Vampire Diaries squeal alert!

"We kissed. Now it's weird." (credit)

EEEEEEK.
 

Okay, if you haven't been watching this season, I'm probably going to spoil you. So click away and find something to do that doesn't involve pouty vampire lips. ;)

 
First things first:

1. My local CW affiliate sucks big time. When Vampire Diaries returned from hiatus, we had image quality issues that made the episode jump around. Last week, they blacked out for ten whole minutes (right as Stefan drove Elena toward the bridge). And this week, they lost power halfway through! I'm going to buy the eps on iTunes and forget this stupid CW business completely. This is TORTURE.
2. On the other hand, I now own petulant Damon on my iPad, so life could be worse.
3. OMG ELIJAH OMG OMG.

The good.

  

Caroline is always good. Vampire Barbie is my favorite character, and I've loved her with Tyler. The way she stood by him through his first transformation was heartbreaking, losing him to Klaus was tragic, and seeing Tyler try to overcome the dark side for her is great. Although I wish there was less Papa Forbes involved. (More on that later.)
 
Also, how much am I loving Elena?

  

There's no denying that she's a flouncy Mary Sue who endangers her friends with spunky agency, but my favorite subplot this season has been the way she's taken charge of her human vulnerability, trained with Alaric (history teacher and vampire hunter), and started kicking ass in her own special way. 

  

It's been a slow, rewarding process without excessive training montages, so it really feels like she's earning the ability to stand up for herself. And Elena's training came to a head last night when she beat a guy with his own shotgun and knocked him out (squeal #1!). 

  

Evil Stefan noticed that she's becoming stronger, which seems to have given him prickly warm feelings in his deadened heart. Enough that we got Epic Broody face when Elena announced that she's been sucking face with Damon, and then some fisticuffs between brothers (squeal #2!).

Almost as good as hilarious sobbing Stefan.

Stefan is totally right, by the way. Elena is too good for both of them--Damon, who killed her brother and abused Caroline, and Stefan, who's basically an addict and murderer doomed to an eternity of regression. She sent Jeremy away to save him, but maybe she's the one that needs to be leaving Mystic Falls.

The bad.

Evil Stefan. Yawn. I loved his storyline when it involved tons of bromance with Klaus. The way it humanized the Big Bad was touching without weakening him. Since then, Klaus has become more of an irritant than a looming danger, and Stefan's getting downright obnoxious. There's no reason he's acting this way anymore. It's stupid.

Speaking of stupid: Alaric. He's dating someone who thinks it's a good idea to inject vampire blood in her patients? And why the heck does that make her less of a suspect in the murder of her ex-boyfriend? Dr. Fell is obviously evil. Plus, no matter what Elena says about moving on, Jenna died like two weeks ago in TV show time, and everybody has forgotten about her. Poor Jenna.

Finally, Caroline's dad. What is with the amnesia on this show? Am I the only one who remembers that he brutalized his daughter? Every time he said something to Tyler like, "I'm going to keep you away from my little girl," I had to snort. Seriously, Papa Forbes? Seriously?

In summary.

This show managed to thrill and frustrate me in equal parts. I need more Caroline and Tyler in my life (without her dad, thanks) and more of Elena shedding spunky agency for real agency. But I'm getting really tired of Klaus and Stefan butting heads like giraffes in heat.

Who cares, though? ELIJAH.  ♥ ♥ ♥

Oh, and in case you haven't seen it yet, here's the extended promo for next week's episode:

What was your favorite part of TVD this week?