The episode was written by Caroline Dries and Brian Young and directed by J. Miller Tobin.
At Mystic High, Alaric sets Matt (Zach Roerig) and Tyler (Michael Trevino) to work together and help to build the Founder's Day float before he sees Elena and Stefan (Paul Wesley) from afar and leaves.
Damon is surprised hearing that Isobel is in town and wonders if she is working with John (David Anders) and why she wants the Gilbert device.
Bonnie shows up at Elena's house feeling bad for not talking to her at the Grill while she saw how upset she was and she apologizes.
Bonnie explains that Emily was the one responsible for all of Jonathan Gilbert's inventions since she was casting spells on them to make him believe that they were working.
Back outside at the schoolyard, Isobel shows up in front of Elena saying that she wants to be involved in her life.
To show her that she can hurt them without second thought, she has one of her compelled friends jump on the float Matt's working on, pinning his arm underneath.
Tyler and Stefan run to help Matt, while Isobel's other compelled friend kidnaps Jeremy.
Bonnie convinces them that she can remove the spell Emily put on it and that way, Isobel or anyone else won't be able to use it to kill vampires.
She hands over the device and Isobel leaves, warning her that as long as she has the Salvatores in her life she is doomed.
The two of them have an intense conversation where Alaric removes his ring that protects him and throws the vervain he has on the floor daring her to either kill him or compel him.
Damon doesn't deny the accusation but Stefan makes it clear that Elena is not Katherine and history will not repeat itself.
Isobel asks him to kill Damon and Stefan as well because she does not want their daughter (revealing that John is Elena's father) to have this life.
It wasn't as fast-paced as many other episodes, but it moved the necessary pieces into place for next week's season finale and it dropped a bomb on us: John Gilbert is Elena's father!"
Richenthal closes his review saying: "Looking ahead to the May 13 finale, we hope John doesn't go through with his plan to kill Stefan and Damon, that's for sure.
Bonnie’s ploy, Founder’s Day, Stefan’s anger at Damon’s love for Elena, Elena’s parentage, whether or not John will figure out that Anna is a vampire: so many of these conflicts center on knowledge that some people have and others don’t.
"[6] Meg of Two Cents TV gave a good review to the episode saying that the reunion of mother and daughter included more death threats and face slaps than hugs and flowers. "
"[7] Jen Yamato from HitFix praised Kirshner for her portrayal as Isobel saying that she is possibly the most amazing guest performance in the entire series thus far.
Because as much as she convinces you to love to hate her for much of "Isobel," Kirshner pulls out some revelatory material in the ep's final moments that instantly makes her one of this show's most intriguing and compelling characters.