A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 3-15

“This house has too many men rolling around in it.”
“Just like you, Bekkah!”

C’mon, that was pretty funny.

Also great was Damon’s disgusted, “She told YOU?” in response to Alaric knowing about his romp in the hay with Rebekkah.

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I’ve been a bit of a broken record this season with my constant observations about how Damon and Stefan have switched roles, but it’s worth noting again – if only because this was our first real glimpse at their original personalities. When presented with the conundrum of potentially having to kill Bonnie and her mother in order to save Elena, Damon suggested the idea while Stefan resisted it. While neither of them wanted to do it, and both of their motivation was their love for Elena, it just seemed like Damon was more willing to do it, while Stefan wanted to think of an alternative (of course, Damon was the one who did ultimately come up with the alternative of using the dagger).

And, like last week, the complex allegiances and betrayals were extremely interesting. Elijah had conspired with Elena and her crew to take out Klaus. His alliance with them seemed just as strong as the one with his family. Yet when his (and their) existence was threatened, he quickly turned on Elena and put her life in jeopardy. And then he put Stefan and Damon in a situation where they would have to kill two essentially innocent women. It seemed that the original family had segmented into different pairs. Klaus and Colt seemed like legitimately dastardly people who wanted to inflict harm on people. Esther and Fin were the truly noble ones that were willing to sacrifice everything to right a wrong. And Elijah and Rebekkah were the two that would do anything to ensure their survival.

By the way, I was really happy that Caroline brought up the fact that Bonnie (and many others) always seem to suffer a loss so that Elena can be saved. Honestly, how often do innocent people have to die in order for Elena to live? And a lot of the time, it’s not even like Elena living is serving a greater purpose. It’s literally that people are choosing her life over others. I’m not saying that I want Elena to die – or that it’s wrong to save her – but I’m glad it hasn’t gone unnoticed, and quite honestly a little resentment towards the situation is understandable. In much the same light, I appreciated how Esther called out Elijah on the fact that he talks about his morals and nobility, yet he’s done plenty of sinister things as well.

I do find it interesting, though, that virtually every vampire on the show views their situation as some sort of punishment or curse. Yet these same vampires constantly use vampirism as an “out” to save other people from dying – often without their consent. Damon and Stefan took it upon themselves to turn Abby into a vampire, whether she wanted that fate or not. Damon also tried to do this to Elena in the past. I discussed this at length a couple of seasons ago when Caroline was made into a vampire, but I don’t think many of the characters (or perhaps the show as a whole) treats the transition as something tragic. Somebody’s life is essentially ending and many of their dreams and aspirations are now impossible. Turning somebody into a vampire shouldn’t be treated as a clever tactic to avoid killing somebody, it should be treated as a huge violation.

It was pretty stand up of Damon to selflessly do the deed when it should have been Stefan, though. While this role reversal has been a lot of fun, I’m also really enjoying the slow transition back to their normal dynamic. It’ll be interesting to see how Elena reacts to all of this.

Oh, and another episode, and ANOTHER Alaric death scene. I think I will just call him “Kenny” from now on. Unless he is REALLY dead. Then I’d just be sad.