The Vampire Diaries, 1x19, “Miss Mystic Falls”

Episode Title: Miss Mystic Falls
Writers: Bryan Oh and Caroline Dries

Director: Marcos Siega

Originally Aired: 04/22/2010
Grade: B+

I thought this episode was a little weak in comparison to most of the rest of the season, but it was still enjoyable.

I’m glad that Damon told Elena that normally he’d be happy about Stefan drinking human blood, but he’s not okay with it because Stefan’s trip to the blood bank put them at risk. Not that I want Damon to be a saint, but I don’t think I could have stomached him simply tattling on Stefan and swooping in to save the day, knowing that just a few days ago, he was trying to get Stefan to drink human blood. I actually think his initial intentions were good, if a bit overbearing: he wanted to teach Stefan how to control the blood lust, but the timing was terrible and it didn’t work out. At least he somewhat owned up to his role in the fiasco, rather than just taking the credit for fixing it.

I mostly enjoyed the scenes between Damon and Elena, but I at least half-hated their dance sequence. The song was horribly corny and certainly didn’t help the scene feel any less like ‘shipper fanfic. They did have great chemistry—methinks Stefan was wrong about the “near touch” being overrated—but Elena looked so awed by dashing Damon that it was hard for me to buy into. She was practically breathless! Though to Damon’s credit, I got the impression that he was aware of her attraction but didn’t act on it or even acknowledge it. Was he thinking of Katherine during their dance, or was he fully present there with Elena?

I was thrilled that Jeremy didn’t start acting like a dick to everyone now that he knows the truth. I was expecting him to cold shoulder Anna at the very least, but nope. The fact that he’s kind of okay with not having the memories of Vicki trying to hurt him is pretty realistic. I’m so thankful that characters on this show actually resemble real people rather than irrational slaves to needless drama.

It’s nice to see Bonnie back. I completely understand her resentment of Stefan and Elena, but I hope she eventually owns the fact that the spell that killed Grams was her idea. I wonder if she stopped Stefan near the end by sharing her pain with him. We know she blames him for Grams’ death, and in the next episode, we find out that human blood dampens or negates feelings of guilt, so it makes sense that she might have projected her own pain and guilt onto Stefan to jolt him out of his frenzy and make him feel remorse.

Other Stuff

-It was weird seeing Stefan back in school. The last time I remember him even being at the school was in “Unpleasantville,” which was 6 episodes ago.

-I’m glad that Caroline won the pageant, especially in light of her long list of extracurricular activities. Seeing her talk Elena into remaining in the pageant, despite being her toughest competition, didn’t hurt, either. Caroline earned her title.

Quotes

Damon: “He has no idea what ‘normal’ is. His entire existence isn’t normal. Normal to a vampire is drinking human blood, but he spent all this time fighting it when he should have been learning how to control it. And now it’s controlling him instead.”