Vampire Diaries Episode 8

It's Stefan's 162nd birthday on Vampire Diaries Episode 8, and an old friend comes to visit. This old friend happens to be a vampire even old than the Salvatores, Lexi. To top things off, Elena breaks up with Stefan for the thousandth time at the beginning of the episode because it's all "too much." This seems to be becoming a pattern.

Any way, Lexi seems like a fun chick (although seriously miscast: is she supposed to be hot?). Because she's older than Damon, she can overpower him, and she pins him to the bed in a choke-hold and warns him not to ruin her time with Stefan. Is her interest in Stefan friendship, or something more?

Sheriff Forbes (Caroline's mom), calls in Elena, Stefan, Matt and Jeremy to question them about Vicki's disappearance and is satisfied with the story that she ran away. Damon continues to play the neighborhood's friendly vampire and personally delivers some vervane to the sheriff and tells her he'll do anything to help. She's a smart one: she's now considering that vampires can walk about in daylight. (Lexi doesn't have a special ring like the Salvatore bros, so she's confined to darkness.)

Bonnie's grandmother appeals on her to keep the necklace (that she got from Caroline, that Caroline got from Damon, that Damon got from the mayor's mansion). It has special powers to protect her, and belonged to her witch ancestors. Bonnie agrees to wear it around her neck and pays a visit to Elena, where she's now willing to reveal her powers. She rips open a pillow, pouring the feathers out all over the bed. With her hands, she moves them up into the air and floats them around the room. "It's true Elena, everything my gram told me," she says. "It's impossible, and it's true. I'm a witch."

Damon bewitches Caroline once again and commands her to throw a party. He's convinced he and Stefan have to start "mingling" to appear normal, although I'm guessing he has some more specific plans. Regardless, Lexi is pumped about the idea of a bash and persuades Stefan to go. "That guy that got naked in the Trevi fountain, that got drunk on the Statue of Liberty, that guy can take a break from all his worrying for one night and go to a party," she says. Hmm. Sounds like Stefan used to be interesting.

As he's in the shower getting ready, Elena comes to the door, which is answered by Lexi, wrapped in a towell. The scene doesn't look good, and Elena splits. Lexi is rather confused herself, and confronts Stefan to find out why exactly his new gf looks exactly like his old one (Catherine). When she questions him about it, he admits it's the resemblance that drew him in, but that Elena is nothing like Catherine. Catherine, as seen by past flashbacks, was evil (can't wait till we hear more about that), and Elena is kind. He admits that he's in love with her. He then stops by Elena's house on the way to the party and they have a brief chat where he explains that Lexi's merely a friend, but she still chooses to stay home that night.

At the party, Damon tries to get Caroline to get the necklace back. Bonnie recognizes a strange compulsion in Caroline and perhaps realizes it's not normal. When Caroline tries to grab the necklace from her neck, it shocks her. When she goes back to Damon empty-handed, he calls her "stupid, shallow and useless." Seems like there's a domestic abuse storyline going on here. Granted, it is between a vampire and his brainwashed crone, but it's emotional abuse, nontheless. Caroline proceeds to get smashed, while Damon goes outside and feeds on a young couple to take out his aggression.

Lexi goes to the bar to order a couple shots of tequila, or three when she sees Elena walk in. (When the bartender asks for ID, she just mesmerizes him with her eyes, and he gives her the shots on the house instead. Ahh, the perks of being a vampire.) She takes the shots over to Elena and explains that alcohol helps "curb the cravings." Lexi tells Elena that she'll get to know Stefan eventually, and the first step was him coming clean about being a vampire. She explains that her lover was a human also. Turns out she's not quite the evil episode guest star the commercials made her out to be.

Apparently Damon left part of the couple, the girl, alive, and Sheriff Forbes is soon on the case demanding to know what she saw. Drunk Caroline wanders over to Matt's table where she asks him, sadly, if she's shallow. "I want to be deep, like abyss deep," she wisely says. Sounding like the genius she is, she then admits that she's "shallow, like a kiddie pool." As Matt's carrying her out to take her home, they run into her mom, the sheriff. She allows Matt to take her home (where he even goes and cuddles with her to comfort her, that Matt, he's seriously perfect), and then walks in with the victim and asks her to point out who was responsible for her attack. Damon's over at the bar with Lexi, and the girl points in their general direction. Assuming she must mean the girl (because how could it be that nice guy, Damon, who gave her the vervane? Or perhaps Damon just brainwashed the girl to point out Lexi), they weaken her with vervane and take her outside. However, Lexi soon regains her strength and knocks them aside. The sheriff is alone with her, and starts feeding bullits into her chest, to no avail. Just as Lexi's fangs emerge, Damon appears out of nowhere and stakes her in the heart. Ahh, so this was his plan. Plant the vampire card on someone else, and make himself look like the hero. However, Stefan and Elena are hiding in the shadows and see the whole thing.

Stefan is so angry he chases after Damon and a fight ensues. He grabs a stake and rams it into his stomach. "You missed," Damon grunts. "You saved my life, so I'll spare yours," says Stefan. Hmm. Wonder what that's about. Any way, I guess Stefan is just trying to send a message.

The episode ends with a sleeping Bonnie having a fitful dream. She's running through the woods, as if being chased by something. Suddenly she falls to the ground, and is approached by a dark figure. When she looks up, we see it's her ancestor, Emily (all of the ancestors are played by the same actors, i.e. Catherine and Elena, Bonnie and Emily). "It's coming," she says starkly. And then Bonnie wakes up--in the middle of the graveyard. Holy crap! Perhaps this episode was good enough to make up for the whole Vicki thing. (By the way, now that Vicki's dead, Bonnie's my new favorite character.) Thoughts?