I know I promised in my last review that I’d have these
reviews up faster now that the CW is once again being carried by my cable
provider, but the infamous Hurricane Sandy got in the way of that. I was without television and Internet from early
Tuesday morning until late Saturday night, and then from there was the task of
playing catch up with all the shows I’ve missed. Hopefully, going forward there won’t be any
more delays. But with the weather the
way it has been in New Jersey lately (in the past week we’ve had a hurricane, a
mini earthquake, and a Nor’easter), who the heck knows. Nonetheless, due to my recent weather
misfortunes, you’re getting two for the price of one here. So on with this double review!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episodes 4-4 & 4-5
Episode 4-4
Review:
While I may have indicated the contrary at the way
beginning of the season, but I am enjoying the complexity of which is superior philosophy
regarding Elena’s transition into vampirism.
It seems to be an accepted notion that anybody that feeds will
eventually kill a human, intentionally or not.
Stefan would like to avoid this possibility altogether by keeping her
from feeding, fearing that she won’t be able to come to terms with taking
another life and will “turn off” her humanity as a result. Damon, meanwhile, believes that she can avert
taking a life if she embraces the act of feeding. By depriving herself of the process, she’s
only increasing the possibility of hurting somebody (or worse). Thus far, the show has done a good job of
showing both sides of the argument. The first
few episodes seemed to favor Damon’s method – Stefan’s proposal simply wasn’t
working and Elena was getting sick. Damon’s
assistance was allowing her to survive.
This past episode, however, showed that Damon’s “embrace the act” philosophy
is risking her humanity just as much as it’s saving it.
I will ask this, though:
Did anybody else find it odd that Elena just left that girl to drink the
roofied drink given to her by that frat guy?
And speaking of the frat party, nobody found it odd that a teacher was there?
I continue to be perplexed by Conner and his shaky
portrayal. He’s fully aware of his
tattoos and their invisibility (as well as the fact that anybody who can see
them is a vampire hunter), yet seems to know nothing of their history. One second he’s a bad ass vampire killer who
comes up with complex traps, the next second he’s getting duped by a high
schooler. This week, he’s beheading
hybrids while chained up.
I’m quite pleased that the writers didn’t drag out this
mystery behind “The Five.” Some stories
are best completed as quickly as possible and you have to be careful about
which ones you stretch. In this
particular case, it was wise to let us know who the Five are and what they are
protecting, so that we can continue on with the more interesting story of
finding the cure. The stuff with Rebekah
was interesting as well, although I STILL don’t know how she was cured from the
wolf bane. I mean, it was pretty much explicitly
stated in her interaction with Klaus that he didn’t help her. So how did she go from having hallucinations
to becoming BFF’s with the new girl?
I’m wondering how long Rebekah will be sleeping for, as
well. Her attempted redemption was laid
on pretty thick, and I’m curious if that was all for the sake of showing how
far Stefan would go in his alliance with Klaus.
After all, his assistance in her downfall wouldn’t have been that
dramatic if we still remembered her as the person who tormented Elena and was complicit
in her death. As far as why they took
her out, from a writing perspective, I’m wondering if it wasn’t because they
had painted themselves in a corner. They’ve
already got a reluctant partnership between Klaus and Stefan, and they might be
spreading themselves too thin if they add Rebekah to the mix, as she’s got
tension with both sides. Random
observation, though: Do the showrunners
even remember that Stefan and Rebekah had a relationship in the past? Because they never allude to it in any way in
their various interactions.
Episode 4-5
Review:
This past week’s episode furthered the allegiance between
Stefan and Klaus. From those of you that
read my Prison Break reviews, you’ll remember how annoyed I got that the
writers kept coming up with scenarios to get the brothers to team with T-Bagg,
who was the one convict who truly was a bad, bad person. I argued that it was not only contrived, but
that it also made the brothers (who were supposed to be your “heroes”) look bad
for repeatedly assisting a man who has raped and murdered people from returning
to prison. Thus far, I’m not there yet
with this alliance. For one, I’m not
convinced that they’ve presented Klaus as an explicably evil person. He doesn’t necessarily kill for sport. More times than not, it’s to protect somebody
he loves, or to bring him one step closer to achieving something grander. He’s also a survivalist – many of the times,
he’s simply eliminating somebody who’s treatening his existence. Don’t get me wrong – he’s not a good guy, not
by any stretch of the imagination. But
characters such as Stefan and Damon have done many of the same things (remember
when Stefan murdered Damon’s girlfriend – before he had turned off his emotions
– just to keep Damon and Elena from following him?) Also, thus far, I’ve found many of their
reasons for teaming together to be clever.
It hasn’t felt forced.
I did appreciate the fact that Damon brought up Jeremy as
a pawn in getting Bonnie to do what he wants.
While the relationship was relatively short lived and occurred a while
ago, I actually felt like it was one of the stronger built bonds of the show,
and I’m glad some attention was brought to it.
Outside of the Stefan/Elena/Damon triangle, it feels like these
characters are moving through each other at a pace that rivals 90210. In four seasons, Caroline has been attached
to Damon, Matt, and Tyler. Matt has hooked
up with Elena and Caroline. Tyler has
gone through Vicki, her mom (creepy), and Caroline. It’s affirming to see a relationship – any one,
I suppose – that transcends even after the break up. Perhaps what I appreciated about it most of
all is that the two characters, for the most part, are kept at a distance and
very rarely is their past explicitly brought up. I like that it’s a silent bond that everybody
recognizes.
Of course, it ended up being a bit of a moot point, as
Bonnie was once again cozying up to a man-witch who is secretly in bed with the
enemy (metaphorically speaking, of course).
Didn’t this already happen a couple of seasons ago when Klaus was first
introduced? I also have trouble getting
invested in this storyline where Bonnie has to re-earn her abilities. She’s only been without them for a few weeks,
and so far nothing has really happened that put them in a particularly dire
situation because she wasn’t able to assist them. It feels like the writers are TELLING us this
story is important, instead of SHOWING us that it is.
One consistent criticism I’ve had is when this show
treats real-life significant things – like, ya’ know, teenagers dying and being
turned into a vampire – into inconsequential matters. Consequently, I really liked how betrayed
and, well, annoyed Jeremy felt when he discovered that he had been
compelled. The fact of the matter is,
being compelled (particularly by people you are close with) is a violation of
trust. Something very personal was
literally taken from you – and I can see why one would not only be upset, but would
also wonder “what else have I been forced to forget?” These characters are now abundantly aware of
the fact that they have been deprived of their own memories.
This does, of course, add an interesting layer to Jeremy
becoming a vampire hunter. On a
philosophical level, he now has a severe issue with his vampire friends,
despite the fact that he has defended them in the past. Additionally, Klaus (and to a lesser extent
Stefan, and an even lesser extent than that Damon) have an investment in uncovering
the map for a cure. In order to achieve
that, Jeremy is going to have to kill a lot of vampires. I could easily see Jeremy put in a position
where he’s forced to kill – something I’m sure he’s not comfortable doing – in order
to expand his tattoo to reveal more and more of the map. Prediction:
This will all culminate with him being put in a position where he would
have to kill one of his friends (Stefan, Damon, Tyler, Caroline, or Elena) in
order to reveal the final piece of the map.
I don’t think he’ll do it, but that’s where I think it’s leading to.
Conner’s bipolar hunting skills reached a rather shocking
end this episode. His inconsistent
abilities were perfectly exemplified in this particular episode. One moment he’s building booby traps and
creating complex explosives, and the next he ONCE AGAIN hasn’t pieced together
that Elena is a vampire. I’m truly
baffled by this. This is the guy that is
smart enough to wear vervain soaked gloves and thinks to use blood as a way to
weed out vampires in public, but he can’t come to the conclusion that Elena is
a vampire? Having said that, I was
pretty surprised that he was killed – but he is a great candidate for Elena’s
first human kill.
And hey, next week we have the return of Katherine! Vampire Elena and Katherine together could be
a lot of fun.
Posted by Matt Basilo at 4:20 PM
Tags: Television, The Vampire Diaries
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