If there’s one thing that “The Vampire Diaries” does right, it’s finales – the writers always somehow manage to produce a mind-blowing surprise approximately every three minutes in each final episode, usually crescendoing to a with a gut-wrenching climax of emotional, supernatural and romantic cliffhangers. Tonight’s midseason finale will likely be no exception: Expect fans to be screaming their heads off in sheer agony for the 56 days (um… who’s counting?) until the premiere in January.

This season has followed the trials and tribulations of “The Originals,” the thousand-year-old first family of vampires. For those who doubt the supernatural merit of this show and how it compares to the likes of “Buffy,” “True Blood” and so many other vampire TV shows, the mythology of “The Vampire Diaries” is surprisingly twisty and complex for a CW show, but manages to sidestep the all-too-easy trap of forced or contrived plot developments. This season, Original vampire Klaus and his sister, Rebekah, continue the effort to break a curse that afflicts Klaus so that he can reach his full potential as a “hybrid” (half vampire, half werewolf – somewhere, Bella Swan is shrieking with joy).

In the process of evil plotting, Klaus has transformed the usually heroic and selfless Stefan Salvatore into a full-blown demonic ripper who now snacks on all-too-eager bimbos rather than brooding, pouting and doting on Elena. This transformation threw Elena straight into cahoots with DaMonday, his (far more gorgeous) brother, and their extremely close friendship will most likely hit new romantic levels soon (read: probably tonight). Elena, Damon and their trusty gang of supernatural misfits have sought out the help of Mikael, the Original family’s father and a vampire hunter, in order to help kill Klaus, which would save Elena and bring Stefan back from the path of evil.

This midseason finale chronicles the homecoming dance at Mystic Falls High School. As per usual, these school dances are where pretty much everything juicy goes down (mostly because it’s pretty much a vampire buffet). The showdown between the Originals will occur, and there’s no telling who will live and who will die (if you’re just tuning into this show, don’t get too attached – main characters are killed off at an alarming frequency). It’s never easy to predict what the next “Vampire Diaries” development will be, but we do know that there will be lives, families and hearts hanging in the balance after this jam-packed finale.

Catch “The Vampire Diaries” on The CW tonight at 7 p.m.

– Mackenzie Bronk