The Tribune

Stefan (Paul Wesley) thought that losing his memory was a cruel twist of fate, but on the Oct. 24 episode of The Vampire Diaries, he discovered that remembering the truth about his checkered past with Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) was far worse.

‘Stelena’ fans haven’t had too much to get excited about lately, so this episode — which found Elena jogging Stefan’s memory by helping him relive their better days — was actually a really nice treat for that side of the fandom. I forgot how innocent and easy their relationship was at the start of the series; they were just a couple of ‘teenagers’ in love, even if we now know they were pushed together by their collective destiny.

Of course, all of that went down the toilet once Stefan found out about Elena leaving him for Damon — and kind of cheating on him while they were still dating. (Welcome back, Ripper. Again!)

Things With Jesse Get Messy Caroline (Candice Accola) officially declared her relationship with Tyler to be “on its death bed” this week, freeing her up for a “study date” with Jesse (Kendrick Sampson). It started innocently enough — they talked about bunnies and foxes and whatnot — but it took less than three minutes for Jesse to sneak a kiss. Is it just me, or does Caroline hook up with every guy she walks through the woods with?

Jesse’s evening took a turn for the worse when he found himself in a tomb with a very hungry Stefan; had Caroline not shown up to save him, he would have ended up a chocolaty meal for the newly-awakened Ripper. But the biggest Jesse-related shocker came at the end of the episode, when Dr. Wes (Rick Cosnett) discovered Jesse had vampire blood in his system — and decided to kill him! Is this dude seriously making vampires now?! Not OK, man. Not OK.

Bye Bye, Bonnie Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) also did quite a bit of revealing this week — and I’m not just talking about his little shirtless push-up show, which likely broke the “pause” button on DVRs nationwide. He finally came clean to Damon about Bonnie (Kat Graham) being dead, which neither Damon nor his tear ducts were prepared to hear.

He then proceeded to go all around Mystic Falls, spreading the good news to his friends — all of whom had the same reaction. Damon had the pleasure of telling Elena, and I have to hand it to Nina Dobrev for her heartbreaking performance. Elena is supposed to be “strong” now that she’s a vampire, but I enjoy her more vulnerable moments, and this was one of them.

Then came Bonnie’s funeral, which was just as devastating as it should have been. Speaking through Jeremy, Bon-Bon said goodbye to each of her friends, urging them to move on with their lives. The only bright spot of the ceremony was the surprise return of Tyler (Michael Trevino), who should be very interested to learn what his girlfriend has been ‘studying’ at school.

HollywoodLifers, what did you think of this week’s episode? Were you a total mess during Bonnie’s funeral? Do you think Stefan overreacted to re-discovering his past with Damon and Elena? And what do you think will happen now that Tyler is back in town? Drop a comment with your thoughts below!