Undeclared! The Vampire Diaries

And so we say a very early goodbye to Mason Lockwood. Damon started a war with him, and while Mason had the upper hand momentarily, in the end he was no match for the Salvatores.
 
 
Caught in the crossfire is Liz Forbes, who learns not only that her friend and confidant Damon is a vampire, but that her daughter is as well. She initially tries to shun Caroline, but is won over by how awesome Caroline has become...just in time for her daughter to compel her for her own good. It's such a heartbreaking scene.

First, we have a big werewolf info dump where we learn that lycanthropy is something in the DNA, so it passes among family lines; werewolf bites are fatal to vampires and so the vampires have been killing off the wolves for centuries, leaving them almost extinct; and one would have to kill to trigger the curse. Stefan and Caroline come close to learning the hard way about the fatality of the werewolf bites when Mason fails to fully secure himself during his transformation, but Tyler saves the day. Damon, in typical Damon fashion, makes things worse when he antagonizes Mason and stabs him with a silver knife.
 
 
Later, Stefan chains Katherine up in an effort to get her to tell him what she's really up to. You have to give her credit: she sticks to her "I'm here for you" story right through to the end. She even goes so far as enlist Caroline in keeping Elena away from Stefan, which leads to a faux break up for our schmoopy couple. But no one really believes Katherine's story; she's clearly up to something.

Katherine Pierce has arrived and she's wasting no time wreaking havoc. She isn't successful in killing John, but she doesn't let that get her down. She makes her presence known to both Salvatore brothers, introduces herself to Bonnie, and sends a message by KILLING CAROLINE.
 
But don't worry. Our Miss Mystic Falls completes the transition and becomes a vampire, so we haven't lost her yet. Elena stops Damon from taking Caroline out, and Stefan vows to teach her how to control her urges.
 
Meanwhile, there's a new Lockwood in town, and he may or may not be a werewolf. Either that or he's *really* good at Brazilian Jujitsu.

And here we are at the season 1 finale! We officially meet Isobel, who is awesome and terrible all at once; the truth about who Elena's birth father is is revealed; Bonnie pretends to unspell the magic that makes Jonathan Gilbert's device work, which is later used against the vampires - and possible werewolves - of Mystic Falls; Tyler crashes his car during the magic attack and Caroline ends up in the hospital; Mayor Lockwood dies; Anna dies; Jeremy drinks Anna's blood, swallows a bunch of pills, and takes a little nap; and John gets his hand chopped off and stabbed by KATHERINE! That's right, folks. Katherine Pierce has arrived! Buckle in. Season Two is going to be a thrill ride!

Hi guys! We're back! Krista and I took a bit of a hiatus because I was going to visit family, and then she was coming to Atlanta to go to DragonCon (and to see me!), so that part was scheduled. Unfortunately, we both ended up getting sick - I got sick before AND after my vacation! - so it extended our break a little bit. But we're good, we're on the mend, and we're back with new episodes! This one was actually recorded before the hiatus, but I wasn't able to get it edited and ready for posting until now.

In these episodes, Stefan is still being a butthead about his blood lust, and he almost ruins the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant not only for Elena and Caroline, but for poor innocent townie Amber. Meanwhile, Bonnie is distancing herself from Elena so that Elena doesn't have to choose her best friend or her boyfriend, Elena and Damon have several moments, and Caroline wins the pageant!
 
Then we get the story of how the Salvatore brothers became vampires, and why Damon has been so mad at Stefan for over a hundred years. It's not *just* because Katherine also loved Stefan, but that's a lot of it. And we get more of the awesome Alaric-Damon Bromance of Awesome. It's still everything. We still would just watch a show with those two bickering and drinking because they're the best ever.
 
Thanks for being patient with us. We'll be back next week with the last two episodes of season one! That went so fast! - Jaime

Stefan, Stefan, Stefan. What are you doing, man? Not only is he lying to everyone around him, but he seems to be lying to himself. And he's super gross when Kelly is injured. He needs to get his shit under control, but it doesn't look like that's happening, yet.

Meanwhile, we have the inception of what could be the greatest buddy duo in the history of media: Damon and Alaric. We. Are. So. Here. For. This! We are NOT here for Uncle John Gilbert. Go away, dude. No one wants you here.

So, we've got a lot of poor decisions being made in these episodes. Jenna figures out who Isobel is. Alaric confirms that Isobel was his wife. Damon confirms he turned her into a vampire. Elena goes looking for her alone. A couple people die because of this. Matt spends a double date with Caroline, Elena, and Stefan reminiscing about his time with Elena. Matt's mom does everything wrong. Pearl thinks the town belongs to her and her gaggle of tomb vamps. Frederick and Bethanne, two of the tomb vamps, get themselves injured and killed, respectively, because they don't want to spend even more time trapped inside after 145 years of it.
 
 
Oh. And Alaric confronts Damon, is killed, and comes back. That's one special ring Isobel gave him.

Outro song: The Ocean by Tegan & Sara

These episodes are all about the vampires in the tomb. Damon wants to open it to get Katherine out. Anna wants to open it to get her mother, Pearl out. Stefan and Damon both remember back to 1864 when their father was part of the group of Founders that captured both of them. Things aren't exactly as they seem, though, and there are tragic results to the Bennett Witches opening it.

Hey guys, guess what! There are more new vampires in town...or old vampires? Either way, there are vampires that aren't Stefan or Damon and they're after all kinds of things that lead to Elena. We also meet Bree, played by the impeccable Gina Torres, an old friend of Damon's. Typically, being an old friend doesn't keep her safe, though. We hardly knew ya, Bree.

End song: Florence and the Machine - Cosmic Love

Check out Krista's blog: whatsheswatching.com

History is all over these episodes, from the new AWESOME History teacher Alaric Saltzman to Elena seeing a picture of Katherine and realizing that they look exactly alike. She doesn't take it well and ends up crashing her car after hitting a vampire Krista likes to call Twisty Man. We don't get a lot of answers in these two episodes, but we are asking a lot more questions.

End song: Plumb - Cut