A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 2-4

I thank everybody for their patience as I post this quite late review of last week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries.

This episode focused heavily on Katherine and her history with the Salvatore brothers, particularly Stefan. I actually enjoyed what we learned about Katherine this go-around. They did a good job of building her up as an absolutely monstrous individual – selling out her vampire family without the least bit of remorse in order to save herself and chastising Stefan and Damon for only trying to help, and then talking about how she could violently kill the people Stefan and Elena care about. Discovering her cruelty only made it that much more powerful when we would come to see that she truly does love Stefan and that he may very well be the reason why she came back. Interestingly, her flashback scenes with Stefan – specifically, her reaction to Stefan’s profession of love, and her running back to an unconscious Stefan moments after making a deal with George Lockwood – were the only times she seemed human.

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I will say this: Jenna really throws together a lame BBQ. It was essentially her boyfriend, niece, and three guests. What the hell is that? And for that matter, who breaks out the expensive silverware for a BBQ. A BBQ! Very odd stuff. But, of course, it was saved by Damon’s brilliantly transparent werewolf innuendos. They started out somewhat clever, but quickly degraded into borderline blunt comments. I liked Mason’s reaction, though, that there’s no beef between them and that they shouldn’t let some legend that doesn’t involve them make them mortal enemies. But, of course, Damon got impulsive and tried to kill him anyway. That didn’t work out too well, though. I’m curious to find out the story behind Mason killing somebody, though. And I’m still wondering what the moon rock actually does.

In my last column, one of my readers – amy – commented on the fact that the writers are having Damon regress to his evil and self destructive ways in spite of the fact that there are a legion of fans that want to see him end up with Elena. This is an interesting situation, because there is always the question of what to do with an antagonistic character once they become really popular with the audience. On the one hand, there’s this tendency to soften them up to make them more likable – like with Sawyer on Lost – and conversely, sometimes they have the character act in unbelievably inhumane ways in order to sustain their edge, even if it’s at the expense of believability, like with Dr. House. Which category does Damon fall into? At this point, honestly, I’m not sure he falls into either. In my eyes, he’s following a path similar to that of Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Through his affection for Elena, he’s working towards becoming the sort of person that she could care for and maybe even love, but at this point, he’s just not there yet. I’m actually not convinced that Elena belongs with Damon, but nonetheless, I think it’s way too early to submit to that option.

Moving on, did anybody else find it odd that Elena doesn’t seem the slightest bit emotional about the fact that one of her best friends is now a vampire? I mean, I understand that she’s dating a vampire, and she spends a significant portion of her daily life dealing with the supernatural, but this is somebody she’s seemingly known her entire life. This is a girl who will now likely never have a chance to fulfill the bright future she had available to her. Because she is a vampire, Caroline will never be able to live a normal life. Sure, she was shallow and insensitive, but now she has to deal with the reality that at the blink of an eye, she could conceivably kill somebody. And all of her family and friends will grow old and die, and she’ll still be in the body of a teenager. This scenario is quite tragic, really, and it was a little odd seeing Elena sitting on the porch with her, acting as if things are the same as they’ve always been.

Alright, I’m going to close things out for this week. I should be back on schedule for Thursday’s episode. I think. Thanks for reading and keep those comments coming!