LIVE Raw thoughts - May 14, 2012

10:47 - By the way, while I love that they're doing something with AJ, I do think they disbanded the unique dynamic Bryan and AJ had as the d-bag guy and sweet innocent girlfriend.  Crazy obsessed girlfriend and d-bag guy is a different relationship -- and it'll work -- but I think it was a bit too accelerated.

10:38 - I was about to take a bathroom break, and I would've missed a segment with AJ and CM Punk.  And that would've been a damn tragedy.

10:28 - In storyline terms, why would anybody want to sign with A.W.?  He signed Primo and Epico, but he hasn't done anything with them.  In fact, he's actively putting off their rematch.

10:20 - I don't know what it is, but for some reason Brodus introducing Cameron and Naomi really kills the rhythm of his entrance.

10:14 - That was a very, very long segment.  My guess is that this leads to Big Show helping Johnny Ace beat Cena at Over the Limit.  Big Show is rehired as a heel.

10:11 - Just because Big Show is a good enough actor to pull off crying doesn't mean he should be scripted to cry.

10:07 - Contracts, lawsuits, and public apologies.  All this and more on tonight's Raw!

10:05 - I'm confused, is Johnny Ace fighting John Cena or Big Show at the PPV?

10:01 - You know, I almost forgot that this Sunday is the PPV.  This feels like a severely lackluster card.  The title matches and Cena/Ace are fine, but what else is there?

9:53 - I cannot adequately express how little I care about this Big Show/Johnny Ace storyline.  But hey, great seeing David Otunga back.  And yeah, I'm not being sarcastic either!

9:44 - I said this on Twitter last week, but a lot of people get on WWE's case for the times they pat themselves on the back.  But you know what?  It's stuff like this that they completely deserve it.  The fact of the matter is, they don't HAVE to do this stuff.  And they don't have to do it to the extent that they do.  And yes, they publicize it, but so what?  If you sit back and actually watch these pieces, they're actually really touching and sweet.  And I respect the fact that they help kids with terminal illnesses.

9:35 - I think the Cobra is the most asinine finisher since the Worm, but I have to admit that I laughed when Cody Rhodes walked into a GTS because he was afraid of getting hit by the Cobra.

9:22 - I think you all probably know that I'm not in that "Zack Ryder was buried" boat, but I do have to wonder why they took the US title off of him.  When he held the belt, people cared.  They were happy he won it, and they wanted to see him keep it.  Then he lost it to Jack Swagger, who went on to only defend it on Superstars.  And he went on to lose it to Santino, who rarely defends it and rarely even wins.  There really was zero benefit to taking the title off of him.  If it's just a prop, why not use it on a prop where people care?

9:15 - So I'm guessing somebody just ran into the ring?

Anyway, I'm not quite sure what to make of that opening promo (although I'm guessing Scott Keith hated the Brock burial).  Most of me wishes they just found a more creative way to keep Lesnar off of TV without resorting to this contract/lawsuit stuff.  It goes over a lot of people's heads, and most people just don't really find it interesting.

And is it crazy that Johnny Ace is juggling storylines with John Cena, Triple H, Big Show, and to an extent CM Punk?

9:04 - The one downside to Triple H appearing on Raw so infrequently?  WWE feels the need to reshow footage of him explaining why he's not on Raw over and over and over again.  Who else remembers when they showed the footage of Kevin Nash knocking over Triple H in the stretcher three times in the span of 20 minutes?  This Brock Lesnar stuff reminds me of that.  How many times do we need to see that attack?

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Straight out of a TV show

We've all had those moments that felt like they were so perfectly scripted that it seemed like it was straight out of a TV show.  Well, I just had that moment yesterday.

Over the past few years we've had some pretty vicious rain and snow storms (okay, not this winter), so our deck furniture really needed to be replaced.  Friday night my dad told me that I'd need to take the old furniture to the dump so that it's out of here for Mother's Day company on Sunday.  So I woke up Saturday and before even talking to anybody, I filled the trunk of my car up with two chairs, two footrests, and an end table and headed to the dump.

Because the furniture wasn't even THAT damaged, I even unloaded and set it up nicely when I got to the dump, instead of just tossing it.  As I'm driving out, I get a phone call from my dad.  Apparently, my aunt wanted to take the furniture and we weren't disposing of it after all.  I pull a U-Turn (as I'm still in the dump) and as I drive towards where I left everything, I see the chairs and other furniture in the bucket of a loader.  And before I know it, the furniture is getting dumped into a dumpster.  And as I'm saying to myself, "Well, that's not so bad.  Maybe they'll let me go into the dumpster to get them" the operator uses the bucket to crush the furniture he had just dropped into the dumpster.

So, suffice it to say, I was unable to save those particular pieces of furniture.  But the way everything played out....scripted straight from a TV show.

Oh, and happy mother's day, everybody!

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A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 3-22

I usually include a short introduction on my reviews, mostly so that I can do a page break on my blog to protect people from spoilers, and I want to also make sure that spoilers don’t pop up on my Twitter feed (since parts of the first sentence are usually included). But I’m at a bit of a loss right now. I honestly do not know what to discuss that won’t give away something huge. So let’s get straight into what happened in the finale.

Continue reading "A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 3-22"....

So the mystery throughout the episode was who Elena would choose. Even in the first ten minutes, they built a bit of mystique around it by being ambiguous about who Jeremy called when Elena was in the hospital (even if that may have been unintentional). If you recall, last week I predicted that she would pick Damon. And throughout the episode, my suspicions only grew stronger. I felt like they were hinting so strongly at Stefan that they would surprise us by having her go with Damon. First Stefan won the coin toss in order to head back to Mystic Falls to protect Elena. Then he gave her the kiss good bye. And Elena even had a talk with Matt where she seemed like she wanted to be convinced to give Damon a shot. There were just so many signs that she was going to choose Stefan that I was convinced we were being set up for a twist. Instead, she did the obvious (which is not the same as bad) thing and picked Stefan. I was pleasantly surprised by her decision. They sustained the suspense throughout the entire hour, and they did a really great job of creating a sensible circumstance for her to have to pick between the two of them.

The episode was also highlighted by a number of flashbacks of Elena’s life before the emergence of vampires. It was a remarkably fresh look at some of these characters, particularly Elena. In the three seasons that we’ve come to know her, could you EVER imagine her jumping out of bed smiling and dancing to a (crappy) Pink song? It was just so unlike the emotionally tortured girl we’ve come to know. It was sweet seeing her innocently interact with Jenna (why haven’t we seen her ghost yet?) and her parents, and it was almost surreal seeing her deal with regular, immature teenage problems. They really did a great job of accentuating how much their lives have changed in just a couple of years. And it really exemplified the themes of the episode and emotions of the characters fantastically.

Probably the best and most significant flashback was the revelation that Damon and Elena actually met before the fateful car crash that took the lives of Elena’s parents. It was a really great scene, and played into the whole theoretical scenario Elena proposed when she picked Stefan, but I had one small issue with it. Essentially, Damon was far too nice and sweet. If you recall the first several episodes of The Vampire Diaries, Damon was a terror! Yes, he was charming and humorous, but he was also vicious and nasty. He killed people for no (or little) reason and tried to make things miserable for Stefan. Damon’s general behavior during that scene – where he was sweet and playful and kind – just didn’t seem to ring true to the character at that time. That complaint aside, it was a great scene.

The big news of the episode, of course, was Elena’s shocking death. Leading up to the moment, I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting much. I thought the episode would end with Elena seemingly dead, and then we’d return next season and find out that she somehow survived. I mean, it’s not as if they’d kill off their star and the central character. What actually happened, however, was far more surprising and significant. As it turns out, Elena legitimately did die. However, Dr. Fell had given her vampire blood while she was in the hospital, and Elena is now becoming a vampire. That completely alters the show, and I’m extremely interested in what’s going to happen next. It’s very, very intriguing that Elena now won’t be the traditional damsel in distress.

I also loved the rather clever ways they allowed each character to find out about Elena’s demise, despite being in different locations. Damon’s was particularly touching, as at the end of his physical battle with Alaric, the vamp hunter collapsed and started to fade away. Damon, with tears in his eyes, grabbed his former friend and allowed him to die in his arms, as he quietly cried “you can’t be dead.” Of course, he was referring to Elena, but it was a fitting visual since Damon is probably the character you would most associate with Alaric. Speaking of Alaric, he played a role in how Jeremy found out as well. Jeremy was in his home and was greeted with Alaric’s ghost, who warmly said good bye to the teenager he was once a guardian for, and assured him that he would always be watching out for him. This scene not only allowed Jeremy to receive the news of his sister’s death, but it also gave Alaric the opportunity to say farewell as a good guy. It was a nice way to say good bye (I also found it sweet that, upon death, Alaric’s first impulse was to say good bye to Jeremy).

In addition to Elena no longer needing to be the girl that must be saved or protected, her becoming a vampire really changes things. For one, the relationship between Stefan and Damon could be strained. I loved how they remained close and supportive of each other in what they thought were their final moments. Stefan seemed legitimately disappointed that Damon wouldn’t have an opportunity to say good bye to Elena, despite the way he feels about her. Yet, I suspect things will get awfully messy between them when Damon finds out how Elena died. One point of their most common philosophical differences is the way they treat Elena. Stefan prefers to respect her wishes and allows her to make her own decisions, even when he doesn’t agree with them. Damon, however, tends to do whatever it takes in order to keep Elena safe, whether she wants it or not. With that in mind, there is no way that Damon would have done what Elena had asked and saved Matt first. If they had done things Damon’s way, Elena would still be human (however Matt would be dead, but that’s neither here nor there). I would not be the least bit surprised if Damon blames Stefan for Elena’s death. Likewise, as a vampire, Elena will now retain the memories that Damon had compelled from her – including their meeting the night of her parents’ death. How will that play into her decision to be with Stefan?

Speaking of repercussions, how will the group (and particularly Caroline) react to Bonnie’s decision to transfer Klaus into Tyler’s body? On the one hand, she essentially killed Tyler. On the other hand, if she hadn’t done that, Tyler would have died anyway. Along with Stefan, Damon, Abbey, and Caroline. Nonetheless, will they see it as the lesser of two evils, or as a grave violation? I have a feeling that, initially anyway, we’ll see the latter occur.

It’s looking to be a very volatile season four, with many of the central characters seemingly ad odds with each other. Will Elena feel passion or anger towards Damon when she discovers that they had a quite pleasant meeting before she knew Stefan, but he made her forget it? Will Stefan blame himself for Elena’s death? Will Matt blame himself for Elena’s death? As an extension to that, how will everybody else respond to the fact that Jeremy and Matt took matters into their own hands, and cost Elena her life? How will Caroline react towards Bonnie’s decision to transfer Klaus into Tyler’s body?

And here’s a final question to ponder: Did Elena ask Dr. Fell to give her the vampire blood, or did Fell make that decision for herself (like she had with Caroline’s dad)?

Finally, a lot of people are now wondering who or what next season’s big bad will be. My prediction? The Founder’s Council. Throughout the finale, Alaric repeatedly mentioned the Council’s assistance in preventing the group from succeeding in pretty much everything. He alerted them that Klaus’ body was in a storage facility. He warned Dr. Fell that they would suspend her of her medical license. They almost drove Tyler and Caroline out of town. The message was clear: When this organization is focused, they can be a very effective and dangerous force. And there were two interesting developments that makes me believe that this could be a reality: With the Mayor and Sheriff booted from the Council, they can be portrayed as an entirely antagonistic group. And with Elena now a vampire, the opposition doesn’t necessarily have to be supernatural. In this particular case, it makes perfect sense for the bad guys to be a group of humans out to get any and all vampires.

We’re certainly shaping up for a very interesting season four.

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Dive Bar Shirt Club: Mahogany Shoals Bar

I received my latest Dive Bar Shirt Club tee the other day, but I'm only getting around to posting it now.  It's another great looking one -- this one white, with a pretty cool lobster/beer glass logo.  I do have to wonder, though, if it'd be possible to get a ringer t-shirt for one of these designs.  Maybe I'll ask the guys on Twitter!  Anyway, Mahogany Shoals doesn't have a website, Facebook, or any apparent press whatsoever, so I've got to do some legwork here and type out this description myself:

A story old as time, man against nature, man against the sea, man against tuna, striper, blues.  Will a large vessel and impressive equipment be a match for such powerful and elusive swimmers?  More adventures await when you slip your pleasure raft into the laid-back marina of Old Harbor and Payne's Dock.  The salt life pretty much requires a taste for just the essentials and Mahogany Shoals believes that as well.  You can sit with sudsy friends and celebrate your smugglers, shipwrecks, and the ones that got away.  Fog rolls in, details fade, and wet timbers creak and groan under the weight as they shift with the rhythm of Mother Ocean.  This is a place where it really helps to have a long pole and a line a mile long.

Dive Bar Shirt Club: Website - Twitter - Facebook

Dive Bar Shirt Club T-Shirt Gallery

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A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 3-21

My apologies, but I actually missed the first 10 or so minutes of this past week’s episode (thank you, local chicken wing establishment!)  But I think I got the gist of the episode, with Bonnie wanting to do a spell to stop Alaric’s heart, similar to the spell done to Mikael.

The introduction of Alaric as the supreme vampire hunter resulted in some fun – albeit brief – alliances.  Notably, Stefan, Damon, Elena, and Klaus banding together.  Of course, this quickly fell apart once Elena realized that she’s Alaric’s lifeline – once she dies, he dies.  I actually really enjoyed the way Elena pieced that together.  It’s unavoidable to make her a damsel in distress, but they do a good job of not making her look completely helpless.  Nonetheless, upon learning this, Klaus kidnapped her with the intention of draining her of her blood.  And he almost succeeded, if not for Tyler’s intervention.  Speaking of which, I really enjoyed Tyler’s “I’m not your little bitch anymore” line.  It was just delivered so perfectly, with the background music intensifying before coming to a complete halt before he said it.

Alaric has always been one of my favorite characters, but it seems like his time on this show is nearing its end (that’s not a spoiler, just an assumption on my part).  While I liked Alaric’s flawed hero character, his recent dark turn has been enjoyable as well.  I especially liked the cool and collected way he outted the mayor and sheriff for hiding and protecting the very evils they’re supposed to combat against.  I’m actually intrigued by what is going to happen with the Founders Council moving forward.  It seems like all of the founding families, slowly but surely, come to the realization that these supernatural entities that their families have spent their lives fighting are not inherently evil.  Elena’s uncle reluctantly accepted this, as did Caroline’s parents.  The mayor, too.  Alaric brought up the guilt-trip inducing comment of whether Elena’s parents would be proud of her.  It’s a good question, but I tend to believe that they’d come to the same realization as the characters above (and even Alaric himself).  Part of me, however, suspects that I’m reading too much into this and the Founders Council will remain a convenient plot device and an excuse to have parties.

The apparent demise of Klaus was handled very nicely, though.  I liked how they turned the plot of the unlikely alliance with Klaus – to stop Alaric’s heart – against him after he had turned on them.  And scenically, the “death” worked as well.  When somebody as significant (both contextually and as a character) as Klaus dies, the proper emotion needs to be conveyed.  If he’s lying there convulsing before turning veiny and deteriorating, the visual isn’t quite there.  What we got instead – Klaus staring into the eyes of Stefan as his heart slowly stopped beating – was far more impactful.  Stefan was actually the perfect person for that role.  Because of their time together – and their former friendship – Stefan is the one person who might have a shred of compassion for Klaus.  I don’t buy that he’s actually dead, but it was a well done scene.  It really conveyed the emotion of an Original vampire seeing his life come to an end.

I’ve also concluded that no matter the dynamic, the Salvatore brothers are absolute gold together.  One thing I couldn’t help but laugh at, though, was Damon’s remark about how Elena will choose, one of them will leave town, and in 30 years the brothers will reunite as if nothing had happened.  Uh….what?  30 years?  Do they really only expect Elena to die before she even turns 50?  Oh, and my money is still on Elijah being the beginning of their bloodline.

So the finale promises that Elena finally makes a choice between Stefan and Damon.  Any regular reader would know that I’m rooting for Stefan, but if I were a betting man, I’d actually guess she’s going to pick Damon.  The past couple of weeks all of the characters have been so (strangely) pro-Stefan that I feel like they’re setting us up for a surprise.  Additionally, I honestly do believe that the end game is going to be Stefan/Elena, so this is a little reprieve to delay and complicate that (similar to Kate’s brief romp with Sawyer in the middle seasons of Lost).  Plus, we’ve seen several seasons of Elena being with Stefan while Damon pines over her, so I suspect they’ll want to mix up that formula.  I wouldn’t mind if I’m wrong, because I like the (generally speaking) good guy to get the girl.  Hey, Elena did tell Tyler to call Stefan when she needed to be saved.  But that’s what I’m guessing will happen.

Anyway, I’ve seen some promotional photos for the episode and it has me pretty excited.  It looks like it’s going to be an exciting conclusion to a stellar season.

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23 Years After Today

As promised on Twitter last night, here is a special video from 23 years ago when my family appeared on the Today Show in a special "Family Vacation" segment. Enjoy!

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LIVE Raw thoughts - April 30, 2012

11:11 - I can't believe I'm going to say this, but everything that just happened was actually the lesser of two evils.  Then again, I REALLY didn't want to see Cena/Tensai.  But I'm sure we can all agree the BEST route to go would have just been to have Brock put Cena on the sidelines.  Sometimes (usually) the best explanation is the easiest one.

11:05 - I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those John Cena promos that people hate.  I don't mind 'em, but most seem to do.

10:55 - Wow, so hoping worked!  Punk vs. Bryan on PPV for the WWE Championship?  Sign me up.  Awesome of WWE to listen to their fans and keep Bryan in a main event title program.  But I continue to hold out hope that the storyline with AJ isn't over yet.

10:52 - When Lawler came out and Bryan got a bit TOO excited, I got a bad feeling.  When they made it a foregone conclusion that Bryan would win, it made me think he's not going to beat the record.  A man can hope, though!

10:46 - I wouldn't be surprised to see Daniel Bryan face Zack Ryder in the last match and just beat Orton's time to become #1 Contender for the WWE Championship.  And who's facing Cena?  Smart money is on a Lesnar rematch, but that can't be announced tonight since the suspense is in whether or not he's been fired.  Lord Tensai, perhaps?

10:44 - This had to have been the worst possible combination.

10:32 - I'm fine with Kofi and Truth winning the tag titles.  Quite simply, the titles were getting no recognition on Primo and Epico.  At least when Air Boom were the champs, they were being featured regularly on Raw and Smackdown, and even appeared on PPV.  With a midcard-to-upper-midcard tandem holding the titles, hopefully they'll get a bit more attention.

10:23 - So this is weird, but WWE.com has a very nondescript story about the Bellas being fired:

http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2012-04-30/bella-twins-fired

Note the wording.  Not "released," but "fired."  And there's no natural storyline behind it.  If this is legit -- and it might be, since there were rumors behind it -- why not feed them to Kharma and wrap up that storyline?

10:18 - I really do like the idea that a four minute match (while still very short) is a highly competitive battle.  I feel like a lot of these Beat the Clock Challenges degrade into 1 minute matches.  That may still end up being the winning time, but at least the matches leading up to that have been a regular time.

By the way, who else thought that the Tag Titles were not only going to be defended on a PPV.....but against John Cena, no less???  If that happened, A.W. definitely deserved his paycheck.

10:05 - Is leaving better than anyone really an insult?

9:56 - Love the fact that Michael Cole remembered -- and MENTIONED -- that he did a dance off with Naomi on NXT.  Awesome.  Also, is JTG back to his old gimmick?  Didn't he change his appearance for like two weeks?

9:50 - I don't know if that was a mistake or not, but it's actually a very clever concept.  Have they ever had a Beat the Clock Challenge end in a tie?

9:42 - I definitely would've kept the Bellas as Divas champ until Kharma's return.  I'm not sold on Layla as a face either.  Don't we have enough smiling, happy face Divas?

9:29 - It is really quite telling when it's a foregone conclusion (for the announcers) that neither guy has a chance of winning the Beat the Clock Challenge at the 3 minute mark.

9:18 - I was fine with that opening.  A lot of people have spoken out against a Lesnar/Triple H feud, but to be honest I have no problem with it.  In fact, I sorta think that should have been Lesnar's initial feud when he returned to the company.  There's a natural story there, with Triple H as COO and negotiating Lesnar's contract (as we saw a moment ago).  And somebody as pro-WWE and old school as Triple H has easy ammunition with the way Lesnar left the company in the first place.  And this is one feud from Lesnar's first run that never really got any attention.  Plus, Lesnar could have returned with a big victory without WWE having to worry about jobbing out their "face."

8:13 - Well I think it's safe to say we have a pre-Raw discussion topic.  Last night, at Extreme Rules, Brock Lesnar absolutely decimated John Cena before Cena managed to hit his finisher and defeated the beast.  Naturally, this resulted in an uproar amongst the majority of the Internet Wrestling Community.  And honestly, I can't help but laugh a little.

Let me make this perfectly clear.  I 100% believe that Lesnar should have won the match.  And it really has nothing to do with the fact that it was Brock Lesnar or that it was John Cena.  My mentality is simply that if you're ever introducing somebody to the main event scene -- and that person is going to be a central fixture for the foreseeable future -- that person shouldn't lose the match.  If WWE didn't want to job out Cena, that's fine. Then Lesnar should have been paired off with somebody else.  So why am I laughing, then?

Mostly because of the arguments people are making for why Cena shouldn't have won.  And how it's practically the exact opposite of what they said when Cena was in a program with the Rock.  There was a brief rumor that Cena would be disappearing for a while to film Marine 3 (that now seems unlikely).  And so NOW people are suddenly making the argument that Cena will be leaving while Lesnar will still be around, so why did Cena win?  Yet where was this argument when people brought up that EXACT point in reference to the Rock?

There's a particular uproar over on Scott Keith's blog.  And I like Scott, so I don't want to pick on him, but I couldn't help but scratch my head when he referred to Cena winning as "short sighted booking."  Yet his fantasy booking sees Lesnar defeating -- in dominating fashion -- every single current WWE main eventer (Cena, Punk, Sheamus, Orton, etc.) before getting fed to the Rock.  So you have one guy who is only around for a year making your entire promotion looking like chumps, only to job him out to a guy who only appears a handful of dates a year?  How is that NOT short sighted booking?  You're banking on one match (Rock/Lesnar) to pop a huge buyrate, when NEITHER of those guys will be on the next 12 PPVs.

So, again, I do believe that Lesnar should have won last night.  But by that same token, I strongly believe that Cena should have won at WrestleMania.  One thing is for sure:  I am eager to see the fallout of Extreme Rules on tonight's show.

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A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 3-20

Alright so this question needs to be asked: What in the blue hell is the party budget over at the Mystic Falls High School? On top of having a new event every week, they’re even ordering crystal chandeliers. Crystal chandeliers that are apparently being discarded, no less!

Continue reading "A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 3-20"....

So the ongoing joke this season has been the many, many, many deaths of Alaric Saltzman. And these repeated deaths made me wonder if his actual death, should it ever happen, would lack an emotional impact. But I have to say, I was extremely moved by the scenes revolving around Alaric’s demise. Of course, they ended up faking us out yet again by having him get forced into his transformation, but nonetheless I think this episode proved that his eventual death (again, assuming it happens) can still be handled in a touching way. The various scenes hit all the right notes.

In particular, the scenes between Alaric and Elena were great, and I’m especially happy that they didn’t cross any potentially uncomfortable barriers. To be blunt, having a middle aged man and an attractive young woman grow close can give people the wrong idea (check out the fanfic out there), and I’m glad they avoided anything that could be misconstrued here. We know that these two characters care and love each other, so it was a good idea to resist having them say “I love you.” And even a simple kiss on the cheek – while innocent – would have taken away from the moment. But what they did say was beautiful. Elena focused on the fact that she was not only losing another friend, but also the one person who could protect her in the most human way possible. And for Alaric, Elena and Jeremy weren’t a burden that he was trying to get away from. They were the one thing that truly gave his life purpose. It was through their scenes that I realized that, amongst all of the supernatural events they’re surrounded by, their relationship provided them with the human comforts that they were lacking.

I also thought it was sweet how all of the characters united to be there for him when he made the decision not to go through with the transformation. When you have a series that features deaths so frequently, it’s easy to become a bit desensitized to it. It’s always refreshing when these characters act like they care when somebody in their life is, ya’ know, going to die. The silent acknowledgement that he touched each of their lives was sweet as well. Definitely one of those moments where less is more.

The scene between Damon and Alaric, while brief, was enjoyable as well. I was actually a bit surprised that it wasn’t longer. This is one of the closest and most complex friendships we’ve seen on the show, so I expected it to get a bit more attention (of course, this really didn’t end up being the end for Alaric, so perhaps that is why). Having said that, their short moment together was sweet and nice.

One thing I found very interesting about this episode was the sudden villainous tone of Esther’s behavior. Since being introduced to her, it’s seemed like she was always interested in doing the right thing. She had seen the err of her ways, and wanted to rid the world of the evil she had unleashed upon it. However, in this episode, she seemed far more willing to hurt and take advantage of innocent people in order to accomplish that mission. She knowingly used Alaric’s “disability” (for lack of a better word) in order to get what she wants – knowing that it would kill him. She forced Elena to participate, despite her protests and knowing full well what she was taking away from her. And she was willing to kill Matt and Jeremy if they got in the way. And even after her demise, Esther still went against Alaric’s wishes, and was willing to sacrifice Bonnie in order to accomplish that. This was probably the worst Esther has looked yet.

Last week I noted how Jeremy is the one person who would show a preference to Stefan over Damon, given the fact that he wasn’t victimized by Stefan the same way the others have been. Well, this week Caroline surprised me by acting extremely pro-Stefan. I wasn’t disappointed – hey, I want Elena to end up with him too – but I didn’t expect it. While Caroline and Damon have always had a complicated relationship, I did always sense a certain closeness between them as well. And while I’m glad it’s happening, I am a tad surprised that many of these characters have been so willing to accept Stefan back into their lives now that he’s good again. Of course I understand Elena and Stefan, since they each love him, but it’s odd to me that everybody but Bonnie has seemingly opted to just forgive and forget.

Actually, I’m starting to suspect that Caroline might be reading my columns, because she was also the first character to bring attention to the growing closeness between Elena and Matt. Since one of the characters noticed it, and brought it up, clearly the writers want to make sure that the audience has noticed it as well. Which makes me wonder where this might be going. They’ve clearly got their hands full with Elena being torn between Stefan and Damon, so why throw Matt into the mix?

Speaking of which, it was a really fun pro-Stefan/Elena episode. Like I’ve been saying for the past few episodes, jerky Stefan was a lot of fun, but I’m glad to see the Stefan of old back. And it’s nice seeing Elena and Stefan attempt to rebuild their relationship. For what it’s worth, I think they’ve found a solid foundation for this love triangle. Stefan is the one Elena truly wants to be with, but Damon is the one she cannot resist feeling something for. It certainly makes each relationship distinct, and makes me truly unsure of who she will choose this go around.

And just a random observation here, but I found it strange that Jeremy so openly mentioned vampires in front of Jamie. Does he know who Jamie is? The same thing happened on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Smallville. Once all of the central characters were in the know, the writers seemingly forgot to have the main characters keep their secrets from random side characters.

Then again, maybe Jeremy was just being a world class c-blocker. If so, well played.

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My latest Internet obsession...

Sorry, but I won't be able to see The Vampire Diaries tonight, so you may have to wait an extra day or two for my review.  However, because I haven't updated the blog in a while, I thought I'd share with you my latest Internet obsession:

http://whatshouldwecallme.tumblr.com/

It's a tumblr blog with humorous GIFs for common situations.  Really funny stuff, and updated numerous times throughout the day.

Also, for what it's worth, I HATE the new Blogger interface.  It's sorta like Facebook or Twitter, where they have a very basic and easy to follow format, and replace it with something that's far too advanced for its own good.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  As far as I'm concerned, this "improvement" has a lot of bugs and drawbacks.  Thumbs down!

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A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 3-19

This was another fun episode that continued to mix up some of the interactions we’re used to seeing. For example, Alaric typically shares almost all of his scenes with either Elena or Damon. This episode, he was kept completely separate from them and interacted primarily with Stefan. Even rarer, he mixed it up with Klaus and Rebekah. And while Elena, Jeremy, and Damon isn’t anything new, it is something we haven’t seen in a while. And I particularly enjoyed the way Jeremy picked and chose which of Rose’s messages to share with Damon and Elena.

Continue reading "A Case of the.... The Vampire Diaries - Episode 3-19".... 


I actually really liked Jeremy’s stance throughout the episode. I’ve enjoyed the role reversal between Damon and Stefan, but as each begins to ease back into their more familiar roles, it was nice to see somebody side with Stefan. Elena has remained loyal to Stefan in her own way, but characters such as Alaric, Bonnie, and Caroline have seemed to grow closer to Damon as Stefan drifted from the group. Jeremy, meanwhile, has legit reason to be hostile towards Damon (he’s killed him, afterall). And, if memory serves, he wasn’t really at the receiving end of Stefan’s madness. So I sorta liked it when Rose told Jeremy to tell Elena and Damon that she’s rooting for them, only for Jeremy to pause awkwardly and instead say that she sends her regards.  


Nonetheless, I did enjoy Rose’s dissection of the difference between Elena’s relationships with Damon and Stefan. Stefan’s love is pure and safe, and perhaps “right,” but Damon forces her out of her comfort zone. As Rose said, Damon is either the best or worst thing for her. And, again, I thought it was sweet how Jeremy was trying to protect her, and needed to be gently told why he should allow them to explore their feelings.

I also thought the scenes with Elena and Damon were well handled. Both characters responded to the situation with the right amount of trepidation. Both were reluctant – Elena because she worried that she might be betraying Stefan and Damon because he didn’t want to get his hopes up. And Elena asked the right questions, namely, why he tries so hard to not be good. And I liked Damon’s honest answer – because he doesn’t want people to expect him to do good things. However, while I enjoyed his vulnerability, I sorta wish more focus was put on the fact that it wasn’t a very admirable answer. Generally speaking, good people don’t prevent themselves from doing good things because people would expect goodness from them.

The big moment was when Elena finally succumbed to her temptations and went after Damon. Again, I thought this was well handled. My favorite part, though? That they didn’t have sex. I feel like so many of these teen soap operas culminate in the sex scene far too quickly (I’m looking at you, 90210!) I’m not so naïve that I don’t think that there are a bunch of teenagers (or 200 year olds) who jump into the sack the second they kiss, but I do think it’s a little unrealistic. On top of that, from a storytelling perspective, it deprives the audience from looking forward to another “big” moment. So I’m glad Jeremy interrupted the moment so that they couldn’t get to that point.

Over at the “home” front, I was a bit surprised they had Stefan reveal the lineage destruction issue with Klaus so quickly and readily. What was the benefit? I would guess to show that there’s no longer an interest in killing Klaus, but that’s still some important information to just give away. And when you consider Klaus’ tumultuous relationship with his siblings, as well as his general uncaring nature, why isn’t it a bit dangerous for him to know that that he can eliminate all of them just by staking somebody he readily has access to? However, I really did like the twist at the end, where we learn that Esther possessed Rebekah’s body and is continuing her plot to eliminate the originals.

If there was one thing from the episode that I found very contrived, though, it was the conflict between Caroline and Tyler. I recognize the need to create a little tension between them, since they’re already at odds over the “if we kill Klaus, Tyler dies” issue, but this felt way too forced. While Tyler may not know the extent, he should be well aware of the fact that Caroline has – on more than one occasion – attempted to kill Klaus (or, at the very least, taken part in missions that would result in Klaus’ death). Surely if she was harboring feelings towards him, she wouldn’t have done that. And when she revealed the lineage issue to Tyler, her concern wasn’t for Klaus’ well being, it was about Tyler. Tyler finding a drawing that Klaus made of Caroline seemed like a really flimsy plot device to create an issue between them. Why not just use the fact that Caroline hasn’t stopped the rest of the crew from plotting to kill Klaus, which in turn would kill Tyler? Sometimes the easiest explanation is the best one.

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