After two years of playing Stefan Salvatore, 'The Vampire Diaries'' resident perfect boyfriend and all-around nice guy (who just so happens to be a perpetually 17-year-old vampire), Paul Wesley makes no secret that he loves the murderous turn his character has taken recently.

Now that Stefan has become "the Ripper," nicknamed as such for the savage way the formerly docile vampire tears apart people's bodies as he feeds on them (yes, pretty brutal for a CW teen soap), he couldn't be happier.

"It's everything I wanted," he told AOL TV last week when we visited the Atlanta-area 'Vampire Diaries' set. "The thing is, it's a transition. It's gradual. We open up this season -- and I don't want to give too much away -- but it's kind of like we're at the precipice of something happening. We're at this point where he's still holding on to a bit of that old part of himself."

But Good Stefan doesn't stick around for long. "As the story progresses we see his journey, his struggle, his disease take over, this darkness, and it sort of turns into a Stefan that has no morals," Wesley explained. "That's really, really fun to play. I get to play a whole new character and I get to do something that I have never done, and the audiences get to see me in a way that they never would've expected."

(S01E20) "You're back on Bambi blood, and I'm a badass big brother again. All is right in the world." - Damon to Stefan

A jealous brother, an evil uncle, and a trusting girlfriend all played into this episode of 'The Vampire Diaries.' We also got some flashbacks that revealed more of the Salvatore brothers' backstory and why Damon hates Stefan so much. Although, really, if he hated him that much, he wouldn't have organized the rescue mission to extract Stefan out of the vampires' farmhouse lair. Maybe he did it more for Elena than anything else.

And is it just me, or are Damon and Elena getting awfully chummy lately? I'll answer my own question: yes, they are.

(S01E19) "I don't hurt people. I don't do that. I'm the good brother." - Stefan

Stefan may think he's the good brother, but despite his best efforts to stay that way, he's going dark. He can't deny his true nature, and drinking human blood just brings that boiling up inside his soul.

(S01E18) "Have I entered an alternate universe where Stefan is fun?" - Damon

Somewhere in the last few episodes, things have shifted on 'The Vampire Diaries.' Now Damon seems like the good vamp (well, sort of; how fun was it to see his face when Uncle John came back from the dead?), while Stefan is going dark. I don't mind seeing Stefan go dark, because, frankly, he's a little boring being so virtuous all the time.

But he's not going willingly, that's for sure. He's trying hard to detox, but that drink of human blood last week -- Elena's blood -- gave him a wicked hunger that is not easily satisfied. Is there a 12-step program for vampires?

(S01E17) "I'm not gonna turn someone who learned everything he knows about vampires from Netflix." - Anna to Jeremy

There's a storm brewing, not only in the weather, but also those 25 cranky vampires in the farmhouse outside of town. By the end of this episode, there were a few less vampires there, not to mention the owner of the house.

Damon and Alaric made a great badass team, even if Alaric was ticked enough about the whole incident to slug Damon after it was all over. And everything that happened helped to further my fascination with (the still not-dead?) Frederick, especially after Pearl told him they can't live by revenge and need to have better control over their emotions. We can see how well that worked for him.

(S01E16) "I have 400 years on you, little boy. I'll rip you from limb to limb, and you know it." - Pearl to Damon

Just another average day on 'The Vampire Diaries' -- Matt and Caroline on a double date with Elena and Stefan. Or as Stefan put it, "a nice evening out with friends ... as in ... fun."

Let's face it. There's not going to be any fun for anyone on this show, especially with those 25 restless vampires in the farmhouse -- or as I like to call it, the vamp compound -- outside of town.

There's a vampire war brewing, and nothing anyone says or does is going to stop it. And thank goodness for that, because it promises to be really entertaining for us.

(S01E15) "Is there a problem? Did you find her? What's going on?" - Woman's voice on the other end of the cellphone Elena picked up after the mystery guy was hit by the truck

Well, I did what we talked about in the last review and re-watched the earlier episodes of 'The Vampire Diaries' leading up to this one. I think it helped, so I appreciate the discussion we had.

The big thing to me this week was the storyline revolving around Elena's mother -- who she is, what happened to her, and the mystery surrounding whether she's alive or dead. More after the jump.

(S01E14) "Spirits talk, Mr. Salvatore, and so does my granddaughter. You are no friend to us. Now get off my porch." - Sheila to Damon

Well, finally! Finally we get to that darn tomb and see what's in there (lots of scary souls). At the beginning of this episode, I was going to complain about how 'The Vampire Diaries' has been a lot of talk and not much action lately. But at least we got the tomb scene, and Sheila's awesome witch powers. Still ... is it just me, or has the show leveled off a bit on the excitement factor?

(S01E13) "You know, I really like this whole menage a trois threesome thing. It's got a bit of a kink to it." - Damon to Stefan and Elena

Interesting episode of 'The Vampire Diaries,' with the flashbacks showing the relationship of the Gilberts and Salvatores back when women wore hoops and guys wore watch fobs. What's really fun is seeing Nina Dobrev play the wicked vampire chick from back in the day. Such a departure from her present day Elena, who's all about the common sense.

Happy Thanksgiving! It's that time of year when we reflect on all the good things in our lives, and of course, my thoughts turn to TV. Let's take a look at a few things on the tube that make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Sexy vampires. Oh my, we got lots of them this year. The Twilight Saga: New Moon's got nothin' on TV vampires. Eric Northman and Bill Compton from True Blood are definitely at the top of my list. Pictured is that hunk o' steamy vamp himself, Eric, a.k.a. Alexander Skarsgard in real life. But we also got those lovely Salvatore brothers on The Vampire Diaries. Elena certainly has some high-class problems, doesn't she? Steadfast Stefan or bad-vamp Damon? They both have their particular gifts.

(S01E10) "Too bad I live alone. I'm at the Ramada watching pay-per-view all day eating everything in sight, including the housekeeping." - Logan, since there's no one at his home to invite him in

As you can see, I'm a little crazy for Paul Wesley and all those muscles, so there ya go. Here's another one, in case you missed last week's episode, "History Repeating." He shows more and more skin with each episode.

We got lots more action and intrigue in this episode, involving Logan, the Sheriff, Caroline and of course, Elena, Damon and Stefan. And they certainly couldn't let the vampires-in-the-church storyline just drop, could they? Of course not. More after the jump.

(S01E09) I was pretty much riveted to this episode of The Vampire Diaries all the way through, but especially at the end, when we learned a whole lot of stuff in the last few minutes. It was fun seeing the vamp brothers Stefan and Damon sort of buddy up, even if it wasn't really real. Given their long history, you have to think there must be some brotherly ... something there, even though Damon killed Stefan's BFF last week and then Stefan nearly killed Damon. Oh those kooky vampire brothers.

(S01E08) "It's not every day a guy turns 162 years old." - Lexi to Stefan on his birthday

What?! Nooooo! They keep bringing in these great characters and then killing them off! Hopefully, they're just stashing the bodies somewhere for a mass resurrection at some point. And, by the way, I totally did not see that coming.

The Vampire Diaries started out great and continues to get better each week. It's so beautifully dark and gloomy. I love the Salvatore's gothic digs, and Stefan is showing considerable restraint at not offing his bad, bad brother Damon.

(S01E07) "So she's a vampire with issues?" - Elena to Stefan about Vicki

Well! In case you haven't watched this week's episode yet, I'll save the big spoiler for after the jump. Suffice to say that things are jumping in The Vampire Diaries, and for some characters, that's not necessarily a good thing.

I continue to love the show and look forward to it every week (and was seriously bummed when it wasn't on last week!). In a sea of mediocre new shows (well, mediocre to me anyway), that IS a good thing.

(S01E06) "Everything you know and every belief that you have is about to change. Are you ready for that?" - Stefan to Elena

And to finish that thought ... "I'm a vampire." So Elena knows now; no more speculating or wondering. My first thought was that Elena knows that Stefan is a good vampire. He even races to tell her: "I would never hurt you. You're safe with me." So why is she so freaked out? Because he's a vampire, of course, and who wouldn't be freaked out by that?

I'm loving The Vampire Diaries.