THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: 162 Candles

Now y’all, I don’t want to get too carried away here, but last night was a little epic! And we can pretty much attribute it all to Lexi, who is my favorite female vampire since Pam on True Blood. And I think I even liked her MORE than Pam, so suck on that for awhile. Also, vampire/bloodsucking pun!

Her arrival was perfectly timed, because needed someone to seriously lighten Stefan up, which she did, and to force the Stefan and Elena storyline out of its standoff, which she also did. And ladies, can I get a big “hell yeah” (Dixie Chicks-style) for having an awesome, strong, funny female character who isn’t just around to cause drama and steal boyfriends? Lexi was perfect, and I was really hoping we’d get to see her again.

Obviously, that won’t be happening because Damon enacted his diabolical plan, gained the trust of the sheriff by loading her up with vervain for her, her family, the council, AND all her deputies, and then set Lexi up so that he could stake her. You all know how much I love Damon, how hot and funny I think he is and how absolutely essential to the show, but I swear at that moment, I wanted to stake him myself, and I was minorly disappointed when Stefan didn’t FINISH HIM! (Mortal Kombat-style), although I did manage to get a grip on myself before it was all over. I don’t really want you dead, Damon!

Although, you know, I really don’t think that was the only thing. Damon was also a HUGE jerk to Caroline, and making girls cry and feel bad about themselves isn’t going to win any points with me. He was HARSH. And it just grosses me out how he can be so secretly nice to Elena and so positively revolting with Caroline. Thankfully Matt stepped in to carry drunk Caroline home, and can I just say that I kind of love that pairing? I wasn’t sure I would when she stumbled into his booth, but it makes total sense. They’re very different people, but they’re going through similar issues of feeling abandoned and unloved and rejected, and Matt does love playing hero to the damaged girl types. And I really think he might be able to bring out a better side of Caroline, and I really like both of them and would like to see both of them happy, so at this point, I’m pretty much all for it.

Also, a total aside, something about Matt and Caroline was really bringing out Billy’s snark last night. When the party started, I was all, REALLY? A party for teenagers at a BAR? I mean, I’ve grown to accept that no one has parents but a BAR? Anyway, when the sheriff’s department was all outside, Billy was like, “Hey sheriffs … underage drinking going on about six feet away.” And then Matt and Caroline came out and had that “uh oh” look on their faces, and the sheriff was like, “Are you DRUNK?” and Billy goes, “That’s some nice police work there!” And THEN, later in her room, he started chanting “Aryan sex! Aryan sex!” Most of us who watch chant “Vampire sex!” (come on, you know you do), but I guess he likes the blondes.

We did get an interesting little snapshot of Elena’s home life, with Jeremy all void of suffering and doing homework and whatnot (thanks? to Damon—I’m interested in seeing where they’re going with that), and Aunt Jenna being bummed over Logan dumping her via e-mail. Really, Aunt Jenna? 1. He wasn’t cute. 2. You already knew he was a jerk, and then he dumped you VIA E-MAIL. You can do so much better. 3. You went one date. And 4. That was like two weeks ago, which in TVD time is like … 5 years. Time to move on and/or have your memory erased by a hot vampire.

The real winning scene for me in this show, and mind you, this is in an episode full of LEXI, who I LOVED, so it’s a huge deal, was Bonnie showing Elena her witch powers. You guys, I loved it. It was BEAUTIFUL and there aren’t enough good things to say about it. I liked how they reminded the audience that Elena has had a lot of secrets to keep lately and they’ve all been really unpleasant for her, but then we see Bonnie lift the feathers and it was so pretty, and happy, and such an intense bonding moment for them. You could really see how much Elena wanted to share it all with Bonnie but new she shouldn’t. Still, I thought it added a lot of depth and really rounded out their friendship in a way that just really brought it to life. I am now also officially a huge fan of the two of them together, and this was a great episode for girl power.

I think that the reason that this episode worked so incredibly well was because everything flowed together so flawlessly—nothing was left hanging out there and nothing was needlessly jammed in. It was very tightly constructed. Every single story connected into something else, even if it was just in passing, which I loved.

Oh, and speaking of love. I bet you guys are DYING that I’m just now bringing this up but I want to end on a high note. How much did you totally SQUEE! at the discussion about Stefan being in love with Elena? I was DYING. He nailed that one, with the smiling and the cuteness … Stefan is always so reserved and it’s so hard to tell what he’s thinking or feeling sometimes, and Lexi was absolutely necessary in giving the audience a glimpse into where he’s at right now. When he was listing Elena’s characteristics and getting all schmoopy, I felt like it was extra special since we NEVER see that side of him. From an audience perspective, depth was also added to that relationship and the revelation straight from the horse’s mouth that Stefan is in love with Elena put all of their later interactions and moments in much sharper focus. I finally felt a real emotional connection to that relationship.

Alright, you guys. Obviously, everyone knows I was a HUGE fan of this episode. How about you? Favorite moments? Things that worked, things that didn’t? Thoughts on Lexi? Thoughts on the Stefan and Damon showdown? There so many things happening in this episode I know I didn’t cover them all, so please please please, discuss in the comments!

SB loves recapping, vampires, hotness, and recapping vampire hotness. She can also be found writing for her own blog, www.offcolortv.com.