Fancy Soap Dish: Next Time, Pick A Better Hiding Place

Recapping "Know Thy Enemy"

I’m going to kick this off by saying that I love Damon Salvatore. Like...love. If he was real, I would gladly sacrifice all womanly dignity and become his sure-to-die plaything. The fact of the matter is that Katherine never loved the poor man, and Miss Elena is currently too engrossed in sacrificing herself to notice her developing feelings for him. Um, these girls are clearly blind and I would gladly take the Damon problem off their hands – really.

But if he continues to hide important, ritualistically sacrificial objects in a goddamn soap dish in the freakin’ bathroom, I will retract, with monumental mourning, all of the above statements.

What the hell, Salvatore? Are you suddenly playing for the stupid team? Get your shit together! Did you do this during one of your alcohol-fuelled mope-y blood binges for shits and giggles?

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, read on to find out exactly what the hell I’m referring to.

-

We pick up right where we left off: Isobel at the door. Jenna finds out that both Alaric and Elena knew that she was alive; the guardian proceeds to promptly have a complete mental breakdown of epic proportions (oh, honey – you don’t even know the quarter of it)!

Devious Katherine confronts the Salvatore brothers and declares herself to be solely on their “team” and we know this is complete bullshit by the mischievous grin she flashes to herself as she’s walking away. Stefan and Damon proceed to make elaborate eyebrow expressions at her as she explains her reasoning; Stefan makes some witty quip about Alaric’s dead wife showing up on his girlfriend’s doorstep.

Alaric goes to Elena’s house to see how Jenna’s doing. Um, and that answer to that would be – not well. She leaves and that’s the last we see of her for the rest of the episode. Basically all you need to know is this: John gets a fist to the face and it is awesome. I have been dying for someone to do this since that man showed up! If you freeze the frame and study Elena’s face, you get this: LOL.

Caroline has a bit of a panic moment in her car, trying to get a hold of Matt. She finally gives up and drives away. Um, you might want to find him, Caroline. He has destructive knowledge. This is not good.

Back at the Gilbert abode, John re-introduces Stefan and Elena to Isobel because the douche-bag invited her in. Completely uncalled for, John. God. Can someone please punch him again? Elena tells Isobel to “get the hell” out of her house, completely ignoring the “I just want to protect you” bullshit.

Meanwhile, Damon & Beremy (hah) have gone on an expedition. They first find themselves at the house of the dead warlocks. Seriously, guys? You maybe should have cleaned up your damage a little sooner. Hamburger (I don’t remember which blog/website gave him this nickname) Luka is still just chillin’ all dead and shit on the floor. Bonnie finds what she needs and they get out of there.

Meanwhile, Isobel goes to her house (most expensive foreclosure in town, people!) Surprise – Kat’s waiting for her and the two begin some plotting. WHAT THE HELL, ISOBEL? YOU’RE SUCH A BITCH! Also – KAT! This is not how you go about proving how much you “still love” Stefan! AGH. *head meets wall* Can I also mention how they keep giving each other sexually charged looks? Not cool. That’s your goddamn ancestor, Izzy!

Back at the Salvatore quarters, Stefan, Elena, and Damon converse about the shit they’re in. Damon waggles his eyebrows casually and it’s sexy as usual. Katherine shows up and demands to know what their plan is but they all remain mum. Can I just say that Nina Dobrev is fucking awesome here? I can barely even tell they’re played by the same actress!

Caroline, Elena, and Stefan converse about the Matt Situation at the Historical Society meeting; Jeremy, Bonnie, and Damon go to the house where the “power of 100 witches” is. The house does not like Damon; “Screw you, too, Emily!” Bonnie gets what she needs but remains cryptic about what she learned. People should be a little more concerned, here! Don’t die, Bon Bon! I started to like you! This is split up into two scenes, actually: we have a brief little interlude of (see below).

And then comes my favourite part of the entire episode: Katherine ransacking Damon’s room like the lying, petty bitch she is. Did anyone else notice the closet full of leather jackets – LMFAO. He would! She digs through his stuff, including a keepsake box which holds a bunch of cigars and a wad of cash. My first question: why does Damon have cigars? Um, you’re probably not gonna wanna put anything like that near your beautiful, flammable body, buddy! Second question: Katherine, you’re a petty bitch! Okay, that was more of a comment, but she just up and steals his goddamn wad of cash. I’d be pissed.

So Katherine’s looking for the moonstone. She gives up and is about to walk away when she realizes that the stone was, in fact, hidden in the soap dish in Damon’s bathroom. WHAT THE HELL? WHY IS THE MOONSTONE IN THE SOAP DISH? WHY IS THERE A SOAP DISH? DAMMIT, DAMON!

Suffice to say the little wench takes it and goes off on her merry goddamn way.

Back at Camp Nightmare, Isobel confronts Alaric randomly and tells him how much she loved him and blahblah sob story. I so didn’t buy this. And good thing, because seconds after that, some RANDOM WITCH takes Alaric down and KIDNAPS HIM. OhmyGod, kidnapping is so first half of the season, guys!

Isobel shows up to the Historical Society thing and saunters toward John and then proceeds to rip his throat out, thus causing a distraction .UGH. Okay, as much as I don’t like John, the poor guy looks truly duped here. Oh, and dead.

As Elena’s giving her speech (she received some kind of scholarship), John tumbles down the stairs, creating a massive diversion. As Stefan observes John, Elena is promptly kidnapped by Katherine. Looks like Kat is not on Team Anyone – she’s on Team I’mma F*ck Your Sh*t Up.

Katherine, pretending to be Elena, goes off merrily with Stefan. Um, Stefan. HOW ‘BOUT YOU USE YOUR SUPER SENSES AND SMELL HER? Meanwhile, the real Elena is being driven to the middle of nowhere with Isobel as the driver!

Stefan and Katherine go to his car; he barely waits three seconds before letting her know that he knows her cover. She casually tosses him into the bushes and then steals his goddamn car. Can we all say it together now: BADASS.

There’s more Bonnie & Jeremy angst as Bonnie actually receives the power of the witches (okay...honestly, wasn’t paying much attention here. I was trying to figure out who was bad and who was good and holyeffinggod KNOW THY ENEMY, CHILDREN)!

Damon arrives from the “witch house” after having been called by “Elena.” Him, Mrs. Forbes & Mrs. Lockwood fuss over the body of John, and Damon has to awkwardly and haltingly explain to them that John isn’t really dead because he has a supernatural ring thing.

Matt confronts the Sheriff about vampires. Oh, shit, boy. You don’t even know what you just started.

Damon brings John’s dead weight body back to the Salvatore house and unceremoniously dumps him on the floor. He goes to wash his hands of the blood (and takes off his shirt for some reason). Uh, okay there, Damon. The unnecessary-ness of this action begs the question: if you need to wash your face, are you going to take off your pants? Because that’s totally okay. In the meanwhile, he discovers that Katherine’s played them, via phone call from Stefan, and that Elena’s missing. He proceeds to toss and break shit in the bathroom and you know, what? Sometimes we all just need to have a hissy fit. Him and Jenna can start a club!

As Isobel’s driving, she says a few cryptic things to Kat, and basically lets her know that UHOH –she’s been had! You better watch your back, Kat! Elena comes to, and seconds later, at Isobel’s house, there’s some Katnapping of epic proportions by the guy whom I’ve dubbed Caucasian Witch.

Matt and Caroline finally confront each other. Yes, please be okay, Matt! ... Nope, not okay.

Bonnie & Jeremy argue about the safety of people, and Bonnie conjures a freak storm to show off her newly acquired powers. I kind of love this shot. It’s really cool. Go, Bon Bon!

Meanwhile, Damon and Stefan are searching Isobel’s house (they don’t look very hard at all...) for traces of Kat or Elena. None to be found. While they’re doing that, Isobel brings Elena to a graveyard and shows her the tombstone which reads: Isobel Flemming. Well, that’s nice. What a perfect mother-daughter bonding expedition! Here, daughter whom I gave up! Come look at Mommy’s gravestone because that’s so heart-warming!

...

But then it does get almost kind of touching, as Isobel explains to Elena that she had always wanted to meet the daughter she gave up. And at this point, I know shit’s gonna go down. Like something terrible. I get my (wish?) and Isobel rips off her magic necklace and proceeds to BURN TO DEATH IN FRONT OF ELENA.

And then we know: that’s some serious Klaus shit going on and Isobel was obviously compelled by Klaus. And Klaus wants to keep Elena safe for the time being. What the HELL?

Matt and Caroline continue their really depressing conversation. Caroline tries to convince him to just try being with her, but he can’t, and asks her to make him forget. So she obliges his wishes and it’s really sad and stuff.

Elena is safe with the brothers after watching the Mommy Roast. And guess, what, guys? There’s finally some happy/touching news in this episode! Damon & Stefan signed over their house to Elena so she would be the owner, thus making it so only she could invite people in. Sniff. I think I teared up here.

John awakens from his coma and Elena and him have a ‘moment.’ It seems like John’s actually being sincere when he says he’ll do whatever she wants, but after this episode, it’s exceedingly difficult to trust anyone, yeah? The part about the “only parent I have left” – good God. I was tearing up again. Dammit, why must they play the parent card?!

Bonnie  & Jeremy (yeah, they’ll still off gallivanting together even though all this epic shit has gone down). Bonnie lays down the law and basically tells Jeremy to STFU – she’s a grown girl and will make her own decisions, even if that means she ends up dead!

AND THEN...OMG. We find out that MATT has been drinking vervain and is actually acting as Sheriff Forbes’ little minion! Thus, Caroline didn’t actually compel him and now he’s gonna tell Mrs. Forbes everything! WHAT THE FRICKING FRICK? Honestly, Matt, because you’re such a little traitor...at this point, I don’t mind if you die. Because when it comes down to being between you and Caroline, well...I’m Team Vampire Barbie. Take that, “Mashed Potatoes” (that’s right – I went there).

Stefan and Damon realize they’re the only ones who know about Bonnie and her newly acquired secret weapon and what she can do with it. They toast themselves. It almost makes up for the soap dish incident because they’re actually being smart here. Come on, Team Salvatore! Use those 150 + year-old brains! : )

And that’s not all, folks! Remember Alaric? Yeah.

Things are looking mighty bad for him as Kat wakes up in the middle of some creepy ritual involving blood, Alaric, and Caucasian Witch. And guess what?

Alaric is now possessed by Klaus.

HOLY EFF. And the episode ends there.

Get out your hippie-head-bands and bell-bottom jeans because next week, by the looks of the preview, we’re gonna experience Part One of the Mystic Falls Massacre at the high school decade dance.

Be forewarned: I think I saw Damon doing some variant of the Hustle.

Until next time...

I’m Not Calling You a Liar – Just Don’t Lie to Me: Recapping the First Vampire Diaries Eyecon Convention

As Florence + the Machine so delicately put, “I’m not calling you a liar/Just don’t lie to me/I’m not calling you a thief/Just don’t steal from me”; for me, these words sum up -  in general - what I experienced at the first Vampire Diaries Eyecon convention in Atlanta, Georgia, which took place from March 25 – 27.

I’ve spent almost a week trying to figure out how to do this, and now I’ve decided that I’m just going to roll with it, because either way, some aspects are not going to be pretty. So if you’re a lover of Eyecon and their supposed glorious work, you’ve been forewarned.

My friend, Erica, & I, have been planning this trip since the tickets went on sale, and I’d be the liar if I said I loved every second of it and that Eyecon was superfantasticawesome. No. That’s not how it went down – at all. As someone who missed a week of university classes and spent scholarship money and savings to go to this thing, I would have to say that I was very saddened by the way the convention was run.

Here’s how it’s going to go: I’ll write up the disappointments and highlights of each day. You should also be warned that sarcasm is my favourite defence mechanism, so y’all (as they say in the South) have fun with that. Also as a heads up, I’ll include in brackets peoples’ Twitter names when I’m referring to them because that’s how we all know each other.

THURSDAY

Let me start by saying that on Wednesday, I flew in to British Columbia from Alberta. That night, Erica (@EricaFabs) & I drove three hours to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and then caught a 6:10am plane to Atlanta, Georgia. When I say I was tired after finally arriving in Atlanta, I’m not exaggerating, but I was beyond stoked for this thing and ready to meet my fellow Vampire Diaries lovers!

Disappointments

-I didn’t sleep for two days.

Highlights

-The Vampire Diaries Fanbolt Party, hosted by the lovely Emma Loggins (@emmaloggins). This event wasn’t associated with Eyecon, but it was rad. A whole bunch of people from the Twitterverse showed up and we got to know each other in person, so that was way beyond cool. Not to mention that there was a panel of extras (including @MJagr26) who told us some pretty cool things about what it’s like to work on the set of the show (and even some stories that involved tempers and repetitive Paul Wesley neck-biting)! Emma did a great job and I had a lot of fun talking to other fans and eating some interesting southern cuisine!  Oh, and I got some great Fanbolt swag. WIN.

-I FINALLY GOT TO MEET DHALYN (@TVDVampDiaries). Omg, we’d been talking on Twitter for a few months and this was just great!

-And this is also where Erica & I met the sweetest convention buddies ever, Maya (@BellaCullen2982) & Kristi (@TVDisneygrl4)! LOVE YOU, GIRLS! Ahem. Back to my review.

FRIDAY

The night of the Carnival Cocktail Party, which Erica and I chose not to attend because we decided that it probably wasn’t worth the money...as it turns out, we were right!

Disappointments

-For reasons unbeknownst to me, we were in seats G14 and G15, even though the email we had received in January said we were in C28 and C29. Can anyone here say rip off? Pretty much we paid that much extra $$$ for a Platinum Pass and it was essentially no different from a General Admission.

-Even though I didn’t attend the cocktail party, people were coming back after only having been there for maybe a little over a half an hour. Um, what? Didn’t you pay like, $65 for this thing? As it turns out, the celebrities in attendance didn’t stay for very long; okay, that’s cool. But usually if something’s good enough, people will still stick around. Apparently not. Because they all flooded back to the vendor’s room.

-THE VENDOR’S ROOM WAS A JOKE. I’m not referring to the people in there, selling their swag; I’m referring TO THE ACTUAL SIZE OF THE ROOM. This was just a regularly sized conference room, not extra special, crammed with six or seven vendors, plus the hoards of people tryin’ to check the goods! I talked to some of said vendors – apparently I wasn’t the only one confused, because moments before the room was supposed to open, the vendors didn’t even know whatthehell was going on! So Eyecon left out a few details about vending at their event – and by a few details, I mean everything. If you want a full review of what it was like to be a vendor, you should probably go and check out the review on vampire-diaries.net (@tvdnews): http://www.vampire-diaries.net/fandom/2011-eyecon-vampire-diaries-convention-fool-me-once. Vee is my hero. Honestly.

Highlights

-On Friday night, I was hanging out with Erica & Jenny (@pinkpuff20) and creeping on Twitter to see how the cocktail party was going. We saw that Vee (@dieslaughing), the co-admin of vampire-diaries.net, was alone and bored at her table, where she was selling her fantabulous book, A Visitor’s Guide to Mystic Falls: Your Favourite Authors on The Vampire Diaries, as well as Crissy Calhoun’s (@crissycalhoun) Love You to Death: The Unofficial Companion to The Vampire Diaries (yeah, I’m pluggin’ for them – so what. These books are awesome and if you’re a fan you definitely won’t be disappointed)! We decided to go down.

I’d already met Vee earlier, but now we got a chance to stand around and have a great conversation with her for about an hour or so, while disappointed cocktail attendees slowly trickled in. I just want to say that this was one of my favourite moments of the convention. Vee probably doesn’t know it, but I was totally having a fan-girl fit on the inside talking to her! And let me just say – she’s just as chock full of hilarity as she is on the website and on Twitter! If you’re reading this, Vee, you made Friday evening – as TVD fans like to say – epic!

In addition to meeting Vee, I recognized Shira (@Shirarose1) & we finally got to meet (another Twitter buddy)! You should probably follow this doll from NY – she always has vamp news at hand!

As you can see, the highlight of Friday was meeting fans who loved the show just as much as me, so that was a really awesome experience.

SATURDAY

Welcome to the shit show! Enjoy your stay!

Disappointments

-Um, where the hell do I even start with this? Well, first of all, Paul Wesley’s photo ops got pushed back, but that’s no one’s fault. He was shooting until 6:00am that morning and definitely needed to get a bit of sleep. This information, however, was poorly relayed to the rest of us who were wondering what the hell was going on and where was Paul, etc. They got it all figured out, though, so that wasn’t too bad. Just a bit of confusion, which is to be expected at an event this large.

-I didn’t have a Paul photo op, but I did have an autograph. I was under the impression that while getting said autograph, I would have time to say hi. No. Someone took my autograph ticket, handed my photo to Paul, he signed it, and I think someone else handed it back. This was all over before I could even open my mouth and suddenly I was being pushed out of the room like a criminal who had dared to try to look PW in the eye. This was NOT cool. I was ALSO under the impression that we would get the autograph personalized. Do I even need to tell you that this didn’t happen?

-LARRY – an Eyecon staff member. This guy was gross. Seriously. His t-shirts were appalling and not appropriate for part of the age group there. Ugh. One of them read, “Dead girls don’t say no.” Fucking sick, you goddamn psycho! That’s some serious serial killer shit going on. NOT funny. Anything even remotely related to that is NOT FUNNY.

THE BANQUET

Yes, this gets its own section. The Masquerade does, too. But more on that later. For now, I just want you to taste these words: “Please leave all overcoats, canes and top hats with the doorman/From that moment you’ll be out of place and under dressed/I’m wrecking this evening already and loving every minute of it/Ruining this banquet for the mildly inspiring and...” Thank you, Panic! At the Disco, for having the witty words to describe my feelings toward the banquet.

To put it briefly, the banquet sucked. First of all, we were all lined up like school children according to badge number and tsked at on occasion for not standing in the right place. In addition to this, we didn’t even get to pick which celebrity we wanted to sit with (I mean, we were pretty far behind so we didn’t expect this, but it looks like people at the front didn’t get to pick, either).

We were sat down at the table and then told that the celebrities would come in (Paul, Steven, Michael, and Rob) and take a picture at each table. Okay, fine. But then we were told that if we wanted the picture of them at our table, we would have to pay $10 for it. UM, EXCUSE ME? Didn’t we already pay NINETY-FIVE (here comes the first swear)! FUCKING DOLLARS for the banquet ticket? I’m sorry, but that is RIDICULOUS. That picture should have been included with the banquet.

So the boys came in. I don’t really want to name names, but none of them were really dressed properly for a supposedly formal banquet. Okay, once again, I was able to brush that aside. They’re busy people. But then I noticed the looks of confusion on their faces. Um, so busy people or weren’t told what the hell was going on? I’m guessing the latter.

They all sat at different tables, but we weren’t worried because they were going to come around after and chat it up with us. Once again, this did not happen. WOW. Talk about disappointment! I mean, I’m a pretty collected person, but I was really excited to have a conversation with Paul or Steven. Everyone but Rob left before the dinner was even over (and they were played out, quite ironically, to “Nearer My God to Thee” – you know, the song that’s played by the string quartet as the Titanic is sinking in the movie? I shit you not).

On top of all this, the food sucked and it was cold. Please, Eyecon. Be classier with your frozen tortellini and sketchy-looking salad. The one thing I can vouch for was dessert. That was kind of good.

Funny moment: there was a woman sitting next to me from Alabama and she leans over, upon seeing a certain someone’s cocktail dress and whispers, “Wow. Now that’s trashy.” All heavily accented. My reaction: LOL.

Also – a certain someone’s handler got his food for him. That someone took one look at it and went and got his own food. LOL again.

So dinner barely lasted an hour and then we got the hell out of there to get ready for the Masquerade Ball.

THE MASQUERADE BALL

Okay, so dinner was terrible, but the Ball is gonna be rockin’, right? RIGHT?

No. It wasn’t.

So we all got dressed in our best and were prepared to rock out in style with our new friends and the celebs at the ball. We lined up at the door and were slowly let in and as I’m checked out the venue, I noticed that the room appeared to be getting smaller and smaller. Um, WHAT THE HELL, EYECON? That room was WAY too small for that many people! Can we say it all together now: FIREHAZARD. Okay, I thought, maybe this shitty venue will be worth it because I get to party with the stars!

Sigh. It really is getting tiresome with all of this negative energy.

Paul was brought into the room and paraded around like an animal and then that was the last we saw of him. Erica yelled, “Hey, where’s your mask?” (he was dressed casually) to which he responded, “I don’t know; no one told me what was going on.” WOW. Are you trying to tell me that no one bothered to tell Paul the protocol for the event? Huge friggen FAIL, Eyecon/publicists, etc!

After this incident, we were told to line up and then we would be brought into a room to mingle with the celebs. Um, wasn’t the mingling supposed to happen on the dance floor while we were all dressed up and drinking and having fun? I should have known by now that this wasn’t going to happen. So, like the loyal fan I was, I lined up to talk to boys. I mean, it is what it is.

But then we were told, after waiting in line for an hour, that the celebs would come out and mingle. And by celebs, they meant Rob (no hatin’ on Rob - he’s pretty freakin’ awesome. But it was hard to get near him in there, too).

Basically everyone dispersed after that. The room was hot and the event was bullshit. It was time for freakin’ bed in hopes that Sunday would be decent because guess what: that’s the day everyone was waiting for. Know why? IANSOMERHALDER.

HIGHLIGHTS

Hah! You probably all thought I was going to go straight into Sunday without listing any highlights from Saturday. Well, guess what – there were some and I’m surprised, too!

-Meeting Ruthie (@tvdfansonline), the awesome admin of Vampire Diaries Online. This woman is AMAZING. Her website is PRIME! 

-Erica & I did an impromptu interview for Romancia (@romancialove) & Defenders & Warriors (@GenaDefenders) and it was so fun! Also – I LOVE the “Tweet Me If You Love TVD” t-shirt! My first credit card purchase ever!

-Meeting Amber (@PirateVRO), co-founder of Vampire Support (@VampireSupport). This girl is SO cool & I LOVE MY VAMPIRE SUPPORT T-SHIRT!

-Steven R. McQueen trying to pose with a piece of cake in our banquet photo (whatthewhat)?

-I got to meet Robert Pralgo and talk to him. I fan-girled for like two hours after this happened. He’s the nicest and funniest guy ever. At the banquet, he came to our table and actually talked to us and he had me laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. And I quote, “I’m sorry! ... Are you gonna choke on the cake?” LOL. 

-Robert & Paul’s Q&As were phenomenal and really showed off their personalities. Seriously, if acting fails to provide, either one could do comedy. No lies. “ROSCOE’S CHICKEN AND WAFFLES.” Paul. I DIE.

-Josh, the emcee, totally rocked it and stayed calm during the Q&A. Loved randomly running into him at Ruby Tuesday’s on Sunday. Best: him calling Paul Wesley “Damon.” HAHA.

-Candice Accola & Matt Davis showed up randomly during the Nova Echo’s concert before the Masquerade. THAT IS FREAKIN’ AWESOME. Erica & I were at the top of the escalator and we looked down at the hotel bar, and we’re both like, “Um. Is that MATT DAVIS AT THE BAR?!” And it was. So we started to go down and as he was coming back up, we all just kind of met in the middle. He proceeded to grin, nod his head, and toast his drink to us. I think a part of me died on the escalator.

-Talking with Chloe (@TVD_Chloe) & Jessica (@jesstravisl). These girls are awesome! PS – Chloe’s mask was beautiful. I kind of wanted to steal it – not gonna lie.

SUNDAY

Sunday mostly made up for all the shit that went on. Really. It did.

DISAPPOINTMENTS

-Erica & I ordered a reprint of our Steven R. McQueen photo op and didn’t get it. Seriously? PISS OFF. That was FIFTEEN BUCKS (because we got the .jpg as well). While I’m at it, the .jpg guy was a DOUCHE. Seriously, maybe if you stopped showing up hung over in the morning you would be more pleasant.

-The Miss Mystic Falls Pageant was a legit joke. Because the Con was running about two hours behind, some people had to leave in the middle of it or were already gone. They appeared to have randomly thrown Carina MacKenzie (@cadlymack) into co-hosting the event with Rob Pralgo. Eyecon also asked her to do the trivia portion without having given her any questions to ask. And I must say, I congratulate her for sticking it out. You go, Carina! I would have been so done with that BS after the first two minutes.

HIGHLIGHTS

-Meeting Ian Somerhalder. My photo ops with him went great and during the autograph session, he took the time to personalize the picture and have a bit of a conversation with me. I don’t really know how else to describe it, except that it was really special. Not only does he look exactly like his pictures (haha), everything I’ve ever heard about him is absolutely true: he is the sweetest, most genuine guy ever. Seriously. Favourite moment, hands down.

Also, judging by how slow the line moved and how behind the convention got, I’m pretty sure Ian took the time to personalize the picture and talk to every single person at his autograph session. Wowowow. Just...no words. That’s phenomenal.

As a side note, the photo ops were rushed and not how they were described at all. We got to say hi and that was ab0ut it. But seriously, kudos to Ian, Paul, Steven, etc., for trying to have convos with us during the pictures even though we were being yelled at to get moving.

-Rob Pralgo. This guy ROCKS. He made himself so available to people throughout the entire convention and even took pictures with us afterwards (one of my favourite pics from the convention is the one I have with him). And he was charming and funny. BEST.

-Steven R. McQueen – Erica & I walked up to him for our photo op and he just shouts, “Oh, wow. Now you’re just spoiling me!” I think I mentally fainted. What a charmer!

-Meeting Marilyn (@XoMarilynoX) Haha it was only briefly, but she’s a total sweetie!

-I can’t vouch for Paul or Michael, but as far as I’ve heard, they were pretty great, too!

-The Q&As were, once again, EXCELLENT. Ian’s was awesome and I really loved that most of the questions were about his foundation or about him in general, and not just TVD related. Steven & Michael have great chemistry on stage (yeah – I said that) and could probably have their own comedy act!

-The auction after Ian’s Q&A. Carina was a rockstar with her mad auction skillz. $3000 for a baby that looked like Ian Somerhalder and $1700 for a copy of TVD Season One, signed by the entire cast.

-Devon Haas. This little girl is amazing. Look her up. Erica & I were quietly weeping when she came on stage (haha).

-Meeting Carina MacKenzie! Seriously, her Twitter is flippin’ hilarious. And it was relieving to talk to someone who actually curses! Haha, people in Atlanta are so polite. It’s almost eerie.

OVERALL

Would I go to an Eyecon convention again? Maybe. I mean, it really all depends on if they changed the way they organized things and maybe found some nicer staff. Seriously, the staff were rude and treated us like children, when in fact most of us are adults. There were a few volunteers who were lovely, but that’s only a few.

Was it worth it? Yes. Because if I hadn’t have gone, I wouldn’t have met all the people I’ve been gushing about – Elena (my favourite Italian!), Dhalyn, Maya, Kristi, Vee, etc, nor would I have met Ian, Rob, etc. But seriously, the fans were the best part and that part was just SO AWESOME and made that aspect of the convention worth it.

I would really love to see another company do a TVD convention, though, because as it stands, I think they would do a better job than Eyecon.

I’m done my rant, but I just want to say a few things about the fandom charities because they played a HUGE role last weekend.

CHARITIES

Ian Somerhalder Foundation – Ian & Co. are rock stars. Seriously. Be sure to also check out the ISF Kids Army. http://www.isfoundation.com/

Vampire Support – Chloe, Amber & Jessica (of Mystic Falls Tours) – WOW. Just wow! It was such an honour to meet you three, seriously. The work you’ve done is simply amazing. What continues to boggle my mind, though, is the fact that Chloe is only 17. I wish I was that cool when I was 17! But seriously, girls, keep up the great work. http://www.vampiresupport.org/

Defenders & Warriors – Romancia & Co. – you are some of the hippest people I’ve ever met. Seriously. LOVED your booth & I love my “Team Delena” bracelet & my TMIYLTVD T-shirt! http://www.defendersandwarriors.org/

Paws2MakeaDifference – Carrie, Ella & Marilyn – GREAT JOB! I’m currently in love with the auctions you have up but can’t bid on... : ) http://paws2makeadifference.org/

Paws4aCause – Natalie – you have done so much for ISF & St. Tammany’s! Give yourself a GIANT FREAKING pat on the back! I’m bummed we didn’t get to meet this weekend but I will for sure see you at Unleashed! http://paws-4-a-cause.org/

I know there are probably more, and I’m sorry if I forgot anyone. Anyway, thank you, everyone, for reading through my Eyecon rant. If you made it this far, you’re a freakin’ trooper! I just thought it was important to share some of the most rewarding things that have come out of the TVD fandom – I hope you’ll go visit their websites. : )

And, as a side note, I’m so very pleased to announce that Erica & I will be attending Unleashed 2011 (hosted by Mr. Somerhalder himself)  in November as representatives for the The Official Whistler 100 Foundation (W1OOF), in support of the St. Tammany Humane Society in Louisiana. Hope to see you all there!

Let me just officially close off with this quote:

“You’re the liar, Eyecon. There’s something going on between the two of us and you know it...and you’re lying to me, you’re lying to the other fans, and most of all...you’re lying to yourself.”

"Daddy Issues": Vampires, and Werewolves, and Fathers, Oh, My!

      It has indeed shaped up to be another emotional, mystical, and death-ridden day in the never-peaceful town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Last week had us lying on the floor, curled up into the fetal position, screaming profanities as the glow of the television slowly turned from a warm welcome to cold, unfeeling light. This week we’re forced to experience the emotions of nearly every major character as the fight between vampires and werewolves finally breaks out and our dear friends dance a little too closely to death.

      The episode opens on a rather sour note; Tyler comes to Caroline’s door and while we’re thinking oh shit, Caroline remains completely oblivious as to the real reason he’s there until he slams her into her car with exceptional violence. This, in a split second, turns my steady, easy lean into Forwood full throttle back to Team Matt. Seriously, Tyler, that’s some uncalled for manhandling! It is very reminiscent of season one Tyler and I’m really disappointed to see him regress back to his old self so quickly. I know learning how Mason really died is more than upsetting, but don’t take it out on poor Caroline! She helped you, Tyler, even though you could have easily killed her. I guess what I’m saying is – everyone needs to calm down and take a breather! Alas, this is The Vampire Diaries, so exactly the opposite happens!

      With that out of the way, “Daddy Issues” starts out on a good note – an exceptionally good note, a naked good note, actually. As in, Damon showers and he is naked. Watching The Vampire Diaries every week should prepare me for potential heart palpitations, but nothing can prepare me for a naked, dripping wet Damon Salvatore who oh-so-casually strolls out of the shower, grabs a towel to wrap around his waist (COMPLETELY UNECESSARY) to watch the news. And I should elaborate on the news because it is so important but damn it, NAKED DAMON COULD DISTRACT ME FROM THE APOCOLYPSE.

      Phew. Okay, for the sake of the rest of you, I will move on, because I could probably spend the rest of this recap telling you how great the scene is and how it could be 41 minutes of just that every week and people would still tune in. Anyway, it just so happens that the news is about Damon’s victim from the end of the last episode – Jessica is reported missing and well, I have news: she’s not going to be found because she had her throat ripped out by a very emotional vampire. Even Damon seems to acknowledge this fact as he stares remorsefully, regretfully and the television screen and then finally tears himself away. Sigh. Things are looking, once again, very depressing for our favourite bad-boy-with-issues.

      Meanwhile, back at the Gilbert household, Elena menacingly confronts Daddy John because in Mystic Falls, that’s how people like to start their mornings. Unfortunately for Elena, Aunt Jenna and Alaric Saltzman come down (remember, they’re dating! You would never know that because the poor dears have not been given any plot lately, but I digress). Aunt Jenna exclaims, “What the hell?” and it’s actually pretty awesome. John and Alaric exchange a meaningful glance (um, since when are they on those kinds of terms) and Jenna continues to curse John. I would, too. John forces Elena to confess to Jenna that he is her biological father and let me just say – no one is happy after that. Apparently the bio-dad-bomb is much too touchy a subject. “It’s okay I’m confused, right? Because we weren’t expecting you...like ever.”

      Back at the Salvatore boarding house, Damon and Stefan have a confrontation, too, as has become the norm per episode. Sometimes I swear that Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley were hired based on the sole fact that they can carry on deep, meaningful conversations with their eyebrows. I love the Salvatore brother-eyebrow-offs. “We’re not that desperate, Stefan. The guy tried to barbeque me!” Damon tells him with some exceptional facial expressions. Stefan retorts with a snappy remarks about Originals and how they “apparently can’t die.” Damon then tells Stefan that “he’s the good guy now” and that it means he’s “changing and evolving into a man capable of greatness.” Um, Damon. That’s lovely. But I’m pretty sure you ripped out some girl’s throat in the last episode. But just to make him love anyway, as he’s leaving, he snaps at Stefan, “Better watch your back. Because I might need to get a hero hairdo of my own and steal your thunder.” So many good one-liners, Damon. Hah.

      Stefan comes to Caroline when she calls him; she tells him about her earlier confrontation with Tyler. Stefan, of course, is not pleased, but he’s going to help her out.

      We see Jules having a conversation with Tyler, trying to corrupt and persuade him to the wolf-y side of things and honestly, even though she claims she’s his friend, she is just a bitch. Calm down, Jules, and let the boy decide for himself before you go spewing town secrets! That’s just not cool. But it’s Mystic Falls, so this would happen. Jules claims it her “duty and honour” to help him, but hmm, I wonder why we can’t so easily by that? Oh, could it be because last week she remorselessly ripped apart a camp of people with as much casualness as me ordering my early morning Double Double? That’s what I thought.

      Damon and Elena have a meaningful moment concerning Uncle John at the grill, and Damon asks if she’s okay, genuinely concerned for her well-being. We know this because he doesn’t add any sarcastic one-liners onto the end of it. “I’m the good guy now, remember. I’m gonna have a civil conversation with your father.”

     Stefan decides to take immediate control of the situation by confronting Tyler himself, and just as an aside, confrontational Stefan is freakin’ hot. Oh, my God, can we please see more of this guy? Because he is amazing! Hah – in short, he manhandles Tyler and asks him politely (and then not so politely) to shut up and listen to what he has to say.

     We go back to Brady and Jules; Jules tells him she “wants the boy more than she wants vengeance.” Is it just me or is this line really freakin’ creepy? What the hell do you want Tyler for, Jules? It makes me wonder if perhaps the Lockwoods possess something more powerful in their wolf genes than the other werewolves.

     Uncle John confronts Jeremy; Jeremy basically declines any semblance of a relationship with him, clearly not wanting to be taken for an idiot. Good move, Jer! We’re not completely sure if we can trust John yet. Meanwhile, Bonnie (YAY!) is approached by Creepy Witch Dad AKA Jonas. He tries to tell her that he can be trusted, but like Jeremy, Bonnie is not quick to trust this man who is practically a stranger; “Spare me the witch loyalty crap!” By the way, am I the only one who missed where everyone suddenly knew that the moonstone was not actually destroyed? I don’t remember this being covered in last week’s episode (but then again, I was little bit of emotional wreck). Anyway, moving on...

      Jenna and Alaric talk at the grill; “So Elena is my sister’s husband’s brother’s daughter and her mother is my boyfriend’s deceased wife. You can’t make that stuff up.” Touché, Jenna. Uncle John shows up and asks if he can join the pair – that’s awkward – what do you think the answer’s gonna be, John? Not ones to miss out on all the excitement, Damon and Elena show up to talk to John – “John, buddy, how ya been?” Remember the part in season one when Damon broke Uncle John’s neck and then threw him off a bridge, and then a few episodes later, Uncle John left Damon in a burning building? Yeah. These two love each other.

     
 “When push comes to shove, you’re gonna want that girl by your side,” Stefan, in reference to Caroline, tells Tyler before his cell phone goes off and he yells for help to the caller. That caller happens to be Jules, and she relays to Brady that they “have a problem.”

      Back at the grill (which, by the way, is hosting a memorial for Jessica), Damon reveals to John that he and Stefan have been drinking vervain. Then he gets intimately close (he has no concept of personal space) and whispers in John’s ear, “If you know something about Klaus you better start talking.”

      Caroline is confronted by Jules outside, after having a sweet conversation with Matt. At first it looks like Vampire Barbie is totally gonna take her, but Jules plays dirty and vervains her. Not cool, Jules. And then, once again, it looks like Caroline is not only going to escape but also rip Jules limb from limb, but she gets shot point blank in the head with a wooden stake gun by the new werewolf in town, Brady. Um, wow. Unnecessary violence, much? I legit burst into tears when Caroline got shot; I so did not see that coming! Jules and Brady take Caroline to some shady remote location near Wickery Falls, and Brady proceeds to torture her brutally. Vervain, wooden stakes...it’s not pretty and it’s really depressing. I start crying because Caroline is in so much pain and she doesn’t deserve this.

      Caroline wakes up in a cage, and pulls the wooden bullet out of her head. Brady remarks, “That was...nasty.” He then tells her that “it’s gonna be a long night, sweet pea.” Seriously. I think I hate this guy more than Jules. Flashing between scenes from the Lockwood mansion and the grill, he relentlessly tortures Caroline and it’s honestly just so heartbreaking. Candice Accola really gives a stand-out performance in this one.

      Back at the Lockwood Mansion, Stefan is still confronting Tyler (they seem to have been at this for a while) and it seems that Stefan has almost convinced Tyler to just think about things, but then Tyler pisses Stefan off by trying to take a call from Jules. It all comes to head, though, because Jules then thinks that Stefan has kidnapped Tyler (which I guess...he is sort of being held against his will) so they proceed to torture Caroline more and force them to come to the woods to meet them for an exchange.

      At the grill, Jenna introduces her friend, Andie Star, to Damon. The vampire has no sense of grace whatsoever and when she offers to buy him a drink, he blows her off with, “My glass is all full again...” Nice, Damon, you idiot. Elena and Damon have another meaningful discussion (oh, my GOD, the writers are torturing us with all this build up) in which Elena tries, once again, to comfort Damon by reaching out and touching his arm – Damon does not take kindly to this and tells her that she needs to “stop doing that” because he’s only being human for her, it would seem. But the audience knows better. Elena is suddenly holding Damon up on this pedestal and he does not want to live up to those expectations: “Stop assuming I’ll play the good guy because it’s you who’s asking.” Ouch.

      An epic confrontation goes down in the woods between Stefan, Damon and the wolf pack. It is fast paced and exciting and little bit hard to describe here. I would just recommend watching it for the full effect. Basically, Stefan and Damon decide that they can probably take Jules and Brady, but that’s before Jules does some freakin’ dog whistle to call in the rest of the pack. Seriously, what is that? It all the more confirms what we already know: Jules is an epic bitch. Anyway, things become a bit complicated as Damon and Stefan let Tyler go and they’re forced to fight the others who join them (who have brought flame throwers and other instruments of vampire torture). Stefan gets shot, Damon is about to get staked, and suddenly the wolves are all falling to their knees in agony and we’re thinking BONNIE IS OUR HERO! But guess what, dear readers? It’s not Bonnie, it’s Creepy Witch Dad, and even though he’s not in our trust books yet, we’re happy he’s saved Team Salvatore!

      Tyler seems to have a hard time deciding if he should free Caroline (he eventually does) but that’s not after we become extremely angry at him for just leaving her in there for an unnecessary amount of time. Stefan brings Caroline home after the agony and he knows she’s not okay, and she knows she’s not okay, but she closes the door, proceeds to go up to her room, and sobs. She talks to Matt on the phone (who still doesn’t have a clue what’s going on and did I mention that he’s now being lied to because Caroline told him that she missed their date because she was with Bonnie – Bonnie is at the grill, where Matt is calling from, with Jeremy).

      John goes to the Salvatore boarding house and tells Damon how to kill an Original – with a dagger dipped in white wood ash (for those of you who didn’t know, THIS IS A BOOK REFERENCE - SQUEE)! Damon and John have a discussion about how they both want the same thing – to protect Elena. John goes back to talk to Elena and she does not take kindly to his words, but honestly, the speech tears me up and Elena crying doesn’t make it any better. John gives her something that belonged to Miranda (Elena’s adoptive mother) and walks away. I find this interesting because jewellery on this show is pretty significant – I wonder what it symbolizes? Stefan shows up and the two hug and oh my god, it is legit just one of the sweetest moment. I’m definitely batting for the Damon and Elena team, but it’s moments like this between Stefan and Elena that melt my heart.

     
After Caroline talks to Matt, Tyler comes to the door and Tyler insists that he had no idea they would come for her. Caroline stares him down and replies with “Do you know what they did to me?” and all Tyler can do is look away ashamedly. “I lied to protect my friends; I lied to protect you. You that that back to your little werewolf pack and you get the hell out of my house.” She then slams the door on his stunned face and it is epic. He deserved to have his ass beat by her, in my opinion, but at least Caroline can show restraint.

      Stefan takes Elena to Caroline’s house (right after she has a confrontation with Tyler) and Caroline answers the door and it turns out Elena and Bonnie are with him and there’s this huge emotional moment and I burst into tears again. The hug between Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie really symbolizes their friendship and how they’re still all together even though they’ve all had their doubts. The fact that Stefan is so sweet and caring makes me cry, too – it is really just a lovely moment between the three girls and Stefan.

      The episode ends with another Damon crisis moment, and honestly, these moments are turning out to be some of the best parts of season two – they are so beautiful and poignant, yet so devastating, heart breaking and sad. Suffice to say, Damon ends up sleeping with the reporter he turned down earlier and the two share a very existential wine bubble bath. Once again, naked Damon! This time, though, even though he’s naked and with a girl, I’m actually concentrating on his crisis, because it is continuing to play a significant role. He compels the reporter, Andie Star, to not be afraid of him, and he uses this moment to continue to reveal his feelings concerning Elena. He explains that he kills "because I like it. It's in my nature. It's who I am. But then I have to stay together to protect her, and she wants me to be the better man, which means I can't be who I am." Once again, great performance by Ian Somerhalder. I cry – again – it’s just too heartbreaking. He ends up biting her, but not in the I’M GOING TO KILL YOU kind of way, but the erotic, ‘you’re gonna be my lunch for a few weeks’ kinda way.

      The episode ends with – FINALLY – Katherine in the tomb. Good to know she’s still holding out in there – we’ve missed our favourite safest psychotic bitch in town. But, oh wait – this is The Vampire Diaries, remember, and they’re not just gonna pan a shot of Katherine and leave it be. Oh, no. Guess who shows up for a chat? Uncle John. BECAUSE HE’S APPARENTLY TRYING TO GET HER OUT! “This is between you, me, and Isobel.”

      Oy. Next week is gonna be another hell of a ride, I suspect. Stay tuned for “Crying Wolf,” airing next Thursday on the CW at 8/7 c. And if you’ve seen the extended preview, you’ll know things don’t stay very romantic at that lake house for long; as a matter of fact, looks like things get a little ‘torture-y.’

Sources - I did the screen caps myself, but obviously all images are (C) the CW.