Matt Davis pretty much told us how episodes one and two of this season were going to go down when we spoke to him at San Diego Comic-Con. That didn’t make it any less fun watching it play out.

Spoilers below

As Matt told us, Alaric is the headmaster of Mystic Falls High school, and he hunted a monster with Hope (Danielle Rose Russell). First, how great is it that we will spend more time in these halls again? I’m totally here for reliving scenes in my head from The Vampire Diaries every week.

As for Hope and Alaric hunting together, Malivore can’t erase everything. As we saw in the episode last season when Lizzie ( Jenny Boyd) was going through alternate realities, no matter what, Alaric and Hope bonded.

I would have been fine if we had a few more episodes of Alaric and Hope hunting monsters, but I’m excited that he will now be finding a way to help her.

There’s no way you could resist crying when Hope was in tears telling Alaric who she was and what happened to her. Especially when she said that he’s the closest thing she has to a father. Julie Plec knows how to pull at our heartstrings, and this was a beautiful moment.

The whole episode was beautiful, with how Hope was trying to be so strong. A great moment of this was when Landon (Aria Shahasemi) was talking to her about Josie (Kaylee Bryant). How do you hold back tears when the boy you love doesn’t remember who you are and is confessing the struggles he’s having with his new girl? Not only that, Hope finally felt like she belonged, and now she’s alone worse than before.

Speaking of Landon and Josie, are we shipping this? They are super cute together, and I like how they are both working on themselves while pursuing this relationship. I’ll sit back and enjoy the ride, but I liked Handon, and I’m intrigued by Hosie. Unfortunately, unless the writers bring back the characters’ memories soon, neither of these are possibilities.

Lizzie has a new crush, Sabastian. What is he? Who is this new character? He’s so mysterious and cute. I just want to know more! It would be nice to see Lizzie have some luck in the relationship department. I’m also excited for her “year of yes.” We’re getting a little bit of last season Lizzie and a new more positive one this season.

MG (Quincy Fouse) may not be getting his chance with Lizzie, but I love what a good friend he is. He’s genuinely in love with her. His words about her were so sweet. I wish she could hear them. I get her desire to have a fresh start, but she’s not all bad. We liked her in season one for a reason. She can be that person and work on herself at the same time. I don’t ship MG and Lizzie, but I do wish she could see herself through MG’s eyes. 

One last thing. What do we think about the new headmaster? I’m getting nostalgic Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes but not good vies from the character he’s playing on this show. Though, did like the Harry Potter vibe of him starting a defensive magic class. 

Season one was a great introduction to the expanded world of TVD and this year we a really diving in.