'The Vampire Diaries' finale: 'Founder's Day' Oh my Salvatore...the bitch is back!!

No television show has ever screwed with my head so much before in my life...

Okay, let's start at the beginning. It's Founder's Day. The Miss Mystic Falls Court is celebrated with a float parade, dressed in 1864 clothes. Which of course, really freaked me out. Just as Damon is telling a dressed up Stefan that Elena is not Katherine, here she comes, strolling up in a dress styled from the 1860's, and curtsies.

Wow, their faces were priceless!

I never like it when Elena looks like Katherine, but for this episode, it obviously worked. Even after Isobel's revelation, Damon continues to be his snarky little self, especially when it comes to a jealous Stefan.

In the middle of the parade, one of the confrontations that we have been waiting for finally happened. Damon and Bonnie.

Obviously, Bonnie decides to walk away and avoid him. But he does something that surprises her along with the rest of us. "Thank you...I'm very grateful. And I owe you." At first, I thought I was dreaming. Did Damon Salvatore really just say thank you? It's not the only thing that Damon did that surprised me during this episode.

After the parade, Elena confronts Damon about their "friendship", just to remind him exactly what lies between them.

Elena: "Don't make me regret being your friend."

Elena then once again, tries to talk to Jeremy, who continues to blow her off. Damon won't have that, so he instead, forces Jeremy to listen.

Jeremy: "Dick."

Damon: "You do not talk to me like that, I am not your sister. And from now on, you don't talk to your sister that way either."

There was a while there that I could easily predict what Damon would do and even say. But since Emily destroyed the crystal in "History Repeating," he has become unpredictable. Now Damon is the knight in shining armor, protecting Elena's honor. But isn't that Stefan's job?

Damon may be stepping on Stefan's toes, but he has always been the most loyal character on the show, no matter his intentions. When Damon decides to do something, he does it. So when Damon decided that he would protect Elena from anything when Stefan was busy battling his addiction, we knew his protectiveness over her would not rush off.

That, more than anything, is what I think Stefan feels threatened about most: that Damon has been protecting her better than him.

After the the murder of her mother in "Blood Brothers," Anna has been at a loss of where to go next. Before, she was hesitant to offer to turn Jeremy so he can be with her forever, but when she goes to him in desperation in "Founder's Day," he refuses. After finding Vicki dead, he no longer has a desire to be turned into a vampire. He wanted to be with Vicki. Now, completely alone, Anna goes to the tomb vampires, who are preparing to attack the founding families at the celebrations.

Meanwhile, John and Mayor Lockwood prepare the device for the attack. It will send a high pitched frequency to all non-humans, incapacitating them long enough to be injected with vervain and rendered harmless so they can be destroyed in a fire.

Instead of fighting with her brethern, Anna decides to warn Damon of the attack, who still believes the device is useless. Gathering together Alaric, Stefan and Elena, they prepare to protect the city. Damon confronts John, who activates the device. Damon goes down, along with Stefan and Anna. Elena and Alaric are able to get Stefan into hiding before the police deputies can inject him with vervain. However, Damon and Anna are not so lucky.

This sequence was done so beautifully. The editing and music of this highly intense montage was incredible, carrying the magnitude of events right into the next sequence. Basically, this is when I really started freaking out, along with every other "TVD" fan. Because not only did the bad guys and our guys go down, but two of those eight cliffhangers that Kevin Williamson warned us about reared their ugly faces at this moment.

Tyler, driving Caroline and Matt home with him, begins to hear the high pitched frequency the device puts off and loses control of the wheel. Caroline tries to take control, but they drive into a head on collison. Injured in the crash, Caroline has to be rushed into surgery. Let me tell you, I was so beyond ecstatic!! And of course, not only did Tyler hear it, but so did his father Mayor Lockwood. What exactly does this mean? No, they aren't vampires. One word: WEREWOLVES!!!

Yes, that's right readers, "Twilight" is not the only book that slaps vampires and werewolves together. In fact, "The Vampire Diaries" did it almost ten years before "Twilight." Does anyone else find that a little odd?

Anyway, those of us that read the books have been picking up little nuiances all season long hinting to werewolves. And now, the big move! They can't get out of it now. Werewolves have to be in the story next season. My tweet: "OMG!!!!!! I can't get over the huge WEREWOLVES IN YOUR FACE MOVE!!! Bahahahahaha!!!!!!"

Along with Damon, Anna, and many of the tomb vampires, Mayor Lockwood gets thrown into the basement to be destroyed. But before he lights the fire, John decides to take care of one of the vampires himself, staking Anna in the heart. Now, why does John single her out? My guess is it has to do with her relationship with Jeremy. Jeremy is the last in a long line of Gilbert vampire hunters, and John doesn't want anything getting in the way of that legacy. John leaves the basement and lights the fire. And once again, my heart starts racing.

Stefan and Elena confront John on street level. Elena begs him as her father to help. Too shocked that she knows the truth to answer, he lets them go by to save Damon, who meanwhile, sits up, still drunk with vervain, to find the Mayor beside him.

Mayor: "Damon, what are you doing here?"

Damon: "I'm a vampire. What's your excuse? What the hell are you?"

However, the Mayor never gets the chance to answer as his neck is snapped by another vampire. (OH SNAP!) Stefan rushes into the building as Bonnie holds Elena back.

Bonnie: "You can't go in there! The fire will take you out!"

Stefan: "He's my brother, Bonnie."

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Damon is damn lucky that Stefan loves him. Bonnie, stepping into her witchy shoes once again, is able to hold the fire back so Stefan can save Damon and lets it destroy only the other vampires.

When the fire is put out and the real story covered up, Damon disappears, and Elena confronts Stefan in the Mystic Grill. Still the jealous boyfriend because of Elena and Damon's new found friendship, she firmly reminds him exactly who she loves.

Stefan: "I try so hard to hate him. I guess it's just pointless."

Elena: "You care about him. So do I. But I love you, Stefan. I know that you're worried about that."

Stefan: "It's just...I know my brother."

Elena: "But I love you, Stefan."

Stefan: "I know the trouble he can cause."

Elena: "I love you, Stefan. You."

This, we are all highly aware of. Elena does love Stefan, and not Damon. But, no matter how much I want to deny it, Elena has got something going on with Damon. I am still in firm belief that Damon is not really in love with her, but is still confused over his emotions towards Katherine. But we all know that the love triangle will continue to get deeper in Season 2.

While Elena leaves to check on Jeremy, Stefan is met by Bonnie, who gives him a firm warning. Since returning in "Miss Mystic Falls," Bonnie has been avoiding Elena and her vampire bodyguards, unsure of how to treat them. That is, until she betrays Elena's trust in "Isobel" and does not take the spell from the device, intent on revenge against all the vampires in town. But, she still loves Elena, and saved Stefan and Damon for her best friend. But Bonnie is no witch to mess with.

Bonnie: "Because she loves you, I couldn't let you or Damon die in that fire...Damon has to change...I know who I am now. And if Damon spills so much as one drop of innocent blood, I'll take him down."

I'm pretty sure that is fairly self explanatory.

This next scene I have stamped as not only the best Damon scene, but the best scene of the whole season. Damon is waiting for Jeremy in his room to tell him about Anna's death. The conversation that follows is the most heartfelt I have yet to see on this show. Ian Somerhalder truly is a fantastic actor, and it should be considered a crime that I already know nothing and no one in this show will be considered for an Emmy Award.

Damon offers to take Jeremy's memories away again, but Jeremy refuses. He would rather live with those feelings rather than not know or remember why he is feeling them, like with Vicki.

Jeremy: "Making me forget won't fix it. It won't fix what's really wrong."

Sometimes I feel like this kid needs some Prozac, but he has been through quite a lot this season. His parents' death, a recovering drug addict, Vicki's death, finding out about vampires, Elena lying to him, now Anna's death. Come on, can you really blame him? Damon yet again surprises me. He apologizes.

Damon: "What I did to Vicki, was wrong. I'm sorry for my part."

Did he really just say thank you and I'm sorry in the same episode? What happened to my snarky Damon that I loved to so much?

Jeremy asks Damon about vampires and how they shut off their humanity. Damon confesses the truth. "Life sucks either way, Jeremy. At least if you're a vampire you don't have to feel bad about it if you don't want to. I did it for a very long time, and life was a lot easier." Jeremy, being the Prozac kid that he is, decides to go through with it. He drinks Anna's blood, takes a full bottle of pills and lays down to die.

Damon spent so long living with only the most selfish feelings, that it's almost as if he's forgotten what it means to feel hurt, loss and even jealousy. Just like Isobel, he turned off those human feelings so life would be easier. It's not that he didn't care, he just didn't want to. And when he found that Katherine was never in the tomb, and has always known where he's been, it was as if the barriers between the emotions of selfishness and humanity fell away, and he felt everything at once.

He began caring without even meaning to, and by the time he realized it, it was too late. He arrived in Mystic Falls intent on destroying all, and now, he has done all he can to protect it. Even threatened the woman that has been the center of his obsessions for most of his life.

Damon is changing whether he wants to or not, and he has no idea what to do about it. More evident than ever in this episode is that he wants and tries to do the right thing. But it has been so long since he felt human, that he forgot what it means to be part of humanity. What it means to have relationships.

Damon knows he is confused and nothing more than a child trying to figure out the difference between right and wrong all over again. Leaving the Gilbert House, he runs into Elena arriving home, confessing to her that he has no idea how to be a hero. "I'm not a hero Elena. I don't do good. It's not in me." And the only reason that he knows how to be is because of Elena. "Somewhere along the way, you decided I was worth saving. And I wanted to thank you for that."

First, he just gives her a kiss on the cheek, then dear God, he leans in for a real one. Now, all of my dear "TVD" Twitter Family knows that I am not for one second, a Damon/Elena shipper. In fact, I ship Damon/Bonnie. So this kiss had me freaking out! Grinding my teeth and wanting to punch Elena out. Jenna interrupts them and demands Elena get in the house. Damon, confused and befuddled about what just happened, touches his mouth, and leaves.

She surprises Uncle John in the kitchen, who goes on to confess how he and Isobel met in high school. However, Elena doesn't seem all that interested. At this moment, I was thinking the impossible. I've never seen Elena stand with that much attitude before. And about thirty seconds later, we all learned the truth as she eyes his hand on the kitchen counter and chops off his fingers along with his ring with a huge butcher knife.

John: "Katherine?"

Katherine: "Hello, John. Goodbye, John."

Then she stabs him in the gut. Hmmm....yeah. This was my reaction to that: "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOGMOGMOGMOGMG!!!! IT WAS KATHERINE HOLY ****!!!!!!!!!!" And this: "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!! I KNEW IT!!!!!!!!!" And this: "I knew it because of the way she was standing!!!! Bahahahahahaha!!!! KATHERINE so great to see you!!!!!"

Like I said, I was freaking, but completely beyond happy. The real Elena then walks up her front steps, on the phone with Stefan, planning to meet him at the hospital shortly. She enters the house, calls for Jeremy upstairs, then hears a crash in the kitchen...which she of course, heads towards. Then....black screen.

WHAT A CLIFFHANGER. Or like Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson warned, EIGHT CLIFFHANGERS. This is by far the CRAZIEST and BEST finale that I can ever remember watching. Like I said, no show has ever messed with my mind quite like "The Vampire Diaries."

CLIFFHANGERS:
1. Anna's murder
2. Werewolves?
3. Car crash
4. Mayor Lockwood's death. Is he dead?
5. Jeremy? Alive or Undead?
6. John? Alive or dead?
7. Will Caroline survive?
8. Elena walking into the kitchen. Will Katherine still be there?

Jeez....that really is a lot of damn cliffhangers.

Now, what exactly do I think will happen in Season 2? I have no idea. Anything is possible with these writers. All we know for sure is that Bonnie is no longer afraid to use her powers, Tyler may be showing a bit of his wolf side, and Katherine is back. But here is my wishlist anyway:

SEASON 2 WISHLIST
1. Werewolf action
2. Katherine flashbacks, origin story
3. Damon/Bonnie growing closer
4. Katherine taking Elena hostage and screwing with the boys a little.

Give me a summer full of reruns, and then I may have some coherent predictions.