Matt!  My God man, you’ve cracked!  I think I like it. 
 
It’s so hard not to be fangirly over this show, isn’t it?  Each week I try to give thoughtful, intelligent reviews and then when I go through things, I turn to babbling mush.  This episode is no different.  In fact, it’s ten times worse!  I mean Klaus finds Elena...then Tyler...Bonnie is totally screwed...Katherine needs Jeremy of all people...Stefan can’t man up...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THE POOL MATT??...Aww, Damon, you’re killing me...Wait a second, that’s Sebastian Roche!
 
Yeah, that would be a pretty annoying review, wouldn’t it?  I’ll do better.  
 
The pace is pretty intense from the word go, that is after we have our breaths taken away by sweaty and pumped up Matt ruining a senior prank.  After the ghost shadows were stalking him late at night in the mostly empty school.  Gotta start with a little suspense too.  Everyone’s so light and relaxed until shadow man turns out to be Klaus.  Man does that guy know how to ruin a party!  He surprises Elena and the cat’s out of the bag.  The doppleganger is alive.  I didn’t expect this to happen so early in the episode when the previews came out.  It looked like a potential episode ending cliffhanger.  So yes, color me surprised.  
 
The intense pacing and flow between each scene is once again perfect.  Kudos to Michael Narducci for contributing such an amazing script.  Director John Behring delivers again too, doing some extraordinary things inside a pool among other things.  I was engrossed from beginning to end.  
 

Disturbing behavior.  I’ll say.  Just when you think you have these moody, unstable vampires and other beings figured out, they go and change things on you.  Just about every character got a little piece of the spotlight this week, making this episode very busy (short attention span theater as I like to call it), but also a little choppy as well.  I do like though how everyone got some progression to their stories, even if I needed a scorecard to track it all.  Even Alaric grew a pair! 
 
So where do I begin?  I’m just going person by person this time.  It’s easier that way.

Thursday fast approaches us, so here's something to keep us occupied until that time.  

First, here's a preview video with Julie Plec explaining what to expect.  Sounds like Elena and Damon carry on their little game and Jeremy's dead people saga moves forward.  Oh, and Stefan has a new girlfriend!

 

Here's the images from the episode too.  Looks like scheming is going on all the way around.  



Finally the official synopsis!  Oh yeah, this sounds like a busy one. 

FAMILY TIES - Still in Chicago, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) uses Gloria (guest star Charmin Lee), a witch he knew long ago, to help him track down missing information that will explain why his plan isn't working. Gloria's spells reveal intriguing glimpses of the truth, but she soon realizes she needs Stefan's (Paul Wesley) knowledge to complete the puzzle. When Stefan suddenly finds himself in danger, help comes from a surprising ally. Back in Mystic Falls, a frustrating new enemy pushes Damon (Ian Somerhalder) over the brink and he lashes out in a way that will have lasting consequences. Caroline (Candice Accola) struggles with her own emotional issues, even as she tries to help Elena (Nina Dobrev) face her feelings. Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) makes a brief but disturbing breakthrough with one of his ghostly visitors, leaving him more confused than ever. Finally, Bonnie (Kat Graham) has a strange encounter that will affect everyone. Matt Davis also stars. Wendey Stanzler directed the episode written by Brian Young.

Happy episode everyone!  

Wow, didn’t see that coming.  Oh yes, “The End of The Affair” is an enjoyable hour of television, but it follows a drastically different formula that what we’ve gotten in the first two episodes of the season.  You had to stick with it, wait for the slow unfolding story to deliver the payoff.  When all was revealed, it was the equivalent of getting whacked in the melon with a two by four.  
 
I have to admit, it took me a while to process this one.  Good process of course.  It’s another flashback episode, something that’s very ripe for a 164 year old vampire given the years of unknown backstory.  This setting is quite different though than the stately visions of 1864 Virginia.  It’s 1920’s Chicago, a time known for decadence and living loose.  Stefan is a free wheeling vampire of stature who has adopted the finer tastes in nightlife.  He hangs out in a speakeasy where tuxedoes are required and never ending champagne fountains are the norm, as well as the top notch entertainment from sultry singers named Gloria.  It’s also a perfect place to shop for victims and Stefan fed pretty well in those days, earning the name of “The Ripper.”  In modern day terms, he was a real douchebag.  
 

Daddy?  BWAH!!!!!!!

I do love the mini cliffhangers each week on The Vampire Diaries, but this week’s just so rich!  Caroline finally sees her captor, the guy who wants to kill all those terrible vampire monsters, and the ONE guy that Mrs. Lockwood calls just happens to be her Dad?  I can picture all the giggling going on in the writers room when they came up with that one.  



Then there’s Klaus, who wasn’t able to execute his dastardly plan and turn the werewolves into hybrids.  He did everything!  Oh, except that...erm we better not say anything.  He could be listening.  

“The Hybrid” turned out to be a real pleasant surprise.  I loved this episode.  Not that I don’t like watching any Vampire Diaries episodes, but sometimes there are those episodes where the twists happen so fast you wonder how you ended up on a country road in the mountains.  Sometimes it gets queasy.  

I was especially worried since this was such a loaded script.  The challenge bestowed upon this week’s writers was to weave four very different and complex stories into one episode and make it easy to watch.  Al Septien and Turi Meyer did it perfectly.  The seamless transition between Jeremy and Matt, Tyler and his mother, Klaus and Stefan and Damon, Elena and Alaric didn’t happen at a frenetic and hard to follow pace.  It was an very even and smooth riding episode that paid off in big ways for those that followed it through all the way to the end.  It’s so rare to be rewarded like that in any television show, but The Vampire Diaries constantly makes it happen.

It's already time for Episode 3.02! Here are the preview images for "The Hybrid."  There are only six and they don't give away too much, but they're not bad to look at! 

Now that’s how you do vampire and werewolf sex! 

Okay, “The Birthday” offered way more character nuances than that, but as someone who has been rooting for Caroline and Tyler for a while now, that’s where my biggest thrill came from.  I even asked Julie Plec about it at Comic Con and she said that vampire on werewolf sex was “inevitable.”  I’m glad “inevitable” meant the season three premiere.  

Wow, hard to think that the premiere is less than two weeks away, isn't it?  The CW has already released a set of preview photos and a synopsis of episode 3.01, titled "The Birthday."  Here's the synopsis below:

(Photo courtesy of Warner Brothers)

 

There wasn't a lot of time left in the press session, but luckily we got a few minutes with Nina Dobrev (Elena).  She was so pleasant and looked wonderful, especially the peach top and the matching peach color high heels.  When I complimented her on the shoes at the end of the session, she replied "I love them and I hate them."  Yes, we girl folk are very familiar with that pain.