The Vampire Diaries 2x07 Review
Oct. 30th, 2010 09:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaMasquerade
There was a lot happening in this episode (as usual) and for the most part I really enjoyed it. However it’s my least favourite episode of the season.
• Stefan & Damon vs Katherine was awesome. I loved it. I have stars in my eyes. The choreography was pretty good (thought there were times when I was wondering why the other brother wasn’t stepping in), it was nice to see Stefan and Damon working/fighting together and Katherine was pretty amazing.
• Katherine remains awesome even if she lost and is trapped in a tomb. Obviously there’s a ‘for now’ at the end of that. I foresee her getting out before the end of the season (or at the speed this show goes before the Christmas break, yeesh). She was being awesome all over the place – her plan to use the spell on Elena as insurance was excellent, the fact that even outnumbered and injured she still kicked Stefan and Damon’s asses made me cheer (oops, wrong side, but I loved when she caught the stake and threw it back at Stefan), her willingness to hurt herself to hurt Elena was psychotic but also kind of awesome, that she had a back-up in case Matt failed for some reason (for serious my reaction to that reveal was to cheer and go ‘of course she would, she’s Katherine’. I love that we get these reveals, also see Jenna, and it isn’t a deus ex machina or feels like a PTB contrivance because it’s Katherine and she is just that smart, sly and scary). She made a miscalculation with Lucy but perhaps Lucy was the only witch she could get on such short notice? In the end she is just such an amazing and compelling villain, so intelligent and ruthless and competent and cunning and brutal, that I am so glad that she wasn’t killed because that would have been such a waste. I ♥ her.
• I kind of love that Katherine is trapped in the tomb, there’s a symmetry there that really appeals to me, and I wonder which of them thought of it? I could see it either way. One issue I had was with the fact that Stefan straight-up lied to Elena about it. I suppose he could have left Damon to kill Katherine and doesn’t know she’s in the tomb but… eh. I don’t know if I buy that. Stefan really wanted to kill her. Bonnie has to know though doesn’t she? Because Emily’s spell on the tomb was accidentally completely broken by Sheila and Bonnie, which is how all the tomb vampires got out, and if there’s a new barrier up then it has to be Bonnie’s doing, no? Back to the lying – if Stefan knows the truth about Katherine’s fate then why would he lie to Elena about it? They made a pact to never lie to each other and they have kept to it. It’s one of the things I love about them. Him lying to her here seemed to have no reason to it.
• On the Stefan/Katherine/Damon scene:
- I loved how Stefan kept his cool with Katherine and instead of giving in to her games or getting angry he spent their time locked together trying to figure her out and doing a pretty good job of it. He worked out the whole back story on the Moonstone and figured out that Katherine was running from someone.
- I love Stefan’s reaction to Katherine’s “So it doesn’t bother you that Damon is in love with your girlfriend?” He just seemed amused by it.
- I felt very sorry for Damon especially when Katherine started talking about how she’d checked up on Stefan over the years. Also his expression when he locked Katherine in the tomb… ouch. His feelings for her are definitely not all hate even if he wishes they were.
- I loved the Damon/Katherine sniping – it was hilarious and fun.
- I loved the look Stefan got when Damon gave Katherine the drink she asked for – so suspicious because he knows his brother.
• “I want to be with you Stefan, you know that. But first I need to wake up and know that the people I love are safe. I need to feel safe.” – Elena. Stefan says that he understands but I have to admit I – don’t. The need to feel safe, yes, but I don’t understand how not getting back together with Stefan will accomplish that. Elena was heartbroken a day or two ago when she was forced to break up with him and while I can see her questioning being involved in the whole vampire world post-Jenna in her mind that was entirely down to Katherine punishing her for not listening re: Stefan (and not say them killing Mason) so I guess I just don’t understand why once Katherine was out of the way she wouldn’t immediately get back together with him.
I guess the part about ‘need to wake up’ is about how she has been lost in the happy dream of being with Stefan without considering the consequence to her family and herself? … okay, no. I’m sorry I don’t buy it. Elena has known the danger for a long time, she lives it every day. She knew when Vicki was turned and then killed in front of her, she knew when Damon almost killed Bonnie by ripping out her throat, she knew when she found John in the kitchen of her house dying, she knew when Caroline was killed and turned, she knew when Damon broke Jeremy’s neck in front of her… she knows. She hasn’t been living in some happy denial land. If they try and retcon it that she was I am not going to be happy.
• Actually Elena was fairly off all episode and it was weird. I mean she had two exchanges with Jeremy this episode and both times I was actually on his side. WTF is up with that?
“She won’t (try something else). Katherine hurt Jenna because I didn’t do what she said. Well I’m doing it now. Me and Stefan are over, she wins, the end.” – Elena
“You’re being naïve and you know it.” – Jeremy
No freaking kidding! She is being ridiculously naïve. I’m just kind of gobsmacked. Why the hell would she ever think that Katherine would leave her alone? Actually it’s not even that she’s deluding herself to think that if she breaks it off with the Salvatore’s Katherine will leave her and her family out of it, it’s that she thinks for a second that she doesn’t have Katherine’s attention herself. I mean Elena is Katherine’s exact doppelganger and while we haven’t really gotten anything on that and Katherine has seemingly been avoiding Elena I can’t imagine Katherine just going ‘okay, exact look-a-like, have a nice life’ and I can’t imagine Elena ever thinking that either. Not to mention now that Katherine has forced Elena to do one thing can how can Elena imagine that Katherine won’t keep doing it? It’s just so ridiculously naïve and not something I expect from Elena.
Then there’s this:
“And how am I supposed to feel if one of you gets hurt because of me?” – Elena
“It’s not just you anymore Elena.” – Jeremy
Once again I’m agreeing with Jeremy. I don’t like this. What is going on with this topsy-turvy world? Everything about this exchange is wrong. First of all, holy crap, the world does not revolve around you, Elena! I say this all with love because I love her best but Elena making the plan to kill Katherine about her – not only in that they’re supposedly doing it for her but that the end game should be about her feelings and how horrible she’d feel if any of them got hurt – was so self-absorbed and ridiculous. I agree with Jeremy pointing that out though I don’t agree with exactly what he said. When has this ever been only about Elena? I think the Salvatore brothers and Caroline would disagree! It just left a bad taste in my mouth. I would have understood her being angry or irritated at being left out, I could understand generalised concern but they way TPTB played it… not so much.
- Oh, also – Elena rejecting the ring when Jeremy tried to give it to her because “what I need is for you to be safe” was also pretty stupid and ridiculous. He was right there beside her, she was the one injured and dying, and there was no immediate danger around for him.
• There are seriously still not telling Jenna the truth? Are you kidding me?! *breathes*
• I was not pleased with Amy and Sarah both dying. Thanks show. Oh, also for once again adding to your count of killing off non-Caucasian characters as well. Ugh.
• Katherine’s inability to play nice continues to make me sad. I loved the Katherine/Pearl and Katherine/Emily relationship but that former was proven completely false and worthless when it was revealed that Katherine a) purposefully set Pearl up to burn, b) that she sent John to kill her when she got out. So much for that epic friendship I wanted. The introduction to Lucy got my hopes up again. Lucy seemed so happy to see Katherine, and vice versa, and I loved their interactions. The hug, the smiles, and “Now don’t get all boss lady on me. You know I love you.” and Lucy getting snarky with Katherine and Katherine just taking it all seemed to point to a real friendship. It was really disappointing when it was revealed that Lucy was only helping Katherine because she had to and turned on her in the end.
• Beyond the Stefan/Elena situation the other various relationship subtext that was happening in the episode was also leaving me uncertain and going ‘huh’. This includes:
Bonnie/Jeremy: They spent pretty much the entire episode together and the hints that they might hook up were all over the place. I was wondering if I was imagining it and then we got the final scene between them with “I’m not a kid anymore Bonnie” and lingering looks and her “I would love a ride home” and suddenly I wasn’t wondering anymore. … It’s weird, okay? I mean I’ve wanted Bonnie to get a love interest, and clearly Jeremy loves older women and he has been growing on me since the pilot but… seriously? I just don’t know. I had a very ‘WTH’ reaction to it. Of all the possible pairings they were so far down the list I had never even considered the possibility.
Elena/Matt: I had this feeling that there could be a return to their past relationship. I’ve pretty much considered that relationship dead from the pilot and the chance of it being resurrected feels sort of random. I mean I definitely buy Matt willing to try again because I don’t think he ever got over her regardless of his relationship and feelings for Caroline. And I suppose if Elena is feeling that her life is out of control and too dangerous I could see her trying to return to the safety and easiness of her past relationship with Matt. Except what about Caroline? Elena knows why Caroline broke up with him and that she still loves him so would she really do that to Caroline? I really can’t see the Elena we’ve watched and I’ve loved these past twenty-nine episodes doing that to her. Plus it would feel very much like Elena using Matt and while she’s not perfect and I don’t want her to be the person who would do that.
Caroline/Tyler: The least obvious of the three but their final scene together made me go ‘hmm’. This is also the one I am having the least problem with. They’ve had barely any interaction, he showed a less the glowing opinion of her in the previous episode (though not completely bad) but I actually think the idea of them getting together has a lot of potential. They are basically going through the same thing – they’ve changed into a super-natural creature and Caroline knows exactly what it’s like to go through that alone and Caroline knows exactly what it’s like to take a human life. They have so much in common right now that it could work. Caroline taking him under her wing, them spending time together and understanding each other in ways that no one else really can (Salvatore’s too old, everyone else still human and not murderers), and slowly drawing closer together. If done right I could get behind it.
• Damon giving Caroline an alcohol glass of blood to calm her nerves was amusing.
• “Skip the teen drama.” – Damon. Hee
• I love that when unexpectedly confronted by Katherine in the bathroom Caroline kept it together and had the smarts to try and pretend she thought she was Elena (with no time to think about it).
• Everyone working together against a threat and using the Boarding House as the base. Minus points for excluding Elena but awesome all the same.
• “Katherine isn’t getting dick.” – Damon. My first thought when he said this went straight to the gutter and was ‘well not since they killed Mason and hate her!’ Poor Katherine. Clearly this means she needs to start looking to the girls.
• Bonnie figuring out so quickly what was going on with Elena was great.
• “It never ends well for people like me. … I don’t want anyone else getting hurt. And I don’t know how to stay out of it.” It’s nice that we’re finally getting a look inside Bonnie’s head.
• It’s always nice when Jeremy acts concerned about Elena.
• Caroline saving Matt and stopping the fight and then later taking control of the situation – coming up with a cover story, handling Matt and Tyler – was great. I was proud of her. Even if she was covering up the accidental murder of a classmate.
• Caroline was also great when she fooled Katherine. She had by far the most dangerous part in the plan and she kept it together, played her part perfectly and definitely deserved the smug gloating she indulged in before leaving. I also liked how she clearly trusted Bonnie so much and didn’t consider for a moment that the spell wouldn’t have worked.
• If they were going to trap Katherine in that one room why did they take the chance that she could kill either Stefan or Damon – she is so much stronger than them after all and there was actually a good chance that she would do that. I’d think luring her in then shooting her from a distance, a lot, perhaps from several angles would have been a better idea. If that didn’t work they could always go in after her.
• Why didn’t Caroline stick around to watch the fight? As stated above it wasn’t certain that they could take her regardless of their plan and I’d think that Caroline would stick around to act as backup.
• Why would Stefan think for a second that he could say ‘it’s my way or no way’ and that would just be that? She got him to dance with her by threatening to kill someone, he knows that she has no problem killing people and he said straight out that he didn’t want anyone to get hurt so why wouldn’t he know that her reaction to that would be to kill someone. Duh, Stefan.
• The way that Amy so casually said Stefan’s name and talked to him was interesting. It implied a certainly level of friendliness to me. It’s too bad that she died. I’d have liked it better if Katherine had moved to hurt Amy and Stefan had given in and then Amy had wandered off unknowing. It would have been good for the show to have a reoccurring character not part of the main group. Those kind of characters really fill in a show and make it feel more three dimensional. We didn’t really need Katherine to kill her – we know how dangerous she is and that she would do it.
• Jeremy and Bonnie apparently leaving without Elena was strange. Sure, they called her and her car was there but considering what she just went through… really?
There was a lot happening in this episode (as usual) and for the most part I really enjoyed it. However it’s my least favourite episode of the season.
• Stefan & Damon vs Katherine was awesome. I loved it. I have stars in my eyes. The choreography was pretty good (thought there were times when I was wondering why the other brother wasn’t stepping in), it was nice to see Stefan and Damon working/fighting together and Katherine was pretty amazing.
• Katherine remains awesome even if she lost and is trapped in a tomb. Obviously there’s a ‘for now’ at the end of that. I foresee her getting out before the end of the season (or at the speed this show goes before the Christmas break, yeesh). She was being awesome all over the place – her plan to use the spell on Elena as insurance was excellent, the fact that even outnumbered and injured she still kicked Stefan and Damon’s asses made me cheer (oops, wrong side, but I loved when she caught the stake and threw it back at Stefan), her willingness to hurt herself to hurt Elena was psychotic but also kind of awesome, that she had a back-up in case Matt failed for some reason (for serious my reaction to that reveal was to cheer and go ‘of course she would, she’s Katherine’. I love that we get these reveals, also see Jenna, and it isn’t a deus ex machina or feels like a PTB contrivance because it’s Katherine and she is just that smart, sly and scary). She made a miscalculation with Lucy but perhaps Lucy was the only witch she could get on such short notice? In the end she is just such an amazing and compelling villain, so intelligent and ruthless and competent and cunning and brutal, that I am so glad that she wasn’t killed because that would have been such a waste. I ♥ her.
• I kind of love that Katherine is trapped in the tomb, there’s a symmetry there that really appeals to me, and I wonder which of them thought of it? I could see it either way. One issue I had was with the fact that Stefan straight-up lied to Elena about it. I suppose he could have left Damon to kill Katherine and doesn’t know she’s in the tomb but… eh. I don’t know if I buy that. Stefan really wanted to kill her. Bonnie has to know though doesn’t she? Because Emily’s spell on the tomb was accidentally completely broken by Sheila and Bonnie, which is how all the tomb vampires got out, and if there’s a new barrier up then it has to be Bonnie’s doing, no? Back to the lying – if Stefan knows the truth about Katherine’s fate then why would he lie to Elena about it? They made a pact to never lie to each other and they have kept to it. It’s one of the things I love about them. Him lying to her here seemed to have no reason to it.
• On the Stefan/Katherine/Damon scene:
- I loved how Stefan kept his cool with Katherine and instead of giving in to her games or getting angry he spent their time locked together trying to figure her out and doing a pretty good job of it. He worked out the whole back story on the Moonstone and figured out that Katherine was running from someone.
- I love Stefan’s reaction to Katherine’s “So it doesn’t bother you that Damon is in love with your girlfriend?” He just seemed amused by it.
- I felt very sorry for Damon especially when Katherine started talking about how she’d checked up on Stefan over the years. Also his expression when he locked Katherine in the tomb… ouch. His feelings for her are definitely not all hate even if he wishes they were.
- I loved the Damon/Katherine sniping – it was hilarious and fun.
- I loved the look Stefan got when Damon gave Katherine the drink she asked for – so suspicious because he knows his brother.
• “I want to be with you Stefan, you know that. But first I need to wake up and know that the people I love are safe. I need to feel safe.” – Elena. Stefan says that he understands but I have to admit I – don’t. The need to feel safe, yes, but I don’t understand how not getting back together with Stefan will accomplish that. Elena was heartbroken a day or two ago when she was forced to break up with him and while I can see her questioning being involved in the whole vampire world post-Jenna in her mind that was entirely down to Katherine punishing her for not listening re: Stefan (and not say them killing Mason) so I guess I just don’t understand why once Katherine was out of the way she wouldn’t immediately get back together with him.
I guess the part about ‘need to wake up’ is about how she has been lost in the happy dream of being with Stefan without considering the consequence to her family and herself? … okay, no. I’m sorry I don’t buy it. Elena has known the danger for a long time, she lives it every day. She knew when Vicki was turned and then killed in front of her, she knew when Damon almost killed Bonnie by ripping out her throat, she knew when she found John in the kitchen of her house dying, she knew when Caroline was killed and turned, she knew when Damon broke Jeremy’s neck in front of her… she knows. She hasn’t been living in some happy denial land. If they try and retcon it that she was I am not going to be happy.
• Actually Elena was fairly off all episode and it was weird. I mean she had two exchanges with Jeremy this episode and both times I was actually on his side. WTF is up with that?
“She won’t (try something else). Katherine hurt Jenna because I didn’t do what she said. Well I’m doing it now. Me and Stefan are over, she wins, the end.” – Elena
“You’re being naïve and you know it.” – Jeremy
No freaking kidding! She is being ridiculously naïve. I’m just kind of gobsmacked. Why the hell would she ever think that Katherine would leave her alone? Actually it’s not even that she’s deluding herself to think that if she breaks it off with the Salvatore’s Katherine will leave her and her family out of it, it’s that she thinks for a second that she doesn’t have Katherine’s attention herself. I mean Elena is Katherine’s exact doppelganger and while we haven’t really gotten anything on that and Katherine has seemingly been avoiding Elena I can’t imagine Katherine just going ‘okay, exact look-a-like, have a nice life’ and I can’t imagine Elena ever thinking that either. Not to mention now that Katherine has forced Elena to do one thing can how can Elena imagine that Katherine won’t keep doing it? It’s just so ridiculously naïve and not something I expect from Elena.
Then there’s this:
“And how am I supposed to feel if one of you gets hurt because of me?” – Elena
“It’s not just you anymore Elena.” – Jeremy
Once again I’m agreeing with Jeremy. I don’t like this. What is going on with this topsy-turvy world? Everything about this exchange is wrong. First of all, holy crap, the world does not revolve around you, Elena! I say this all with love because I love her best but Elena making the plan to kill Katherine about her – not only in that they’re supposedly doing it for her but that the end game should be about her feelings and how horrible she’d feel if any of them got hurt – was so self-absorbed and ridiculous. I agree with Jeremy pointing that out though I don’t agree with exactly what he said. When has this ever been only about Elena? I think the Salvatore brothers and Caroline would disagree! It just left a bad taste in my mouth. I would have understood her being angry or irritated at being left out, I could understand generalised concern but they way TPTB played it… not so much.
- Oh, also – Elena rejecting the ring when Jeremy tried to give it to her because “what I need is for you to be safe” was also pretty stupid and ridiculous. He was right there beside her, she was the one injured and dying, and there was no immediate danger around for him.
• There are seriously still not telling Jenna the truth? Are you kidding me?! *breathes*
• I was not pleased with Amy and Sarah both dying. Thanks show. Oh, also for once again adding to your count of killing off non-Caucasian characters as well. Ugh.
• Katherine’s inability to play nice continues to make me sad. I loved the Katherine/Pearl and Katherine/Emily relationship but that former was proven completely false and worthless when it was revealed that Katherine a) purposefully set Pearl up to burn, b) that she sent John to kill her when she got out. So much for that epic friendship I wanted. The introduction to Lucy got my hopes up again. Lucy seemed so happy to see Katherine, and vice versa, and I loved their interactions. The hug, the smiles, and “Now don’t get all boss lady on me. You know I love you.” and Lucy getting snarky with Katherine and Katherine just taking it all seemed to point to a real friendship. It was really disappointing when it was revealed that Lucy was only helping Katherine because she had to and turned on her in the end.
• Beyond the Stefan/Elena situation the other various relationship subtext that was happening in the episode was also leaving me uncertain and going ‘huh’. This includes:
Bonnie/Jeremy: They spent pretty much the entire episode together and the hints that they might hook up were all over the place. I was wondering if I was imagining it and then we got the final scene between them with “I’m not a kid anymore Bonnie” and lingering looks and her “I would love a ride home” and suddenly I wasn’t wondering anymore. … It’s weird, okay? I mean I’ve wanted Bonnie to get a love interest, and clearly Jeremy loves older women and he has been growing on me since the pilot but… seriously? I just don’t know. I had a very ‘WTH’ reaction to it. Of all the possible pairings they were so far down the list I had never even considered the possibility.
Elena/Matt: I had this feeling that there could be a return to their past relationship. I’ve pretty much considered that relationship dead from the pilot and the chance of it being resurrected feels sort of random. I mean I definitely buy Matt willing to try again because I don’t think he ever got over her regardless of his relationship and feelings for Caroline. And I suppose if Elena is feeling that her life is out of control and too dangerous I could see her trying to return to the safety and easiness of her past relationship with Matt. Except what about Caroline? Elena knows why Caroline broke up with him and that she still loves him so would she really do that to Caroline? I really can’t see the Elena we’ve watched and I’ve loved these past twenty-nine episodes doing that to her. Plus it would feel very much like Elena using Matt and while she’s not perfect and I don’t want her to be the person who would do that.
Caroline/Tyler: The least obvious of the three but their final scene together made me go ‘hmm’. This is also the one I am having the least problem with. They’ve had barely any interaction, he showed a less the glowing opinion of her in the previous episode (though not completely bad) but I actually think the idea of them getting together has a lot of potential. They are basically going through the same thing – they’ve changed into a super-natural creature and Caroline knows exactly what it’s like to go through that alone and Caroline knows exactly what it’s like to take a human life. They have so much in common right now that it could work. Caroline taking him under her wing, them spending time together and understanding each other in ways that no one else really can (Salvatore’s too old, everyone else still human and not murderers), and slowly drawing closer together. If done right I could get behind it.
• Damon giving Caroline an alcohol glass of blood to calm her nerves was amusing.
• “Skip the teen drama.” – Damon. Hee
• I love that when unexpectedly confronted by Katherine in the bathroom Caroline kept it together and had the smarts to try and pretend she thought she was Elena (with no time to think about it).
• Everyone working together against a threat and using the Boarding House as the base. Minus points for excluding Elena but awesome all the same.
• “Katherine isn’t getting dick.” – Damon. My first thought when he said this went straight to the gutter and was ‘well not since they killed Mason and hate her!’ Poor Katherine. Clearly this means she needs to start looking to the girls.
• Bonnie figuring out so quickly what was going on with Elena was great.
• “It never ends well for people like me. … I don’t want anyone else getting hurt. And I don’t know how to stay out of it.” It’s nice that we’re finally getting a look inside Bonnie’s head.
• It’s always nice when Jeremy acts concerned about Elena.
• Caroline saving Matt and stopping the fight and then later taking control of the situation – coming up with a cover story, handling Matt and Tyler – was great. I was proud of her. Even if she was covering up the accidental murder of a classmate.
• Caroline was also great when she fooled Katherine. She had by far the most dangerous part in the plan and she kept it together, played her part perfectly and definitely deserved the smug gloating she indulged in before leaving. I also liked how she clearly trusted Bonnie so much and didn’t consider for a moment that the spell wouldn’t have worked.
• If they were going to trap Katherine in that one room why did they take the chance that she could kill either Stefan or Damon – she is so much stronger than them after all and there was actually a good chance that she would do that. I’d think luring her in then shooting her from a distance, a lot, perhaps from several angles would have been a better idea. If that didn’t work they could always go in after her.
• Why didn’t Caroline stick around to watch the fight? As stated above it wasn’t certain that they could take her regardless of their plan and I’d think that Caroline would stick around to act as backup.
• Why would Stefan think for a second that he could say ‘it’s my way or no way’ and that would just be that? She got him to dance with her by threatening to kill someone, he knows that she has no problem killing people and he said straight out that he didn’t want anyone to get hurt so why wouldn’t he know that her reaction to that would be to kill someone. Duh, Stefan.
• The way that Amy so casually said Stefan’s name and talked to him was interesting. It implied a certainly level of friendliness to me. It’s too bad that she died. I’d have liked it better if Katherine had moved to hurt Amy and Stefan had given in and then Amy had wandered off unknowing. It would have been good for the show to have a reoccurring character not part of the main group. Those kind of characters really fill in a show and make it feel more three dimensional. We didn’t really need Katherine to kill her – we know how dangerous she is and that she would do it.
• Jeremy and Bonnie apparently leaving without Elena was strange. Sure, they called her and her car was there but considering what she just went through… really?
