6.2 Yellow Ledbetter Firstly, we need to address Bonnie and Damon’s situation, which was barely touched upon in the premiere besides that enticing end teaser. So, we’ve established now that they’re trapped in a 90s time-warp with no means of escape, and it’s only taken the four months to settle into domestic bliss at the Salvatore Manor. If you’d have asked me at any previous point in the show’s run that an exclusively Damon/Bonnie storyline would be this enjoyable, I would have called you a liar, but here we are, and it’s a hoot. It also gives Ian Somerhalder lots of opportunity to give the audience Lost nostalgia (“where are we?”; “we’re not alone” etc.) and gives both of the actors room outside of the unruly ensemble to have some fun with their ridiculous characters. Despite knowing that this is almost certainly going to be the most important storyline set-up so far, we as an audience can also enjoy them a little more. Remember when Damon was the best character on the show? Let’s get that back, preferably with 90s hip-hop dancing, flannel shirts and pancakes. No matter, that’s what the love triangle gods have decided is going to happen, and so it shall be. The execution of the plan is what matters, and it was truly excellent. Adding my personal feelings to the equation, the scene they finally decide was the moment true love struck was in the first episode of the show I reviewed for this site, and I actually own the old vervain necklace that featured. So I had some feelings about this. Something about the way they did it – the choice of clips, Nina Dobrev’s performance, the comparison to Katherine (sob), or Alaric’s presence – made the moment more heartbreaking than it had any right to be. Most of the audience are tired of any relationship or non-relationship Elena chooses to have with the Salvatores, but this had weight. We know that Damon isn’t dead, for one, and also that having Elena backtrack to what she thought of Damon pre-season two is so much worse than forgetting him altogether. Putting his devotion to Caroline aside, however, the rivalry with Stefan is fabulous on its own. It is essentially picking up where Damon left off in the pilot, of course, but that doesn’t really matter when we see how generally spooked Stefan is. And someone was actually murdered in this episode – another Vampire Diaries quirk that has been sorely missed. Just getting back the ability to shock us would do so much for the show right now, and Enzo seems like the catalyst for that. Last week’s premiere may have felt a little more like business as usual, but Yellow Ledbetter proved that something significant has changed over the summer, and season six could potentially take the show back to the heights of seasons one and two. It’s not a done deal but, given that even Matt has an intriguing plotline of his own with Tripp Fell the vampire slayer, the signs are looking good. Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, I’ll Remember, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
