You’ll always remember the time you first fell in love with a TV show.
While I really enjoyed The Vampire Diaries’ pilot episode back in 2009, I admit I didn’t completely fall in love until Episode 5 or so, when we saw the Salvatore brothers’ names on the town registry. Nina Dobrev’s Elena Gilbert, at the time, was a strong heroine nothing like what I saw in the then-similarly-popular Bella Swan from Twilight.
About 170 episodes later, The Vampire Diaries has come a long way. Watching the first season, I would have never envisioned a show that could survive without Elena; moreso, I never expected to see what a great character Caroline Forbes quickly grew to be. (Once she became a vampire, she was so much cooler.) The show sees its conclusion March 10 and I expect it to be great, partly based on the strength of tonight’s penultimate episode.
“We’re Having A June Wedding” sees Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice King) rushing to get married in hopes of luring Katherine, who surely would not be able to resist the temptation of ruining Stefan’s happiness with anyone who is not herself. Both of Matt Donovan’s parents are in town, Caroline is as beautiful of a bride as you’d expect, but best of all… while The Vampire Diaries never lacked on twists, I don’t think I’ve felt this many, in such quick succession, since the very early seasons of the show. Moreso, while Michael Malarkey’s Enzo does play a role, as do Caroline’s twins, it felt like the episode squarely lived in TVD’s past, focusing on those original characters that we all loved so much. It hasn’t been said that the finale is a 2-parter, but it really does feel like Part One of a finale in many ways. There are call backs to times past, and, as I mentioned, there are shocks and surprises.
For a lapsed fan like I admit I have sometimes become — again not a knock on the show, there’s just so much TV to keep up with — “We’re Having A June Wedding” was perfect because I was quickly brought up to date, and all of these past elements being mined certainly made me understand it more.
Do Stefan and Caroline actually get married in their “June Wedding?” You’ll have to watch at 8PM ET tonight on The CW to see. I will say, though, the best thing to do before going in is to let yourself be completely surprised. Don’t read spoilers from the East Coast. Don’t look at the season finale pictures even though they’re posted and available if you must see them. But do watch, because this episode left me satisfied in that “Vampire Diaries Seasons 1 and 2″ way, which I think we can all agree is a huge compliment.
And hey, actually, wait: I do have a complaint about this episode. Do I really have to wait until March 10 to see what happens next? Because there is seriously some “Katherine-cuts-fingers-off”-level cliffhanger action going on in this one.
Photos from the episode can be found below.
