Vampire Diaries spills requisite amount of blood

     The first season of the CW's The Vampire Diaries has just ended with "Founder's Day", and is it just me, or does it feel like it went through several seasons worth of plot?  Don't get me wrong.  It's been great.  I have definitely liked this show a lot.  But so much happened in just the first year, and several of the characters have gone through big, dramatic changes, that it seems like it got started a lot longer than nine months ago.

     The finale spilled more than it's share of blood, which will surely have lasting repercussions.  All of the tomb vampires are dead, bringing to a close the question of when any would return to cause trouble.  Or it is assumed they are all dead.  Perhaps a few didn't return to town.  The most unfortunate of those was the lovely and not evil Anna (Malese Jow).  Poor Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen)!  Doesn't any girl he likes survive?  No wonder he was swallowing pills!  Obviously Jeremy will return next season, but will he be human or vampire?  Uncle Jonathan (David Anders) also bit the dust, and as much as I love that actor, his death was welcome.  And very cool.

     The biggest mystery left unsolved is why the mayor (Robert Pralgo) and his son Tyler (Michael Trevino) were affected by the vampire weapon.  Tyler's eyes flashed, and the mayor was burnt alive.  But they aren't vampires.  This is supremely weird.

     The biggest moment in the finale was Uncle Jonathan's death, because of who did it.  Katherine (Nina Dobrev) has returned!  Season one wondered where she is, what she's doing, and why Elena (also Dobrev) looks just like her.  Now that the evil vamp herself has blown into town, perhaps we can get a few answers.  Also, having Dobrev play her means no worrying about actress availability or an extra salary.

     Fans of the show have taken to the internet, and many of them, myself included, are a bit bored by the Elena / Stefan (Paul Wesley) relationship.  Now that Damon (Ian Somerhalder) has decided to allow emotion and guilt back into his life, she and him would make a much better pairing.  Let's hope the show's second season, which has already been ordered, goes there.