A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 2-8

Alright, so this episode picked up right where the last one concluded, with Elena getting abducted. Thankfully, the show didn’t keep us guessing for all too long, as we quickly learned that she was taken by a couple of vampires, who planned to turn her over one of the original vampires as a bargaining chip of sorts. It seems that, as a doppelganger of Katherine, Elena is special, and that in some way – I didn’t quite understand, to be honest – she’s the key to overturning the curse that prevents vampires from getting a nice tan.

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Now, as I said, I don’t completely comprehend this Elena/doppelganger deal. Do they have to kill Elena? Do they have to drain her blood? If Katherine knew this, why didn’t she just do the deed herself? Wouldn’t this benefit her just as much as anybody? And what about the moon rock? One of the vampires said it binds the curse. So does it need to be destroyed in order for the curse to be fully lifted? And I’m still not quite sure why Katherine so desperately needed a werewolf – unless she, too, had hopes of killing the original vampires. What does everybody think (and no spoilers – that includes me not wanting to know what happens in the books, if at all relevant)?

I really enjoyed the interactions between Stefan and Damon this episode. I noted this numerous times last season, but I feel like the show works so much better when Stefan and Damon are on the same side. Sure, they’ve got issues (some might even say severe issues), and they both do things that the other doesn’t agree with, but at the end of the day they both realize that they’re all each other’s got. And so, I appreciate that their road trip bonding session remained amicable despite the fact that some potentially contentious issues were brought up. Yeah, Damon attempted to prod him a little bit, but he also knew when to back off (I also loved the way Damon casually drank the bag of blood, as if it was a Capri Sun). At the same time, Stefan kept things as mellow as possible, considering they’re talking about his brother being in love with his girlfriend.

Their final scene together, where Stefan apologized for his part in making Damon a vampire, was especially powerful and enjoyable for him. For one, Stefan’s explanation that he didn’t want to be alone for eternity, and that he just needed his brother, sheds a sympathetic light on Stefan’s actions (which is important, since he’s the “hero”). But what makes this reasoning even more tragic is that Stefan developed into a person who can and likely will find eternal love. Conversely, Damon’s soul deteriorated to the point that he’ll likely never experience such a thing. So, while Stefan essentially turned Damon so that he wouldn’t have to be alone for the rest of time, he actually doomed his brother to that unfortunate fate.

Their rescue of Elena was pretty well done, but does anybody else think that they defeated Elijah a bit too easily? Yes, we came to discover that he wasn’t actually dead, but even so, he didn’t seem to put up such a significant fight. I also found it odd that Katherine had built a tolerance for vervain, but one of the original vampires was still susceptible to its power.

There’s one thing that’s bothered me, though, and that’s that virtually every single vampire we’ve seen on this show can walk around during the daylight. Right now, we’re supposed to be emotionally invested in Elena being protected, because the vampires are so eager to kill her (I think) so that their curse is lifted. Yet the very vampires that are after her already have no issue being out in the sunlight. On True Blood, when vampires that are several hundred years old discovered a way to walk out in the sun, you could genuinely sense how much it meant to them. One character hadn’t seen the sun rise in over 3,000 years, so you could imagine his overwhelming desire to overcome this “curse.” I just don’t feel that sense of urgency here.

This episode also continued to build up the relationships of some of the revolving characters. Jeremy and Bonnie continue to grow close. While I enjoyed the way things went down, I’m REALLY happy the writers opted not to have them kiss during one of those quiet, tender moments. I wouldn’t mind seeing a slow burn here. Plus, Jeremy’s been so burnt in the relationship department already. We don’t need him screwed over again so quickly. This developing “relationship” – for lack of a better word – between Tyler and Caroline intrigues me as well. Caroline is actually beginning to grow on me (despite the fact that I refer to her as a highlight, her character actually irks me). I was particularly impressed with her scene with Damon, the way she pieced together Katherine’s involvement with Tyler becoming a vampire. She showed a lot of depth there – that she’s quick witted, perceptive, and surprisingly selfless. This was accentuated later on in the episode when she lied to Tyler about being the only vampire in town. I may end up liking this character yet!