Stefan gets a visitor from his past for his 162nd birthday, Lexi, a 300 year old vampire who is also Stefan’s oldest friend. Stefan is able to let loose with her, but he still can’t seem to stop talking about Elena. After Elena stops over to see Lexi in nothing but a towel, Elena thinks that Stefan has already moved on from her. Lexi thinks she’s Katherine at first and then realizes that Stefan must be trying to hold on to Katherine through Elena. Stefan insists that their resemblance drew him in at first, but Elena really is a completely different person and he loves her for it. Elena is still hesitant about letting Stefan in and is so overwhelmed with everything that has happened that she’s barely left her room. Elena ends up coming to the party that Damon compelled Caroline to throw, where Lexi encourages Elena to give Stefan a chance, telling her about her own human lover and how they went through the same things. Soon Damon’s reasons for wanting the party to take place and for certain people to be there become clear, introducing his ulterior motives and the bigger plan he has in store.
After learning all about her heritage from her grandmother, Bonnie begins practicing spells and grabbing control of the power she possesses instead of letting it control her. She shares her new found abilities with Elena in a mesmerizing scene when Bonnie raises and controls feathers by using her powers. It actually plays as a lighthearted scene. Since the world of vampires is opened to Elena, when she is given proof that the jokes about Bonnie being a witch with her freaky abilities were actually the truth, it isn’t so hard to swallow. Hopefully in the future, their two supernatural worlds will collide and become one as things may be getting so messy that they will need each other’s combined knowledge more than ever. Bonnie and Elena are able to share this mystical moment, but it makes it harder for Elena since she can’t tell her what is really going on with Stefan and Damon.
We see Damon working on deceiving the vampire hunters further, convincing them that he is trying to help them. He gets insider information and it turns out they have suspicions of a vampire who can be out during the day time somehow. The only two vampires in town who have this capability are Damon and Stefan. Damon tries to use this information and the party to try to keep the hunters off their trail. Lexi asks him what he is really doing in town and Damon answers that he has a diabolical plan. He says it sarcastically as if he is playing up his evil persona, but there might be more truth to it than we think. After he targets someone else as a sacrifice, Damon claims it is all part of the plan. He does still have his weaknesses though as Bonnie now has the powerful crystal that belonged to her ancestor centuries ago. Damon is desperate to get it, but is shocked by the crystal any time he tries to take it. Even compelling Caroline to do his dirty work for him doesn’t work either as it is too heavily protected.
Arielle Kebbel is charismatic and feisty as the powerful, yet sensitive Lexi, making it easy to understand why she’s close to Stefan and refuses to give Damon any satisfaction. This episode seemed to acknowledge the brooding nature of Stefan and lack of personality he sometime shows. The theory is that he can never truly be himself, because no one really knows him. Lexi is the exception since she has known him for over a hundred years. Paul Wesley shows a bit of a transition in the scenes with Kebbel, giving us a look in to the more youthful and free spirited Stefan. Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy also goes through a bit of a change himself. In the last episode, Damon erased the tragedy from his memory, by Elena’s request, so he didn’t remember Vicki’s vampiric nature. All of the memories of his parent’s death and his downward spiral with drugs and drinking are erased as well. He’s suddenly content and happy with his life, studying on a Friday night rather than going out and partying.
It is slightly disappointing that there seems to be a trend of certain characters getting killed off just as they start to grow on us. It makes you wonder how long this is going to go on for and how many engaging characters the show has up its sleeve-since they’re forcing themselves to replace some minor, but compelling characters. At the same time though, I have to respect the writers for their boldness. They really keep the element of surprise and shock, no line is too far for them to cross. All of the character are fun and add something new to each episode, but it makes you wonder when outside forces come in, who will still be around. Damon clearly has quite an intricate plan that he is acting out, not caring who he has to use or harm to get what he wants. We are only at the beginning of figuring out what he is capable and what the truth of his complex intentions hold.
