The long, cold winter hiatus season is upon us.

So with many TV Fanatic favorites on a break, we're looking back and evaluating their runs so far... report card style!

Click the links to read our Sons of Anarchy Season 5 report card, along with our Walking Dead report card, and then scroll down to see how we feel so far about The Vampire Diaries Season 4...

Best Episode: "Memorial." One of my favorites in series history. It featured a tensely-filmed church showdown, he delved into the new Elena, every main character was given something important to do and that ending with Alaric... oh, that ending with Alaric. Tear.

Worst Episode: "O Come, All Ye Faithful." One of my least favorites in series history. A jumbled mess of two non-sensical storylines: 1. Tyler volunteering to case himself in concrete for some inexplicable reason; 2. Elena and Damon continuing to debate the absurd sire bond.

Best Character: Elena. Her transition has driven the season, with the character's changes affecting everyone around her in the especially intriguing early episodes. Nina Dobrev has been outstanding in her portrayal.

Worst Character: Bonnie. I'm sorry, but it's always Bonnie. She's putting every ounce of trust into this Professor Shane guy simply because... he took over teaching for her grandmother? NOTE: if Damon continues to be as irritating has he has been, when it comes to the sire bond and doing the "right thing" and all that nonsense, I may change my vote.

Best Storyline: Jeremy, his transformation into a hunter and the mark that can only grow when he kills vampires.

Worst Storyline: The sire bond. Need I explain why?

Biggest Waste of a Guest Star: Phoebe Tonkin. Perhaps we'll learn a lot more about her now that she's turned on Tyler, but Hayley just showed up out of nowhere; the audience was simply told of her connection to Tyler; she uttered a few snarky slams; and then proceeded to play a major role in the winter finale. In other words: she was nothing more than a plot device.

Most Impressive Wife-Beater-Wearing Physique: Jeremy Gilbert.

Hopes for 2013: Get Elena and Damon together. Period. I'm not a Delena shipper, I'm only a storyline "shipper" and this sire bond is flat out ridiculous. It's totally contrived and plays like an excuse to extend the love triangle infinitely. Let's turn the focus back to the hunt for The Cure, the mystery of The Council death and how The Five plays into all this. I want mythology, not romance.

Overall Grade: C (NOTE: It would have been an A after the first four episodes.)

Your turn, TVD lovers. What grade would you give Season 4 so far?

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Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.