TVD, You've Done it Again

 The Vampire Diaries' sesaon premiere aired on Thursday, September 15th, with much anticipation on my part, let me tell you. Honestly, I was never really that interested in TVD when it first started. Whenever I would see previews it would just remind me of Twilight, and who really wants to see another show about vampires and werewolves? Though, I have to admit, I was a huge fan of Twilight before it got popular. I won't even tell you how many times I read the first book. But, when the movies started coming out I realized that it was an obsession for a lot of people, and the movies were horrible! What was the hold over these people? The storyline was so simple and predictable and the acting?! (If acting is what you want to call it) Don't even get me started...That's a rant for another day. Needless to say, these are the opinions I would associate with The Vampire Diaries and I wasted two years not watching this great show because of my prejudice against anything vampire-related.

I started watching Vampire Diaries shortly after the second season finished airing. I'm not sure why I started watching. Maybe because it was summer hiatus for all my usual shows and I needed something to occupy my spare time? Whatever the reason, I was hooked. This wasn't some sappy love story with some romanticized version of vampires (sparkling in the sun? what? come on.). This is a show that stays (mostly) true to vampire lore. They aren't cuddly bunnies that won't harm humans. They're vicious, manipulative, undead creatures, who of course, are alluring to humans simply to feed on them. Alright, alright, as it's a show for teens and adults alike (mostly teenage girls) there is going to be romance and all vampires can't be bad. There has to be some exceptions to the rule.

But back to my point: Every chance I had I would watch episodes online, and when I wasn't watching, I was thinking about when I could watch again. I watched both seasons (all 44 episodes) in under a month and wasn't sure what to do with myself afterwards. So of course, I watched them again (I'm not obsessed, I swear!). Despite Supernatural being my favorite show on TV, I think The Vampire Diaries has quickly rocketed to the top of my list to tie with Supernatural. It's not just all of the beautiful people they chose to play these characters, though, yes, they are beautiful (and can even act!), but it's the fact that they can come up with different and unique storylines that leave you wanting more, and can sometimes even surprise you. Awesome, no?

SO, with the background story of how I started watching TVD explained (as if you guys care, right?), I'll get into a quick review of the past three episodes of season three, since that is what I originally intended to write about. At least, I'll try to make it quick...

This is where I warn you about spoilers, so... *Spoiler alert*

Previously on The Vampire Diaries:
Elena was sacrificed by Klaus to complete his transformation into vampire-werewolf hybrid status. But thanks to her dad, who gave up his life to bring her back, she's no longer dead. Damon, who almost died from a werewolf bite (fatal to vamps) and shared a "goodbye" kiss with Elena (I'd say it was more than that, wouldn't you?), was saved with a cure found by Stefan who gave up his freedom and humanity to Klaus and has gone all good-vamp-gone-bad, leaving Mystic Falls (and therefore Elena) never to return again. Jenna, Elena's aunt, was also sacrificed to Klaus, but she actually is really dead. The episode was clearly all about sacrifice, right? Jeremy was brought back to life by Bonnie and is now seeing the ghosts-of-girlfriends-past (and no, I don't mean the geeky Emma Stone type). Oh and it ends with Caroline and Tyler getting cuddly on the couch. There, all caught up?

Presently on The Vampire Diaries: 

The season starts a few months after season two ended, aka Elena's eighteenth birthday. A lot of stuff happens in these three episodes so I'll try to sum it up quickly for you.

First episode: Elena has been hunting for Stefan, with no luck. She brings any leads she finds to Damon, who acts like he doesn't care, but we know that he has a closet full of leads (literally). Alaric joins Damon in Stefan-hunting and they find out that Stefan and Klaus are leaving a trail of blood behind them as they search for werewolves. When Damon confronts Stefan, Stefan kills Andie (Damon's compelled fake girlfriend) as a warning to back off and show that he's serious about being bad. When Elena confronts Damon about his closet of clues, Damon tells her that Stefan has flipped the switch and is gone for good. Meanwhile, Jeremy is talking to Matt about his ghost-seeing abilities, Caroline and Tyler have a thing going on, and oh yea, Tyler's mom knows Caroline is a vamp, kidnapped her, and hand-delivered her to her own vampire-hunting daddy. Peachy.
Second episode: We find out that Klaus (and inevitably Stefan) is searching for werewolves in order to create a werewolf-vampire hybrid army, but is unable to turn them due to the fact that his doppelganger (Elena) isn't actually dead. Thankfully, he doesn't know this. Elena, meanwhile, convinces Alaric to go to the mountains with her to follow a lead in search for Stefan. Alaric calls Damon mid-trip to tattle on Elena and the two of them attempt to change her mind about the rescue mission. They fail - obviously. Damon ends up in a fight with a werewolf/vamp and almost gets hurt, leading Elena to abort the mission out of worry for him. Aw. Also, Jeremy and Matt continue trying to figure out what's up with the ghost thing,  Tyler shows his mom what he is, and she is surprisingly supportive of both him and Caroline because of it. Aaand, last but not least, Damon changes his mind after a confrontation with Stefan (in which Stefan saves his life) and tells Elena that Stefan isn't gone for good and they can try to save him. But only after he forces her to admit that she worries about him (Damon) so that she can always remember what she felt for him while Stefan was gone.

Third episode (sick of reading yet? I apologize. Almost done!): ::Takes a deep breath:: Klaus and Stefan arrive in Chicago where they take a trip down memory lane. Apparently way back in the twenties, when Stefan was an evil vamp (by his own free will), he had hung out in a local lounge in Chicago where he met a (vampire) woman named Rebecca, and her brother Nick (Klaus). Rebecca and Stefan fell in love, while Stefan and Nick were the best of friends. When the lounge was attacked one night, Nick/Klaus made Rebecca choose if she wanted to flee with him or stay with Stefan. She chose Stefan. As a result, she was killed by Nick/Klaus. Nick/Klaus then went to Stefan and compelled him to forget the two of them ever existed until he tells him otherwise. Well, that's a twist. So while they're in Chicago, Klaus speaks to a witch about how to find out what's going wrong with his little vampire-werewolf project. She tells him that he needs something Rebecca has, which happens to be her necklace, which happens to be the same necklace Stefan picked up in the 20s and eighty-some-odd years later proceeds to give it to - you guessed it - Elena.  So, Klaus brings his dead sister back and tells her to find him when she wakes up, which she does, which is the precise moment when Stefan gets his memories back. Does this mean he gets back all his old feelings for her? I have a feeling Elena won't like this turn of events. Meanwhile, Elena and Damon track Stefan and try to talk him out of staying with Klaus. Stefan explains that Klaus can't find out that Elena is alive or it'll ruin everything. Duh. So he tells Elena, harshly I might add, that he's never coming back so she should get over him. Ouch. Meanwhile, back in Mystic Falls, Caroline's dad is attempting to torture the vampirey-ness out of her so he won't have to kill her. Luckily, Tyler goes to Sherrif Forbes (Caroline's mom) for help and the two of them are able to save her.

Well, that's it for the catching up part of this post. I'm happy to say that the season started off strong and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next. There are so many turns that the story could take! For example, will Stefan fall in love with Rebecca now that his memories are back, leaving Elena in Mystic Falls for good? Will Klaus find out that Elena is alive? What's up with Jeremy's visions and why is Ana telling him not to trust Vicky? Is Caroline's dad gone for good? Somehow I doubt it. Needless to say, I can't wait for next week!