I just remembered my favorite part: Rebekah buying food for Matt because the Salvatores have nothing in the house but booze and blood.

He can't afford the electric or heating bills, so he lives in a tent inside the giant mansion. Maybe he breaks up furniture for fire wood, eats beans he cooks in the can over a little trashcan fire. All while the Salvatores drink and hang out in their huge boardinghouse.

That was still Esther, just 100-odd years ago. As long as she's on the Otherside she makes the ringwearer crazier each time they die.

Eh. The webisodes really show you all the longterm plot stuff you need to know. The stuff they cut out wasn't all that amazing.

Bad enough Jeremy and her were able to hold their own against Kol.

Shit yeah, I forgot about that. I had the same reaction in the moment. It was just a chance for them to shoehorn in the fact that Rebekah theoretically speaks Italian — and then it was pretty blatantly obvious when she didn't even try to say anything.

@avclub-011d0b4fe6835bb3d37ef4e0ea713de6:disqus Tragedy strikes! People never laugh again.

I keep thinking back to the first two episodes of season 4 — they were goddamn gems compared to where we've sunk. So much potential squandered.

No doubt. They'll dangle Alaric in front of us, have some tearful reunion and then *bam* switch him out for Jeremy.

@avclub-011d0b4fe6835bb3d37ef4e0ea713de6:disqus 
Elena's been a double agent this whole time, playing the Salvatores for fools with her humanity off — distracting them from the real plot. Now her humanity is back on and she's *still* distracting them — conveniently with a plan to kill the one person willing to work…

I agree with your cynical statement, at least in theory. They got to jettison a bad episode, generate good press, and sell the episode to hardcore fans as a bonus on iTunes.

I thought it was not just the least upsetting episode, it was also a pretty poor episode — probably the worst of the series. The scenes they released in the webisodes were the better parts, culled of the case of the week that didn't make much sense or go anywhere.

I figure appearing to Elena wouldn't further his cause — she can't help him herself and Bonnie won't really come near her so, eh…

Hadn't thought about it that way, but that's interesting. Silas had been appearing to people as the people they trust (or trusted) most — Stefan with Damon, Damon with Stefan, Jeremy and Shane with Bonnie.

@avclub-011d0b4fe6835bb3d37ef4e0ea713de6:disqus As the shown has shown, time and time again, they truly are awful people.

I was hoping that she decided to chose herself and leave the two of them behind.

Killing him in this scene would be completely surprising — because of the pacing you pointed out, plus no rumors go around about a big event episode. It would have been shocking and left everyone kinda crazy.

@avclub-011d0b4fe6835bb3d37ef4e0ea713de6:disqus Both of them seem like they're pretty disconnected. Ian S is barely chewing scenery anymore and Paul W just looks embarrassed in every scene.

There are vampires on this show?

That would mean that Matt Damon had been on the show before his death — I'd take that.