I'm actually quoting myself here and saying that I was wrong.
They have moved away from the "monster of the week" crap and focused on the overall story arc. I am pretty sure it is the stones and what will come of it.
I just watched "Spell," the one where Lana's body gets taken over my Isobel. Unless they have more plained, I wish they had waited to turn Lana into Isobel because it should have been built up longer.
Plus they should have had Isobel being Lana a lot longer than one episode. It just felt really quick and they could have done a lot more with it.
I only have two episodes left, "Bound" and "Scare," before I have caught up. It is too bad that LOST is on at the same time.