'The Vampire Diaries' spoilers: 6 things to know about 'The Killer'

This week's "Vampire Diaries" episode, "The Killer," was written by Michael Narducci. If you'll recall, he's the guy who penned last season's high school horror show "The Reckoning," one of the most-loved episodes of the series -- and he doesn't let us down with "The Killer." 

In the episode, vampire hunter Connor takes Matt, April, and Jeremy hostage at The Grill, luring their vampire friends in to come save them... and to step right into his impressive trap. The best thing about the episode is that it showcases Elena as a strong, capable lead. The combination of her vampire strength and the skills she honed with Alaric get put to good use. 
"I've been on the show a little while, and something that I struggle with is I want Elena to domore things," Narducci says, noting that this was an episode he was particularly excited to write. "I want her to not be a damsel in distress. I want her to go out and protect her brother. We thought, if Jeremy's in jeopardy [and] we have Matt who is her high school sweetheart in jeopardy, what's Elena going to do? Is she going to wait for all these other people to get involved and save everyone for her, or will she get involved and do something?" 
Her choices in this episode are tough, but they give us good reason to root for our girl again, which we kind of needed after she got a little woe-is-me last week. 
In addition to awesome tough vampire Elena, here are six more details you can look forward to in this week's episode, which airs Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST.
1. At one point in the episode, Damon and Elena will be on a bed together. Don't get tooexcited, though... they're not exactly happy to be there. (Though, she is straddling him, so you can probably get some mileage out of the scene for your various Tumblr creations. We'll be trawling your #Delena tag, so get creative.)
2. Caroline puts her super-vamp hearing to good use and overhears Klaus threaten Tyler with the knowledge of what happened between Tyler and Hayley in the mountains. Needless to say, Caroline isn't pleased -- and we get some great interaction between Candice Accola and Phoebe Tonkin as a result.
3. Look for the return of the actual, literal vampire diaries. With no one to talk to about all their inner turmoil, since they're keeping it from each other, Stefan and Elena both go back to writing in their journals. It's definitely a sign of the growing distance between them.
4. Jeremy's going to find out that he was compelled pretty quickly, and he's really not going to be happy about it. In fact, he's sick and tired of the vampire secrets in town -- and at the end of the episode, he makes a move to protect April from it.
5. Stefan and Damon's little "fight" escalates in this episode, big time, as Stefan goes to drastic measure to keep the cure a secret. Both guys get pretty violent, but by the end of the episode, Damon and Stefan's bond with each other is the most stable relationship in town.
6. Professor Shane definitely has a dangerous agenda, but he's also very motivated to protect Bonnie. She spends the entire episode with him, trying to get her magic mojo back... and she's more vulnerable to manipulation than you might think.

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