This episode was pretty crazy. Granted, all of this show’s episodes are crazy in one way or another, but ‘All My Children’ moved a lot of stories forward and opened up a lot of opportunities for the remainder of the season. In short it felt like another ‘The Reckoning’, cumulating all of the stories to their climax as if it’s season finale time. From the original vampire mother wanting to kill all her children, to another rescue mission of the female protagonist that actually hurts everyone around her.
Elena has been working hard on saving herself this season and though she might not ever be able to do so, this episode was just another reminder of how badly we need her to be passive. Every decision she makes herself is destructive for everyone around her and even if she’s sure of something one moment, she’ll end up regretting it soon enough. Much like last week when she joined Esther aka Mother Original in her plan to kill her children by bonding them with her Doppelganger blood. Elena knew it would mean the end of baddy Klaus but also of Elijah, who, so far, has always had her back. In fact, she straight up lied to his face last week with very little sign of regret. Fortunately for Elijah, she felt guilty now. So he confronted her, locked her up in a cave and had his bloodthirsty sister Rebekkah guard Elena. Which is exactly what I would’ve done. Elena needs to be protected from herself and others and this allowed some highly entertaining quality time with Rebekkah who was still very mad for getting stabbed in the back, literally.
While the lead of the show was safely stored away like a Disney princess, the more awesome team players of the show were on to something. Elijah wasn’t going to let his mother kill him and his siblings, so he forced the Salvatore brothers to stop her by threatening their precious Elena. It might’ve been unnecessary for Elijah to go this far, but it was nice to see Stefan and Damon teaming up for Elena’s sake again. The conflict between the two brothers mainly exists from their love for this girl and the matter settled the debate rather appropriately: by a coin tossing. At this point, their fight for Elena has become so ridiculous that they continuously make decisions for her. But now they actually seem to understand that Elena would be happy to die to save Bonnie. So in a more surprising twist, the brothers actually acted in Elena’s wishes and found a loophole to save Bonnie, Elena, and settle the battle for the latter’s affection. 
As for the Originals, they were pretty passive. After a heartwarming family scene earlier in the day, where the brothers teased Rebekkah for sleeping with Damon, Kol and Klaus went on to drink at the Mystic Grill. Alaric and Meredith were there too, of course. And in their plan to save Elena, Damon and Stefan called upon the love birds to occupy Kol while Caroline was called to distract Klaus. This twist was actually painful on many levels. After introducing them to us as a possible couple, the mass-murderer and basically the sweetest, most awesome girl on TV right now, shared some major chemistry. Caroline held off, still, but Klaus seemed tireless in winning her over. There was something so grounding and realistically awkward to him wanting to talk to her, even though he barely stood a chance. For a second Klaus wasn’t the season’s big bad, he was just a boy trying to talk to a girl in the most gentle fashion. Unfortunately this was just a trick of her to get him and his family killed. You know, typical girl stuff.
As usual, every twist in the episode was rapidly followed by another twist, leaving you clustered to your screen. Seriously, the entire family was daggered, leaving Elena able to run, but not before they all woke up. Rebekkah soaked Elena in gasoline and threatened to burn her, Kol attacked Alaric, and Klaus was forced to realize Caroline would never be on his side. It all ended when not Stefan but Damon killed Abby, leaving Bonnie out of harms way, but sufficiently ending Esther’s power streak.
Suddenly, the big climax that had been promised for several episodes was over, but no time was wasted to get things moving. Kol, Finn and Esther quickly left. Elijah apologized to Elena for being the baddy he so desperately didn’t want to be and left too, while Rebekkah realized that even in his most manipulative times, Klaus was always the one who stuck around. She also had a desperate Elena videotaped (with an awesome camera-phone that could shoot HD in a dark cave) she found out the Oak tree, of which the dagger is made, that could kill them all had an offspring. Stating ‘It’s not over’; Rebekkah could’ve not put a better theme up for the rest of the season. The Originals are not out of the woods and unlike recently, when the gang willingly did stupid things with no actual motive, they will try to find the new tree and kill Klaus any chance they get.
But... what is this? A shocking reveal that leaves everything open wasn’t the ending? No, we move to Alaric waking up on another couch (he must feel really comfortable on those things) and finding that the girl that is sleeping so sweetly is actually the serial killer we’ve been looking for. Bam! She wasn’t sleeping. Bam! She has a gun. Bam! Alaric maybe dead. Again. I must say Alaric’s fate becomes less interesting every time he gets hit by a car, stabbed, or shot. But what is interesting is what the next episode is even going to be about. Damon is back to his old ways, Bonnie wants nothing to do with Elena, and Klaus and Rebekkah are probably leaving to burn that tree down. So whatever event Mystic Falls ‘ high society has planned next week, I’m not sure anyone will be there to attend. So that only leaves the most boring person, Abby, who's transforming into a vampire. But knowing the crew, that will be the smallest storyline next week.