It’s been about 19 hours, and I’m still kind of reeling from the last scene of last night’s Vampire Diaries. As I saw someone tweet last night, as I was freaking out over the devastatingly quiet breakup of Stefan and Elena, the Gilberts’ porch is kept clean by tears. Even as a firm believer in Delena — which, how could you not be this season? — Paul Wesley’s performance had me tearing up and temporarily switching allegiance. (But so help me, Julie Plec, if you turn Elena back into a boring human, I will hunt you down.) The other thing that struck me about this moment was how well it fit into the show’s time-honored tradition of changing the game, or plucking our hearts out, in the last five minutes of the show, leaving us breathing heavily and pounding our fists on the couch as the title card floats onto the screen.

Here are some of our other favorite last-scene reveals:

“Founder’s Day,” Season 1: Damon kisses Elena ever so tenderly on the cheek, we squeeeeee, and then suddenly realize that it’s not Elena at all but Katherine, who then turns around and stabs John Gilbert.

“Rose,” Season 2: Damon confesses his love to Elena and then compels her to forget his confession. TEARS.

“As I Lay Dying,” Season 2: After all sorts of terrible Klaus-related tragedies, Jeremy returns home from the dead, accompanied by his two deceased ex-girlfriends.

“1912,” Season 3: Meredith reveals that Alaric has been the one murdering council members.

“The Departed,” Season 3: Meredith, deliverer of surprises, reveals that Elena had vampire blood in her when she died, and then Elena wakes up.

This is just a small sampling, of course, culled from my memory. But I’d love to hear from you about your fave last-minute TVD moments. And am I the only one who almost ALWAYS gets interrupted in the middle of the last scene? God bless DVRs.

[Photo: The CW]

Though I find Stefan’s self-help guru speeches on The Vampire Diaries to be a bit on the cloying side, he kind of has a point about Elena: She needs to enjoy herself more now that she’s one of them. And as she starts to realize that herself (and thankfully, no one uttered the phrase “heightened emotions” once during last night’s episode), we’re having a lot more fun watching her. The victimized little orphan of seasons past is making room for a much cooler girl who is not to be messed with. Here are 5 things that we love so much more about Elena 2.0.

1. She gets to make that scary veiny, black-eyed hiss face (above) a lot these days.

2. She’s got a toy boy of her own now. While she pretends to have resolved her Salvatore love triangle, it’s looking like her lust for ex-boyfriend Matt is a fun little thing on the side, too. They even met at their old makeout spot! Read more…

There was a while when The Vampire Diaries did its best to keep us just as torn between Salvatore brothers as Elena herself was (and Katherine before her!). We were equally in love with Stefan’s sweet nature (not to mention those perfectly sculpted shoulders), as we were with Damon’s wry humor and piercing eyes. Not so much, anymore. Elena said she chose Stefan once and for all last week — but her rationale was super shaky. She chose him because he would have saved Matt first, whereas Damon would have ignored her wishes and saved her? The path of “good” can only take you so far, hon. By last night’s “Memorial,” we were convinced that Kevin Williamson, Julie Plec and company are going to spend a lot of time building the case for Elena to change her mind. Here’s how:

1. Oh, god, that scene of Elena drinking his blood nearly gave us a heart attack. The chemistry between Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder CANNOT be hidden.

2. Damon’s no longer the voice of unchecked impulses but of reason. “Vampires eat people. It’s part of the natural food pyramid,” he says. Stefan’s so intent on protecting Elena from his own “Ripper” fate, he’s blind to the consequences.
Read more…