The Vampire Diaries 2x03 Review
Sep. 23rd, 2010 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaBad Moon Rising
Enjoyed it like I always do.
• I loved Elena this episode. ♥ Her reactions to Damon and her final conversation with him were excellent. I mean I ship Elena/Damon and OT3, and I love their friendship so much and this will certainly put a crimp in all of them (... except not really) but I think for Elena to react in any other way would have seriously compromised her as a person/character. Plus, there is no way this is permanent and I’m excited to see how they’ll regain their friendship.
• I loved Damon saving Elena.
• Elena was saying a lot of true stuff this episode. My favourite two quotes are: “Right. I forgot I was speaking to a psychotic mind that snaps and kills people impulsively.” (yeah, that’s pretty much Damon) and “He is very capable of being a first rate jackass.” (also true. I liked Damon’s smirk at that).
• “You hated me before and we became friends. It would suck if that was gone forever. So, is it? Have I lost you forever?” – Damon. Oh, Damon. I do feel for him. I can’t seem to help it. When he shows real feeling and tries to hide it behind a smirk or smile, and glib words and wit and snarkiness, but you can tell that he means it so much and that inside he’s hurt and vulnerable and he really cares I just want to hug him.
• “I got lucky with the ring.” – Damon. And he tells her the truth because that’s what they do for each other, they tell the truth. I love that. I do wonder if it would have been different if Damon had said he’d seen the ring or if he’d said exactly what Katherine had said to him. I did find myself thinking that with Damon being honest and sincerely apologetic and clearly trying to make amends ‘betraying’ him and turning away from him certainly won’t help in encouraging him in continuing in that vein. (But then that’s not Elena’s job or responsibility.)
• “I thought friends don’t manipulate friends.” – Damon. Well, to be fair, Elena makes it clear at the end that from the very beginning she knew/had decided that she didn’t forgive Damon and that their friendship was over. So strictly speaking, while she did manipulate Damon she wasn’t manipulating someone she considered a friend.
• I didn’t like when Elena kissed Stefan goodbye at the car because that kiss was about Damon not Stefan. It was Elena lashing out at Damon and doing it in the way that she thought would hurt him most, and which just so coincidentally happened to use her boyfriend. It was rather childish and Stefan deserved better.
• I loved Caroline and Caroline/Stefan this episode. Over the last two episodes she has managed to become one of my favourite characters on the show and their interactions one of my favourites. I loved Stefan playing Caroline’s vampire mentor and how very patient and non-judgemental he was throughout. I loved the teasing and the snarkiness and the personal bonding and the friendship that’s growing between them. I love that already their relationship is all those things – that they have serious talks and they open up about serious personal things but there’s also teasing and camaraderie. She seems to be definitely on the road to being the new Lexi in Stefan’s life and I love it, and (as long as Katherine doesn’t mess it up) it’s undoubtedly going to be so good for both Stefan and Caroline. I can just see them in a hundred years going to bars or rock concerts together, with the teasing and laughter and just enjoying each other. It makes me very happy. I so hope this is where TPTB are going with this.
Another similarity between Caroline and Lexie came to mind with this line – “Isn’t killing cute defenceless animals the first step in becoming a serial killer?” – which first of all I found hilarious and second made me realise that if I was a vampire there is no way I could do Stefan’s fluffy animal diet. I just couldn’t. It lead me to thinking about Lexie and while I love Stefan/Caroline and I think he’s doing a great job as her guide I think Lexie would have been perfect in that role for Caroline. I hope Damon teaches Caroline how to find and not kill willing/semi-willing donors.
- “Why are you looking at him with you Serious Vampire Look? … I mean it’s different from you Worried Vampire Look, neither of which stray too far from your ‘hey, it’s Tuesday’ look.” – Caroline. Heeeee. ♥
- “Yeah, well, I may as well have stayed dead. My entire personality is killing me. (Stefan grins) Shut up.” – Caroline. Aww! That exchange, and his grin and her huff, it just made me want to hug them and go ‘you’re so cute’, cause they are!
• I was pretty surprised with how distant and hard Bonnie was with Caroline. I can understand it to a degree and she certainly could have been a lot harsher but I guess I was expecting that since it was Caroline Bonnie would… mellow. Would feel protective of Caroline. Or at the least that she’d feel guilty over what happened to Caroline and it would lead her to want to help Caroline. No, I do believe the guilt is there, but I totally thought Bonnie’s love for Caroline would trump the whole vampire thing and so it’s surprised me that it hasn’t.
- So, understanding: Bonnie is someone who believes very firmly in personal responsibility. This is good. She hates vampires and now one of her best friends is one, she knows the damage they can cause, and she just wants to make sure that she isn’t supporting that in any way. I understand that. But it still bugged me. Hmmm. I think… I think my issue here is how hard ass Bonnie was. She wasn’t militant or harsh, (completely rabid in vampire hate) she was just very firm (and very reasonable). She was controlled. She was almost even – emotionless. She tells Caroline, steadily and seriously, “The minute you let it take over I will stop you.” It’s one thing to say something like that to Stefan but to say it to Caroline? If Bonnie said something like that to say, Anna who she didn’t know, I’d have been cheering (though I love Anna). But it kind of feels – too steady of her to be able to say it to Caroline, and only the day after learning that Caroline turned (and killed someone, and whose turning Bonnie feels some guilt for). Bonnie in her reactions to and interactions with Caroline this episode felt too distant and controlled. Yeah, I think that’s exactly the problem I’m having here. We saw her devastation when she learned the truth about Caroline (uh, before her little uncontrollable rage incident) and now it appears that she has locked all that feeling up inside. Huh. This could actually be very interesting if true. Bonnie controlling her emotions, holding them so tightly in, could end up blowing up in her face.
• I found myself wondering about Bonnie’s choice in ring for Caroline. Was there some specific reason why it had to be that ring or that Caroline couldn’t choose her own? The ring itself is rather large and detailed and a simple band would work so much better. A man could get away with wearing a chunky ring all the time but a woman not so much. Not to mention that a woman always wearing the same ring regardless of the occasion (pool, dance, wedding, funeral, etc) is more noticeable than a man. Anyway I found myself wondering if this wasn’t some sort of passive-aggressive punishment on Bonnie’s part. It kind of felt that way to me. I feel like friend Bonnie would have let Caroline chose the ring or at least gave an explanation why she couldn’t.
• I find myself very disappointed in TPTB with their decision not to show Caroline learning that Bonnie is a witch. I feel like if the Bonnie/Caroline relationship was important to them, important like it should be, they would have shown it because it is a huge moment in their relationship. I mean Bonnie being a witch means she is ‘other’ just like Caroline, and her being a witch is something that she purposefully kept from Caroline, but not from Elena which ended up making Caroline left out (not just feeling it though she did). We saw the Bonnie/Elena side of the equation, and we got them reacting to Caroline the vampire (except actually not Elena’s initial reaction, huh), and we should have got this moment too. This was a significant moment.
• I really, really want to watch an Elena/Caroline scene (how is Elena treating Caroline), and an Elena/Caroline/Bonnie scene (it feels like it’s been so long since we last had one).
• “Then trust me.” – Stefan. I did love the Stefan/Bonnie interactions especially that first scene. I found myself kind of shipping them last season and that scene at the Grill had that same vibe. This line made me think back to Elena saying basically the same thing to Damon about the Gilbert device (uh, hopefully this time goes better!) and the feel of the scenes, the tone and… intimacy, of them felt the same as well. I wonder if that was on purpose or if perhaps I’m just reaching here. It also has me thinking about some points made in a couple reviews after the last episode about how similar Damon/Bonnie and Stefan/Elena were
• It’s a small thing really but I loved that Elena was right there sitting beside Stefan when Alaric showed up. She may be on the outs with Damon at the moment but they are all still a unit (OT3♥) and she is still very much in the loop. It makes me very happy.
• I feel like TPTB have made things worse for Caroline by making her not kill the nurse the first time because now every time she attacks someone or kills someone you can’t help but think of her very first time, when she didn’t even know what she was, and yet managed to not kill or even seriously injure the nurse. I’m using the excuse that she was already full of human blood and so the nurse was like a snack – Caroline wasn’t really hungry but the nurse smelled so good so she had to taste. Thus she was able to pull back. Meanwhile with Carter and Matt she’s actually hungry. I’d add heightened emotions, and I think that does effect it, but then that first time she had heightened emotions as well. No, wait, that actually works perfectly. Heightened emotions make her have less control – so even when full she still attacked the nurse, she was so emotional and upset when she killed Carter, and while not full of bad emotions with Matt they were certainly heightened and then Matt added his fresh blood into it.
• “Go find someone single to stalk, Amy.” – Caroline. Um, that could go really badly. I mean if the ‘stalk’ part is taken very literally? It ends up not amounting to anything but it made me very nervous. I think Stefan needs to have a talk with her about watching how she words compulsions.
• I was so happy to see Katherine again. What does she think she can do with Caroline though? Mould her into another Damon?
• Stefan tells Caroline that ‘he took care of it’ when she asked about Tyler and yet when we next see Tyler it’s clear that he remembers what happened (or I suppose at least some of what happened). So was Stefan lying to Caroline? Or did he take care of it in some way other than using compulsion (and I would like to know how in that case)? Did he use it and thought it worked, or it did at first and then wore off? I suppose if vampires and werewolves are natural enemies then it would make sense that a vampire couldn’t use compulsion on a werewolf.
• I’m glad that the whole werewolf thing is now out and hopefully next week when Tyler demands an explanation from his uncle we’ll get some answers. Like, how much are they a wolf outside the full moon? Are there female werewolves? Is that why the Lockwoods were at the forefront in taking out the vampires back in 1864? Just how many werewolves are there left? If Tyler bit Stefan, as a human, would that still injure/kill Stefan or does he have to be in wolf form? (If so that could explain why they lost the werewolf/vampire war.) Can they infect others or is it strictly heritage related?
I think most importantly question-wise is – just how much do the werewolves maintain of the human personas when in wolf form? Mason-wolf stopped when Tyler yelled at him to, and remembered their encounter when Tyler confronted him about it. So does that mean that they are in complete control (and thus aren’t likely to be randomly attacking people unless that’s their personality)?
Oh, and then there’s the question about whether they can recognise vampires for what they are. Mason never showed any indication that he was suspicious about Stefan after the fair (no questions about him to Tyler) but then in wolf form he attacked Caroline? Can they only sense vampires as wolves? Does Mason even know why he attacked Caroline or was it just instinct?
Huh. Does this mean that Mason and Tyler, or Mason at least, knows that Stefan and Caroline are vampires? Huh. That could be interesting.
• There were a couple things this episode that I found myself sceptical about or that otherwise bothered me:
- First, how long has Isabel been missing now? At least a year. There is no way I buy the anthropology department keeping her office like that. Especially not such a huge one at that. I just don’t buy it.
- Second, I don’t know that I buy that neither of the Salvatore’s have ever heard about werewolves as real before. Even if vampires thought they’d mostly eradicated them they’re still a threat and I’d think they’d be remembered. If not for the threat reason then you’d think there would be gloating happen in the vampire community over it. I mean they fought a war and destroyed their ancient enemies, you’d think it’d be like a trophy that they’d want to celebrate not ignore. It just seems weird to me.
- Third, if werewolves are made to hunt vampires then why did the Mason-wolf break through the window and then run away instead of attacking Stefan?
- Fourth, the sunlight rings/necklaces don’t actually seem like they’re that hard to create and I’m suddenly finding it hard to believe that there aren’t more of them floating around out there. I mean Emily couldn’t have been the only witch to think them up, and while Bonnie may be powerful she’s also a novice who basically did it from a book. Once other vampires knew about the rings they should have been clamouring for them. I would have! Find a witch, try and force her or him to make a spell. Why hadn’t anyone else been looking for Emily’s spell book in all those years? Seriously, has no other witch managed to create a sunlight protection spell before? You have to know Lexie bugged Bree about it at some point.
- Fifth, this isn’t really a nitpick/issue but I’m surprised that Mason, knowing the kids were partying there, didn’t either find a new place to chain himself up or show up at the party again when the sun was starting to go down in order to make sure that everyone would have cleared out.
Enjoyed it like I always do.
• I loved Elena this episode. ♥ Her reactions to Damon and her final conversation with him were excellent. I mean I ship Elena/Damon and OT3, and I love their friendship so much and this will certainly put a crimp in all of them (... except not really) but I think for Elena to react in any other way would have seriously compromised her as a person/character. Plus, there is no way this is permanent and I’m excited to see how they’ll regain their friendship.
• I loved Damon saving Elena.
• Elena was saying a lot of true stuff this episode. My favourite two quotes are: “Right. I forgot I was speaking to a psychotic mind that snaps and kills people impulsively.” (yeah, that’s pretty much Damon) and “He is very capable of being a first rate jackass.” (also true. I liked Damon’s smirk at that).
• “You hated me before and we became friends. It would suck if that was gone forever. So, is it? Have I lost you forever?” – Damon. Oh, Damon. I do feel for him. I can’t seem to help it. When he shows real feeling and tries to hide it behind a smirk or smile, and glib words and wit and snarkiness, but you can tell that he means it so much and that inside he’s hurt and vulnerable and he really cares I just want to hug him.
• “I got lucky with the ring.” – Damon. And he tells her the truth because that’s what they do for each other, they tell the truth. I love that. I do wonder if it would have been different if Damon had said he’d seen the ring or if he’d said exactly what Katherine had said to him. I did find myself thinking that with Damon being honest and sincerely apologetic and clearly trying to make amends ‘betraying’ him and turning away from him certainly won’t help in encouraging him in continuing in that vein. (But then that’s not Elena’s job or responsibility.)
• “I thought friends don’t manipulate friends.” – Damon. Well, to be fair, Elena makes it clear at the end that from the very beginning she knew/had decided that she didn’t forgive Damon and that their friendship was over. So strictly speaking, while she did manipulate Damon she wasn’t manipulating someone she considered a friend.
• I didn’t like when Elena kissed Stefan goodbye at the car because that kiss was about Damon not Stefan. It was Elena lashing out at Damon and doing it in the way that she thought would hurt him most, and which just so coincidentally happened to use her boyfriend. It was rather childish and Stefan deserved better.
• I loved Caroline and Caroline/Stefan this episode. Over the last two episodes she has managed to become one of my favourite characters on the show and their interactions one of my favourites. I loved Stefan playing Caroline’s vampire mentor and how very patient and non-judgemental he was throughout. I loved the teasing and the snarkiness and the personal bonding and the friendship that’s growing between them. I love that already their relationship is all those things – that they have serious talks and they open up about serious personal things but there’s also teasing and camaraderie. She seems to be definitely on the road to being the new Lexi in Stefan’s life and I love it, and (as long as Katherine doesn’t mess it up) it’s undoubtedly going to be so good for both Stefan and Caroline. I can just see them in a hundred years going to bars or rock concerts together, with the teasing and laughter and just enjoying each other. It makes me very happy. I so hope this is where TPTB are going with this.
Another similarity between Caroline and Lexie came to mind with this line – “Isn’t killing cute defenceless animals the first step in becoming a serial killer?” – which first of all I found hilarious and second made me realise that if I was a vampire there is no way I could do Stefan’s fluffy animal diet. I just couldn’t. It lead me to thinking about Lexie and while I love Stefan/Caroline and I think he’s doing a great job as her guide I think Lexie would have been perfect in that role for Caroline. I hope Damon teaches Caroline how to find and not kill willing/semi-willing donors.
- “Why are you looking at him with you Serious Vampire Look? … I mean it’s different from you Worried Vampire Look, neither of which stray too far from your ‘hey, it’s Tuesday’ look.” – Caroline. Heeeee. ♥
- “Yeah, well, I may as well have stayed dead. My entire personality is killing me. (Stefan grins) Shut up.” – Caroline. Aww! That exchange, and his grin and her huff, it just made me want to hug them and go ‘you’re so cute’, cause they are!
• I was pretty surprised with how distant and hard Bonnie was with Caroline. I can understand it to a degree and she certainly could have been a lot harsher but I guess I was expecting that since it was Caroline Bonnie would… mellow. Would feel protective of Caroline. Or at the least that she’d feel guilty over what happened to Caroline and it would lead her to want to help Caroline. No, I do believe the guilt is there, but I totally thought Bonnie’s love for Caroline would trump the whole vampire thing and so it’s surprised me that it hasn’t.
- So, understanding: Bonnie is someone who believes very firmly in personal responsibility. This is good. She hates vampires and now one of her best friends is one, she knows the damage they can cause, and she just wants to make sure that she isn’t supporting that in any way. I understand that. But it still bugged me. Hmmm. I think… I think my issue here is how hard ass Bonnie was. She wasn’t militant or harsh, (completely rabid in vampire hate) she was just very firm (and very reasonable). She was controlled. She was almost even – emotionless. She tells Caroline, steadily and seriously, “The minute you let it take over I will stop you.” It’s one thing to say something like that to Stefan but to say it to Caroline? If Bonnie said something like that to say, Anna who she didn’t know, I’d have been cheering (though I love Anna). But it kind of feels – too steady of her to be able to say it to Caroline, and only the day after learning that Caroline turned (and killed someone, and whose turning Bonnie feels some guilt for). Bonnie in her reactions to and interactions with Caroline this episode felt too distant and controlled. Yeah, I think that’s exactly the problem I’m having here. We saw her devastation when she learned the truth about Caroline (uh, before her little uncontrollable rage incident) and now it appears that she has locked all that feeling up inside. Huh. This could actually be very interesting if true. Bonnie controlling her emotions, holding them so tightly in, could end up blowing up in her face.
• I found myself wondering about Bonnie’s choice in ring for Caroline. Was there some specific reason why it had to be that ring or that Caroline couldn’t choose her own? The ring itself is rather large and detailed and a simple band would work so much better. A man could get away with wearing a chunky ring all the time but a woman not so much. Not to mention that a woman always wearing the same ring regardless of the occasion (pool, dance, wedding, funeral, etc) is more noticeable than a man. Anyway I found myself wondering if this wasn’t some sort of passive-aggressive punishment on Bonnie’s part. It kind of felt that way to me. I feel like friend Bonnie would have let Caroline chose the ring or at least gave an explanation why she couldn’t.
• I find myself very disappointed in TPTB with their decision not to show Caroline learning that Bonnie is a witch. I feel like if the Bonnie/Caroline relationship was important to them, important like it should be, they would have shown it because it is a huge moment in their relationship. I mean Bonnie being a witch means she is ‘other’ just like Caroline, and her being a witch is something that she purposefully kept from Caroline, but not from Elena which ended up making Caroline left out (not just feeling it though she did). We saw the Bonnie/Elena side of the equation, and we got them reacting to Caroline the vampire (except actually not Elena’s initial reaction, huh), and we should have got this moment too. This was a significant moment.
• I really, really want to watch an Elena/Caroline scene (how is Elena treating Caroline), and an Elena/Caroline/Bonnie scene (it feels like it’s been so long since we last had one).
• “Then trust me.” – Stefan. I did love the Stefan/Bonnie interactions especially that first scene. I found myself kind of shipping them last season and that scene at the Grill had that same vibe. This line made me think back to Elena saying basically the same thing to Damon about the Gilbert device (uh, hopefully this time goes better!) and the feel of the scenes, the tone and… intimacy, of them felt the same as well. I wonder if that was on purpose or if perhaps I’m just reaching here. It also has me thinking about some points made in a couple reviews after the last episode about how similar Damon/Bonnie and Stefan/Elena were
• It’s a small thing really but I loved that Elena was right there sitting beside Stefan when Alaric showed up. She may be on the outs with Damon at the moment but they are all still a unit (OT3♥) and she is still very much in the loop. It makes me very happy.
• I feel like TPTB have made things worse for Caroline by making her not kill the nurse the first time because now every time she attacks someone or kills someone you can’t help but think of her very first time, when she didn’t even know what she was, and yet managed to not kill or even seriously injure the nurse. I’m using the excuse that she was already full of human blood and so the nurse was like a snack – Caroline wasn’t really hungry but the nurse smelled so good so she had to taste. Thus she was able to pull back. Meanwhile with Carter and Matt she’s actually hungry. I’d add heightened emotions, and I think that does effect it, but then that first time she had heightened emotions as well. No, wait, that actually works perfectly. Heightened emotions make her have less control – so even when full she still attacked the nurse, she was so emotional and upset when she killed Carter, and while not full of bad emotions with Matt they were certainly heightened and then Matt added his fresh blood into it.
• “Go find someone single to stalk, Amy.” – Caroline. Um, that could go really badly. I mean if the ‘stalk’ part is taken very literally? It ends up not amounting to anything but it made me very nervous. I think Stefan needs to have a talk with her about watching how she words compulsions.
• I was so happy to see Katherine again. What does she think she can do with Caroline though? Mould her into another Damon?
• Stefan tells Caroline that ‘he took care of it’ when she asked about Tyler and yet when we next see Tyler it’s clear that he remembers what happened (or I suppose at least some of what happened). So was Stefan lying to Caroline? Or did he take care of it in some way other than using compulsion (and I would like to know how in that case)? Did he use it and thought it worked, or it did at first and then wore off? I suppose if vampires and werewolves are natural enemies then it would make sense that a vampire couldn’t use compulsion on a werewolf.
• I’m glad that the whole werewolf thing is now out and hopefully next week when Tyler demands an explanation from his uncle we’ll get some answers. Like, how much are they a wolf outside the full moon? Are there female werewolves? Is that why the Lockwoods were at the forefront in taking out the vampires back in 1864? Just how many werewolves are there left? If Tyler bit Stefan, as a human, would that still injure/kill Stefan or does he have to be in wolf form? (If so that could explain why they lost the werewolf/vampire war.) Can they infect others or is it strictly heritage related?
I think most importantly question-wise is – just how much do the werewolves maintain of the human personas when in wolf form? Mason-wolf stopped when Tyler yelled at him to, and remembered their encounter when Tyler confronted him about it. So does that mean that they are in complete control (and thus aren’t likely to be randomly attacking people unless that’s their personality)?
Oh, and then there’s the question about whether they can recognise vampires for what they are. Mason never showed any indication that he was suspicious about Stefan after the fair (no questions about him to Tyler) but then in wolf form he attacked Caroline? Can they only sense vampires as wolves? Does Mason even know why he attacked Caroline or was it just instinct?
Huh. Does this mean that Mason and Tyler, or Mason at least, knows that Stefan and Caroline are vampires? Huh. That could be interesting.
• There were a couple things this episode that I found myself sceptical about or that otherwise bothered me:
- First, how long has Isabel been missing now? At least a year. There is no way I buy the anthropology department keeping her office like that. Especially not such a huge one at that. I just don’t buy it.
- Second, I don’t know that I buy that neither of the Salvatore’s have ever heard about werewolves as real before. Even if vampires thought they’d mostly eradicated them they’re still a threat and I’d think they’d be remembered. If not for the threat reason then you’d think there would be gloating happen in the vampire community over it. I mean they fought a war and destroyed their ancient enemies, you’d think it’d be like a trophy that they’d want to celebrate not ignore. It just seems weird to me.
- Third, if werewolves are made to hunt vampires then why did the Mason-wolf break through the window and then run away instead of attacking Stefan?
- Fourth, the sunlight rings/necklaces don’t actually seem like they’re that hard to create and I’m suddenly finding it hard to believe that there aren’t more of them floating around out there. I mean Emily couldn’t have been the only witch to think them up, and while Bonnie may be powerful she’s also a novice who basically did it from a book. Once other vampires knew about the rings they should have been clamouring for them. I would have! Find a witch, try and force her or him to make a spell. Why hadn’t anyone else been looking for Emily’s spell book in all those years? Seriously, has no other witch managed to create a sunlight protection spell before? You have to know Lexie bugged Bree about it at some point.
- Fifth, this isn’t really a nitpick/issue but I’m surprised that Mason, knowing the kids were partying there, didn’t either find a new place to chain himself up or show up at the party again when the sun was starting to go down in order to make sure that everyone would have cleared out.
