['The Vampire Diaries' - 'By the Light of the Moon']

According to Michael Trevino, Elizabeth Allen prepared to direct last night's mid-season finale of 'The Vampire Diaries' by filling her laptop with videos of wolves devouring other animals and women giving birth. Strangely enough, both of those influences were eerily evident when watching Trevino's Tyler Lockwood phase into a werewolf for the first time on last night's show -- a game-changing performance.

Trevino's combination of raw animal instinct and heartbreaking screams of agony (as a woman who hopes to have children someday, OH MY GOD IT BETTER NOT HURT THAT BADLY) made for one of the most alarmingly realistic werewolf transformations I've ever seen on film -- um, assuming we pretend this is a thing that could actually happen in life and assuming I've seen more than one werewolf movie ever that wasn't part of the 'Twilight' Saga.

As Tyler's screams became increasingly panicked and pitiful (and the sickening sound of bones breaking got louder), you knew Tyler, who's used to being the badass rebel tough guy, was at his most vulnerable point. Caroline, sensing his weakness -- and also intimately understanding the gut-wrenching fear of transforming into a strange beast without a single word of guidance -- was at her most maternal. And though Caroline and Tyler had never really talked much before this shared experience, you could sense (and truly believe) their unspoken bond. Tyler needed Caroline's help, and Caroline needed to help him.

Kudos all around for handling the werewolf storyline so well -- Trevino, Candice Accola (Caroline), Allen, the effects team, the makeup team. I can't wait to see how the next full moon goes.

As for the second-most anticipated event of the episode -- CAVE SEX, DUH -- obviously it was going to be some sort of dream or fantasy because Stefan is way too devoted to Elena to ever do anything with Katherine. That said, they could've made Katherine's super-steamy vision last at least another minute without complaint. Just me? (Who am I kidding, you pervs -- I know it's not just me.)

My only issue is that Stefan got out of the tomb and back together with Elena within one episode of getting trapped inside. Since the episode didn't even have a crazytown cliffhanger (as pre-hiatus 'TVD' episodes are wont to have), couldn't they have drawn out that tension for a tad longer? We have a lot of new information to contemplate during the long, cold wait for new episodes -- Jan. 27 never seemed so far away -- but no truly painful cliffhangers to relive over and over. Or maybe I'm just masochistic (Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec made me that way, I swear).

Among the choice bits of information to mull over: Elijah's sudden proposition to protect Elena from Klaus before killing the evil original vampire. He even agreed to release Stefan from the tomb with seemingly no strings attached. Silly Elena, you should know by now that nothing's ever that easy in Mystic Falls. You didn't even want to wait and see what his angle was?

And Jules: One, she needs to STEP OFF of Tyler and stop having phone conversations with mysterious people about our precious Lockwood. Two, it's not surprising that she was a werewolf, but it was surprising that she bit Rose and Rose didn't die. Rose got a mysterious rash instead -- but not just any rash, a really serious rash you'd get from some sort of flesh-eating bacteria or a terrible bedbug infestation. Don't threaten a Salvatore if you can't back it up, lady.

Lastly: Poor, gullible Bonnie. Luka "helped" her de-spell the moonstone, but went home and told his dad that Bonnie bought his performance. The curse remained in tact, and Bonnie remained too dumb to realize that she shouldn't trust random dudes who roll into town claiming they're warlocks. She also remained too dumb to realize that she and Jeremy are soul mates. Soul mates, I tell you!

Closing thoughts:

--The blatant camera pan to the Ford Fiesta logo earned a double rewind (all the way) because it was so hilarious.

--Exchange of the night, as Elena complained about Damon forcing her to stay at home: "Yes, Elena, I find hilarity in the lengths that i have to go to to repeatedly save your life." "What did Stefan say about this?" "We had a good laugh."

--The water bottle with wolfsbane looked like it was filled with highlighter fluid. Or pee. Just sayin'.

Tell us: What did you think of the episode? Was there enough of a cliffhanger for your liking?


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