“The Vampire Diaries” Season 6 Premiere recap: Can Elena move on?

The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Damon and Elena

If you’re  like me, you’ve been waiting all summer for the return of The Vampire Diaries on The CW. While some may say I’m a bit obsessed, since I re-watched the entire series while drinking from my Stefan Salvatore mug during my summer break, I say I’m a diehard fan who couldn’t wait a second longer for the Season 6 premiere. Needless to say, the episode didn’t disappoint; especially when it added a shocking detail into the plot that I didn’t see coming at all.

The show opens with a very familiar scene of a couple in a tent, spending a romantic night in the woods. Sounds more creepy than romantic, but everyone has their own dating style.

The two are interrupted by strange sounds they hear from outside the tent., but not to worry, seems like it’s just Sheriff Forbes trying to bust the under-aged drinkers and shut down this party. As the two head for home, however, the girl gets attacked by something that grabs her in the darkness. When her boyfriend comes to rescue her, a dark figure very similar to Elena’s comes leaping out to attack the couple.

Following this already intense scene, we get a brief recap from Elena of how the gang’s summer went since the death of Damon and Bonnie. It’s the start of sophomore year for Elena and I see she’s following in her father’s footsteps, studying to become a doctor. Hopefully she’s not going to be doing any “special” experimentation like he did, though.

On the bright side, this allows her to gain access to unlimited amounts of blood bags, which also helps out one of my favorite characters, newbie-ish vampire, Alaric, who just came back from the dead a couple months ago. Even though he was a vampire before he died, he didn’t get to experience the life of a vampire which consists of constantly craving human blood fresh from the vein. This doesn’t seem to bother Alaric too much, though, since he’s found a job as a professor at Whitmore where Tyler now also attends.

The traveler’s no-magic spell has prevented everyone from going back into their hometown of Mystic Falls, so the only ones who still reside there are Matt and Jeremy. While the crime rates have gone doThe Vampire Diaries Season 6 Stefanwn, it looks like Matt has joined a miniature boot camp squad that’s helped him bulk up. I think he feels the need to still protect the town — especially now that Jeremy’s hunter magic has gone away. Stefan ditched his high school life for a job as a car mechanic in Georgia, while also on the lookout for a witch that can contact the dead. Elena says she hasn’t talked to Stefan in months, which breaks my heart because I’m team Stelena, but also because this means Stefan isn’t getting any closer to finding a way to help bring back Damon and Bonnie.

Caroline has dropped out of Whitmore and spends her time right by the border of Mystic Falls, having picnics with her mother. Seems like Caroline is the only one looking for a way to get rid of this invisible no-magic wall. Just as Caroline and her mother are having a nice time, Sheriff gets a notice that two people have been admitted into the hospital for suspicious wounds on their necks.

Elena notices that Caroline doesn’t want to give up hope in finding a way to reverse the spell in Mystic Falls, and Elena feels the same way, but it’s a lot easier for her to cope with Damon and Bonnie’s absences.

The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Damon and ElenaTurns out Elena has been telling this entire opening tale to Damon and she’s able to see, hear, and feel Damon like he’s alive in the cemetery with her.

After an awkward class in which Professor Saltzman almost loses his cool from Elena’s cup of blood, Elena runs after her special “Damon” herb supplier, Luke.

Alaric calls Stefan to check up on him and see where he’s at on finding that witch. Just then, a new girl shows up at the auto body shop, and Stefan tells Alaric that he’s still working on it. Could this new girl  be that certain witch they need? I hope so since I can’t see Stefan and Jeremy hooking up with random girls for the rest of the season.

Elena barges into Luke’s room when he doesn’t show up to her room like they planned. She’s becoming hungrier from taking all these herbs and I think her anger is also becoming stronger. She threatens Luke to give her more herbs and continue to be her drug supplier — otherwise something bad will happen. It is Luke’s fault that Damon and Bonnie are on the Other Side, but Elena is being selfish and outrageous in her attitude and character.

Damon makes a comment about Elena being addicted to the herbs like a druggie and asks why she hasn’t asked to see Bonnie. I was wondering about this too but I guess love is more important than friendship. Poor Bonnie!

It’s college tailgating party time at Whitmore and Alaric returns to his chaperone position. The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Tyler and AlaricGood thing, since Tyler can’t control his anger and temperament. Tyler becoming a human again isn’t the best idea, since this means he has a much lower tolerance. Mix in some alcohol around a full moon and boom! Tyler has triggered his werewolf gene once again.

Although, he seems interested in putting his efforts into making Liv like him. Alaric points out that it’s never going to happen but Tyler’s always been up for a challenge. I don’t approve of Tyler’s thoughts about Liv since he and Caroline are finally able to be free without Klaus controlling them, but whatever.

The next scene made me die a little inside, I’ll admit it.

Looks like Stefan had shared a bed with Ivy, the new chick that showed up to the auto body shop.  Turns out they’ve been together for a couple months and Stefan hasn’t told her anything about himself. He flat out tells her he’s a vampire when she asks for information. Of course she doesn’t believe him, but he tells her that he does like her. Let’s just say that, in my mind, the second part was the lie.

Elena is so thirsty that she decides to attack an innocent girl from out of town who’s stopped on the side of the road. Damon tells her that she needs to stop feeding and compel her victim to forget, but Elena can’t pull away from the blood. Then Caroline pops up from out of nowhere and makes Elena stop what she’s doing. Caroline is freaked out by what she just witnessed and now even more freaked out that Elena allowed this victim to slip away into Mystic Falls without compelling her first.

Slow clap for Elena as she’s just released a witness/victim into the town where no supernaturals can enter. Elena spills her secret to Caroline about being the border lurker who is feeding off the locals. She also tells Caroline that she’s been seeing Damon thanks to Luke’s herbs and that’s what is making her so thirsty.

Caroline tells Elena that she’ll have her mom take care of everything, but Elena needs to go hide. Lucky for Elena, Matt is the one that notices the girl come running into town lookingThe Vampire Diaries Season 6 Elena Attack for help. blood dripping down her neck. She tells Matt about Elena and unfortunately Matt’s new city patrol group follows him to help the girl.

One guy hears some pieces of the girl’s story and feels like he hasn’t heard everything she has to say. Sheriff Forbes arrives just in time to tell Matt to take the girl to the hospital. The nosey guy starts to verbally attack the officer, saying she hasn’t done her job correctly since they haven’t heard the girl’s full story. This man will be a problem later in the season if he keeps putting his nose where it doesn’t belong.

Stefan has been avoiding everyone from Mystic Falls, but finally takes a call from Elena. She begs him to tell her that he’s found something that will be able to bring Damon and Bonnie back. She just needs to hear answers at this point because she’s broken and can’t hold onto hope anymore. He tells her that he hasn’t found anything and he’s finally given up hope and moved on with his life, telling Elena that she needs to do the same.

I’m still really hoping that Stefan is lying and Ivy is a witch that will help bring the two back. Otherwise, why would Stefan leave everyone behind without saying goodbye and move on with this new girl and new life?

Turns out Matt is getting stronger because he wants to protect people like himself. Poor Matt has always been the one to have to stay human and be the weak link in the group. He’s been fed on and killed way too many times, and now it’s Matt’s turn to fight back. He takes the girl that fled from Elena to the border and explains to her that he wants to help people like them. Caroline shows up, too, and it’s her job to now compel the girl to forget everything since Elena fell short. I’m proud of Matt for sticking up for himself.

Elena tries to let Damon go, realizing that she can’t hold onto him anymore. However, things aren’t so easy because after she does so,  he’s still standing right behind her.  Elena realizes she needs to do The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Damon and Elenasomething else in order to finally get Damon out of her mind. She can’t hold onto all these emotions and replay their history in her head for the rest of her life. She remembers that Alaric was created with the Original’s spell, and now wants Alaric to use his special powers to compel Elena to forget ever loving Damon.

I never would have thought Elena could ask for someone to take her memories of Damon away from her. They seemed to keep her sane in the past but now they’re doing the complete opposite. Still, it’s surprising that Elena has the courage to make such a hard, life-changing decision like this.

The last scene of the premiere is of Damon making breakfast in a very nice home for himself and Bonnie. Things don’t look so bad wherever they ended up being trapped. Damon’s sense of humor is still intact as he turns one of Bonnie’s pancakes into a vampire face with fangs on top. While the pair will probably not enjoy themselves like this every day, I’m happy to see this little scene. It shows that they are still the same people I came to adore.

In next week’s episode, looks like Elena is following through with wanting to get Damon out of her head. Alaric is trying to pinpoint the exact moment Elena fell in love with Damon, and Caroline helps him out by telling him that Elena fell for Damon while she was still in love with Stefan and the two were dating. Looks like bad timing since Stefan shows up and doesn’t look too happy to hear that old news repeated onve again. The thing I am wondering about most in the next episode is what I saw on Stefan: It looked like he had some blood on his neck like he was a victim of a vampire. If I were a vampire, why would I look like I just got attacked by one? I’m not exactly sure what’s going on but if that Ivy has anything to do with this, she better watch her back.

So what did you think Vampire Diaries fans? What did you like most about the Season 6 premiere? What, if anything, bothered you? Do you think there’s more to Ivy than meets the eye — and Stefan’s bed? And what’s up with his neck in next week’s episode? Sounds off in the comments section below.

New episodes of The Vampire Diaries premiere Thursdays at 8/7CT on The CW

Photos: The CW