Writers: Brian M. Holdman and Barbie Kligman
Grade: A-
It’s very convenient that most of the people we see Damon attack are main characters who survive, and most of the people we don’t see him attack are expendable extras… Obviously there’s no denying that he slaughtered Tanner to prove his lack of humanity to Stefan, but so far, that’s the only death that’s undeniably his doing.
Damon’s scenes with Elena were great. He’s pretty fiercely sociopathic, and in that truly frightening way where he seems completely sincere even when he’s at his most manipulative. Still, I think Elena expressing her sympathy for his loss of Katherine really took him aback—he was genuinely touched.
The way that people talk about “humanity” in vampire fiction always bothers me, as if murdering people is inhuman. I’ve see the same ideas on True Blood, Buffy, Moonlight, etc., and it’s BS. So far, fangs and super-human strength aside, I haven’t seen a vampire commit an atrocity that couldn’t also have been perpetrated by a human being. We like to think of serial killers and such as inhuman, like they’re some other, less morally enlightened species, but sadly, they’re just as human as the rest of us. Thus I think that Stefan deciding that Damon has lost his humanity just because he murdered Tanner is stupid, especially since Stefan already attributed the other deaths around town to Damon. What, this murder is more of an affront to his delicate sensibilities just because he actually witnessed it?
That said, I think we were supposed to take from this episode that Damon does possess some lingering humanity, and it’s most affected by Stefan and Katherine, and perhaps someday Elena. (That tender hair and face stroking at the end seemed more about mourning Elena’s doppelganger, Katherine, than about Elena herself.)
It was a bit of a “Damon episode” for me, for various reasons—Stefan and Elena are boring, Stefan’s football storyline was reminiscent of Smallville, and Damon was the only one who was really given anything of interest. This was the first time we really got a glimpse into his inner emotional state.
Miscellaneous Stuff
-It cracks me up how Stefan keeps saying things happened “a long time ago.” Katherine was a long time ago, playing football was a long time ago. You’re supposed to be 17, silly, how long ago could it really have been?
-I absolutely think Tyler is a jerk, but the way Jeremy keeps trying to start fights with him to win/avenge Vicki makes Jeremy look like just as much of a macho meathead.
-It’s amusing to me that Elena doesn’t even know the truth about Damon, but making out with him in her bed is literally a nightmare.
Quotes
Elena: “What was she like?”
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