Alaric.

not since 8x07

Not since taking the girls out of town. And it's utter bullsh*t, because Julie had said he'd be heavily featured with a great storyline and IMDB initially had him listed for every single ep. This is just like back when Matt D. was only a "guest star."

It's also remnisent of how JP told us not to freak out over the extremely reduced season, saying that it gave them the chance to pack each episode with high action and heavy meaning (kinda like why Bex wanted the Cure ;-))
So far, we've had some really solid episodes, some filler and surprisingly low action all-around. And now that Nina's back on set, all eveyone wants is to get down to that last ep., for for the finale of our dreams. Can't put that one on JP (or KW), seeing as how they wanted and needed her for at LEAST a full three, she just wasn't interested.

Now that I'm seeing how the "amazing" last 16 episodes EVER of TVD is limping along, all I can REALLY hope for is that Nina was down enough to completely commit herself and her time to the finale, which means being HEAVILY featured and in as many scenes as a prodigal daughter come home ought to be. That, and that JP finally sat down the prez of the CW and demanded he acknowledge they practically eat out of her hands, therefor, she absolutely, positively MUST make the finale a TWO HOUR event....for the fans.

I mean, Nina announced her return in advance. That can only mean a bid for ratings/ad dollars. And if I'm not mistaken, Miss Dobrevicorn has got close to TEN million followers on Instagram alone. Find it hard to believe the heads at the CW could make an argument against such a pitch. Everyone knows teenagers spend more than anyone, and two hours rife with ads....Hell, if Nina and Ian come out and ask everyone to watch the finale in real time or at least DVR it so the ads stand a chance, it's a given viewers will comply :)