‘The Vampire Diaries’ recap episode 703: ‘Age of Innocence’

Three years in the future, Stefan calls Tyler to ask if he’s heard from Caroline. Tyler says he doesn’t want to get involved in their drama. Stefan says his scar has opened up, so he doesn’t have much time. He asks Tyler to warn Caroline because she’s not taking his calls. After they hang up, Stefan torches his car. He keeps his journal.

In current day, Bonnie has another vision of death and passes out. Meanwhile, Rick is examining the phoenix stone. Damon, who’s living there until Lily leaves, says Matt is checking Lily’s cell phone records to find the last heretic.

Bonnie comes into Rick’s house and asks if he destroyed the stone. She tells him she was out cold for 10 minutes. He tells her he dissolved the stone. Damon gets information from Matt that Lily’s been calling a cell phone in Myrtle Beach. Damon, Bonnie and Rick head out.

Caroline is reading Stefan’s old journal from 1863, the year he met Valerie. She hears a cell phone ringing and finds Stefan’s phone under a chair. She answers it and it’s Stefan. Apparently he dropped the phone when he got sucked out of the house. Caroline asks him about Valerie. She tells Stefan that Valerie is one of her psycho housemates. Valerie hears her and crushes the phone.

Stefan asks Lily to tell her family to stop torturing Caroline. She says she will as soon as he tells his brother to stop killing them. Stefan says he and Damon aren’t speaking, trying to fool Lily into letting Caroline go. Stefan asks Lily about Valerie. Lily says she sent Valerie to check on him in 1863. Lily met her in the TB ward.

Caroline asks Valerie what happened between her and Stefan. Valerie says she was Stefan’s first love.

Lily says it took her a long time to get over losing Damon and Stefan. She says she was travelling to Europe with a male vampire, Julien, in 1863, but couldn’t leave until she knew they were okay. Stefan asks her about Julien and she says he was a man she wasn’t supposed to fall for, but she did.

Flashback to 1863. Valerie approaches Stefan and introduces herself. Julien sees her and Valerie introduces him as well. Julien treats Stefan like an idiot. He reminds Valerie that Lily told her not to get involved with Stefan, but Valerie is taken with him.

In 1863, Stefan tells Valerie about his family. She tells him there’s no shame in missing his mother. Julien follows them, but Valerie uses magic to hide. She and Stefan go to the woods and make love. It’s his first time.

Caroline accuses Valerie of putting the burning spell on her so Stefan couldn’t touch her. Valerie comments on how being Stefan’s first gives her an unforgettable spot in Stefan’s mind.

Bonnie, Damon, and Alaric meet in their hotel room before going out to incapacitate the heretic they came to find. Bonnie says she wants the heretic, Oscar, to syphon her visions of death. They knock on Oscar’s door who hugs Damon and invites them in.

Oscar reminds Damon that they met in a bar near Gettysburg in 1863. Damon says he goes to a lot of bars. Oscar then tells Damon that Lily sent Oscar to check on him before leaving for Europe. Damon is surprised his mother cared.

Lily lets Stephan know that Valerie told her Stefan had moved on and forgotten Lily back in 1863. It was the only way she was able to move on. Stefan tells her he hadn’t moved on; he just found distractions.

In 1863, Stefan brings Valerie to his mother’s grave. He says he puts fresh flowers on it every day. When he was 10, his father sent him to town to get flowers to make an herbal tonic for his sick mother. When he got back, his mother had already gone to the sanatorium. Stefan worries that if he had been faster, the tonic could have saved her. Valerie lets him know that the flowers have no medicinal properties and the death wasn’t his fault. Julien appears and takes Valerie away. She tells Stefan that she’ll find her way back to him. Julien makes her lie to Lily so Lily will be happy going to Europe.

Oscar says that Lily gave him a mission. He’s been enjoying his freedom and doesn’t want to go back to his family. Damon says if he syphons Bonnie’s visions, they won’t tell Lily he was avoiding his mission. When Oscar places his hands on her head, he sees the death visions and asks her where the phoenix stone is. Rick points his vervain gun at Oscar who then magically knocks it out of his hand, chokes the three of them and breaks Damon’s neck.

When they all awaken, Oscar is gone. Rick tells Damon that Oscar took the stone. Bonnie realizes he lied. Damon leaves Bonnie and Rick to sort things out. Rick says he can’t live without Jo.

Stefan tells Lily that Valerie must have used him. He says she doesn’t care about Lily either. He tells her that Valerie sent him a telegram a few months later saying she was coming back. He waited for her all day, but she never showed.

In 1863, Valerie tries to get to him, but Julien stops her. Julien notices she is pregnant and beats her until she is close to death. She loses the baby.

Damon finds Oscar and tells him that he does remember him. He was fighting for the South and didn’t want to talk about it in front of his friends. Oscar says Damon was ashamed back then too, wanting to desert. Oscar told him to take sick leave and the next day Damon’s entire regiment was dead. Oscar saved his life. Oscar says now it’s his time to desert. He doesn’t want to be a part of Lily’s cavalry. Damon, Bonnie and Rick fight Oscar and shoot him with vervain. Bonnie grabs the stone and gives it back to Rick. She tells him never to lie to her again.

Lily asks Caroline about her mother and if someone can get over that. Caroline says that Stefan wrote about Lily all the time. He missed her. Lily asks Nora to remove the barrier spell so Caroline can leave. It’s a reward for Stefan’s honesty.

Valerie approaches Stefan. She apologizes and explains that Julien brought her back to Lily saying he found her beaten on the street. Valerie couldn’t tell Lily the truth without telling her she had slept with Stefan. Lily saved Valerie with her vampire blood, but Valerie couldn’t live under Julien’s thumb, so she took a drug and drowned herself in the bathtub. Unfortunately, with Lily’s blood in her system, she rose again as a heretic.

Bonnie reminds Rick that Jo’s spirit isn’t on the other side and bringing her back will be necromancy. He shows her Jo’s body in the morgue. He says she has to still be in her body. He makes Bonnie promise that she’ll try to bring her back. She does.

Damon calls Lily about trading Oscar for Elena. He threatens to kill Oscar if she doesn’t comply.

Caroline comes home to Stefan. She tells him Lily let her go. She makes a snide comment about him and Valerie. She asks him if Valerie being back changes anything for him. He tells her all he cares about is her and her safety.

Oscar wakes in a room with Valerie. She used a locator spell to find him. Lily doesn’t know he’s there yet. Valerie asks if he’s found Julien. Oscar found him months ago, but didn’t tell anyone. Oscar is going to use Julien’s location to barter for his freedom from Lily. Valerie can’t have Julien back in the family, so she tears out Oscar’s heart.