Being Hot Is Not Enough To Save Your Life

At least not on The Vampire Diaries! 

"Plan B" was one of the strongest episodes of the series and a cliffhanger that will have me on pins and needles - not to mention scared shitless for my beloved Matt - for the next 153 hours. 

As usual, I'll put up a blow-by-blow recap late tonight but in the meantime, a few thoughts off the top of my head:

The acting in this episode was beyond fantastic.  The way Ian makes you care about Damon and recall his humanity even as he's literally ripping some one's heart out of their chest is nothing short of amazing.  Nina continues to kill it with her subtle acting nuances as she portrays two characters who could not be less alike.  They don't have to curl Katherine's hair for us to know the difference because Nina does all the heavy lifting on making the two women distinguishable from one another.  Steven was very believable last year as a sullen, emo, self-pitying twerp and I certainly never questioned his acting ability through that but I'm loving his portrayal of Jeremy as the kid comes into his own and tries to find a purpose to his life.  Candice and Paul both squeezed the breath right out of my chest with their heart-wrenching, emotional scenes last night.  That's some top-notch crying, folks!  And Taylor Kinney went out with a BANG as he made every second of both his physical and emotional pain seem like the realest thing on television.   

The fact that the stakes on this show are always life and death and that Plec and Williamson are not afraid to kill anyone (with the possible exception of the three leads) off, means that you are on the edge of your seat all the time. 

It will never stop being impressive the way this show sets up a plot line and then knocks it down in short order rather than drawing it out through the use of contrivance and unnecessary secrecy and lies between the characters.  Folks in Mystic Falls are keeping secrets but among the peeps in the know, they tell each other all the pertinent shit all the time. 

Anyway, like I said, detailed thoughts on the minutia later tonight.  In the meantime, I think we should all go watch it again and scour the web for the thoughts of others because Lord knows, it can't be talked about enough while we wait to see all the hot boys in their dark suits and to find out if Matt will stick around or if he'll join the other TVD casualties in that big vervain-filled well in the sky.