It’s a typical day in the Gilbert house when Elena wakes up looking saddened and regretful. Flip to an equally broody Stefan, who ignores the call she places to him. “But let’s not forget Damon,” Elena thinks, though apparently she’s been calling him all night. Damon answers while he’s draped next to a seriously gorgeous Rebekah, claiming that he’s over the whole thing. Damon? Over it? Doubtful.

Sexy and shirtless. Yummy.

Rebekah takes the walk of shame with Damon, telling him not to make a big deal of what happened. The two chance upon Elena standing outside the front door (I must admit, I laughed a lot). Elena lashes out at Damon and then Stefan, after she tells them she’s worried about Elijah’s survival and they retaliate and tell her not to screw the plan up (fair’s fair, have we forgotten what the Originals have done to her, her family, everyone she loves?).

Snarky Kol. Love him,

As we find out, everything is going down tonight under the glow of a full moon – and Elena’s conscience isn’t boding well with the thought of Elijah’s demise. Damon mulls over Elena’s jealousy to Stefan, to which Stefan reminds him that it wasn’t him sleeping with someone, it was who he chose to sleep with. The two come to an agreement that “neither one of them” gets Elena, as she is better off without either of them. When Damon leaves the room we can’t help but notice Stefan eyeing the cup of blood – a little warily.

Damon calls Ric and asks him to hog-tie Elena to a chair during the ritual, but Ric’s with his “sexy psycho doctor”. Apparently he’s trying to find out about his attack through Meredith, but the two are interrupted by Klaus and Kol sauntering up to the bar. Esther and Finn meet up with Bonnie and Abby to hold hands and make magic, while Elena tries to escape through the tunnels but is stopped by a very angry, very gloaty Rebekah. Yipes.

"Save Elijah, yes I must." "Ok Elena, down the hole you go then."

Anyone else want Joseph Morgan to look at them like that?

Elena manages to get into the secret cave thingy that stops vampires from entering, and while Rebekah is contemplating whether torching Elena is the way to go, Meredith doctors Ric’s wounds.  Damon and Stefan flip a coin over who gets to be hated by Elena the most for screwing up Esther’s plan, and Esther tells her newly arrived children that she ain’t going to spare their lives so don’t bother asking.

Elijah leaves a note for Elena that leaves us all crying, and he tells Rebekah that their mother made them vampires, not monsters – they did that to themselves. Klaus burns all his drawings of Caroline, but in interrupted by a frantic Rebekah who has apparently been doing some investigating – there’s another White Oak tree around!

Another parent bites the dust. Sad face.

Somehow, for a series packed with vampires, werewolves, witches, hybrids (and yes, even the occasional ghost), it’s a love triangle between two undead brothers, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley), and one very mortal girl, Elena (Nina Dobrev), that gets The Vampire Diaries fans the most riled up. (And judging from the chemistry in our cover photos, it’s not hard to see why. Check out collectors’ covers No. 2 and 3 after the jump.)

When executive producers Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec decided that they were finally ready for bad-boy Damon to share a legitimate kiss with Elena — after more than two years of build up — they knew it would have to satisfy two avid fanbases: those who wanted to see Elena get with Damon, and those who were still holding out hope for her to work things out with soul mate, Stefan.

“It’s one of those things that you want to be able to defend,” Williamson explains to EW. “But even more importantly, you’d rather not defend it. You want it to feel real and right and natural by all the audience.” Satisfying the “shippers” (a term used to identify fans who root for fictional characters to have relationships), is a challenge both Williamson and Plec have faced each time they’ve tried to advance the triangle. Asks Plec: “How can we service this moment between our characters that we really want, a Damon and Elena kiss, without getting the Stefan/Elena side of the fandom to give up hope and give up on us? And vice versa, when we want Stefan and Elena to have a moment together, how can we do that and not have our Delena fans outraged?”

This week’s EW cover story also features interviews with Vampire‘s stars — Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, and Paul Wesley — who talk about keeping the love triangle red-hot, where they fall in the Stelena-Delena shipper wars, and all rumors swirling around their real-life relationships. Says Dobrev: “The rumor mills were ‘Is Nina with Ian or is Nina with Paul?’ There was a lot of speculation.” Notes Somerhalder coyly, “Nothing has been confirmed yet.”

Get more EW: Subscribe to the magazine for only 33¢ an issue!

The Vampire Diaries is just the latest in a long line of shows attracting a large shipper fanbase. So who are these fans called shippers, and why do they do what they do? In this week’s issue, Jeff “Doc” Jensen explores these questions and offers a detailed history of the shipper phenomenon, from Star Trek and X-Files to today’s hit shows from Bones, Fringe, Castle, and Once Upon a Time – and explains how showrunners do and don’t factor in shipper input while plotting their characters’ fates.

For more on the shipper phenomenon and The Vampire Diaries — including what’s coming up next for the love triangle and the other residents of Mystic Falls — pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly on stands Feb. 10.

Also, make sure to follow @EW on Twitter and keep your eye out for a link later today to buy all three sexy-beautiful covers.

Now, feast your eyes on our bonus Vampire Diaries covers.

There’s another Gilbert coming to Mystic Falls.

Newcomer Lindsey R. Garrett has been cast on The Vampire Diaries as Samantha Gilbert, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.

The Vampire Diaries‘ Michael Trevino: Bill Forbes will (try to) break Tyler’s sire bond

Samantha, in her 20s, is described as a bit of a gossip, but don’t expect her to cross paths with Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) anytime soon. She’ll appear only during flashbacks in the episode titled “1912,” airing at the end of February, as one of the town’s founding family members who interacts with both Salvatore brothers.

Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) has one very good reason to return to Mystic Falls, and it goes by the name of Jamie (Robert Ri’chard.) Although Bonnie’s (Kat Graham) alleged “new love interest” didn’t get too much screen time with her on his inaugural episode of The Vampire Diaries, Robert assures HollywoodLife.com he’ll be back to make some magic happen. ”There’s more story to be told, and it’ll drift towards Bonnie because, I guess, she has a pretty flawed love life,” Robert tells me. (Yeah, that’s a bit of an understatement.)

Like most people on the show, Robert is being kept in the dark about Jamie’s future with Bonnie, but he says viewers can likely expect the chemistry to develop between them, especially as he stays close with Bonnie’s mom Abby (Persia White.)

Read Entire Interview Here

Without further ado, let’s make Rippah-like waves and dive into this recap!

The last we had seen, Stefan stopped Damon from killing Klaus because he knew that by killing Klaus Damon would die. In turn, Stefan got his humanity back and picked possibly the least humane thing of all to do – take revenge on Klaus by stealing his family. The choice left both Elena and Damon upset and raging and we all wondered what they’d do next.

"Just give me my family back sweetheart - or I'll dart you."

Now the episode opens with a Bonnie vision – she wanders into the old Lockwood mansion and sees a coffin with Klaus sleeping in it, and his mother’s necklace wrapped around his hand. Bonnie wakes up startled and we all kind of look at each other and go ‘huh?’

Elena’s jogging round the town and gets a surprise stalker in the form of a hunky hybrid (which, let’s admit, no person who jogs with their hoodie up is going to be a nice person). Elena tells Bonnie that she’s spiraling into insanity, she’s feeling so paranoid, and Bonnie brushes off her premonition as “stress”. Damon is drinking away his troubles “It’s the eve of Klaus-aggeden”, while Alaric is mulling over Jeremy’s failed paper.

Meanwhile Jeremy and Tyler are now bff’s and shooting cans together – or apparently Tyler’s as well. Tyler’s being a typical dick and Jeremy is worrying Elena. But he’s not the only one worrying Elena; Damon being a day-drunk causes her older sister side to come out as well (and some flirty closeness). Then, our favorite hybrid (in all his delicious glory) shows up to ask the two where he might find Stefan… and tells them that he’s broadened the scope of it being a Stefan/Klaus problem (oh Joseph. How I missed you being on my screen).

"Nice shot bru." "Yeah bru?" "Yeah."

Bonnie investigates her dream in real life and stumbles across Stefan, who is still a little cold and won’t relinquish his possession of Klaus’ family. Alaric and Elena have a problem with Jeremy hanging out with Tyler, and to irritate them more Jeremy invites Tyler over for dinner. Tyler tries to explain being “sired” as though it’s a religion of sorts – and his blind faith has everyone confused.

Klaus invites himself to have a drink with Damon: “I think it’s about time we have a drink, don’t you?” and the two chat about Stefan’s betrayal and how much they have in common. Klaus tells Damon that his family are the ones who have been stolen (I didn’t think vervain stopped an Original from being able to compel another vampire? Side note). And seeing as we all know that Klaus was bound to try and get someone killed, it should have come as no shock that Jeremy almost gets killed by a car and Alaric gets dead instead (yay for that ring).

Klaus is apparently building a house for himself and his hybrids, and Tyler begins to question the ‘Lord Klaus’ that he has devoted his life to. Damon tries to tell Elena what Klaus’ plan is, while Jeremy shows just how over everything he is. Elena asks Bonnie to find Stefan, to which she replies “You don’t need a locator spell” and Elena and Damon wander over to visit Stefan.

"If you were alive your heart would be pounding like mine right now."

The dead witches ain’t happy to see Damon; and neither is Stefan to see Elena. Turns out Stefan is a dickhead which (while super hot) earns him a slap from Elena. Damon crashes his way into the house and has a chat with our lovely Rippah – which ends in Stefan being staked (is it wrong that I still had a sick satisfaction that despite Stefan’s crazed drinking habits, Damon still managed to stake him? Hmm love you Damon) and his confession that he stopped Damon from killing Klaus to save his brother went down well (another stake in Stefan ha!).

Jeremy educates Tyler on what Klaus normally does when he wants something, and in turn Tyler warns Jeremy to be careful. Ric comes back to life but not like he normally does – which ends in ambulances coming, being compelled away, and Jeremy beheading a hybrid. Wait, hold up. JEREMY BEHEADED A HYBRID?! I need to take a moment.

Damon convinces Stefan to be in on his plan; cut-throat and devious – “I am so much better at that than you”. Stefan reveals the hidden coffins to Damon (turns out witch spirits are using their joo-joo to hide them from sight). Meanwhile Torrey DeVito makes her appearance as Meredith (Dr Fell) and I’m wondering what she’s up to. While I’m wondering that, Elena invites Klaus over and gives him Rebekah (whhaaattt Elena?!) and she tells him that she may not be so forgiving of him once he wakes her (one up on Klaus heh heh).

A warm welcome to Torrey DeVitto, cast as Meredith

After all of Jeremy’s moaning, Elena makes the heartbreaking decision to let Damon compel him out of town (mega sad face). Damon is Elena’s shoulder to cry on and their zingyness is practically killing me (little did I know what was to come ).

Klaus decides NOT to wake Rebekah (no, I want Claire Holt back!) and Bonnie and Stefan mull over the mystery that is the fourth coffin. Then comes a much-awaited Delena scene – after Damon confesses that Stefan saved him, he decided that he would feel guilty over doing something worth being guilty over – A KISS. And Delena fans die of happiness across the entire planet – while our poor SE’ers groan in heartache. Oh, so very torn Elena is right now.

And there you have it! So what did you guys think? Did you love The New Deal? Was it worth the wait? Are you going to miss Jeremy? What do you think is in the fourth coffin? Will Klaus awaken Rebekah – and just what is his plan now? Do you love dickhead Stefan or detest him? And was it just me, or did you miss Caroline this episode? And most of all – what do you think of the KISS?! Sound off in the comments below!

I had to put it in here. FINALLY. <3

At 8pm The Vampire Diaries returned to The CW from the mid-season break with The New Deal as Mystic Falls dealt with the consequences of Stefan’s (Paul Wesley) quest for revenge against Klaus (Joseph Morgan). The episode pulled in 3.1 million viewers with a 1.4 18-49 rating – holding steady on its mid-season finale Homecoming

Are you ready for clue number-two, Vampire Diaries fans?

As previously detailed, I was fortunate enough to watch the winter premiere, “The New Deal,” over the weekend. Leading up to Thursday’s airing of the episode, I’ll be posting one tease per day related to events from the terrific installment, the first of which had to do with a character departing Mystic Falls for an undetermined amount of time.

Now, on to the next spoiler…

A major secret will be revealed.

By whom? To whom? You’ll need to tune in and find out. But I can say that it changes one character’s outlook and plays a role in the final scene of the episode.

Once again, let the guessing games – and the countdown to the return of TVD – begin!

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.