I looooove Mason. Such a scorchingly hot addition to the cast. I hope he sticks around/doesn't get killed.

I agree with you about Stefan being more awesome: I think the creative team must have realised that the tortured vampire character has been done to death elsewhere because he's not as moody anymore and it's far more interesting/entertaining this way.

Caroline was brilliant.

My only complaint is that I missed Katherine a LOT. I was kind of hoping she'd feature in every episode but I guess not.