iaria

The Last Dance

• I loved the little by-play at the beginning of class. Elena smilingly dangling the dance flyer at Stefan and then when she gets an unenthusiastic no headshake from him she immediately turns to Bonnie and smilingly shakes the flyer at her, gets a smile in return and then gives Stefan this little ‘so there’ look. It was adorable. All three of them are adorable.

• Elena going to the basement and removing the dagger from Elijah was awesome. ♥ I really loved that. It made me hand-flappy with glee. After an episode of people continuing to lie to her – Bonnie about the toll her magic would take, Jeremy and Damon knowing about it, about Bonnie’s ‘death’ – and Damon basically flat out telling her ‘I will lie to you, I will ignore your wishes to protect you’ for Elena to turn around and proactively make a decision for herself makes me happy. It was kind of like a ‘fuck you, I can do it too’ sort of gesture. I mean she really should have talked about it with the others, with Stefan at the least, because bringing Elijah back to life is a huge thing whether it’s a good decision or not. But everyone keeps making all these big decisions around her where she has no say and it really mostly felt like her taking back control over her life and control over her desire to protect the others. I guess it could be seen as selfish or foolish but, yeah, I loved it.

- I loved the music change when Elena decided to go for Elijah but for a moment there it made me wonder if we weren’t seeing Katherine instead of Elena. I am all for Elena becoming a little more like her ancestor (but just a bit she’s awesome in herself).

• So Bonnie’s ‘death’... I have to be honest it didn’t really move me but that’s mostly because I just wasn’t buying it. I know intellectually that Bonnie is on the ‘potential death’ list but I just don’t think they’ll kill her. I definitely don’t think they’ll kill her so ineffectually – I mean she didn’t harm Elijah in any serious way and her use of power seemed really far more flash than substance for all that it’s supposed to be so amazing and strong – nor that she would be killed off with four episodes left to go. If TPTB do plan on killing her it won’t be before the season finale. So her death and then the ‘twist’ reveal that she was really alive didn’t really have the impact it was meant to. Perhaps if they’d let us believe Bonnie was dead till the next episode I would feel upset but from her death to the moment Damon revealed she was alive I was so sure she wasn’t really dead and I was waiting for that reveal that there was no real emotional impact.

• Once again Caroline has been sidelined and I am not pleased about it. She was brought into things a little bit which I loved but I want more. Actually something that I really wanted was Caroline to be at the Salvatore’s mourning Bonnie with Elena and them comforting each other and then them reacting to Bonnie being alive and the three of them talking together. I love Bonnie/Elena but that video conference felt incomplete without Caroline there. A couple episodes back Stefan brought Elena and Bonnie to Caroline when she had a very bad day because he loves them and he knows the bond the three of them share. Instead of him bringing Elena a mug of tea it makes so much more sense that he would have called Caroline. Frankly it was a little weird that he wouldn’t have called Caroline anyway since he believed Bonnie was dead and she was Caroline’s best friend as well.

Now I can easily fanwank a reason for Caroline not being there at the end – Stefan wanted to give Caroline the dance and one last night to be happy without the knowledge that her best friend was dead, as well as possibly, him wanting to concentrate on only Elena’s grief right then (instead of doubling the number of grieving teenage girls he cares about in his living room) and/or needing to keep up appearances (with regards to a Matt) – and that all makes sense. But I don’t care! Stefan calling Caroline makes even more sense, it bookends/works perfectly with that scene at the end of 2x13, and those final scenes would have had so much more impact if they had been Elena and Caroline grieving, together. Elena and Caroline comforting each other; crying together; having Stefan making them both tea; getting mad at Damon together; being shocked to learn Bonnie was alive – to which we could have gotten a hug; and then the three girls video conferencing together with tears and smiles! I loved what we got but I would have loved this even more.

• “The way I see it next to Bonnie is the safest place I can be.” We got some really wonderful Elena/Bonnie this episode which really pleased me. I loved this line. I loved just how much time they spent together this episode and how even when they weren’t they were talking or thinking about each other. I loved Elena’s reactions this episode – her refusing to let Bonnie sacrifice herself, her pleading with Stefan to help Bonnie, her breaking down over Bonnie’s body, her “This is Bonnie!” and the way she demanded to know what Damon did with her body when she saw him next. I adored their vid chat. I loved their tears and how happy they were to see each other. I loved Bonnie apologising, that she knew how she hurt Elena and was so sorry for it (compare to Damon’s reaction) and that Elena waved it off and reassured her. They just made me happy.

• “If the situation was reversed would you do it for me?” Um, duh? See the problem with the situation here with Bonnie willing to sacrifice herself for Elena (and everyone else) and the angst and hand-wringing it’s causing is that we just did this with Elena. Not too long ago Elena was willing to sacrifice herself to take out Klaus in order to save everyone she loved and the unanimous consensus was that that was not going to happen. Bonnie even went to the extent of trapping Elena in her own house to prevent it.

So for the exact same situation to be playing out so soon after but with Bonnie as the one playing martyr (as Stefan called it) leaves me a bit frustrated. I mean how can Bonnie ask that with a straight face? Of course Elena would do the same thing and Bonnie knows she would because she already tried to! There seems to be this disconnect here between what Bonnie is doing and what Elena tried to do and while there are some superficial differences in the end they are the same. So it seems a bit hypocritical, or at least silly, of Bonnie to think Elena and everyone should just accept her sacrifice. What Elena should have said here is “yes, I would. In fact I did and you fought me on it and stopped me and I can do no less for you.”

• The Bonnie/Damon dance was completely unexpected but surprisingly hot and awesome. So I don’t ship Damon/Bonnie. In fact I kind of anti-ship it. Which makes their dance in this episode kind of a shock and yet if they had more scenes like this I could actually see shipping them! When they first started to dance to my first thought was that the Bonnie/Damon shippers were going to be so happy with the episode (and post-episode I think that they’re going to love it because IMO it’s the strongest one yet for the ship). I found their dance to be pretty wow. They moved together very well, there was no awkwardness between them (i.e. it was a very smooth dance whereas I found the Elena/Damon one a bit awkward), there were a number of times they got up close and personal, and they were just sexy dancing together.

The comparison that sticks out is of course between Damon/Elena and Damon/Bonnie and the dance with Bonnie came out ahead by a lot. It’s actually kind of strange how much better the Damon/Bonnie dance was. We know that Damon and Elena dance well together (Miss Mystic Falls) and they are the pairing the show pushes so when Damon tells Elena “I’ve got moves you’ve never seen” I was expecting to see him show her those moves. So when he ends up showing those moves to Bonnie it just seemed a bit bizarre. Plus their dance was much longer and got more screen time than any other dance between any other couple in the episode. I wonder why?

• I thought the Damon/Elena dance was fun and very cute. Instead of the intense/sexy that I would have expected Damon was very... easy-going and breezy. He was purposefully keeping things light. I love their UST scenes and the intensity between them but I liked getting a much more light-hearted scene between them. I thought it was reminiscent of their road trip, their interactions then have a similar feel and I think it’s something we need more of between them. I liked him trying to ease her worry by acting all upbeat and even a little silly. His pantomime over their last encounter with ‘dance + vampires’ made me giggle. I loved her huge grin and laugh when we cut away from them. Plus we did get a bit of the usual intenseness when he takes both her hands in his and tells her “Yes, we did (win)”

• One issue I had was Damon basically abandoning Elena. It felt completely out of character. We had just had Stefan handing Elena off to Damon, Damon is the most ‘protect Elena at all costs’ of everyone and yet he just leaves her on the dance floor? Say what? I was sure he had to have left her at least with Alaric, since Stefan was still with Caroline, but no she was apparently alone until Jeremy went over to her. It just really annoyed me because it was so out-of-character especially in the context of this episode and felt like shoddiness on the part of TPTB which is disappointing.

• “Let me be clear about something. I will always choose you.” ♥

• This episode seems like it’s marking a rather large shift in the Bonnie/Damon relationship. I think it really started with their dance and specifically Damon, sincerely, asking her “All that power; is there no way to increase your odds?” Now, sure, there is a lot of selfishness in there – he needs her to fight their enemies, plus Elena needs her alive to keep being happy – but I found myself with Bonnie unexpectedly when she responded “Careful Damon I might start to think you care.” His reply was sarcastic but it didn’t in any way feel like a denial. I believe Damon would sacrifice Bonnie to save Elena in a heartbeat but then he would sacrifice anyone but his brother for Elena.

I think that Damon does see Bonnie for herself now. He may not like her and he definitely doesn’t like her power over him but I think he does see her as not only a person (the way most humans/creatures aren’t) but that he no longer sees her as mainly an antagonist. The situation between them was bad at the beginning of the season and they were only allies in the loosest use of the word and only because of their connections via Elena and Stefan. But now I feel like they really are allies. This episode also gave us Bonnie watching Damon dance with a couple of her classmates and being kind of amused, their look of understanding when Elena pulled her away, their plan together, the way he gently touched her cheek after she ‘died’ and then closed her eyes and how gentle he was with her ‘body’ when he put her in the truck.

• “It doesn’t matter if he’s an Original. I can take down anyone who comes at me.” Oh, no. No, no, no, Bonnie. Oh, that is so bad. Pride goes before the fall and all that. Her being so overconfident is just not a good idea even if it is just bravado to hide her fear and anxiety. It can never end well. That line more than anything has made me worried about her fate.

• I found Jeremy and Jeremy/Bonnie pretty sweet. Jeremy often bugs me but him trying to give Bonnie his protection ring made me go ‘aw Jeremy’. It was a nice moment. The scene where Bonnie wakes up and he pulls her into his arms was lovely. I really loved Jeremy having set up the Skype talk with Elena and his expression as he watched Bonnie talk with her. The fact that he had it set up already, knowing that both of them needed to talk to each other, and making it happen was so thoughtful and loving and it actually made me love him a bit. I wanted to hug him. I also found myself really feeling for him and understanding him this episode with his worry over what Bonnie was doing, his fear about losing her (just like the previous two women he loved) and how torn he was over having to ‘chose’ between his girlfriend and his sister. I love how caring he is of Bonnie. I think I might finally be getting on board the Bonnie/Jeremy ship.

• I... am not yet sold on Klaus. I think I really want to see him in his own body before I make up my mind about him though. I did love his interactions with Katherine and him forcing her to keep stabbing herself. It was casual and cruel and perfect for him. But then his interactions at the school and especially the dance were a bit... eh for me. Damon tells ‘Alaric’ “I’m not impressed” and I kind of agreed. But there has been so much build up for the horrible Klaus that I guess it’s not that surprising that he would be a bit disappointing. I trust this show and that they’re going to make him impressive and live up to his hype in the end. I did think Matt did a good job in making Klaus a different person from Alaric.

• I found it really interesting how easily Damon was willing to kill Alaric once he learned Klaus was possessing him. Yes, he is all about Elena which he makes very clear at the end of the episode, but he didn’t even blink between learning his best friend was possessed by the bad guy and asking Bonnie “can you kill him?”

• Um, what was with Elena’s long look at Damon’s bed before she left his room at the end? That was... a little weird and out of nowhere. At first I thought she was looking at something, like something lying on his bed caught her eye, but no it was just his bed. What was she thinking in that look?

• Elena/Stefan were lovely as always. Their relationship wasn’t at the forefront of the episode but it was everywhere in the background. I love how much he respects her and that he really is following their agreement to let her lead. Her choice to go to school, her choice to go to the dance and when he learned the truth about Bonnie he immediately went and told her the truth. I loved him offering Elena his hand, and a dance, even though he doesn’t like to dance. I just really love how he is always there for her, supporting her, comforting her.

• I really want to see Matt interacting with everyone now that he knows the truth. We got some of it with Caroline, and despite his worries he proved to be a great actor, but I want interactions with Elena. I want to see how differently Matt reacts to Stefan (now there is a relationship that has really been abandoned. Remember those times they bonded and even almost became friends? I liked that a lot).

• There were a lot of little moments in this episode that I loved. So a partial list:

- The moment where Damon wonders about Katherine’s fate. Damon’s reaction was really well played. She may have betrayed him over and over and thrown his love back in his face but she is the woman he became a vampire for and the woman he spent over a century waiting to save. That love and devotion doesn’t just disappear no matter how much anger and hate takes it’s spot.

- Damon’s “shut up” to Stefan, and Stefan’s face, after Elena finally invites him in made me smile.

- Elena smiling and calling Alaric ‘Ric’ in class. I love her teasing him. I love their relationship and how equal they are. It was a bit embarrassing in class but the fact that he’s dating her aunt/guardian gives her some leeway for her familiarity with him.

- Stefan’s dry and amused “Well I was impressed” after Bonnie threw Damon across the room.

- Damon interrupting Elena and Stefan before the dance worked for me. I just love when Damon interrupts their private or romantic time. It makes my inner OT3er happy. I miss him walking in on them having sex/making out and him calling Elena ‘our girlfriend’ and want more of that. This scene wasn’t really like that but it reminded me of those moments.

- When Damon left Elena and Stefan on the dance floor to go talk to Alaric he touches Elena on her back very quickly before walking away.

- “Caroline’s here. They don’t know what’s going on. We have to tell her.” I am so happy that Elena’s first thought upon seeing Caroline was to make sure she knew what was going on. I still thought Caroline was too separated this episode but that went a long way to appeasing me and it’s better then what we’ve been getting in the last couple episodes.

- I loved Stefan’s exchange of looks with Damon and then him twirling Elena into Damon’s arms. That was the best OT3 moment of the episode and one of my favourite parts. ♥♥

- I loved Stefan dancing with Caroline. It just made me happy. I want more scenes between them.

- The Stefan/Jeremy scene. I liked that Stefan went after him (at Elena’s urging/instruction?) and that Jeremy opened up to him.

- Damon dancing with two students. I love Damon dancing. I watched that small scene over and over. I vote that next season we get a random scene of Damon dancing in every episode.

- Bonnie stepping between Elena and Klaus was an excellent moment.

- Stefan’s expression when Elena slapped Damon. I think he hurt for both of them in that moment. Poor Stefan, he so hates when they fight.