I will never complain about an episode that’s all about Damon, even if he is being tortured. This episode was so much fun, but it also gave Ian Somerhalder a lot to work with.

*** Spoilers Below ***

It was Groundhog Day for Damon stuck in the Phoenix stone. At first it, appeared to be just a flashback, which it kind of was. We got to the first time Damon ever got blood on his hands. His blood shed started before he ever became a vampire.

To be fair, it wasn’t his fault and it was in the middle of a war. It is surprising that out of everything that Damon has ever done, the stone picks this incident to really hone in on and torture him.

It all makes sense after we find out it had something to do with his mother. That was the first time he really just wanted his mother.

I think Damon does hell better than anyone else, even if it’s the worst way to do it. He was supposed to give into the pain so Bonnie could pull him out like she did with Stefan, but he wouldn’t give up. He had to win. That’s Damon, alright. And he drove himself crazy by trying again and again.

I had a lot of fun watching this episode, because it was all Damon, but this episode also gave a lot of depth to Damon. It’s been nice to see different layers of the eldest Salvatore this season. It was particularly good in this episode.

We all knew Damon would eventually feel guilt over how he handled his mother’s death. He’s just so angry with his mother. It’s not hatred or lack of a soul that was making him lash out at Lily, it was pure and simple hurt that made him be so cold. If Elena was there, she would understand.

Damon doesn’t react to emotions like everyone else. He bottles them up and lashes out with them, but he does feel them.

The Phoenix stone finally broke him and it had a lot to do with throwing Stefan and Elena in his face.

I’m not sure if the end scene was real or if he was still in the stone. The preview really eased my fear that Damon had just killed everyone. That doesn’t mean he didn’t lash out when he got out of the stone, but everyone is fine. That’s the important part.

Damon lashing out when getting free is to be completely expected. We don’t know how long he was in there and his soul was tortured. Not to mention he had already been driven crazy by reliving the same day over and over again.

If that was Damon’s hell, what was Stefan’s hell? The stone picked something so long ago for Damon, but for Stefan, he’s done a lot that he’s regretted. He was the Ripper.

We’ve never had an episode that was so centric with one character. It was amazing. Ian is doing some great stuff this season. He said the old, bad Damon was going to be back, but this isn’t the old Damon that we fell in love with, this is so much better.

This is a new Damon with new depth. I hope we continue to see this side of Damon as the season unfolds.

Did you enjoy Damon replaying the day over and over again? Do you want to see more episodes like this? Let me know in the comments below.