Those were incredibly rough episodes. Honestly, the last two nearly killed me. I think the writers did a phenomenal job with the third season, especially as it relates to character arcs and the emotion they pulled (sometimes forcibly) out of the viewers. And you're right, I absolutely could not look away, although when I realized where everything was going, I wanted to...

why can't you re-watch them?

#curious.

I don't know who you're asking so i'm just going to answer anyway LOL!

3.14 in particular was just painful. I know what they were trying to do with the triangle. I got it. The lead up to it was awful and the explanation for it was awful. The writing was particularly horrible in that episode...sorry Caroline Dries iw was not good, not good at all.

3.20 was also painful because it basically was a huge F-you to Damon. Stelana go to this dance all cute and happy while Damon watches in the background knowing what just went down between him and Elena not long before in Denver. To make matters worse his best friend, Alaric, is dying and Damon is left to watch him die because Damon loves him and wants to be with him. Meanwhile Damon's own brother, Stefan, is off with Elena trying to basically get into her pants by acting all perfect when not long ago Stefan himself was terrorizing Elena.

Stefan should have been with his brother not fondling over Elena. Elena should have been with Jeremy and Damon because she was just as much a part of Ric's life as Damon. It was just really, really poor writing. It made me hate Stefan even more because he didn't earn what he was saying and doing with Elena. Stefan hadn't been there for the past 6 months. It's been Damon. So when Elena is telling stefan that she has no one and he says you have me! Um no Stefan Elena has plenty of people. Don't disregard their importance to elevate your own!

Yeah I still can't watch that episode without getting pissed off.

thanks for answering - I was curious -

I felt like you as well, 3.20...but I think that it was fitting for Damon to be alone with Alaric - this was their moment, and I think that is part of who he is...he does not share with anyone that he does this little good things...if someone was there, he may not have had this moment with him be the same - it was fitting that anyone else be there...

at first, I was all like how dare they leave him alone...but then I realized - that is the only way we could have seen Damon at his most open and raw...he had his pal...he was drinking with him...and when he almost died we saw Damon drop a tear...this would not have happened if anyone was there - we would have heard him say...something along the lines of "doom...gloom...bah...not me...I don't feel"...it was their moment, and in a way I am glad they had not shared it with anyone else...it just added another dimension to who Damon is, and how nobody is aware of it...(he already had a bottle of bourbon there when Meredith told him if he thought that Alaric really wanted to be alone...so he was planning on being there, he just did not want anyone to know it...)

as for Stefan....yes - we have watched him this last season get away with a lot...and my frustration with that knows no bounds, but I decided to look at it in different manner (thank you lady bee )...S4 will be an interesting facing of issues for the two...so I shall forgive writers what they did to my girl...because the journey (other than becoming a vampire) for these two....is not going to be pretty...I felt the same way when he said you have me...and I thought - really - it is 3.20 and until yesterday you were almost trying to kill her...but I digress... but then I realized...that scene was almost like a beginning of a good bye - they were reminiscing about the old times and lines they used to say to each other... so I guess they needed that...because she is still working through her feelings over him...because like I believe you said as well - that is where they needed to be at the time...
and we all know that Elena, as Damon continuously says, is in denial...so we know that nothing from 319 would be addressed....and there is still a bit of selfishness in her which is why they were together - she wasn't thinking about Jeremy who may have lost Ric as well...she was trying to clean out Ric's office, but really she was trying to have time to process it so that she could help Jeremy...

so here I was - all kinds of mad, and then I realized it will be easier to take the glass full route and appreciate the beauty of the 320 because it showed us even more of who Damon really is...and 322 - the choice - that was the worst for me...but then I said (lady bee again ) maybe she had to do it...to finally understand the stuff that was left unsaid, unfelt, and explain it for both of them...and I hope in S4 there will be a lot of discussion - not for the first little bit, but I am sure it will be coming...if the writers are doing anything good...otherwise it feels as though S3 was a total waste...there is a lot of issues that need to be dealt with...and I personally hope she finds the strength, and self love and self respect to deal with them...

if anyone else was there with Damon and Alaric - that moment would not have been that powerful and that special - for it marked the end of the journey for them...and it was proper that they had the proper good bye...same like it was beautiful and fitting that he was the one holding Alaric as he was dying at the end of 322...it was a perfect ending to a glorious relationship... and the moment was between the two of them, as it should have been...

thank you for sharing - and 314 was the ball one - right...I liked it because we saw a bit of the F'U Damon there...I miss that guy from time to time......but yes - the S/E scene - considering that the WBI happened a bit before....ugh....it was my least favorite episode of the season...but like I said...glass half full ...