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shadowkatPardon me while I snark with my new favorite guilty pleasure. Some of the lines in Vampire Diaries remind me of Williamson's Scream flicks, which poked gentle fun at the whole slasher horror genre, while at the same time making it fun to be scared.
Tonight's episode of The Vampire Diaries is about Lycanthropes otherwise known as Werewolves!
Damon: No way there are werewolves. Way too Lon Chaney. (oh, Damon, if there are vamps, why wouldn't there be werewolves?) If they exist where the hell are they? I haven't seen one in a hundred sixty years. (So, just because you haven't seen it - it doesn't exist?)
If this wolfman thing is true. I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney, and that little Tyler punk, may be a Lon Chaney Jr, which means Bela Lugoso, meaning me is totally screwed. (Oh Damon, you are a much prettier Bela Lugoso, but then Mason is a far prettier Lon Chaney, he actually come to think of it bears a closer resemblance to Michael London who played Son of The Wolfman, sometime between Bonanza and Little House on The Prairie, or maybe it was before Bonanza - can't remember.)
Don't kill me for my opinions or my taste for that matter. They are just my opinions, more than likely to differ with yours. And equally likely to change at a moments notice. Along with my moods. ;-)
Elena and Stefan fuss over Caroline...while Damon and Alaric prepare to go with Elena to track down Isobel's research on werewolves. Elena hates Damon for killing her brother. Damon claims he saw the ring..."it's a big tacky thing, hard to miss".
Speaking of, Stefan has managed to persuade poor Bonnie to bespell a ring so Caroline can walk in the daylight. Gee, can't see why Bonnie would be hesitant. Caroline: Do you really think I meant to kill that guy at the carnival? Bonnie: he's still dead (and he just happened to be my latest crush at the moment, I really need to stop catering to you vampires...there won't be any eligible guys left.)
Ah, Elena, Damon (whose eyes much like Stefan's glow and look otherworldly), and Alarick have journeyed to Isobel's office at the University and are meeting Vanessa (who as luck would have it is a dead-ringer for Elena. Seriously is it just me or do all these women look alike? Show...you can't find female actresses who don't look like Nina Dobrev?).
Vanessa freaks and shoots Elena. Don't worry she's not dead. Damon jumps in front of her and saves her. Damon, bud? You need to stop doing that. And they say Damon is a self-centered uncaring beast. But Elena begrudgingly pulls the arrow out of Damon. He threatens to kill Elena look alike number three, which Elena takes exception to for some reason.
Elena: I forgot I was speaking to a psychotic mind that freaks and snaps people's necks. (Well, yeah, but honey, you knew that when you met him. Hello, vampire! Also in this case - it's not like Vanessa did not try to kill you. You honestly think Stefan wouldn't try to kill her? Consider what he tried to do to Uncle Jack.)
Meanwhile we have Stefan teaching Caroline how to hunt rabbits.
Caroline: Isn't killing cute defenseless animals the first step to becoming a serial killer?
Stefan: You sort of skipped serial killer and jumped straight to vampire. (Stefan baby, another great one liner! That's one an episode! We need to get this boy away from Elena more often...he actually has a sly sense of humor when he's not drooling.)
Stefan then explains to Caroline how all their natural behaviors get sort of amplified in a vampire. This is a sort of interesting twist although a bit reminiscent of a certain other teen cult vamp show that shall remain nameless. Apparently Stefan's trait that got amplified the most or rather the one he chooses to share with poor Caroline is his compassion and ability emphasize with others and their pain, and his tremendous guilt at hurting anyone. (Gee, Stefan, something tells me that was not the only thing that go amplified.)
Caroline: So you're saying now that I'm basically an insecure, neurotic, control freak on crack?
Stefan: Well I wasn't going to say that...but yes, that's about right. ( Ouch. There's that sly wit again.)
They make it to the party in the woods...because Stefan thinks it is a hot idea to not only make it possible for Caroline to go out in daylight but to also have fun with humans.
Caroline asks why he's wearing his serious vampire look. (Let me think. Hmmm. Maybe because he's not sure you are up to this?)
Stefan says - I have a serious vampire look? Yes, it's just slightly different from your serious look and your serious it's tuesday look. (I rather like Caroline. Also odd. But the snarky characters are also the most honest and self-aware. Why is this??)
Meanwhile Vanessa (Hereinafter: "Exposition Girl") explains to Damon and Elena the funky Azetec curse regarding vampires and werewolves. This is a new one.
Apparently the Azetecs got sick of running away from vamps and werewolves...so they cursed vampires with a wickedly fatal allergy to sunlight (Did not see the witches undoing that with bespelled rings did they? Guess not). And werewolves with no control over their shape and turning into werewolves at the turn of the moon.
Elena : Why don't they have control over it?
Exposition Girl: Well if they could control it, it wouldn't be a curse, would it?
(Sigh, Elena, if you spent more time in school and less running after Stefan and the vamps, you might know these things.)
This is when we find out the really bad news - Damon asks why there aren't that many werewolves and why he hasn't seen any. Because, states Expo Girl, vampires hunted werewolves and killed them almost to extinction to protect themselves - it seems a werewolf bite is fatal to a vampire. (Is it me or is Expo Girl starting to wonder about these people's intelligence? That's the problem with exposition - how to make it interesting, and how to make it so the other characters do not look like idiots as you are doing it.)
Oh, and there's also skin walkers wandering about - which is something to worry about for a later time.
Meanwhile Stefan and Caroline are wandering around in the moonlit forest with the Lockwood boys and a bunch of people at a party on the Lockwood estate. Caroline is attempting to apologize to Matt. He forgives her - as long as there is no more drama. So off they go to neck (literally).
And Elena warns Stefan that a werewolf bite can kill a vampire - just when he figures out that Caroline has disappeared, and get this has oh so convienently left her cell-phone behind. (Man, I wish people would do that when they go to movie theaters, church, and regular theaters...life would be so much easier. But no, on tv shows - they leave them behind when they actually require a cell phone.)
The new hunk, Mason, tries to chain himself up in the Lockwood cellar to turn into a vampire. But Tyler takes a new conquest down there, so Mason has to go elsewhere - and locks himself in his truck to change instead - because changing out in the open would just be too embarrassing for words. Plus the truck will certainly contain his wolf form...no need for the chains anymore. (This is actually a really clever way of avoiding the need to show the audience Mason transforming into a werewolf - which always looks gross and cheesy no matter who is doing it. Kudos.) Poor Tyler strikes out with new conquest - who apparently isn't that turned on by making out in a creepy cellar that used to house slaves. Can't think why. Instead she wants to go back and make eyes with Matt (Caroline's compel apparently wore off once she entered the cellar.)
We are back to Elena and company. Elena now wants to know about Katherine - what do you know about dopplegangers. Vanessa states they like to undo the lives of their look-a-like's. Damon states he does know something. Elena accuses him of manipulating her and states "friends don't manipulate friends." (Oh honey. Like you don't do this yourself? Apparently paragone's of virtue are unself-aware. Who'd have thunk it? )
Oh, speaking of paragones of virtue...we're back to Stefan...who is lurking around a mysterious truck making growling noisies with creepy music in the background. (This was actually creepy - Williamson does creepy well, I'll give him that.). Until a wolf jumps out at him. I have no idea why the wolf didn't attack him. I mean if you are stupid enough to lurk around a growling truck knowing that a werewolf is lurking inside - you deserve to be attacked. (This is my beef with horror flicks - people do dumb things like go look in the basement of creepy houses? Or check out creepy growling trucks in the middle of the forest? Who would do that? Personally I'd be high-tailing it in the opposite direction.)
Vanessa and Alaric chat, or rather Vanessa/Expo Girl tries to flirt and Alaric tells her she doesn't want to get caught up in it all. (Sort of already is considering, she knows Isobel.) And how Isobel became her research and wanted to become a vampire, so actually did become a vampire. (Sorry V, you are relegated to Exposition Girl...no role outside of that.)
Vanessa: I guess that would put a strain on a marriage. (you think?)
Alaric: It's good to move beyond my past, time to move beyond this...(and on to Elena's Aunt Jenna, sorry Vanessa/Expo Girl - Alaric doesn't want the Elena look-alike take 2, even if you have more personality and a brain.).
Damon - attempts to be friendly with Elena, he even tells her Katherine's real name - Katrina Petrova and gives her the book. (Damon, bud, you are beating a dead horse here. Elena is not the forgiving sort...just ask Uncle Jack.) He also asks her to tell him what she discovers...(Damon? Why didn't you read the book first then give it to Elena or at very least check it out? Do you really think she's going to tell you?)
Back to Caroline and Stefan and Matt in the woods with the werewolf. Stefan is hunting for Caroline to protect her from the werewolf. (Stefan, something tells me it's not the werewolf that is the big nasty here. And Caroline really isn't the one you need to be saving at the moment.) Caroline as predicted - attacks Matt and almost kills him - until Stefan pops up and pulls her off, saving Matt. (Whew. Poor Matt. First his ex-girlfriend, then his sister, now his current girl-friend and oh wait, common demonator in both? Stefan...well and Damon, but we won't worry over that.) Oh wait, Tyler pops up. Then so does the werewolf - which actually looks like a really cool and pretty real life wolf and not some bizarre monkey thing like they usually do in these shows. (Have to give Diaries credit for surprising me in this regard. They apparently decided to go the actual wolf route as opposed to the special effects laden guy in a wolf custom or CJI wolf human route. ) Stefan convinces Caroline to lead the werewolf away from Matt towards them. Then the wolf attacks Caroline (no, not Stefan - we should be so lucky...no one attacks Stefan, the boy is like Teflon), and Stefan pulls big bad wolf off of her, but it is actually Tyler who saves them both - by just shouting no. (Tyler is growing on me. Hey, complex character with issues and not a holier than thou self-righteous paragone of virtue - gotta love it.)
Virtuous Stefan tells Caroline to compel Matt and tell him nothing happened. Yeah that'll work. Why not just tell the poor boy the truth and get it over with? Stefan apparently does something similar with Tyler? No, Tyler figures out what is going on with Mason, so doubtful. Probably just found another way to lie to him about what was going on. Paragone's of virtue are excellent liars. He also gives Matt vervain to protect him (wouldn't Matt wonder why Stefan is asking him to wander about with a flower on him?). Now Caroline can't compel or drink his blood. (You know, if you'd done that to begin with...)
Ah, a little honesty - Stefan states he's the last person to give Caroline advice, if he followed his own he'd have walked away from Elena a long time ago. (Sigh, Stefan apparently suffers from "Angel syndrom". He's more interesting when he's away from his one true love.)
Now for the angst...Alaric has a happy ending with Jenna, they kiss and are together (now that Uncle Jack and Isobel aren't around polluting the water.). Okay granted not agnsty, just sort of dull. They really haven't done much to make us care one way or the other about Jenna. I care more about Alaric than Jenna. And Elena manipulates Damon into telling the truth about Jeremy. (This is the angst...depending on your pov, of course.)
Damon has a moment of pure honesty - once again with Elena. (Sigh, will this boy never learn? But hey if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.) Wearing his heart on his sleeve and shedding his armor for a bit, he has a moment of rare honesty. He tells her that he didn't know Jeremy was wearing the ring. That in a moment of weakness, due to something Katherine did (she really pissed him off), he snapped and he doesn't know what he would have done if Jeremy wasn't wearing that ring. [Now Elena doesn't listen. If she actually listened to what he said here, she'd realize that he was showing remorse. That he felt guilty. That he couldn't deal with killing her brother - he actually cared. He says...if Jeremy wasn't wearing that ring...'I don't know what I'd have done or would do'. But he's right, Elena made up her mind and doesn't hear him. She just hears what she thinks she knows. If she listened - she might have asked him why he cared. Or why he snapped Jeremy's neck. Or even what Katherine did to set him off. Important questions and far more interesting...than whether or not he knew Jeremy was wearing that ring. Because, hello - if Damon wanted to kill you or Jeremy, hon, you'd both be dead by now. Why did he save your life? And why was he upset he almost killed Jeremy? sigh, I actually missed Jeremy this week.)
Elena then crushes Damon. Thanks him for being honest, then states yes, he has lost her forever. And he says she knew that already, didn't she, that she used him today. She admits it. That he had information she needed.
Damon: "I thought friends don't manipulate friends? You and Katherine have a lot more in common than just your looks."(Ouch.)
So true. Hee. Although Damon's fairly manipulative himself, but hey, takes one to know one. Doesn't it?
Final scene - is Katherine popping into Caroline's bedroom and telling her they are going to have so much fun together. LOL! (Oh I can't wait. I sort of like Vamp!Caroline. She's funny. And a lot more interesting than prom queen Caroline. Also a whole lot brighter than Harmony Kendall ever was. That dumb blond bit gets really old after a while. Here, Matt is playing the dumb and clueless blond...which hey, is a nice change of pace.)
Fun show. Highly entertaining. Reminds me a lot of Kevin Williamson's Scream flicks. Which also made me laugh quite a bit. Speaking of...Scream 4 is on the horizon. Quibbles? All the lead actresses look like they came from the exact same gene pool. The guys look more different than the women do...although not by much. Elena is in desperate need of a sense of humor. Stefan has gotten some nifty lines...let's spread the wealth shall we? Elena is also in desperate need of a personality - paragone's of virtue tend to be annoying even when they are sniping with the bad boy with fangs.
Alaric is back. (But he's not as much fun as he was last year, damn it! Less Alaric and pretty but personality deficient females and more Alaric and Damon! If you are going to make Aunt Jenna a regular - give her something to do!) Vanessa had potential and was actually more interesting than both Elena and Aunt Jenna...but clearly only there to provide exposition, hence Expo Girl.
Also, she looked far too much like Elena, we don't need three Elena look alike's - things would get confusing.
And we get to watch Elena crucify poor Damon again. OR Damon attempt to obtain Elena's affection and fail miserably again. Rinse and rewind. It's entertaining. And I guess we did need to clarify the Jeremy bit. See here in a nutshell is one of the major differences in story-telling technique between Whedon and Williamson, Whedon would never have clarified that bit. He'd make us speculate forever. Williamson clarifies it. I'm not saying one approach is better than the other, just pointing out an interesting distinction. And I admittedly liked the final scene between Damon and Elena - which was necessary. It's important to note that Damon saves her in this episode. Vanessa would have killed her - the arrow was aimed for Elena's heart and it goes through Damon's back.
But Elena is far from grateful and takes it for granted or sees it as just his attempt to get in her good graces. It could have killed him - since it was a wooden arrow. Anyhow..what that final scene gets across to Damon is he shouldn't bother, and what it gets across to Elena is she's not as nice as she'd like to think. And since she's about to come face to face with her look-a-like, or doppleganger...this is a necessary plot point, I think.
Pluses: Mason (I really like Mason - he's hot, he's older, and he turns into a cool wolf, plus a nice guy - a genuinely nice guy, with genuine torture and empathy - as opposed to a smarmy nice guy espousing whenever he has the opportunity platitudes and virtuous sentiments (aka Stefan). Note - Mason is how you do the whole paragone of virtue bit right. Stefan is how you do it wrong.
Although - they are giving Stefan a bit more depth and a wicked sense of humor, the boy has potential. Just less speeches about how kind and virtuous he is, please. If you have to tell me, I'm not going to believe you. Aunt Jenna may actually get a role and a romance - yay! But I'd rather have Isobel. Tyler is gaining depth, personality, and intelligence - outside of just being a jerk and anger boy (like last season).
Fudge. Up too late again. Oh well at least it's Friday. Off to bed. And up at 6am. Ugh.
Tonight's episode of The Vampire Diaries is about Lycanthropes otherwise known as Werewolves!
Damon: No way there are werewolves. Way too Lon Chaney. (oh, Damon, if there are vamps, why wouldn't there be werewolves?) If they exist where the hell are they? I haven't seen one in a hundred sixty years. (So, just because you haven't seen it - it doesn't exist?)
If this wolfman thing is true. I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney, and that little Tyler punk, may be a Lon Chaney Jr, which means Bela Lugoso, meaning me is totally screwed. (Oh Damon, you are a much prettier Bela Lugoso, but then Mason is a far prettier Lon Chaney, he actually come to think of it bears a closer resemblance to Michael London who played Son of The Wolfman, sometime between Bonanza and Little House on The Prairie, or maybe it was before Bonanza - can't remember.)
Don't kill me for my opinions or my taste for that matter. They are just my opinions, more than likely to differ with yours. And equally likely to change at a moments notice. Along with my moods. ;-)
Elena and Stefan fuss over Caroline...while Damon and Alaric prepare to go with Elena to track down Isobel's research on werewolves. Elena hates Damon for killing her brother. Damon claims he saw the ring..."it's a big tacky thing, hard to miss".
Speaking of, Stefan has managed to persuade poor Bonnie to bespell a ring so Caroline can walk in the daylight. Gee, can't see why Bonnie would be hesitant. Caroline: Do you really think I meant to kill that guy at the carnival? Bonnie: he's still dead (and he just happened to be my latest crush at the moment, I really need to stop catering to you vampires...there won't be any eligible guys left.)
Ah, Elena, Damon (whose eyes much like Stefan's glow and look otherworldly), and Alarick have journeyed to Isobel's office at the University and are meeting Vanessa (who as luck would have it is a dead-ringer for Elena. Seriously is it just me or do all these women look alike? Show...you can't find female actresses who don't look like Nina Dobrev?).
Vanessa freaks and shoots Elena. Don't worry she's not dead. Damon jumps in front of her and saves her. Damon, bud? You need to stop doing that. And they say Damon is a self-centered uncaring beast. But Elena begrudgingly pulls the arrow out of Damon. He threatens to kill Elena look alike number three, which Elena takes exception to for some reason.
Elena: I forgot I was speaking to a psychotic mind that freaks and snaps people's necks. (Well, yeah, but honey, you knew that when you met him. Hello, vampire! Also in this case - it's not like Vanessa did not try to kill you. You honestly think Stefan wouldn't try to kill her? Consider what he tried to do to Uncle Jack.)
Meanwhile we have Stefan teaching Caroline how to hunt rabbits.
Caroline: Isn't killing cute defenseless animals the first step to becoming a serial killer?
Stefan: You sort of skipped serial killer and jumped straight to vampire. (Stefan baby, another great one liner! That's one an episode! We need to get this boy away from Elena more often...he actually has a sly sense of humor when he's not drooling.)
Stefan then explains to Caroline how all their natural behaviors get sort of amplified in a vampire. This is a sort of interesting twist although a bit reminiscent of a certain other teen cult vamp show that shall remain nameless. Apparently Stefan's trait that got amplified the most or rather the one he chooses to share with poor Caroline is his compassion and ability emphasize with others and their pain, and his tremendous guilt at hurting anyone. (Gee, Stefan, something tells me that was not the only thing that go amplified.)
Caroline: So you're saying now that I'm basically an insecure, neurotic, control freak on crack?
Stefan: Well I wasn't going to say that...but yes, that's about right. ( Ouch. There's that sly wit again.)
They make it to the party in the woods...because Stefan thinks it is a hot idea to not only make it possible for Caroline to go out in daylight but to also have fun with humans.
Caroline asks why he's wearing his serious vampire look. (Let me think. Hmmm. Maybe because he's not sure you are up to this?)
Stefan says - I have a serious vampire look? Yes, it's just slightly different from your serious look and your serious it's tuesday look. (I rather like Caroline. Also odd. But the snarky characters are also the most honest and self-aware. Why is this??)
Meanwhile Vanessa (Hereinafter: "Exposition Girl") explains to Damon and Elena the funky Azetec curse regarding vampires and werewolves. This is a new one.
Apparently the Azetecs got sick of running away from vamps and werewolves...so they cursed vampires with a wickedly fatal allergy to sunlight (Did not see the witches undoing that with bespelled rings did they? Guess not). And werewolves with no control over their shape and turning into werewolves at the turn of the moon.
Elena : Why don't they have control over it?
Exposition Girl: Well if they could control it, it wouldn't be a curse, would it?
(Sigh, Elena, if you spent more time in school and less running after Stefan and the vamps, you might know these things.)
This is when we find out the really bad news - Damon asks why there aren't that many werewolves and why he hasn't seen any. Because, states Expo Girl, vampires hunted werewolves and killed them almost to extinction to protect themselves - it seems a werewolf bite is fatal to a vampire. (Is it me or is Expo Girl starting to wonder about these people's intelligence? That's the problem with exposition - how to make it interesting, and how to make it so the other characters do not look like idiots as you are doing it.)
Oh, and there's also skin walkers wandering about - which is something to worry about for a later time.
Meanwhile Stefan and Caroline are wandering around in the moonlit forest with the Lockwood boys and a bunch of people at a party on the Lockwood estate. Caroline is attempting to apologize to Matt. He forgives her - as long as there is no more drama. So off they go to neck (literally).
And Elena warns Stefan that a werewolf bite can kill a vampire - just when he figures out that Caroline has disappeared, and get this has oh so convienently left her cell-phone behind. (Man, I wish people would do that when they go to movie theaters, church, and regular theaters...life would be so much easier. But no, on tv shows - they leave them behind when they actually require a cell phone.)
The new hunk, Mason, tries to chain himself up in the Lockwood cellar to turn into a vampire. But Tyler takes a new conquest down there, so Mason has to go elsewhere - and locks himself in his truck to change instead - because changing out in the open would just be too embarrassing for words. Plus the truck will certainly contain his wolf form...no need for the chains anymore. (This is actually a really clever way of avoiding the need to show the audience Mason transforming into a werewolf - which always looks gross and cheesy no matter who is doing it. Kudos.) Poor Tyler strikes out with new conquest - who apparently isn't that turned on by making out in a creepy cellar that used to house slaves. Can't think why. Instead she wants to go back and make eyes with Matt (Caroline's compel apparently wore off once she entered the cellar.)
We are back to Elena and company. Elena now wants to know about Katherine - what do you know about dopplegangers. Vanessa states they like to undo the lives of their look-a-like's. Damon states he does know something. Elena accuses him of manipulating her and states "friends don't manipulate friends." (Oh honey. Like you don't do this yourself? Apparently paragone's of virtue are unself-aware. Who'd have thunk it? )
Oh, speaking of paragones of virtue...we're back to Stefan...who is lurking around a mysterious truck making growling noisies with creepy music in the background. (This was actually creepy - Williamson does creepy well, I'll give him that.). Until a wolf jumps out at him. I have no idea why the wolf didn't attack him. I mean if you are stupid enough to lurk around a growling truck knowing that a werewolf is lurking inside - you deserve to be attacked. (This is my beef with horror flicks - people do dumb things like go look in the basement of creepy houses? Or check out creepy growling trucks in the middle of the forest? Who would do that? Personally I'd be high-tailing it in the opposite direction.)
Vanessa and Alaric chat, or rather Vanessa/Expo Girl tries to flirt and Alaric tells her she doesn't want to get caught up in it all. (Sort of already is considering, she knows Isobel.) And how Isobel became her research and wanted to become a vampire, so actually did become a vampire. (Sorry V, you are relegated to Exposition Girl...no role outside of that.)
Vanessa: I guess that would put a strain on a marriage. (you think?)
Alaric: It's good to move beyond my past, time to move beyond this...(and on to Elena's Aunt Jenna, sorry Vanessa/Expo Girl - Alaric doesn't want the Elena look-alike take 2, even if you have more personality and a brain.).
Damon - attempts to be friendly with Elena, he even tells her Katherine's real name - Katrina Petrova and gives her the book. (Damon, bud, you are beating a dead horse here. Elena is not the forgiving sort...just ask Uncle Jack.) He also asks her to tell him what she discovers...(Damon? Why didn't you read the book first then give it to Elena or at very least check it out? Do you really think she's going to tell you?)
Back to Caroline and Stefan and Matt in the woods with the werewolf. Stefan is hunting for Caroline to protect her from the werewolf. (Stefan, something tells me it's not the werewolf that is the big nasty here. And Caroline really isn't the one you need to be saving at the moment.) Caroline as predicted - attacks Matt and almost kills him - until Stefan pops up and pulls her off, saving Matt. (Whew. Poor Matt. First his ex-girlfriend, then his sister, now his current girl-friend and oh wait, common demonator in both? Stefan...well and Damon, but we won't worry over that.) Oh wait, Tyler pops up. Then so does the werewolf - which actually looks like a really cool and pretty real life wolf and not some bizarre monkey thing like they usually do in these shows. (Have to give Diaries credit for surprising me in this regard. They apparently decided to go the actual wolf route as opposed to the special effects laden guy in a wolf custom or CJI wolf human route. ) Stefan convinces Caroline to lead the werewolf away from Matt towards them. Then the wolf attacks Caroline (no, not Stefan - we should be so lucky...no one attacks Stefan, the boy is like Teflon), and Stefan pulls big bad wolf off of her, but it is actually Tyler who saves them both - by just shouting no. (Tyler is growing on me. Hey, complex character with issues and not a holier than thou self-righteous paragone of virtue - gotta love it.)
Virtuous Stefan tells Caroline to compel Matt and tell him nothing happened. Yeah that'll work. Why not just tell the poor boy the truth and get it over with? Stefan apparently does something similar with Tyler? No, Tyler figures out what is going on with Mason, so doubtful. Probably just found another way to lie to him about what was going on. Paragone's of virtue are excellent liars. He also gives Matt vervain to protect him (wouldn't Matt wonder why Stefan is asking him to wander about with a flower on him?). Now Caroline can't compel or drink his blood. (You know, if you'd done that to begin with...)
Ah, a little honesty - Stefan states he's the last person to give Caroline advice, if he followed his own he'd have walked away from Elena a long time ago. (Sigh, Stefan apparently suffers from "Angel syndrom". He's more interesting when he's away from his one true love.)
Now for the angst...Alaric has a happy ending with Jenna, they kiss and are together (now that Uncle Jack and Isobel aren't around polluting the water.). Okay granted not agnsty, just sort of dull. They really haven't done much to make us care one way or the other about Jenna. I care more about Alaric than Jenna. And Elena manipulates Damon into telling the truth about Jeremy. (This is the angst...depending on your pov, of course.)
Damon has a moment of pure honesty - once again with Elena. (Sigh, will this boy never learn? But hey if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.) Wearing his heart on his sleeve and shedding his armor for a bit, he has a moment of rare honesty. He tells her that he didn't know Jeremy was wearing the ring. That in a moment of weakness, due to something Katherine did (she really pissed him off), he snapped and he doesn't know what he would have done if Jeremy wasn't wearing that ring. [Now Elena doesn't listen. If she actually listened to what he said here, she'd realize that he was showing remorse. That he felt guilty. That he couldn't deal with killing her brother - he actually cared. He says...if Jeremy wasn't wearing that ring...'I don't know what I'd have done or would do'. But he's right, Elena made up her mind and doesn't hear him. She just hears what she thinks she knows. If she listened - she might have asked him why he cared. Or why he snapped Jeremy's neck. Or even what Katherine did to set him off. Important questions and far more interesting...than whether or not he knew Jeremy was wearing that ring. Because, hello - if Damon wanted to kill you or Jeremy, hon, you'd both be dead by now. Why did he save your life? And why was he upset he almost killed Jeremy? sigh, I actually missed Jeremy this week.)
Elena then crushes Damon. Thanks him for being honest, then states yes, he has lost her forever. And he says she knew that already, didn't she, that she used him today. She admits it. That he had information she needed.
Damon: "I thought friends don't manipulate friends? You and Katherine have a lot more in common than just your looks."(Ouch.)
So true. Hee. Although Damon's fairly manipulative himself, but hey, takes one to know one. Doesn't it?
Final scene - is Katherine popping into Caroline's bedroom and telling her they are going to have so much fun together. LOL! (Oh I can't wait. I sort of like Vamp!Caroline. She's funny. And a lot more interesting than prom queen Caroline. Also a whole lot brighter than Harmony Kendall ever was. That dumb blond bit gets really old after a while. Here, Matt is playing the dumb and clueless blond...which hey, is a nice change of pace.)
Fun show. Highly entertaining. Reminds me a lot of Kevin Williamson's Scream flicks. Which also made me laugh quite a bit. Speaking of...Scream 4 is on the horizon. Quibbles? All the lead actresses look like they came from the exact same gene pool. The guys look more different than the women do...although not by much. Elena is in desperate need of a sense of humor. Stefan has gotten some nifty lines...let's spread the wealth shall we? Elena is also in desperate need of a personality - paragone's of virtue tend to be annoying even when they are sniping with the bad boy with fangs.
Alaric is back. (But he's not as much fun as he was last year, damn it! Less Alaric and pretty but personality deficient females and more Alaric and Damon! If you are going to make Aunt Jenna a regular - give her something to do!) Vanessa had potential and was actually more interesting than both Elena and Aunt Jenna...but clearly only there to provide exposition, hence Expo Girl.
Also, she looked far too much like Elena, we don't need three Elena look alike's - things would get confusing.
And we get to watch Elena crucify poor Damon again. OR Damon attempt to obtain Elena's affection and fail miserably again. Rinse and rewind. It's entertaining. And I guess we did need to clarify the Jeremy bit. See here in a nutshell is one of the major differences in story-telling technique between Whedon and Williamson, Whedon would never have clarified that bit. He'd make us speculate forever. Williamson clarifies it. I'm not saying one approach is better than the other, just pointing out an interesting distinction. And I admittedly liked the final scene between Damon and Elena - which was necessary. It's important to note that Damon saves her in this episode. Vanessa would have killed her - the arrow was aimed for Elena's heart and it goes through Damon's back.
But Elena is far from grateful and takes it for granted or sees it as just his attempt to get in her good graces. It could have killed him - since it was a wooden arrow. Anyhow..what that final scene gets across to Damon is he shouldn't bother, and what it gets across to Elena is she's not as nice as she'd like to think. And since she's about to come face to face with her look-a-like, or doppleganger...this is a necessary plot point, I think.
Pluses: Mason (I really like Mason - he's hot, he's older, and he turns into a cool wolf, plus a nice guy - a genuinely nice guy, with genuine torture and empathy - as opposed to a smarmy nice guy espousing whenever he has the opportunity platitudes and virtuous sentiments (aka Stefan). Note - Mason is how you do the whole paragone of virtue bit right. Stefan is how you do it wrong.
Although - they are giving Stefan a bit more depth and a wicked sense of humor, the boy has potential. Just less speeches about how kind and virtuous he is, please. If you have to tell me, I'm not going to believe you. Aunt Jenna may actually get a role and a romance - yay! But I'd rather have Isobel. Tyler is gaining depth, personality, and intelligence - outside of just being a jerk and anger boy (like last season).
Fudge. Up too late again. Oh well at least it's Friday. Off to bed. And up at 6am. Ugh.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-24 07:51 am (UTC)Yup, he's pretty darn funny in this episode "marvels".
Then the wolf attacks Caroline (no, not Stefan - we should be so lucky...no one attacks Stefan, the boy is like Teflon), and Stefan pulls big bad wolf off of her, but it is actually Tyler who saves them both - by just shouting no. (Tyler is growing on me. Hey, complex character with issues and not a holier than thou self-righteous paragone of virtue - gotta love it.)
Plus I'm wondering why Tyler isn't turning - is there some sort of age that you have to reach to turn or what?
Virtuous Stefan tells Caroline to compel Matt and tell him nothing happened. Yeah that'll work. Why not just tell the poor boy the truth and get it over with?
I think Matt is supposed to be the last one to figure out what on earth is going on around him. Besides which he's the one with the most on his plate already - dead Sister, Mom a drunk and picks up inappropriate boys, etc.
Teenagers
Date: 2010-09-24 10:08 am (UTC)So, are you admitting, formally, that you love men who are dogs?????????? ;)
Rufus
Re: Teenagers
Date: 2010-09-24 12:33 pm (UTC)Hee. No. If I did, I'd be married. ;-)
But no, this was just the best werewolf transition I've seen to date, tis all.
On Elena? Virtuous characters in fiction don't work.
No one is virtuous and certainly not in high school.
She's been virtuous too long.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-24 04:05 pm (UTC)Wondered much the same thing myself. But then I remembered the whole bit about the "moonstone" from last week. Mason was looking for it. And Tyler found it and most likely either has it in his possession or is holding it in some way. That would explain why Tyler's Dad never turned into a werewolf and why Tyler doesn't here.
Or it's an age thing.
I'll give this show credit for coming up with a new mythology that hasn't been done before regarding vamps.
Hard to do.
I think Matt is supposed to be the last one to figure out what on earth is going on around him. Besides which he's the one with the most on his plate already - dead Sister, Mom a drunk and picks up inappropriate boys, etc.
Sigh, yes. Actually I think Matt may be the most virtuous character in the show - and with the worst backstory to boot. He's also sympathetic. They are doing a better job of developing the male characters on this series for some reason than the female ones. Not sure why.
Re: Teenagers
Date: 2010-09-24 04:18 pm (UTC)Granted - we are in Elena's pov and having a pov character who is supposed to be "virtuous" is tricky to write. The POv is mainly split between Elena and Stefan, we are rarely in anyone else's unless the plot calls for it or we need to be for character exploration.
And Vampire Diaries suffers from the syndrom of making your central pov person too good to be true. (Central POV's either think they are saints or horrible people). Few writers avoid it - Supernatural managed to as did Buffy. But both Smallville and Vampire Diaries have fallen into the trap of having a "holier-than thou" central pov character. Will give both credit for undercutting that character and demonstrating how skewed their view is.
Vampire is at least showing that to an extent. Elena keeps bringing up how friends don't manipulate friends for example - does it three times. Yet - if you think about Elena's actions over the last year - she's quite manipulative. She manipulated Bonnie into saving Stefan, then saving Damon - more than once, as well as opening the vampire tomb. And she manipulated Jeremy - lying to him to protect him, and having Damon compel him. She knows Damon and Stefan are head over heels in love with her - and she uses that to her advantage. She also manipulated Matt and Caroline at different points. But since we are in her pov - we don't quite notice it.
It's a neat trick. Curious to see how she handles Katherine.
(I don't buy Elena's virtue - she really hasn't helped anyone.
If anything she's caused more deaths. She's put her love for Stefan above everyone else - including her Aunt and brother. Hardly virtuous.)
no subject
Date: 2010-09-24 06:23 pm (UTC)Hmm...
no subject
Date: 2010-09-24 07:06 pm (UTC)It also zipped past them before the werewolf attacked. (I made the mistake of assuming it was the werewolf.)
But you are correct that's impossible - at least in the first situation.
Probably was Katherine. We don't know how old Katherine is. Damon and Stefan are 160. Katherine is most likely far older...and more knowledgable.
Katherine is a rather fascinating character - was quite thrilled by the choice to have her alive and undead in the present.