A Winter Wonderland turned into a Christmas catastrophe on The Vampire Diaries last night, as least for the Lockwood family.

What did you think of "O Come, All Ye Faithful?" In this edition of the TV Fanatic Round Table, staff members Matt Richenthal, Miranda Wicker, Steve Marsi and Leigh Raines weigh in on the best scenes, an especially evil Klaus and Jeremy's ridiculous biceps. Won't you join them?

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What was your favorite scene from the episode?
Matt: One character, one word, oodles of chills down my spin: Klaus' reminding Stefan of the days when he was the Rippppah.

Miranda: I don't know that any one scene stands out to me above any other, but there are a couple of moments that were great. The first is when Jeremy tries to sneak-kill Elena and she, in all her newfound vampire glory, put him in a choke hold. The second was when Jeremy was advancing toward Elena to test the detour and Damon stepped in his path as if to say "over my dead, sexy body."

Steve: Klaus drowning Tyler's mom. Slaying the hybrids who plotted his demise was one thing, but Mayor Lockwood? What a horrific finishing touch to his massacre. BURNING QUESTION, though: Who is Deputy Mayor of Mystic Falls!?

Leigh: Honestly, it was Klaus finally killing that pain in the ass hybrid girl, I wanna say her name was Adrian or something. But a less morbid answer would be Tyler and his mother's brief bonding scene.

Did Damon make the right decision in letting Elena go?
Matt: Let's see... he can be with the woman he loves and force her to do his bidding?!? I'm gonna go with a big fat NO on this one. Damon's decision was almost as dumb as Julie Plec's to include this contrived storyline in the first place.

Miranda: No. Not at all. For starters, it's complete garbage to drag this triangle out more, if that's what they're even doing. Second, she's still sired. She's just been sired to stay away. The whole "every part of my body is telling me to get in that car" bit? Hello!! Still sired. No free will. So use that sire bond to get back between Damon's sheets, please.

Steve: Hard to call that a decision at all, as the writers basically invented a new way to ramp up the Damon and Elena tension that makes absolutely no sense.

Leigh: Damon shouldn't of sired her to stay away. He should have sired her to have free will. This bond is so stupid, not digging it.

Caroline ratting out the red hot Delena sex to Stefan: The right move or none of her beeswax?
Matt: I'll forgive my dream gal because she only has the best of intentions. It's easy to forget how abusive Damon was to Caroline on The Vampire Diaries Season 1. All the snark in the world and even that smile can't make up for how she was treated by the man now going to bed with her BFF. I can't hold Caroline's reaction against her.

Miranda: I generally love Caroline and find the Caroline/Stefan friendship great. I mean, he needs a friend. But she needs to back out of this. She crossed a line last night, twice. She betrayed Tyler's plan to Stefan, too. I'm not so much loving what Caroline's doing this season.

Steve: Honestly, I have no idea what Caroline's deal is with Damon. Sure, she's entitled to her opinion, but her words and actions over the past few weeks have felt a little forced and out of character.

Leigh: This is a hard one. They are both Caroline's very close friends. She should've told Elena either you tell him or I will, but he has to know. I don't know that Caroline should've just blurted it. She does have the tendency to have loose lips, we all know that. Elena will be pissed but Stefan deserved to know, so it's a wash.

Pen a eulogy for Mayor Lockwood.
Matt: You birthed a hybrid and you led a town. Your death will leave Tyler's world upside down. Klaus will get his someday, and now you're free. To chill in heaven with Anna, Alaric and, of course, Vicki. God bless.

Miranda: Carol Lockwood, Boozy mayor of Mystic Falls. We knew you...not very well at all. May the afterlife hold all the martinis, bourbon and champagne you can drink. Give our love to Alaric.

Steve: Be sure to give the Council a full report.

Leigh: Mayor Lockwood... ummm... Rest in Peace. You birthed a hot son and held down the fort in Mystic Falls for as long as you could. May you pop up on another CW show.

More surprising: April freeing Rebekah, Klaus ripping out the hearts of every hybrid of Jeremy's physique?
Matt: I continue to be surprised by my continual interest in Jeremy, so I'll go with him again here. The only thing stronger than his body was the drink in my hand immediately after this episode last night, in an attempt to forget it ever existed.

Miranda: Klaus was finally, legitimately terrifying last night, so I'm definitely going with that. Seriously. And he liked Stefan's style? His was so...orchestral? Brutal? Bad ass? I didn't at all see it coming that he was working with Hayley and Professor Shady Pants, so this definitely has my curiosity piqued for the return.

Steve: Klaus' return to murderous glory didn't shock me too much, given what Joseph Morgan told TV Fanatic this week. Not to mention the fact that Hayley had been playing Tyler for so long and his plan was bound to unravel in spectacular fashion. April waking up Beks? How did she know where to go or how to process any of what just happened? Total (random) surprise!

Leigh: Gonna go with April on this. If you found a statue-esque dead body with a dagger in the heart sitting in a tomb, wouldn't you run screaming for your life? She's in for a rude awakening. That was definitely not something I expected.

Give the first half of The Vampire Diaries Season 4 a grade.
Matt: The last three episodes have been brutal enough to knock this all the way down to a C. It started out with Best Season Ever potential - the Elena storyline was playing out perfectly - but this sire bond angle simply doesn't make any sense. It's destroyed the show's momentum, it's brought unwanted focus back on to the love triangle and I don't see any way it contributes to Rebekah getting topless any time soon.

Miranda: A-/B+. The scales are tipped toward the A- because of the hot sex between Damon and Elena. Toward the B+ because of all the whiny Caroline and sire bond nonsense. So far season 4 is miles ahead of season 3. Miles and miles.

Steve: B-minus. The last three weeks have felt uneven, rushed and confounding at times, stalling the strong momentum Season 4 started out with.

Leigh: B. I'm still semi confused about this whole sacrifice situation and the whole sire bond is total BS. April hasn't been an enthralling addition but I'm loving Phoebe Tonkin. All in all I'm still excited to tune in every week and that's what really matters.

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2012/12/the-vampire-diaries-round-table-o-come-all-ye-faithful/