Oh. My. God. Those three words just about perfectly sum up last night's first season finale of "The Vampire Diaries." Just — OMG. I'll pause here for you to squeal while you recall last night's events, but please feel free read on in case you'd like to hear about the actual things that happened on the show rather than the nonsensical expletives I screamed at my television.
Nina Dobrev wasn't kidding when she told MTV News earlier this week that the finale would be chock full of OMG moments. Things started out normal enough, with everyone preparing for the Founder's Day parade. As Jeremy donned his soldier costume for the history class float (hot!), Anna popped into his room to ask him to leave town with her — she'd even turn him. Jeremy said he used to want to turn, but now he didn't think he could. Anna dejectedly disappeared.
The secret town council finalized their plans — they knew the tomb vampires were attacking, so they would use the Gilbert device, which emits a high-pitched sound humans can't hear that incapacitates all vampires within a five-block radius. The sheriff's deputies would then inject all the vampires with vervane.
Giving us the first scare of the night, Anna joined the tomb vampires as they readied their plan of attack: They would go after the founders' families as soon as the fireworks started. Turns out, Anna was only acting as a double agent so she could warn Damon about what would happen. Phew. Anna can't be evil, since she is kind of the best.
Damon warned Elena and Stefan, who went to find Jeremy (who still wasn't talking to his sister). Since they were all under the impression that Bonnie rendered the device unworkable, neither Damon nor Stefan worried about their own lives. Mayor Lockwood, knowing what was about to happen, told Tyler, Caroline, and Matt to head home. Since he looked all oddly serious, they obeyed and hopped in his car.
Moment of truth time: The tomb vamps mobilized as Mayor Lockwood introduced the fireworks, while Uncle John initiated the device. All the vampires nearby dropped to their knees in searing pain. (Kudos on the acting here — this could've looked cheesy. It didn't. At all.) The deputies began rounding them all up, including Damon and Anna. They almost got Stefan, but Alaric saved him. In an interesting turn of events, both Tyler and his father heard the noise, too. The Mayor was rounded up by the police, but Tyler, who was driving Matt and Caroline home, crashed his car.
When Anna and Damon woke up, they were lying on the floor of the old Gilbert building while one of Uncle John's men poured gasoline everywhere. Anna grabbed John's leg and peered up at him. Instead of talking to her, he took a stake and drove it into her body. Anna was dead.
The first big OMG bombshell dropped, and we were only 30 minutes in. Anna wasn't the only one killed in the basement: Mayor Lockwood was down there too, but since the vervane didn't work on him, he clearly wasn't a vampire (one word: werewolf!!!). He didn't move fast enough to get out, however, and one of the tomb vampires snapped his neck.
Bonnie, feeling bad about not fixing the device (thank god, right? I don't like Bonnie being so righteous), chanted a spell that staved off the fire long enough for Stefan to grab his brother from the basement. Damon disappeared immediately, but turned up at the Gilbert house to tell Jeremy that Anna was dead. He offered to erase Jeremy's memory again, but Jeremy told him that the empty feeling remained even if he didn't remember what he was sad about. Jeremy asked if what Anna said was true, that vampires could turn off their feelings. As he walked out the door, Damon said it was, but that life sucked either way. Feeling completely alone and destroyed, Jeremy downed the vial of Anna's blood and swallowed a bottle of Elena's pills leftover from the accident. I totally saw this moment coming the minute she handed him that dang bottle, didn't you?
Elena got home just as Damon was leaving, and the surprisingly sensitive vampire took the opportunity to thank her for wanting to save him. Their chemistry proved too much to resist, and his kiss on her cheek turned into a real kiss. SWOON. Before things could get too racy, Aunt Jenna opened the door (with a complete look of disgust on her face), and made Elena come inside. Elena walked into the kitchen, where John tried to explain why he hated vampires. All of a sudden, Elena grabbed a knife and CHOPPED OFF ALL OF JOHN'S FINGERS so as to rid him of the life-saving ring. Brilliant move! It wasn't Elena after all — it was KATHERINE. I repeat: IT WAS KATHERINE. The episode ended as the real Elena got home, called for her brother and heard a ruckus in the kitchen.
How many times did you scream during the finale? Did you expect any of this to happen? How devastated are you that Anna is dead? How quickly did you forgive Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec for killing Anna once you realized Katherine was back?
** Hollywood Crush Twitter