After Damon has gone (INSIDE THE HOUSE) Elena says that part of her wishes she could forget meeting Stefan and that he's a vampire, and everything that's happened since. Stefan says, "If that's what you want." Elena says, "Yes, it is, because I don't want it to be like this. I don't wanna feel like this. But I can't. With everything that's happened, I can't lose the way I feel about you." We'll check back in with her when Damon eventually shows her Katherine's picture. Speaking of Damon, before Stefan fails at mourning and breaks into a shit-eating grin, Damon comes back out and tells the maybe-sort-of-a-couple, "It's done." Elena retreats inside, leaving our two beautiful brothers on her front porch, just looking at each other and we fade to black.

What a solid episode. I only gave this one a B, because I'm going to be grading this show a little harder from now on. It's more substantial than I expected it to be, so no more fluffy grades. Specifically, it got a "B" for two major things: first of all, I think Jeremy should have killed Vicki. It seemed like he was supposed to and in fact I had to watch the scene a couple of times to be sure Stefan not only removed the stake from Vicki, but put it in her in the first place. It didn't make emotional sense to me, you know? Later, when I found out from Michael Ausiello that the scene was originally shot and written with Jeremy doing the dirty deed, I sighed for what could have been. I get why the change was made. Stefan needs to be a hero in this story, and that was a heroic act (that took special knowledge -- but hey, everyone knows you stake a vampire through the heart -- they just don't know there are vampires). But moreover, killing Vicki is a tragic act. Vicki wasn't a villain, so much as a victim. I wish they'd left things as they were. I'm sure Stefan will have plenty of opportunities to be heroic. He's the romantic lead. And I assume that eventually, Jeremy's brainwashing will wear off for one reason or another, and it would be powerful to watch him come to terms with the fact that he had to kill his lover to save his sister.