First of all, I am legitimately an Elena stan for life. Her slapping Stefan and telling him to go to hell is just a typical Elena reaction. She WILL forgive him, there was almost no reason to forgive him. There’s no question that in the end, she’ll absolutely forgive him.
And as for what she had Damon do to Jeremy, I don’t LIKE the compulsions, I think it will come back to BITE her in her ASS. But I understand it. I would do anything within in my power, ANYTHING, to protect my younger siblings. It’s just a natural inclination, and Jeremy has had problems for so long, and is so vulnerable because he doesn’t even have a supernatural benefit to make him valuable enough to the villains to keep around. She did what she thought she had to do to keep the one member of her family that ISN’T DEAD alive. I don’t actually blame her for that. I don’t think it was the right decision, but I understand it and I sympathize with it.
Stefan and Damon’s confrontation was amazing and I love it and I’m glad they finally had that out.
As for the kiss, yes, I ship Delena, I’m not going to claim I don’t. And I know there will be yet another cry of Elena being the rapist-kissing whore. But come on, this has been building since the finale when Elena kissed him “goodbye”. It had to happen, it was going to happen. It happened sooner than I thought it would, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it.
And I think it works as a beautiful juxtaposition to the Katherine/Damon kiss from the season 1 finale. It was in the same location, and in a way, it was the same vibe. The only thing that makes me sad is that I was cringing through Elena thanking Damon for being there thinking about how the fandom would react to her appreciating him and how he’s been there for her since the finale. But whatever. I really really liked it, I liked that it was understated, and I liked that Damon admitted that he felt guilty about it … but if he does love her, and if she has given up on Stefan, and if the news that Stefan isn’t lost didn’t possess her to not kiss him back, then I’m sorry, it takes two to tango and these people are not at fault. Stefan and Elena are not together, and this has been building between Elena and Damon for two years.