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It’s been a long wait, but our favorite vampires, werewolves, witch, doppelganger turned vampire – well, it’s a long list – the point is VAMPIRE DIARIES IS BACK.
Raise your hand if you’ve been waiting for this very moment since May. Raise your hand if you’ve missed the Salvatore sparring. Raise your hand if you’ve been anxious to see Elena’s transition. Raise your hand if you’re still weeping over Alaric. Raise your hand if you’re anxious to see if Klaus is forever trapped in Tyler’s body. Raise your hand if – honestly, if you haven’t raised your hand by now it’s probably because you don’t watch this show.
It’s been a long summer, an even longer break from MysticFalls, and I am so very, very happy that it’s back in our lives. So happy in fact that instead of the traditional top five OMFG moments, I’m doing ten. Really, five just wouldn’t have been enough.
A lot happened in tonight’s premiere. Elena made the decision to become a vampire. Damon repeatedly kicked Matt’s ass. Stefan and Elena proclaimed their love for the 10,000thtime. Matt struggled with some major survivor’s guilt. Pastor Young turned out to be some kind of freaky cult leader. Klaus nearly killed Tyler and broke his sister’s heart. Caroline slugged Klaus. Bonnie worked some serious witchy mojo. Everyone was kidnapped and saved. All of this and more happened in a single hour. Anyone else feeling exhausted?
In that case, let’s just get right into the moments that left us breathless, shrieking, fangirling, and rolling off our couches. Here we go!
10. Stefan and Elena on the rooftop.
Okay, this isn’t a huge OMFG moment, but it was tender, bittersweet, and the perfect ending to what had been a long first day for Elena as a vampire. Stefan warned her that being a vampire is hard and the worst thing she’ll ever live through, but she countered by saying she’ll get to live and be with Stefan. That’s totally like an even trade, right? Stefan gave her a daylight ring and the day ended so magically and beautifully that it was almost like Elena hadn’t been kidnapped by a crazy pastor, drank human blood, and become a vampire. How sweet.
9. Matt’s guilt.
Matt has always been a backseat character. He’s used by the girls as a support crutch when their real loves aren’t available. And in a truly selfless moment, Elena had Matt saved instead of her. Damon spent the entire episode beating up on Matt, so much that he was prepared to die – until Stefan saved him. Frustrated, Matt told Stefan to stop saving him and let him die, but Stefan pointed out that Elena put his life above hers and he should live his life with that on his mind every day. Two points, Stefan.
8. Klaus revealed himself.
I think everyone was a little worried about how Klaus being in Tyler’s body was going to play out. Would he use this to his benefit and take Caroline to bed? Would he stick around in Tyler’s body for months? How much havoc would he bring upon everyone?
Well, everyone should consider themselves lucky because Klaus didn’t stay quiet. When he found out Caroline was in trouble, he rescued her and left Rebekah behind, but not before he revealed himself to his sister. Once alone with Caroline, who wanted nothing more than to celebrate Tyler being alive with some rough tree sex, Klaus called her love and she quickly put two and two together and got a hybrid. Caroline slugged him. Klaus was turned on. And we were all amused.
7. Rebekah’s broken neck.
The interesting thing about Rebekah is that at her core, she’s still a young, teenage girl, dying – no pun intended – to be loved by those around her. Her history forces her to second guess people’s intentions and she has a difficult time trusting anyone, but she always trusted and stood by Klaus. Instead of holding on to that trust, Klaus betrayed it by saving Caroline over his sister.
In a truly heartbreaking moment, Rebekah confronted Klaus about standing by him and loving him no matter what. His response? He strangled her, told her she was nothing, broke her neck, and walk away.
Nearly being killed has put a huge chip on Klaus’s shoulder. Everyone in Mystic Falls should be very worried.
6. Klaus threatens to rip Tyler’s heart out.
Determined to get back into his own body, Klaus dug his fingers into Tyler’s chest and threatened to tear out his heart, inevitably killing him. Everyone watched in horror, primarily Caroline, who wanted nothing more than to be reunited with her love. It was gross, shocking, bloody, and made me turn away from the TV.
5. Bonnie ignoring the warning.
Bonnie tried to use her badass witch mojo to bring Elena back from the undead, but Grams intercepted and warned her not to do it again. Unfortunately, Klaus didn’t give her much else of a choice and she had to use dark magic again. Grams appeared, grabbed her by her wrists, and told her the witches were taking out Bonnie’s actions on her. In a fairly horrifying scene, Grams appeared to die in front of Bonnie all over again. It. Was. Awful.
4. “I remember everything.”
The upside – or you might feel differently if you’re Damon – of Elena becoming a vampire is that she remembers every time she’s been compelled. The scene where Elena walked into the erased memory of Damon telling her that he loved her, but Stefan deserved her was shot so beautifully. The way the camera panned to Elena, adding her real time response to the scene brought a whole other element to the scene.
Later, after she’s fed, Elena told Damon she remembered and in true Damon fashion he maintained he wouldn’t have changed anything. Had he been there at the bridge, he would have saved Elena and let Matt die because, “I am that selfish.” All Damon ever wanted was Elena to live and have everything she ever wanted. How can you hold that against him?
3. “I picked you… because I love you.”
Locked up side by side, Elena and Stefan shared what they expected to be their final moments as Elena’s time to feed trickled away and Stefan breathed in vervain from the air vents. Stefan admitted Damon was right and she should have fed, but Elena disagreed. Stefan had hope that she could be saved and hope was all she ever wanted Stefan to have. Excuse me while I swoon. After all, less than a year ago Stefan was a raging ripper, forcing himself to hate Elena, and now they’re together again.
Elena then confessed why she was on the bridge, that she was coming back for Stefan because she had to make a choice and she chose him. “I picked you… because I love you. No matter what happens, that’s the best choice I ever made.”
Excuse me while I go curl up in a ball and weep.
2. Pastor Young’s… cult.
Except they weren’t exactly aware they were part of a cult. Isn’t that how it always seems to go though? Thanks to Alaric’s tips, Pastor Young and his armed men seized control of the town, locked up every vampire, Elena included, and plotted how they would take out the entire specifies of vampires. From a human angle, their intentions were good, but the vampires were just better.
Thanks to a combination of help from Matt, Damon, Stefan, and Rebekah, Elena was able to drink blood, gain some extra strength, and free everyone, forcing Pastor Young’s plot to go awry. Devastated Pastor Young brought his followers together in the kitchen, unhooked the gas connection to the stove, piled vervain on the table, and lit a match. The whole house exploded along with everyone in it, Pastor Young promising, “We will all reunited in eternity.” That, my TVD friends, was seriously craycray.
1. Elena’s decision to feed.
It’s not necessarily a surprise that Elena chosen to feed on human blood and begin her official vampire transition. It was the culmination of the moment – 3 seasons, a love triangle, dead parents, dead Jenna, dead Alaric, and Elena’s only wish to grow up, become a mother, and have her idea of a full life. In one instant, everything she ever dreamed of was gone. Elena slid her fingertips into a puddle of blood, brought them to her mouth, shed a single tear, and drank. The moment was the epitome of struggle, heartbreak, and resignation.
Whew. What an hour of television. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that Vampire Diaries is now in it’s fourth season. The story-telling, the pacing, the characters – everything is still just so damn good. And now that the premiere is over, I’m going to take breaths, calm my fangirling, and get mentally prepared for next week. Just let me tell you this, if you thought the premiere was amazing, it gets even better in the second episode.
What did you think about the premiere? What was your top OMFG moment? Sound off in the comments below, and I’ll see you here next week.
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