Hollywood Crush › Sara Canning

Excuse us, we're still trying to pick ourselves off the floor after watching last night's epic season finale of "Vampire Diaries." Seriously, we didn't think anything could match the twists and turns that led to season one's cliffhanger, but somehow the writers managed to surprise us yet again—this time with ghosts, gun shots and an evil Stefan.

Perhaps we should have expected last night's mindwarp. After all, this entire season has been filled with jaw-dropping moments we never saw coming. So in honor of all the surprises "TVD" writers have thrown our way this season, we've come up with a list of the top five that shocked us the most. Buckle up and check them out after the jump.

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Tags Candice Accola, Ian Somerhalder, Jospeh Morgan, Kayla Ewell, Malese Jow, Matt Davis, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Taylor Kinney, Vampire Diaries

"Vampire Diaries" star Nina Dobrev and executive producer Julie Plec may have warned us, but that didn't take the sting out of last night's jaw-dropping death on The CW series. Sure, we bid adieu to several characters during "The Sun Also Rises" (sayonara Jules, John and Greta!), but the most depressing demise belonged to Elena's lovable—and until recently—in the dark Aunt Jenna.

Though our tears have dried, we're still mourning Jenna's death here at Hollywood Crush. To help us through the grieving process, we got on the phone with very-much-alive actress Sara Canning to talk about her character's last good-bye and what's next for her.

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Tags Sara Canning, Vampire Diaries

by Cassie Title

I'm just going to put it out there: It may have been due to the fact that I got home from work at midnight and started watching, or that I never get sick and hate tea and now I can’t stop drinking it because I’m so sick, or that I was experiencing extreme anxiety that in a few weeks time I will have no viewing pleasure for however long "TVD" goes on hiatus, but I spent the entire episode thinking it was the finale, and thus harshly judging it for being the worst. finale. ever.

But, lo and behold! It was not the finale, after all! Thank the lord almighty (I’m feeling religious, because of the biblical reference in the title) that I have about 46 beautiful minutes to look forward to watching next Thursday evening. Everybody with me, now: PHEW.

So, now that that embarrassing confession is out of the way, we can move on to criticizing and adoring last night’s action-packed, shall we say epic, episode.

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Tags Candice Accola, daniel gillies, Ian Somerhalder, Joseph Morgan, Kat Graham, Matt Davis, Michael Trevino, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Steven R. McQueen, Vampire Diaries, Zach Roerig

by Cassie Title

Being a teenager is hard. Especially when you’re a fictional character on The CW and some 1000-plus-year-old vampire is trying to sacrifice you so that he can become a vampire-werewolf hybrid. You stood a chance of escaping him with the help of your vampire boyfriend and his vampire brother (both of whom are in love with you, and let’s be honest, you’re kind of in love with both of them, too—or at least you should be), but then the one you’re not with force-fed you some vampire blood and took away your free-will and such, and then your childhood friend (who also happens to be a werewolf) came back to town because the evil (but incredibly hot) vampire who’s trying to kill you needs to kill him too to break his curse. And did I mention that your other childhood friend is a vampire who also needs to be sacrificed? And all of this is supposed to happen TONIGHT?

You’re probably confused. (But not if you’re reading this. Because you watch the show.) So I take it back. You should not be confused. You should be used to my pseudo-clever ramblings that try to cheekily introduce each new episode of this ridiculous-seeming (but cinematically ingenious) show.
So we’re done with pretense. Let’s start with the curse:

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Tags Candice Accola, daniel gillies, Ian Somerhalder, Joseph Morgan, Matt Davis, Michael Trevino, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Vampire Diaries, Zach Roerig

by Cassie Title

When faced with the question of why I’m so obsessed with "The Vampire Diaries," I usually start explaining the intricate mythology: There’s this boring chick who’s actually the doppelganger of this awesome (but totally evil) chick, and these two vampire brothers were in love with both chicks, but now just the boring one, and they’re trying to save the boring one from the oldest vampire of all time, who’s trying to sacrifice her to break some really old curse that involves a power struggle with werewolves. Yeah, there are werewolves! And witches! And no, my brain is not full of mush and I graduated from college and am able to hold intelligent conversations.

To prove this, I refine my explanation. I'm a history and literature junkie, and so I’m interested in origins and character development. And vampires have hundreds (sometimes thousands!) of years of history and character development. What could be better?! The fact that they’re usually hot, and witty, and wear really cool clothes (REALLY COSTUME DESIGNER? YOU PUT KLAUS IN A LEATHER JACKET IN 1492? HE LOOKED AWESOME, BUT IT’S FREAKING 1492 AND YOUR LEATHER OBSESSION IS BECOMING RIDICULOUS AND SCREWING UP MY SENSE OF TIME AND PLACE.)

So naturally, I watch the show for the flashbacks. ALL I CARE ABOUT ARE THE FLASHBACKS. AND KATHERINE. WHO IS INTRICATELY TIED TO EVERY FLASHBACK. Thus, this episode, along with "Katerina," was my most anticipated viewing session of the series. And besides the fact that they didn’t give me nearly enough flashback, its revelations didn’t disappoint. In case you don’t agree, you will be persuaded by my fancy-shmancy list below. Because lists (especially when fancy-shmancy) are always more persuasive and better and (let’s face it) more likely to be read than paragraphs.

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Tags Candice Accola, daniel gillies, Ian Somerhalder, Joseph Morgan, Kat Graham, Matt Davis, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Steven R. McQueen, Vampire Diaries

by Cassie Title

For the past six weeks, I’ve thought of The CW as my enemy. Why must this network continually take six-week breaks to film? Although I doubt that this question will ever be answered satisfactorily (I can only presume that executives are trying to torture me), the hiatus got me thinking, hence, a confession: I would gladly give up watching any other television show for the rest of my life if I could only watch new episodes of "The Vampire Diaries." I am so confident in this decision that I’m not even embarrassed that the whole internet now knows.

In case you’ve somehow forgotten where things left off in Mystic Falls (I’m not sure how that’s possible, but whatever), or missed those bizarrely creepy previews where Stefan and Damon spoke directly to me (er, I mean you) to catch viewers up to speed, Katherine got out of the tomb and started helping Damon and Stefan keep Elena safe. John and Isobel were supposedly teaming up to do the same. Matt found out why Caroline’s wardrobe suddenly became all leather jackets, all the time, and is not pleased (seriously, will they ever address the fact that leather duds seem to be the only articles of clothing that vampires can wear?). And Isobel showed up on the Gilbert doorstep, unannounced.

There was no theme to this episode. I mean it. It was all about ridiculous things happening to make it so that viewers can’t think about anything else for the entire week leading up to an episode. To prove this, I’m going to list the most important things, so you can see for yourself that there is no uniting factor. Only Klaus. Who is not a theme. A person (or a vampire) cannot be a theme.

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Tags Candice Accola, Ian Somerhalder, Joseph Morgan, Kat Graham, Matt Davis, Mia Kirshner, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Vampire Diaries, Zach Roerig

by Cassie Title

Things I’ve learned from "The Vampire Diaries": publicly belting out "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles will get me a smooch from Zach Roerig; being ridiculously mean to Ian Somerhalder will cement his love for me; and it is never, ever a good idea to hesitate upon hearing a doorbell ring.

All of these life lessons come to fruition, thanks to a girls’ night with Elena, Bonnie, Caroline and Jenna. The only thing that would improve this romp is if Katherine were to join. Oh, right. Elena mentions this sarcastically, but I’m not sure why—it sounds like an excellent idea.

Still, there’s enough going on. All of the girls are hiding something (what’s new?) except for Jenna, whom everyone else is hiding something from (even bigger surprise.) Caroline can’t figure out how to be with Matt without telling him that she’s capable of being a blood sucking murderer, Bonnie’s nervous about Elena’s reaction to her budding romance with Jeremy and Elena is finally contemplating revealing to Jenna that Stefan and his brother are 145-year-old vampires, that her death is the key to breaking a centuries-old supernatural curse, that part of that curse means that she’s a doppelganger and thus there’s an (amazingly) psychotic vampire-bitch roaming around Mystic Falls who’s completely identical to her and that her birth mom/Alaric’s "dead wife" is actually a vampire who’s kicking it with her doppelganger and (potentially) evil uncle. Yeah, good luck with that.

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Tags Candice Accola, Ian Somerhalder, Katerina Graham, Matt Davis, Mia Kirshner, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Vampire Diaries, Zach Roerig

by Cassie Title

We could tell this was going to be a good episode from the minute the "Previously on 'The Vampire Diaries'" teaser began. With words like "Katherine," "doppelganger," "Klaus" and "Elijah," it was apparent that we were going to learn more about the curse of the sun and the moon. Plus, the episode summary foretold of Stefan’s past. I was excited to see "Stefan [tell] Elena about a dark time in his history and the surprising person whose influence changed everything," but, come on: Anyone who’s read spoilers or skimmed "Stefan’s Diaries: Bloodlust" knew it was Lexi.

Still, I can’t resist a flashback, and the past played an important role in this week’s episode. Elena finds out that Stefan almost killed her ancestor, Johnathan Gilbert. Stefan also ruthlessly murdered at least two of Johnathan’s friends/family members and staged some dancing/blood-sucking parties with a few of Mystic Falls’ young ladies. Which kind of reminds me of Damon, circa 2010, hanging out with sorority girls at the Salvatore mansion. (Like brother, like brother?)

In other flashback news, yep, it's Lexi. She was a pretty badass character, so it’s ultra exciting to see her again. We learn that she met Stefan in Mystic Falls during the Civil War and taught him how to be a good vampire…you know, one that’s still in touch with his human side, like…Damon? I’m really having trouble with this. When Lexi and Damon meet, it’s touching—he asks her to help Stefan because "he needs it."

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Tags Ian Somerhalder, Katerina Graham, Matthew Davis, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Steven R. McQueen, Vampire Diaries

by Cassie Title

I have to admit: after last week's episode showed John Gilbert visiting Katherine in the tomb, I was thoroughly disappointed that we didn’t see our fave evil vamp doing some damage last night. However, she managed to still play a part à la season one: the show reverted back to giving her character serious air time without actually showing her.

Interestingly enough, the werewolves refer to Katherine first. (I was waiting to find out more about her past with Mason!) Stevie, our sadistic pack's resident Slater (RIP), explains: "There was a moment in Florida I suspected Mason was up to something, when he was banging that hot vampire chick Kathy and didn’t want anyone to know." (Um, was she really going by Kathy? Sorry, but that nickname just doesn't fit.) Apparently, Stevie should’ve known what was up when Mason started asking him all about the sun and moon curse. He thinks he's put two and two together: with Mystic Falls' influx of vampires, werewolves, and witches, Damon and co. must be trying to break the curse. Of course, we know that’s not exactly true, but the action is set in motion when the wolves decide they’ll have to break it first, because if the vamps beat them to it, they’re "as good as dead." (Really, guys? How is it any different than the state of things now? You turn at the full moon, and the dozens or so vampires with day rings roam in the sun?)

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Tags Candice Accola, Ian Somerhalder, Katerina Graham, Matthew Davis, Michael Trevino, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Steven R. McQueen, Vampire Diaries, Zach Roerig

by Cassie Title

This week's "Vampire Diaries" brought us Tyler confronting Caroline, the return of Uncle John, and the arrival of an extremely sadistic wolf pack. But the real aha! moment? Damon bathes! That’s right, Crushers—"TVD" made sure to stress Damon’s good hygiene not once, but twice: with his beginning-of-the-show shower and his end-of-the-episode-blood-bath (literally!), which I guess isn’t all too clean, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The theme of this episode is trust, and unsurprisingly, Tyler loses his in Caroline after learning she'd been lying to him about being the only vampire in Mystic Falls and not knowing about Mason's death. Also on the trust theme, Uncle John (who’s back and more cryptic than ever), claims to want and know how to protect Elena (he and Isobel know about the sacrifice!) but won’t talk until he’s convinced he can put his confidence in Elena, Damon, and Stefan. (I’m sorry, but I’m thinking the trust talk should be going the other way.)

Enter Jenna and Alaric. Understandably, Jenna’s perplexed about John’s return. "It’s okay I’m confused, right? Because we were not expecting you, like, ever." Oh Jenna, when aren’t you confused? Seriously, someone has got to fill homegirl in on, well, everything. Now that she knows that John’s Elena’s biological father, she only needs to be let it on the 40 or so other supernatural secrets everybody’s been keeping from her. And hey, Alaric! It’s great to see you somewhere other than the Grille. (I was starting to think that man was either becoming a vampire or turning into an alcoholic.)

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Tags Candice Accola, Ian Somerhalder, Katerina Graham, Matthew Davis, Michael Trevino, Michaela McManus, Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Sara Canning, Steven R. McQueen, Vampire Diaries, Zach Roerig