Blood, Violence, and Ghosts

An open letter to Damon Salvatore:

What the hell?

– The Viewing Public

Last night, The Vampire Diaries returned with their usual batch of moments designed to make us jump out of our seats, throw our slightly drooled-on Damon pillows, and ask the most important question: What just happened? Excitement and peril lurked around every turn, relationships were tested, and Damon got his ass kicked by Vampire Barbie. What a great night. *Sigh* There’s lots to get to, so let’s make this short, shall we? You’ve already seen the episode anyway. Oh, I must give a shout out to all the lovely ladies who comment each week and continually make me laugh. You’re all amazing. Damon hugs for all of you! Okay. Now get ready to take a drive to Mystic Falls, because this is a SPOILER ALERT!

“My kind of town. Chicago is, my kind of town.” Sorry. I kinda got caught up in the moment. Anyway, this week we were sent to the streets of present day Chicago. Klaus and his gang of miscreant vampires were lounging about, shopping for the used-to-be slightly dead vampire, Rebecca. The witty banter flowed as did the champagne, while grumpy Klaus complained about his lack of hybrid lackey’s due to the missing whereabouts of Rebecca’s necklace. Get over it already. Stefan, who was looking exceptionally good in this episode, had grown weary and decided to go out for some fresh air. Whoa, Katherine. Where did you come from? The Vampire Bitch had made it clear that she knew Stefan was up to something – withholding some master plan. Like a good bad-ass vampire, he didn’t give his game away.

In the Gilbert Home, Damon “I really need a haircut” Salvatore was helping Elena prepare a nice batch of Grandma Gilbert’s Chili for another Founder’s party. Again? Really? Damon, who had decided to become a human for this scene – eating a fair share of food that would be indigestible for a vampire (He is a vampire, right?) – joked and laughed with his lady-love, making us believe we were oh-so close to getting our wish. Enter, Alaric. Our favorite hunter had been concerned for the human, wanting to know if she was alright after that whole Stefan debacle. Don’t talk about that. It still hurts. Elena had declared herself as ‘fine’ and moving along with her life, but Damon believed she was in denial. No, duh. After all, she was still wearing his necklace.

Upstairs, Jeremy awoke from a deep slumber, only to find a ghost in his bed. Anna was more than happy to know that her former lover could hear her cries from the ‘other side.’ Later, Jeremy apologized to the ghost for his enthusiasm when he spotted his always absent girlfriend (Bonnie) earlier. Don’t. We don’t like her, anyway. Anna told him that the two were able to communicate since she was ‘pushing’ from the other side to talk to him and he was open to receiving her call. She is by herself in these two united worlds, and every time Jeremy tells her he’s seeing Vicki, Anna feels a darkness – Vicki is pushing her away. That’s probably not a good thing, Jer. Anna doesn’t want Jeremy to let Vicki in. Yeah, Jeremy. Don’t do it. He’s going to do it, isn’t he? The two have missed one another. Anna places her hand on his as Jeremy does the same. They can feel each other through the veil. That’s . . . sweet?

With Sheriff Forbes in tow, Damon made a visit to the local jail. Or in this case, a special underground room for vampire torture under the jail. Caroline’s Mama needed Damon to do his vampire thing and compel Bill (a.k.a. Her ex-husband, daughter torturer, and all around not-so-nice guy) to leave town. Damon, on the other hand, would have rather just killed him. He didn’t. Pity. Though, he got his kicks after taking a nice bite out of the human to test his blood for vervain. We’re all good. The anti-vampire wackadoo was firm in his belief that he could have ‘cured’ Caroline of her vampirism. He also thought he could resist compulsion. Yeah, right. Our vamp-boy doesn’t care and compelled him anyway.

Back in Chicago, Klaus’ witch friend Gloria tried to find Rebecca’s necklace with a location spell. She asked the blonde vampire for some help, grabbed her hand, and tried again. Don’t worry, Stefan. She won’t . . . never mind. As three best friends (Yeah. Yeah, Bonnie’s back) chatted about recent events, Elena screamed in pain. Her necklace had burned her skin. Uh. Oh. Witch Bonnie asked to see the piece of jewelery and inspected it carefully. SPARK. What was that? “I found it.” Not good, Stefan. Not. Good. Unfortunately, for Klaus, Gloria needed a bit more time and some space to get the exact location of the necklace. With some coaxing from Stefan (Good boy), the three vampires left to go fetch a snack. Om nom nom nom. Three dead human girls later, Stefan left a bratty Rebecca and an amusing Klaus to write a name on a wall. Or did he . . .

No. He didn’t. Instead, he went to seek out Gloria. She knows his secret. When she had been locating the necklace, Gloria had overheard Elena talking about Stefan. He still cares for the fragile human girl. Really? ‘Cause after last week, I’m not seeing it. Gloria threatened the vampire after he refused to tell her the location of the Original Witch’s necklace. He began to pounce, but Gloria stopped him in his tracks. Stefan fell to the floor in pain. No!

Gosh, not another torture scene. Yeah, it’s true. Gloria strapped the vampire down with a paralysis spell, slicing a long line into each of his arms. Blood dripped down and collected below. Nice work. You remembered to take his shirt off. Stefan screamed in pain as the witch rubbed vervain into the vampires naked chest. Ouch. Again she rubbed the vervain into his chest, but this time, she unlocked his memories; memories of Elena. He is still in love with her. Gasp! Could it be? He would do anything for her. We know. We know. Guilt and darkness. Well, he is a vampire. I think he’s required to be somewhat emo. She’s the doppelgänger Klaus is looking for. Oh, no. *Evil laugh* “This is creepy.” Huh? Katherine, what are you doing? She’s fixing our problem. Always the hero (Pish), Katherine stabbed Gloria in the neck, killing the only link Klaus had to Elena. Thank goodness. Though, Stefan is grateful (I suppose) that Katherine saved him, he isn’t willing to divulge his diabolical plan or join Katherine in hers. She’s on her own now. He does deposit a little nugget of information into her piggy bank; Klaus and Rebecca had been running from someone (Yes. We know this). Stefan & Katherine believe they were running from a hunter. Stefan is set out to find the mysterious man. Alone.

At the Lockwood’s, Caroline & Elena waited for Bonnie to return with her spell book. Is this really the best place to do this, girls? The witch took the necklace and proceeded to work her magic voodoo to try to figure out what the deal was. The deal is, this necklace has its own magic. Look at the way it’s floating in the air, all by itself. Dun. Dun. Dun. In the meantime, Caroline spoke her curiosity about the relationship Elena was forming with Mr. Hottie, Damon. “So you’re not, like, switching Salvatore’s. Are you?” Elena was a little too quick to object, stating she was merely friends with her former vampire lover’s brother. Whatever you have to tell yourself. Later, Caroline was more persistent that Elena was attracted to Damon. Elena admits she’s still unsure of her feelings. Yes.

Speaking of denial, and vampires who can’t tell a measly human girl he is desperately in love with her, Damon was bombarded with Alaric’s feelings toward the newly blossoming relationship he was forming with Elena. Showing his parental side, Alaric shoots down the possibility of Delena. What? No. He warned Damon to back off. Like he’s going to listen. When it was time for the council meeting, Damon found himself once again face-to-face with Anti-Vampire Bill. Someone was impervious to compulsion. Go figure. Damon asked for Alaric’s help in removing the incoming threat, but Alaric resists. This is Caroline’s dad we’re talking about, Elena intercedes. Damon doesn’t care. When Alaric tried to stop him from doing something stupid, Damon broke his neck. No! Don’t worry. He has the ring on. Oh, good. Damon is being one moody bitch.

At first glance of Daddy dearest, Caroline fled to Tyler’s room. Where else would she go? The sweaty wolf volunteered to kick the distraught vampire’s dad’s ass, but she declined. “Through everything, he’s still my dad.” That’s nice, but you do remember he tried to kill you? Caroline snuggled closer to Tyler, and the two began to kiss passionately. Oh, yes. When things began to heat up (That’s what I’m talking about), Caroline’s phone began to ring. Darn it. It’s an emergency, Caroline!

Insults flew back and forth between vampire Damon and human Bill. Never insult Damon’s compulsion techniques, dude. Before he knew what was happening, Damon ripped into Bill’s throat and drank his fill. He must really hate Bill. SLAM. At vampire speed, Caroline threw Damon into the wall behind him. CRASH. Into the glass door he went. Bill tried to resist when Caroline offered him her blood to recover, but ultimately agreed when Caroline forced him to drink. Caroline ordered Damon to leave. “Or what?” SLAP. Holy . . . Caroline just slapped Damon! This is so awesome. BANG. Damon recovered and straddled Caroline to Mrs. Lockwood’s desk. “I’m stronger than you, little girl.” Oh, yes. Now it’s getting good. “Well, I’m angrier.” Caroline pushed and shoved Damon back against the wall and left with her father beside her. Damn. That’s not how I wanted this to go. If you know what I mean. *Eyebrow wiggle* What do you mean? Nothing. When he recovered, Elena scorned Damon’s behavior. She can’t let him act that way and he doesn’t want her to turn him into Stefan. Burn.

Ghost Anna made another appearance in Mystic Falls when Jeremy and Bonnie began to search through her myriad of spell books, looking for Elena’s necklace. She warned Jeremy about the darkness and in an instant, the books were set on fire. Spooky. When Bonnie left to clean up the mess, Jeremy and Anna had a heart-to-heart. Jeremy doesn’t want his ghost ex-girlfriend around every time he is with Bonnie. She told him that she was only trying to warn him and that her appearance is a two-way street. She only appears when he is thinking about her. Someone still has a crush. He neither denies nor confirms that he still cares for the ghost. He is unable to deal with everything right now. Jeremy blocks Anna out. “Goodbye, Anna.” It’s time to tell Bonnie the truth. A desperate Anna tries to break through the veil, but it’s no use. Jeremy can’t hear her. Like a good friend, Bonnie lets Elena in on the secret. That’s not right. Jeremy should have told her himself. Hey, Elena. Where did you go? Oh, darn.

At Casa de Klaus, Stefan attempted to search through the family coffins, but Rebecca stopped him. Our vampire tried to smooth talk his way into some answers, but came up empty. Rebecca told him she knew about Elena and his deal with Klaus, and when he tried to walk away, she landed a big ol’ smooch on him. Oh, wow. She’s direct. He didn’t resist. Bastard. Rebecca asked him if he would love anyone again. “Maybe.” Stupid, vampire. The answer was no. Rebecca knows he was lying. When Klaus returned, Rebecca outed the curious vamp. She tells him he was asking about ‘Michael.’ So he has a name. She also lets it slip that Stefan’s loyalty might not be all it should be. LUNGE. What?

The Salvatore Mansion: Damon fixes himself and a still-alive Alaric a drink. He needs to make sure the bromance is good. “You killed me.” “You pissed me off.” “You killed me!” Oh, you two. Alaric isn’t as forgiving this time around. DING-DONG! Get the door, Damon. Hello, there. Katherine! Stop posing as Elena. She asked the vamp if he wanted to go on a road trip and held Elena’s necklace. Say no, Damon. Say. No. He said, yes. Dammit!

Despite her lengths to save him from an early death, Bill is still unwavering in his belief that Caroline’s vampirism will destroy her. Maybe, but she’s still a kick-ass vampire. Across town, Alaric pleaded with Mrs. Lockwood and Sheriff Forbes to give him a place on The Council, seeing as he’s acting as the parental guardian of the Gilbert children. He was adamant to receive a spot. There are supernatural creatures in the town that are only out for themselves. Vampires. Werewolves. Who’s going to look out for the humans? Alaric Saltzman, that’s who.

Wake up, sleeping Stefan. A curious Klaus is wondering if Stefan is holding onto some piece of his former life, as his supernatural sister suspects. So, Klaus wanted to see for himself what Stefan had been hiding. Welcome to Mystic Falls! Oh, crap.

The Vampire Diaries

What did you think of the episode? Are you in need of more Forwood? Will Elena admit her feelings for Damon? Will Klaus find Elena? Who will save her now that Damon has run off with Katherine? What is up with Alaric? Does Jeremy still love Anna? What is the darkness that is after them? How does Bonnie fit into the equation? After everything, does Stefan still have feelings for Elena? Tell me in the comments!

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