SWANSON'S GOT SWAGGER . . .

These aren’t in any particular order, they’re just some things I’ve been thinking about since watching the episode:

• My poor Bex didn’t make it to another school dance.  I was really hoping for some Matt/Rebekah because I think they are absolutely adorable together.
• I have no idea why I felt so giddy when Klaus arrived at the dance, but I’m not going to question it.  I still don’t understand him after all this time.  Sometimes I like him, sometimes I don’t.
• I don’t know what to make of the whole Caroline/Tyler/Klaus thing.  I’m not particularly invested in either side, so it’s kind of interesting to watch something play out without my shippy mind getting in the way.
• Welcome back to school, Jeremy and Tyler.  Don’t you wish you stayed away?
• I try to keep out of any debates on the “triangle” because I think all of us Delena/Stelena fans are a passionate bunch and none of us can be swayed to the other side, but I just have a little commentary on it, and it’s definitely a criticism on the writers, not Stefan/Elena.  From spoilers I knew the episode was going to be heavy on Stelena, but I didn’t think I would have such a bad reaction towards it.  I almost felt like the writers were trying to shove them down my throat.  I imagine it’s the exact way Stelena fans felt about last week’s episode because it was heavy on on Delena.  I feel like the writers are stringing us all along and throwing us all these moments every once in a while to give us hope.  It really is like Caroline said.  It’s turning into The Bachelor.  I almost feel like the writers have been using the last two episode to go, “Hey, look at how great Damon/Stefan are with Elena.  That way when we screw one (or both) of your ships over, you’ll remember these moments you had.”  That is if she actually ever makes a decision. 
• Elena, my dear, you just have the worst luck.  In everything.  As infuriating as she can be with her indecisiveness, I am an Elena fan.  She’s in eighteen and look at her life.  We should all give her a break.
• Apparently the writers have decided that this week Stefan’s personality is going to be season one Stefan.  I just can’t figure out his character this season because he seems to have a different personality every week.  I don’t hate any of them, but I like some consistency in my characters.
• I can’t remember a time in the recent past where I haven’t liked Caroline, but I was just not feeling her in this episode.  I think everyone needs to leave Elena alone and let her make her own relationship decisions.  I don’t think it’s anyone’s business who Elena chooses to date.  Will Caroline be going to dates with Elena and her beau?  I don’t think so.  I will say that I’m still holding out for Steroline, but I won’t hold my breath.  You could pair Caroline with the kitchen sink and I’m sure I would be onboard.  Candice has such amazing chemistry with everyone.
• When did the female characters on this show come to exist as possessions and prizes for the male characters?  Last time I checked, they have freewill.
• I’m not a Bonnie fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I now completely understand why people were freaking out about having her paired with Jamie.  Their relationship went from zero to sixty in exactly two seconds.  It’s like the writers decided they wanted to have Bonnie in a relationship, but didn’t actually want to write it/devote screen time to it, so they just plopped it on us and went, “These are two characters.  They’ve met before, so that’s as good a reason as any to have them be in a relationship.”
• Gosh, during every Alaric scene in the episode, especially near the end, I was sitting in my living room saying to myself, “Suck it up girly girl.  Don’t cry.  Don’t cry.  Hold it together.  You can do it.”  Then it was like, POW!  We’re elfing with your minds.  I’m really too overwhelmed by my Ric love to even write about him other than my complete emotional breakdown.  
• My poor darling Damon.  I feel like Elena just kind of tossed him aside during this episode.  I know they had such a big episode last week, but it was like that didn’t even happen.  He was just kind of left to clean up the mess at the end of the episode.  I need to watch some Damon + Alaric bromancing to cheer myself up.  As an aside, I hope the writers aren’t planning on keeping Meredith around and pairing her with Damon.  I don’t think I could handle it.  During their scene later in the episode I was yelling at the screen, “Get away from him.  Far far away.”
• Was it just me or was there a heck of a lot wrong with the entire Esther storyline?  I’m not even sure if I entirely understood what was going on there.  Actually, I’m positive that I have almost no idea what was going on.  I’m sure I’ll go back and watch the episode at some point during the week so I can figure out what’s going on.  What I really want to know is where they got all that salt from.  
• How many stakes was Alaric keeping at the school?  Elena toted out like three huge armfuls of them.
• I think the only way you can watch the show and keep liking the characters is to operate under the belief that you can forgive all of the characters for their past indiscretions.  If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to forgive or like any of them.
• On a positive note, CTV2 actually decided to play a promo this week after neglecting to play one last week.  On a negative note, I kept seeing a banner at the bottom on my screen telling me that Nikita was on a special day and time (tonight), but my affiliate chose to play Top Model instead.  Sigh.  
• Overall, I just really loved last week’s episode and after this episode I was like, “What was that?”  I can’t handle the emotional whiplash.