The Vampire Diaries - Lost Girls / Haunted

The Vicki / Jeremy love story mercifully comes to an end as does Vicki's place within the show as a supporting character among the ensemble cast.

You're Undead to Me left us with Damon freeing himself from captivity and feeding on a drunk Vicki. As we enter Lost Girls, Damon has fed completely from all her druggie friends at the cemetery bonfire, setting their bodies on fire. Vicki, however, is resilient and hasn't yet died.

Out of boredom, Damon decides to turn Vicki vampire, snapping her neck after she weeps to him about her pathetic life and altogether outlook. With Vicki being an addict, Damon has really created quite a situation that escalates into something eventually tragic. Vicki hungers, and the craving is the focus of Lost Girls and Haunted. Vicki’s story takes central focus while Elena contends with the new knowledge that both Stefan and Damon are vampires. 

Brief glimpses in 1864 shows us Katherine, a not-so-innocent beauty who was an actual vampire, responsible for turning both Stefan and Damon into vampires and against each other. We do only get one side of the story: Stefan’s. And he’s a victim, although Stefan does admit that he willingly put Katherine above his brother, for whom he was quite close.

With Jeremy so in love with Vicki and her need to feed, Stefan (despite his claims to Elena he could take care of Vicki), Elena has every reason to worry about her brother. Matt, also, could be in danger and Vicki exploits the “can’t step over the threshold into a house unless invited” weakness vampires have when Stefan needs entry into her home. At every turn, Stefan is unable to halt the inevitable: Vicki’s hunger usurps his hard-fought attempts to keep her safe from harm. Because when Elena tries to stop Vicki from biting Jeremy, her own life is in jeopardy, with Stefan having no choice but to prevent any further conflict. 

Bonnie and Caroline are briefly exiled somewhat by the Vicki storyline, but the arc really only mainly constitutes Lost Girls and Haunted so taking a backseat in focus is only temporary. Nothing against Kayla Ewell—her dancing around in her tight undergarments with Damon certainly held my attention—but I was quite glad her character is out of the picture. I just didn’t really see anywhere else in the show moving forward beyond an addict vampire preying on teen kids and further making Jeremy all weepy, whiny, and lovelorn. 

At the end of Haunted, Elena makes a decision about Jeremy, regarding the loss of Vicki I actually was fond of…allow him to move on instead of agonizing over Vicki for the next five episodes. While Damon has been up to Haunted an arrogant, narcissistic, seemingly uncaring jerk, at the very end he shows signs of humanity by offering to glamour Jeremy so he wouldn’t ache at the removal of Vicki from the picture. But saying that, Damon is responsible for turning Vicki (although he blames Stefan for depriving him of blood) and wanting to give her some time out of the house he inadvertently provides her the opportunity to flee. 

Haunted is set during Halloween, and Caroline provides Bonnie with the amulet Damon had once given her to wear around the neck. Bonnie and her mom (Jasmine Guy) discuss their witch lineage and we learn  of the amulet’s power (Damon tries to take it from Bonnie, she won’t give it up, and we see  that he is burned while holding it in his grasp) and how it relates to them. But not a lot about them, as this is Vicki’s time in the spotlight. 

There’s plenty of gooey teen angst music to follow Elena and Stefan as they deal with his vampirism coming to light. Elena contemplates herself being glamoured by Damon (Stefan and his animal blood doesn’t provide him with as strong enough capabilities for that kind of memory tampering) but feels that she can’t lose what she has for Stefan. I will be quite relieved when the show escapes the confines of its Twilight trappings, freeing itself from such doldrums. Elena in her misery, and all the drama surrounding the vampire brothers, with her brother in danger, there’s still time for the sop that is the soap opera. Stefan tells Elena in Lost Girls to give him a day to "explain everything". He takes her to where his 1864 plantation was, showing her the remains of it, now little more that glimpses of its presence remain. She gives him his time and felt he represented a danger Elena just couldn't deal with. But the next day she visits, encounters a ferocious Vicki who never liked her (in one of the episode's best scenes, Vicki grabs Elena by the throat and informs her she can do whatever she wants and nothing can stop her), and Stefan assures her that everything will be okay. Stefan is certainly held back by his limits due to not feeding from humans. If Vicki had lasted, she'd drained the town dry.

Logan Fell exits the show rather early, searching for vampires with a pocket watch, with a gun filled with wooden bullets (that weaken/maim vampires, not killing them). It seems like his whole storyline with Jenna ends prematurely. She doesn't even appear in these two episodes. He nearly stakes Stefan after shooting him, but Damon stops him with the bite. Vicki, battling the craving and trying to steel herself, can't help but take seconds on Logan's throat. It was as if the writers decided Logan was a character with no future. Bye-bye.

Haunted includes a high school Halloween shindig which works well as the setting for the conclusion as vampire Vicki makes her move to feed from Jeremy as Elena and Stefan desperately search for them. It ends with quite a staking, too.

Lost Girls gives insight into what vampires are against the pop culture that represents them. Holy water, mirrors, and garlic do nothing to them. The rings Stefan and Damon wear (Damon was without his ring but took advantage of Stefan's injury to the wooden bullet to get it back) keep them from burning up in the sun. The rings are a good idea so that the show isn't restricted to a lot of night and little for two of the main characters ​to do during the day.