Pre-finale fun of The Vampire Diaries - What sucks and what doesn't?

With many shows set to finish their seasons in the next couple of weeks, here's some thoughts on how well some of them are setting up their finales. Let's start with The Vampire Diaries. And seriously folks, if you haven't seen this week's shows there are spoilers ahead...

The Vampire Diaries - With the big finale next week, overall the series has come together pretty well for a first season and embraced its strengths and toned down its weaknesses. (Strengths - vampires; Weaknesses - high school and non-vamp related stories, like anything to do with Matt)

In this week's "Isobel," Elena's vamp mommy paid a visit and raised everyone's blood pressure. It was heartbreaking for Elena to realize her mom was such a bitch and for Alaric to realize... well, what Elena realized. Then came the twists at the end. Bonnie only pretended to take the magic off the vampire killing invention, "Uncle" John was actually Elena's baby daddy, and Isobel and John were working not only for Katherine to get the device so they could kill the tomb vamps, but also put Stefan and Damon on the list so they could get vampires out of Elena's life. And it's hard to fault their logic or Bonnie's.

If this were real life, Elena would be better off in the long run if the vampires in her life were history. However, the show is called The Vampire Diaries and it's been renewed for a second season, so we're thinking the vampire killing rampage that John has in mind isn't going to go off quite as planned, and Bonnie and Elena's friendship is going to take a major hit. When the fireworks start expect bad things to happen, like a massive cliffhanger.

Here's a webclip:


Damon's flirty eyes and a hellish moment for Elena: