the bus accident story was a Merchant Marine.
Rick calls Damon and tells him Stefan is in Arkansas. He asks how soon Damon can get there. Damon says it depends on how cooperative his passenger is. The vampire in Stefan’s body pretends that he’s Stefan. Damon tells him to cut the crap. The vampire tells him he wants to go to Memphis and then leaps from the car window.
Damon asks Rick and Valerie to go after Stefan’s body while he tries to rescue the real Stefan in Arkansas. Rayna says they need to kill the serial killer in Stefan’s body. She escapes.
The real Stefan hotwires a truck. He runs out a gas near a woman’s car. He asks to borrow her phone. She hears the news story on the radio. When she tries to slam her door, Stefan holds it open. She attacks him and drives off. It starts to snow.
Damon goes to the police station and compels the head officer into thinking he’s Matt. The officer says they’re waiting for nature to take its course. They expect Marty to die before they can find him.
As Marty, Stefan sees Damon in the truck. He realizes he’s in the delirium phase of his withdrawal. He collapses outside the truck.
A woman comes into the precinct saying Marty attacked her. She tells Damon where he was and asks him to recover her phone. Damon convinces the cops to go in the opposite direction.
Damon calls Stefan on the woman’s cell phone. He tells Stefan to walk. Stefan says he can’t feel his legs. He blames Damon for his situation. He asks Damon where his instincts are for being a good person. Damon admits he’s selfish. He asks if Stefan is mad. Stefan says he is. Damon tells him to get up and come kick his ass. Stefan starts to walk.
Rick and Valerie wait out the snowstorm at a diner. She tells him it would be convenient for him if Stefan dies. He says it doesn’t matter. Valerie says she’s rooting for him and Caroline.
Stefan collapses. Damon finds him on the road and puts him in the car.
When Stefan wakes, Damon asks if he’s forgiven. Stefan says no then gets a nosebleed. Damon says they have less than 48 hours to put him back in his body.
Valerie has a vision of Stefan’s body at a fraternity house. Rick remembers the story of a serial killer from Memphis in the 1880’s that would stalk fraternities and kill for sport. He forced his victims to murder each other. The killer was never caught.
The vampire in Stefan’s body wraps a fire poker around the exit door latch to keep it from opening. He then revels in the party.
See the episode 17 promo: