‘The Vampire Diaries’ season 4 finale spoilers: Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, and emotion

One of the first official photos for the upcoming season 4 finale of “The Vampire Diaries” has hit the internet, and it has not taken anyone very long to ask this question: Is Elena Gilbert close to being the young woman that she once was? TV Guide shared the photo to the left in a new story today, which really makes it appear for the first time as though her humanity switch has finally found a way to go back to the “on” position.

We don’t have an answer for you now, but Nina Dobrev’s character seemingly has a grasp of Damon (Ian Somerhalder) in a way that suggests that she actually cares. Not only that, but executive producer Julie Plec promised that we will have answers to just about all of our questions about Elena by the time the episode comes to a close:

“We have a lot of questions on the table about Elena … Is she stuck this way forever? Is she ever going to turn her humanity back on? If she does, will the sire bond be back in effect or gone? If it’s gone, what are her feelings for Damon vs. her feelings for Stefan? The whole season has been trying to get Elena back to who she was, so everything will be answered in the finale.”

This episode is still a couple of weeks away from its May 16 airing, so if you have any frustrations now, much of it is due to the fact that you are still going to be forced to sit around for a while until answers come your way.

What do you think: Has Elena become her old self again to some extent, or is this all part of some sort of elaborate ploy to get Damon to believe her again? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below! If you want to see just how desperate the Salvatores are going to get to make Elena believe them again, just be sure to head on over to the link here.

Photo: The CW