THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: I’LL REMEMBER RECAP

The Vampire Diaries is back! Yay! The season 6 premiere picked up right where we left off in season five but don’t fret – we get to see Damon and Bonnie! Let’s get to it!

We begin with a couple making out in a tent in the woods (and immediately I thought “They’re dead”). They heard a noise and the boyfriend told his girlfriend to go check it out(seriously? he should have taken his butt out there to see what was going on). She got out of the tent only to find Sheriff Forbes (who busted them for underage drinking). When Sheriff Forbes left, the girl was attacked first and then the boyfriend was attacked. All we could see was that it was a long haired, jumpy, vampire that looked like it could have been Elena.

It was sophomore year and everyone was dealing with the loss of Damon and Bonnie differently. Elena was a pre-med student (mainly to get blood bags); vampire Alaric-fresh from the grave- is now a professor at Whitmore teaching occult studies. Elena thinks it is weird to have Alaric as a teacher but in time she will get used to it. In Mystic Falls, Jeremy is still mourning Bonnie and he has turned into a drinking, video game playing Casanova. Matt has been working out and training with the community protection squad (to keep the townspeople safe from vampires). Vampires aren’t able to be in Mystic Falls, but they can patrol the border and that is where Matt’s group comes in.

Stefan is in Savannah, GA working as a mechanic and he has a new girlfriend named Ivy. He is also looking for a witch that can communicate with the dead to contact Damon. Caroline has been trying to call Stefan, but he is ignoring her calls. Caroline spent the summer hanging out with her mom. She dropped out of Whitmore and is determined to find out how to break the magic wall that keeps vampires from being able to be in Mystic Falls. Tyler (in his human form) has enrolled at Whitmore and is on the practice football team to help deal with his anger.

Caroline was concerned about Elena because she didn’t seem to really grieve the loss of Damon. And there is a reason for that. Elena has been seeing Damon quite regularly. How is that possible? Luke was giving Elena herbs that make her hallucinate and see Damon. She feels like she is with him and that is preventing her from moving on. And she is totally crack-like hooked on the herbs too! Crazy! I guess Luke felt guilty about stopping the spell too soon, but being Elena’s pusher isn’t helping her; it’s making it worse.

Elena was riding in the car with “Damon” when she saw a girl with her car broken down on the side of the road. She stopped to help her, but then attacked her while Damon instructed her “not to kill this one.” Apparently Luke’s herbs make Elena really thirsty and she has been human-feeding for awhile now. Caroline found Elena feeding on the girl and had some words for her. Elena came clean to Caroline about the herbs and Caroline realized it was worse than she thought (and Elena was the border vampire that her mother has been looking for).

When Caroline stopped Elena from feeding on the girl, she managed to get away before Elena could compel her. Caroline called her mom and she was able to have Matt take the girl to the hospital before anyone else could talk to her about her attack. After she was treated, Matt took her to the border and even though she was feisty, Caroline was able to compel her.

Elena realized that she had to let Damon go, and go cold turkey on the herbs. She had a meltdown in the car and called Stefan (who surprisingly answered the phone). She wanted to know how he dealt with the grief, and if he had any leads on the witch. As much as she wanted to hear that Stefan had any news, there was none. He told her he hadn’t been answering the phone because he had given up. He said his goodbyes to his brother and told Elena she needed to do the same. Not what she wanted to hear.

Elena drank her herb tea one more time so she could say goodbye to Damon. She told him she never had the chance to thank him for bringing Alaric back and saving everyone. She thanked him for their love and for giving her everything she said she wanted when they first met. She is ready to let him go, but for some reason she can’t. She keeps holding on. Damon reminded her how hard it was going to be to get over him and the pain she would feel, which caused her to freak out and she started knocking over candles and breaking windows. She cried and slid to the floor.

Caroline told Tyler about Luke and the herbs, and Tyler told her to let him deal with Luke. He attacked him at a party and Alaric broke it up. Later, Liv paid Tyler a visit and warned him to stay away from Luke. Tyler explained that he is still dealing with losing his super strength and managing his anger about it. They had a flirty vibe during their conversation and I totally see them hooking up this season.

Caroline called Stefan again and left another voicemail catching him up on everything. Stefan saw that she had left a voicemail but instead of listening to the message, he broke his phone with one finger.

Elena met with Alaric and asked him how he was dealing with everything. He said that he didn’t like most things about being a vampire. Once he came back, he didn’t have Dr. Fell to come back to because she is married. Elena agreed that being a vampire wasn’t wonderful. She admitted that she doesn’t want to live with the pain of losing Damon. Since Alaric can compel other vampires, Elena asked him to compel her so she would not remember loving Damon. Yikes!

Finally at the end we got what we were all waiting for. Damon and Bonnie were together in a house. Damon was making vampy pancakes (that were so cute, he made fangs with whipped cream) and Bonnie joked that she tells him every day she hated it and he joked that he does it anyway. We don’t know where they are, but we know they are together and having fancy meals and reading newspapers so it can’t be all bad. We will have to see how this turns out next week!

What did you think about the season 6 premiere? Will Alaric compel Elena or let her deal with her grief? Where in the world are Bonnie and Damon? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday nights at 8/7c on The CW.