But Stefan’s not alone in his animosity for the current romantic entanglement between his brother and his former flame. Caroline is championing the cause in true hypocrite form. Isn’t she the same girl who previously went on a date with the original tormentor himself, Klaus (Joseph Morgan)? She’s currently pretending to be on the outs with her boyfriend Tyler (Michael Trevino) only to un-hybrid all of Klaus’s syered army, when the truth is that Caroline is the only person that seems to be able to stand him for any extended period of time. The more she fights it, the more it becomes obvious to everyone – including Tyler – that there’s potential sparks. And, the way things are going with the pack it might not be too long before her loyalties are questioned and feelings revealed.
All of that doesn’t stop Caroline from expressing her opinion at girls’ night. It’s a good thing that the friendship between Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie (Kat Graham) is as solid as it is because otherwise things could have turned out much worse. Even with Caroline reclaiming her ‘Queen B’ crown with her strong opinions about Damon, Elena won’t stand for anyone messing with her friends. Part of me wanted Klaus to swoop in and play hero, but Elena’s brand of heroism worked all the same. Tyler on the other hand seems to be feeding into Hayley’s (Phoebe Tonkin) power conspiracy a bit too easily. He’s always been somewhat on the weak end, usually letting other people handle the heavy mental lifting, but falling so completely for this hair-brained idea to outsmart Klaus, who’s always been a step ahead of the rest, might turn into his biggest mistake ever. In theory it has its merits, but in reality his allegiances seem confused. How well does he really know this Hayley character anyways? From what we’ve already seen, it looks like she’s the one carrying around a big bag of lies. She may comes through for him in the end, but not before getting him into a fair share of trouble. He’s definitely on my list for potential ‘big death coming’ victims.
The writers behind The Vampire Diaries have graciously entertained us with another flashback, this time of 1942 New Orleans. Another road trip for the Salvatore brothers sheds some light on the situation as they naturally do – with some help from the intermittent playback of their last encounter in the city that never sleeps. That time around Stefan was accompanied by his BFF, Lexi (Arielle Kebbel). What intrigues me the most about this whole vampire syer faux-pas is that for something as rare as a vampire being syered to another vampire, it seems almost unbelievable that Damon would be responsible for a double play. Of course, impossible always seems subjective when it comes to Damon. The search for answers doesn’t have as concrete a solution as Stefan may have hoped for. Nothing is ever that simple for the brothers – every piece of good news comes with one equally revolting it seems.
Either way, Damon is prepared to do the right thing. In true Damon fashion, he’s willing to forgo his personal happiness – which right now is probably at an ultimate high – for Elena. Unfortunately, this time around what’s right for Elena might also be a matter of perspective. Elena clearly has her own idea of what’s right, which conveniently for dramatic purposes sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from what everyone else in her social circle seems to think is right. The more Damon gives up for Elena, the more of a martyr this season is setting him up to be. Maybe someone besides Elena will finally get on the Damon bandwagon and he’ll have a chance at winning the popular vote for once.
No sign of Matt (Zach Roerig), Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), or Klaus in this episode of The Vampire Diaries but it only adds to the anticipation. With Elena hiding out at Salvatore manor to avoid her hunter brother trying to kill her, it’s only a matter of time before they run into each other and something goes awry. Either with that, or with Bonnie’s new dark-magic-by-another-name-is-still-dark-magic training. How long before she gets clued in on that one?
What are your predictions for the mid-season finale of The Vampire Diaries?
Until next episode.