Photos
Video
RSS'Vampire Diaries': Meet Mystic Falls' newest vamp
Tonight on "Vampire Diaries," it's Stefan's 162nd birthday and things get interesting when his oldest (literally) buddy, Lexi (guest star Arielle Kebbel), comes into town to celebrate.
The episode opens with Stefan's book knocked out of his hands. A shadowy figure swoops across his bedroom wall and using its superhuman speed, pushes Stefan to the floor and well, does the vampire hiss. Is our reluctant hero in danger? Not so much; it's just Stefan's 350-year-old friend Lexi, a fun and bubbly blonde ready to party like it's .. the 1800s?
Now that Vicki's dead (for real this time), Mystic Falls opens up an investigation into her disappearance. Sheriff Forbes questions Jeremy, Matt, Stefan and Elena about their last days with Vicki. They all say they believe she's left town, but only Stefan and Elena know what really happened. Which begs the question: When will Vicki's death be revealed to the mortals of Mystic Falls?
The most telling sign that Stefan's brother Damon actually fulfilled Elena's wishes at the end of last week's episode was when a straight-laced Jeremy repeats the exact words she wanted him to say about Vicki: "I'll miss her, but I think it's for the best." Maybe Damon does have a heart ... a really, really tiny one. Adding to the weirdness, Jeremy starts doing his homework and isn't drinking or taking drugs. It might make some happy, but not the Gilberts - something's up and they know it.
Damon may not be the most dangerous vampire after all. After an unsuccessful flirting session with Lexi, he gets thrown around by his century-old friend. She makes it clear that she's only in town for Stefan and if Damon gets in the way, hell will break loose, and damnit, I believe her. Damon has finally met his match. Afterwards, Damon pays a visit to Sheriff Forbes and as promised, brings a healthy supply of vervain. It's entertaining to watch the sheriff trust the one person she shouldn't, 'cause you know it'll bite her in the butt. When the sheriff asks him to look out for newcomers, a light bulb goes off in Damon's head. Ding, ding, ding! Make Lexi prime suspect #1!
Bonnie tells Elena that she's a witch and proves it by making feathers from a pillow levitate. Pretty cool for a high school girl. Damon pulls a Jedi mind trick on Caroline, forcing her to throw Stefan's birthday bash disguised as a generic party at the Grill and oh yeah, to get that crystal from Bonnie. Meanwhile, Lexi persuades Stefan out of his brooding shell and to go to his own shindig. Now I see why they're such a great fit; she's the light to his darkness. While Stefan's showering, Lexi meets Elena for the very first time and she's disturbed by the likeness to Stefan's first love, vampire Katherine.
Stefan visits Elena and invites her to his party, but she passes. What their relationship lacks in normalcy, it definitely makes up for in angst. At the Grill, Caroline asks Bonnie to return the necklace, but makes the mistake of hesitating in her lies. Oh Bonnie, always the smart one. Knowing that Damon is the interested party, she's not letting it out of her sight. Damon shows his true colors to Caroline when she tells him Bonnie won't let go of the necklace, and that it shocked her. I'm thinking the shocks are probably tied to Bonnie's witch powers. Pissed off, Damon does the one thing he can do to take back power, and sucks perfect 98.6-degree blood from a high school boy.
Guess Elena changed her mind about not going to the party because Damon spots her sitting alone, staring longingly at a smiling Stefan and Lexi playing pool. Elena asks him what everyone's been wondering: What did he do, or not do, to Jeremy that night? When Damon tells Elena that he took away Jeremy's suffering, there must've been a glint in his eye. Lexi orders some shots at the bar and when the bartender asks to see ID, which she doesn't have because she's so ancient, she pulls a Damon to get her way. She might be nice, helping Stefan and Elena realize their love might conquer their differences after all, but there's something up her sleeve.
A hammered Caroline gets friendly with Matt by the bar. I feel for Matt; not only is his sister dead but his only love Elena is gettin' busy with a 19th century vampire. Not to mention this is one of his most substantial scenes since the pilot. They discuss Caroline's shallowness and we get glimpses into why Elena (or any girl with a heartbeat, for that matter) fell in love with him. The guy's a genuine charmer.
Lexi asks Damon the real reason he's here. "I have a diabolical master plan," he responds. "What is it?," Lexi asks. "If I told you, it wouldn't be very diabolical now wouldn't it?," Damon quips right back. Damon-isms, be still my heart. Remember that boy Damon sucked the life right out of? The girl that high school boy was with points to who killed her make-out partner - and surprise, it's not Damon! Sheriff Forbes shoots vervain into Lexi and takes her out of the bar, but not so fast! Once outside, Lexi throws the officers off her and dodges the sheriff's bullets. But before she can wring the sheriff's neck, Damon lunges a stake into her chest. "It's all a part of the plan," he simply says to Lexi before she dies.
Not knowing that Stefan and Elena were unwilling witnesses to Lexi's death, Damon's chosen his side. In an awesome fight between good and evil, Damon and Stefan hash it out and the "good" brother stakes his "evil" sibling, but spares his life. Is Stefan that innocent? I think not.
What is Damon's big "diabolical plan" and what does the sheriff have to do with it? Will we ever see what happened when Damon was alone with Jeremy? Will Matt finally have a bigger role now that he's closer with Caroline? What about the status of Stefan and Elena's relationship?
RELATED:
'Vampire Diaries': EP Kevin Williamson on Vicki's death, the Stefan-Elena-Damon triangle
The CW orders full seasons of 'Vampire Diaries,' 'Melrose Place'
'The Vampire Diaries' episode recaps
'Vampire Diaries': Ian Somerhalder returns to lost, loves the undead & lets go as Damon
'The Vampire Diaries': E.P. Kevin Williamson talks 'True Blood,' 'Twilight,' 'VD's' triangle & more
'The Vampire Diaries': New photos, info on Ian Somerhalder & friends
Post a comment
Zap2it Twitter Talk 
Wasn't that Bianca Lawson,Kendra on Buffy, who played Bonnie's ancestor at the end?
How are they going to have any characters left at this rate? Aww I liked Lexi, I wanted her to hurt Damon.
CELINA: Yes, that was the same actress who played Kendra on BtVS. Maybe they could get Charisma Carpenter as a guest star, too! :-)
This was a pretty good episode, but not the best. I really do like this show, but has anyone noticed that the writers seem to be making the female characters really dumb in comparison to the guys? Caroline, the Sheriff, the mayor's wife, etc. are dumb enough to fall for Damon's tricks. Goodness, that Sheriff has to be the dumbest person in town after she just blabbed all the secrets (to Damon nonetheless) about her "clever" plan to get rid of the vampires. After all, she was the same person who said that they couldn't trust anyone because vampires might be able to go out in the sunlight now. I can see that she passed down her stupidity genes to Carloline! :-(
I liked Lexi's character a lot, so I knew that she was going to be killed off! She was the only one who was strong enough to stand up to Damon and threaten him, so of course, she could not stay on the show or very long. Again, I ask why this show has already killed off two female vampires (Vicki being the other one), but we haven't seen any male vamps being staked yet???
Anyway, I was just happy to see more of Matt and none of Tyler! Seriously, it seems strange to me that all the girls are going ga-ga over the likes of Damon and Stefan when the "Big Man on Campus" is now available! Hello, he's the starting quarterback, and he's strong, sensitive, honest, good-looking, etc. Ha-ha, I guess I'm definitely on Team Matt, and I wouldn't blame Caroline if she fell for him after the abusive relationship she had with Damon! ;-)
I liked the Lexi character especially when she put Damon in his place. Too bad she won't be a recurring character. Watch how Damon (kudos to the actor) uses his eyes when he talks to people. It is unusual but perfect.
the relationship that Caroline has with Damon is really scary!!
OMG I developed the quickest girl crush on Lexi, ever. Thank goodness I saw her demise coming from the start (that, and my kid warned me not to get too attached). But I did. I completely fell in love with her. That character needs to come back with her own show. I know, maybe it can just be flashbacks of her 300+ years of traveling the world having fun. I want to be Lexi's BFF.
As for the rest of the episode, it was ok. They need to find some sort of redeeming quality for weakness for Damon, otherwise I wont be able to continue watching. I understand that he's pure evil, but at this point I can't love to hate him, I only hate him. Which sucks because I love Ian so much I cried when they killed him off Lost.
Question of the day: In the pilot, wasn't it made clear that Damon was much stronger than Stefan and that Stefan could never beat him? Then how suddenly this week did Stefan have the strength to stake him? Methinks that Stefan had some warm 98.6 degree blood...
Okay. I remember this guy who plays Stefan was in a werewolf series when I was 19. Now it's been atleast 10 years. I'm sure his lady love is around 20, but he's atleast 30. Man is he old. If he can con the entire student body into believing he's 16, then its no wonder he's spent. He doesn't have anything left to mack on little girls. Seriously people, If you watch a show and the pedophile alarm isn't going off, it may be time to change the batteries.
Pedophilia? Seriously, Scully Fan? Since when (or where) is a 20 year old not an adult?
I think if you can suspend belief enough to understand a 100+ year old *vampire* character having a romance with a *high school student* character, I'd say a 10 year age difference between the two stars playing them is relatively easy to swallow ...
I thought almost the same thing as Angela when I saw Stefan kick Damon's ***. Here they made it seem like Stefan couldn't defeat Damon, but apparently he can. Although I doubt he did it because he stopped off for a bloody human meal on his way home. I think he was filled with righteous anger and sorrow.
I too liked the Lexi character. She scared the hell out of me when she mock attacked Stefan and then she became my favorite character on the show when she called Damon a ***** and put him in his place more than once. Like Paige, I've noticed that they keep killing women vampires on this show and it's a shame. They could use a good woman vampire and, personally, I think Lexi fit the bill nicely ... oh well!
Damon is a demon and he takes pride in it. Like Lexi said, he's all the bad parts of being a vampire. I don't think Damon needs any redeeming qualities and I doubt they'd be believable if he started showing any. I like his character as it is and, like me said above, the actor playing Damon is good at showing his evilness through his eyes. Pretty eyes, but evil nonetheless.
I don't think there is any room for redemption for Damon. Either you like him as he is or you don't.
I don't take it as a good sign that Jeremy is acting like a Stepford Teen. Damon may have taken away his sorrow, as Elena wanted, but he's done something else to him. Stefan said Damon didn't do anything for anyone other than himself, so time will tell how he plans to use Jeremy's lack of suffering.
I wrote last week that I liked Matt, so it was nice to see him get more to do this week. I don't like the idea of him with Caroline in any way other than platonically, so hopefully their bed business at the end was simply for comfort and a cuddle. He deserves better. And so does she.
I don't know about anyone else, but I found Stefan attractive this week when I never have before. Any guy -- vamp or not -- who loves someone enough to want her to be with him honestly and not because of games is worth his weight in gold. Sexy Stefan.
I wrote last week too that I thought Elena acted in stupid ways and I agree that the woman characters on the show overall behave stupidly. Hopefully this will change.
I have more hope in Bonnie now that she seems to be embracing her gift. Cool teaser with her at the end. She could reveal herself to be a formidable woman character soon. This show could sure use (at least) one of those!
personally, i have always found Stephen sexier than Damon. it must be the brooding thing.
i agree that i hope the girls on this show start acting less dumb.