2 Broke Girls Recap: Pilot

Max: Don't' think that we're on the same team.  I wear knit hats because it's cold outside.
YOU where knit hats because you like Coldplay.

In A Nutshell:

This new sitcom chronicles the lives of two girls -- Max and Caroline -- both of whom are trying to make ends meet. Max Black (played by Kat Dennings) came from a poor working-class family and she is also trying to juggle two jobs to pay her bills. Caroline Channing (played by Beth Bers) is a daughter of a wealthy and corrupt politician. Her family recently lost all their possessions and now she has to work in order to survive. They work together to raise $250,000 so that they can open their own cupcake shop. 

*****

EPISODE 1: Pilot

Max and Caroline in the storage room

Max works in a New York restaurant with another waitress, a Russian girl named Paulina. However, Paulina seems to not be doing her job so the owner, an Asian guy named Han Li (who changed his named to Bryce Li), fired her. Max then approaches Bryce Li to convince him not to hire another waitress because she needs the extra money. Bryce answers that he can't do it because unfortunately, he already hired a new waitress who has an impressive resume. The new girl turned out to be Caroline Channing. Max did not trust her so in order to test her ability to wait, she instructs her to "marry the ketchup". Caroline, who had no idea what it meant, placed the bottle together as if to "marry them" in the literal sense. Max notices it and confronts Caroline. The latter then admits that she had never waited all her life but she really needed the money. At the end of their shift, Caroline convinces Max to sell her cupcakes for $7. They then say goodbye to each other. 

Caroline "marrying" the ketchups

The next morning, Max finds Caroline sleeping on the subway train while she (Max) was on her way on her second job, to babysit a dumb socialite diva. Caroline accidentally tasers Max because she thought she was being raped. Max invites Caroline to her apartment and then she proceeded to her babysitting job. Unfortunately for Caroline, Max's boyfriend hits on her. She confides this to Max, who refused to believe her. Max left Caroline alone in the restaurant because she was too angry about her accusation.She then realizes that Caroline is telling the truth when she catches her boyfriend red-handed. Max apologized to Caroline and invites her to become a roommate. They then decided to save money until they reach $250,000 so that they can open their own cupcake store. The show ends with a tally of how much they've earned so far. 

Personal thoughts about the show:

The show was widely talked about before it aired and it has been included in the top shows to watch for this Summer. Unfortunately for the producers, it fell short of the expectation. The jokes depended on stereotypes and if you hate that kind of humor, you might find it offending. There were a few cheap laughs throughout the episodes but none came too be as good enough as the other popular comedies like Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother or The Big Bang Theory. Plus, Kat Dennings portrayal of a hardworking waitress is too strong, it was really very difficult to relate to her. I like the Gwen Stefani  look-alike Caroline. She looked adorable and really dumb and it was good for laughs. I am not sure if the series has a lot of promise though. I guess we'll have to wait and see. :) 

Some quotes and screenshots in this episode:

Customer: Where's my waitress?
Max: She's cumming.

Caroline asking Bryce Li for a new uniform

Caroline divorces the ketchups

Caroline: (after using a taser on Max) I'm sorry, I didn't know it would hurt so much. It's pink!
Max: It didn't feel pink!
Caroline: I didn't know it was you. (whisper) I thought I was being raped!
Max: That's not what rape feels like! 

Caroline:Back off, Jersey Shore!

Caroline and Max's boyfriend introducing each other

Socialite: Max, what's my twitter password?
Max: Twitter password. 

Oleg showing his sexual prowess (ack!)

Bryce Li

Earl: Was Vladimir Putin it out!

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TVD Recap: Season 3x02 - The Hybrid

Elena in Alaric's apartment

It's that time of the week again! TVD time! Let's do a recap of the second episode, shall we?

In a nutshell, the episode revolved around Elena doing what she does best, putting herself into the epicenter of trouble; Klaus building an army of hybrid comrades (read:slaves) and Jeremy asking for Matt's help with the souls tormenting him.

Hottie werewolf helping Elena

Elena, who seems to be discontented in staying safe in Mystic Falls, goes to Damon to convince him to help her find Stefan. After Damon refused point-blank to help her, she decided to go to Alaric to "blackmail" him (read: pretend she'll go by herself in the treacherous mountains to search for her lost vampire boyfriend) into helping her. The Drunk teacher-slash-vampire hunter agreed to do so. They sought Tyler's help for information about werewolf packs.Tyler said that most werewolves prefer to chain themselves during the night of the full moon to avoid harming people but there are those who prefer to go to places where they can enjoy the transformation freely, like deep forests and mountains. He helps Elena locate a mountain in Tennessee where a werewolf pack is rumored to be living. Alaric and Elena then journey to Tennessee to "find Stefan."

Mama Lockwood and Scary Bill

Speaking of Tyler, we remember last episode that Mama Lockwood shot Vampire Barbie as she tried to "sneak out of Tyler's room like a prostitute" (her words, not mine). It turns out that she knew that Caroline was a vampire all along. She was also scared that Tyler has turned into a vampire because he spends a lot of time with Caroline so Mama Lockwood spiked Tyler's morning coffee with verbain to test him. Surprise, surprise, he wasn't affected at all, although he seemed to notice that the coffee tasted bad.  Relieved that her baby boy is not a vampire, she calls someone to help her handle the "Vampire Situation" (read: unconscious Caroline); a mysterious guy who goes by the name "Bill". He looks like a scary dude and I don't really like him. Despite shooting Caroline with verbain, it seems that Mama Lockwood cannot handle killing her since she knew Vampire Barbie personally and her conscience could not handle it (good job, Carol L. ). Scary Bill tells her to shrug it off because no matter what, Caroline is still a monster. (how dare he! Where is Uma Thurman when you need her? )

Ray Sutton's werewolf pack

E.H. introducing himself to the pack

Meanwhile, on Evil Hybrid's universe, Klaus drags Stefan to the location of Ray Sutton's werewolf pack. Their mission: to turn them into a pack of hybrids (like Klaus). They find them in a secluded wood setting up their camping site. Stefan dumps Ray Sutton's dead (for the meantime) body and they introduce themselves (more like, Klaus introduced himself). He then reveals to them the first step to his grand plan for world domination: to turn them to an army of comrades (no matter what euphemism you use baddie, it still sounds like "SLAVES" to me) so that nobody will bother to challenge his power. (rolls eyes) Most of the werewolves expressed their unwillingness and doing a typical Klaus move, Klaus force-fed them with his blood one by one , then snapped their neck to pave way for their transition to a vampire. Unfortunately for E.H. (Evil Hybrid), something goes wrong. Right after Ray wakes up and transitions to a vampire, blood started gushing out of his eyes and he is consumed with an unexplainable rage. He runs away from them, biting Stefan in the process. Klaus instructs Stefan to run after him if he (Stefan) wants to be cured from the werewolf bite. Stefan chases Ray as though his life depended on it (which it really is). 

Klaus reveals his evil plan

Back to Elena and Alaric. The two reached Tennessee and as they came closer to the location of the wolf pack, Elena hands Alaric the eternity ring that her uncle-daddy left her. She persuades Ric to take the ring because it's virtually useless for her since she's a doppelganger. Ric retorts that she should keep it for "future stubborn and relentless baby Gilberts".  Elena then said he should just wear it for the time being, just until they're finished with the Stefan quest coz she can't forgive herself if  Ric dies because of her. Ric concedes and wears the ring.

Elena gives Alaric the ring

Damon pushes Elena in the water

Then out of nowhere, someone pushes Elena in the water. It was Damon. Turns out, Ric told him they were going on a quest to "save Stefan" and naturally, Damon follows to protect his precious "Elena" (rolls eye again). Elena, the hard-headed stupid girl that she is, refused to stop the search even if Damon wanted her to just go home and give up because it's too dangerous. In the end, she gets what she wants and the three of them continue to find Stefan in the woods. In some twist of fate, Stefan overhears them while he was trying to capture Ray Sutton. 

Stefan watching the trio incognito

Elena, Ric and Damon then comes across Ray. The latter was going out of his mind and he attacks Damon. Elena tosses a wolfsbane grenade towards Damon who detonates it on Ray's face. They tied up Ray on a tree to prevent him from attacking them. They were surprised that Ray is transforming even if the moon is not yet up and then in a sudden lightbulb moment, they realized that Ray could be a hybrid. They decide to leave the mountain before the moon rises up.  While they were trying to escape, clumsy Elena (always a pain in the ass) stumbles and falls to the ground. She finds herself face to face with a fully-transformed werewolf (probably one from Ray's pack). Damon distracts the wolf and puts himself as a bait so that the wolf will chase him instead of Elena. Ric drags Elena to their car where they waited for Damon to come back. 

Damon questioning Ray 

Damon: Here doggie, doggie.

Damon finds himself in a bit of dilemma as he encounters Ray again. The hybrid-gone-wrong attacks Damon but thankfully, Stefan appears out of nowhere and kills Ray. (Good to know Little Bro still doesn't want his Big Bro to be killed). He then tells Damon again to go away and keep Elena in Mystic Falls. He says that he is not coming back so they should not go looking for him. 

Ripper Stefan holding Ray's heart

In the car, Elena and Ric had a heart-to-heart talk which ends up to the latter agreeing to be Elena and Gilbert's guardian again, on one condition, he will keep the ring because he needs to "keep the humans safe". Damon then returns to the car while a worried Elena runs to him to check if he is safe. He then convinces them to leave the place and so they did. Before leaving, Elena had a glimpse of Stefan from afar but she thought she was just imagining it. 

Stefan secretly watching the trio from afar

Dead werewolves. :(

Stefan returns to Klaus with Ray's corpse. He finds E.H. sitting alone, surrounded by a bunch of dead bodies. It appears that Klaus supposed-comrades started to go crazy so he was forced to kill them all. He then wondered what went wrong because he followed all the rules: he killed a werewolf, a vampire and a doppelganger. (For a moment there, I thought he will find out that Elena is still alive because of Stefan's puppy's eyes) He then tells a sob story about how disappointed he is that his plans did not go his way  (For a moment there, I felt sad for him. Then I remembered the bunch of dead people around them and I went back to hating him again).  Stefan, for some unknown reason, tells E.H. that he failed him and he is ready for whatever E.H. is planning to do with him. E.H. stared back at him then he gives him his blood (for the werewolf bite). He (Klaus) then tells Stefan that they are leaving. (I am not sure but I have this feeling that Klaus had an inkling that Elena might still be alive.)

Back in Mystic Falls, Tyler realizes that his mom spiked his drink with verbain. He confronted him about it and demanded to know where Caroline was. Mama Lockwood insisted that he should stay away from Vamp barbie since she's a monster. Tyler, enraged at what he heard, drags his mama to the cellar in the old Lockwood estate. He made her stay there so she can watch him transform into a werewolf. This turns out to be a good thing as Mama Lockwood realized that she could have been wrong.She tells Tyler that she''ll do everything to keep Caroline safe. Baby Lockwood is grateful. 

Elena and Damon

After arriving back at the Gilbert House, Damon and Elena had a heart-to-heart talk. Damon confesses to Elena that he had been wrong and that Stefan is not really gone. He then promised Elena that he will bring Stefan back to her. As he leaves, Damon confronts Elena about what happened in the mountain. He asked her about what changed her mind. She was so hell-bent in searching for Stefan but then she suddenly decided to drop the mission and just leave. Elena admits that she was worried about Stefan. Then she asked him why it was so important for her to say it aloud that she cared for him. Stefan answers that in the event that he is able to drag Stefan back to Mystic Falls, he wants her to remember how she felt while Stefan was gone. :( He then leaves a dumb-founded Elena in her room. Ric appears and tells her that she is treading dangerous waters with what she's doing. (Falling in love with both brothers...she's doing a Katherine!)

Vicki asking for help.

On another note, Jeremy who is being haunted by the ghosts of his dead girlfriends, seeks Matt help to deal with Vicki's ghost. At first, Matt is hesitant but then he obliges. Vicki's ghost appears before Jeremy and she tells him that she can come back. He asks Jeremy to help her comeback and then for some unknown reason, she breaks the window. Annabel appears too and gives Jeremy a warning. She tells him not to trust Vicki. (IDK but I'm with Annabel on this one, Vicki is never to be trusted.) Jeremy is then left confused about what he should do. 

Annabel warning Jeremy

True to her word, Mama Lockwood goes on a "Save-Caroline mission." She calls Bill up and tells him that they should let Caroline go. Scary Bill answers that Mama Lockwood does not understand the situation because she just "married in the vampire-hating tradition and did not grow up with it." He adds that she should not feel guilty because the vampires should not be trusted since they're monsters. Then he hangs up. Mama Lockwood feels guilty as ever. 

The ending scene is the biggest surprise of the night. We see Caroline chained in a dungeon. She calls out for help and Scary Bill appears. He says "Hello Caroline." and Caroline looks up, shocked as ever. Then she whispered, "Daddy?". (Boom!) 

Scary Bill

Poor Caroline!

*****
Thoughts on this episode 


It was not as engaging as the first one. I think it fell short of the expectation. It felt like something was missing. I don't hate it though but it's certainly not my favorite. Let's discuss some of the points that appeared in this episode.

1. Evil Hybrid's experiment gone wrong 

Now that Klaus realizes that he failed miserably in his grand plan, will he realize that the ritual did not end up the way it should? Did Stefan's brooding expression gave away the fact that Elena is still alive? He said that they're leaving. I have this feeling that E.H. is planning on returning to Mystic Falls. Watchaguysthink?

2. Vicki, Anna and Barcelona... err. Jeremy 


So what's the deal with her asking for help? Annabel tells Jer no to trust Vicki but knowing how Jer is head over heels in love with her, I am sure he will try to bring her back. Is this the consequence that the witches warned Bonnie about? I wonder what Vicki is up to.  Let's wait and see.

3. Damon and Elena


So it appears that Dalena is really happening. I just hope to God that this will not break Stefan's heart. I sense a fierce love triangle worthy of Twilight (ack!)happening soon. Gahd, I hope the writers will not resort to that. Let's cross our fingers and hope for the best. :(

4. Bill-y the Vampire Slayer


What's with all this Mystic Falls parents willing to kill their babies because they're scared of vampires? No wonder Caroline is the way she is when the series began. She had a serious trouble with her parents, who could blame her? I am just wondering if Bill-y will stake his poor baby in the heart because she's a vampire or will he do a Liz and set Caroline free? I am surprised though that he is that burly. I did not quite picture him that way. I imagined him as more effeminate given that he left Liz for a guy..but then again, I am not judging. XD Bill should have more compassion and he should be forgiving. It's his daughter for chrissakes! I hope he does not kill Caroline or I'll be really furious with you, TVD Gods!


Well, that's it for this week! Here are the other screen shots from this episode. Enjoy! :)

(Click the picture to zoom in)

Damon and Elena's heart-to-heart talk

I actually thought he will kiss her here...

..and here..

..and here.

Kill Bill Volume 3

Stefan watches Elena, Damon and Ric

Elena and the Werewolf

"Here doggie, doggie"

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Cookbook: MINT-CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Makes: about 4 1/2 dozen
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake: at 375 degrees for 9-11minutes

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature 
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups mint chocolate chips OR: semi-sweet chips*

(Optional) 

Glaze 

• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 drops mint extract
• 3 1/2 tsp. water

Procedure:

1. Heat oven to 375 deg. Sift the  flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together into a medium-sized bowl.
2. Beat butter in a large bowl until creamy. Add brown and granulated sugars; beat until fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. 
3. On low speed, beat in the  flour mixture. Gently fold chips in. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets. 
4. Bake in 375 deg. oven  for 9-11 minutes, until crisp. Cool on  sheet on rack for 2 minutes. Transfer to rack.
5. (Optional) Glaze: Beat together the sugar, mint extract and water in a small bowl until smooth. Transfer to a plastic food-storage bag; snip off the the corner. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies. Let stand until the glaze is set. 

*Note: If you are using semi-sweet chips, add 1/4 tsp. mint extract. 

Nutrient Value Per Cookies

• 131 calories 
• 6 g fat (4 g saturated)
• 1 g protein
• 18 g carbohydrate
• 1 g fiber
• 39 mg sodium
• 18 mg cholesterol

 

 

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TVD Recap: Season 3x01 - The Birthday

Alaric, Damon and Elena during the latter's 18th birthday party

The third season picks up on Elena's 18th birthday, two months after where the second season left off.   Now that Jenna is dead, Alaric took the place as Elena's and Jeremy's legal guardian. He spent the entire summer sleeping on their couch because he totally refused the other option, sleeping on his dead ex-girlfriend's old room. 

Evil Klaus and Ripper Stefan corner a hairy Ray Sutton 

in a local bar in  Tennessee

Elena is worried about Stefan because she hasn't heard from him for two months and she totally refuses to accept the possibility that he might be dead. Elena urges Damon to search for Stefan who we last saw leaving town with Klaus. Andie, Damon's fake compelled girlfriend, helps Elena, Damon and Alaric to find Stefan by giving leads she picked up from her job. 

It appears that Klaus has been searching for the oldest pack of werewolves to turn them to an army of hybrids and help him fulfill his grand plan of ruling the world. With Stefan's help, he tracked down a werewolf named Ray Sutton (played by David Gallagher) and forced him to spill the whereabouts of his pack.

Pretty Boy Matt and Vampire Barbie

Meanwhile, a very happy and blooming Caroline arranges a party for Elena's special day. She and Tyler seems to be spending a lot of time together (it's about time! THANK YOU TVD Gods) while pretty boy Matt appears to have a hard time dealing with the fact that his best friend is now "dating" his ex-girlfriend. Jeremy, on the other hand, is left alone and haunted by the ghosts of his past girlfriends (Anna and Vicki) and he does not know what to do about it. He refused to mention a word to Bonnie (who is out of town visiting her relatives) and tried to deal with the problem alone by smoking weed. This does not help as the specters keep on appearing periodically on cars and dark eerie places, catching him off guard and almost driving him bonkers. 

Unbeknownst to Elena, Damon has been hiding facts from her about the murders happening across state borders ---which appears to be Stefan's handiwork -- in an attempt to protect her from having her hopes shattered if she finds out that Stefan does not want to come back.Damon received a lead from Andie and tries to track down Klaus (and Stefan's) latest murder scene. He and Alaric drive to Tennessee and find the house where Ray Sutton used to leave. They discover the dismembered bodies of two girls which were "put together" on the couch. Damon recognizes it as Stefan's M.O. He tells Alaric that Ripper Stefan' "feeds so hard he blacks out and rips them apart but then when he's done, he feels remorse and he puts the bodies back together." (It's kinda gross and twisted if you think about it...completely different from the Stefan we all know). Damon and Alaric tries to cover the crime scene by burning down the house. This appeared to be a bad idea because it came to Klaus' knowledge and he realizes that Damon is tracking them down. Stefan convinces Klaus to let him deal with it and the latter agrees. 

Stefan compels Andie to lure Damon to the TV Studio. He tells Damon to stop tracking them and Damon refused, saying that "a birthday girl at home won't let him do it" (If you don't understand, it means Elena, duh.) Because of this, crazy Stefan commands Andie to kill herself and reiterates to Damon to back off and let him go. He then leaves the studio while a distressed Damon rushes off to Andie's lifeless body. (I actually felt sad for Damon here.)

Oh Caroline. :(

Back in the Salvatore mansion where  Caroline throws Elena a birthday party, almost half of the minors in Mystic Falls are in attendance. Tyler brings a date (Slutty Susan or whatever she's called..she's totally insignificant I forgot to remember her name) and this annoys Caroline because even if she denies it to herself, she is slowly falling in love with her hot werewolf buddy. She compels the girl to leave the party and after Tyler asked her what her problem was, they kissed and hooked up...and it lead to...you know. Sadly, it turns out the interim Mayor Cougar Lockwood is on a vampire-hunting spree and she shots Caroline when the latter tried to sneak out of  Tyler's room the next morning after they "hooked-up". (Does she hate it that her son is dating another Carol too?)

Alaric, on the other hand, who was acting as the helpless chaperone, realizes that he is not making a good role model for the kids since he's always drinking to forget his misery (I mean, who wouldn't? He lost his vampire wife and human-turned-vampire girlfriend for chrissakes.) He decides in the end to leave the Gilbert house and leaves Elena in-charge since she's already an adult. (this happens later in the episode, though)

Loveless Alaric

Elena, for reasons best known to herself, goes to Damon's room and comes across his closet full of articles and notations to track Klaus' victims. She then confronts Damon (after he came back to the house following Andie's death) and asked him why he kept her in the dark and made her feel stupid the whole summer (sweetheart, you've been stupid since the start of the show) for thinking that the leads she get are dead-ends. Damon tells her that he did it to protect her because the victims were not Klaus' victims but Stefan's. Elena did not believe him and runs out of the room (typical Elena move)

Back to evil Klaus' universe, Stefan returns to the bar and tells Evil Hybrid that the Damon problem has been dealt with. Klaus answers back and tells him that Stefan is putting up a really good show and he (Klaus)  knows that deep down inside of him (Stefan), he (Stefan) still cares for his family that's why he chose to deal with it himself and not let Klaus do it. Klaus adds that he will soon forget all about those feelings as he drinks more  blood and loses his humanity. (Evil bastard. I hate him with a burning passion.)

Look at his poor face! :(

The episode ends with two heartbreaking scenes. Damon destroying everything in Stefan's old room, (perhaps out of anger that he's baby bro killed his fake compelled girlfriend or because he hates the fact that Elena still chooses Stefan); and Stefan calling Elena's phone. As Stefan remained silent on the other line, Elena realizes that it must be him and tells him that everything's gonna be okay and he should hold on to the fact that she still loves him. Stefan does not reply but he nods tearfully (I just hate seeing him cry.. he looks so helpless,  it makes me want to run and give him a bear hug).

*****

The season premiere did not disappoint in terms of fulfilling our hunger for the much-awaited third season. I just have a few things to point out. 

1. Stefan the Ripper 

-I do get the fact that he's trying to serve Klaus as a payment for Damon's life (and also to protect Elena  and the rest of the gang ) but gahd it feels so frustrating to see him in the dark side and playing it so well. It's a good thing for his character though, it adds depth and flavor,  since I find him too one-dimensional in the first two seasons. But should it really be like this? Do you really have to turn him into a monster?

2. Caroline and Tyler 

Finally! Thank God these two are together. I just hope it's gonna last long. I doubt it though,  what with Matt acting like a jealous doofus around them and Cougar Lockwood shooting our Vampire Barbie down . Not cool, Mayor Lockwood. NOT.COOL. 

3. Jeremy's Ghosts of Girlfriends' Past. :)

- What's with those creepy apparitions? What do they want? Will they drive Jer crazy? Will they be resurrected as well? If it's Anna, then it's okay but PLEASE don't bring Vicki back. She's annoying and dumb and she's an insecure beeyotch who does not know what she wants. :( 

Creepy Annabel is creepy.

4. Klaus

- So the Evil Hybrid is building an army. Interesting. Let's make the all-powerful antagonist even more powerful and undefeatable. Seriously, TVD Gods? You need to do something about it. I just can't stand this asshole ruining everybody's life just because he thinks he can. (I can't wait for the Originals to be resurrected. All hell will surely break loose.)

5. Will Damon-Elena happen?

-Oh God, please not! As much as I love Damon (and yes, I think Captain Smolderpants is a GOD), I can't picture him with Elena. I love that the writers are considering the possibility of a good ending to his unrequited love for Elena (after they take all the girls he liked away from him.. ehem Rose ehem Andie)  but I don't think they have enough chemistry to equal that of Stefan and Elena's tandem . IMO, Damon and Katherine are a better match. If they are together, they will be a force to be reckon with, donchatink? This scene is sweet, though. (Please look at pictures below)

6. Where is Katherine? 

- I miss the bitch, they should bring her back. At least, she's got more character than Elena. 

Well, it seems that Season 3 is gonna be very very exciting. According to the producers, they have a lot of things in store for us. I can't wait to get hooked again.

And because we can't get enough of Damon, here are the other screenshots from the episode.

Sexy Sexy God.

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