Vamp Diaries: "Catch Me if You Can"

[shadowkat]

Ah, that was a fun episode. Finally Jeremy and Bonnie got to show a bit of backbone and the story took off.



As an aside: Am I the only one who prefers Bonnie to Elena and Caroline? I can forgive her crush on Professor Shane, he was cute and he offered her a way back towards power. Also the woman has the worst luck with men. But, she seems a little less self-absorbed than Elena and Caroline. And has sacrificed herself and her family to help her friends and save the world continuously. Plus she's powerful, more powerful than the vamps.

Was always more of a witch fan than a vamp fan.

* So Klaus and Damon's little plan to grow Jeremy's tattoo...in order to find the cure hits an unexpected snag in the shape of Cole, who has a really good reason to want to stop them.

Damon upon seeing all the dead vampires: What a waste.
Cole: I decided to kill them, prefer no distractions while we chat. IF you release the cure, you also release this evil dude named Silas who wants to destroy the world. I know, I killed a bunch of his worshippers a millenia ago.
Damon: Yeah I heard of Silas. Just a legend. No worries.

Cole: Silas did exist and he wants to bring about the end of the world, which I care about being immortal and is just a tad more important than a cure.
Jeremy and Damon: We don't care.

The most selfless and likable vampire award goes to Cole this week - who actually does care about something besides himself - in this case the world and not having it go to hell.

Since Damon and Jeremy and Klaus refuse to cooperate. Can sort of see why...considering how much work they went to ...to kill all those vampires Klaus sired and then compelled to kill Matt. (Who has got to be the luckiest human on the planet...he has more lives than a cat. No ring. Yet he survives.) Cole decides he must take things in his own hands.

Jeremy: You can't compel me!
Cole: True. But I could kill you - but wait I don't want to deal with that pesky hunter's curse...I know I'll...
Me: Compel Damon to kill him for you? He's right there -
Cole: Rip your arms off instead.
Me: Wouldn't that result in Jeremy's death too and the pesky hunter's curse? Unless you think Jeremy can survive the massive blood loss of losing both arms. Be much easier to make Damon do it.
Damon: Run Jeremy, I'll hold him off.
Cole: Hmmm...I know I'll just compel Damon.
ME: Sigh.

So Damon is now hunting Jeremy in the caves...which does keep Jeremy from hunting vampires, so there's that. Damon finds Jeremy. Jeremy shoots Damon.

Damon: Jeremy the next shot must be the heart - or I'll kill you, I can't help myself. (To give Damon credit - if he really wanted Jeremy dead - Jeremy would be dead. He's sort of pursuing Jeremy in slow-mo...giving him plenty of time to kill him. Jeremy - Kill me! Please Kill me!)
So Jeremy shoots...fade to black.

Me: Show stop teasing me, I know you aren't going to kill Damon or Jeremy, Cole maybe. But not Damon or Jeremy.


Sure enough, when we return, Damon has been shot in the head instead. It's rather funny actually. Damon is quite put-out about it. "Ugh, he shot me in the head. Jeremy I told you the hurt, you idiot." Poor Damon. He spent all that time - and Jeremy just refuses to kill him. They just don't make vampire hunters they way they used to.

* Elena - having learned nothing from when Stefan was compelled by Klaus, thinks she can reverse Damon's compelation (Sp?). She also doesn't appear to be taking this sire bond thing seriously. People keep having to remind her.

Elena: I trust Jeremy with Damon. He won't let anything happen to Jeremy.
Matt: You only feel that way because of the sire bond.
Elena: It doesn't work that way.
Me: How do you think it works exactly?

Later...

Damon: Do you think you can get it to stop because it worked so well for Stefan?
Elena: No because you love me and I love you.
Damon: Jeremy, shoot at the heart this time, I can't stop. (Next time Cole - compel Damon to want to do it and not tell everyone he's going to. In short compel him to shut up.)

Now, Elena did have an A plan which was to call Stefan and Rebecca...who appear to turn her down, but change their minds, because Cole is putting a snag in their plans as well. They also want the cure to be found. So they split up. Becky goes to stake Cole - which doesn't quite go as planned, he takes the stake from her instead. Klaus pops up and suggests that he give her lessons on how to stake their siblings. Meanwhile, Stefan is a bit more successful - just when Jeremy is about to finally shoot Damon in the heart, Stefan pulls Damon out of the bullet's path and snaps his neck.
Then tells Elena she's welcome. [ Although I don't think he did it for her, so much as for Damon. And well, like Becky, he wants the cure too.]

Damon comes to in the cell that he'd locked Stefan and Alaric in. Stefan has bled him to weaken him then locked him in. And no, he can't see Elena, because she'd let him out and he'd go after Jeremy again. So for the time being....Damon's down for the count, well at least until someone decides to let out that is. OR Cole removes the compelation to kill Jeremy.

Elena:Why can't I see Damon - I just want to talk to him.
Stefan: Because under the sire bond - he'll convince you to let him out.
Elena: That won't happen.
Stefan: Yes it will. He'll be compelled to make you let him out so he can kill Jeremy. The only way to stop that is either for Cole to die or for you to get the cure. So he'll just have to stay there and you'll have to stay away from each other until that happens.

Klaus stops by and informs Elena that she should give Jeremy to him - he'd keep Jeremy safe from Cole who plans on killing Jeremy in order to save the world. (Actually no, Cole will compel someone else to do it. If I were Cole - I'd compel Elena or Caroline, but Cole isn't the brightest bulb on the planet.)

Stefan and Klaus give Elena an idea. She tells Jeremy that she has a plan. They can kill two birds with one stone. If Jeremy kills Cole, an original vampire, he will kill every vampire that Cole has sired - which would grow his tattoo and they'll find the cure. In short - she gets rid of Damon's compelation to kill Jeremy and finds her cure so that she's no longer sired to Damon.
They can be together! YAY team!

Of course the fact that this would end up killing all of the vampires in Cole's sire line isn't a really an issue. If Elena doesn't know the vampires...why should she care about them? Besides it has to be more humane than going out and killing innocent people, turning them into vampires, and staking them. Apparently there aren't enough vampires running around Mystic Falls - they have to either make their own or kill an original to get enough. You know, it would serve Elena right if Cole happened to be the vampire who sired the vampires that sired Katrina - wouldn't it? (Although I'm almost certain that was either Klaus or Elijah as is Damon and company, obviously.) I rather like Cole - and would prefer they not kill him.

Although it is a kick-ass plan, if you forget the millions of vampires she's killing off willy-nilly. Granted they are vampires, so who cares?

* Stefan/Rebecca - who I am beginning to root for. Stefan traded moralistic Caroline for depraved and snarky Rebecca. Go Stefan. Your moralistic self-righteous phase was getting old. This is a much better pairing. Actually I like Rebecca's plan the best - she wants to cure Klaus of vampirism - wait wouldn't that make Klaus just a werewolf? I could sort of see why Klaus doesn't want that. Painful. Tyler didn't either - for somewhat the same reasons. She wants to do it, without waking up Silas.

I also rather like snarky Stefan. He's an ass to Elena. But at least he's being honest. Love-sick puppy dog Stefan and self-righteous brood boy were getting on my nerves. Also, Rebecca is not wrong - Elena does tend to think only about herself and her own friends and family. She's just shifted brothers is all.

Elena: This isn't you Stefan.
Stefan: How do you know? You don't know what I'm like when I'm not in love with you.

Curious, does Stefan think that once she gets the cure - Elena is going to get amnesia and not care what he did when she was a vampire or how he treated her? So, she fell for his brother...it was partly because he was acting like a jerk.

Personally, I think the show's writers are shipping Stefan/Damon and Elena is just the obstacle that they keep putting in the brother's path towards Happily Ever After. (I came to the same conclusion watching Angel the Series, the writers were shipping the bro-romance of Angel and Spike, Buffy was just an obstacle to their bro-romance.) It's admittedly easier to write. Romantic love...is harder to write well. You have to maintain physical chemistry - which is hard to do on-screen when people get along. Sibling relationships are so much easier.

What I'd like to see happen is Elena get the cure and be no different than she is now, except for the removal of the sire bond and the blood lust of course. Have her still be in love with Damon, still think Stefan is treating her like a project. That would be realistic. If they ret-con her back to pre-vamped Elena, I'm going to be annoyed. OR, even better? Have Damon get the cure instead of Elena. That would be very interesting. Worst thing to do to so many characters.
But alas, they'll never do it. I wanted them to do that to Spike too, actually, just because turning Spike human would be the worst thing the writers could do to the character - which I find interesting from a narrative point of view. Some day I'll write a fanfic where that happens.

At any rate - Stefan and Becky fall into bed and have hot sex. Stefan actually has great chemistry with Rebecca (Becky for short). Better chemistry than with Elena. He's more interesting with the wicked girls. They are a good counter to his...moralistic/brooding tendencies. Sort of the female version of Damon. While Elena is the female version of Stefan. Which is why Stefan and Elena don't quite work - too much alike. Just as Katrina and Damon were too much alike.

* Bonnie...loved Bonnie this episode and the introduction of her father. Rebecca clearly convinced April to turn in Prof Shane so she and Stefan could steal Silas' headstone. Shane tells Bonnie the truth about what he's been up to. Justifying the deaths of the town council...with the statement that he plans on bringing them all back after they find Silas. Bonnie decides he's nuts. Yet, if it's doable and can save her Gran...maybe. She gets royally ticked though and gives him excruciating pain. Bonnie has a lot of power - and Shane has untapped it. Now she's a ticking time bomb - some much for limitless magic, eh?

* Poor Jeremy - the dude not only survived the episode, he also managed to prevent himself from killing either Damon or Elena, kudos. It was fitting that Stefan saved Jeremy and Damon from each other - considering Stefan pushed Jeremy down this road to begin with. I sure hope this cure is worth all the hell they've put poor Jeremy through - if I were Jeremy, I'd be hard pressed not to kill my sister.

Overall a fun episode.

Not sure where they are going with it. But I am pretty certain we have zombies coming in the season finale. People just love zombies for some reason. I don't quite know why. Yes, I suppose they are humorous in a way. I personally find them rather gross and creepy. But they are definitely in at the moment. Hey, maybe we'll have zompires, god, I hope not.