Keith Arthur Bolden

When Liv (recurring guest star Penelope Mitchell) and Luke’s (recurring guest star Chris Brochu) father arrives to town to celebrate their birthday, they try and convince him to let Jo (guest star Jodi Lyn O’Keefe) and Kai (recurring guest star Chris Wood) take their place in the merge ceremony. After Tyler finds out that the merge is happening sooner than he expected, he urges Liv to let him talk to her father. Meanwhile, after Caroline’s plan to cure her mother takes an unexpected and devastating turn, Elena, Stefan and Damon gather at the hospital, while Jo attempts to save Sheriff Forbes’ (recurring guest star Marguerite MacIntyre) life. Lastly, with the merge set to take place, Damon’s risky plan quickly sends things spiraling out of control, forcing one of the twins to take matters into their own hands.

While Sheriff Lucilia Cable (series star JENNIFER BEALS) searches for Alec unsuccessfully, Abby theorizes that it was more than an accident and retrieves his video journals from Daniel Cassidy (special guest star IAN ZIERING). When one of her patients, Susie Coyle (guest star ELLE GRAHAM), escapes from the hospital, Abby and Matt follow her into the swamp. There, Abby encounters Swamp Thing – a creature that Susie later identifies as Alec Holland. While Alec struggles to understand his metamorphosis into the monstrous, plant-based creature, known as Swamp Thing, Avery meets with Jason Woodrue (series regular KEVIN DURAND), the scientist who initially developed the biological accelerant responsible for the “green flu” and orders him to halt the epidemic. And Maria Sunderland reaches out to Madame Xanadu (series star JERYL PRESCOTT) in order to communicate with her dead daughter, Shawna (guest star GIVEN SHARP).