The Vampire Diaries 3x01 Review
Sep. 17th, 2011 03:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaThe Birthday
I liked it a lot though I wasn't wowed like 2x01. Still TVD is back and that is fantastic.
• The cliffhanger was excellent. Poor Caroline, she keeps being shot. But I love Carol being shown as competent and I’m really excited about the idea of Carol vs Liz. I hope we get to see how Carol figured it out.
• My OT3 made me happy.
- I love how comfortable Elena is just walking into the manor.
- “You should learn to knock. What if I was... indecent?” LOL. Oh, Damon, he so heard her she was right about that. He seemed kind of disappointed that she didn’t look more. Also I loved how much he was ignoring her personal space in this scene.
- I loved Elena determination to find Stefan and her unwillingness to give up on him.
- I liked Stefan immediately moving to protect Damon and Elena from Klaus.
- I loved Damon and Elena in Stefan’s room. I loved Damon looking at the picture of Stefan and Elena and his expression. I loved Damon giving Elena back her necklace as a birthday gift and for the second time putting it on her.
- I loved that Damon’s reticence in continuing to help Elena find Stefan was all about protecting her from the truth while he continued to a) hunt Stefan on his own, and b) helped Stefan by covering up his kills (how things have switched!)
- I adored Elena casually taking and drinking from Damon’s glass and then handing it back to him.
- "Hello brother." Loved the call back to the pilot.
- “You were an idiot. We both were.” and “Stefan is gone and he’s not coming back. Not in your life time.” – Damon. I loved this scene as well. I loved his anger and pain, and that his lashing out at her was just as much about himself and his grief. I loved his expression after that second sentence – he was regretting it as soon as he said it.
- I loved Damon destroying Stefan’s room.
- “Stefan? Stefan if this is you you’ll be okay. I love you Stefan. Hold on to that. Never let that go.” – Elena. I love everything about that phone call. His expression, her expression, the words she chose to say to him and that he didn’t say anything.
I love that he did something horrible to Damon and the pain of that made him so unhappy and lost that he finally called Elena just to hear her voice (because going on a killing spree is one thing, hurting his brother is just too much, oh Stefan.)
- I feel like the show missed an opportunity to have Stefan stalk watching Elena in this episode. Isn't there a rule that vampire shows have to have that?
• Ripper Stefan is creepy – that he ripped the two girls apart and then put them back together and staged them, and that this is apparently a signature of his is so very psychotic serial killer. Then there’s Andi – that he went after her by his own choice, that he didn’t just grab and compel her but made her afraid first, and that he forced her to kill herself. I actually really love that Stefan’s assertion that he was worse than Damon is being shown as true.
• Caroline/Tyler was excellent. I love how they've become close friends over the summer, if heavily USTy friends, and have been spending all their time together. I loved him helping to set up Elena’s party (is he finally really becoming a part of the group? When do we get Tyler/Damon interactions?) and the fact that Caroline apparently tells him everything is great.
- "If I shouldn't be dating, all you've gotta do is say something." – Tyler. I loved Caroline’s jealousy and how Tyler dealt with it – straightforwardly. Their sex scene was hot. I loved them using their supernatural strength.
• I loved both Elena and Caroline and both of them were looking fabulous.
- Elena: The scene of her getting up in the morning, even though she didn’t want to but forcing herself, was really well done. Elena’s reaction to catching Jeremy smoking again was amusing.
- Caroline: I loved her happy planning of Elena’s party. Her drunk watching Tyler dance and fuming was excellent. I loved her casually picking up a guy at the party to move him out of her way. Hee.
• We got some really wonderful Caroline/Elena friendship which made me really happy. This was my favourite of their interactions:
“You like? Don’t answer that.” – Caroline
“This is keeping it small? (Caroline grins, Elena smiles back) What are we drinking?” – Elena
I loved that even though Elena really didn’t want the party she let Caroline throw it for her and that even though she really didn’t want to be there she smiled and joined in. Caroline was determined to make Elena’s birthday special and happy for Elena, and Elena went along with it, and played happy, for Caroline. I loved a grinning Caroline holding out her arm to Elena, much like Damon did, and like with Damon Elena accepting it. It was really sweet.
- Other moments I really liked: Elena not getting mad at all about Caroline telling Tyler her secrets, Caroline and Elena walking arm-in-arm and laughing into the ‘stoner’ den, their conversation in Damon’s bedroom.
• I’m still looking forward to Jeremy’s ghost storyline. Vicki asking Jeremy “help me” was interesting. What exactly do they need help with? Does this mean we’re going to get a ghost whisperer type situation?
• It looks like Matt is going to joining Jeremy’s ghost storyline which I guess is something for him to do but honestly I just find him really boring and his attitude towards Caroline annoys me a lot. He’s my vote to be first to die among the cast. If he has to stick around what I really want to see is a fight with Elena about her keeping secrets (especially about Vicki but that looks unlikely) or scenes with his supposed best friend Tyler that are not about fighting over Caroline.
• How very – domestic and family-oriented of Damon to allow Caroline to throw Elena’s party in his house.
• It was nice to see Damon and Alaric continuing to be BFF and going on road trips together. I loved their scenes at the party.
• "You know, I keep waiting for them to kick me out but they don't. I don't know why, it's not like I'm helping or anything." Oh, Alaric, so dumb. How can he not realise that his presence there is enough, and that it makes them less alone, and that they don’t need a role model? When he walked out at the end I wanted to smack him upside the head.
• Does Liz passing the potential Stefan sighting through Caroline to Elena, instead of giving it to Damon, mean they’re not currently on speaking terms? Does this mean we get to actually see them repairing their friendship? Yes, please!
• If Klaus can make vampire-werewolves with werewolves then couldn’t he do it with vampires as well? And wouldn’t that be a hell of a lot easier?
• What was up with Bonnie’s absence? She gets one short scene on the phone with Jeremy, and not her best friend who’s birthday it was, and while we did have Elena taking a call from Bonnie we didn’t see it. It annoyed me.
• Poor Andi. Life just sucked for her. I liked her and her actress. I hate that she was killed off (though on this show it was probably inevitable) and especially that she was killed off as a message to Damon.
I actually liked a lot about Damon and Andi’s ‘complicated dynamic’ relationship. I liked the way she interacted with Damon. I liked her telling him to get his own drink and that “I’m not your slave” (and he does instead of compelling her), that she wouldn’t go on the road trip with him because she had work, and how she was helping him find Stefan. I like that she felt comfortable saying no to him.
I’d have liked them a lot more if he wasn’t compelling her and I’d like it more if she had any choice in the matter. I wish that we’d gotten a more definite explanation about what Andi had been compelled about and what was her. She was happy with her life but we don't know how much was about her being compelled to feel that way and just how much choice she had to be anything else and it's always been something I've found really disturbing (the Damon/Andi scenes at the end of last season were bad.)
- I liked how sincerely Damon was worried about Andi and how broken up about her death he was.
• So thus far this season we’ve had three deaths – and they were all women. Not a great start. The guy got tortured and killed but he’ll be coming back as a werepire I’m not counting him.
• I really wish we’d gotten... something about Caroline being worried about Stefan as well. Even just a ‘I’m worried about him to’ during her talk with Elena. The Caroline/Stefan friendship was one of my favourite parts of season 2 and I really hope it isn’t dropped.
• I wish there was more of a mention of those lost last season – John and Isobel and especially Jenna.
I liked it a lot though I wasn't wowed like 2x01. Still TVD is back and that is fantastic.
• The cliffhanger was excellent. Poor Caroline, she keeps being shot. But I love Carol being shown as competent and I’m really excited about the idea of Carol vs Liz. I hope we get to see how Carol figured it out.
• My OT3 made me happy.
- I love how comfortable Elena is just walking into the manor.
- “You should learn to knock. What if I was... indecent?” LOL. Oh, Damon, he so heard her she was right about that. He seemed kind of disappointed that she didn’t look more. Also I loved how much he was ignoring her personal space in this scene.
- I loved Elena determination to find Stefan and her unwillingness to give up on him.
- I liked Stefan immediately moving to protect Damon and Elena from Klaus.
- I loved Damon and Elena in Stefan’s room. I loved Damon looking at the picture of Stefan and Elena and his expression. I loved Damon giving Elena back her necklace as a birthday gift and for the second time putting it on her.
- I loved that Damon’s reticence in continuing to help Elena find Stefan was all about protecting her from the truth while he continued to a) hunt Stefan on his own, and b) helped Stefan by covering up his kills (how things have switched!)
- I adored Elena casually taking and drinking from Damon’s glass and then handing it back to him.
- "Hello brother." Loved the call back to the pilot.
- “You were an idiot. We both were.” and “Stefan is gone and he’s not coming back. Not in your life time.” – Damon. I loved this scene as well. I loved his anger and pain, and that his lashing out at her was just as much about himself and his grief. I loved his expression after that second sentence – he was regretting it as soon as he said it.
- I loved Damon destroying Stefan’s room.
- “Stefan? Stefan if this is you you’ll be okay. I love you Stefan. Hold on to that. Never let that go.” – Elena. I love everything about that phone call. His expression, her expression, the words she chose to say to him and that he didn’t say anything.
I love that he did something horrible to Damon and the pain of that made him so unhappy and lost that he finally called Elena just to hear her voice (because going on a killing spree is one thing, hurting his brother is just too much, oh Stefan.)
- I feel like the show missed an opportunity to have Stefan stalk watching Elena in this episode. Isn't there a rule that vampire shows have to have that?
• Ripper Stefan is creepy – that he ripped the two girls apart and then put them back together and staged them, and that this is apparently a signature of his is so very psychotic serial killer. Then there’s Andi – that he went after her by his own choice, that he didn’t just grab and compel her but made her afraid first, and that he forced her to kill herself. I actually really love that Stefan’s assertion that he was worse than Damon is being shown as true.
• Caroline/Tyler was excellent. I love how they've become close friends over the summer, if heavily USTy friends, and have been spending all their time together. I loved him helping to set up Elena’s party (is he finally really becoming a part of the group? When do we get Tyler/Damon interactions?) and the fact that Caroline apparently tells him everything is great.
- "If I shouldn't be dating, all you've gotta do is say something." – Tyler. I loved Caroline’s jealousy and how Tyler dealt with it – straightforwardly. Their sex scene was hot. I loved them using their supernatural strength.
• I loved both Elena and Caroline and both of them were looking fabulous.
- Elena: The scene of her getting up in the morning, even though she didn’t want to but forcing herself, was really well done. Elena’s reaction to catching Jeremy smoking again was amusing.
- Caroline: I loved her happy planning of Elena’s party. Her drunk watching Tyler dance and fuming was excellent. I loved her casually picking up a guy at the party to move him out of her way. Hee.
• We got some really wonderful Caroline/Elena friendship which made me really happy. This was my favourite of their interactions:
“You like? Don’t answer that.” – Caroline
“This is keeping it small? (Caroline grins, Elena smiles back) What are we drinking?” – Elena
I loved that even though Elena really didn’t want the party she let Caroline throw it for her and that even though she really didn’t want to be there she smiled and joined in. Caroline was determined to make Elena’s birthday special and happy for Elena, and Elena went along with it, and played happy, for Caroline. I loved a grinning Caroline holding out her arm to Elena, much like Damon did, and like with Damon Elena accepting it. It was really sweet.
- Other moments I really liked: Elena not getting mad at all about Caroline telling Tyler her secrets, Caroline and Elena walking arm-in-arm and laughing into the ‘stoner’ den, their conversation in Damon’s bedroom.
• I’m still looking forward to Jeremy’s ghost storyline. Vicki asking Jeremy “help me” was interesting. What exactly do they need help with? Does this mean we’re going to get a ghost whisperer type situation?
• It looks like Matt is going to joining Jeremy’s ghost storyline which I guess is something for him to do but honestly I just find him really boring and his attitude towards Caroline annoys me a lot. He’s my vote to be first to die among the cast. If he has to stick around what I really want to see is a fight with Elena about her keeping secrets (especially about Vicki but that looks unlikely) or scenes with his supposed best friend Tyler that are not about fighting over Caroline.
• How very – domestic and family-oriented of Damon to allow Caroline to throw Elena’s party in his house.
• It was nice to see Damon and Alaric continuing to be BFF and going on road trips together. I loved their scenes at the party.
• "You know, I keep waiting for them to kick me out but they don't. I don't know why, it's not like I'm helping or anything." Oh, Alaric, so dumb. How can he not realise that his presence there is enough, and that it makes them less alone, and that they don’t need a role model? When he walked out at the end I wanted to smack him upside the head.
• Does Liz passing the potential Stefan sighting through Caroline to Elena, instead of giving it to Damon, mean they’re not currently on speaking terms? Does this mean we get to actually see them repairing their friendship? Yes, please!
• If Klaus can make vampire-werewolves with werewolves then couldn’t he do it with vampires as well? And wouldn’t that be a hell of a lot easier?
• What was up with Bonnie’s absence? She gets one short scene on the phone with Jeremy, and not her best friend who’s birthday it was, and while we did have Elena taking a call from Bonnie we didn’t see it. It annoyed me.
• Poor Andi. Life just sucked for her. I liked her and her actress. I hate that she was killed off (though on this show it was probably inevitable) and especially that she was killed off as a message to Damon.
I actually liked a lot about Damon and Andi’s ‘complicated dynamic’ relationship. I liked the way she interacted with Damon. I liked her telling him to get his own drink and that “I’m not your slave” (and he does instead of compelling her), that she wouldn’t go on the road trip with him because she had work, and how she was helping him find Stefan. I like that she felt comfortable saying no to him.
I’d have liked them a lot more if he wasn’t compelling her and I’d like it more if she had any choice in the matter. I wish that we’d gotten a more definite explanation about what Andi had been compelled about and what was her. She was happy with her life but we don't know how much was about her being compelled to feel that way and just how much choice she had to be anything else and it's always been something I've found really disturbing (the Damon/Andi scenes at the end of last season were bad.)
- I liked how sincerely Damon was worried about Andi and how broken up about her death he was.
• So thus far this season we’ve had three deaths – and they were all women. Not a great start. The guy got tortured and killed but he’ll be coming back as a werepire I’m not counting him.
• I really wish we’d gotten... something about Caroline being worried about Stefan as well. Even just a ‘I’m worried about him to’ during her talk with Elena. The Caroline/Stefan friendship was one of my favourite parts of season 2 and I really hope it isn’t dropped.
• I wish there was more of a mention of those lost last season – John and Isobel and especially Jenna.
