Wow, wow, WOW you guys–this episode was AWESOME.  And I know I’ve said it before, but this really might’ve been my favorite episode so far.  The show was DEFINITELY firing on all cylinders this week, and I was completely excited during the entire episode.  Yay!  There were so many great parts to it and I’m about to dive right in, so if you haven’t seen it and want to remain unspoiled (I recommend that, that’s how I went into it), stop reading now (but come back and comment once you watch!).

First of all, and maybe most importantly, I LOVED Lexi.  I so badly wanted her to come back and be a recurring character and I SWEAR, she was on screen for like what, 20 minutes?  Who knows, but when she died, a little piece of me died too.  Okay, that might be a little dramatic, but I was definitely bummed.  That character and that actress brought so much to the show that I really wanted to keep her, BADLY.

She just brought so much balance to the show, and I think it was needing that.  Damon is crazy evil, which is fun but he’s been able to run rampant so far.  Stefan is crazy good, but he’s good to the point of being a little boring (sorry, Stefan, doesn’t mean we don’t love you!) the last few episodes.  Lexi was great because she was a nice mix, proving that maybe in another 200 years Stefan and Damon will be able to achieve some sort of balance in their lives.  She was good in that she drank blood bank blood rather than taking it from humans, and she was Team Stefan, after all, but she also had the fun side of Damon, as well as the snark, and was willing to be a scary vampire if she had to.  And she did have to, to keep Damon in check.  She was so pretty, but not in a generic teen queen way, which I liked, and she was a little sassy but in a cute way, and so sweet to Elena.  It was just nice to have such a multi-dimensional female who was just there, hanging out, not causing drama or tension (not purposely, anyway), and I LOVED her.  Have I said that already?  Whatever, I totally did.  And she and Stefan having a theme song, and it being “Wanted, Dead or Alive,” no less?  Awesome.

I just IMDBed this episode, and apparently Barbie Kligman was the writer.  I think I speak for all of us (well, okay, I only speak for me) when I say, MORE BARBIE!  Yay for Barbie!  She did an amazing job.  I now have a girl crush on her.  Congratulations, Barbie–you are joining the ranks of Elizabeth Banks and Natalie Portman.

Back to Lexi, though.  I loved that they gave Stefan someone to talk openly with.  It’s hard to see in his head since he’s the strong silent type, and we needed that glimpse.  When he was describing Elena to Lexi, you could really see what he loved about her and believe that he IS in love with her.  And when Lexi caught it and asked/told him, and he admitted to being in love with Elena, well, Paul Wesley was just great.  He was so happy, and … I don’t know, HUMAN.  I think how outwardly … I don’t want to say cold, but maybe guarded? that he’s played Stefan made that moment even sweeter, and it colored every interaction that they had afterward in a totally different and more lovely light.  I know I’ve been hemming and hawing about the pacing of the show, but tonight, everything felt just right, and like it’s been leading up to something, and I don’t know.  I felt it tonight.

Running parallel to Stefan having Lexi to talk to, we had Elena feeling pretty isolated, especially when Bonnie revealed her witch secret to Elena.  That storyline appears to be moving now too, which is good, and you guys, can I just say that the witch reveal with the feathers was one of the most beautiful scenes ever?  I LOVED it.  It felt like it belonged in some magical Tim Burton movie, like Big Fish or something.  AWESOME visual, and I like how it really stood in contrast for Elena–it was a secret and she was leery of that at first, but it was so beautiful and fun and nonthreatening/nonscary that rather than be a burden to her, it was a sweet bonding moment between her and Bonnie.  And it made total sense that she wanted to tell Bonnie what was going on at that point–you finally felt like their friendship had some substance.  And I loooved Bonnie crawling into bed with Elena and having a quick girl talk.  It wasn’t tiresome, it just kind of got done what it needed to get done and led us forward.  Perfect.

It seems like the obvious place for to lead is for Stefan and Elena to get better at talking to each other.  They both begged each other for that at different points and neither was quite ready for it but I think they both want it, and obviously Lexi was giving nudges in that direction.  It was a nice twist too that her great love was also a human.  WHYYYYYY?  (I’m shaking my angry fist at the vampire gods right now for killing her.)  I did hate that Stefan told her that she’d been right to stay away from him, but only because I could totally feel his pain–of COURSE he felt that way, his brother just killed his best friend and things really have not been going his way of late.  And I think it was good for him to leave Elena hanging for once, since she’s been building up too much power in that relationship and she needs to, again, have it put in balance.  So we’re starting to see themes emerging.

Obviously, Damon was a huge part of this episode but I don’t even know where to start with him.  Jeremy is so … different.  And it’s totally weird, and I’m having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to the plot device of compulsion (and I’m not saying plot device in a derogatory way, it is but it also makes internal sense so it’s okay with me) to just reset characters and story trajectory.  But again, if it serves a greater purpose in the story, I can deal with it.

As for his compulsion of Caroline … WOW.  I’ve been begging every week for more Caroline and we finally got it.  I think Candice Accola is fantastic and I can’t imagine anyone else in her role.  I crack up EVERY SINGLE TIME she starts out being all pissy and irritated with Damon and he has to get into her head to get her to do what he wants, and it’s like a switch flips and I can’t believe how amazing she is at both parts.  Caroline is EASILY one of my favorite characters.  And I loved her trying to get the necklace back from Bonnie, and her telling Bonnie the necklace made her look fat.  I totally laughed out loud.  Yes, I LOLed.  It was that great.

Here’s what I’m wondering–obviously Damon loaded down Caroline’s mom with vervain, and I’m sure she’ll find a way to get that onto Caroline.  I’m really hoping they make that a plot issue, because I don’t think Damon would be able to use his normal charm on Caroline to get what he wants–she’s too headstrong and independent.  And I would need some explanation of both how vervain and how compelling works.  Does vervain erase any compulsion done before they were wearing it?  Because a Caroline that can’t be compelled who knows all of Damon’s secrets … whoa.  Although I suppose he could just kill her.  But please, Vampire Diaries?  Not yet?  You’ve broken my heart by taking away two awesome girls two episodes in a row.  As Elena would wail, “There’s only so much I can take!”

Obviously Damon’s insults to Caroline stuck with her, though, and it broke my heart for her.  I was glad that she found Matt, because it did turn out that they’re going through somewhat similar emotional things right now, in spite of how different they are, mainly in feeling like no one will ever love them.  I’m actually WAY more into that pairing than I would’ve imagined and it makes more sense than it probably appears on the surface, but I think Matt could bring out a better side of Caroline and he DOES like the damaged girls.  He was just so sweet with her, and I was so there with Caroline when she grabbed his hand and begged him not to leave her alone.  Damon is such an asshole, and no one should ever make anyone feel like that.

But the problem is, I love Damon.  He’s so good for the story.  And he is, no question, diabolical.  WOW, is he.  Making sure all the deputies got vervain, earning the trust of the council, pinning the vampire shenanigans on Lexi and then actually killing her himself?  Horrible.  Really smart.  But just god awful.  I mean, I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that they can’t kill Damon, but I was a little surprised when Stefan didn’t, because I just completely lost myself in the story.  And I liked how Stefan was finally able to overpower Damon, not with human blood but just by sheer rage.  And you know, the other thing is that they’re so willing to kill off regular characters that I think I have entered a mental space where no one is safe.  And honestly, after so many shows killing people and bringing them back, I think that permanent death of a fairly major character was something I’d kind of forgotten could happen.  This show has done something to my mental state where they can really easily surprise me because I don’t know what’s coming, and I’m so impressed with that.

Alright, this is super long and that’s because I was too excited to write about it to wait for morning, so I didn’t forget much. :)  Obviously I loved it–there were little nitpicky things, as always, but the episode and the story (and the acting!) were so good that all those little things faded into the background for me.   I was glad to see Stefan and Elena move toward patching things up and I’m glad Bonnie’s story is really starting to move along now, and overall, everything was working for me.  What did you guys think?  Was it a success for you?  And how does it compare with the previous episodes?  Likes, dislikes?  Discuss it in the comments!