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shadowkatNot that undead things rock, but you get my drift.
First...one of the things I love most about the Vampire Diaries is that I know there is no way in hell that there will be any academic conferences, presentations, books, or scholarly papers on this show. Or metas for that matter. We're not going to get long discourses on how this is all about power, or deep thoughts, or feminism, or ethical matters. In short, folks, it's just plainclean, okay dirty, fun! (Although, it is more than possible that someone will prove me wrong about this - seriously, people can find deep meaning in anything, including Three's Company.)
And the pacing of this thing...I've never seen a tv show pack more action, plot-twists, and cool fun character moments plus exposition in 43 minute episodes in my life. This show doesn't have filler episodes. I think the slowest episode was probably the one in which Mason was introduced.
Plus, all the main characters are more or less likable. Even Elena is beginning to grow on me.
And well, it was what the doctor ordered tonight - something fun, fast paced, with cool banter, nice character moments, and a positive or pseudo-positive outcome.
Damon still has the best lines. But, I knew if I gave this show time it would start introducing a few cool new characters and it delivered. We now have Roxy or Rosmarie - the Euro-vamp, who looks a bit like Isabel but more punkish. Oddly she approached Stefan not Damon for a truce and assistance at the end of the episode, which sort of surprised me. I was expecting the opposite.
Actually several things surprised me. This is not a predictable tv show.
We get a lot of exposition in this episode...but you barely notice it. In fact when I got it, I thought, okay, now that is how you do exposition. Roxy (Rosmarie) tells Elena why she and Trevor have kidnapped her. Apparently they, like Katrina Petrov (aka Katherine) are on the run from The Originals or the original vampire family - specifically their representative - Elijah. Trevor allowed himself to be manipulated by Katrina and betrayed the family to help her. Putting both himself and Roxy at risk. Tired of running they've snatched Elena, who is Katrina's doppleganger,
to trade for their lives and a pardon. Why Elena? Well it has to do with the Aztec curse. The moonstone apparently binds the curse, while to break it they require a blood sacrifice - which is the blood of the doppleganger. Apparently Katrina is the original doppelganger. Which I guess means there's another look-a-like out there somewhere? A bit confused by that. May have heard it wrong?
Elijah, an extremely old vampire - who doesn't look a day over 30, pops up and is somewhat surprised by Elena and even more so by the fact that she is human and clearly not Katrina. Katrina's line was thought to be dead and Katrina the last of it. Not true. Roxy and Trevor are 500 years old. Katrina is 400. So how old is Elijah? But the blood of the doppleganger is not enough, they also need the moonstone.
Meanwhile...we find out that Bonnie has limits. If she pushes her powers too hard, her nose bleeds and she loses consciousness. As she tells Jeremy, the power pushes back. It is a reminder that I'm human and not invulnerable. Jeremy and Bonnie bond over being children of single parents, having no one to really confide in, and feeling alone. They are close to Elena, but can't really talk to her, because Elena confides in no one but Stefan - shutting Bonnie and Jeremy out. This is actually a sweet relationship and the actors have quite a bit of chemistry. Plus they are building it gradually and logically - as opposed to fast. What VD does well (except for Elena and Stefan) is
gradually build relationships between characters. Jeremy's arc is bad girl, bad girl, good. He goes from the drug addicted Vicky (who he is dealing to) to Anna, another metaphor for drug addiction and escape and suicide, to Bonnie who is about life and power and survival. Bonnie is the opposite of Vicky who wants to die and Anna who is living death, a perpetual peter pan in female form. Bonnie, herself, a fairly underutilized character is starting to get a bit more screen time, thank god, I missed her. She's also the only minority actor in the cast - so hello affirmative action. Perhaps now that she's paired with Jeremy and not just Elena's talking buddy, we'll get more development? Course Jeremy's significant others have a tendency to die, so ...
Then there's Caroline and Tyler - who I adore to pieces. Two characters that I initially disliked and saw as shallow and somewhat grating, have become amongst my favorites. Kudos. That's hard to pull off. Tyler was a creep in season one, now less than a year and a half later, he's turned out to be a bit more well-rounded. Lonely, scared, and edgy. Not a creep at all. And Caroline who seemed to be a ditzy airhead, is actually a force to be reckoned with, with all sorts of hidden
depths and angles. I give the show credit for taking what might have been another one-dimensional blond bimbo character (Harmony Kendall - I'm looking at you) and turning her into a three-dimensional, tough heroine. She sticks up for herself in this episode. Handles Tyler better than Damon gave her credit for. He's understandably concerned - he warns her to stay clear, since Tyler being a werewolf could easily kill her. Or perhaps he does it for himself, considering Tyler could kill him too. Don't tell him about us - he informs her. She doesn't, she just tells him, after he literally pushes her to the wall, about herself. And they bond in a touching fashion. This is what star-crossed lovers should be...the common denominator their outsider status.
And...the brother's Salvatore. Granted I have a weakness for sibling bonding. Particularly anything to do with "brothers". Sisters...meh. But brothers hits my buttons in all the right ways.
(Why else do you think I watch Supernatural?) This was a good episode regarding their relationship.
We don't spend too much time on it. But we get enough...to know that Damon does care about Stefan.
But there are two elephant's in the room that need airing, or rather three. All of which are in this episode. 1) Their mutual love and betrayal at the hands of Katherine. 2) Their mutual love of Elena, who clearly loves Stefan, not Damon, and 3) Stefan's turning of Damon into a monster like him. This trope has been done before - by both True Blood and Buffy, but in some respects I like the direct simplicity of it here. It's quick and to the point, and unlike Angel, I give Stefan credit for taking responsibility for what he's done. He apologizes to Damon for turning him. He states, "it was selfish and I shouldn't have done it to you. But I didn't want to be alone. I needed my brother, I wanted my brother with me." And the unspoken sentiment...I still need him.
Damon, appears to hear him and actually takes what he says to heart, because much later in the episode he tells Elena..."What I have to tell you is selfish. But I'm only going to say it once and I need you to hear it. I love you. But...because I love you, I can't be selfish with you. I don't deserve you. But my brother, Stefan, does. So, you have to forget this, even though I really wish you wouldn't." He cries as he compells her to forget, then returns her necklace of vervaine.
(Which by the way is not useful against the big bad vampires that are after her - who like Elena have developed a bit of a tolerance to it.) Damon is saying this to Elena around the same time that Roxy is offering her assistance to Stefan - Lexie said you were one of the good ones, which is why I'm offering you my assistance, you'll need it and I have no where else to go.
Before all this happens, there's a great fight sequence out in the old house in the middle of nowhere. Where Damon and Stefan expertly distract and tackle Elijah with a bit of help from Elena (who for once fights). It's a sexy and fun sequence. Except unfortunately they didn't do a thorough enough job of killing Elijah. Note - next time when fighting a centuries old vampire, don't just stake them, burn them and cut off their head. Let's be thorough about this guys. He's over 1000 years old, after all. (Sigh. At least with Buffy you knew when vamp's were dead - they went poof (I'm ignoring the comics) or True Blood - they exploded (and eww, much prefer VD's method thank you very much)).
Another tid-bit - there's very little sex in VD but the show is erotic and hot. In some ways far more so than True Blood which appears to be sex all the time. There's a lesson in that, methinks.
Sex like fight scenes - is something that you should use sparingly, too many and it gets boring.
They should propel the characters and fight scenes forward. Sex or fight scenes just for the sake of doing them...are well yawn-worthy. Vampire Daries (calling it VD feels a bit like talking about a sexually transmitted disease, which yeah, nice metaphor, but no), to give it credit has yet to do that. Even the Elena and Stefan sex scenes, while admittedly boring, do have a purpose and do propel the action and characters forward. Also they are done sparingly. I think I've only seen three maybe four sex scenes to date - compare that to True Blood, which is basically a sex scene every episode. Nothing against sex scenes - but they work better if you build up to them, otherwise it's just cheap porn.
Best line? Hands down Damon's "let's not do the road trip bonding thing, the cliche alone makes me itchy." Although Caroline's lines to Tyler...are a close second.
Overall rating? Hee. - A for fun!!!
First...one of the things I love most about the Vampire Diaries is that I know there is no way in hell that there will be any academic conferences, presentations, books, or scholarly papers on this show. Or metas for that matter. We're not going to get long discourses on how this is all about power, or deep thoughts, or feminism, or ethical matters. In short, folks, it's just plain
And the pacing of this thing...I've never seen a tv show pack more action, plot-twists, and cool fun character moments plus exposition in 43 minute episodes in my life. This show doesn't have filler episodes. I think the slowest episode was probably the one in which Mason was introduced.
Plus, all the main characters are more or less likable. Even Elena is beginning to grow on me.
And well, it was what the doctor ordered tonight - something fun, fast paced, with cool banter, nice character moments, and a positive or pseudo-positive outcome.
Damon still has the best lines. But, I knew if I gave this show time it would start introducing a few cool new characters and it delivered. We now have Roxy or Rosmarie - the Euro-vamp, who looks a bit like Isabel but more punkish. Oddly she approached Stefan not Damon for a truce and assistance at the end of the episode, which sort of surprised me. I was expecting the opposite.
Actually several things surprised me. This is not a predictable tv show.
We get a lot of exposition in this episode...but you barely notice it. In fact when I got it, I thought, okay, now that is how you do exposition. Roxy (Rosmarie) tells Elena why she and Trevor have kidnapped her. Apparently they, like Katrina Petrov (aka Katherine) are on the run from The Originals or the original vampire family - specifically their representative - Elijah. Trevor allowed himself to be manipulated by Katrina and betrayed the family to help her. Putting both himself and Roxy at risk. Tired of running they've snatched Elena, who is Katrina's doppleganger,
to trade for their lives and a pardon. Why Elena? Well it has to do with the Aztec curse. The moonstone apparently binds the curse, while to break it they require a blood sacrifice - which is the blood of the doppleganger. Apparently Katrina is the original doppelganger. Which I guess means there's another look-a-like out there somewhere? A bit confused by that. May have heard it wrong?
Elijah, an extremely old vampire - who doesn't look a day over 30, pops up and is somewhat surprised by Elena and even more so by the fact that she is human and clearly not Katrina. Katrina's line was thought to be dead and Katrina the last of it. Not true. Roxy and Trevor are 500 years old. Katrina is 400. So how old is Elijah? But the blood of the doppleganger is not enough, they also need the moonstone.
Meanwhile...we find out that Bonnie has limits. If she pushes her powers too hard, her nose bleeds and she loses consciousness. As she tells Jeremy, the power pushes back. It is a reminder that I'm human and not invulnerable. Jeremy and Bonnie bond over being children of single parents, having no one to really confide in, and feeling alone. They are close to Elena, but can't really talk to her, because Elena confides in no one but Stefan - shutting Bonnie and Jeremy out. This is actually a sweet relationship and the actors have quite a bit of chemistry. Plus they are building it gradually and logically - as opposed to fast. What VD does well (except for Elena and Stefan) is
gradually build relationships between characters. Jeremy's arc is bad girl, bad girl, good. He goes from the drug addicted Vicky (who he is dealing to) to Anna, another metaphor for drug addiction and escape and suicide, to Bonnie who is about life and power and survival. Bonnie is the opposite of Vicky who wants to die and Anna who is living death, a perpetual peter pan in female form. Bonnie, herself, a fairly underutilized character is starting to get a bit more screen time, thank god, I missed her. She's also the only minority actor in the cast - so hello affirmative action. Perhaps now that she's paired with Jeremy and not just Elena's talking buddy, we'll get more development? Course Jeremy's significant others have a tendency to die, so ...
Then there's Caroline and Tyler - who I adore to pieces. Two characters that I initially disliked and saw as shallow and somewhat grating, have become amongst my favorites. Kudos. That's hard to pull off. Tyler was a creep in season one, now less than a year and a half later, he's turned out to be a bit more well-rounded. Lonely, scared, and edgy. Not a creep at all. And Caroline who seemed to be a ditzy airhead, is actually a force to be reckoned with, with all sorts of hidden
depths and angles. I give the show credit for taking what might have been another one-dimensional blond bimbo character (Harmony Kendall - I'm looking at you) and turning her into a three-dimensional, tough heroine. She sticks up for herself in this episode. Handles Tyler better than Damon gave her credit for. He's understandably concerned - he warns her to stay clear, since Tyler being a werewolf could easily kill her. Or perhaps he does it for himself, considering Tyler could kill him too. Don't tell him about us - he informs her. She doesn't, she just tells him, after he literally pushes her to the wall, about herself. And they bond in a touching fashion. This is what star-crossed lovers should be...the common denominator their outsider status.
And...the brother's Salvatore. Granted I have a weakness for sibling bonding. Particularly anything to do with "brothers". Sisters...meh. But brothers hits my buttons in all the right ways.
(Why else do you think I watch Supernatural?) This was a good episode regarding their relationship.
We don't spend too much time on it. But we get enough...to know that Damon does care about Stefan.
But there are two elephant's in the room that need airing, or rather three. All of which are in this episode. 1) Their mutual love and betrayal at the hands of Katherine. 2) Their mutual love of Elena, who clearly loves Stefan, not Damon, and 3) Stefan's turning of Damon into a monster like him. This trope has been done before - by both True Blood and Buffy, but in some respects I like the direct simplicity of it here. It's quick and to the point, and unlike Angel, I give Stefan credit for taking responsibility for what he's done. He apologizes to Damon for turning him. He states, "it was selfish and I shouldn't have done it to you. But I didn't want to be alone. I needed my brother, I wanted my brother with me." And the unspoken sentiment...I still need him.
Damon, appears to hear him and actually takes what he says to heart, because much later in the episode he tells Elena..."What I have to tell you is selfish. But I'm only going to say it once and I need you to hear it. I love you. But...because I love you, I can't be selfish with you. I don't deserve you. But my brother, Stefan, does. So, you have to forget this, even though I really wish you wouldn't." He cries as he compells her to forget, then returns her necklace of vervaine.
(Which by the way is not useful against the big bad vampires that are after her - who like Elena have developed a bit of a tolerance to it.) Damon is saying this to Elena around the same time that Roxy is offering her assistance to Stefan - Lexie said you were one of the good ones, which is why I'm offering you my assistance, you'll need it and I have no where else to go.
Before all this happens, there's a great fight sequence out in the old house in the middle of nowhere. Where Damon and Stefan expertly distract and tackle Elijah with a bit of help from Elena (who for once fights). It's a sexy and fun sequence. Except unfortunately they didn't do a thorough enough job of killing Elijah. Note - next time when fighting a centuries old vampire, don't just stake them, burn them and cut off their head. Let's be thorough about this guys. He's over 1000 years old, after all. (Sigh. At least with Buffy you knew when vamp's were dead - they went poof (I'm ignoring the comics) or True Blood - they exploded (and eww, much prefer VD's method thank you very much)).
Another tid-bit - there's very little sex in VD but the show is erotic and hot. In some ways far more so than True Blood which appears to be sex all the time. There's a lesson in that, methinks.
Sex like fight scenes - is something that you should use sparingly, too many and it gets boring.
They should propel the characters and fight scenes forward. Sex or fight scenes just for the sake of doing them...are well yawn-worthy. Vampire Daries (calling it VD feels a bit like talking about a sexually transmitted disease, which yeah, nice metaphor, but no), to give it credit has yet to do that. Even the Elena and Stefan sex scenes, while admittedly boring, do have a purpose and do propel the action and characters forward. Also they are done sparingly. I think I've only seen three maybe four sex scenes to date - compare that to True Blood, which is basically a sex scene every episode. Nothing against sex scenes - but they work better if you build up to them, otherwise it's just cheap porn.
Best line? Hands down Damon's "let's not do the road trip bonding thing, the cliche alone makes me itchy." Although Caroline's lines to Tyler...are a close second.
Overall rating? Hee. - A for fun!!!
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 08:13 am (UTC)I know, you really can't wander out of the room when it's running.
Apparently Katrina is the original doppelganger. Which I guess means there's another look-a-like out there somewhere? A bit confused by that. May have heard it wrong?
No, they said that Katherine was the "last" Petrova doppelganger but, of course, we know Elena is. Although how is something still to be explained since she and Katherine can't be blood relatives.
Perhaps now that she's paired with Jeremy and not just Elena's talking buddy, we'll get more development? Course Jeremy's significant others have a tendency to die, so ...
Yeah, don't think I haven't thought of that...
Tyler was a creep in season one, now less than a year and a half later, he's turned out to be a bit more well-rounded. Lonely, scared, and edgy. Not a creep at all. And Caroline who seemed to be a ditzy airhead, is actually a force to be reckoned with, with all sorts of hidden
depths and angles.
Nods. I fear Matt is no longer in the picture but Tyler and Caroline are sweet together. Who would have thunk it after last Season.
Every time an episode ends, I can't wait for next week. Damn this show, it's just a joy to watch.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 03:35 am (UTC)I find it fascinating that the writers played with Matt (even gave him a whole family - a fairly stereotypical white trash family...) and then dropped it. They did the same thing with Jenna - who at the start had a sort of stereotypical arc - struggling Aunt, with great job, and boyfriend...now she's barely there. And decided to develop Caroline and Tyler instead.
Surprised me, in a good way.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 06:21 pm (UTC)"Caroline and Tyler - who I adore to pieces. Two characters that I initially disliked and saw as shallow and somewhat grating, have become amongst my favorites."
Yes! I'm have the exact same reaction to these two. Especially Caroline. Last season I was all bitter because they kept killing left, right and center all the interesting characters who had great potential. But that annoying Caroline? She just kept going... This year? All of a sudden I'm anxiously waiting for her scenes. So yeah, kudos. Definitely!
"We're not going to get long discourses on how this is all about power, or deep thoughts, or feminism, or ethical matters. In short, folks, it's just plain clean, okay dirty, mindless fun!"
You're right, and that's exactly how it should be! TVD should under no circumstances be too deep. :P That said, I couldn't help but enjoy watching how they explored the, how should I call it, theme of being lonely and scared in this episode. It was quite interesting how it came up in all the plots and touched all the characters, in one way or another.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 03:29 am (UTC)Agreed. You're correct there is a very clear and interesting theme about loniliness in the series. And after reading your comment, it occurred to me - what they've been doing with Elena and Katherine.
If you think about it the characters that are the most alone in this series are Elena and Katherine. Katherine in the past, Elena in the present, and now the two together. It's what they have in common.
Both are shut off from everyone. Elena can't really confide in anyone. The daughter of a woman who had herself turned into a vampire and wants nothing to do with her, and a father (who is her adoptive father's brother and hates vampires). A father she wants nothing to do with. She can't really talk to Jeremy - who she spends most of her time trying to protect. And she can't confide in Aunt Jenna - who is oblivious to everything that is going on around her. Stefan...she loves, but can't quite trust.
And Damon...she's not sure about. Bonnie...hates vampires, so she can't completely confide in Bonnie either.
In Elena...you see the reality of the human condition, how alone we all are and feel. Even when we are surrounded by loved ones.
Elena on the surface seems to have all the friends in the world, is loved by everyone, yet - she is isolated. They barely notice she's been kidnapped.
Katherine has similar issues - loved by both Salvator brothers, in the end they choose each other over her. She, in reality, has no one.
This series has done a good job of developing characters who were multi-faceated and could be stereotypical. They picked up on the actor who portrays Tyler and the actress who portrays Caroline's ability to do more, and scaled back on Jenna and Matt.
Last year - they played with developing Jenna and Matt's storylines more, but it is almost as if they realized that didn't quite work and went in the opposite direction and picked up the thread of Tyler and Caroline instead. It surprised me,
because the traditional thing would have been to develope Matt and Jenna - the nice guys, and make Tyler and Caroline stereotypical jerks. But they didn't go the cliche or stereotypical route. And two characters I thought little off in S1, I adore in S2. Now, that's what I call building a good character arc.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 12:08 pm (UTC)Ooh, I like this! I'm definitely going to keep this in mind. I hope we'll learn more about this while they keep fleshing out these two characters. And other characters too, for that matter.