The Vampire Diaries - 162 Candles / History Repeating / The Turning Point

The soap opera bends but often doesn't break. It gives and takes. Whether or not vampires are involved, it doesn't matter. Stefan, 161 year old vampire, celebrates a birthday in 162 Candles, with 360+ year old vampire friend, Lexi (a particularly luscious Arielle Kebbel) visiting. She keeps in her possession blood bags to sustain herself, admittedly unable to just handle the animal kind. Lexi is not a fan of Damon. Damon seizes an opportunity to persuade Caroline's cop mother and her vampire hunting team away from him and Stefan. Lexi will serve as the scapegoat. In the next episode, History Repeating, Lexi's cheap death was a bit too concluded without much rage expended between Stefan and Damon. A stake is used by Stefan on Damon more for symbolic means (I could have killed you but I resisted) than to end his reign of human feeding and revenge against him.

The show up to this point would tease with the possibility of Stefan and Elena actually engaging in a normal boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. It would flirt with that. They’d share long, lovelorn gazes into each other’s eyes and hold fixed upon one another longing, yearning. At some point over three episodes—162 Candles, History Repeating, and The Turning Point—Elena tells Stefan he should stay away from her and yet when she can’t help herself he feels he must for her own safety. It was this dance. The Twilight movies did this. I have talked with a friend at work who tells me that the show gets out of this high school teen angst Twilight bullshit. That is a relief. Over the three episode story arc involving Stefan and Elena fighting off relationship pangs, eventually allowing themselves to succumb to sexual passion (of course, she finds Katherine’s picture and leaves, once again depriving the key demographic audience of the satisfaction of the two of them finally becoming a legitimate couple), the soap opera rises to the forefront despite advances in a subplot involving Bonnie and her talisman, Caroline and Matt discovering a like for each other, and Logan Fell returning to Mystic Falls after an absence.

 

Logan has his episode arc in The Turning Point. It is *mostly* all about him. Somebody gave him blood, buried him, and emailed his “going away” to make it appear he was gone for good. Jenna had moved on from him, finding a new possible love interest in new history teacher, Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis). Alaric takes a particular liking to Jeremy, who has put the past behind him, embracing his school work and sketching, seemingly healthy and happy now that he’s been glamoured by Damon (when Elena asks, Damon says he took away Jeremy’s suffering). Alaric and Jenna start up a conversation at the Grille with Jeremy quite uncomfortable, leaving them to carry on. Logan emerged at the end of History Repeating, unable to pass across the threshold as Jenna wanted nothing to do with him, much less inviting him in her home. And not long before this, Alaric was seemingly unable to enter in her home, either, and doesn’t pass the threshold as Jenna didn’t invite him because Jeremy was just inside, feeling it’d all be too awkward at present. So Alaric has this ring, too, which might explain how he can walk in the daylight, unlike Logan, who questions Damon in a boiler room at the Mystic Falls school, keeping a horde of town locals he’s fed and killed from in there. Shooting Damon (the one responsible for biting him as to protect Stefan just a few episodes prior) with wood bullets, Logan gains advantage, but he’s not prepared for Alaric at the end of The Turning Point.

Logan had confronted Caroline’s mom about ditching him after his death, targeting Caroline. Stefan and Damon prevent him from turning Caroline so that doesn’t go according to plan for Logan. Nothing does. Logan is brought back, it seems, just to be kicked off the show for good. Logan was, at first, presented as a possible romantic attachment to Jenna. I personally am very attracted to Jenna. So I like it when the show involves her more than just some shoulder to cry on and to be Elena’s therapist when her romantic troubles with Stefan leave her aching. Jeremy getting his act together, confronting Tyler during a school’s “career night” asking him why he’s hanging around something like this function, and the two having a “spat” gives way to the mayor “requesting” the two kids to get out their aggression outside the building on the sidewalk, Alaric interfering by challenging the supposed adult. So the mayor threatens Alaric’s career but takes off Tyler to avoid any further conflict. When Jeremy tries to apologize, Tyler punches him, unable to explain why he has such violent tendencies.