Changes: Because the Night

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The Vampire Diaries

Season 4, Episode 17 (83)

Air date

March 21, 2013

Written by

Brian Young & Charlie Charbonneau

Directed by

Garreth Stover

Episode Guide
(Transcript)
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Because the Night is the seventeenth episode of the fourth season of The Vampire Diaries and the eighty-third episode of the series overall.

Summary

FLASHBACK TO DAMON’S LIFE IN 1970s NEW YORK / THE BAND DEAD SARA PERFORMS — Realizing that Elena needs some time away from Mystic Falls, Damon takes her to New York City, where he lived and partied hard in the 1970s. When Rebekah also shows up in New York, she’s impressed with Elena’s secret agenda. Flashbacks reveal Damon’s hedonistic life in the underground club scene and a complicated encounter with Lexi. Meanwhile, Caroline and Stefan try to convince Klaus that it would be in his own best interest to help them track Silas down, and Bonnie struggles to keep her grasp on reality and do the right thing.

Plot

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Cast

Co-Starring

Uncredited

Dead Sara as Themselves

Trivia

Antagonist: Silas.
There are flashbacks to the 1970's involving Damon and Lexi.
It is the second episode this season to feature Damon and Lexi in a flashback, the first being We'll Always Have Bourbon Street, which was set in the 1940s.
Stefan tells Damon that Elena is ruthless without her humanity and insists that he shouldn't underestimate her.
Elena figures out that Damon is simply trying to distract her while he tracks down the cure, so she plays him in order to get her hands on the cure first so that it cannot be used on her. To do this, she ultimately decides to team up with Rebekah, knowing that she wants the cure for herself.
- After the two girls manage to ditch Damon, they steal the paper with Katherine's current address Damon managed to find, along with his car so they could both flee New York and track Katherine down at the same time.
Stefan, Klaus and Caroline try to figure out how to stop Silas.
Damon, Elena and Rebekah take a road trip to New York.
Elena changes her hairstyle to one that better suits her new personality since turning off her humanity. Her new hairstyle is slightly shorter with big waves and dark red streaks through it. This is the last episode in which Elena has straight hair.
Klaus has a violent confrontation with Silas, resulting in Klaus being believing he was wounded with the white oak stake. However, Klaus eventually managed to break through the illusion Silas planted in his mind, which demonstrated the immense strength of Silas' psychic abilities; it wasn't until Caroline made him extremely angry that he was able to snap out of it.
- Silas is also shown to be a lot stronger and a lot faster than the Originals in this episode. However, this, too, was proven to be an illusion that is attributed to his psychic abilities, and not actual abilities that he possesses; in I Know What You Did Last Summer, it was revealed that Silas only has marginally enhanced strength, speed, and agility as a result of his true immortality, which is quite inferior to the same abilities possessed by vampires.
Caroline unwillingly completes the Expression Triangle when she saves Bonnie's life by killing the witch who was about to kill her, Aja. Aja was linked to the eleven other witches in her coven who were trying to cleanse Bonnie of her Expression magic, and it was her death that caused the deaths of the rest of her coven, completing the final sacrifice of the ritual.
Tyler, Matt and Jeremy do not appear in this episode.

Body Count

70's guy - blood loss; killed by Damon (flashback).
70's girl - blood loss; killed by Damon (flashback).
Eleven Witches - connection spell; killed by Caroline (indirectly).
Aja - stabbed; killed by Caroline.

Continuity

Bonnie was last seen in Stand By Me.
Lexi was last seen in a flashback in We'll Always Have Bourbon Street, but her last appearance in present time was in 162 Candles. This is the first time she appears in more than one episode in a season.
Silas (with Shane's visage) was last seen in Stand By Me.
Rudy was last seen in A View to a Kill.
Giuseppe Salvatore was mentioned by Damon. He was their father and was accidentally killed by Stefan in 1864. He was last seen via flashback in Blood Brothers.
Klaus mentions that he and Stefan were pals back in the Roaring '20s, as seen in The End of the Affair.
Damon tells Lexi that he and Stefan are on an endless on-again, off-again, eternity-of-misery cycle.
It is revealed in the third season of The Originals, by Tristan de Martel that the vampire organization; The Strix, was the one behind the killings of the notorious killer - son of sam - as a frightened human population is much easier to control.
Abby Bennett Wilson was mentioned by Bonnie. She was last seen in A View to a Kill.
The hybrids slaughtered by Klaus in O Come, All Ye Faithful were mentioned by Caroline.
The indestructible white oak stake was last seen in Into the Wild.
In this episode is one of many mentions over the span of the series that reference Stefan and Lexi attending Bon Jovi concerts in the 1980s.
It is revealed in the Season Five episode The Cell why Damon had turned off his humanity prior to Lexi coming to help him in 1977; he had been captured by Dr. Whitmore and tortured while being held in captivity by the Augustine Society from 1953 to 1958, and in order to escape, he had to leave his friend Enzo behind to die in a fire. Damon had turned off his humanity before leaving to give him the emotional strength to betray his friend in order to save himself.

Locations

New York
Mystic Falls, Virginia
McKinley, Virginia
- Whitmore College
  - Atticus' Office

Behind the Scenes

The New York City scenes were shot in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.
- The scenes in front of the restaurant were shot around 65 Broad St NW, Atlanta, GA and others at about 90 Broad Street, Atlanta, GA
- The scenes using Damon's car were shot around Georgia State University's Helen M. Arderhold Learning Center in downtown Atlanta, GA.
The band Dead Sara was listed as best band of 2012 in several magazines.
This episode had about 2.65 million viewers in the USA, which was 0.24 million more than the previous episode.
Hashtag during the airing is #BigAppleBites.

Cultural References

Because the Night is the name of a song co-written by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen. The two first performed it live at CBGB in New York City on December 30, 1977.
Because the Night is a crime fiction novel written by James Ellroy. Released in 1984, it is the second installment of a trilogy often referred to as the Lloyd Hopkins Trilogy.
The Son of Sam was a serial killer from 1976 to 1977 who murdered his victims with a .44 caliber gun. The citizens of New York City were in such a state of fear and paranoia that they would attribute any case of murder (be with a .44 or not) to him.
The humble Hot Dog is considered by many the most original New York food. Hot Dog vendors are often folkloric as well.
Haircut Important Hair Change - when a character cuts or change her hairstyle, like Elena did, it often symbolises a rite of passage or character growth.
Klaus refers to Tyler as Brutus. Brutus was Julius Caesar's nephew who was instrumental in the conspiracy to murder Caesar - just as Tyler was the main pivot on the plot to assassinate Klaus.
Shakespeare - famous English playwright from the Elizabethan era. His plays are famous for their complexity and intrigue.
Hedonism - pursuit or devotion to pleasure; philosophy of behaviour motivated by the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain.
Nihilism - doctrine that all traditional values are unfounded and existence is useless and senseless. It denies moral truths. Sometimes used to describe the mood of despair at the perceived pointlessness of existence.
Punk - a cultural movement that emerged in the mid- to late-1970s. Centered around the Punk rock genre of music, it is characterized by anti-establishment views and promotion of individual freedom.
The Factory was Andy Warhol's studio. It was a hip hangout and famed by its groundbreaking parties.
CBGB stands for Country, BlueGrass and Blues. The intention was to feature the namesake styles, but it became a haven for Punk and New Wave bands. The club closed in 2006, but re-opened in 2012 with a mighty roar.
Billy's Topless was considered a Chelsea landmark. Although it had the atmosphere of a neighborhood bar, it was eventually closed by the "quality of life" laws passed by Mayor Giuliani, that clamped down on adult entertainment.
Xanadu - the mythical capital of Kublai Khan's Empire. It was also the name of the fictional club from Olivia Newton-John's pop movie.
Leave it to Beaver - classic American sitcom about a normal suburban family. The show ran from 1957 to 1963 and was canceled when the child stars wanted to move on. The show enjoyed a comeback in the '70s due to syndicated re-runs.
Florence Nightingale - celebrated as the founder of modern nursing. She was called the "Lady of the Lantern" because of the way she performed her rounds during the Crimean War. When Stefan first met Lexi, she was doing the rounds during the American Civil War carrying a lantern.
Mother Teresa - founder of the Missionaries of Charity. She has received numerous awards and is notable on her work with the most destitute people.
Although Pack rat is a species of rodent, the term is usually applied to people who gather clutter and cannot throw anything away.
A classic witches' coven consists of 13 members. Aja's has only 12.
The Runways were an all-girl band from the 1970s.
Klaus says he was friends with Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese sailor who led the first expedition to navigate around the world from 1518 to 1522. Although the expedition was successful, Magellan was killed in the Philippines and never returned home.

Quotes

Stefan: (to Damon) "What do you mean, you took her to New York?"

Damon: (to Stefan) "Relax, this joyride is actually a cure hunt."

Stefan: (to Damon) "Elena's ruthless without her humanity."

Elena: (to Damon) "It's beautiful up here."

Elena: (to Damon) "I've never done it on a rooftop before."

Stefan: (to Klaus) "My brother knows what he's doing."

Klaus: (to Stefan) "Does he?"

Damon: (to Elena) "That's the beauty of New York-- so much life that so little death goes unnoticed."

Damon: (to Elena) "Let's go grab some lunch."

(Caroline, who is cleaning up after Elena's big party, picks up an abandoned plastic cup full of beer and takes a large gulp from it as Klaus enters the room)

Klaus: "Desperate times, I take it?"

Caroline: "What are you doing here?"

Klaus: "Not judging you, for starters. Although, if you are determined to get drunk, then perhaps I might recommend something a little more sanitary."

(Caroline finishes the drink and then slams the cup in the trash while giving him a look.)

Klaus: "Well then, you showed me."

Caroline: "Shouldn't you be out chasing Tyler to the ends of the earth? Or there's still some hopes and dreams you wanna crush around here?"

Klaus: "Depends. Do you happen to know where the young Brutus is?"

Caroline: "I know where he's not-- with me. He gave Matt the deed to the house, so he's gone for good."

Klaus: "Tyler made it his life's mission to kill me. You can't hate me for driving him away."

Caroline: "Oh! I can and I do. If you don't mind, I'd like to get back to spiraling, so go away."

Stefan: (to Klaus and Caroline) "Actually, I asked him to be here. We need his help. I think Silas is in Mystic Falls."

Elena: "Is this allowed? What would Lexi say?"

Damon: "Lexi thought the only way I would turn my emotions back on was if I started enjoying my life again."

Rebekah: "Do not tell me she took you to Bon Jovi concerts too."

Damon: "No. Wrong decade. Lexi was not allowed to feed with Stefan. I didn't have that problem. (He turns to Elena) And neither do you."

Lexi: "You're getting sloppy, Damon."

Rebekah: "So, do you really buy all this?"

Elena: "Not one bit. I know he's after the cure. I'm not stupid."

Rebekah: "Well, let's not say things we don't mean."

Klaus: "Don't underestimate the allure of darkness, Stefan. Even the purest hearts are drawn to it."

Multimedia

Soundtrack

"Psycho Killer" – Talking Heads
"Psycho Killer" – Harper Blynn
"Bite Your Lip" – New Cassettes
"Loudmouth" – The Handys
"Shut Up And Dance" – Rookie
"Evil Soul" – The Young Werewolves

"Ask The Angels" – Dead Sara
"Lemon Scent" – Dead Sara
"In Search Of An Audience" – The Godz
"Let's Dance" – The Ramones
"Arms and Enemies" – The Quiet Kind
"Heartbeat" – Kopecky Family Band

Pictures

Elena's new look