The Vampire Diaries came back strong tonight with the premiere of season three. Elena (Nina Dobrev) is still trying to put together the pieces of her life and her pseudo family after the ritual left her and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) orphans.
Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is still carrying on with his girlfriend of convenience, reporter Andie (Dawn Olivieri), who has been helping him with a little project. And, fans didn’t have to wait long before discovering how Stefan (Paul Wesley) spent his summer with Klaus (Joseph Morgan).
The episode started with a treat, some serious Damon (Ian Somerhalder) sans clothes screen time which Elena has the (mis)fortune of walking into.
Elena brings Damon a possible lead to Stefan’s whereabouts, which he immediately shoots down. Elena isn’t the only one that spent her summer hoping to bring Stefan back from the dark side. Damon has been tracking Stefan’s victims across the East coast and keeping it a secret. According to all reports, the ripper is certainly back.
Caroline (Candice Accola) is busy planning a birthday extravaganza for Elena’s 18th. Even though Elena pleas with her to keep it small, Caroline is convinced that a celebration is just what everyone needs at this point. Tyler (Michael Trevino), who’s been spending most of his summer with Caroline – still in the friend zone– lends a hand.
Meanwhile, Stefan and Klaus have been on the hunt for werewolves which leads them to a house in rural Tennessee. Unfortunately, there are no wolves at home and an angry Klaus orders Stefan to “deal with” the roommates. They track down their intended at a local bar where the unconventional duo painfully convince him to give up the location of his pack.
When a spy for Klaus comes forward saying that she saw Damon poking around the farm house, Klaus sends a message to his new pet. Stefan is forced to pay Damon a visit in order to make sure he keeps his distance.
While the birthday party is raging at the Salvatore residence, Damon leaves to pick Andie up from work and escort her back to the house. He is under the impression that she is requesting his chivalry and reluctantly heads over to the news station, only to find that Andie is bait. Stefan makes his point clear by letting Andie fall to her death in front of Damon.It seems that poor Stefan is gone, and this time he might have gone too far to be saved.
Elsewhere, Caroline tries to sneak out of Tyler’s house (after their supernatural attraction became to strong to fight), only to be caught by his mother. Apparently, she’s spent her summer taking notes. When Caroline turns her back to leave, she is shot with the vervain darts. Ouch!
A glimmer of hope comes in the form of a phone call that Stefan makes to Elena, presumably to wish her happy birthday. He can’t speak though, he is overcome by emotion. Elena, confident that he is the silent caller, reassures him of her love and gives him a little something to hold onto.
Fans may have hoped for a bit more love between Damon and Elena after their death bed kiss in the season two finale, but what they got was some more of the same – just with less clothes. But no worries, this pair always finds there way to keep it interesting.
Guess we will just have to stay tuned to see where their chemistry leads them. Hopefully somewhere safer then wherever Caroline ended up.