THE VAMPIRE DIARIES takes a delicious bite out of the weekend TV doldrums with its move to Fridays tonight at 8pm.
Partnered again with THE ORIGINALS, watch for some bloody good crossover opportunities during this season.
In the winter finale, the gang found different ways to celebrate Christmas (Toys for Tots, a Santa’s pub crawl, Caroline’s pregnancy hormones), and the December episode ended with Damon and Stefan finding themselves on the wrong side of Julian’s (guest star Todd Lasance) temper.
There were some odd pairings…Caroline (Candice King) and Alaric (Matt Davis) at Lamaze class…Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Nora (guest star Scarlett Byrne) bonding at a charity event…Julian bonding with his “cellular telephone”…Julian bonding with his henchmen…Julian bonding with the sword that held the cursed Phoenix Stone…
But, in the end, it was Damon who bonded with the dreadful stone. When Damon threw himself on the sword to save Stephan, Julian exacted his retribution for Damon’s role in Lily’s (guest star Annie Wersching) demise.
Damon’s act of selflessness transported him back to his time of service in the Civil War, trapped inside the fated stone where he is tormented by his traumatic wartime experience.
Reliving a war in which he was an unwilling participant, forced to serve on the Confederate side by his overbearing father and which he subsequently deserted, the horror of war torments the elder Salvatore brother in the mental and emotional prison of the Phoenix Stone.
Out in the real world, Bonnie races to extract Damon (Ian Somerhalder) from the stone’s power before its horror leaves him affected forever.
Not the only victim of the Phoenix Stone, the winter finale ended with Stephan (Paul Wesley) impaled upon the same sword from which Damon had tried to save him.
Now, there is the threat of Julian torching Stefan’s body, wiping him from existence.
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES also stars Zach Roerig and Michael Malarkey. Guest stars on tonight’s episode, “Hell Is Other People,” include Evan Gamble (returning as Henry, the vampire from “Blood Brothers” back in 2010), Elizabeth Blackmore and Edgar Roche.
“Hell Is Other People was written by Holly Brix and Neil Reynolds and directed by Deb Chow.
A new episode of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES airs on January 29 at 8:00 p.m. on The CW.
