Vampire Diaries Post Mortem – The Return

Holy Shizzle; I have to say these are writers who do not want you to spend too
much time attached to any one given situation and no one is safe. I think our
big three are “somewhat” safe, as in they can be tortured unmercifully, but no
one else is.  And the end actually had me tearing up, not necessarily
because of what happened – but because of the raw pain in it.

We, the fans, knew that Katherine was in the house when Elena went in. We
watched with concern as she discovered John.  Elena has every reason to
hate John, but she tried to save him.   When she grabbed the giant
butcher knife, dripping with his blood, I had that initial “police procedural”
reaction – as in they were going to think Elena did it (thank you Julie Plec and
Kevin Williamson for not going there).  It was interesting to watch
Katherine watch Elena. 

Katherine is fascinated.

This is not a good thing.

Elena finds Jeremy, but thankfully baby bro’s attempted vampicide is a bust –
Anna’s blood prevented the pills from actually killing him (oopsie!).

At the hospital, Liz is a wreck and it was very touching to watch Damon comfort
her. I think Damon actually likes Sheriff Forbes a bit more than he has admitted
too. He’s a good friend to her (despite the lies).  He can save Caroline
and he tells Elena and Bonnie as much.  Elena doesn’t want Damon to give
her his blood, but Bonnie says he should (dude, I love that she’ll use Damon if
he’s useful, but beyond that she would happily stake him out in the sun). No
waxing back and forth for her character – bravo.

Damon wants to talk to Elena about their kiss and shared feelings (ut oh), but
when Elena “plays dumb” because she has no idea what he’s talking about, Damon’s
confusion deepens. His mind also goes into overdrive to puzzle it out.  But
when Jenna shows up and swears she talked to Elena earlier and Elena denies it –
Damon realizes what’s up.

His very understated reaction was hysterical.

Flash over to the Gilbert household where Katherine walks in, trying to play the
part of Elena. Too bad for Kit-Kat, Stefan’s not buying.  Was anyone else
cheering his Damon-esque flare when he turned on Katherine?  I was. 
It made me like Stefan a lot more (and he needed that injection of
anti-whine). 

Seconds after she exits, Damon and Elena arrive.  Okay – for those who are
confused, the bigger the hair, the more likely it is to be Katherine. 
Elena favors the sleek, close to her face look, Katherine is the 80s big hair girl.

The episode becomes a game of cat and mouse between the Salvatores, Elena and
Katherine.  Bonnie figures Katherine out and nearly gets her neck broken
for her trouble. I did love it when Bonnie blew open the doors forcing Katherine
to retract her claws so to speak and Stefan’s polite, yet firm “Let her go.”

Damon’s emotional roller coaster, unfortunately, went off the rails. 
Katherine, forever may she be known as The Bitch, toyed with him until she
finally hooked up with him in the Salvatore boarding house.  The passion
sizzling in Damon’s cold fury led to a few brutal kisses, but he wrenched
himself away and wanted to know whether she’d ever loved him – because he was
willing to forgive her for all of it, the abandonment, Stefan – everything.

Then she dropped the bomb.

She’d never loved him.  Poor, innocent Damon.  She’d used him. She’d
enjoyed herself with him.  But it was always Stefan she’d wanted.

You could hear the heart shredding in Damon’s eyes.  I knew Damon would go
to Elena – because Damon genuinely cares for her, he genuinely likes her and
maybe even respects her.  But Damon drinking, hurting and twisted in knots
by Katherine is not a good Damon.  This is the Damon that hated for 140
years.

Damon crowded Elena, he wanted her to not lie to him about her feelings.  I
think Damon’s right, I think Elena does care, but she’s placed Damon squarely in
the “not-boyfriend” category and unlike the bitch-ancentress, she doesn’t play
one boy off another.  But when she unconsciously echoes Katherine’s
declaration …

… sigh. Damon’s sanity jumped off the cliff along with his heart.  
Jeremy’s arrival, seeing Damon all over Elena, was ill-timed. I do not think
Damon would have hurt Elena, but Jeremy was a great target for him.

• Jeremy who treated Elena badly.
• Jeremy who waxed poetic about how bad life was.
• Jeremy who had already tried to become a vampire

So Damon struck out at Elena, at himself and at Jeremy by snapping his
neck.  It was a heart-stopping moment.   Damon wouldn’t have done
it if not for Anna’s blood and as later Stefan asserts, Jeremy was wearing the
Gilbert ring. (Wasn’t that special that John left it for Jeremy? At least the
schmuck did one decent thing).

But Damon’s actions were an attempt to put himself as far from Elena as possible
and it’s working. She was devastated and Stefan’s attempts to soothe her
wouldn’t work.  When Jeremy’s eyes finally popped open – we could breathe.

Unfortunately, Kat’s not going to take Stefan’s rejection lying down.  She
goes to see Caroline in the hospital. Caroline who is juiced up on Damon’s
blood.  Caroline who is a hapless bystander in the Mystic Falls
shenanigans.   \

Katherine has a message for Damon and Stefan.  She wants Caroline to
deliver it.

The message: Game On!

Then Katherine smothers the messenger.

The episode is so jam packed that I know I didn’t cover it all. I didn’t get to
dive into the Lockwoods or more about the Gilbert history or even the fact that
Stefan and Damon are circling each other over Elena – Damon wants the fight,
Stefan is holding back (in part because of Elena’s advice) and in part because
he doesn’t want to fight his brother.  Then there’s Stefan’s Damon-esque
threat to Uncle John and forcing John to drink his blood.  24 hours to get
out of town and away, or John is going to worm food.

I really did miss my show this summer.  My heart is grieving for
Damon.  

It’s so not going to be pretty where they are all going.   But the
writers, actors and production values delivered.