Stefan is happy, peppy and bursting with joy... and with the human blood he's been nicking from the local hospital and lying to his near and dear about. Sheriff Liz Forbes updates Damon and Uncle Snark on that very same missing blood and asks them to team up, much to Damon's chagrin. Privately, Stefan swears to Damon that he's on the wagon, but when Damon finds little brother and his secret stash, he calls shenanigans. Stefan also swears to Elena that his cravings are lessening, but when a classmate gets cut in the parking lot, he nearly swoons, and Alaric is there to catch him in both senses of the word. Meanwhile, Bonnie is back, but can hardly bring herself to speak to either Elena or Stefan, even though she's talked to Caroline every single day since Grams' death.

There's a Miss Mystic Falls pageant at this week's Founders' Event. Caroline is up against Elena, Amber (Travis' girlfriend, Kylie, from Cougar Town), and a bunch of also-rans. Matt can't be there, because he has to work. Stefan is supposed to be there, but after Elena calls him out on his human blood consumption, he flees, freaks out, and decides terrifying, enthralling and feeding off Amber (who chooses the wrong moment to go outside and fight off a panic attack), is a better use of his leisure time. Damon squires Elena, instead. They burn up the dance floor and my fickle, fickle heart. This may be the first show where I've ever rooted for both sides of a triangle -- at least at the same time. Caroline wins the title, but Elena, who is far more concerned with her MIA boyfriend, is cool with it, since she only remained in the contest because her late mother encouraged her to enter.

When Liz and Uncle Snark happen upon evidence that Amber has been snatched, Liz calls on Damon. He, Elena and Bonnie go looking for Stefan, and find him with Amber and covered in her blood. Bonnie gives Stefan a mystical migraine and saves Amber, so Stefan takes off, then Damon calls Liz to the scene. The girls -- who are assumed to be innocent of Mystic Falls' secrets -- quietly leave the scene and then just as quietly break up with each other.

Back at Mossy Manse, Elena confronts Stefan. She wraps him in her arms, comforts him, and stabs him with a Vervain dart! Once he's disabled, Damon drags his brother off to the dungeon, and then sits with their grieving girlfriend, 'cause he's an altruist like that.

In other news, Anna and Jeremy rekindle their... friendship, which does not the escape the notice of Uncle Snark, who quickly learns that Anna's mother is Pearl. Also, Uncle Snark tells Damon that the 1864 version of Johnathan (that's how they're spelling it) Gilbert had a magical gizmo, and that it was allegedly buried in the tomb with the double baker's dozen vampires. Damon appeals to Anna to get it from Pearl, hoping to deflect Snark's heat. I'll discuss this in full, in the weecap.

This is yet another tight offering from The Vampire Diaries' cast and crew. Stefan's tumble is logical, understandable, pitiful, and yet still damned scary. Elena and Damon's chemistry is ridiculous. I think Nina Dobrev was actually blushing during their dance. Ian Somerhalder's Damon was spot-on throughout, and is so obviously sweet on Elena, that it's hard to remember he's a blood-sucking fiend. Caroline perfectly straddles the line between self-absorbed adolescent and concerned friend. The tension between Bonnie and Elena is tragically palpable. It's Paul Wesley, though, who wins tonight's title. His human-blood-fed Stefan is another character entirely than the Prozac Poster Boy we've come to know and love.

All that though, is only the beginning. I'll hit all the details in the full weecap, so check back for it, soon. Until then come on over to the forums, where everyone's a Prozac poster child.