In many ways, "The Devil You Know" is the episode that the rest of the season has been leading up to: It brings to a head Vicki and Henry's relationship, the Christina storyline, and Mike and Henry's antagonism. And it isn't a bad episode, but I think the episodes thus far have been strong enough that this episode suffered greatly by comparison.

Of course there was snappy dialogue ("Nobody ever claims Detroit" and "Sorry, she's a hugger" will never stop being funny) and some tense and exciting moments, but the plot left me yawning.

Was anybody surprised that Christina screwed Henry over? Was anybody surprised that she'd sired Alexander? Was anybody surprised that the episode was all about trust? Yeah, that's what I thought. Once we learned about Alexander, the rest of the episode was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

One interesting part of the episode (and the only thing that surprised me) was Vicki pulling out the illuminación del sol. I'd actually forgotten about that menacing piece of jewelry, believe it or not, and so for a moment, that made me catch my breath.

And I loved the moment where Christina asked Vicki if Henry knew she had the illuminación del sol. Vicki's non-answer was interesting and I look forward to seeing how Henry reacts when he finds out. That's not going to be pretty at all, methinks.

The flashbacks didn't do much for me, mostly because they gave me flashbacks to Buffy and Angel (although I should note that Kyle Schmid's accent is about 200% better than David Boreanaz's was). Oh look, young innocent Henry and worldwise Christina. Yawn.

One thing the flashbacks did, however, was to show rather than tell how vampire sires teach their "children" how to be a vampire. Which made the scene with Alexander more poignant, and led up to the excellent moment when Henry finally confronted Christina. I loved the delivery of "you broke the only code that matters."

That's what makes Henry different from Christina. He's not just the devil that Mike and Vicki know, he actually is a better person. Vampire. Whatever.

I really felt for Henry, confronted once again by the fact that Christina doesn't love him, and is perfectly willing to use him. She will never understand Henry's feelings for Vicki, not because vampires are incapable of that, but because she is incapable.

I also loved the last scene, where Henry and Mike had a moment of understanding. Yeah, Henry, no way Mike could understand being confused and pissed and attracted to someone all at the same time.

But despite a few good scenes, this episode didn't grab my attention. I found myself wishing they'd get on with things and get back to more interesting mysteries. More than once I found myself saying to the television, "Yes yes, I got the idea. Christina's a bitch. Tell me something I don't know."

And, unless I missed it, we never did learn why Christina turned Alexander, or why she would turn him and then abandon him. Were we supposed to assume it was just a power trip on her part? I suppose that would be in-character, but rather pointless, don't you think? Well, we had to have a Christina episode, and now we've gotten it over with. Here's hoping she stays away for a good long while!

For the first time, I think I really don't have a take-home message. Unless "friends don't let friends drink vampire blood" counts. And somehow I don't think it does.