De-hearted Hybrid . . . the gift that keeps on giving . . .
Greetings, Fangbangers! This week’s installment of TVD was all about family reunions, and heart-to-hearts . . .
Everytime a hybrid loses its heart, an angel gets its wings . . .
Also, this week, 95% of TVD characters endured at least one ass-kicking . . .
(And some characters endured multiple ass-kickings . . .)
So, load up on buckshot, tighten those chains, and, for heaven sake, keep your coffins hidden, because it’s time for another TVD-cap . . .
(As always special thanks to the awesomeness that is my good pal Andre, and his mad screencapping abilities . . .)
I Dream of Meanie . . .
Bonnie’s reaction, when she learned that her future love interest on the show is sort of / kind of her brother . . .
Ever notice how the only time most of the characters on TVD “sleep” is when they are passed out unconscious, or dying? Not Bonnie, though. She’s a regular Rip Van Witchy. For the second week in a row, the episode begins with one of Bonnie’s “spirit dreams.” Once again, our resident Nose Bleeder is all dressed up, with no where to go, but to a Dead Person Party . . .
“Well, this is morbid! Why can’t I just have Dirty Damon Sex Dreams, like everybody else?”
Dream Bonnie finds herself near the graveside plots reserved for various members of her family. In the midst of all this is a Mahogany Coffin, which, I suspect is supposed to represent Klaus’ Mysterious Fourth Coffin, only this one looks way more expensive than that one. So, Bonnie does what any rational human being would do, when she sees a fancy coffin in her dreams. She fondles it . . .
“My precioussssss.”
But Bonnie’s not alone at her Dead Person Party. Another guest has arrived . . .
The fact that Klaus is in this dream makes a lot of sense, if you think about it. After all, nobody loves Dead Family Members and Fancy Coffins, more than Klaus!
So, Klaus, being the gentleman that he is, makes some small talk with the Bonster, before . . . you know . . . eating her . . .
*Nom-nom, nom-nom, crunch, crunch, mmmmm . . .*
Bonnie wakes up moments later INSIDE THE COFFIN. Oddly enough, her neck is still attached to her head, despite Klaus having clearly lobbed it off, while making her his meal . . . or, as I like to call it . . . foreplay. One thing I have to say for Bonnie: She has smarter dreams than I do. Here’s how I know. Dream Bonnie remembered to bring her cell phone to the Dead Person Party. I can’t tell you how many dreams I’ve had, where the whole time, all I seemed to do was search for my cell phone, and wonder why I didn’t have it with me. Super annoying!
Speaking of annoying, rather than actually using her cell phone to CALL SOMEONE, Bonnie decides to bang hysterically on the roof of the coffin, screaming, “I’M IN HERE.” You know, just in case someone happens to drop by the cemetery for some R&R, at that very moment. Someone like . . . her . . .
“Oh, hi there. I was wondering if I could borrow your cell phone, since I left mine at home. Thanks!”
*slams coffin shut again, and walks away*
The minute Bonnie wakes up, she rushes to tell her Bestie Elena all about her dream, and that whole Hidden Coffin Thing. This was actually pretty nice of Bonnie. Because, typically, it takes the Scooby Gang about four episodes, to let Elena in on anything. And, when she finds out, she usually ends up yelling at Damon . . . So, really, when you think about it, Bonnie did Damon a solid, here . . .
“And then Klaus was like, ‘Can you open it?’ And I was like ‘Duh! No!’ And he was like ‘RRRRR-munch, munch.’ And I was like ‘Ahhhhhhh!’ And then, later, I was like, ‘Hi Mom!’
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Somehow, from this ridiculous dream, Bonnie determines that her absentee mom, who she hasn’t seen in about 15 or so years, is the key to opening the fourth coffin. To prove it, she decides to show Elena and a very pissed off Stefan a baby picture of herself, with some seriously poofy hair, and an oddly-placed bald spot . . .
Don’t you think it would have been nice, if they found a baby for this picture who actually looked remotely like Katerina Graham?
The Return of the Eye Thing . . .
Later that day, Bonnie and Elena are combing through photographs of people named “Abby Bennett,” in hopes of finding one that looks like she might be related to Bonnie. During the search, we are treated to a couple examples of real people who are “not Bonnie’s mom.” And I must say, I felt particularly bad for THIS PERSON, who Bonnie classified as being “too old” . . .
First of all, girlfriend looks about 22. Second of all, that’s REALLY HARSH! Can you imagine this model being super excited about landing a “role” on The Vampire Diaries, and telling all her friends to watch, only to find out that she’s “too old?”
Fortunately, Damon magically appears to put a stop to this madness . . .
With a little compulsion, and a lot of luck, Damon is quickly able to locate the home address of the “real Abby Bennett.” And, understandably, he feels his super-sleuthing has earned him the right to enjoy a little road tripping time with new kissing buddy, Elena. When denied the option of riding shotgun, Damon the chivalrous, graciously offers to ride in the back seat with Elena. This, of course, got me to thinking about a Delena fanfiction I wrote once, where Damon and Elena had hot amorous sex in the backseat of a car, while Tyler and Caroline sat in front, uncomfortably pretending not to notice all the moaning sounds emanating from behind them . . .
“Hey Tyler, what do you say we roll down the back windows on this baby, and head for the local car wash?”
But I digress . . . a super pouty Elena tells Damon he can’t come on the road trip, because she thinks he will be mean to Bonnie, during her Epic Mother Child Reunion. In Elena’s defense, she’s probably right. Then again, how can you really say no to a face like this?
This adorable Delena exchange (which, unfortunately, was the only one we got for the ENTIRE hour) reminded me of another instance, in which Elena lectured Damon, and Damon responded by . . . well . . . doing THIS . . .
Not at all surprisingly, you could cut the Delena sexual tension in the room with a butter knife. And it doesn’t go unnoticed by Bonnie, who immediately asks, “What’s going on between you too?”
Of course, you can count on Damon to spill the beans on the soon-to-be-couple’s epic necking session.
By doing this, Damon ensures that, even though he can’t go on the road trip with Bonnie and Elena, he is at least guaranteed to be a major topic of discussion thereon. Well played, Pimp Salvatore . . .
Love Means Never Having to Say “I bit you.”
Redemption, thy name is Shirtless Tyler Lockwood! Those of us Forwood fans who became concerned last week, that the siring of Tyler would lead to a complete, and utter, assassination of his character (both metaphorically, and, possibly even literally) breathed a sigh of relief this week, when Hybrid #2 manned up in a really big way. After accidentally giving his girlfriend the Love Bite to End All Love Bites, Tyler doesn’t hide in his room all day, binging on carbs, and watching YouTube videos. (Though, that’s probably what I would do, if I were him.) Instead, he shows up on Caroline’s doorstep, first thing in the morning with an apology, a special guest star, and, most importantly, a PLAN . . .
So, remember Caroline’s Big Gay Dad . . . a.k.a. the Asshat, who tried to De-Vamp Caroline, by locking her in a dungeon, and drying her out, in a sick version of Daddy / Daughter Time?
Someone’s not getting a Father’s Day gift . . .
Well, apparently, just like Tyler, he knows a thing or too about guilt, and being the subject of Vampire Barbie’s disappointment and wrath. He also knows how to fend off compulsion with his mind, a party trick that could come in super handy, if you are someone who is . . . oh, I don’t know . . . Gay for Klaus . . .
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the e-card that said, ‘Sorry, I almost gave you were rabies.’ So, I decided to do the next best thing.”
Caroline’s dad always seems to get just a bit too much glee out of torturing supernatural high schoolers. That said, his notion that Tyler can break his sire bond, by owning his painful werewolf transformations, thereby staving off the gratitude he feels toward Klaus for allowing him not to experience that pain, is an intriguing one. Of course, it assumes that the sire bond exists only in Tyler’s conscience, and has absolutely nothing to do with magic or compulsion . . . an assumption with which I’m inclined to disagree.
“Let’s make out.”
“Yes, Master.”
Nonetheless, I love the idea of Tyler trying to regain his own independence, by embracing his werewolf side, a side of himself which, to a large extent, was what first connected him to Caroline, in the first place . . .
Since we already know how LONNNNG and painful, werewolf transformation can be, especially for a relative “newbie werewolf” like Tyler, I for one was grateful to get the Cliff Notes version, this time . . .
I suspect Caroline was grateful, as well. Because, whatever has happened between these two of late, I think she still loves him. Given that, it must be unbelievably hard for her to see him in so much pain . . . especially, since she knows he’s enduring it, to a large extent, for her. There’s also that whole, “werewolf bite kills a vampire” thing.
So, when Tyler kindly growls for Caroline to “beat it,” so he can turn into a monster in peace, he doesn’t have to ask twice. She’s out faster than a tubby girl in dodgeball. Big Gay Dad on the otherhand, clearly has a death wish, and sticks around. Someone should have told this guy, that you don’t shake sticks at angry dogs. And you DEFINITELY don’t go after angry werewolves with an axe . . .
“Kiddies . . . do not try this at home.”
“Is this guy for real?’
Next thing you know, Tyler is giving a BIGGGGG love bite to another member of the Forbes family. And I’m thinking to myself, “Oh Tyler, honey, eating your girlfriend’s father is REALLY not the best way to salvage your relationship . . .”
“Hey . . . he started it.”
Crazy Nanny Carrie Takes on Team Badass
I think Alaric’s finally found a girlfriend, who’s as big of an alcoholic as he is!
“Bottoms up, bottoms up . . . let me fill your cup. Got a couple bottles, but a couple ain’t enough . . .”
We find him, at the beginning of this episode, once again day drinking at the Only Bar / Social Establishment in Mystic Falls with Crazy Nanny Carrie, who, of course, classifies herself as an “Angry Drunk,” before heading out for another day of “saving lives” (or taking them?). Damon arrives on the scene, looking more than a bit jealous that his bromantic buddy has been drinking with someone who isn’t him . . .
Damon also watches a lot of TV. So, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he caught Crazy Nanny Carrie drugging Mayor Dan, and trying to bury him alive on One Tree Hill . . .
Given all that, coupled with the recent untimely demise of a certain Medical Examiner Ex Boyfriend of the Crazy Nanny’s . . .
. . . you certainly can’t blame Damon for being a wee bit suspicious of the woman who’s planning to eat his boyfriend’s Chunky Monkey . . .
And so, one half of Team Badass heads straight to hospital to pay the good doctor a visit, armed with an admittedly rather lame excuse for his presence there . . .
A newborn’s response to being waved at by Damon Salvatore . . .
Having disposed of the pleasantries, Damon quickly launches into some not-so-thinly veiled accusations that Crazy Nanny Carrie murdered her preppy sweater vest wearing ex-beau. At first, Crazy Nanny takes these insults in stride. It’s nothing she hasn’t heard before. But then, she VERVAINS DAMON, and JACKS HIS BLOOD, WHILE HE SLEEPS, which is so NOT the way to treat your boyfriend’s best friend . . .
That said, it did give us the opportunity to watch Damon sleep, which was awesome. I’m not going to lie . . .
Sadly, Damon’s shirt was kept on, throughout the entire ordeal . . . But surely, you wouldn’t blame me for taking a little creative license with this moment. Would you?
A little while later, Damon visits Alaric (who is looking particularly sweaty and sexy in his grey tank top) for a friendly round of “I told you so.”
“You better buff up, if you want to date this one,” Damon warns. “Diagnosis: Psycho case.”
To be honest, I missed a lot of this scene. I was way to focused on the magically reappearing, disappearing sweat on Alaric’s shirt . . .
Now you see it . . .
Now you don’t . . .
See it . . .
Don’t . . .
“Dude, I think that immortality ring of yours is giving you a glandular issue . . .”
Eventually, Alaric confronts Crazy Nanny Carrie, and she reveals to him her Deep Dark Secret . . . she uses vampire blood to cure her patients. She also has a collection of decapitated heads in her bathtub. (We even see Crazy Nanny using Damon’s blood to save Big Gay Dad, so that he might live to torture Poor Tyler another day. Hooray!)
“Turn into a werewolf without pain? Easy for him to say . . . At least, he gets to drift into convenient unconsciousness, when I break HIS bones.”
Alaric might be a history teacher. But he clearly hasn’t learned the number one lesson of all history courses: history has a way of repeating itself. A few years back, Alaric dated a psycho named Isobel, to whom he told all his Deepest Darkest Secrets. She ended up dumping his ass, and then returning to town, only to use those secrets to get him POSSESSED BY AN EVIL VAMPIRE. And yet, Mr. Disappearing / Reappearing Sweat Stain saw absolutely nothing wrong with revealing to Crazy Nanny Carrie, a woman he barely knows, the fact that (1) he’s a vampire hunter with a MAD weapons stash, and (2) he owns an immortality ring . . .
Crazy Nanny Carrie wastes no time trying to pry the damn thing off his finger, while they make out (probably so that she can morph into Medusa and turn him into stone, or something). Fortunately, Elena barges in, and, in doing so, probably saves Alaric’s life. But even that’s a lesson Alaric hasn’t seemed to have learned yet. Hey Alchy-ric! News flash: When you live with teenagers, and you want to hook up with your girlfriend, CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR, FIRST!
“Whoopsies!”
“Geez, Alaric! At least put a sock on the doorknob, or something!”
“Baby, I’m Howling for You . . .”
I absolutely love that Klaus is a fan of The Black Keys. I also happen to think that “Howling for You” is a perfect theme song for the character. I would have liked it even more if he started to dance to it . . .
At some point, in the middle of the song, Stefan pops by for a little Ripper Reunion . . .
They talk business. They talk coffins. Neither one is willing to budge an inch on his position. Then Klaus makes an offhand comment about how he doesn’t think the whole “Crazy Stefan” thing, is really working for him. “How’s that working out for you? Do you have any friends left?” He asks, slyly.
Ouch, Klaus! Of course, this searing analysis would probably mean a lot more coming from a guy who didn’t kill both his parents, and stake all his siblings . . .
That said, no one can say now that Klaus doesn’t have a lot of friends. He’s made a ton of them recently . . . I mean, literally “made them.” In fact, he calls one of these so-called friends, shortly after Stefan leaves. He then instructs the hybrid to pay a little visit to a certain Bennett household where, Elena and Bonnie may or may not be headed, as they speak . . .
“Dammit, Klaus. Why did you have to call me? Every hybrid on this show that gets a speaking part, always ends up without a head or a heart . . .”
In which Bonnie joins Team Damon, and my respect for her increases ten-fold . . .
You know, Bonnie and I have never been particularly close. And I think part of the reason for that was that she always seemed particularly anti-Delena. And, as you might have guessed, I’m a bit of a fanatic about that Ship . . .
Then came this week’s road trip, in which Bonnie craftily got Elena to admit that Damon was a good kisser, and, in that beautiful moment, all the things that made me HATE Bonnie’s character, in the past (the fire starting, the ugly nose-bleeding, the judginess, and the migraine-making) was forgiven . . . at least, until she starts pulling that sh*t again . . .
This Damon-centric conversation is cock blocked by a phone call from Stefan, who Elena tells Bonnie to ignore, before eventually taking the phone herself (which is the responsible thing to do, considering Bonnie is DRIVING, and shouldn’t be on her cell phone, in the first place, Stefan). Elena ends up lying to Stefan, telling him that the two are going to the lakehouse, instead of to Bonnie’s mom’s house. Stefan, of course, sees right through the lie, and vows to do something about it . . . a decison that, under the circumstances, he might end up regretting . . .
Family Reunion gone Baaaaaaaaaad.
“Bonnie! I’d like you to meet your mom, and your new boyfriend / brother. They will both be trying to kill you today . . .”
Since we saw Soon-to-Be-Heartless-Hybrid pay a visit to the Bennett house, just moments earlier, us viewers are all pretty sure this mother/child reunion is going to end badly. We just aren’t sure how.
When Bonnie and Elena first arrive at the house, they meet THIS GUY . . .
. . . who seems to have no qualms about inviting the two strange females into the house (one of whom claims to be the owner of the house’s daughter), and offering them food and drink, as if he owns the place. When Bonnie asks “Jamie” (that’s his name, by the way) if the two of them are related, and he says “no,” my first thought is that Abby Bennett is a cougar, and this is her boyfriend. Part of me is actually disappointed that this didn’t end up being the case . . .
“So, basically, my bio mom was a sociopathic vampire, and yours is a total slut. Awesome!”
“Jamie” explains that his dad dated Bonnie’s mom, but ended up being a total douchebag deadbeat. So, Mama Bennett ended up raising him as the child she never had. Of course, she did have a child . . . Bonnie. So, we certainly can’t blame our little witch for being a bit resentful, under the circumstances.
“Don’t make me light a fire up your ass, JAAAAIMMMEE.”
Another thing, I couldn’t help but notice is that, though they are not technically related, in some ways, Jamie IS kind of like Bonnie’s brother. And, to me, this makes things kind of icky, especially if the writers are planning on pairing the two together romantically, as rumors seem to suggest that they are . . . But hey, it worked in Clueless, right?
Shortly thereafter, Bonnie’s bio mom returns to the house. Elena quickly leaves, so that the two can “iron out their issues” in piece . . .
“So, mom . . . you used to be a witch, right. How did you cope with all the nose bleeds? Sometimes, I bleed so much, I feel like my nostrils are going to fall off my face . . .”
I have to say, I was neither impressed, nor did I entirely buy, Abby Bennett’s story as to why she ditched Bon-Bon as a kid. So, let me get this straight, she “lost her powers” fifteen years ago, while luring Original Mikael into a coffin, and then decided to leave town without her kid or husband, so she didn’t have to be a witch anymore?
Well, without her powers wasn’t she “not a witch anymore,” anyway? And, if she was planning to leave town, why didn’t she think to take her three-year old, and the rest of her family with her? Wouldn’t that have made more sense?
Also, this “kind-hearted” woman . . . who was willing to literally give up everything to save her best friend’s kid (Mikael was supposedly in town looking for Elena) . . . and went on to raise someone else’s kid as her own . . . never even thought to check on whether her OWN MOTHER, who she put in charge of raising HER KID, was alive or dead?
I don’t know. Something about this story stinks . . . and it isn’t just the nosebleeds that are making it so . . .
Outside in the barn, or whereever it is that Elena ends up, she runs into Stefan, who’s none too happy with her for lying to him about her plans.
Unfortunately, for him, he doesn’t get too much time to “express his feelings,” because THIS happens . . .
That had to hurt . . .
Yeah, apparently, hybrid compulsion beats Stefan compulsion. Who knew? When Jamie comes to intervene on Stefan’s and Elena’s arguing, Stefan horrifies Elena, by strangling the poor kid, and compelling him to leave. But it’s Jamie who has the last laugh, when he turns right back around, and pumps Stefan’s stomach full of buckshot. He also ties Elena to a post, with some rope.
(Chivalry is SO dead!)
Things aren’t going much better, inside. When Bonnie hears the gunshot, Mama Abby muffles Bonnie’s face, until she falls unconscious, and drags her ass into a car. Man, the parents on this show suck ass . . .
“Rockabye Bonnie, in the farmhouse. When the wind blows, I’ll DRUG YOU, UNTIL YOU PASS OUT . . .”
Stefan gets a woody (multiple woodies, actually)
I guess all that time Elena has spent working out is finally starting to pay off . . .
Elena somehow manages to break free of the ropes confining her to the wooden post. As Stefan writhes on the floor in pain, more or less, useless. Elena gets Jamie to admit that he’s been compelled to (1) hurt Stefan; (2) keep Elena safe; and (3) KILL HIMSELF IF BONNIE DOESN’T REVEAL TO KLAUS’ HYBRID THE LOCATION OF THE COFFINS. Then, feigning rope burn, Elena gets Jamie to come close enough to her that she can knock him unconscious, with a spare piece of wood.
Once that’s over and done with she kneels down to tend to Stefan, who suggest that Elena hand pick all the buckshot out of his body. (FUN!) Part of me was actually surprised that Stefan didn’t ask her to do it with her mouth, like THIS GUY did . . .
(If it had been Damon on the floor, he totally would have done this . . .)
It makes sense that Elena’s acts of bravery and kindness would prompt Nice Stefan to make a rare cameo appearance. First, he compliments Elena on how much tougher she’s become, since he temporarily ditched her ass, and went Rogue Ripper . . .
Yes, Stefan. Being dumped tends to make people Stronger and Tougher, even Kelly Clarkson said so. What’s interesting about what Stefan says here is that it kind of reminds me of what Katherine said to him, when the pair were first reunited in “The Return.”
“You’re stronger . . . meaner . . . sexy.”
Stefan also gets major points for admitting that he went just a smidge too far, with the whole “threatening to drown you over the same bridge where both your parents died,” thing . . . And perhaps, it’s this honestly, and increased intimacy, between the two that prompts Elena to make this AWESOME confession . . .
That’s right, Delena fans. Elena Gilbert is not one to mince words. And when she says she fell in love with “vampires” plural . . . and then later admits to KISSING SOMEONE without guilt, as opposed to BEING KISSED, she means it, most definitely. And whether or not I think this was the opportune moment to share this information with Stefan, I love that Elena is so willing to own up to her romantic feelings for Damon, not just to Stefan . . . but also to herself . . .
And really, can Stefan honestly blame her for falling for his brother, when Damon Salvatore is so friggin hot and charming, it’s almost painful to be in his presence, without ripping your clothing off he practically rolled the red carpet for the two of them to couple?
That said, even the staunchest of Delena shippers can’t help but feel the tiniest bit bad for Stefan, when — after weeks of showing virtually no emotion whatsoever, aside from sheer, unadulterated RAGE — the younger Salvatore brother suddenly looks as though he’s going to burst into tears at the prospect of his lover moving on, without him . . .
Welcome back, Stefan’s Humanity! Long time, no see . . .
Once Stefan has come down a bit, from the shock of hearing that Elena kissed Damon (He should watch it on YouTube. He’ll really be miserable then!), Elena confronts him again.
“Hey Steffy . . . I just wanted to stop by and torture you some more with details about my new love life. Here’s a detailed description of how Damon’s tongue felt as it probed my mouth and nether regions. If you’d like, I could even show you pictures. . .”
At this point, Stefan says something interesting: “You’re better than him. You’re better than both of us,” he says sadly, before getting back into his car, and driving away.
We heard this same sentiment echoed by Damon, when he first told Elena he loved her (and compelled her to forget it) back in “Rose.” To me, it shows just how psychically linked these two brothers are. How sad that neither man believes himself worthy of the woman he loves the most.
Well, hey, if Elena ends up being “too good” for both Damon and Stefan, I’d be happy to take one of them off her hands for her . . .
Elsewhere, Bonnie’s mom (who wasn’t compelled, but was acting against her real daughter to save her not-son?) keeps Jamie from offing himself, by getting Bonnie to come clean to Klaus’ hybrid about the location of the coffins. But before she does that, she secretly gives Bonnie the OK to tell her friends what’s happening, so that they might have time to do something about it. Their story ends on a relatively nice note, with Bonnie’s mom offering to try and get her power back (assuming she genuinely lost it, in the first place), so that she can help Bonnie open the Infamous Fourth Coffin.
I still don’t trust the witch, though . . .
. . . sorry . . .
Klaus = 1, Dead Witches = 0
So, the good news for Klaus is that he found out from his hybrid where Damon and co. were hiding the coffins . . .
. . . but the bad news is that the witches are hiding them from him, so he can’t actually see them . . .
They are also pretending he’s old school Damon and beating the crap out of him WITH THEIR MINDS . . .
So, he tells them, in no uncertain terms, that they better be nicer to him, or he will “Rip Damon from limb to limb” and “KILL EVERYONE THEY LOVE.”
Time to get some new tagline, Klaus. These threats are getting old . . .
Lack of originality aside, the witches roll over and play dead decide to show Klaus the coffins . . .
The only problem, of course (for Klaus, that is), is that Damon has re-hidden the ALL IMPORTANT FOURTH COFFIN . . .
So, suck on that Klausipoo!
Klaus = 0, Damon = 2, Elijah = 310 . . . .
When Stefan arrives back home to La Casa de Rich and Awesome, after a long, eventful day of being shot at, and having his — now apparently working again — heart stomped on, he decides to offer his favorite brother a little “keepsake” from his journey . . .
It’s a BLACK EYE! HOORAY!
Poor Damon . . . vervained, de-blooded, beaten-up . . . he ALMOST wins the award for most abused cast member, this week . . . almost . . . But it appears, Damon might have taken a little keepsake of his own . . .
Meanwhile, back at the Klaus House, a mildly-pleased-with-himself Klaus, is going over his Malelovent Plans for World Domination with his Hybrid Pal of the week, when THIS happens . . .
Sorry Random Hybrid! It looks like you just won yourself one of these . . .
But hey, look on the bright side. I’m sure this episode earned you your SAG card!
Anywhoo . . .
(He wants to know what he missed. Do you think I should e-mail him my recaps? :))
That’s right boys and girls, Damon the Awesome de-staked Elijah, before returning his coffin to Klaus.
And now, boyfriend is going to have some SERIOUS explaining to do . . .
You can try to run, Klaus . . .
. . . but you CAN’T HIDE!
And that was “The Ties that Bind,” in a nutshell. Unfortunately, The Vampire Diaries is taking a short hiatus, next week.
But if the promos for episode 13 are any indication, it will definitely be worth the wait . . .
See you then, Fangbangers!
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Great episode although the Damon eye thing is annoying they should tone that down.
Meredith is cheating? I think she will still turn out bat shit crazy sorry Mrs. Paul Wesley.
Stefan needs to get into the action a little more although the punch at the end meh, wasn´t serious they´ll be comrades again.
Hey East Coast Captain! 🙂 LOL. I have a friend who feels the same way about Damon’s Eye Thing. She hates it. We fight about it after nearly every episode. (Of course, I always take Damon’s side. I’m sure you’re not surprised.) But, needless to say, you are not alone in your frustration with it. 🙂
I have some theories about Meredith’s “cheating” that I plan to address in one of my other comment replies. But I agree with you. She is bad news. And her character will most certainly meet a bad end, as most guest stars on this show do. Poor Alaric. Why can’t he meet himself a nice, normal girl, who won’t up dead? 🙂
This episode was a bit Salvatore Brothers’ light, wasn’t it? I feel like Stefan overreacted in punching Damon. He’s always known Damon loved Elena. And this isn’t the first time he’s kissed her. Besides, Stefan’s been pushing them both away, for months now. How long exactly did he expect them both to wait?
That said, I agree with you that they will be working together again, by the next episode. No harm, no foul. 🙂
Fabulous recap as always!! So yeah…I was not looking forward to a whole episode featuring judgy Bonnie but I really liked her tonight and found myself rooting for her…I even loved how she just spilled the beans to Elena.
There were also two other things I really liked about the “I kissed Damon” scene. One was how Elena put her hand over Stefan’s heart and patted his chest saying “There, all done” after she had dealt the verbal blow. Symbolic much?
The other was the fact that Stefan didn’t apologize for the bridge scare until after Elena had told him about the kiss and then he said his apology as if he knew he’d pushed her too far with that action (into Damon’s arms)…BUT THEN her face said “Uh yeah, thanks but I sooo kissed him before that, believe what you want, Stef.” ❤
Good episode. Damon running around behind the scenes "cleaning and sorting" as he is wont to do was great and Stefan's unpredictability is still a win win in my book.
Then there's Elijah….Yay!!!!
Hey JenSteph! Excellent points on the scene that will forever go down in history as the “I Kissed Damon” moment. The fact that Elena owned this action, was almost as good, as her making the first move, herself. Of course, that moment — in which Elena actively pulls an unexpecting Damon in for a sensual kiss, will come in good time — I suspect.
I realized when I was writing this recap, that I was playing fast-and-loose with the timeline, by merging Stefan’s and Elena’s two conversations (the one where she admitted to kissing Damon, and the one where he apologized on the bridge) into one. I think it’s the staunch Delena-ite in me that subconsciously tries to shorten Stelena scenes, at the expense of Delena ones. But the way you’ve interpreted this scene makes it almost as good as if Damon was there.
I love your intrepretation of Elena’s “all done,” as being symbolic of both “Here’s a big giant Delena kiss wood chip, I’m painfully wrenching from your body.” and “I’ve totally moved on SUCKA, so eat that!”
It was a bit cocky of Stefan to (1) automatically assume that Elena had only kissed Damon, to get back at him for the whole “bridge thing;” and to (2) assume Damon had taken advantage of that moment, as illustrated by the punch (If that was the case, Elena would have probably felt guilty about what she did, which she clearly did not.). But Elena seems to have put him in his place. And who knows, maybe the confession was what she felt she needed, before SHE could kiss Damon again? 😉
I had always suspected that by the time Stefan regained his humanity, it would already be too late. Because Elena would have already moved on with Damon. Perhaps, that time has already come? 🙂
Oh, an P.S. what’s with all of us suddenly agreeing with Bonnie? 🙂 Last week, I was proud of her, for giving Elena a hard time for compelling Jeremy. And, this week, she surprises me by joining Team Delena? Crazy! Her and I might just become friends, after all. 🙂
I thought this episode was so so.. i mean it was pretty cool and everything and certain scenes were absolutly awesome (Elijah anyone?), but some parts were just not entertaining to me… maybe it’s because I’m not toooo fond of Bonnie lool
I do have to say though that idk if it was just me, but i absolutly laughed myself silly when Elena walked in on Alaric and Meredith kissing… hahaha payback’s a bitch Alaric for all those times you’ve walked in on our Delena scenes!! xD
I loved the Elena and Stefan scene where she admitted that SHE kissed Damon! Not even Damon kissed her, SHE KISSED HIM! It was awesome to see her admitting this…even after that very morning she had told Bonnie that Damon had kissed her? I wonder what led to her changing her view on what had happened. I do have to say I felt super bad for Stefan hearing this from her..his face just killed me 😦 but then I rememeber all that he’s done to Elena (like the bridge scene) and i don’t feel as sad about it.
I’m glad he apologized about the attempted murder and vampirification last week, but I still don’t think Elena will ever be able to forgive that… maybe she will though cuz she forgave the whole Damon and Jeremy killing thing right?
I reaalllyy don’t want to wait a whole extra week for the next week’s episode, ug this is gonna suck 😛
Great Recap as always!
Hey melaine! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting. 🙂
I’ll let you in on a little secret. This wasn’t my favorite episode either. Don’t get me wrong. I loved Elijah’s triumphant return, and the “I kissed Damon.” I was also thrilled that Tyler is trying to make himself a little less Gay for Klaus. But I just felt like too much time was spent on side characters: Bonnie’s “family,” Crazy Nanny Carrie, Random Soon-to-be-Dea Hybrid, Caroline’s Big Gay Dad, etc.
That said, I’m extremely excited for the next episode, based on the previews. Hooray for Elijah and his always seamless ability to play both sides. 🙂 And the week after that, we get Delena and Klaroline DANCING. And what can be better than that?
(Hmm . . . I wonder if they are planning on getting Elijah his own love interest? ;))
By the way, I love you take on Elena cockblocking Alaric, to get back at him for always cockblocking Delena scenes! It DOES serve him right. I mean, sure, one could argue that Elena cockblocked Alaric before, when he was getting busy with Aunt Jenna. But, by that point, Alaric was ALREADY in. 😉 This time, Elena is souring Alaric’s “game,” just like he’s been doing with her and Damon, for weeks. 😉
That said, Alaric should probably thank Elena. Crazy Nanny Carrie is going to end up being awful for Alaric. I can feel it.
It doesn’t make you a traitor to the Delena cause to feel just a teensy bit bad for Stefan. Paul Wesley handled the scene beautifully. After all, it’s always one thing to TELL someone you care about that they should move on. It’s another to actually SEE them taking you up on your offer. My main issue with Stefan (aside from the fact that I feel Delena has much more chemistry, and HE has more chemistry with Katherine) is that the writing for his character has been so schizophrenic, lately. One week he has humanity. The next week he doesn’t. One week he seems to love Elena. The next week he seems like he could care less about her. Here’s hoping the writers choose a Stefan soon, and stick with it. 🙂
The only interesting/happy thing about this episode was Elijah being back. I was clapping, bouncing up and down on my couch and smiling soo big when I saw him. My cats were just looking at me because i think I was squeeling too. LOL
My second crush after Damon. Love Elijah new sexy haircut for next epi too. He looks soo HOT.
1) I loved the Damon. Elena, and Bonnie convo. I don’t think that Elena was THAT concerned about Damon being mean during the reunion. I think she was more concerned that she would be around him soo much that day.Elena was already looking uncomfortable and wary when Damon came into the house and she just tightened up after that. So she didn’t want “temptation on legs” Damon with her the whole day. Ha
2) Elena,Bonnie etc.. at Bonnie mom house was a nice history lesson. Jamie is cute. Don’t know what they will do with him. I don’t trust Bonnie mom.
Stefan was being Stefan. Yeah Elena didn’t feel guilty about the kiss but DID she have to tell him and right then and there?
I already saw Stefan humanity coming back last epi and now this with him feeling hurt and jealous.
They were technically broken up and he has crapped on Elena personally during his Ripper phase more than Damon ever did. Damon just messed with people around Elena mostly. Stefan comment about Elena being better than both him and Damon ( he paused and THEN he added himself after Damon) made me think he is STILL putting Elena on a pedestal just like when they were dating AND he still thinks he is better than Damon..
Anyway I understand Stefan being angry and punching Damon. Glad Damon/Stefan moved on quickly after the punch.
3) Meredith vervaining Damon was like WTH? What is she thinking? Giving vampire blood to close to death or even badly injured patients? What if they actually die anyway? Now she will be making more Vampires.I STILL don’t trust her. Yes she has a screw loose but something else too.
Alaric did give up his secrets to her too qickly. Sheesh. How funny is it though that Bill received Damon blood after their history? LOL
Side note: What is with Elena covering the side of her face shyly when she caught Meredith/Alaric kissing? She did that too with Rose and her robe. Elena needs to cut the shy schoolgirl act. She and Stefan have been “together”, Matt and whomever before that too and she is probably having very sexy dreams about Damon. LOL
4) Tyler, Caro, Dad- Meh. I like the thought of Tyler being comfortable with the pain of turning because THAT was and is his big reason for being “okay” as a hybrid.
So he was born a werewolf and he needs to be “okay” with his heredity. I understand that but I don’t think he can get rid of his sire thing unless Klaus is killed.
To add to that TVD need to come up with something else other than mind control for Bill not able to be compelled. They can say mind control and some other thing like a drug because if not then ANYONE can learn that trick, given time. It would be one more thing that vamps/hybrids can be beaten at.
All in all an okay episode.
I am just looking forward to Elijah on my screen in 2 weeks and i will ignore the Stefan/Elena stuff as usual. Curious about Damon’s new bed partner too.
Hey Tricus! I’m also super thrilled to see Elijah return, and make some waves in Mystic Falls. I’m particularly interested in seeing how he will react to Damon, to whom he can thank for being alive again. 🙂 Given Stefan’s recent Ripper antics, these two have even more in common now, than they did the last time they met. Each is coping with a more impulsive, and hot-headed brother.
I also noticed Elijah’s new haircut . . . pretty awesome. Do you think Klaus cut it for him, while Klaus was sleeping? Or, perhaps one of his hybrids was a barber, in a past life? 🙂
(1) I love your suggestion about Elena keeping Damon from the roadtrip because (a) sitting next to him for that long in a locked car, would give her the uncontrollable urge to jump his bones; and (b) she wanted to keep Bonnie from finding out about the kiss. So, of course, Damon decides to spill the beans, anyway. Well played, Damon! 🙂 In fact, it could be argued that Damon’s spilling the beans to Bonnie, resulted in Bonnie broaching the subject with Elena, which resulted in her confessing about the kiss to Stefan, which freed up her conscience to kiss him again. 😉 Well, played, indeed!
(2) I have read that Jamie will be Bonnie’s new love interest. Aside from the whole family thing being really icky, I guess I’m happy for her. I mean, they have to be hotter than the cold fish that was the Bonnie and Jeremy relationship, right?
I also agree with you about Stefan putting Elena on a pedestal, and only now just realizing how strong and mature she’s become, since he ditched her ass. I was furious with Stefan for his “you’re better than him” comment, and only lessened my wrath, once he qualified it. But you are absolutely right, the inclusion of himself in that definition, did seem more like an afterthought than anything else . . .
(3) You bring up an excellent point about Meredith possibly creating more vampires through her “cheating” method. In fact, my new theory is that this might have been what happened to the medical examiner, i.e. her “lost patient.” He got hurt. She gave him blood. He was too close to dead for it to save his life. He turned vamp, and went after her. She staked him. It also makes Alaric’s decision to tell Meredith about the ring a REALLY stupid one. 30 seconds after finding out about it, she was already trying to take it. What if she steals it from him, for good, so that she can use it to “cheat” some more?
(4) I also agree with you about Bill’s methods of “curing” siring seeming too good to be true. Logically, what he said makes sense. And I’m proud of Tyler for being willing to own his werewolf side. But I still think some form of magic will be required to truly break the sire bond . . .
So, Damon has a new “bed partner”? Please lord, let it be Elena. I simply can’t cope with another throwaway girlfriend, like Rose or Andie. We’ve been patient. We’ve waited our turn. It’s most definitely Delena Time. 😉
Always sad when there’s a hiatus. I somehow didn’t expect Elijah to show up so soon, and boy was I glad. But the fact is, Damon is the one who woke Elijah up. Klaus is the one who last staked him. Elijah shouldn’t be too swayed by Klaus. Then again, he shouldn’t have let his killing machine of a brother live in the first place.
I have no idea what to expect from Bonnie and her mother or Tyler, Caroline’s dad, Caroline, and Klaus. Somehow I like Jamie. He’s super relaxed. I also am completely suspicious of Meredith. I mean, really? She takes off the ring? Did the medical examiner stake himself? Is anyone concerned? Damon’s protectiveness over Alaric was completely adorable.
One thing I wonder is what will happen to Stefan now that Klaus has *most* of the coffins. I guess he’s still safe since Damon hid the coffin and Klaus knows he’d get on Damon’s bad side if he killed Stef. Elena’s attitude towards Stefan was pretty funny – especially when she told him he had gotten really bad. I mean, durrrrrr. And Stefan’s apology was ridiculous, but I guess no worse than Damon’s apology for (almost) murdering Jeremy.
I definitely agree with what you said last week regarding the fact that Stefan uses psychological warfare more than Stefan. That’s partly why he and Klaus got along so well. They better have some special Klefan scenes up ahead in some form or another… Anyway, I admit to being surprisingly sad when Elena told Stefan she kissed Damon. I mean, he’s been off ripping people apart, but all of a sudden, Stefan becomes completely childlike and old-Stefan-like. He realized both that it was inevitable and that he did this to himself. It was even touching when Stefan said it was good Elena had become tougher, because that was sort of a mixture of good Stefan and meaner Stefan. It also reminded me of Katherine’s statement. Note: I definitely think Elena is better than Stefan and Damon, considering she hasn’t massacred countless individuals. Oh well.
A few favorite moments in another brilliant recap:
“Everytime a hybrid loses its heart, an angel gets its wings . . . ”
“too old” – Lord, TVD reminds me of one of the only episodes of 30 Rock I’ve seen, where one of the characters looks like she’s about thirty and she’s playing the mom of a college student. Then she dies of old age.
“He wants to know what he missed. Do you think I should e-mail him my recaps?” OK, yes, you should email or tweet Daniel Gillies links to your recaps and say you just want to fill Elijah in on what he missed. You should seriously try. If he had time to read them, he would love them. Not that I know him personally. But he seems like a good humored tweeter.
Hey Noelle! It will be interesting to see who Elijah ultimately sides with this time. I suspect he will play both sides, at first. This way, his true loyalties will not be made entirely clear until a few weeks down the line. On one hand, Elijah will be indebted to Damon for de-staking him. He will also now know that he absolutely made the WRONG decision by trusting Klaus, and betraying the Scooby Gang at the end of Season 2. After all, it seems to have earned him nothing but a few more months of nap time . . . And to further complicate matters, Damon will most definitely clue Elijah in to the fact that Klaus lied to him about how his mother died. This is likely going to make him just as “happy” as it made Rebekah, when she learned the truth.
And yet, on the other hand, Elijah REALLY wants to be reunited with his family. It’s the reason that he went along with Klaus’ plans, in the first place. And, now that Klaus can physically open the other two coffins (three, if you count Rebekah’s), and show him his siblings, that’s going to give him a tremendous amount of leverage. (Of course, if I was Elijah, I would just temporarily incapacitate Klaus, and de-stake my three siblings, within the first five minutes of the episode. But we know Elijah is much more thoughtful and devious, than I am. Plus, he’s probably just as curious as we are, as to who’s in the magical fourth coffin. And so far, as far as we’ve been told, only Klaus knows about that one.)
I suspect Elijah will initially hedge his bets, by not entirely committing to Team Damon or Team Klaus. And then, in the final moments of the episode, he will open at least one of the two mystery coffins, without Klaus’ knowledge. That’s just my theory . . . 😉
By now we’ve seen Damon be protective of Elena, quite a few times. But it was nice to see Damon’s inherently protective nature extend to his bromantic buddy Alaric. And you are right, that Meredith is just an accident waiting to happen. I did think it was a little creepy that, the minute Alaric tells her his Ring Secret, the first thing she does is try to take it off. Maybe she thought that was a “cute” thing to do. It wasn’t. 🙂
I do think it was positive of Stefan to acknowledge that Elena’s become tougher in his absence, particularly when, the last time she displayed her “toughness” was when she staked him for calling her “pathetic.” But you are right. Traumatizing someone for life, by acting like you are going to kill her, in the exact same way her parents died, years ago . . . the exact same way, SHE almost died, years ago . . . isn’t exactly the kind of thing you can just say “I’m sorry” for, and expect it to go away. I actually think Tyler was more on the mark, with HIS apology for inadvertent attempted murder. When it comes to the BIG Oopsies, like these, sorry is something you SHOW, not something you say . . .
And I guess, when you put it that way, Elena IS better than Stefan and Damon (though the fact that she earns that title, just by not being a mass murderer, sets the bar pretty low). For what it’s worth, I still think Damon is more charming than Elena, though, not to mention, a better super hero. 🙂
Oh, and I absolutely adore your idea of my Tweeting my recaps to Daniel Gillies. 🙂 He’s probably one of my favorite TVD Tweeters.
http://twitter.com/_danielgillies
He kind of makes me wish I had a Twitter account . . . 🙂
Awesome screencaps, Julie !!! I liked the episode. But I don’t trust Bonnie’s mom, and I don’t trust the wily doctor Meredith! What is she thinking, kissing Alaric and vervaining and extracting blood from his best friend in the same episode? Even if it is for a good cause! Silly Ric, for spilling all his secrets! I would have thought he’d at least kept the ring to himself…
Did you notice Elena was wearing a skirt…?! Long time no see… For Damon, is it?
Loved the return of the eye thing, and Damon’s pout! So cute, wonder how Elena withstood it? I agree with one of your other commenters that she refused his coming along because she wanted to avoid temptation 😉 And I loved how he consequently spilled the beans to Bonnie, it had me laughing out loud! But Bonnie was a pleasant surprise, when she and Elena talked later in the car!
Also, where is Stefan coming from? Found his humanity again, did he? Well, too little too late, man! Even though he did make me feel a little sorry for him when Elena flat out confessed the way SHE kissed Damon! So he obviously didn’t expect that. Maybe he thought Damon would go after her, but not that she would go after Damon (not that she REALLY did, she just kissed him back when he kissed her first, but Stefan doesn’t know that)… But Damon had to bear the brunt of Stefan’s anger, though I suppose he’d gladly take a black eye from Stefan to absolve a little of his guilt about ‘stealing’ his brother’s girl…
Awesome Damon, honestly, for de-staking Elijah!!! I can’t believe how stupid Klaus could be, not checking the coffins. I was actually expecting Damon to sneakily do something like de-staking Elijah. Way to go! He’s even had his hair done while he was out cold, if the preview is any indication! Cool, man!
The only boo-thing is an extra week between episodes. BOO!
Hey serendipity! 🙂 It looks like most of us are pretty skeptical of Meredith / i.e. Crazy Nanny Carrie. The fact that she’s played by the Queen of Psycho Characters from Teen Dramas automatically puts a few strikes against her. The medical examiners suspicious death, just hours after fighting with her, gives her another black mark, in my book, especially now that we know her history with vampires.
Beyond all that, for someone who just got back into town, she sure seems to know a lot. I mean, look at how quickly she leached onto Alaric. It just screamed ulterior motive. And then, how exactly did Meredith know Damon was a vampire? Is that common knowledge on the council, now? We’ve seen vampires and werewolves sniff out other supernatural creatures relatively quickly on this show. But even as someone who knows about vampires, you would think it would take a little longer for Meredith to learn about Damon. Remember how long it took Lizard Forbes? 🙂
Good ole Damon, and his eye thing. He definitely knows how to melt a girl’s heart. 🙂 You might be right about Elena’s real reasons for not wanting to spend so much time cooped up in a car with him. I mean, we saw how sexually frustrated that kiss made her. Imagine magnifying that with hours and hours of close contact. Plus, I think Elena was trying to keep the kiss a secret from Bonnie. So, kudos to Damon for putting a stop to that. 😉
And yes, Bonnie’s conversion to Team Delena was an extremely pleasant surprise. He’s slowly winning them all over . . . one Mystic Falls resident at a time. 😉 Next stop, Elijah . . .
I didn’t think Stefan had any right at all to punch Damon for doing exactly what he had practically been INVITING him to do for weeks. But I’m not that surprised he did it. Old Stefan would have just pouted and given his brother the silent treatment for a while. But New Stefan is much more impulsive than that. I loved how Damon just shrugged it off. If anyone can understand where his brother is coming from, it’s Damon: King of the Broken Hearted.
I also think there was a bit of well-earned smugness in Damon’s reaction to the punch. He must have figured out that Elena told Stefan about the kiss, which means he’s clearly gotten under her skin in a very big way. . .
We so think alike! When Jamie said no when BonBon asked him if they’re related, I totally thought Abby’s a cougar too! HAHAHAHAHA! And somehow, that would have made the future Bonnie-Jamie loveline less icky. While I really shipped for Paul Rudd and Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, I don’t know, I don’t think it will apply here. Oh well.
And yes yes yes! Elena has been dropping I’m-falling-for-Damon crumbs all over the past episodes and it’s SO NICE for her to finally own it REALLY up now. Though I did feel SO SO BAD for Stefan that I think I got negative points from the Delena club for doing so. It’s just that, he now showed his humanity to Elena and almost looked like he’s gonna cry. It was so good to watch on an acting level because Paul Wesley nailed it. And the walk of my-ex-has-moved-on, sigh. But yey, more Delena~! I am so excited!
And I don’t trust Meredith too! I mean, Torrey DeVito, why do you keep on doing unlikable roles? I don’t think I’m gonna like her ever because of her role choices. Sigh.
And I feel really iffy with Abby. Just had this instinct not to trust her. Yeah, what you pointed out that her reason for leaving didn’t really made sense. I actually thought she’s with Klaus, what with the shifty eyes. I laughed real hard when you said she herb-ed Bonnie. HAHAHAHAHA!
And Tyler! ❤ I was really afraid that the Forwood ship drowned after last ep but yey for Tyler taking action and seeking redemption! Just hatin' it that I get to see Bill Forbes again. Part of the bargain? Noooooooo~
Anyway, great recap as always! Perfect complimentary to watching TVD. Sadly, no VD next week, sigh. I'm gonna have withdrawal symptoms… again. Why do they keep torturing us?Thanks for the recap!
Hey whoopeyoo! 🙂 I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one who’s first instinct was to peg Abby Bennett as a naughty cougar, when Jamie started strutting around the house, like he owned the place. And I’m still getting a sense of subtle incest ick, over the potential future Bonnie / Jamie coupling.
Why did they have to make him a surrogate son, anyway? Couldn’t he just have been the Handy Man, or a helpful neighbor? And how exactly are they going to explain Jamie coming to Mystic Falls? Is he still in high school, or is he supposed to be older than Bonnie? If he IS still in high school, are we supposed to believe that he would be willing to drop his entire life to follow his not-Mom on a Witch Trip? Weird . . .
“I’m falling for Damon crumbs” . . . I love it! Here’s hoping Elena’s confession to Stefan, freed up her conscience enough, that she can move on with Damon, in earnest. I’ve always suspected that the fact that Stefan was “not himself” and, consequently, “out of the loop” about their relationship, was a big part of what was holding her back. But now that Stefan is sort-of himself again, she doesn’t have to feel like she’s betraying his trust. It also enables her to get some closure on the Stelena relationship. Does that make any sense?
I do wonder what the real story is behind Abby’s leaving Mystic Falls. I kind of like your idea that she’s working for Klaus. After all, we already know she was the one who incapacitated Mikael, which was definitely in Klaus’ best interest. Klaus had to know immediately where she was living, in order to send his henchman to talk to her. And we still don’t exactly know what the two supernaturals said to one another. All we know is that the hybrid compelled Jamie, but not Abby. Was it because she was on vervain? If so, and she knew there was a chance vampires would find her, why wouldn’t she have given some to her not-son, as a precaution?
Another clue that Abby might be working for Klaus, is the fact that a witch seems to be the one who spelled the Fourth Coffin. Now that witch could have been Maddox, or Jonas’ daughter, both of whom were working for Klaus at the time. But what if it was Abby? That would certainly explain her appearance in Bonnie’s dream . . .
LOL about Bill Forbes. He IS rather unpleasant, isn’t he? However, something about that scene of him crumbled on the floor, in the next episode’s trailer makes me think he won’t be leaving Mystic Falls alive, this time.
Sorry Caroline! 😦
This episode was Boooooring! as hell… Only the end was cool, and the moment Elena tells Stefan shes kissed Damon, I was so happy she staked him in the heart (mean me).
I love Elijah, Im thrilled to see him back. Im mad for the hiatus, this episode didn’t gave me enough to feed on until the next one.
Hey vip3re! “This episode didn’t give me enough to feed on” – LOL. Excellent choice of words! Very appropriate! 🙂
I’m with you, about not loving this episode, as much as I usually adore my weekly dates with TVD. I feel like there was just a bit too much focus on side characters, in which I wasn’t all that invested. I know it’s an ensemble cast. But the writers should probably spread out storylines that heavily feature guest stars like Bonnie’s family, Meredith, Caroline’s dad, and that random hybrid, as opposed to stuffing them all together in the same episode. It meant that there was virtually NO time for Delena (who only had one short scene together), Forwood (two tiny scenes), and Klaroline (0 scenes). No me gusta! 😉
That said, a few VERY positive things came out of this episode, most notably Elena’s kissing confession, Damon’s eye thing, and, of course ELIJAH. 😉 So, I guess every cloud has a blood red lining. 😉
Hi Julie,
What a great review. I knew that we could count on you to put this episode into persepctive and a more positive light.
It is amazing how the writers can make an opinion about a character change dramatically over the course of a few episodes. Tyler was really irritating me after becoming a hybrid (I’m not a fan of the season 1 jerk facet of his personality) and yet I melted a little after his I love you last week, and even more so when he made it clear that Caroline was worth transforming into a werewolf over and over again. It will be a long road for these two to get back together again, but I have hope! (and I refuse to even consider Caroline and Klaus as a viable option. I like my big bad villian super mean!)
While I enjoyed Bonnie getting more of a story line, it turns out that the road trip was completely pointless and our characters are ultimately worse off in the fight against Klaus than they were before, with the exception of Damon’s brilliant quick thinking and bringing back Elijah!!!
I didn’t know initially what to make of the Stelena scenes this week. On the one hand, I am glad that Elena brought up that she kissed Damon and doesn’t feel guilty about it, but on the other hand I wonder why Stefan should know as he’s the ex-boyfriend (and who I kiss is not something I share with my ex’s in the event that I ever speak to them … ha ha) It frustrated me that Elena felt the need to explain herself that she hadn’t planned on kissing Damon. Also disappointing was that Stefan only apologised for the bridge episode AFTER Elena told him about the kiss. It shouldn’t take the knowledge that Elena is slipping away to get him to apologise. Irrespective of my thoughts regarding the plot line, the scene where Elena pulls the bullets out and tells Stefan about the kiss was flawless. Even as a very strong non-Stelena fan, I felt terrible for Stefan and their relationship as the scene reminded me of the initial tragic circumstances in which Stefan had to walk away in the first place to join Klaus and how the end of their relationship was inevitable once Stefan made that sacrifice. (the end for now that is…..) I was even ok with Stefan punching Damon because that is the knee jerk reaction to finding out that your brother kissed your ex and the girl that you are still in love with. However, I didn’t like that Stefan brought up that Elena is better than Damon (not focusing on the part where he also mentioned himself) In the previous episode, Stefan clearly indicated that Damon’s job is to protect Elena, knowing that he is a good enough guy to do that. What Stefan might think is that Damon has been actively pursuing Elena during his absence, which is not the case. Aside from Damon telling Elena that he wants her to remember the things she felt for him while Stefan was gone, he has not done anything to pursue her until the kiss. Damon currently is the farthest he has even been from the season 1 monster. However, I feel that we are heading towards a Stelena reunion (it is inevitable and there is a reason Damon asked Elena to remember how she felt while Stefan s gone, it will definitely come into play in the future) and who knows what that will do to Damon.
The most positive thing that I can take out of the episode is that Elena talked to Alaric about the fact that he stayed when they needed him and that it is ok that he move on with his life. I hope that Elena can apply this situation to herself and Damon.
Joey
Hey Joey! Now that you mention it, Bonnie’s and Elena’s roadtrip did end up being a pretty bad decision, all around, didn’t it? The trip is most definitely to blame for Klaus learning the location of the coffins. Plus, if Bonnie’s mom is as untrustworthy as she currently seems to be, that means the trip can be blamed for bringing one more person who harbors ill will toward the Scooby Gang to Mystic Falls.
Of course, Damon’s quick thinking DID save the day, somewhat, with his decision to (1) hide the all-important fourth coffin, in order to maintain what little leverage the Scooby Gang had against Klaus; and (2) de-staking the Original most likely to side with the Scooby Gang upon waking up. (Rebekah still has her grudge against Elena. And the other two are still question marks.)
That said, part of me thinks it might have been helpful to de-stake Elijah a bit sooner. This way, Damon would have more time to persuade him into an alliance BEFORE Klaus injected his manipulative claws back into him. Of course, that wouldn’t have made for quite as intriguing of an ending. 😉
You also bring up an excellent point about Stefan’s “You’re better than him . . . than both of us” comment. I’ve always felt that Stefan believed Elena was “better” than both Salvatore Brothers, based on the simple fact that she is human, and not a vampire. Self-loathing is one of Stefan’s chief personality traits, whether he’s in his Ripper form, or not. And yet that didn’t stop him from pursuing a relationship with Elena, back in Season 1. So, the fact that, Stefan is suddenly concerned with Elena’s virtue, now that there’s a possibility that Elena will date a vampire other than him, seems a bit disingenuous.
But I’d like to think, as you suggested, that this was all part of Stefan overcoming the initial shock of hearing from Elena that she might be moving on without him. I mean, in a sense, she and Damon are doing EXACTLY what he told them to do. This whole season, Stefan has been vehemently pushing Elena away . . . telling her to forget about him . . . treating her harshly enough that she will believe he no longer feels for her.
Stefan’s also been oddly supportive of Damon’s love for Elena since Season 2. He’s told Damon many times that his love for Elena, ensures his humanity, and, therefore, should not be denied. And, this season, he explicitly asked Damon to protect and watch out for Elena, since he no longer could do so, himself.
So, Stefan has to know, in good conscience, that he can’t begrudge Elena and Damon their relationship. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt him to be rejected, and passed over. He feels as though the two people he loves the most in this world have found happiness in one another, without him. And he feels left out, and lost. He’s tried to turn off his emotions, and tell himself it doesn’t matter. But it matters, and it hurts.
In the past, Damon has bowed out and decided not to pursue Elena (See “Rose”), because he felt that was what was best for her at the time. I think it is Stefan’s turn to do that now. And, if he does, I would respect the character a lot for having the strength and the courage to accept his brother’s and Elena’s happiness, even if it is at the expense of his own. I hope after Stefan has time to process the situation that this is what he decides to do.
Wishful thinking, perhaps? 🙂
Sorry, I am a bit in a hurry due to, you know what text. So I will only shortly address the episode.
First we can be sure that McQueen will be back, since his name still appeared in the opening credits.
At the scene of Carrie using vampire blood I thought a) finally a bit of realism again and b) of course that only happens in Mystic Falls since vampires are practically non-existent in other parts of the US of A.
So Abby sealed Michael, what a surprise. So how did he even know of the existence of the Doppelgaenger? Did a fortune teller give him a tip? Because at that time there is no way Elena’s looks could have already given her away unless Michael had known Katherine or the original doppelgaenger from a very early age on.
“Whole story”?
We know dick about Abby’s story. And isn’t it interesting that the girl on the photo doesn’t look like Bonnie but Abby barely looks any different despite being 15 years older? She must be using Madonna’s placenta crème. And you are totally right, her story makes no sense at all, but hey neither does that of the Original family, you know with Klaus’ looks.
Interesting how some plants can subdue magic in a witch can’t they? Weird that there aren’t some for breaking a spell isn’t it?
And interesting that nature seemed to punish Abby for abandoning Bonnie but it seemed to have no problems with Luca’s sister and that other warlock serving Klaus and actually breaking the curse.
If Bonnie and Jamie end up dating I wouldn’t be surprised for two reasons:
1) Considered the hitherto nature of the show it would totally be fitting to place to African Americans together.
2) Bonnie already dated a brother of sorts when she boned Jeremy, except this time she didn’t knew the guy since he was in his diapers so it would be less creepy and more understandable. And you have to admit that he is a hottie, especially with the light green eyes.
I know this might sound misogynistic but I really have no other way of saying it in English that would capture it appropriately:
THESE WITCHES ARE PUSSIES!!!!
Seriously, all their power and they cannot protect Bonnie from Klaus?
Even if it cost Abby her magic, at least she managed to defeat Michael, but 100 witches can’t defeat Klaus?
You might argue that showing Klaus the coffins was part of a plan but somehow I doubt that.
So all of the characters had to change… Well this proofs for me that Elena basically infantilized Jeremy with her actions. She wants to grow up but prevented him from doing so. It seems like it’s ok for her to become tougher and better but not for him. In show this could mean that she wants to infantilize him, keep him from growing up, or maybe even resentment that he managed to adapt to the harsh reality so much faster than she or the others could.
You know you hit the spot when you said that it was Tyler’s werewolf side that connected him with Caroline. It wasn’t him; it was that thing inside him that made Caroline pity him. Of course if the show were realistic this would be a classic case of Lazarus effect, or at least something similar.
Tyler’s actions (telling Bill to run) indicated that he has no control about his wolf-form, but Bill “survived” nonetheless. Jules massacred several campers but Tyler didn’t kill Bill? And another example in the long line of TVD inconsistencies.
You know Caroline’s dad…
I think if he were black he would probably be classified as a magical negro. I mean he basically pops out of nowhere, with barely any background and just figured out how to fight siring? How does he know? The whole thing is rather guessing. Oh and siring is suddenly some sort of feeling of gratitude? Didn’t really come along that way when they started the whole thing didn’t it? It was more like being eager to please and not being able to resist a command instead of feeling grateful. So I totally agree with your statement regarding the magical nature of siring after all since when do you feel so grateful that you would tear your heart out simply by command? But hey its TVD realism or consistency has no place in this show.
So one day changing might be painless? Weird that no werewolf before ever stated that isn’t it? I mean some must have been wolves for decades, so let’s say one has been for 30 years, that makes 360 transformations, if that isn’t enough to make it painless, Tyler would have to change each day at least once for over a year.
But you know, if you are right with every hybrid having a speaking part on this show ultimately ending up dead, this means that Tyler’s days are numbered.
I also wonder what it is about this hybrid-heck-meck. After all, based on Klaus’ own story it would be sufficient to find a human with werewolf heritage, transform him and then let him kill someone. After all if Klaus had to be cursed to keep his “hybrid nature” from manifesting it should be possible for any other pre-werewolf to become a hybrid, after all back then there was no Doppelgaenger whose blood could be used and that rule was only enforced for the curse itself.
If this would be any other show I would say that Elijah being back would be the start for some serious Klaus beating, but since this is TVD and Klaus is for some inexplicable reason the ubervillain and nearly always winning despite his idiocy Elijah might be permanently dead in the next episode. In addition, in any other show Elijah would destake Finn and Rebeka but probably not here.
You probably have no idea, but “Medusa” is a catch phrase for what is to come. 😉
Now my analyses is very long, I think just as long as your recap despite nearly exclusively consisting of text. Therefore I decided not to just let it hit you like a Tsunami but rather present you some excerpts from my text as a preview of sorts and then you and all others here can decide whether they actually want to read it or not.
Preview 1:
You know if the werewolves in the Original family episode were supposed to be Native American that might actually buy into the concept of the Noble Savage that is close to nature. Anyway even if not, this whole “everybody is healthy, blessed with the gift of speed and strength” (interesting that the spirits didn’t tell that witch about the more gory aspects of the condition) stinks of the stereotype that wolves are some sort of indicator for intact wilderness which, as a German, I can tell you is not the case. As far as I know we now have about 100 to 120 wild wolves, double the number of last year and they hadn’t really started re-colonize Germany until 2000 and you an hardly call my country intact wilderness, not by the definition of wilderness common in the western world.
And if anybody needs evidence they should just take a look at this documentary about German wolves (the scenes are accurate, you see real wild wolves of Germany):
Yes that is a power plant at the start of the video and that howling wolf is standing in the trail of a motor vehicle. Also the wolf at the start is a fully grown male that had already fathered pups and as you can see, he is a far cry of the stereotypical brutish beast that is more fitting for the werewolf. Anyway you can see that there is quite a difference to the wolves that portrayed Mason, Jules and Tyler.
Mason:
(I still can’t do any different than suspect that this was a wolf-dog)
Jules:
Tyler:
Although as a site note it is interesting that despite Tyler being much more massive than either Mason or Jules the wolf portraying him is much more slender than the canines portraying the other two. However I think that was rather due to the problem of finding a wolf that could be worked with and therefore probably pure coincidence.
In any case, these werewolves, or at least Tyler, also seem to be an example of the mixture of the two principles of “the beast within”.
1) The embodiment of the pure essence of humans, the “animal,” that exists without the traces of human civilization and is the true nature of the being in question and usually depicted as good or in the right place.
2) The embodiment of all the aspects of a human character that are considered negative and are kind of separated from the good aspects by being thought of as a kind of internalized but separate beast. For the ones that play RPG, the “Beast” in the vampire characters of the game lines Vampire the Masquerade and Vampire the Requiem.
Preview 2:
In romance traditional conceptions of masculinity are ultimately presented as benign – as something that produces rather than hinders female happiness. Even when male characters are extremely violent or misogynistic, even when they rape the heroine or constantly belittle her, the majority of romance texts still ultimately imply that traditional masculinity is good for women. In my eyes it cannot be denied that TVD strongly accords with this claim. The males with the most screentime so far when it comes to relationships are Stefan, Damon and Tyler. Stefan was early on presented as very soft but over the time as much more domineering and Damon as an irresistible and violent, hypermasculine aggressor, something he shares with Tyler to a degree because Tyler was not presented is irresistible but violent, hypermasculine and aggressive. These three characters have all shown behavior of an abusive nature at one time or another and especially Stefan and Damon to a high degree (the bridge, the feeding of the blood, the constant leaving her out of plans, the constant lecturing her etc.) but nonetheless the two are portrayed as the people Elena can a) not resist and b) bring her the most happiness. Yes Elena loved her parents, she loves Jeremy, and Caroline and Bonnie but it is these two vampires she orbits around.
Now, according to Radway, traditional romantic heroes have “spectacularly masculine phallic power” accompanied by a “capacity for tenderness and attentive concern”. Now you cannot say that this doesn’t remind you of Damon and Stefan (and to some extent Tyler). Both are depicted as “always hard” respectively “ready” but from time to time show a tender side with Elena and are extremely protective (Stefan even fighting his lust for her blood) and ever concerned for her safety. Especially Stefan was asking her questions, attended to her needs and desires (also meeting her desires for sex, so at least the show breaks from the stereotype of males being the “protector” of female virginity).
Now Damon, her undeniably second suitor is also a bastion of phallic power, as evidenced by his often half-naked vampire body being on constant display. The more the show progressed the more he was shown with being attentive.
If Radway is right than female readers of romance, are looking for a male hero “who is capable of the same attentive observation and intuitive ‘understanding’ that they believe women regularly accord to men” – or to make it short, they want an uber-hot macho man who is also nurturing, caring, and can fulfill the role of friend – guys who exude masculinity on the outside but are all soft and caring on the inside. Now similar to romance texts TVD also suggests that masculinity may need a bit of adjustment, but all in all it is just fine as it is.
Radway stated it a bit more direct: “The hero is permitted simply to graft tenderness onto his unaltered male character.”
Little problem with this attitude in romance texts: it fails to question current constructions of masculinity, instead suggesting that beneath the “tough guy” exterior lies a loving, tender, and affectionate male – it only requires the “right” woman/girl to bring out the prince lurking within the beast.
Preview 3:
We learn nothing about Stefan’s and Damon’s mother, only about their father. Tyler’s mother was pretty much in the background as long as her husband was still around, and then became his replacement and even now she only plays a role in alignment with Tyler’s safety. For reasons never stated Caroline originally resented her mother, which might be an attack against working mothers, or at least women as cops. Matt’s mother was portrayed as the town slutt, irresponsible and better not be around her children, Vicky was portrayed in a similar light and killed off early on. Matt’s father wasn’t even mentioned by name and his “portrayal” might be in line with Matt’s through and through “common” and working class background, something that separates him from the other main characters, who are either wealthy (Salvatore, Lockwood, arguably Gilbert), of old legacy (Forbes, Lockwood and Gilbert) or at least magical (Bennett [remember if Sheila was Bonnie’s maternal grandmother then Bonnie’s father took the name Bennet, albeit based on the most recent episode he might have kept his name as well). This might indicate that having a working class background equalizes a bad upbringing. Bonnie’s mother is estranged from her, only her grandmother remains and she disappeared very early as well. Afterwards she was barely even mentioned, only Bonnie’s father was at least spoken of and we all know how weird it was that he didn’t bother to even check for his daughter’s absence. The writers might have not cared because of Bonnie’s status as an African American, which in mainstream American Television is still often equated with at least less good upbringing.
Although Elena’s mother was called perfect and the like she was nonetheless dead in the show and the main legacy was carried on by her father. In addition Isabelle was a quintessential bad mother who only manipulated things from behind the scenes and only that seemingly after she had met Katherine. Albeit it was portrayed the way that she had supposedly did that to protect Elena, she did not shy away from killing and maiming for that end and basically her appearance had done more bad than good.
Now Jenna wasn’t called “Useless Jenna” without a reason. As a mother figure, or even an aunt, she failed completely and despite the fact that her background was similar to Jeremy’s she wasn’t able to figure him out before Elena nudged her into the direction. Albeit her role was supposed to be tragic and she supposedly a central figure, she was basically filling empty space and probably only a filler figure until Elena would be 18.
And Katherine wasn’t even allowed to be a mother figure, albeit this was too short a part of the series and therefore probably more likely to be a tool for explaining why the existence of a descendent was unknown. However, considered that her siring of Stefan and Damon basically created rather conflicting (at best) characters as well as the siring by a Katherine influenced Damon created bad characters (Isabelle, Vicky) while the siring by a (relatively but definitely Stefan and Elena influenced) Katherine-free Damon created a better offspring (Caroline, albeit Katherine killed her it was Damon’s blood in her and so he can be considered the sire). In addition only the siring of Lexi and Pearl created good characters (albeit the only vampire offspring we know of her is Anna and its possible that Anna is her biological child), while Anna’s siring created the unstable Logan and the dumb and erratic Ben, Rose involuntarily siring created Katherine and the “Original witches’ siring” created the first vampires, in addition her unfaithfulness created the schizophrenic and volatile Klaus and thereby the slave-like Hybrids. And Abby abandoning Bonnie seemed to have been such an offense to nature that her powers gradually disappeared while Luca’s sister helping Klaus breaking the curse seemed to have been completely ok. This would be a very weird logic so I assume that if it makes more sense when we interpret this phenomenon in the light of the intense focus on family the series shows It seems to suggest that as a woman it is wrong when you do not act according to, produce and care for your offspring in the “traditional American way” and so you get punished.
Preview 4:
But one thing is consistent with Tyler’s portrayal: he is never his own man; he is always in need and under the wing of somebody else. First his father, than Mason, than Caroline, than Jules, Caroline again, than Rebekah and now Klaus. He is in that regard an underdog and plays the subordinate werewolf so common in texts where werewolves and vampires occur at the same time.
Preview 5:
There is still this overall bubble around Mystic Falls, which pretty much separates the town from the workings of the normal world. Only elements of a supernatural nature ever penetrate this barrier and even than only sporadically. This seemed to be the way even in the past, e.g. the war between North and South is barely covered in the flashbacks, despite the fact that6 Virginia was one of the confederate states on which grounds the war was mostly fought.
Preview 6:
Maybe Katherine is a depiction of the stereotype that women become beasts in the absence of men and considered her long curly hair she could be a modern depiction of the Medusa figure since she already has fangs and her hair could be symbolical snakes. I mean Katherine is the bad one and without men, Elena is the good one and with men and both are rather defined by their relationship with the two main characters instead of just for themselves. What if Katherine is kind of like Vampire-Lucy in Dracula? Her actions are bent on destroying families, she feeds on Jeremy and therefore doing a kind of cradle-robbing (since his young age is so often pronounced in the show, despite the small age difference between him and his sister), she made Jenna stab herself and thereby destroying a mother figure of some sorts, sleeps around and seduces, lies and schemes, her friendship has no real value, neither does her word, she kills left and right, wants power and refuses to be subordinated into the family and could arguable want what might be called “male privileges”. Considered her behavior and action so far she seems to be acting as the antithesis of what is considered acceptable behavior for women, especially in the US, and everybody aligning with her gets punished.
Furthermore despite her being much older and thereby according to season 1 and 2 much stronger than either Damon or Stefan, she is physically overcome by both on several occasions and rather uses seduction and scheme to get what she wants instead of violence, thereby being in line with the expectation that women have to be physically weaker than males of their own kind and not use violence offensively (which is regarded as a male privilege). You could say that she is stronger than e.g. George Lockwood was, but this would not count in that regard since according to in-show lore vampires are always stronger than un-transformed werewolves. I think this concept is there to solidify the vampires’ status as the biggest players in the show from the start.
Perhaps what is really horrific about her is her sexuality and her vampirism is only a tool to make people realize it?
So far we didn’t have a female on the good side in this show with a free sexuality, neither one that takes charge without being punished. One could argue that Caroline does it when she first has sex with Tyler and literally throws him on the bed, but I will get to that later.
Ok, I hope these previews will make it possible to get the main topics across; so basically gender depiction, Mystic Falls as a society and the status of the werewolf itself as well as in relationship to vampires.
Now please tell me whether I should continue or stop it.
Hey Andre!
Good point about Crazy Nanny Carrie. I don’t know, call me greedy, but if I had access to cure-all vampire blood, I would think much bigger than “lets cure a few animal attack victims in Mystic Falls.” You would think there would be a huge black market for this stuff, across the world. In fact, I’m actually really surprised that TVD hasn’t tackled this storyline yet. Because having the Scooby Gang battle a “blood mafia” of sorts, could have a lot of potential. (Then again, perhaps that’s where this storyline is going, after all . . .)
Excellent point about Mikael. I always assumed that the Original Doppelganger grew up in the same village with the Originals. So, in that sense, Mikael probably would know what she looked like, as a little girl. The question is, where was Klaus during his time? Back then, he thought turning into a hybrid required killing a doppelganger (among other things). Wouldn’t it have been easier for him to accomplish that, when she was young, and without vampire allies?
I’m glad someone else mentioned Abby’s picture. They didn’t even try to make her look any younger, in that photo did they? Maybe the real reason she lost her witch powers is that she’s a vampire. 🙂
I also thought it was funny that, even though Elena and Bonnie HAD a picture of Abby in their hands, they still felt the need to examine 100 other pictures of Abby Bennetts to see if any of them were the right AGE to be Abby. People do tend to age a bit in 15 years. But it’s not as though they all go and get face transplants during that time. 🙂
I love your take on Tyler, and how he always seems to be dependent on someone for moral guidance of some sort. One of the nice things about this “turn without pain” arcs will be that, hopefully, it will allow Tyler to take responsibility for himself, and “man-up” for lack of a better turn. Though I don’t think this is really the answer to breaking the sire bond completely, I do think this might be the most maturing we will get to see Tyler do in three seasons. And I’m excited to see how Michael Trevino handles that acting challenge.
As for were Tyler being physically smaller than Jules and Mason, I wonder if it has something to do with his age, both as a werewolf, and as a human. Not only is Tyler roughly 7 to 10 years younger than Jules and Mason were, he’s also a newer werewolf than they are. So, perhaps, the werewolf, like the human, grows with age.. After all, unlike vampires, werewolves are mortal creatures, and, after a certain amount of time the age / strength curve is destined to plateau and then decline. Therefore, it would stand to reason that a 75-year old human, who has the werewolf gene, would also be “old” in his wolf skin.
I’m super intrigued by your gender study, and actually think it would make for a great nonfiction read . . . one that might sell fairly well if published. (Particularly, if you got the approval to use some of your screencaps from the show as illustration.) I was particularly intrigued by your discussion of Katherine, an exceptionally physically strong vampire, who prefers to use her feminine wiles to get her way, as opposed to brute strength. Just to play devil’s advocate though, couldn’t it be argued that Klaus too, tends to prefer psychnological warfare and mental manipulation to the de-hearting and ass kicking methods preferred by younger vampires, like Damon and Stefan? Perhaps, Katherine’s weapon of choice has more to do with her personality than her status as a female . . .
Just something to think about, as you continue to work on your thesis. I can’t wait to read it!
Ok, first I think you got me wrong. I wasn’t analyzing the in-show explanation for this and that, but rather behind the scenes, why the writers did that and that and what this means in the cultural context, and this is a totally different thing. And you have to admit that we barely saw any females using violence in the show despite the fact that they could very well. I mean why should Katherine not smack Jeremy herself on-screen? Just as an example. I think that is due to her status as a female and that it is not liked to see females using violence openly since this is regarded as a male privilege. It is the same with the lack of Asian males as romantic leads or the fact that we see (proportionally) way more non-white males without their shirts than white ones. By the way I also analyze Tyler’s lack of clothing, I think this is more than just objectivication but might be linked to his status as a werewolf or Trevino’s as a, like he said, full-blooded Mexican. And like you said, the character of Jeremy is not even 2 years younger than the main part of the characters but still he is treated totally different. I doubt that this is coincidence. Also despite his family being so rich Tyler is not rally shown with any more stylish or expensive clothes than the rest of the gang, except for Jeremy and Matt.
I think this is linked about the topics you mentioned yourself: Abby’s age, the using of vampire blood for healing (or better lack of on w worldwide scale), why Michael knew about the doppelgaenger but klaus didn’t. This whole Mystic Falls being in a bubble and the shallow explanations for this and that. Therefore I highly doubt that the size of wolf-tyler had any meaning in the show and was rather due to them wanting a black wolf and probably not getting anything better.
I also just checked more of the Original’s names:
I already stated that the names of Klaus, Elijah, Rebeka and Michael are rather unusual for the supposed time period. As well as Esther. But Henrik is, if my info is correct a low german form of Heinrich. And this stems from Saxony language or the Old high german. Now Finn seems to be an Irish and Nordic name. In its nordic form it means that the person belongs to the Finns (which were a different people from the Norse [and therefore the Vikings]). Now Kol I have no idea but still, for a family of Vikings from presubably the 10th or 11th century that is a weird mixture of names.
However, I think no matter what I doubt that I could publish my thesis here as a comment. I mean you see how much space the previews already took and that was only 25 percent of the whole deal, at most.
Great review!
Most people didn’t like the episode very much but I found it pretty amusing. I don’t know, Damon was especially awesome ( I just kept laughing and swooning everytime he was on the screan :D) I loved how he was overprotective of Alaric, it was pretty awesome.
And Paul’s acting… oh my! I didn’t love the “phone call” scene (from 3×01) like everyone else [because I thought elena acted pretty lame trying to convice him her love would save him…] but Stefan’s face when she told him about the kiss was truly heartbreaking! Amazing. Truly. It was clear that the old Stefan is right there.
I liked the way the writers handled the situation itself. How Elena DIDN’T regret kissing Damon (Oh my, what a revelation :D) but she still felt guilty because she loves Stefan and she knows he’s in there, trapped inside this terrible situation. At the same time, she also likes (coughlovescough) Damon and she can’t keep treating him as if she doesn’t.
Stefan was so dissapointed and sad becasue he knows it is his fault. (I hope) But he’s also mad at Damon because he’s his brother, he wasn’t supposed to kiss the girl he loves when Stefan is in such a bad place. And Stefan also knows that whatever is going on between Damon and Elena, it is not a fling, it is not only physical. It wouldn’t happen if it was, Elena wouldn’t let it…maybe even Damon wouldn’t. He knows that they have deep feelings for each other since he wasn’t the bad guy. Now that he is, it is only pulling them together.
(He knows that they have the kind of relationship that threatens the so-called “epic” love betweem Stefan and Elena)
And Damon…well. I truly loved his reaction when he got punched by Stefan. He’s guilty, he knows it’s wrong and he loves his brother. But he’s also flawed and he can’t stay away from elena because 1)she needs him
2) she asked him to stay with her 3)he’s taking care of everything now that Stefan doesn’t care. It isn’t fair that he would just colect Elena’s pieces, glue them together and give her to Stefan in the end.He’s giving her his everything and he can’t help but wish Elena would give him her everything too. (wow mushy me :P)
Also… I was kind of mad at Stefan right there (fine, REALLY mad because I love Damon with the intensity of a thousand suns LOL). Like you said, both Salvatore don’t think they deserve Elena… the difference was… Damon never said a word about Stefan. Sure, he always mocked his brother, he always said that Elena also felt something for him(damon) too. BUt he never told her Stefan didn’t deserve her. Actually, he did the opposite. Sure, later he didn’t give up on her. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t believe Stefan deserved her while he didn’t. The way he said she was better than Damon… that infuriated me. Truly infuriated me. Ever since season 2, Damon had done nothing but trying to save her, trying to be that better men (even if he’d fail). Now, he’s taking care of EVERYTHING. Stefan did a huge sacrifice and it was beautiful, but that doesn’t mean that whatever Damon is doing now isn’t important. He takes care of elena everyday… and not only her… he’s taking care of Alaric, Jeremy even Caroline! He’s impulsive, sometimes selfish…whatever… SURE. He’s human. YES, human. It was never clearer to me.
On season 1 , he was the villain. He had basically no emotion but hate and his love for Katherine. Everything he did, he was only focusing on that love and nothing else mattered. Not even Elena. He only started caring about her when they ended up hanging out or talking… it was an accident. Okay
Then he found out Katherine was alive and didn’t care… I think that was when he let his emotions flow a bit more.
During season 2 he was friends with Alaric, he obviously cared about Stefan but he mainly focused on his love for Elena… he still didn’t care much about anything else.
Now, though. He does. He has this conflict of emotions like wanting to make a plan but worrying about other people (like when he stopped Stefan from killing a guy during 3×11), he wants to be with Elena but he didn’t punch Stefan back(like he did on season 2) because he’s guilty and he also loves his brother…
He’s not 100% human, never will be (unless the writers decided to find a way…hum..) but he’s better. So much better. And he’s a great guy. It pained me that Stefan wouldn’t recognize that( like he did on season 1 when he said Damon was a complete monster and there was nothing human in him..pretty hypocrite my friend, pretty hypocrite)
[But…At the same time, it is completely understandable]
And finally,
ELIJAH IS BACK BABY!!!!!! *happy dancing*
(another proof that Damon is, indeed, the awesomest LOL)
Hey Camila! Thanks so much for your kind words, and for your awesome analysis of this love triangle. I was nodding and smiling the whole time I was reading. So many of your arguments resonated with me. But if I had to pick a favorite, it would be this one: “It isn’t fair that he would just collect Elena’s pieces, glue them together and give her to Stefan in the end.”
First of all, I just love the analogy of Damon lovingly taking the pieces of broken Elena, and helping her to rebuild herself, stronger and more resilient than she was before. After all, the Elena we saw at the beginning of Season 3 WAS broken. (Just as Damon was broken from the loss of Katherine, back in early Season 2.)
During those first few episodes of Season 3, something about Elena wasn’t quite right. And I don’t think it was JUST Stefan’s absence that made her that way. It was the lack of closure she had on the relationship.
Throughout this season, we’ve seen Damon glue Elena back together, so many times. He’s done so, literally, like when he carried her home and nursed her back to health in Episode 5, and when he cleaned her wound in Episode 6 . . . and metaphorically, when he showed her just how strong she could be, supported her during her darkest hours, and gave her a little snarky kick in the pants, when she needed it.
But up until recently, I think a part of Damon always thought he had Elena “on loan.” He believed he was keeping her safe and “whole” for when Stefan came back to himself. He said as much, back in “The Hybrid.”
Yet on the night that Damon kissed Elena, and saw how she responded to that kiss, I think Damon realized that Elena is not Stefan’s to “own.” She’s her own person, with her own feelings and opinions. And ultimately, the person or vampire with whom she chooses to be in a relationship will be her choice, and her choice alone.
So, Damon did what any suitor would do, he pleaded his case, in the most persuasive way possible. 🙂 And if Stefan really stops to think about it, he can’t really begrudge his big brother that. After all, this isn’t the first time they’ve competed over a woman. And since Stefan didn’t roll over, play dead (no pun intended), and allow Damon to make off with Katherine back in 1864, surely he can’t expect his brother to do that here, particularly under these circumstances . . .
Here’s hoping Elena makes the right choice . . . for her *cough Damon cough* 😉
Hey Julie!! As always, amazing recap.. I googled that fanfic you mentioned at the beggining but couldn’t find it. Would it be a huge deal if I ask you to send me the link? I’d looooove to read it!! Hope it isn’t much trouble
Absolutely, Julie. 🙂 I’m honored that your interested in it. It’s called, “In Blood There is Truth.” And it’s a bit “dated,” I’ll admit (considering that I started writing it right around episode 218 “The Last Dance). You’ll notice some references to what was going on in the show during that time. But if you like T for teen rated Delena “smut,” it’s in there. 😉 Happy reading . . .
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6877499/1/In_Blood_There_is_Truth
AWESOME! can’t stop reading… the way you caught damon’s snarky comments.. just great, love the references to the show.. thanks julie!! thumbs up from argentina
Congrats Julie! finished your fanfic last night.. i’m so ready for delena to happen… to actually HAPPEN haha
On a completely different matter… have you seen the pictures on imdb under the title “the ties that bind”? Damon, Stefan, Elena, Caroline AND Klaus at this fancy party all dressed up.. is this a mistake? that never happened in that episode.. is this going to happen in the next one, or am i missing something? The preview doesn’t say anything about a big party coming up.. but who knows.. just wanted to put it out there… couldn’t find anything about it on the boards i usually read.
Hi Julie! Thanks so much for reading my fanfiction. I really appreciate it! And I’m so honored that you liked it. 🙂
As for those (awesome) pictures of Klaus dancing with Caroline, were you referring to these? 😉
http://www.wetpaint.com/the-vampire-diaries/gallery/vampire-diaries-promo-photos-from-season-3-episode-14-dangerous-liaisons-klaus-and-caroline-dance
I actually think these photographs are from the upcoming episode 14, “Dangerous Liasons.” That episode will air after next week’s episode 13, “The Ties that Bind.” So, just two more weeks from now. I can’t wait! 😉