Writers: Caroline Dries and Brian Young
Grade: A
It cracks me up how ridiculous and daytime soap-y some of these storylines sound when you summarize them. “Elena’s dad is really her uncle, and her uncle is really her dad, and her brother is really her cousin! Oh, and her mom’s a vampire, and she herself looks just like some other vampire ancestor named Katherine! And in 1864, Katherine boinked both of the vampire brothers that Elena is currently hanging out with, one of whom is totally in love with her and the other on his way there!” It’s hugely to their credit that the writers and actors somehow make me care about these storylines, because they sound pretty stupid on paper.
I’ve seen some fans floating the theory that Isabel ordering her minions to pummel John so severely in front of Jeremy was a ruse they cooked up together to make Jeremy distrust vamps. Now, considering that John is the father of Isabel’s child, that might be somewhat true—she probably had no intention of killing John or Jeremy—but there is the fact that she popped John in the jaw hard enough to send him to the floor earlier in the episode, when they were alone together. It’s obvious that they don’t cuddle in private and put on a violent show in public. It seems more likely that Isabel was just being Isabel. John knew her well enough to know that he could goad her into attacking him, and also knew she wouldn’t actually kill him. So yes, I think John may have manipulated Isabel into putting on a show for Jeremy’s benefit, but I don’t buy that Isabel was in on it.
I could do without Isabel sweeping into Elena’s life after 16 years and thinking she has the right to make decisions for Elena’s well-being. I understand that she thinks that becoming a vampire was the biggest mistake she ever made, and that Elena hanging around with a couple of really hot vampires looks like it will lead her down the same path, but I can’t help but have some “You don’t have the right to play mommy” feelings. The same goes for John. I know that both of Elena’s real parental figures are dead, and I’m glad Isabel and John actually care about her, but it’s just a pet peeve of mine.
I do wonder if the pain of abandoning Elena is what led Isabel to become a vampire in the first place, given all the talk about turning emotions on and off. She’s known about vampires since she was a teenager, so it makes sense that she found a way to become a vampire to dull her pain. Sounds like it didn’t work out quite like she’d hoped.
Jeremy may have told Anna that he’s sort of glad he doesn’t remember the Vicki fiasco, but that doesn’t mean he should just hand-wave the fact that his sister had him brainwashed. He actually handled the situation pretty calmly. He didn’t yell at her, and he shut the door in Elena’s face firmly rather than slamming it.
I’m a bit disappointed in Bonnie because right now because I feel like she chose the greater of two evils (Isabel) for the sake of revenge, rather than the lesser of two evils (the Salvatores) for the sake of… sense. Of course, it remains to be seen how it will all play out—maybe Bonnie made the right decision after all. Still, I think her motives are questionable even if it turns out okay.
Damon
Part of why the Damon/Elena relationship is working for me in its present form: he’s not changing for her, he’s changing because of her. And it’s not only her—Stefan and Alaric and maybe even Liz share in it, too. His relationships are changing him, rather than him trying to change so Elena will love him.
Take the conversation between Alaric and Damon outside the Mystic Grille, for example. It’s interesting that Alaric sees redeeming qualities in the guy who killed him and vamped his wife. Not only that, but Alaric made it very clear that he didn’t want Damon to kill Isabel, and I think Damon kept that in mind when he confronted her. He may have mentioned Elena by name, but he referred to Isabel threatening “people” he cares about, which probably includes at least Stefan and Alaric. He certainly chose Elena over Katherine when he attacked Isabel, but he also had his kid gloves on with her—he could have roughed her up much more than he did, or even killed her to “send a message.” The fact that he didn’t may have just as much to do with Alaric’s feelings on the matter as with the fact that she’s Elena’s bio mom.
I have a feeling that when Damon came to Mystic Falls, he had the emotion switch set to ‘off.’ Interacting with his brother again, with Elena and her family, with the Founder’s Council, with Alaric—all of that either prompted him to turn the switch ‘on’ again, or simply ninja-ed the twitch to the ‘on’ position before he realized what was happening. He’s probably flooded with a lot of other emotions now, too, like the guilt he talked to Stefan about, but he’s decided it’s worth it to actually feel something for these people, especially since they seem to be returning the affection.
As for his feelings for Elena, I think that up until now, he was building a foundation of caring and trust with Elena that would someday ripen into love, but Katherine resemblance aside, I don’t think he was consciously aware of Elena being anything more than a pretty friend that he cared about. Granted we saw all the same moments that Stefan saw—yes, Damon was a little too friendly with Elena on the phone, and yes, he somewhat appropriated Stefan’s protective boyfriend role when he told Elena she didn’t have to meet Katherine—but I saw Damon as simply enjoying her company and considering her well-being, not as someone on the verge of making a move on his brother’s girlfriend. I didn’t even take it as a romantic gesture when Damon squeezed Elena’s hand as he gave her the Gilbert gizmo. That felt more like “I’m entrusting this to you because you asked and I care about you, so don’t make me regret it.” Stefan, however, may have witnessed similar actions from Damon around the time that Damon started to pursue Katherine, so perhaps his suspicion was justified.
In any case, I definitely think Damon got a little confused when Isabel announced that he was in love with Elena. From now on, he’s going to be much more aware of how he feels about Elena, even if he tries to go the denial route. I wish Isabel had kept her mouth shut, because I really don’t think his feelings needed to be artificially jump-started. I’d be more interested in seeing Damon gradually become aware of his feelings and try to deal with them, but now someone else came along and slapped him in the face with whatever he had bubbling under the surface. I’d rather have seen what would have happened without the meddling.
The Triangle
This episode was undeniably heavy on the Stefan/Elena/Damon triangle, but it was subtle compared to what it could have been. The writers wanted to hammer home the new emotional intimacy between Damon and Elena, and show us Stefan noticing it, too. And I usually hate triangles, but I’m enjoying this one for several reasons. First of all, as I said above, Damon is not changing so he can be good enough for Elena. Second, I feel like the changes in the Damon/Elena relationship have been pretty well done and organic, mostly because they bonded over Stefan. The writers may have rushed it a bit in this episode in order to set up the finale, but generally-speaking, I think the build-up has been paced well. Third, all the corners of the triangle are equally important, i.e. Damon and Stefan’s dysfunctional family bond is just as important as Elena’s relationship with either of the brothers. And fourth, the actors all have great chemistry with one another.
I think it’s worth reiterating that Damon and Elena grew closer because of Stefan falling off the rails, which he kind of had to do at some point. Nearly every interaction that Elena and Damon have is about Stefan—they don’t have some secret friendship where they sit up late talking about their exes and their favorite bands. I think Stefan and Elena will be going strong for a while yet. If they break up, it will be because of something that happens between them only, and Elena will be single for quite a while before hooking up with Damon, if she ever does. If she rebounds from being with Stefan, I think she’d date Matt again before she’d go for Damon.
Too much of Stefan and Damon glaring at each other over Elena’s head will get old very quickly, but I think it’s possible that any spats that happen between them will just be Damon trying to annoy Stefan rather than actually trying to steal his girl, which might mitigate the annoyance somewhat. I can’t picture Damon making a genuine play for Elena’s romantic affection, because a) I don’t think he believes she could love him (much like he won’t call Alaric a friend because he doesn’t believe Alaric would consider him one), and b) Katherine’s rejection is still pretty fresh (she rejected him a long time ago, but he didn’t find out about it until fairly recently).
I think one of my biggest questions about the triangle is that if Damon and Elena get together officially, what does that leave Stefan with? The standard would be Stefan getting a prolonged “going dark” arc, which would annoy me to no end, but the writers have been pretty good at pleasantly surprising me so far. Surely they’d have something a little more interesting planned for him? And as I said before, I don’t think Stefan and Elena are going to break up because Elena suddenly decides she wants to be in a relationship with Damon, so hopefully their breakup will have a built-in component that will give Stefan something to do besides brood.
Ultimately, the most glaring obstacle to Damon/Elena is that it’s still very problematic for Elena to have such camaraderie with someone who did the things he’s done to her loved ones, especially since Elena is so morally upstanding in other areas. I adore Damon, but Damon didn’t do that shit to my friends and teachers and MOTHER! The guy boinked her mom and turned her into a vampire! I’m all for forgiveness, but it feels like she’s handed it out when he’s neither asked for it nor earned it. Damon has been good to her lately, so I understand her softening a bit, but I still need more from Elena on how she feels about the things Damon has done. I don’t understand how the writers can ignore this, or if they’re doing it on purpose, then why they are ignoring it. And I can’t help but think they’re doing it on purpose, because the writing has been so sharp in every other sense that it’s hard for me to believe they could be so blind to the moral implications of Elena’s character accepting Damon. Why even bring up that old history of Damon abusing Caroline and trying to kill Bonnie if we’re not supposed to be disturbed by Elena shrugging it off?
Though to be fair, Alaric also seems to have somewhat forgiven Damon for turning his wife and killing him, and Jeremy forgave Anna awfully fast for the things he learned about from Elena’s journal. People on this show seem to be very quick to forgive people who haven’t earned their forgiveness.
Other Stuff
-Remember that exchange between “Uncle” John and Elena in the previous episode, where he asked what her mother would think of her dating a vampire, and Elena responded with, “Which mother?” It’s still up in the air which mother John was actually referring to, but I think it’s pretty clear now that both mothers would disapprove!
-Given that Isabel says Damon’s the one who taught her how to find nice digs, it seems that Damon stuck around to show her the ropes after vamping her. That’s a nice, subtle detail for viewers who pay attention. These writers kick all kinds of ass.
-Were Isabel’s minions vampires or not? First of all, they had bite marks, and second of all, they were able to be compelled, neither of which would make any sense if they were vampires. Yet they seemed ridiculously super-strong, to the point where they were able to abduct Jeremy in broad daylight without anyone noticing and toss John around like a twig. I’m guessing the writers just got so caught up in the excitement that they didn’t realize they hadn’t nailed that minor part of the story down.
-I hope it becomes clear why Katherine is so determined to kill all the tomb vampires, including Pearl, her former BFF.
-I’ve noticed that the sense of supernatural menace is starting to fade from the show. The spooky elements like vampires controlling fog and such have all but disappeared, and I kind of miss that creepy horror vibe. The vamps are still scary, but I can’t help but feel they’ve become a little too mundane. Fog and familiars need to make a comeback next season.
-Finally, I was pleased that this episode managed to include all of the minor characters without feeling overly contrived.
Quotes
Damon: “What’s with all the furrowed brows?”
Alaric: “I saw Isabel last night?”
Damon: *furrows brow* “Isabel’s here?”
Alaric: “Hell, you’re a dick and you kill people, but I still see something human in you.”
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