“Can we not do the whole road trip bonding thing? The whole cliche of it makes me itch.” – Damon
Last week, The Vampire Diaries made me squee with the ridiculously high body count … so much fun. This week, the show’s got me doing something it’s never made me do before: think. Yeah, that’s right — my guilty pleasure show has just crossed the cerebral cortex, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
OK, I jest just a bit, but I do think The Vampire Diaries tried something out tonight that they don’t really do all that often. This was the episode of the slow burn. They didn’t zip-bam-pow us, they didn’t surprise us with any huge reveals, heck, they didn’t even snap anybody’s neck (although the beheading was icky). I didn’t even take any notes for the first 20 minutes or so. Instead, I watched the characters interact in such a lovely, restrained way. They were all guarded for different reasons and it just worked on all fronts.
We got a lot of bonding: Bonnie and Jeremy (kiss her, already….), Caroline and Tyler and Stefan and Damon. I’m nervous that Caroline revealed herself to Tyler because he’s a bit unstable (can we say anger management issues?), but then again, he’s scared and alone and really needs someone and perhaps this initial alignment as friends (to become something more?) will eventually save them all from becoming foes, or at least bring them back from the dark side when it inevitably happens.
The big bonding came from Stefan and Damon though. Damon tried desperately to avoid it, making his usual sarcastic barbs, but he brought it on himself: I’m not sure Damon’s ever been so selfless, even when he got a heart at the end of last season. He saved Elena because he loves her, he confessed his love to her, but compels her to forget because he knows that Stefan deserves her. Kinda made Stefan’s heartfelt apology pale in comparison. Or, did Stefan’s apology inspire Damon? If Stefan can apologize for being selfish 145 years ago, then why can’t Damon do something selfless for Stefan? Right back ‘atcha.
It was all so warm and fuzzy that I almost forgot about the amazing set-up for the new story-arc … but not quite. Katherine’s going to end up aligning with the gang to save her doppelganger. Like Isobel, she’s going to get all mushy about her family, something that I think was alluded to when Rose and Trevor stressed the familial bond. Katherine’s family is Damon and Stefan, and now Elena and something tells me they’ll all get there.
This and that:
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Nov 04, 2010 @ 21:58 EST5EDT
my guess :
the original girl who was sacrificed to seal the curse, this is an assumption based on the fact that they based it in Aztec myth and they were known for human sacrifices, was Elena/Katherine or her “effigy” so to speak. And as a caveat or a “get out of jail free card” for the curse, as they ALL have one in these sorts of things, is that you need someone from that lineage and who looks like or is the rebirth of the original sacrifice to break the curse, i.e. the doppelganger (stupid use of the word, it sounds awkward)
this would indicate that before the curse vampires walked during the day and werewolves controlled their transformations. To break the curse would give both “species” an advantage over us humans and truly put them, vampires at least, on the top of the food chain.
also, Damon is a much more interesting character, with that last scene, and its much like the Angel/Spike dichotomy of Buffy days (which this show sometimes rips heavily from)
I enjoyed this episode- I liked slowing down a bit after last week’s crazy action-packed death romp. I’ve read the books (thankfully, the show is nothing like them), and Klaus the original is a nasty sort. Can’t wait to see how this plays out.
The scene at the end with Damon and Elena was heartbreaking. Damon as a character has grown so much in such a short time- I’m so glad it hasn’t all been undone since Katherine arrived.
I’m not a Bonnie fan, but I don’t mind her so much with Jeremy. Kiss her, already! And I love, love, love Caroline- I’m glad she’s confiding in Tyler, because he’s such a volatile character and he needs someone like her to help him. The warm and fuzzies won’t last, though- he’s going to find out what really happened to Uncle Mason…
Thanks for the review!
Not sure how I feel about this episode either, but I can say one thing… I really hope they keep Katherine evil.
Yes, her brand of evil is almost wussy compared to the originals, but I just hope that they don’t turn her into the victim, and have us all feeling sorry for her. That would really annoy me. Nor do I want to see her save Elena because she goes all mushy for family the way Isobel did. It’s ok to have some characters just be evil – that doesn’t have to make them boring or flat. They spent all last season setting us up for ‘evil Katherine’ and honestly I think they need to keep her that way. If she does want Elena protected, then there has to be a self-serving reason – or I hope so anyway. I just don’t want to see ‘horrible evil selfish vampire, comes to town, kills people left and right, everyone wants them dead, then we see a different side of them, feel bad for them, they come around, and now they play for the good guys’. Been there, done that – all last season – and his name is Damon.
Just lookin’ for something new.