I love that scene 20% more now :sigh:
THIS. Though I have to admit, the guys are barely developed as characters. I know a lot of people disagree with that but imo it's true. Stefan's a bit better than Damon, I'll admit, but take Elena out the equation and....what? Do they even have frienRAB that aren't connected to her? Damon has about 3-4 kinRAB of scenes (at home getting drunk, attacking someone, antagonizing Stefan, talking to Elena); once a scene starts I can usually predict how it's going to play out :shrug: It's....boring.
When Elijah first showed up I didn't know if he was going to kidnap her or die or what. Their scenes were great, from the sniff to her throwing a grenade in his face. In the next episode he killed Slater, which was unexpected, and in the ep after that he stops Elena from being taken to Klaus. Which was even more unexpected. By this point I was intrigued and crazy-confused by him :lol: We next see him in Elena's house - oooh, danger! - only to find out he wants to cut a deal with her, protect the ones she loves, and he rescues Stefan. In Crying Wolf he's perfectly charming even while stabbing Damon with a pencil and ripping out hearts. Then in TDP he's enjoying a perfectly nice walk with Jenna, threatens to kill everyone at Damon's house if he doesn't behave, then tries to take Elena away. He gives in to her demanRAB and promptly dies

When she brings him back he's understandably annoyed, angry, then calm and curious. He actually explains things to her, trusts her to leave and keep her word, looks thrilled to his core when she returns, and then forgives the Salvatores. In The Last Day he's functioning as a guide/advisor to Elena. In his final eps of the season he opens up to Stefan ("...."), is forced to go back on his word, and dies again.
I can honestly say I never know what the hell is happening when it's an Elijah episode :lol: It's why they're my favorite. With most of the other characters I can usually get a sense of what's going to happen before it does, so I'll get up to do something else until the episode gets interesting again. But with Elijah I'm basically glued to the screen. And that affects Elena's storylines and scenes. If she did anything really amazing or cool in an episode that didn't feature Elijah then I don't remeraber it :shrug: