The Good, the Bad, and the Bloody of This Week's Vampire Diaries

Bad news if you're getting sick of the Travelers on The Vampire Diaries, because this week it seems like they just got a lot more menacing. Their ringleader is here, and we sort of learn what they want from Elena and Stefan, and why Luke and Liv are mobilizing against them. Meanwhile, Damon and Elena are having concurrent postsex regrets and fantasies, and we get to reap the benefits of the hot, hot scenes. And we meet yet another doppelgänger! Briefly, anyway. Let's break down all of this week into the good, the bad, and the bloody below.

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The Good

  • Stefan is still being held at car camp by the Travelers while Caroline and Enzo go off to kill Stefan's other doppelgänger, an ER doctor named Tom who's nice but does not have the best coif (So "Tom with the bad hair" was not a joke). There's lots of flirting between Caroline and Enzo en route to the murder, and the only problem is that the "Stefan-ganger" (thanks Caroline) has been missing for four months. Meanwhile, I have this weird feeling that I want to see Paul Wesley on a medical drama now.
  • Just get over it and admit you have a crush on Enzo, Caroline; we get it. He has her so pegged when he says he's her type while they're hangin' in Atlanta, plus he's pretty funny. You know the "murder buddy" joke was pure gold. It's a minor setback that Caroline is disappointed that he kills Nice Tom, but whatever — Klaus killed her boyfriend's mom and she still slept with him.
  • I don't know what I want for Damon and Elena's relationship right now, but things have never been hotter between them. First they have that whole awkward/sexy back and forth the morning after their post-breakup sex (did Elena really turn down naked breakfast?! Get her head examined, someone). Then Damon is being sexy in the school hallway (please repeat what you want to do to her, sir), and then Elena has that amazing fantasy about him in a classroom. I'm starting to tune out their fights about their codependency and why they can't be together, but their chemistry lately is off the charts.
  • Aw, poor Jeremy is suffering in school because his home life is a mess. But really, when hasn't his home life been a mess? Why now? It's funny that Damon shows up to parent/teacher day because he's still his guardian. What a weird life that kid has.
  • So let's try to iron this out together: Luke and Liv are witches who want to kill Elena because she's a doppelgänger, and because the Travelers want her in order to use her. Why don't L & L just help protect Elena like they did for Tom? Maybe the tide will turn to have these two be allies now that Marcos (apparently) is here, and he seems like he might be way worse. But back to Luke and Liv. Liv gets one really great line this week ("Not a newbie witch, FYI") balanced out with one awful one ("What do I say? I got issues"). Draw.
  • I see you, Caroline and Stefan, snugglin' and spoonin' and trying to act like it's innocent. That's what they told themselves on Dawson's Creek too! Sadly, their snooze is interrupted by a Traveler ritual in which chanting and lighting yourself on fire is the thing. They all have to pass through Bonnie too, and their sacrifice appears to summon the aforementioned Traveler Marcos. Here we go.

The Bad

  • Please, let's move on from the Travelers! We did get more of a hint at what they are from Liv: not exactly witches, but "the ugly stepsister of witches." Well, that answers everything.

The Bloody

  • This isn't technically a bloody moment, but can we talk about the creepiest moment? When Enzo and Caroline find where Tom is being held and see the witch Hazel with her eyes all white. Eee!