The Vampire Diaries 101: Your guide to Season 1

Welcome to the world of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Population: vampires, werewolves and witches, oh my! It's a world of love triangles, betrayal and vampire revenge. If you haven't watched a single episode of The Vampire Diaries, here's your chance to get caught up on one of the most popular TV shows on right now.

To begin your Vampire Diaries education, the first thing you need to know is The Vampire Diaries was originally created as a book series by the New York Times #1 best selling author L.J. Smith. There have been six major novels and two companion books written in the series, and the seventh novel, The Return: Midnight, is set to be released in March 2011. But if you have read these novels and not seen the TV show, viewer be warned: it is quite a bit different to the books. Not that the changes have been worse, but I can say that I still Twitter scream from time to time, "That's not what they do in the book!" I have learned, however, that the TV series, now in the middle of its second season,  is just as good as the books, thanks in major part to the genius of writers/producers Kevin Williamson (Dawson's Creek, Scream) and Julie Plec (Kyle XY, Scream). With all this said, let's dig in to the series!

Season 1:

Pilot: We follow the life of Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and her brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) who are trying to get over the death of their parents. They continue to live in the house they grew up in, and their aunt Jenna (Sara Canning) has become their primary guardian. Elena goes back to school to capture the attention of a new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). All of Elena's friends are abuzz with gossip about the new boy, but it's Elena's ex-boyfriend Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig) and her rival Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola) who are the only ones who don't seem to get that Stefan has paid more interest in Elena than the rest of the school girls. Matt's sister Vicki (Kayla Ewell) is bitten by what everyone thinks to be an animal, however we soon find out that Stefan is a vampire. Stefan does not drink the blood of humans, but rather feeds of forest creatures (poor little squirrels). With this "animal" attack, Stefan realizes that his older, and rather devious vampire brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is back in town.  The two brothers had not seen each other in 15 years.

To make it easier to consume this massive first season, here's a cram session I compiled from Wikipedia.

"The Night of the Comet":

• Mystic Falls celebrates the passing of a comet


• Vicki recuperates in the hospital from her injuries caused by a vampire.


• Stefan tries to use his abilities to erase Vicki's attacker from her memory, but is interrupted by Matt.


• Mr. Tanner tells Jenna tells that she is doing a bad job of taking care of teenagers based on the signs he is seeing in Jeremy.


• Elena and Damon meet for the first time at the Salvatore house.


• Elena and Stefan kiss.


• Damon takes Caroline as his next victim.

"Friday Night Bites":

• Elena invites Stefan and Bonnie to dinner so that they can get to know each other better.


• At school, Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino) tries to make a fool out of Stefan by throwing a football at him, but Stefan catches it and passes it back.


• Stefan joins the football team.


• During dinner, Damon and Caroline unexpectedly show up.


• Elena "invites" him into her house.


• Stefan gives Elena a necklace filled with vervain, a plant that weakens vampires, to  protect her from Damon.


• Stefan tries to tell Damon that he still has some humanity left in him.


• Damon attacks and kills Mr. Tanner just to prove him wrong.

"Family Ties":

• Elena and Stefan go to the town's annual Founders' Party, hosted by Tyler's parents.


• Damon tells Elena about the history of the Salvatores after Stefan tries to cut Damon out of his life.


• Damon also retrieves an amber crystal from one of the historical artifacts in the Lockwood Estate.


• Stefan uses Caroline as a vessel to poison Damon.


• When Damon sucks Caroline's blood, he falls ill (dang that vervain!).


• Caroline wakes up, sees the amber crystal and puts it in her purse.


• Stefan locks up a weakened Damon at the Salvatore property.


• The Founders Council, including Mayor Lockwood (Tyler's father), Carol Lockwood (Tyler's mother), Sheriff Forbes (Caroline's mother), and Logan Fell, have come to the conclusion that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls due to the drained bodies, and must retrieve a pocket watch that belongs to the Gilbert family.


• In the end, Vicki goes to Jeremy and they go to the bedroom.

"You're Undead to Me":

• Damon grows weaker


• Jeremy's and Vicki's relationship grows stronger.


• Bonnie discovers more about her powers.


• Logan has dinner in the Gilberts' house which leads to his stealing the pocket watch.


• Elena finds out from a stranger that Stefan eerily resembles somebody named Stefan Salvatore he knew in 1953.


• Elena questions who Stefan really is.


• Damon uses his connection with Caroline to free himself and later feeds on Vicki.

"Lost Girls":

• Stefan tells Elena that in 1864, that he and Damon loved a woman named Katherine, who then turned them into vampires.


• Damon spends the day trapped inside the Salvatore Boarding House with Vicki. They feed off of each other and he changes her into a vampire.


• Stefan discovers  Vicki and attempts to persuade her to die instead of completing the transformation into a vampire by feeding on human blood.


• Logan uses the pocket watch that tracks down vampires and finds Stefan and Vicki in the woods.


• Logan shoots Stefan with a wooden bullet, thinking Stefan was attacking Vicki.


• Damon saves Stefan by attacking Logan.


• Vicki is overcome by the hunger and feeds on Logan, completing her transformation.


• Stefan tells Elena that Vicki has become a vampire, and Elena decides to keep his secrets, but not without ending their relationship.

"Haunted"

• Stefan tries to help Vicki deal with her urge to feed, but is unable to control her.


• Caroline gives Bonnie the amber crystal which Damon took from the Founder's Party.


• At a Halloween party, Vicki attacks Jeremy and Elena, and Stefan stakes her through the heart, killing her.


• Stefan swears Elena to secrecy so she won't tell Matt and Jeremy what really happened to Vicki.


• Elena asks Stefan to use his powers to make sure her brother does not remember what happened. When Stefan tells her he is unsure of it working effectively, Damon volunteers to "take away his suffering."

"162 Candles"

• An old vampire friend of Stefan's arrives in Mystic Falls, the 350-year-old Lexi.


• Lexi makes Elena realize the value of love, and helps her to take the first step towards renewing a relationship with Stefan.


• Jeremy stops doing drugs and putting off homework after Damon alters his memory of Vicki's death. E


• Elena asks Damon if there is anything else that he did to her brother but all Damon says is that he "removed the suffering".


• Damon gives a box of vervain to Sheriff Forbes and she reveals to him all of the vampire hunters in town.


• Damon frames Lexi for the death of a local boy by altering his girlfriend's memory and changing her testimony.


• The police apprehend Lexi. Outside the bar, Damon stakes Lexi and kills her before she can attack the sheriff.


• Stefan takes off and attacks Damon, but stops short of killing him. He spares Damon's life to repay Damon for saving him from Logan.


• While wearing the amber crystal Bonnie has a nightmare and she wakes up in a cemetery.

"History Repeating"

• A new history teacher arrives, Alaric Saltzman, to replace Mr. Tanner.


• Jeremy notices his ring, which resembles one worn by vampires.


• Jeremy introduces his new teacher to Jenna, who then becomes infatuated with Alaric.


• Alaric asks Jenna to invite him into her home, but she refuses after realizing Jeremy is there.


• When Bonnie is having dreams about her ancestor Emily, the girls decide to hold a séance, enabling Emily to possess Bonnie.


• Damon reveals the reason he really came back to Mystic Falls: to resurrect Katherine with the help of the crystal that Katherine gave to Emily on her last day alive.


• Stefan tries to stop Damon, knowing that it'll cause a disaster in Mystic Falls due to the fact that all the vampires held in old Fell's Church were burned to death by the townspeople, and that they would take their revenge on an innocent generation of townspeople.


• On her way to the ruins of old Fell's Church, Damon greets Emily and reminds her about the deal they made a century and a half ago. Damon will protect Emily's line and Emily will protect Katherine. Damon goes for the crystal, and Emily uses her power to throw him up to the branch of a tree. Then Emily performs the ritual to destroy the crystal and thwarts Damon's plan. Emily releases Bonnie from possession. Furious Damon attacks Bonnie, but Stefan saves her by making her drink his blood. Bonnie is frightened of Stefan until Elena reveals everything to her.


• Matt continues to be there for Caroline when she needs it.


• Logan returns into the picture as a vampire instead of a corpse at Elena's house, and he tries to get Jenna to invite him in.

"The Turning Point"

• Jeremy decides to return to his hobby of sketching fantasy creatures that he had stopped upon the death of his parents.


• Logan attacks and kills several people throughout the town.


• Matt and Caroline continue to hang out together. He tells Tyler that he likes hanging out with Caroline.


• Sheriff Forbes tells Damon of a new recent attack, and he discovers Logan doesn't know who turned him.


• Alaric helps with a small dispute among Jeremy, Tyler and Mayor Lockwood.


• Logan kidnaps Caroline after a dispute with the sheriff, but Stefan and Damon save her.


• Logan tells Damon he knows of another way to resurrect Katherine.


• Elena tells Stefan that she loves him and he decides to stay in Mystic Falls.


• Stefan and Elena sleep together. But when Stefan goes to get a drink for Elena, she discovers the photo of Katherine and leaves his house abruptly, leaving her vervain necklace behind with the photo.


• Alaric confronts Logan and tells him to leave Jenna alone. Logan tries to attack him, but gets staked and dies.


• Elena is involved in a car crash while trying to avoid a man in the middle of the road, but realizes that the man is more than human. A stranger approaches the car and Elena screams.

"Bloodlines"

• Damon's arrival causes the mysterious stranger to flee, and Damon frees Elena from her overturned car.


• Damon brings Elena with him to Georgia to see Bree, a witch and an old flame of Damon's, hoping she can help open the tomb to free Katherine.


• Bree calls Lee, Lexi's boyfriend (as Lexi was her friend), who wants revenge on Damon.


• Elena saves Damon, and he kills Bree after she tells him to find Emily's spellbook.


• Stefan opens up to Bonnie's grandma in an attempt to help Bonnie come to terms with her new power.


• Jeremy meets Anna, who knows the true past of Mystic Falls.


• When Elena and Damon return, Stefan reveals that he saved Elena from the crash that killed her parents. Stefan also tells Elena that her parents adopted her, but knows nothing more about her parentage. He claims his love to Elena and she forgives him.


• Alaric sits at the Mystic Grill bar and recognizes Damon as the vampire who killed his wife.

"Unpleasantville"

• The vampire that has been stalking Elena knew Katherine and he is killed by the Salvatore brothers.


• Before dying he reveals that the way to get into the tomb lies in Gilbert's journal.


• While Jenna and Alaric are walking home from the party, Alaric tells Jenna that his wife was named Isobel, the same name as Elena's birth mother.


• Anna keeps on trying to get close to Jeremy, because she wants to get her hands on his ancestor's journal.


• At the end of the episode, it is revealed that both Anna and Ben are vampires and appear to be romantically involved with each other.

"Children of the Damned"

• The episode begins with a flashback of Katherine and Damon in 1864. Katherine stops a carriage and attacks and feeds on the people in it. Katherine and Damon kiss.The scene fades to Damon interrupting Elena and Stefan in bed. Damon reminds them he can be trusted then leaves. The scene fades to Damon and Katherine in 1864.


• In flashbacks, Stefan and Damon recall the long-ago actions taken by townspeople, including their father, Giuseppe Salvatore, leading to the devastating events that caused the rift in their relationship.


• In the present, Bonnie’s date with Ben takes a frightening turn when she discovers Ben is a vampire.


• Elena helps Stefan as he and Damon race to find the missing journal that belonged to Elena’s ancestor.


• Stefan learns the reason behind Alaric’s interest in both the journal and the town’s history and that the way into the tomb is in the Grimoire.


• Stefan got a photocopy of the journal that Alaric had made.


• Stefan and Elena go to Giuseppe Salvatore's grave to find Emily's spell book.


• Jeremy's friend Anna is revealed to be the daughter of Pearl, one of the vampires trapped in the tomb beneath the ruins of old Fell's Church.


• Damon takes the journal from her and goes to his father's grave.


• Damon finds Elena and Stefan there after they dig the Grimoire up from his father's grave. Damon takes the book.


• Stefan brings Elena home and goes down stairs to get her some aspirin.


• He learns that Jeremy has Anna over. Stefan recognizes the name and runs upstairs to find Elena gone.

"Fool Me Once"

• Elena wakes to find that she and Bonnie have been kidnapped by Anna and Ben.


• Stefan has been trying to find her and asks Damon for help, but he refuses.


• With help from Grams, Stefan eventually saves Elena and Bonnie.


• Stefan later ends up killing Ben for not obeying his order to leave town.


• Jeremy asks Anna to a party in the woods, unaware that she has her own reasons for wanting to meet him there.


• With the help of Bonnie and Grams, the tomb is opened and Damon realizes that Katherine is not inside.


• Anna enters the tomb to find her mother Pearl and helps her escape by having her feed on Elena's blood.


• Stefan warns Damon that the seal of the tomb has only been temporarily broken, and Elena helps them both escape in order to not be sealed in forever.


• Out of the tomb, Elena sees how upset Damon is and comforts him.


• Damon afterward confronts Anna and Pearl, and learns that a smitten church guard had let Katherine go, and she was never inside the tomb.Anna admits to having seen Katherine in Chicago in 1983, but she was indifferent regarding Damon.


• At home, Bonnie checks on Grams, but finds that she has died from the strain back at the tomb.


• The episode ends with one of the vampires escaping from the tomb.

"A Few Good Men"

• Harper, the vampire who escaped from the tomb, kills a man in the woods and steals his clothes.


• Matt and Caroline are surprised by the sudden reappearance of Matt’s mother Kelly.


• Stefan and Elena are worried about Damon’s new attitude.


• Damon is asked by Sheriff Forbes to take part in a fund-raising bachelor auction and asks the Sheriff for information on Alaric.


• Alaric discovers that his wife Isobel was Elena's biological mother, and was turned into a vampire by Damon at her own request.He confronts Damon, and the confrontation ends when Damon stabs Alaric to death with a stake. However, Alaric comes back to life, saved by a mysterious ring that Isobel gave him.


• Elena is determined to find out everything she can about her birth mother, but encounters warnings -- possibly from Isobel herself -- to stay away. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Harper will be staying with Anna and Pearl.

"There Goes the Neighborhood"

• Anna pays a visit to Damon, bringing along her mother Pearl, who wants to take control of the town.


• All the vampires in the tomb have been released, and most are staying at an old farmhouse on the outskirts of town.


• Pearl offers to help Damon find Katherine if he helps her out, but the visit turns violent when he turns her down.


• Anna arrives unexpectedly at Jeremy's house. Jeremy cuts his hand to tempt Anna, who then sucks his blood, but is interrupted by Jenna.


• Elena, Stefan, Caroline, and Matt go on an awkward double date to Mystic Grill where Frederick, a now-freed vampire from the tomb, mistakes Elena for Katherine.


• Kelly, Jenna, and Damon have some drinks at the bar, but Jenna leaves when things start heating up between Damon and Kelly.


• Frederick and his girlfriend Bethanne, who blame the Salvatore brothers for their entombment, break into the boarding house and attack Stefan and Damon. Stefan stakes Bethanne, but Frederick escapes and returns to the farmhouse, where Pearl punishes him for leaving the house against her orders.


• Anna sneaks into Jeremy's room and chastises him for cutting himself in front of her, but Jeremy insists that he did it because he wants her to turn him.

"Let the Right One In"

• A great storm approaches Mystic Falls.


• Jeremy keeps trying to convince Anna to turn him, but she refuses.


• While out hunting, Stefan is captured by Frederic and his friends, who intend to torture him before killing him.


• Damon goes to the house, realizing he cannot get in because the owner of the house has been compelled not to invite him in.


• Damon and Elena convince Alaric to work with them to help Stefan.


• Damon won't let Elena to come into the house with them.


• Pearl meets mayor Lockwood in the Mystic Grill.


• Matt is angry with his mother Kelly, but is fearful of pressuring her too much, afraid that she may leave again.


• Alaric enters the vampire house under the pretext of borrowing the phone.


• Damon kills the human living in the house, thus enabling him to enter.


• After her car breaks down in the storm, Caroline discovers the remains of Vicki Donovan. Matt and Kelly are heartbroken by the news.


• Damon and Elena rescue Stefan, but a fight erupts in which Damon and Alaric kill most of the vampires.


• Frederick comes after Elena and Stefan, wounding Stefan badly.Elena has to feed Stefan her blood to revive him. Stefan briefly loses control of himself.


• Anna agrees to turn Jeremy, but she figures out that the real reason he wanted to be turned was to be with Vicki, whom he now knows to be dead.


• Damon discovers that Stefan has lost control of his bloodlust, drinking large amounts of human blood from Damon's stores of IV bags.

"Under Control"

• Stefan struggles to maintain control of his new circumstances, and Elena and Jeremy's uncle, John Gilbert, unexpectedly shows up in Mystic Falls. Stefan exhibits some unusual behavior at the Founder's Day event, and things turn ugly when Damon tries to find out why John Gilbert has returned. Matt and Tyler find themselves in conflict after an incident at the party, and the relationship between Matt and his mom reaches a new low point. Meanwhile, Elena is unable to comfort Jeremy, causing him to take action.

"Miss Mystic Falls"

• At the Founder's Day Gala, Elena and Caroline compete in the "Miss Mystic Falls" contest.


• Bonnie returns to town and Elena is very happy to have her back, but Bonnie still feels alienated from Elena because of her association with the Salvatore brothers.


• At the Miss Mystic Falls contest, Damon tells Elena that Stefan has been drinking human blood again.


• Stefan gets angry when Elena confronts him with this information, and breaks a mirror. To his despair, one of the Miss Mystic Falls contestants sees him do this, so Stefan takes her.


• Anna shows up at the dance, and Jeremy attempts to apologize for using her to become a vampire. Jeremy tells Anna that he knows that the only reason Anna wanted to be friends with him was so she could use his blood to revive her mother. Jeremy says he knows everything. Anna and Jeremy make up and Anna says she would never do anything to hurt him.


• Back at the dance, Damon poses as Elena's escort, since Stefan was not there.


• Later Elena and Damon, with major help from Bonnie, locate and get Stefan under control.


• Meanwhile, John Gilbert tries unsuccessfully to intimidate Damon.

"Blood Brothers"

• Stefan and Damon reveal pieces of their history to Elena, including the truth about how they were turned into vampires.


• Pearl and Jonathan Gilbert have an an ugly confrontation.


• Damon and Alaric attempt to track down a mysterious invention before Jonathan can find it.


• Jeremy and Anna's relationship continues to grow as Anna enrolls at Jeremy's high school just so they could spend time together. Jeremy attempts to learn as much as possible from her. Soon after, Anna and Jeremy begin making out.


• Jonathan Gilbert kills Pearl by staking her and Anna cries over her dead body.


• When Elena releases him, Stefan goes blood crazy and wants to die but Elena manages to talk him out of it. They return to the house and Stefan seems to be cured of the blood-craze but Damon doesn't seem happy about it.

"Isobel"

• Isobel returns to town and surprises Alaric with her demand that he arrange for her to meet Elena; it appears that she still loves him and that she is not truly happy with her life as a vampire.


• Isobel refuses to answer most of Elena's questions, but states that she is also looking for the mysterious invention that John Gilbert has been seeking.


• Isobel orders Elena to obtain the device from Damon and threatens to kill Elena's loved ones if she refuses.


• We learn that Isobel and John are working for Katherine.


• Isobel tries to intimidate Damon into giving her the device and offers to reveal Katherine's whereabouts in return, but he makes it clear that he will not tolerate her threatening him or the people he cares about, and that he no longer wants anything to do with Katherine.


• Isobel later kidnaps Jeremy in order to force Elena's hand, and Elena begs Damon to give her the device, which he does.


• Bonnie offers to remove the spell from the device, which can supposedly kill vampires; it is later revealed that Bonnie only pretended to deactivate the device, due to her vendetta against vampires.


• Elena gives the device to Isobel, who reveals that she knew Damon would surrender the device to Elena because he's in love with her.


• It is revealed that John is Elena's biological father, and that he and Isobel had dated in high school.


• John plans to use the device to kill all the vampires in Mystic Falls, including Stefan and Damon.


• Isobel, who appears to care for Elena after all, expresses her fear that the Salvatore brothers may eventually turn Elena into a vampire- a life that she doesn't want for Elena- and that getting rid of them is the best thing she and John could do for their daughter.


• Anna appears and tells Jeremy that her mother was killed, and that she knows she should not be there, but she has nowhere else to go. Jeremy hugs her and attempts to comfort her.

"Founder's Day"

• It's Founder's Day, and everyone is preparing for floats and fireworks.


• Anna gives him a vial of her blood and offers him the choice of becoming a vampire.


• Though Damon and Alaric team up to try to stop John Gilbert from utilizing the mysterious device to kill vampires, John sets his plan in motion, leading to a chaotic, destructive, and deadly end to the Founder's Day celebration.


• Caroline is severely injured in a car accident involving Tyler, and it is suggested that Tyler and his father, the mayor, are werewolves.


• John kills Anna and burns many of the tomb vampires alive; Tyler's father dies along with them.


• Stefan realizes that he does love his brother.


• Elena confronts John with the knowledge that he is her father, Stefan having informed her so.


• Bonnie saves Stefan and Damon from John's rampage for Elena's sake but tells Stefan that if Damon kills another innocent person, she will not hesitate to take him down.


• Damon finally realizes that there is some good in him, and that he may actually want to become a better person.


• Jeremy learns of Anna's death; he drinks Anna's blood and overdoses on pain pills, hoping that his emotional pain will ease if he becomes a vampire.


• Damon kisses a person whom he believes to be Elena, who is then invited into Elena's house by Jenna and stabs John Gilbert, who recognizes her as Katherine, pretending to be Elena.


• Major Cliffhanger: the real Elena enters the house and goes toward the kitchen, where Katherine is.

Soon to come: The Vampire Diaries 101: Your Guide to Season 2 (so far)