During the second season of The Vampire Diaries, the contributors of A Visitor’s Guide to Mystic Falls will be writing recaps, blog posts, and just generally sharing their thoughts on the season. So, tune in each week, both to the show and our blog.

Today we have a blog post from Karen Mahoney, whose essay “Dear Diary…” is about the show’s use of the diary (from Elena’s modern day version to Johnathan Gilbert’s 19th century journal). We’re not seeing a lot of diary-writing or reading going on these days in the show, as Karen mentions, so instead she’s shared with us her experience of watching “Plan B.”

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How on EARTH do the writers of The Vampire Diaries do it?

Seriously, I really want to know… How do they manage to produce 42 minutes of television with a ridiculous number of cliffhangers, shocking!revelations!, and a truckload of murder, mayhem, and angst? No other show manages it to this degree, imho. Or at least, they might give it a shot but end up falling flat on their faces. Not so, Williamson, Plec, and Co.

Oh, and while we’re talking here, I have another question for you:

Why the hell did I volunteer to recap Episode 6?!

*takes deep breath*

I don’t think I can manage a coherent post about the entirety of the latest TVD episode—there’s just too darn much. And I can’t really relate it to my Smart Pop essay, which was about the use and abuse of diaries in the show, because there wasn’t any hot journaling action this time around. But! I have another idea… I’ll give you a glimpse into my confused brain right after watching “Plan B” when I grabbed my notebook and scribbled stuff down.

So here are the notes I made, sort of stream-of-consciousness style:

**If you haven’t seen the episode, look away now. You have been warned!**

Nina Dobrev gets to make out with both Paul Wesley AND Taylor Kinney in the opening scenes. How lucky is that girl?! We only needed to see a flashback of Katherine with Damon for a full house, but sadly it wasn’t to be. Not this week, anyway…

Of course, as we found out at the end, there was a lot more to this scene than just getting to see Nina D getting it on with two hotties. It’s why Katherine knows all about Elena and Stefan’s not-so-broken-up “break up”—though I find myself questioning the wisdom of our two lovebirds having a passionate reunion in Elena’s bedroom. Um… wasn’t Katherine invited into the Gilbert house? She could easily spy on them there though, as is later revealed, she manages to spy on her ex and her doppleganger without actually getting her hands dirty (Jenna!).

How much do I love Caroline? THIS MUCH! Seriously, she’s probably my favourite character right now and if the writers do anything to hurt her—or kill her off (picture me gnashing my teeth here)—I’m going to be ridiculously upset. For realz. I liked Caroline in season one, she had potential. But I LOVE her in season two: she is more human now than she ever was before. When she finally makes up with her mother but compels her anyway? Wow, what a beautiful moment. Major kudos to Candice Accola for acting her socks off so far this season.

Bonnie finally takes a step towards climbing off her high horse. In fact, this was quite a Bonnie-centric episode: she has a heart-to-heart with Elena, makes an effort to accept Vampire Caroline, and even helps the Salvatore brothers capture poor Mason Lockwood. (Side note here: am I the only one who noticed the sexual tension between Bonnie and Damon?)

The scene where Elena, Caroline and Bonnie work together to save Stefan was AWESOME. And how cool was it that—once again—it’s Caroline who saves the day?

When Damon tortures and—ultimately—rips out Mason’s heart (literally), I actually shouted at the screen. Yeah, I get hopelessly involved in each episode… what can I say? *grins* There was something horrifically poetic about Damon physically enacting how Katherine rips out the hearts of men unfortunate enough to love her.

RIP Mason Lockwood. You might only have been “a surfer” (in Damon’s words), but you were a fine-looking one. Being serious for a moment, I liked that his final words encouraged Jeremy to make sure Tyler doesn’t end up suffering the Curse of the Werewolf.

Speaking of Jeremy…  He gets points with me for standing up to Elena (Elena, get over yourself! Jeremy has every right to be involved in the supernatural shenanigans going on in Mystic Falls—he IS a part of it, after all), but he loses points for handing over the wolfsbane to Damon mid-torture. Duh! Come on, Jer, you can’t figure out that it might actually make the torture worse for a werewolf?

Unsurprisingly, Jeremy doesn’t have the stomach for Damon’s “kill or be killed” attitude. Though it seems like he is turning into Research Dude; I suspect we’ll see him working with Alaric more in future…

I’m not sure how I feel about Damon returning to his murderous ways. I think I saw a flash of remorse in his face, but I’d need to see the episode again. And, really, who can be sure what is going on in his head whenever Katherine is part of the equation? Although I did like his phone call with her, even when it turned out that Katherine—as usual—is totally prepared when her plans don’t go smoothly.

We find out what the Mysterious Moonstone(tm) does—finally—but why would Katherine want it?

And on that subject, why does Katherine “need a werewolf”? Could it be that she’s planning on getting a werewolf under her control so she can kill any vampires that stand in her way…? *cue ominous music*

OMG, POOR MATT!! I love Matt—I really hope he doesn’t succeed in goading Tyler into killing him next week. Katherine is SO twisted.

It seems like all the human characters are in constant danger on this show, and this week it was Jenna’s turn. I didn’t see the whole compelled-to-stab-herself thing coming. Very dramatic, and it allowed us a nice scene between Elena and Jeremy.

Finally, speaking of “nice scenes,” the last one between Elena and Stefan was particularly powerful: for the first time I actually felt bad at the thought of them breaking up. (I’m sorry but I can’t help hoping for a Damon/Elena hook up, what can I say? *g*) But this scene was wonderfully acted—when Stefan cried I could really feel his pain. Great job, Mr. Wesley.

Just glancing through this list of events and thoughts makes me realize how ambitious The Vampire Diaries truly is—I can’t wait to see what happens next week! Even more than that—and to bring us full circle in this rather rambling post—how on EARTH are the writers going to keep up the pace until the finale?

I actually have no idea how they’ll manage it, but I have no doubt that they will.