TV Review: THE VAMPIRE DIARIES – Season 3 premiere – “The Birthday”

By SEAN ELLIOTT / Contributing Writer

Posted: September 16th, 2011 / 11:09 AM

Stars: Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder
Writer: Kevin Williamson & Julie Plec, Based on the book by L.J. Smith
Director: John Behring
Network: The CW, airs Thursday nights
Original Telecast: September 15, 2010

YAY! The wait is finally over and one of my favorite guilty pleasures is back! THE VAMPIRE DIARIES left us in a bit of a lurch last season with Stefan (Paul Wesley) taking off to join Klaus (Joseph Morgan) as he plots for the next phase in his supernatural vendetta. Poor Elena (Nina Dobrev) was left with only Damon (Ian Somerhalder) to make the pain go away and I know we all felt sorry for her because it’s like she never has a hot guy to cry on or cuddle with!

Seriously Nina Dobrev has one of the best jobs in the acting world. There is no shortage of beautiful men on this show and as Elena or Katherine she has pretty much had them all. Of course, for the guys who sit and watch either because they are as sucked into the drama as anyone else, or because their girlfriends make them watch, there is no shortage of beautiful women on screen. Let’s face it; no one in Mystic Falls is even the slightest bit homely.

So now with “The Birthday” we re-join our cast and series already in progress from the summer break. Elena is turning 18 which means she is officially an adult! Which is good since her guardian Jenna (Sarah Canning) got killed off in a pretty brutal and quick way last season. Damon still wants her and makes no bones about making eyes at her every chance he gets, which it can’t help that Elena looks at him with bedroom eyes all the time (or at least that’s what it looks like to me).

Speaking of Damon, it’s nice to see that Ian is living up to his nudity clause in his contract. No episode is complete without seeing his torso a couple times, and the bubble bath scene was particularly nice.

Any one else notice that Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) is even more buff this season?! He has completely become this All American guy and looks more like a model now. Remember when the series started and he was a punk skater kid who smoked weed? Again, I’m just putting it out there that pretty much all of the other guys on the show obviously have to have their clothes off at different points in each episode, it’s only fair if Mr. McQueen has to as well.

I am thrilled to pieces that Caroline (Candice Accola) and Tyler (Michael Trevino) finally hooked up. Although I admit I am worried about him getting carried away and biting her during sex. Which led to the cliff-hanger I won’t spoil on here, but I did not see it coming. How come Caroline is always getting the crap end of the stick?

Alaric (Matt Davis) just sort of drifts around in this episode and I really feel bad for him. He needs something to do. I just don’t know what yet.

One of the best things about the episode is the dynamic between Stefan and Damon. It is almost 180 degrees from the first season when Damon was the remorseless killer (that secretly had a heart). It will be even more interesting to see how this plays out. Plus the phone call between Stefan and Elena was really well done. A nice teary moment in the episode.

So next episode is “The Hybrid”. Looks like Klaus is getting his wish and building his army of two-natured supernatural critters. It’s tough to hate Klaus though, he just makes being evil look fun.

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Click On Link: TV Review – THE VAMPIRE DIARIES – Season 3 – “The Hybrid”

Click on Link: Review of THE SECRET CIRCLE – Season 1 – “Pilot”

Click on link for Exclusive Interview with THE SECRET CIRCLE executive producer Kevin Williamson

Click on Link: Exclusive photos of THE SECRET CIRCLE stars at PaleyFest 2011 CW preview

CLICK HERE for AX’s interview with THOMAS DEKKER on THE SECRET CIRCLE

CLICK HERE for photos from The CW’s THE SECRET CIRCLE

Click on Link:10 Things We Want To See On VAMPIRE DIARIES – Season 3
Click on Link:VAMPIRE DIARIES review of Season 2 finale – “As I Lay Dying”
Click on Link: For more VAMPIRE DIARIES reviews and interviews
Click on Link: For AX’s exclusive interview with CANDICE ACCOLA