Vampire Diaries Recap

We go camping with The Vampire Diaries gang this week, although it's more of a trip where you have to avoid being killed or kidnapped, rather than the kind where you roast marshmallows. Shane leads everyone into the scary wilderness to find the cure, but everyone gets scattered by the end, and we get a cliffhanger this week rather than resolution on the cure storyline.

Meanwhile, back in Mystic Falls, Klaus is still trapped, but he finds a way to wield power over Tyler and Caroline. Right when you think Klaus has done something irretrievably horrible to Caroline, he goes and proves he might be a softie after all. Sort of. Let's get to that and the rest of the good, the bad, and the bloody after the jump.

After a couple rather slow-moving episodes of The Vampire Diaries, this week feels like we're finally getting somewhere with the cure. The action mainly stems from a showdown with one of the current villains — who winds up on the wrong side of a stake and bites the dust once and for all. This week also marks an impressive display of power from a newly badass Bonnie, who can't be held down by original vampires or parents.

Aside from the actual plot moving forward, we get to see what happens the morning after Stefan and Rebekah's hot hookup. I'm ready to talk about that, all the great '80s references, and the rest of the good, the bad, and the bloody after the jump.

This week, there's a big bad original hunting our friends on The Vampire Diaries, but it's not Klaus or Rebekah; it's the rambunctious Kol. He, like everyone else on the show right now, wants to get to the cure before anyone else, and he doesn't care who he has to kill, particularly Jeremy, the vampire hunter himself. We haven't gotten much Damon/Elena romance since the show came back from its Winter hiatus, but in its place, we get a hot hookup between another couple.

I'm dying to talk about everything with you, plus the rest of the good, the bad, and the bloody, so let's get to it after the jump.

The Vampire Diaries is finally back after its brief Winter hiatus, and we pick up with the aftermath of Tyler's mother's death. There are also original vampires back on the scene aside from Klaus, as Rebekah is now awake and rarin' to find the vampire cure for herself. While she has most of our gang held hostage at the high school library, Jeremy is off training with Damon and Matt — though Klaus shows up to expedite the process of getting Jeremy's tattoos to show up.

This week's plotlines are all very cure-based, and while we don't get to see much of hot new couple Elena and Damon, Elena does get some closure from her breakup with Stefan. But let's get down to details in the good, the bad, and the bloody after the jump.

The midseason finale of The Vampire Diaries reminds us just how bad Klaus can be — especially if you cross him — and he kills one of the characters we've known since the beginning of the series. We also revisit the complicated dynamic of Damon and Elena's sire bond, while they and Bonnie try to break Jeremy of his latest hobby (wanting to kill Elena).

I expected a little more action from the last episode of the year, but I have to say, the body count is quite high this week, and the death scene in the final moments is satisfyingly dramatic. Let's get to all of it in the good, the bad, and the bloody after the jump.

On this week's episode of The Vampire Diaries, we follow up last week's superhot, long-time-coming hookup of Elena and Damon with the fallout of the sire bond. It's not all bad news, though, and the little stroll down memory lane that we take into 1942 New Orleans for answers isn't so bad either. It's also fun to see guest star Arielle Kebbel back as Stefan's BFF Lexi.

While we're learning about the ups and downs of the vampire sire, we do get a little sweetness from the Damon and Elena coupling, and Tyler actually gets a nice little victory among the hybrids. But like my favorite new onscreen couple, it's time to get down and dirty and break down this week's episode — the good, the bad, and the bloody. Check it out after the jump.

The Vampire Diaries has a lot going on this week, but really, I'm concerned with one thing: Elena and Damon's relationship. We pick up just after her breakup with Stefan, and the two are like magnets to each other, and it culminates in a scene so hot that not even a big bombshell at the end of an episode can ruin it. The other thing that threatens to (but can't) ruin their romance is the fact that Jeremy desperately wants to kill his sister — and might not stop at anything.

To be fair, other good stuff does happen this week, particularly Caroline and Klaus's date, so let's go over that, and the other good, bad, and bloody stuff, after the jump.

Just when you thought you were watching a mostly filler episode of The Vampire Diaries, they go and drop a game-changer on us. And not just any game-changer: we're talking about the plot development that some fans have been waiting on for literally years. But before we get into that, let's go back to the drawing board. Elena's feeling some nasty effects after her first kill, because it seems as if every major moment of her vampirism is destined to be a hell of a lot worse than what her friends went through. (Except, maybe, for Klaus.) It's not just guilt that she's grappling with, either: she's literally being tortured by Connor's ghost.

While the Salvatore boys are trying to figure out how to save Elena, things are getting tense and boozy over at the hybrid haven. Tyler and Caroline may have avoided letting Haley getting in the way of their relationship, but somehow Klaus has wormed his way back into the love triangle (much to my delight). There's a lot to chew on, so let's break it down when you read more

This week's episode of The Vampire Diaries is titled "The Killer," and if you've watched, you know that it cleverly means more than one thing. The big bad vampire killer is on the hunt for prey, and he kidnaps three of Mystic Falls' important residents as bait. Meanwhile, Elena continues her big struggle with being a vampire (sigh), and we get even more of what she's going through because she's now writing about it in her diary — yes, the diary that is right in the title of the series and yet (mercilessly) never comes up anymore.

Though Elena's psychosis is a big subject of this week's episode, there are lots of little things we have to address. One character gets a brand-new life plan, one relationship suffers a blow, and, as usual, plenty of gross things happen. Let's get to all the good, the bad, and the bloody after the jump.

We go on two trips on this week's episode of The Vampire Diaries: to college, and to the 12th century in a flashback. The collegiate trip is another step in helping Elena adjust to her new life without becoming a female Ripper, and the blast into the way past comes courtesy of Klaus, who reveals what he knows about the big bad Five.

Even though I love a good Elena/Damon interaction, the more exciting stuff this week is definitely in what Connor the vampire hunter's tattoos can lead the group to. I don't think we're headed to the kind of total game-changer that it implies, but it sure is interesting to think about. Let's get down to talking about that and other specifics in the good, the bad, and the bloody after the jump.