Everybody gets ready for the Founder's Day parade and gets dressed up in period outfits, including Elena (Nina Dobrev), something that makes her look like Katherine even more.
Damon (Ian Somerhalder) tells Stefan (Paul Wesley) that he does not need to worry since he will not steal his girlfriend.
Anna (Malese Jow) shows up in Jeremy's (Steven R. McQueen) room to tell him that John (David Anders) was the one who killed her mother and she wants to leave town.
Meanwhile, Damon thanks Bonnie (Kat Graham) for removing the spell from the Gilbert device that could have killed him.
When the device is activated, it will produce a high pitched sound that humans will not be able to hear and it will force the vampires to reveal themselves.
Sheriff Forbes (Marguerite MacIntyre) enters and she does not agree with John's plan to use the town as a bait since their children will be among the crowd.
He knocks her out and handcuffs her to the ventilation pipes while at the same time, the tomb vampires plan their attack when Anna shows up.
Anna comes to Damon to inform him that the tomb vampires are already in the town planning to attack when the fireworks go off and their target is the founding families.
At the same time, Mrs. Lockwood finds Sheriff Forbes and frees her from the handcuffs informing her that the deputies have taken her husband and she doesn't know why or where they took him.
Jeremy asks if what Anna told him, that vampires can turn off their humanity and do not feel, is true and Damon says that it is.
John tries to tell her how he met Isobel and how turning her into a vampire changed her completely when Elena grabs a knife and cuts off his fingers, severing him from his ring.
The episode ends with real Elena coming back home talking with Stefan on the phone and telling him that someone took her clothes from her locker.
She gets into the house to check on Jeremy before she leaves for the hospital to see Caroline when she hears a noise from the kitchen and she heads there.
It wasn’t until she cut off all of Sark’s fingers that I realized Elena would probably not have the nerve to do something so gory with her aunt and brother in the house.
"[4] Diana Steenbergen from IGN rated the episode with 9/10 saying that the show has turned into one of the better guilty pleasures on TV and that the cliffhangers are plentiful at the end of the hour.
The big ticket items this week are Elena finding out who her father really is, Bonnie admitting that she did not remove the power of Johnathan Gilbert's device, and Damon's newfound humanity.
Steenbergen also praised Somerhalder, saying that is the best part of the show: "He is ridiculously entertaining as Damon, the sometime evil Salvatore brother.
[...] We, the viewers, are left staring at the screen in mute astonishment, until it dawns on us that we’ll have to wait three months in breathless anticipation of the next season’s premiere."
"[6] Meg of Two Cents TV gave a good review to the episode saying that it was amazing and the season was eventful and incredible.
Founder’s Day in Mystic Falls, and with it comes murder, mutilation, mayhem, and one helluva cliffhanger!
"[7] Jen Yamato from HitFix gave a good review to the episode saying that the season finale went out with a bang.
This was an episode that gave a lot to fans, a tense piece of storytelling that offered plenty of hints and foreshadowing and delivered on clues dropped throughout the season.
"[9] Mark O. Estes from TV Overmind gave a good review to the episode saying that the show "killed it tonight" leaving him can't wait for the new season.