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"The Vampire Diaries pulled out one of its most spectacular episodes to date with its third season finale; finally, Elena was forced to choose between the brothers and - more importantly - the show made the bold step of forcing her into a transition into a vampire. Of course, with anything as gamechanging as that, the question is whether the show can follow through. The finale had set so much in motion, in terms of both plot and character, that this return could easily have been a disappointment.  But you can always rely on The Vampire Diaries to be consistently better than a show about teenagers and the supernatural has any right to be. Elena&amp;#039;s transition, in particular, was handled with complete class. Nina Dobrev continued to prove herself as a real gem of an actress with her Elena, who as we all know has always been adamantly, insistently against the idea of becoming a vampire. Who could forget that stunning scene with Stefan, as she explains that she wants to grow old? Now, that choice has been taken away from her and it&amp;#039;s devastating to watch her sob: &amp;quot;I was ready to die. I was supposed to die.&amp;quot; The physical toll of becoming a vampire, too, is brilliant to watch. It&amp;#039;s painful to see Elena struggling with the intense light from her lamp - so much so that she can&amp;#039;t help but crush the bulb in her fist - and when she&amp;#039;s later held by Pastor Young, the ticking clock and the brightness are unbearable. The show put this across beautifully, too, with close ups and saturation tricks and some beautiful camerawork - the series exceeding expectations yet again.  But it&amp;#039;s always been the emotional side of the characters that keeps The Vampire Diaries special, and the best bit of Elena&amp;#039;s transition comes as she&amp;#039;s struggling with being more hormonal than a pregnant teenager. It&amp;#039;s absolutely horrible to watch her laugh hysterically at herself when she uses the phrase &amp;quot;cross that bridge&amp;quot; - unable to stop - and then lapse into tears. Paul Wesley deserves credit in this scene, too, for looking so wonderfully distraught. The transition also allows a development in the love triangle between Elena, Damon and Stefan - one of the other vital parts of the series. With the transformation, Elena is flooded with the memories she has been compelled to forget, and it&amp;#039;s thrilling to see her outside herself, looking in as she sees Damon telling her that he loves her but has to let her be with Stefan. This scene was incredible enough when we saw it the first time; rewatching it now, with all the implications it brings, is a joy. But it&amp;#039;s impressive that the show doesn&amp;#039;t let this change Elena&amp;#039;s feelings too much; while Stefan is feeling horrendous guilt about going along with Elena&amp;#039;s wishes to save Matt (interesting to watch in itself), and Damon is furious with the decision (watching him almost kill Matt in anger is excellent), Elena is pleased that she was allowed to make the choice for herself.   It&amp;#039;s still difficult to comprehend the idea that Stefan would let Elena die - something Paul Wesley has said himself - but the show did a good job of making it understandable in this episode. Not only is Stefan unhappy about what he did, but the scene in which Damon and Elena face off is yet another brilliant moment. Breathtakingly, Damon says he would have saved Elena &amp;quot;in a heartbeat&amp;quot;: &amp;quot;I would let Matt die because I am that selfish, but you knew that already.&amp;quot;  But Elena chose Stefan because he allowed her to take ownership of her own life - and even if she knew that she met Damon first, it wouldn&amp;#039;t have changed a thing. This scene is a serious: &amp;quot;Oh my God&amp;quot; moment - I wrote that at least four times in my notes - because despite the duo&amp;#039;s undeniable chemistry, we get an idea of the massive gulf between them.  The episode isn&amp;#039;t perfect; for example, though it&amp;#039;s handled well, it&amp;#039;s difficult to care about Bonnie&amp;#039;s quest to save Elena just because it was clear that she would never succeed. The Vampire Diaries is a brave show; it&amp;#039;s not going to wimp out of turning Elena into a vampire. And I&amp;#039;ve never entirely bought Bonnie&amp;#039;s intense &amp;quot;spell face&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;urgent muttering&amp;quot; either. That said, though, it was excellent to see Grams again, and to see Bonnie tipping deeper into the dark side. The scene in which she attempted to bring Elena back from the dark side was a particular high point. It was also gratifying that the show didn&amp;#039;t stick with Klaus-as-Tyler for too long, as it could get old (though Michael Trevino did a good job of embodying the evil villain). Indeed, Caroline found out almost immediately after reuniting with who she thought was Tyler (unfortunately for her, not before she&amp;#039;d ripped her top off for a kiss or two.)  Actually, I was intrigued that Klaus didn&amp;#039;t make the most of Tyler&amp;#039;s body to seduce her further - he&amp;#039;s almost gentlemanly by telling her who he really is - and he chose to save her over Rebekah. I hope their relationship develops further this season; it&amp;#039;s always intrigued me. But more, Bonnie&amp;#039;s clearly crossed a line by helping Klaus return to his body - only to save Tyler, to be fair - and I want to know how the spirits will retaliate. The writers basically have free rein here; I&amp;#039;m excited to see how they use it.   It&amp;#039;s so good to see Klaus and Rebekah back, too; not only are they turning on each other now (and God, that sibling rivalry will be on another level), but I&amp;#039;m dying to see how Rebekah fits into this world, considering she&amp;#039;s partially responsible for Elena&amp;#039;s newfound vampirism. Though she starts out again as straight-up bitch, she does team up with Stefan to help Elena to feed when she&amp;#039;s moments away from dying - incidentally, just after she&amp;#039;s heard Elena and Stefan tearfully express their love for each other in what they think could be their final goodbye. (Why is everything like this better when people can&amp;#039;t see each other? So moving.) Elsewhere, while Pastor Young was a much sketchier villain than this show generally goes for, the idea that the council knew about the vampires added a good degree of tension. So while we got the important character moments, there was also enough room for action and vampire-staking and the possibility that Elena might not manage to feed in time. But what happens now? It&amp;#039;s exciting to see the supernatural creatures facing a genuine new threat, but then the show threw a surprising curveball into the mix with it&amp;#039;s shock ending (is there any series better at consistently throwing in a gaspworthy moment at the end of every episode?)   Aware that he has been unable to contain the vampires, Pastor Young gathers everyone in his cottage and - in a fantastic sequence - quietly unhooks a gas pipe, murmurs that they will all reunite in eternity, and blows up the cabin. It&amp;#039;s fantastic, but it does leave the question of what happens next up in the air. Pastor Young said they are &amp;quot;the beginning&amp;quot;... but what does he mean? That&amp;#039;s fine with me though - I&amp;#039;m here for the ride. Elena might tell Stefan that she&amp;#039;s fine and will get through this, but as Jeremy said earlier, she always pretends to be okay so that no-one worries. There&amp;#039;s still the love triangle to deal with; Elena might be sitting on rooftops watching the sunrise with Stefan for now, but how will her returning memories really affect her? Damon is back to his malicious, angry, me-against-the-world self - and thank God. Klaus has returned to his body, and is presumably ready to wreak havoc. Bonnie&amp;#039;s getting darker and darker. And no doubt there will be yet another threat just waiting to hit Mystic Falls.  While there were some small niggles about this season opener, it was also a reminder of just how good The Vampire Diaries is. We&amp;#039;ve had the set up - now I can&amp;#039;t wait to see where we&amp;#039;re going next. The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays on The CW - let us know what you thought about the episode below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/vampire-diaries/review/a430179/vampire-diaries-growing-pains-recap-i-was-ready-to-die/>