"There's a lot of history here"
Stefan hatches a plan to get rid of Damon with Zach.
Meanwhile, the town throws a party at the Mayor's manor celebrating the founding of the town
Elena learns more about the Salvatore family and their history in Mystic Falls.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Annoying Arrows: Damon barely reacts when Stefan stabs him with a knife. Subverted when Damon stabs him back, which causes Stefan to fall to his knees in pain, since being a Vegetarian Vampire makes him weaker. He still heals from it almost immediately.
- And I Must Scream: The Brainwashed Caroline seems aware of how terrible her situation with Damon is, and even asks if he will kill her when he's done, which he bluntly confirms, but she's unable to do anything about.
- Batman Gambit: Stefan gives Caroline a drink with vervain, figuring that Damon would try to drink her blood. When Damon tries to kill her, he ends up drinking poison.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Carol Lockwood, Tyler's mom, pretends to be polite with Vicki but admonishes Tyler for "bringing the trash home" as soon as she turns her back.
- Brainwashed: Caroline is completely on Damon's thrall through the episode, her and Damon even discuss the fact he's a vampire.
- Catapult Nightmare: Stefan wakes up from his nightmare like this, with Damon in his room mocking him for it.
- Clothing Damage: When Stefan throws a knife a Damon, he barely flinches when it stabs him, but he's annoyed that Stefan ruined his shirt.
- Cut Himself Shaving: Caroline gives a bunch of excuses when Elena finds all the injuries Caroline has on her body due to Damon's abuse.
- Decade-Themed Party: The "Founders' Party and Heritage Display" is a themed party to celebrating the days of the founding of Mystic Falls.
- Fantastic Arousal: When Stefan is making out with Elena in her room he unwillingly turns vampiric.
- My Grandson, Myself: When Elena finds Stefan and Damon's names on the founding families documents they play it off by saying they were named after them.
- The Grovel: Logan does this to Jenna in order to get her to forgive him.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Stefan's dilemma with Damon is that he's not strong enough to stop him unless he starts drinking human blood and becomes a monster himself.
- Living with the Villain: Stefan and Zach both have to live with Damon, even as they're plotting ways to get rid of him.
- Manipulative Bastard: Damon uses Caroline and Bonnie to try to turn Elena against Stefan.
- Memento MacGuffin: Damon's true reason for going to the Founder's Party is to retrieve the Bennett Talisman he hid in the mansion decades ago. The Gilbert watch is also revealed to be one.
- Neck Lift: Damon does this to Zach, his distant human nephew when he confronts him about being in his manor.
- New Old Flame: Logan and Jenna. Their failed relationship is the reason she originally left Mystic Falls.
- Nightmare Sequence: The episode begins with Elena at her house being chased by Damon when he catches and bites her, only to be revealed to be Stefan's nightmare.
- The Sheriff: Elizabeth Forbes, Caroline's mother, is the town's sheriff. She even wears the uniform during the party.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Stefan put's vervain on Damon's drink in an attempt to weaken, but Damon sees through it. Later it turns out Stefan knew it would fail and just wanted to lower Damon's guard so he wouldn't notice he put vervain on Caroline's blood.
- Tragic Keepsake: Elena and Jeremy's mother watch is this to Jeremy, so Elena allows him to keep it and not bring it to the party. It turns out to also be a Memento MacGuffin that the town council is after.
- Uptown Girl: Vicki and Tyler's romance, since he's the wealthy son of the mayor and is somewhat ashamed of dating her.
- You Have Failed Me: When Elena finds out about Caroline's abuse at the hands of Damon, Damon is furious and tries to kill her by sucking her dry, but it's stopped by the vervain Stefan put's on her blood.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Elena is horrified that Stefan knows the abuse Caroline is going through with Damon and how he is (from her point of view) doing nothing about it.
