Well, we made it through another episode where Caroline didn’t die, and that’s good enough for me.  But there were lots of other good things too.  Shall we?

First things first.  I was unable to do the drinking game tonight because I’ve gotta be on my A-game for drinking and staying up late tomorrow when I go to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios.  Awesome, right?  But I do hope to participate in the drinking game next week, and I’ll be sure to not keep the buzz to myself.  In related news, we had an absolutely RECORD day on the blog today.  You bitches are some serious alcoholics, aren’t you?  Yes, and I love you for it.  You would all fit right in in Florida.

Anyway.  Let’s start with Caroline.  I do like her and Stefan together … not as much as her and Matt, of course, but in a fun, friend, hunting-cute-and-defenseless-bunnies sort of way.  And I loved how happy she got when Stefan said they could go to the watering hole.  And does anyone else feel like she was totally justified in pulling a “bitch back off my man” on Most Improved Ass?  Because I do, and she didn’t do anything that bad.  Come on, Matt–a little jealousy is flattering.  And drama-free Caroline?  Is that even REALLY Caroline?  No.

And I was SO sad when Matt dumped her.  I mean, he didn’t even know that she went batshit on his blood and then bit him on the neck … he dumped her for a totally stupid reason.  Dislike.  Can they please kiss and make up, like … now?

In other awesomeness, the werewolf thing really came on strong this episode.  First of all, thanks to Alaric and a trip to Duke, the gang finally determines that they do exist (with help from the girl who played Christine on Dexter S4).  Legend has it that a werewolf bite can kill a vampire and oh, what’s that?  Werewolves instinctively hunt vampires?  Well, that’s convenient.  I did really like that whole “Curse of the Sun and the Moon” thing, though.  I don’t know if that’s real or not, but it was sort of poetic and I liked it.

You know what else I liked?  The use of a real wolf.  Pretty badass, much more so than that other vampire/werewolf movie which shall not be named (hint: it rhymes with New Moon).

The big reveal here is that Mason Lockwood is totally the werewolf with a heart of gold.  He knows he can’t avoid becoming a werewolf so instead he tries to chain himself up and imprison himself.  Basically, he’s a werewolf Stefan.  Or as I like to call him … Steffenwolf.  He even tried hard to NOT eat Stefan when he busted through the window at him, but as he got wolfier and wolfier … well, and Caroline is pretty delicious.  We all know this.  And he was able to back up off that when Tyler told him no.  So Tyler totally knows about the werewolf thing now … does he know about the vampires?  And if they DID somehow manage to compel him (which … wouldn’t his mom have vervained the hell out of him?), isn’t it really only a matter of time?

Honestly, everyone was awesome in this storyline, but I think the biggest props go to Paul Wesley.  He carried a lot of that story, at least in being the liaison between the vampires and the werewolves.  There’s just a danger inherent in the material of things getting campy, but he really kept it ground in reality and delivered all the lines with a sincerity that just really sold it.  Stefan is a quieter character and in a lot of ways, he’s sidelined a lot.  I think the show has done a better job this season in writing him, but whenever Paul Wesley is given the opportunity, he really shines.  I actually found myself really impressed with Stefan tonight, which is sort of a new (and welcome!) feeling.

Something that I think helped the situation was splitting up Stefan and Elena.  Stefan just has more interesting things to do when she’s not around, although they were pretty cute before she left and he admitted that he hated that she was going on the trip with Damon.  She spent the whole trip being a bitch to Damon, and while understandable, I’m a Damon girl.  I’m all like … come ON, Elena.  He said he was sorry, AND he’s hot.  How could she possibly resist him blocking the car door?  I know I wouldn’t have been able to or even WANTED to.  He was so open and humble and … UN-Damon.  So I really loved the talk on the front porch where he called her bitchy ass out for lying, using him, and being a total hypocrite.  Go Damon!  Bonnie is next.

Okay, speaking of Bonnie … now she’s hating on Caroline too, although I love the two of them bitching at each other.  It has a totally different feel to it than Bonnie and Damon, and she DID give Caroline a ring to go out in the daylight with, so I’m hoping they’ll patch things up and Bonnie will quit being … a witch.

The only other thing really going on in this episode was Alaric kissing Jenna, which I was totally down with.  Let’s get that show on the road!

What did you guys think?  Favorite moments?  Favorite lines?  (I also liked, “Noooo … that would be creepy.”)  How did you feel about the way the werewolves played out?  And most importantly, did anyone get shitfaced off the drinking game?  Tell us all about it (and any other random thoughts you may have) in the comments!