Entitled, “Brave New World,” I’m still at a loss as to what the this episode’s title is referring to. My best guess so far is that with Caroline as a vampire, everything’s changed. Hence, new world, and our beloved characters must be brave when facing said new world. Really lame, I know. Let me know if you have anything better.

What Happened This Week: Dear Caroline Forbes wakes up and finds herself hungry. I’m gonna guess she wasn’t craving a Big Mac and fries. Luckily, she’s in a hospital and all she needs to do is steal some of the blood packets. Now the part with her tasting the blood, being disgusted, and then devouring it was pretty well-played in my opinion. You could’ve easily made it superficial (and it kind of was for a split second there), but overall it was well done and I give applause. Of course, one packet of blood can’t satisfy this blonde vamp so she takes it out on her nurse. Let’s see, blood cravings, check. She tries to put on her silver necklace and it burns her, check. She realizes she can’t be in sunlight and totally freaks out with almost-boyfriend cutie Matt tries to help by opening the shades. Sorry cutie, but your love interest has bigger things to deal with.

On the other hand, it was the high school carnival and boy did they pull out all the plugs. Insanity. Elena wants to have a normal day free from all things vampire, but with a newly-made vampire and two werewolves in town, that’s not happening anytime soon. Stefan basically spills all the vampire hush hush secrets to Jeremy. Jeremy’s craving some deep revenge at Damon (swoon), but you can’t take on Damon Salvatore with just some stake. How hot is that? So hot.

Damon is super-curious about Mason Lockwood and believes that there’s something paranormal about him. When he tells Stefan, Stefan dismisses his worries and goes all, “Why you trying to create problems where there is none?” So freaking typical. Damon’s the only one who can see how Mason is not normal, but no, no one believes Damon. That is, until the arm wrestling competition. Not only does Mason pound Tyler, but Stefan as well. That’s Stefan at full vampire force. Damon told ya so.

So then Damon of course has to drag some innocent bystander into the fray, this time a guy called Carter who helps set up the carnival. Damon compels him to pick a fight with Tyler Lockwood (wrong Lockwood much?) and not back down no matter what. So Carter does exactly that and Mason flies out of the air all supernatural like, leaving peeking from the bushes Stefan shocked. So was Tyler, for that matter. Forgetting injured Carter for a minute, Tyler starts getting all up in Mason’s face with a “What up with those eyes, Mason?” Mason tries to downplay it, but it’s kind of hard to downplay ferocious yellow eyes. Tyler gets all suspicious and tries to find the moon stone item thingamajig that Mason’s on a duck hunt for, before him. He finds it, too, underneath a floorboard. How he knew that, I have no clue.

Caroline goes to the high school and finds Damon. Ever since turning vamp, all the compulsion that Damon used on her in season one wore off and boy was she a b*tchy vampire. “I remember,” she said as she basically knocked Damon onto the floor. This was the highlight of my episode two watching, oh my god. So much Caroline hotness, so much vulnerable Damon, so much me spazzing. “Katherine told me to give you a message,” she said before walking away all sexy-like. Damon scrambles off to tell Elena and Stefan, and Caroline finds a bruised, bullied, and bloody Carter.

Stupid, stupid Carter has to ask Caroline if she’s okay. Why would you do that with a bloodied-up face? So Caroline basically sucks all the blood out of his system and breaks down crying. Stefan the valiant knight shows up and takes her away. Insert lots of positivity and you-can-do-it’s and we’ll-get-through-it-together’s. Personally, I was with Damon on this one — just kill her. But no, Elena and Bonnie were against that. Speaking of Bonnie, she only had one major scene in this episode, and I absolutely hate her in that scene. After feeling utterly useless over Caroline’s changing and Carter’s dying, she decides to take out her anger at Damon (why would you do that?). “I told you you’d die if someone else got hurt,” she says through tears and she starts inflicting mental pain on Damon. Then a hose ran loose and the water turned into fire and I was screaming but not really because there was no way Damon could die. Elena snaps Bonnie out of it and Damon is left on the floor in fire-inflicted agony.

Yeah, Bonnie needs to take up knitting or something.

Stay tuned for next week’s episode, Bad Moon Rising, on the CW, Thursdays at 8/7c.