"The Vampire Diaries" Review: 3.19 - "Heart of Darkness"
Sunday, 22 April 2012 18:26 | Last Updated on Sunday, 22 April 2012 18:38 | | |
Yes, I’m breathing again. I’m not going to start with Damon and Elena, because honestly if I did, I wouldn’t get through this review. I’ve already got my shower set on the coldest setting for when I’m done with this.
I’m not sure about all of you, but in the contest of most dysfunctional family, I don’t think I’ve seen any family in TV more deserving of the prize than the Mikaelson family. I’m sure that’s par for the course considering they’re the original vampires, but wow. Talk about mommy and daddy issues.
"The Vampire Diaries" Review: 3.18 - "The Murder of One"
Saturday, 31 March 2012 12:34 | | |
Nothing like a game changer to take us into a mini hiatus! Since last season, killing originals, especially Klaus, has been a relentless mantra. It finally took until this episode to learn why that is not a good idea.
“The Murder of One” ends up being just that. An original dies. The motivation is to kill them all by just killing one, thanks to the originals being bound by a spell by their witch mother. Turns out it’s a darn good thing that Klaus kidnapped Bonnie against her will and threatened Jeremy (who’s being watched by brother Kol) if she didn’t reverse the spell.
I pegged eldest brother Finn to be a goner the second he was ambushed by his younger brother and sister and forced to come back to Mystic Falls. They needed his blood so they could do the unbinding spell. Finn gave his blood and stuck around though, thanks to Klaus reuniting him with his long lost love, Sage. They had a whirlwind afternoon of catching up before team Stefan, consisting of Elena, Matt, and Caroline, ambushed Finn in the alley. Matt killed him with one of their white oak stakes and he burst into flames.
"The Vampire Diaries" Review: 3.17 - "Break On Through"
Sunday, 25 March 2012 12:44 | | |
“Break On Through” did what any episode is supposed to do, move the plot bunnies along. I can’t say anything extraordinary happened, but what played out is still relevant to the overall scheme. The episode did have it’s moments.
There were three stories going on, and the three didn’t flow together all that well. Individually they were acceptable though. First up was Alaric, who’s getting a CAT scan at the hospital under the supervision of saintly Dr. Meredith. In what’s supposed to be creepy, but turned out more awkward than anything, Alaric sees something different and slightly more sinister in his reflection in the mirror during the scan. It’s too subtle though to tell us much, intentionally I presume to continue doubt.
Alaric is fine medically, so he goes off with Damon and Meredith to some dedication at the Wickery Bridge to kick off story #2. Isn’t that the bridge where Elena’s and Jeremy’s parents died? I guess no one is remembering that. Low and behold, there’s a long lost friend of Damon’s there. It’s none other than Sage, who we saw in the flashback last week. She’s apparently there to get back at Rebekah for something, even though she should be looking for Rebekah’s brother Finn. She didn’t seem to be too hellbent on that despite the fact he’s the love of her life. More on that coming.
For the third story, it’s off to Abby’s house with Bonnie and Caroline. Abby isn’t adjusting to the whole vampire thing very well. Tell me, has anyone transitioned into a vampire well? The story did need to play out and it’s good to see Bonnie and Caroline with some screen time, but not a lot happens in this plot. Abby is unstable, Caroline and Bonnie try to help, Abby leaves anyway. More heartbreak for Bonnie, I get it. It’s nice seeing Jamie again though. He isn’t given much to do other than act stupid about Abby being a vampire, but I didn’t mind since he gives the eyes some very fine entertainment.
Alaric, even though he surrendered the ring, spends most of his time on lockdown with Meredith at casa de Gilbert. They talk about various things. She’s drugging him to prevent him from going apeshit, but that doesn’t work for long. Elena in the meantime is over at Stefan’s doing some research on Samantha Gilbert, only to find that when she committed one of her murders she wasn’t wearing the ring. Yes, that sets off some red flags.
Another red flag is when they search Alaric’s apartment. Seems that since the Bennett witches created the no death ring, there’s a spell that might reverse the madness Alaric is experiencing. All they need is something he touched before he put the ring on. Why his wedding ring of course. They go looking for the ring, and instead find a whole bunch of evidence that not only is Alaric killing founders, but he’s going to contact Jeremy, the other ring bearer, to help him with the task as well. Ruh roh.
Sure enough, in a strangely predictable twist (rare for this show), evil Alaric disposes of the medicine Meredith is giving him and goes after her with a kitchen knife. He wounds her badly, but she’s able to run and lock herself in the bathroom upstairs, which has three doors? Yikes, that is not the room to run to for safety. She stabs Alaric in the hand while locking the third door and falls on the floor to bleed to death. In another predictable twist, Elena and Stefan show up in time for Stefan smell her blood, easily disable a knife wielding Alaric and heal Meredith with his blood. Oh, but in the process of doing all this he overcomes his obsessive craving for human blood (which is everywhere), so it’s a win for everybody!
Alaric wakes up to see Damon keeping watch. Bonnie performed the spell, but they need to be cautious. Alaric also has to take herbs twice a day for, probably forever. This means this plot is probably not over yet and something will go wrong. After all, I watch this show. In a mega, mega bonus, Elena calls Jeremy to check in on him and they show him!!! Yay, Jeremy! Alaric hasn’t been in touch with him, so Elena doesn’t let on about the ring. Oh yeah, this is so going to backfire on her.
In the meantime, Sage and Rebekah pretend to hate each other, but Rebekah comes to Damon’s party anyway even though the only other guest is Sage. Okay. Damon sleeps with Rebekah, Sage reads her thoughts after she sleeps off all that torrid sex, and shares with Damon her thoughts by making out in the shower with him. Rebekah’s looking for the white oak tree. Wearing nothing but a strategically placed white towel (yes, I was too distracted wishing for the darned thing to fall off), Damon finds the family journal of the old logging business. That makes me curious, since I thought Stefan was the family librarian. Anyway, seems that the white oak tree was used to make the Wickery Bridge! Will wonders never cease.
Sage takes this info and tells Rebekah, so I guess they were in cahoots? That makes sense, since if Rebekah dies all the originals die, including Sage’s beloved Finn. Rebekah burns the bridge. Damon pretends to be all pissed off at them both, but then he tells Stefan later it was all part of his plan, or something like that. He uncovers something he lifted before the fire, the original Wickery bridge sign, made of the same white oak tree. The next plan, time to kill some originals. Oh, how these vampires love to double cross one another all the time.
Next episode, the brothers try to kill originals. Good luck with that! Until next week.
What am I saying, this is the freaking Vampire Diaries! I never see it coming. Most episodes though end with their “mini” cliffhangers and me going “that’s a new twist.” This week my reaction was a more intense, “WHAT??????”
We have a serial killer folks. Apparently this isn’t the first time council members in Mystic Falls have been murdered. It happened in 1912. To Zachariah Salvatore. He was Damon and Stefan’s nephew, although the cover at the funeral was “Uncle.” The appearance of the black crow in the graveyard was a nice callback. Damon must be in town.
Addressing the cliffhanger from the last episode, Alaric awakes in jail with blood and a bullet hole on his shirt but a healed wound. Meredith was nice enough to heal him with vampire blood after she shot him, but not nice enough to keep his ass from being thrown in jail for murder of founders members. She even claims that Alaric’s knife attack was self inflicted. No, I’m not buying it either.
Elena and Matt certainly aren’t buying her story and break into Meredith’s place. They find an old Gilbert family journal, which Matt easily hides when they’re caught by Meredith. His explanation for getting away with theft is so perfect Matt. “Sometimes it pays to be the only normal one in a town of vampires. You’re practically invisible.”
Matt becomes this week’s fourth wheel, or fifth wheel, oh heck perhaps the eighth wheel in this whole Elena/Damon/Stefan love triangle. Elena tells an inquisitive Matt why she fell for Stefan. He felt safe after her parents died, because he can’t die. Matt doesn’t understand why she fell for Damon then. “Damon just sort of snuck up on me,” Elena confesses. “No matter what I do I can’t shake him.” I do wonder if that’s exactly why Katherine fell for him too. In the “let’s add insult to injury” part, Matt tells Elena once you fall in love with someone, he doesn’t know if you can ever shake them. Cue massive Elena guilt. Poor Matt. He just can’t seem to love the right girl, can he?
Among all this, something extraordinary happened in the Salvatore camp. The brothers both decided to care for each other! Damon was livid over Alaric’s imprisonment and went to Stefan for help since Stefan has journaled everything since the 1800’s. He got Stefan’s journal from 1912 and man, this brotherly relationship was more screwed up then.
Back to 1912, the brothers reunited for the first time in 50 years. Damon snacked on any woman that moved while Stefan was avoiding human blood. Enter the sultry Sage, who showed Damon that women can be more than food, they can be pleasure. She showed him the type of woman to target and a pattern was born. One that exists to this day (womanizer anyone?). The problem was, Damon wanted to get Stefan in on the action but Stefan had that ripper thing going. The same problem that exists today. Stefan fed on the girl Damon picked but also proceeded to rip her head off. He ran away to be a serial killer and Damon let him. Ah, dysfunctional families.
Present day and it’s obvious Damon carries that guilt. Stefan hasn’t been withdrawing from human blood well, so Damon’s determined to show him moderation. The victim du jour is picked, and Stefan almost goes overboard. Unlike 1912, Damon steps in and saves the girl, stopping Stefan from something he’ll regret. Later Damon vows that he will pull Stefan back every day until he doesn’t need him anymore. Why? “Cause right now, you’re all I’ve got.” I was blown away by how both brothers emotionally sold this scene. Salvatores in it now only for each other. It gave me goosebumps.
All of this drama has to lead to something, right? Now for the shocker. When Alaric talked with Liz in jail early in the episode, it’s revealed he’s been having memory lapses. He’s released from jail after Meredith comes up with some falsified evidence clearing him. Yeah, letting a killer loose doesn’t make sense to me either. Elena reads the journal and finds it belonged to Samantha Gilbert, who we saw in the flashbacks. She went a little nutty. Actually, a lot. Stefan found in one of his books she confessed to the murders ten years later and was sent to an asylum. This was after Damon supposedly killed her.
Once Stefan and Damon figure out Samantha cannot be alive killing people now, they realize what Meredith already has figured out. Samantha was wearing the Gilbert anti-death ring. Meredith visits Alaric to reveal the ring has a side effect. Total out of your flipping mind insanity. “You wear a ring that lets you cheat death Ric. How many times can you die before it changes you?” All the victims were killed with Alaric’s weapons. Then Elena shows up with the diary. Meredith speaks the truth. Alaric is our killer.
But, but, but…oh wow! Really??? So what’s going to happen to Alaric now? Does this mean they’re gonna get Jeremy back to make sure he hasn’t been absentmindedly killing people in Colorado? I really hope this means we’re getting Jeremy back. But first, the preview addresses the current problem. Alaric is bonkers.
Also in this very packed hour, Rebekah bugs the Salvatores about their family’s logging past and gets nowhere, and Bonnie’s mom decides being a vampire is better than death. Which still means Bonnie is still blaming Elena. There also wasn’t a lot of time spent on Sage, but she’s in the previews for next week. Damon, Rebekah, and Sage in a bedroom having fun. Time to fill in the blanks!
What a great way to come back from a long break. Can’t wait for next week!
Thursday, 05 January 2012 10:53 | Last Updated on Thursday, 05 January 2012 11:40 | | |
If you asked me this time last season if Damon and Elena should be together, I would have given you a big fat “eww” and scratched that repulsive thought from my mind. It’s funny how things change. Sexual tension is a very well know tactic in television, but I’ve never seen sexual tension like this. There’s far more than tension going on here. It’s two people with remarkable chemistry that are burning up the screen in every way imaginable all because they’re defying the natural order. In other words, this one goes to eleven.
Other than I feel myself needing an ice bath every time Damon and Elena are together on screen, I found five reasons why they should be caving into their desires, guilt over Stefan be damned. And it’s not just because I’m enjoying the soft porn I’m getting every week from watching these two. Come on, admit it, watching Stefan and Elena every week was like watching a fairy tale compared to her and his brother.
Saturday, 15 October 2011 23:44 | Last Updated on Saturday, 15 October 2011 23:50 | | |
Matt! My God man, you’ve cracked! I think I like it.
It’s so hard not to be fangirly over this show, isn’t it? Each week I try to give thoughtful, intelligent reviews and then when I go through things, I turn to babbling mush. This episode is no different. In fact, it’s ten times worse! I mean Klaus finds Elena...then Tyler...Bonnie is totally screwed...Katherine needs Jeremy of all people...Stefan can’t man up...WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THE POOL MATT??...Aww, Damon, you’re killing me...Wait a second, that’s Sebastian Roche!
Yeah, that would be a pretty annoying review, wouldn’t it? I’ll do better.
The pace is pretty intense from the word go, that is after we have our breaths taken away by sweaty and pumped up Matt ruining a senior prank. After the ghost shadows were stalking him late at night in the mostly empty school. Gotta start with a little suspense too. Everyone’s so light and relaxed until shadow man turns out to be Klaus. Man does that guy know how to ruin a party! He surprises Elena and the cat’s out of the bag. The doppleganger is alive. I didn’t expect this to happen so early in the episode when the previews came out. It looked like a potential episode ending cliffhanger. So yes, color me surprised.
The intense pacing and flow between each scene is once again perfect. Kudos to Michael Narducci for contributing such an amazing script. Director John Behring delivers again too, doing some extraordinary things inside a pool among other things. I was engrossed from beginning to end.
Monday, 10 October 2011 22:09 | Last Updated on Monday, 10 October 2011 22:47 | | |
Disturbing behavior. I’ll say. Just when you think you have these moody, unstable vampires and other beings figured out, they go and change things on you. Just about every character got a little piece of the spotlight this week, making this episode very busy (short attention span theater as I like to call it), but also a little choppy as well. I do like though how everyone got some progression to their stories, even if I needed a scorecard to track it all. Even Alaric grew a pair!
So where do I begin? I’m just going person by person this time. It’s easier that way.
Preview: The Vampire Diaries - Disturbing Behavior
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 22:17 | Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 October 2011 22:37 | | |
Thursday fast approaches us, so here's something to keep us occupied until that time.
First, here's a preview video with Julie Plec explaining what to expect. Sounds like Elena and Damon carry on their little game and Jeremy's dead people saga moves forward. Oh, and Stefan has a new girlfriend!
Here's the images from the episode too. Looks like scheming is going on all the way around.
Finally the official synopsis! Oh yeah, this sounds like a busy one.
FAMILY TIES - Still in Chicago, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) uses Gloria (guest star Charmin Lee), a witch he knew long ago, to help him track down missing information that will explain why his plan isn't working. Gloria's spells reveal intriguing glimpses of the truth, but she soon realizes she needs Stefan's (Paul Wesley) knowledge to complete the puzzle. When Stefan suddenly finds himself in danger, help comes from a surprising ally. Back in Mystic Falls, a frustrating new enemy pushes Damon (Ian Somerhalder) over the brink and he lashes out in a way that will have lasting consequences. Caroline (Candice Accola) struggles with her own emotional issues, even as she tries to help Elena (Nina Dobrev) face her feelings. Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) makes a brief but disturbing breakthrough with one of his ghostly visitors, leaving him more confused than ever. Finally, Bonnie (Kat Graham) has a strange encounter that will affect everyone. Matt Davis also stars. Wendey Stanzler directed the episode written by Brian Young.
Vampire Diaries Review: 3:03 - "The End of The Affair"
Monday, 03 October 2011 22:25 | Last Updated on Monday, 03 October 2011 23:07 | | |
Wow, didn’t see that coming. Oh yes, “The End of The Affair” is an enjoyable hour of television, but it follows a drastically different formula that what we’ve gotten in the first two episodes of the season. You had to stick with it, wait for the slow unfolding story to deliver the payoff. When all was revealed, it was the equivalent of getting whacked in the melon with a two by four.
I have to admit, it took me a while to process this one. Good process of course. It’s another flashback episode, something that’s very ripe for a 164 year old vampire given the years of unknown backstory. This setting is quite different though than the stately visions of 1864 Virginia. It’s 1920’s Chicago, a time known for decadence and living loose. Stefan is a free wheeling vampire of stature who has adopted the finer tastes in nightlife. He hangs out in a speakeasy where tuxedoes are required and never ending champagne fountains are the norm, as well as the top notch entertainment from sultry singers named Gloria. It’s also a perfect place to shop for victims and Stefan fed pretty well in those days, earning the name of “The Ripper.” In modern day terms, he was a real douchebag.
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