Plus, a trip down memory lane reveals Marcel’s connection to the Mikaelsons — especially the pretty blond one. (No, the other pretty blond one.)
The Originals is shaping up to be TV’s craziest game of chess, and every piece is sexy. Rebekah (Claire Holt) became the newest player on the Oct. 8 episode, as she arrived in New Orleans with one goal in mind: Find Elijah (Daniel Gillies). And hey, isn’t that really all of our goals?

Plus, Elena and Caroline battled the freshman 15 on ‘The Vampire Diaries’ season premiere — and by that, I mean it took about 15 minutes for someone to die! I miss college.
The Vampire Diaries made its long-awaited return Oct. 3, and after the first hour, it’s clear the fifth season is going to be one of adjustments. Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Caroline (Candice Accola) are adjusting to college life, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is adjusting to living apart from his girlfriend, Katherine is adjusting to her humanity, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) is adjusting to life among the living and Bonnie (Kat Graham) is adjusting to life among the dead.

Australian import Rick Cosnett has a ‘dark’ lesson for Elena & Caroline — but will one of them also end up as the teacher’s pet?
A new school year means a new enemy for Elena (Nina Dobrev) on The Vampire Diaries — and because this is The CW we’re talking about, Elena’s new foe is as wickedly attractive as he is, well, wicked! EW.com reports that Aussie actor Rick Cosnett will appear on the show’s upcoming fifth season as biology professor Dr. Wes Maxfield, and it doesn’t take long for Elena and Caroline (Candice Accola) to grow suspicious of him.

Spoiler alert: Stop reading if you don’t want to know who (probably) died on the ‘True Blood’ season finale.
Real talk: The Aug. 19 season finale of True Blood gave frustrated fans a lot to complain about. A season-long storyline was sloppily wrapped up in 20 minutes, Sookie (Anna Paquin) suddenly found herself in a committed relationship with very little build-up; and most controversially, a fan-favorite character appeared to have met the true death. I’m here to discuss that last shocker — and why it might not be as tragic as we all think.

Spoiler alert: Stop reading now if you haven’t seen the polarizing ‘True Blood’ season finale. I’m about to whine about many major plot points.
Sookie (Anna Paquin) and Warlow’s wedding day finally arrived on the Aug. 18 season finale of True Blood, but like most major events in Bon Temps, it didn’t exactly go off without a hitch. In fact, it was pretty much one big non-stop hitch, as Warlow revealed his true intentions to his future bride. Spoiler alert: He’s a total hybrid douche.

Plus, Sookie makes a desperate deal with Bill. Is their icy relationship starting to thaw?
When someone dies in your bed, it’s customary to simply wash the sheets and carry on. But after the gruesome/melty death we witnessed on the July 28 episode of True Blood, I’m thinking Bill (Stephen Moyer) might want to just throw out his entire bed and start fresh.

Season six really came to a head this week. (Seriously, though, stop reading if you don’t want to be spoiled.)
True Blood did a little house cleaning July 21, knocking off two relatively important, though very different, characters. We also got to see fairy-on-fairy sex for the first time, and it was even more sparkly than I could have ever imagined — not that I spent a lot of time imagining it. … Oh, boy.

I knew Sookie’s parents were racist, but were they also murderers? Probably, yeah.
Let’s start this week’s recap with a few rhetorical questions: Why does Sookie (Anna Paquin) keep digging into her past? Hasn’t she learned by now that the more questions she asks, the more people come out of the woodworks to kill her? Oh, who am I kidding? This is Sookie we’re talking about; she’s a big fairy dumb-dumb who gets off putting herself, and others, in harm’s way — which explains why the July 14 episode of True Blood ended with her being drowned in a damn lake.

How will the ghost and the hunter keep their romance alive? Steven shares a few ideas with HollywoodLife.com.
There isn’t a Facebook status in the world capable of capturing just how ‘complicated’ the relationship between Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) and Bonnie (Kat Graham) is going to be when The Vampire Diaries returns Oct. 10 for its fifth season. Jeremy, who was just brought back from the dead, will attempt to re-enter high school, while continuing to date Bonnie, who is now a ghost. Like I said, it’s complicated.

Spoiler alert: Stop reading if you don’t want to know who died on the ‘True Blood’ season premiere!
Death is never easy, though sometimes, it is necessary. HollywoodLife.com chatted with the victim of True Blood’s June 16 season premiere for the inside story on the shocking goodbye, and how it’ll affect the futures of several fan-favorite residents of Bon Temps.

Vote for the biggest surprise from the past season, while getting scoop on what’s to come in season five.
From the moment Elena (Nina Dobrev) first bore her fangs, we knew The Vampire Diaries’ fourth season was going to be something special. Relive the 10 biggest shockers of season four, and get the latest season five spoilers. Just think: There’s more of this madness to come!

Julie Plec teases what’s to come for the show’s super-couple, Stefan’s next step and the newest vampire-turned-human! The Vampire Diaries took a few crazy turns on the May 16 season finale, and it sounds like executive producer Julie Plec is just getting started. In a new interview with E! Online, she hints at her plans for all of…

Life in Mystic Falls will look very different next season! Get your first look at what’s to come for Elena and the Salvatores.
The CW officially unveiled its new programming May 16 during the network’s Upfront presentation, and while The Vampire Diaries is hardly a new series, we did get a taste of what’s to come when the show returns for its fifth season this fall — and yes, it’s “shocking!”

Deaths! Twists! Special ghost stars! It was a hell of a week in the neighborhood — literally.
It was the end of the world as we know it on the May 9 episode of The Vampire Diaries, and I felt fine. Actually, I felt great, thanks largely to the parade of familiar — and dearly departed — faces that paraded across my TV screen this week. Of course, not every visitor was a sight for sore eyes. And not every character survived the hour.

Which of Elena’s friends made a major sacrifice to save her from herself — and who does Elena now have in her crosshairs?
If the thought of Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) teaming up to torture Elena (Nina Dobrev) sounds at all sexy to you, then you clearly did not watch the May 2 episode of The Vampire Diaries, in which the Salvatore brothers literally lit their former flame on fire in order to restore her humanity. OK, technically Elena lit herself on fire… but that’s neither here nor there.

This week’s ‘Vampire Diaries’ set the stage for some hard times in the Big Easy. If The CW doesn’t pick up this spin-off, it would be a crime against television.
I don’t think we’re in Mystic Falls anymore, Toto! The April 25 episode of The Vampire Diaries — aka the back-door pilot for The Originals, which I’m crossing my fingers for harder than ever — introduced us to the “dark side” of New Orleans, where Klaus’ (Joseph Morgan) former protege Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) rules the roost. You know, when he’s not rocking the karaoke mic. But Klaus and Marcel’s buddy-buddy routine fell to pieces as Klaus became resentful of his former BFF, and vowed to steal back his kingdom.

Damon & Stefan tie Elena up on the show’s May 2 episode — but it’s not as hot as it sounds.
Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) are more determined than ever to make Elena (Nina Dobrev) turn her humanity back on, and if these first-look photos from the May 2 episode of The Vampire Diaries are any indication, they’re done playing nice.

Plus, we finally got our first look as Silas’ real face! (Spoiler alert: He’s even fuglier than we imagined.)
In an attempt to convince Elena (Nina Dobrev) to turn her humanity back on, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) attempted to overload her with emotions on the April 18 episode of The Vampire Diaries — and what better occasion to exploit a teenage girl’s feelings than  her senior prom? Unfortunately for the eternally clueless Salvatores, their little plan totally backfired, instead triggering their own dormant feelings about Elena… and each other. In other words, this love triangle is so back on.

‘The Vampire Diaries’ is finally back from hiatus April 18, and this clip gives us three more reasons to get excited: Damon. Stefan. Football.
With Elena (Nina Dobrev) more out-of-control than ever, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) have an impossible task ahead of them on the April 18 episode of The Vampire Diaries. And what’s the best way for two bros to clear their heads and brainstorm? According to this new clip, obtained exclusively by HollywoodLife.com, the answer is simple: a friendly came of catch!