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shadowkatOccasionally when I post to LJ, then edit it - it ends up double-posting, so I have to delete one of the entries - which isn't an issue except when you get comments to both entries. Then it's sort of eeney meanie miny moe. I suppose I could keep both, but I'm anal, it bugs me. Sorry for last night,
a nasty side-effect of a sugar high is the crash afterwards. Have decided to go cold turkey. No more chocolat or sugar for moi.
Results of Reader Poll - pretty much stated that people wanted reviews on more or less everything I listed. In particular the Spike comic. There were also about 7 people who wanted Vampire Diaries. And since I saw that last night, might as well review. It was an interesting episode,
exposition heavy but with great character moments. The series also has an interesting mythology or back story - that is different than most of the stories I've seen in this particular trope. In some respects the fantasy world that the writers are building here is more detailed and far less derivative than other gothic horror tv shows and novels.
And it has some great one-liners.
The interesting thing about Vampire Diaries is the moment it moves away from the Damon/Elena/Stefan romantic love triangle (and I'm admittedly not a fan of love triangles - possibly because I always feel sorry for the odd man out - what can I say, I root for the underdog) and focuses on other characters and plot arcs - it gets *really* interesting.
For quite some time now I've been wondering about the fact that the "witches" in this series all appear to be African-American or Jamiacan-American...or Persons of Color. (What is the right term now? Is there one?) But since I'd only seen three to date and they were related, thought nothing of it. But now with the introduction of Luke and his Dad, who is been played by an actor I've seen before and rather like, I'm thinking there's a definite pattern. Also an interesting metaphor emerging. Witches in the Vampire Diaries verse - are persecuted by humans, and enslaved or used by vampires. At first, I chose to see this as coincidental. But now, I'm not so sure. It feels deliberate. I have yet to see white person cast as a witch. Have seen a black person cast as a vampire and ordinary human - so at least it's not all black people are witches motif - because that would be annoying. But there's definitely a pattern emerging. Add to it - a subtext about persecution. In tonight's episode it's underlined by Luke's father, whose name I forget, I keep wanting to call him Dr. Bennet (but that can't be right, because Bonnie's last name is Bennett - I think) - where he asks Bonnie if she's any relation to the Bennett's of Salem and the Witch Trials.
Last week, Bonnie's second cousin was being used by Katherine to do her bidding, much as Emily - Bonnie's ancestor had been. And...it's revealed in this episode that the curse that undoes the vampire/werewolf bit requires a witch to figure it out and it was set in place by a witch. Can't imagine the witch wanting to do it without a little persuasion. On top of all of that...the new guys come from New Orleans - voodu central (for an informative and rather frightening psychological thriller regarding the religion of voodu/hoodu - go rent The Skeleton Key - that thing bugged me for weeks afterward. It has a great extra on Voodue and Hoodue.).
We didn't get to see Tyler this week - but Caroline told Stefan (mainly as a ploy to distract him so he wouldn't interrupt Elena's little tete-tea with Katherine) that she'd told Tyler that she was a vampire. Which Stefan was not crazy about. But he did understand. She begged him not to tell Damon - who might kill Tyler and possibly her (one can never tell with Damon). I rather adore Caroline - the actress does a lovely job of getting across a sort of stupid naivite without coming across dumb. She's not. Naivee maybe and inexperienced, but not dumb. And vulnerable.
The writing of the show is getting better - but that's in part due to the writers they've hired.
Andrew Chambliss - who you may or may not remember from Dollhouse, assuming you watched it, wrote tonight's episode. In my opinion Chambliss wrote the best episodes of Dollhouse. This writer seems to understand emotional nuance and how to blend exposition with action, in such a way as to make it interesting and not confusing the audience at the same time. That's not easy to do well.
(a friend who I've since lost touch with - got me into the habit of paying attention to who wrote each episode - he was one of those guys who insists on sitting through the entire credit reel at the end of movies - no matter how long it is).
One of my favorite scenes unsurprisingly is between Damon and Rose (not Roxy - apparently it's Rose, I suck at names - you think this is bad - I can't remember the names of half the people I work with. But I got some of my own karma back on that - a guy at church kept calling me Jennifer, so not a Jennifer, not that there's anything wrong with the name Jennifer - quite nice actually, just isn't my name. ) It's the scene in which they engage in comfort sex. Rose has lost the love of her life Trevor (who in turn was deeply in love with Katrina/Katherine - which Rose notes is similar to Damon, she sees aspects of Trevor in Damon. States even that he reminds her a great deal of Trevor, always with a con or scheme...and of course his weakness for Katherine, who used him. ) Damon keeps insisting he can just switch it off, not feel a thing. And Rose plays along with it a bit...until she reveals, after they've slept together - which by the way was done in a erotic and interesting manner as opposed to boringly graphic(HBO take notes, just because you can show everything doesn't mean you should), that you can't flip the switch - that's an old wives tale. Maybe at first, as a newbie. But after you've lived a while and the older you get, you realize all you are really doing is just pretending. I like that. You fool yourself and others by saying you don't care - but you do. You can't stop yourself from caring. And how caring to a vampire feels like a weakness...it would be easier not to care. Particularly when you live forever and a day.
Most of the plot of the episode is exposition. Elena talks to Katrina - and Dobrev does a good job here of playing two separate roles. What the two characters have in common is how isolated they both are. Katrina puts up a good front of how she stopped herself from caring about anyone and did what she could to survive. But if you watch the flashbacks carefully and her interaction with Elena - you'll note that Katrina misses her family. That Elena and Isobel are all she has left of them. Yet also, Elena and Isobel represent why she lost them to begin with. The bastard child she was not permitted to raise or even hold. The parents who she adored and threw her out. Alone she travels to England, where a nobleman takes interest in her and seems to care for her, until she figures out what he is and why he's interested and runs like hell. It's not clear in the flashback whether Elijah is Claus or Elijah. I'm beginning to wonder. At the end of the episode, Katrina is alone in her tomb crying over an old drawing of her parents. Much like Elena - Katrina is orphaned.
Elena has thrown her parents out of her life. Katrina was thrown out by her's. They are doppleganger's of each other, mirror's, separated by time, but not space. Katrina also tells Elena that she (Katrina) is safe, as is the moonstone for that matter, as long as she stays in the tomb that no vampire can enter without being stuck in it for eternity. We've been told by Bonnie - that she can't break the spell on the tomb - that doing so last time, took both her and her Grandmother, and it killed her Grandmother. So something is being built up there - in the same episode Damon informs Slater and through him Elijah that he can get the moonstone.
We or rather Damon and Rose are told by Slater (a rather interesting character that I wanted to see more of - Vampire Diaries is good at this - creating potentially interesting characters and killing them off fast), who is Rose's contact and friend, that the vampire's want to break the curse first, because if they do it the werewolves won't. It's not to be able to walk in daylight - the originals have already found a way around that with the be-spelled rings, courtesy of their pet witches. (The master - slave relationship). No, what they want to do is stop the werewolves permanently. But - Rose states, why there are hardly any left. Slater - says - no rumor has it there are enough. To which Damon responds, I can confirm that. As they are talking - Elijah stands outside listening, waiting for the right moment to throw a bunch of coins at the tempered glass - burning everyone inside. It is a clever scene and a good use of audience anticipation - we figure out what he is about to do, think damn, how are the characters going to get out of this, and wham. So exposition plus action plus furthering the plot plus putting characters in jeopardy - that's how one does pacing.
When Stefan finally figures out what Caroline is up to and where Elena is (to give Caroline credit she doesn't tell him), he catches up with her and tries, unsuccessfully to convince her that Katherine is lying. She's not. Elena is smart enough to realize that. What Katherine has told her is what happened to me will happen to you. If you betray Claus - he will kill your entire family and everyone you ever cared for or cared for you. That is what he did to me. I've been running from him for 400 years. He killed my entire family - when I became a vampire and got away, that was his revenge. So Elena tells Stefan - it's not you, it's no one else, it's me that is putting everyone in danger. IT is all my fault. I like the metaphor. Selfless/Selfish sort of the same thing but not. Elena is selfless, Katrina selfish. But is that true? We are both at the same time, we have to be in order to survive. Self-preservation and all that. Elena like most young women and men at that age (although it's true of older women and men as well - there's really no age limit on this, sorry to say) - tends to think the world ends and begins with her. IT really isn't all her fault. It's Claus's fault. And whatever witch decided to use Petrova blood to seal the curse to begin with. All Elena did was live. Hardly a crime. And if you want to blame anyone for that - go back to Katrina for having a child out of wedlock or for that matter Isobel, who also did.
Another interesting pattern. Did the first Petrov, who Katrina and Elena resemble, have a child out of wedlock? And that was given away and separated? No. Most likely not. She was probably used as the sacrifice to seal the curse - why she was used, we haven't been told but since this is a romance - I would not at all be surprised if the first one was the romantic love interest of Claus or someone close to Claus or a werewolf for that matter, and they sacrificed her because of her relationship with Claus. But Katrina and Elena are closely aligned. Katrina was forced to give up her child. Elena was a child that her parents were forced to part with or chose to.
Damon asks the most interesting questions - can we make it impossible to break the curse. Which surprises Slater and Rose, but as Damon puts it - I can already walk in sunlight, there's only one werewolf wandering about...why do I care about the curse? I care about Elena. That's when Elijah interrupts them. It's later while he's being compelled by Elijah that Slater states, yes, you can make it impossible - but you will need the moonstone and a witch - can you get them? Damon nods and Rose states, yes, they can.
So...it appears Elijah and his witch friend Dr. something or other...are manipulating our friends into breaking the curse? Or the opposite? Possibly the opposite??
Katrina reveals her plans to Elena. That she needed the moonstone, a werewolf, a witch, another vampire, Elena's blood - all of it, drained, to break the curse. She was planning on trading it to Claus to save herself, because she'd grown tired of running. Now they have all the ingredients: Caroline, Elena, Tyler, Bonnie, and the moonstone.
The twist...is that new Dr, Luke's Dad is well Elijah's Warlock/Witch. But he says to Elijah - was killing Slater necessary...which struck me as interesting. What I like about Williamson's stories is that the characters aren't binary constructs, they tend to be fairly morally ambiguous. As we are seeing with Damon and Katrina. There's layers. And that dear reader is why I've grown to enjoy this series.
Good episode. Lots of fun. Wish we weren't taking a two week hiatus. This is the annoying thing about TV in the US, not sure it's like this overseas or not (I mean overseas programming not US programming exported overseas) - is the damn breaks. We do a slow build, things take off for two weeks of sweeps. Cliffhanger. Then two weeks of reruns. Then cliff-hanger. Then two months of reruns. A mid-season replacement series for two months. Then back to where we left off sometime in March. How in the heck are you supposed to get invested in let alone follow a plot arc that does that? Seriously - I wish the networks would give us 20 uninterrupted weeks of a series, then go on hiatus. I'm beginning to understand why a lot of people just wait until it all comes out on DVD.
a nasty side-effect of a sugar high is the crash afterwards. Have decided to go cold turkey. No more chocolat or sugar for moi.
Results of Reader Poll - pretty much stated that people wanted reviews on more or less everything I listed. In particular the Spike comic. There were also about 7 people who wanted Vampire Diaries. And since I saw that last night, might as well review. It was an interesting episode,
exposition heavy but with great character moments. The series also has an interesting mythology or back story - that is different than most of the stories I've seen in this particular trope. In some respects the fantasy world that the writers are building here is more detailed and far less derivative than other gothic horror tv shows and novels.
And it has some great one-liners.
The interesting thing about Vampire Diaries is the moment it moves away from the Damon/Elena/Stefan romantic love triangle (and I'm admittedly not a fan of love triangles - possibly because I always feel sorry for the odd man out - what can I say, I root for the underdog) and focuses on other characters and plot arcs - it gets *really* interesting.
For quite some time now I've been wondering about the fact that the "witches" in this series all appear to be African-American or Jamiacan-American...or Persons of Color. (What is the right term now? Is there one?) But since I'd only seen three to date and they were related, thought nothing of it. But now with the introduction of Luke and his Dad, who is been played by an actor I've seen before and rather like, I'm thinking there's a definite pattern. Also an interesting metaphor emerging. Witches in the Vampire Diaries verse - are persecuted by humans, and enslaved or used by vampires. At first, I chose to see this as coincidental. But now, I'm not so sure. It feels deliberate. I have yet to see white person cast as a witch. Have seen a black person cast as a vampire and ordinary human - so at least it's not all black people are witches motif - because that would be annoying. But there's definitely a pattern emerging. Add to it - a subtext about persecution. In tonight's episode it's underlined by Luke's father, whose name I forget, I keep wanting to call him Dr. Bennet (but that can't be right, because Bonnie's last name is Bennett - I think) - where he asks Bonnie if she's any relation to the Bennett's of Salem and the Witch Trials.
Last week, Bonnie's second cousin was being used by Katherine to do her bidding, much as Emily - Bonnie's ancestor had been. And...it's revealed in this episode that the curse that undoes the vampire/werewolf bit requires a witch to figure it out and it was set in place by a witch. Can't imagine the witch wanting to do it without a little persuasion. On top of all of that...the new guys come from New Orleans - voodu central (for an informative and rather frightening psychological thriller regarding the religion of voodu/hoodu - go rent The Skeleton Key - that thing bugged me for weeks afterward. It has a great extra on Voodue and Hoodue.).
We didn't get to see Tyler this week - but Caroline told Stefan (mainly as a ploy to distract him so he wouldn't interrupt Elena's little tete-tea with Katherine) that she'd told Tyler that she was a vampire. Which Stefan was not crazy about. But he did understand. She begged him not to tell Damon - who might kill Tyler and possibly her (one can never tell with Damon). I rather adore Caroline - the actress does a lovely job of getting across a sort of stupid naivite without coming across dumb. She's not. Naivee maybe and inexperienced, but not dumb. And vulnerable.
The writing of the show is getting better - but that's in part due to the writers they've hired.
Andrew Chambliss - who you may or may not remember from Dollhouse, assuming you watched it, wrote tonight's episode. In my opinion Chambliss wrote the best episodes of Dollhouse. This writer seems to understand emotional nuance and how to blend exposition with action, in such a way as to make it interesting and not confusing the audience at the same time. That's not easy to do well.
(a friend who I've since lost touch with - got me into the habit of paying attention to who wrote each episode - he was one of those guys who insists on sitting through the entire credit reel at the end of movies - no matter how long it is).
One of my favorite scenes unsurprisingly is between Damon and Rose (not Roxy - apparently it's Rose, I suck at names - you think this is bad - I can't remember the names of half the people I work with. But I got some of my own karma back on that - a guy at church kept calling me Jennifer, so not a Jennifer, not that there's anything wrong with the name Jennifer - quite nice actually, just isn't my name. ) It's the scene in which they engage in comfort sex. Rose has lost the love of her life Trevor (who in turn was deeply in love with Katrina/Katherine - which Rose notes is similar to Damon, she sees aspects of Trevor in Damon. States even that he reminds her a great deal of Trevor, always with a con or scheme...and of course his weakness for Katherine, who used him. ) Damon keeps insisting he can just switch it off, not feel a thing. And Rose plays along with it a bit...until she reveals, after they've slept together - which by the way was done in a erotic and interesting manner as opposed to boringly graphic(HBO take notes, just because you can show everything doesn't mean you should), that you can't flip the switch - that's an old wives tale. Maybe at first, as a newbie. But after you've lived a while and the older you get, you realize all you are really doing is just pretending. I like that. You fool yourself and others by saying you don't care - but you do. You can't stop yourself from caring. And how caring to a vampire feels like a weakness...it would be easier not to care. Particularly when you live forever and a day.
Most of the plot of the episode is exposition. Elena talks to Katrina - and Dobrev does a good job here of playing two separate roles. What the two characters have in common is how isolated they both are. Katrina puts up a good front of how she stopped herself from caring about anyone and did what she could to survive. But if you watch the flashbacks carefully and her interaction with Elena - you'll note that Katrina misses her family. That Elena and Isobel are all she has left of them. Yet also, Elena and Isobel represent why she lost them to begin with. The bastard child she was not permitted to raise or even hold. The parents who she adored and threw her out. Alone she travels to England, where a nobleman takes interest in her and seems to care for her, until she figures out what he is and why he's interested and runs like hell. It's not clear in the flashback whether Elijah is Claus or Elijah. I'm beginning to wonder. At the end of the episode, Katrina is alone in her tomb crying over an old drawing of her parents. Much like Elena - Katrina is orphaned.
Elena has thrown her parents out of her life. Katrina was thrown out by her's. They are doppleganger's of each other, mirror's, separated by time, but not space. Katrina also tells Elena that she (Katrina) is safe, as is the moonstone for that matter, as long as she stays in the tomb that no vampire can enter without being stuck in it for eternity. We've been told by Bonnie - that she can't break the spell on the tomb - that doing so last time, took both her and her Grandmother, and it killed her Grandmother. So something is being built up there - in the same episode Damon informs Slater and through him Elijah that he can get the moonstone.
We or rather Damon and Rose are told by Slater (a rather interesting character that I wanted to see more of - Vampire Diaries is good at this - creating potentially interesting characters and killing them off fast), who is Rose's contact and friend, that the vampire's want to break the curse first, because if they do it the werewolves won't. It's not to be able to walk in daylight - the originals have already found a way around that with the be-spelled rings, courtesy of their pet witches. (The master - slave relationship). No, what they want to do is stop the werewolves permanently. But - Rose states, why there are hardly any left. Slater - says - no rumor has it there are enough. To which Damon responds, I can confirm that. As they are talking - Elijah stands outside listening, waiting for the right moment to throw a bunch of coins at the tempered glass - burning everyone inside. It is a clever scene and a good use of audience anticipation - we figure out what he is about to do, think damn, how are the characters going to get out of this, and wham. So exposition plus action plus furthering the plot plus putting characters in jeopardy - that's how one does pacing.
When Stefan finally figures out what Caroline is up to and where Elena is (to give Caroline credit she doesn't tell him), he catches up with her and tries, unsuccessfully to convince her that Katherine is lying. She's not. Elena is smart enough to realize that. What Katherine has told her is what happened to me will happen to you. If you betray Claus - he will kill your entire family and everyone you ever cared for or cared for you. That is what he did to me. I've been running from him for 400 years. He killed my entire family - when I became a vampire and got away, that was his revenge. So Elena tells Stefan - it's not you, it's no one else, it's me that is putting everyone in danger. IT is all my fault. I like the metaphor. Selfless/Selfish sort of the same thing but not. Elena is selfless, Katrina selfish. But is that true? We are both at the same time, we have to be in order to survive. Self-preservation and all that. Elena like most young women and men at that age (although it's true of older women and men as well - there's really no age limit on this, sorry to say) - tends to think the world ends and begins with her. IT really isn't all her fault. It's Claus's fault. And whatever witch decided to use Petrova blood to seal the curse to begin with. All Elena did was live. Hardly a crime. And if you want to blame anyone for that - go back to Katrina for having a child out of wedlock or for that matter Isobel, who also did.
Another interesting pattern. Did the first Petrov, who Katrina and Elena resemble, have a child out of wedlock? And that was given away and separated? No. Most likely not. She was probably used as the sacrifice to seal the curse - why she was used, we haven't been told but since this is a romance - I would not at all be surprised if the first one was the romantic love interest of Claus or someone close to Claus or a werewolf for that matter, and they sacrificed her because of her relationship with Claus. But Katrina and Elena are closely aligned. Katrina was forced to give up her child. Elena was a child that her parents were forced to part with or chose to.
Damon asks the most interesting questions - can we make it impossible to break the curse. Which surprises Slater and Rose, but as Damon puts it - I can already walk in sunlight, there's only one werewolf wandering about...why do I care about the curse? I care about Elena. That's when Elijah interrupts them. It's later while he's being compelled by Elijah that Slater states, yes, you can make it impossible - but you will need the moonstone and a witch - can you get them? Damon nods and Rose states, yes, they can.
So...it appears Elijah and his witch friend Dr. something or other...are manipulating our friends into breaking the curse? Or the opposite? Possibly the opposite??
Katrina reveals her plans to Elena. That she needed the moonstone, a werewolf, a witch, another vampire, Elena's blood - all of it, drained, to break the curse. She was planning on trading it to Claus to save herself, because she'd grown tired of running. Now they have all the ingredients: Caroline, Elena, Tyler, Bonnie, and the moonstone.
The twist...is that new Dr, Luke's Dad is well Elijah's Warlock/Witch. But he says to Elijah - was killing Slater necessary...which struck me as interesting. What I like about Williamson's stories is that the characters aren't binary constructs, they tend to be fairly morally ambiguous. As we are seeing with Damon and Katrina. There's layers. And that dear reader is why I've grown to enjoy this series.
Good episode. Lots of fun. Wish we weren't taking a two week hiatus. This is the annoying thing about TV in the US, not sure it's like this overseas or not (I mean overseas programming not US programming exported overseas) - is the damn breaks. We do a slow build, things take off for two weeks of sweeps. Cliffhanger. Then two weeks of reruns. Then cliff-hanger. Then two months of reruns. A mid-season replacement series for two months. Then back to where we left off sometime in March. How in the heck are you supposed to get invested in let alone follow a plot arc that does that? Seriously - I wish the networks would give us 20 uninterrupted weeks of a series, then go on hiatus. I'm beginning to understand why a lot of people just wait until it all comes out on DVD.
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-14 04:36 am (UTC)Luka may not be in cahoots with Klaus. It's possible that his father hasn't clued him in. Although unlikely.
I sort of hope that they aren't Bennett's that is becoming rather convenient. All the witches are Bennetts? There has to be someone who isn't.
Thanks for the names, I can never remember. Unless they are repeated more than once and with emphasis.