Graduation (Episode)

Graduation is the twenty-third and final episode of the Fourth Season, and the eighty-ninth episode overall.

Summary
WHO WILL TAKE THE CURE? — On Graduation Day, Mystic Falls is overrun with ghosts intent on settling old scores and fulfilling their supernatural destinies. ’s life is in danger after a ghostly encounter, while and  join forces to battle a ghost determined to find The Cure. As everyone gathers for the graduation ceremony and the ghosts converge, help comes from an unlikely hero. receives a touching and unexpected graduation present, and ’s plan leads to the closing of the veil. makes a decision about the Salvatore brothers and faces an epic confrontation with. Finally, discovers a terrifying clue to the mystery surrounding Silas.

Main Cast

 * Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert/Katherine Pierce/Silas
 * Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore/Silas
 * Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore
 * Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy Gilbert
 * Kat Graham as Bonnie Bennett
 * Zach Roerig as Matt Donovan
 * Candice Accola as Caroline Forbes
 * Michael Trevino as Tyler Lockwood (credit only)
 * Joseph Morgan as Niklaus Mikaelson

Recurring Cast

 * Claire Holt as Rebekah Mikaelson
 * Nathaniel Buzolic as Kol Mikaelson
 * Matthew Davis as Alaric Saltzman
 * Jasmine Guy as Sheila Bennett
 * Rick Worthy as Rudy Hopkins
 * Arielle Kebbel as Lexi Branson
 * Charlie Bewley as Galen Vaughn
 * Todd Williams as Connor Jordan
 * Paul Telfer as Alexander
 * Micah Parker as Adrian

Guest Cast

 * Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Aja

Quotes
Short promo
 * Rebekah: "What do you want from us?"
 * Alexander: "To fulfill my destiny."
 * Connor: "We want Silas, and we want the cure."
 * Elena: "They're willing to kill every person in Mystic Falls until they get it."
 * Galen Vaughn: "Where's Silas?" (Yelling and pointing a gun to someone's head)
 * Kol: (Yells in rage)
 * Damon: How is it even when you're dead you're still the bane of my existence?

Extended promo
 * Kol: "Welcome back."
 * Rebekah: "What do you want from us?"
 * Alexander: "To fulfill my destiny."
 * Connor: "And we want the cure."
 * Elena: "They're willing to kill every person in Mystic Falls until they get it."
 * Galen Vaughn: "Where's Silas?" (Yelling and pointing a gun to someone's head)
 * Galen Vaughn: "There's a thousand years worth of hunters. Qetsiyah will just send more.
 * Kol: (Yells in rage)

Exclusive Promo
 * Kol: "Welcome back. It was our deaths that allowed this day to come to pass. The slaughter of innocents by the so-called hero protectors of Mystic Falls. Twelve witches, twelve hybrids, massacres performed in the name of resurrecting the immortal Silas. They risked unleashing hell on earth for their own selfish gain. And today, that's exactly what they're going to get."
 * Connor: "Hello Elena."
 * Rebekah: "What do you want from us?"
 * Alexander: "To fulfill my destiny."
 * Connor: "We want Silas and we want the cure."
 * Elena: "They are willing to kill every person in Mystic falls until they get it."
 * Damon: "I don't care about anyone else."
 * Vaughn: "Where's Silas?!"
 * Vaughn: "There's a thousand years' worth of hunters, Qetsiyah will just send more."
 * Damon: "How is it even when you're dead you're the bane of my existence?"

Webclip 1
 * Bonnie: "I hit kind of a snag."
 * Caroline: "A snag? A snag is a bad yearbook picture. You hit a tsunami. Where are you?"
 * Bonnie: "Trying to fix it, but I'm running into some trouble. I need to wait until the full moon tonight until I have enough power to put the veil back up."
 * Caroline: "Are you telling me that we might graduate right smack in the middle of a ghost-filled Expression Triangle?"
 * Bonnie: "Maybe we should just cancel."
 * Caroline: "No, we are not going to cancel. Graduation is the most important event of our lives, the last ceremony of our youth. It is our rite of freaking passage! Hell will freeze over before I let anyone cancel graduation."
 * Bonnie: "Can you not make jokes about hell freezing over? We're not that far off from that already."
 * Caroline: "Just promise me that today is a friend day."
 * Bonnie: "Okay, I promise. I love you."
 * Caroline: "I love you, too."

Webclip 2
 * Katherine: "I don't think red is really your color Bon-Bon."
 * Bonnie: "And here I was hoping the ghost of anyone would have killed you already."
 * Katherine: "Funny you should mention death, because I'm here to collect that immortality you promised me."
 * Bonnie: "How do you think you're still gonna get it. I told you Qetsiyah is the only witch who knows the immortality spell. She was a no show. You're out of luck."
 * Katherine: "See here is the thing Bonnie. I can't disagree with you, because I have been feeling out of luck lately. But you know who has been getting all of my luck? My beloved doppelgänger Elena. My shadow self is living a better life than I am. So if I don't get that immortality, I may just have to get rid of her altogether."
 * Bonnie: "Did you just threaten my best friend? I can crush your skull without even flinching."
 * Katherine: "Go ahead. Make your move."


 * Katherine (to Elena): "Happy graduation, cupcake."


 * Damon: (to Lexi) "So if you and Ric and little Gilbert are all flesh-like and real-seeming, that means something went horribly wrong when Bonnie tried to put that veil up; and here you two are having Dance Party USA."
 * Stefan: "You're right. How selfish of me to be indulging in these precious moments with my formerly dead best friend. I should be sacrificing my own happiness for the good of others, right? I should be upstairs grooming my hero hair."
 * Damon: "Are you drunk?"
 * Stefan: "I don't know, Mom. Am I?"
 * Lexi (laughs): "Okay."
 * Damon: "Well, I guess that's one way to celebrate our supernatural apocalypse."

Trivia

 * Antagonists: Kol Mikaelson, Silas, Katherine Pierce, Connor Jordan, Alexander and Galen Vaughn.
 * This is the final episode of Season Four.
 * This is the last episode of The Humanity Chapter.
 * Graduation Ceremony occurred in this episode.
 * This episode airs on Joseph Morgan's 32nd birthday.
 * This episode has the largest guest cast to date (11).
 * This is the first episode in which Nina Dobrev plays 3 roles (Elena, Katherine and Silas).
 * Joseph Morgan (Klaus), Claire Holt (Rebekah), Daniel Gillies (Elijah) and Phoebe Tonkin (Hayley) will leave the cast after this episode, with the possibility to return as guests later on in the series since The Originals was picked up.
 * Michael Trevino (Tyler) also left the main cast after this episode.
 * This is the first time the gang encounters Klaus since Because the Night.
 * Filming of Season Four ended on April 25, 2013.
 * Kol amasses an army of the dead on his side to eliminate the MFG (Mystic Falls Gang).
 * Witch Coven (Aja and 11 witches and warlocks)
 * Hybrid Pack (Adrian, 11 hybrids)
 * Alaric and Lexi meet in this episode. Lexi also meets Jeremy off screen as  Jeremy says Lexi'll keep me company to Elena.
 * Matt and Rebekah decide to go an adventure around the world for the summer.
 * Bonnie brings Jeremy back to life as human, and she puts the veil back up between the world of the living and The Other Side. This is the second time in the series, the character of Jeremy has been resurrected after being killed, the last time was during As I Lay Dying. Making him the only character in the series to be killed and resurrected the most.
 * This is the first season final to not feature Elizabeth Forbes. Oddly enough she wasn't around to see Caroline graduate.
 * Elena choses Damon and confesses her love for him.
 * Klaus' graduation gift to Caroline is Tyler's freedom.
 * Elena forces the cure onto Katherine to avoid her own death at Katherine's hands.
 * Stefan is locked into a large safe and pushed over a cliff by Silas into the lake, and it is revealed that Stefan is his doppelganger, nature's loophole to his immortality spell.
 * There are three kisses in this episode:
 * Rebekah and Matt,
 * Elena and Damon after Elena chose him,
 * Bonnie and Jeremy after saying their goodbyes.

Continuity

 * Klaus was last seen in The Originals.
 * Aja was last seen in Because the Night. She was killed by Caroline in order to save Bonnie.
 * Tyler was mentioned, he was last seen in Pictures of You.
 * Adrian was last seen in O Come, All Ye Faithful. He was killed by Niklaus.
 * This is the fourth season finale to feature Elena, Damon, Stefan, Bonnie, Jeremy, Caroline and Alaric.
 * This is the third season finale to feature Katherine, Matt and Niklaus.
 * This is the second season finale to feature Rebekah.
 * This is the second season finale not to feature Elijah and John.
 * This is the first season finale to feature Alexander, Lexi, Silas, Connor, Kol, Vaughn, Aja and Adrian.
 * Matthew Davis makes his 50th appearance as Alaric Saltzman in this episode.

Behind the Scenes

 * Filming of Season Four ended on April 25, 2013.

Cultural References

 * Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become graduates.The graduation itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation.
 * The invasion/attack against the town, appearance of ghosts and the Undead Army are inspired by the events in the books: The Fury, Dark Reunion and The Hunters: Destiny Rising.
 * In The Fury, Katherine uses her powers to control the town's dogs, and attack the inhabitants, especially Elena's family. Alaric, Meredith, Bonnie, Matt, and Caroline do everything possible to defend people from the attack.
 * Result: Katherine von Swartzschild and Elena Gilbert die from exposure to sunlight.
 * In Dark Reunion, the ghosts appear along with Elena's spirit. Ghosts attack the Old One, in order to avoid more bloodshed in Fell's Church.
 * Result: Klaus, the Old One, is temporarily destroyed and Elena comes back to life.
 * In The Hunters: Destiny Rising, Klaus is revived by Ethan Crane and the Vitale Society. The Old One used the blood of a number of vampires that he had changed to cast a resurrection spell, bringing back Katherine von Swartzschild and vicious vampires.
 * Result: Klaus, Cristian Sulez, Katherine von Swartzschild, Ethan Crane, Vitale Society, Undead Army fight against Elena Gilbert, Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, Bonnie McCullough, Zander, Meredith Sulez, Alaric K. Saltzman, Matt Honeycutt, and the Original Pack (Shay, Tristan, Marcus, Jonah, Camden, Spencer, Enrique, Jared, Daniel, Chad). At the end of the book, Klaus, Cristian, Ethan, Chad, the Army, and members of Vitale Society die.
 * The scene where Silas locks and throws Stefan into a lake is a reference to the last scene of the episode Tomorrow. the season finale of the 3rd season of the show "Angel" in which Angel is waylaid by a vengeful Connor and Justine who seal him in a metal coffin and throw it off a boat to sink down to the ocean floor.
 * In The Fury, Elena and Katherine have their first and last fight. Both are killed by exposure to sunlight. Months later, in Dark Reunion, Elena comes back to life as human / guardian, after defeating Klaus, with the help of the ghosts.
 * In TV Series, the destinations of the antagonists are the opposite of the books, Katherine returns to being human, and Silas (Old One) continues to exist.