I didn`t even dislike the episodes themselves - I actually enjoyed a lot of episode 8 even though it made me wanna rewatch Damon staking Lexi over and over, I`m now of the belief it was her who screwed up Stefan so much as a vampire - and the plot moved along further but the characters are all over the place.

Since they claim the sire bond with Damon has been their idea since early Season 3, the execution of it should have made a lot more sense than it does. For Vampire Diaries, it`s a storyline so full of plotholes and WTF, the only way it would make sense is if it turned out to be another mindfuck like the sun and the moon curse.

You should not miss Klaus` painting though. It was - literally - a single special snowflake. Hee.