The reason is that nobody leaves Mystic Falls unless they're forced to under threat of unbelievably horrifying torture and death.

It's the excuse already used in Knights of the Old Republic, and I'm sure in many other fantasy stories before that. A sufficiently powerful magic/force user can figuratively rip languages out of the minds of native speakers and insert them into her own, easy peasy.

Viagra Joke

Great review. This episode was all wheel-spinning and exposition-dumping, and frankly, this close to a (presumed) climax you generally don't want to be dumping exposition. For that matter you probably don't want to be introducing a whole bunch of new characters either, especially when you already have a dozen…

Crazy Twist: all the stuff they do to the Mystic Falls crew is motivated by their own impossibly tangled collection of love triangles.

Let's all pretend that it's just an extended postmodern critique of America's anti-historical self absorption.

It's awfully convenient how people forget that before she FT, she willingly engaged in regular F for T's B… but yeah, no, that whole situation with Walt was just %100 Walt becoming a criminal and had nothing to do with Skylar's shortcomings and hypocrisies.

Yeah, but I wouldn't…

Yeah, but I wouldn't…

Non-sequiturs are a great way to build up a character on the cheap. The writers have to be willing to let them go by without much fanfare, however, which is something they're generally loath to do with main characters. That's why you occasionally see supporting players who manage with very few lines of dialogue to…

Non-sequiturs are a great way to build up a character on the cheap. The writers have to be willing to let them go by without much fanfare, however, which is something they're generally loath to do with main characters. That's why you occasionally see supporting players who manage with very few lines of dialogue to…

To me, it almost seemed like Oliver himself was the CI. It doesn't quite make sense though.

To me, it almost seemed like Oliver himself was the CI. It doesn't quite make sense though.

I liked how she snapped on the keyboard and then proceeded to use the touchscreen exclusively. That was good.

I liked how she snapped on the keyboard and then proceeded to use the touchscreen exclusively. That was good.

Baramos has it right. You can't really appeal a decision by a judge to reject a plea agreement, because nobody's constitutional rights are actually violated. The case isn't moving forward. Basically all the judge is doing is warning the defendant (and, to a far lesser extent, the prosecution) that his sentence is not…

Baramos has it right. You can't really appeal a decision by a judge to reject a plea agreement, because nobody's constitutional rights are actually violated. The case isn't moving forward. Basically all the judge is doing is warning the defendant (and, to a far lesser extent, the prosecution) that his sentence is not…

The Count was an Adam West camp performance, and pretty close to an Adam West camp villain. He had none of the hallmarks of either the Scarecrow or the Joker, or really any other "serious" comic-book villain from any "serious" comic book film in recent memory. He was a campy lunatic who stuck out in the Arrow universe…

The Count was an Adam West camp performance, and pretty close to an Adam West camp villain. He had none of the hallmarks of either the Scarecrow or the Joker, or really any other "serious" comic-book villain from any "serious" comic book film in recent memory. He was a campy lunatic who stuck out in the Arrow universe…

Elena and Jeremy's plot armor was ridiculously thick tonight, huh? Maybe the show would do well to have Bonnie cast a spell on Elena to move her heart to one of her feet (her brain's probably already sufficiently delocated) just so we could settle upon a good excuse for her never dying when she's supposed to.