‘The Vampire Diaries’ season 4, episode 20: Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder’s role

While a good chunk of Thursday night’s new “Vampire Diaries” season 4 episode is going to appropriately cast a focus on what is going on with the Originals in New Orleans (hence the title), the sneak peek video below proves that there is still plenty going on in Mystic Falls. (You can take a look at Klaus’ storyline here.)

While the Originals head to a city that was at one point Klaus’ kingdom, Damon and Stefan Salvatore are taking on a completely different task which is trying to starve Elena to the point where she starts to develop fear, which in turn will cause her to switch her humanity back on. We know that this is not going to be nearly as easy of a task as it sounds, in particular since Ian Somerhalder’s character is really part of the problem. Why? He nurtures, cares, and to an extent coddles Elena, and so long as he is around, she could have a very difficult time believing that she is going to be in serious danger.

We ultimately would not be surprised at all to see Damon end up being shunned from the situation, since Stefan is really the vampire here who knows a thing or two about being starved back to normal. His ripper genes have caused him on more than one occasion to be in need of a little rehab, whereas Damon has been blessed with the ability to be a little bit more even-keeled ever since his transformation 150 years ago.

The sad news for Damon is that things are only going to get worse for him. If you want to check out why he could be in danger during the finale (and courtesy of some ghosts, no less), be sure to visit the story over here.

Photo: The CW