TVD 3x22: "It's Mystic Falls. Nothing bad ever happens here." (Part I)
Hello, all. Remember me? I know this recap is so absurdly late that it's more than likely that no one cares anymore. Alas. This took me FOREVER to write, and I am damn well posting it, even if no one ever reads it. However, I am posting it in two parts, because I have officially reached the limit of what LJ will allow me to post in one entry. YEAH ( Read more... )
lol you. But actually, Stefan's face-touching here was legit obnoxious and even creepy to me. Because it's exactly the kind of thing he used to do when they were together. But they're not together here. They're barely even friends. WHY IS HE ACTING LIKE THEY ARE STILL TOGETHER AND IT'S HIS ~JOB TO BE HER EMOTIONAL ~CARETAKER. Ew.
And can we take a moment to think about how the second she leaves this house, she literally won't be able to come back? The next time she tries to enter Chez Gilbert, she will be physically barred, because she needs an invite.
:OOOOOOOOO
First of all, it's very typical of the way these two ships have been portrayed that this scene lacks the element of reckless abandon.
Oh, good point. Stefan's just not the "reckless abandon" type, lol. I mean, even comparing this scene to that 1x11 scene (Elena declaring her love and Stefan turning back and kissing her), this is a lot less romanticised? Which is to say, it doesn't bother me so much as it does you, because I do feel that it's being presented ambiguously. Elena does nothing to warrant Stefan kissing her. Not even anything like "I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here". She isn't giving out any emotional signals that speak of a desire for intimacy. (An unsure "Stefan…" does not count.) It's just another instance of Stefan being emotionally manipulative and pushing things to reaffirm his own significance in her life in her state of emotional vulnerability.
She's not outright rejecting him (of course she's not. For better or for worse, Elena does not know how to reject Stefan.).
SERIOUSLY. I just wrote this whole bit here about how this kiss is like Elena being afraid about pulling away from Stefan. ;\ With Damon, we HAVE seen her rejecting his advances in the past. Ergo, WE KNOW that when she leans into the kiss in 3x10, she does it because she wants to. Not because she owes him anything.
Yes to your whole analysis of their physicality. I mean, I could very well be biased too, but. That's how it was framed. That's how Nina chose to play it. And after everything that's happened between them, HOW COULD Elena POSSIBLY be comfortable with this kiss? Stefan's only really at the beginning of ~earning her trust back. It's way too soon, dude.
And most tellingly of all, after Stefan leaves, Elena looks guilty.
Agreed. Though I don't think that's really about Elena comparing her ~physical reaction to either brother, lol. I think it's more that she's guilty about what she's going to have to do to one or either brother. Stefan kisses her for the first time all season, they're on the verge of getting back together, and it's what she's been longing for since the start of the year - but now that the moment's finally here, she doesn't want it. And yes, it's because of Damon. There's a reason she calls him "the problem" between her and Stefan. After Stefan kisses her, i.e. gives her a physical confirmation of wanting to get back together, Elena should be over the moon (since he is her ~epic love and all), but instead the first person she thinks of is Damon. She really doesn't know what she wants anymore. THAT'S the problem.
All this to say that I really believe the show intentionally portrayed Stefan/Elena as lacking the physical and sexual chemistry that Damon/Elena so abounds in. I think a lot of people are frustrated that the show seems to intend to create such a sharp dichotomy between the two relationships, but alas, there it is.
lol. Yep. Obviously chemistry is subjective, but the show is clearly playing up D/E as the more sexually intense pairing, and that isn't subjective. I'm forming a theory about why that is, but I'll save it for the second part.
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Um, YES? THIS SO MUCH. Exact same reaction, dude. My eyebrows were waaaaaaay up here. The best explanation I can come up with is that Elena doesn't feel like she owes Stefan for the specific act of saving her life. But it seems plain to me that she DOES feel like she owes him (/their relationship) her commitment for the other part - for making her glad to be alive afterwards. Even if she doesn't couch it in terms of "owing", it doesn't really matter. She's indebted to him/their relationship for cementing her identity in the wake of her parents' deaths, and her own desires and opinions are secondary to that debt. And that's the identity she believes she SHOULD choose. Ergo, she has to choose him.
If they intend for us to believe Elena loves Stefan more than she loves Damon... then how could they be referring to Stefan as the person you should love - not necessarily the person you actually do love?
Because we shouldn't read the episode in terms of Elena choosing Stefan out of love. She loves him, indisputably so, but that's NOT the reason she chooses him. There's a significant difference.
A love that consumes you is something that can't be controlled, and if there's anything we know about Elena, it's that she doesn't like not being in control. So this description of her feelings for Damon did not seem like a positive thing to me.
OKAY OKAY I AM WITH YOU
Elena doesn't want to lose anyone else. It's the only thing she's absolutely sure of in this situation. So naturally, she will do whatever she can to avoid this outcome. And some choices involve more loss than others...
SYMPATICO AS ALWAYS, FRIEND
LOL FOREVER @ Matt just sitting there, looking miserable. He's basically thinking, "Well, this sucks hardcore for me." I just kept thinking of sun_sign's totally brilliant picture recap of 3x16 and the Matt/Elena scene, which reads "I'm in love with two people none of them are you." Oh, Matt.
HAHAHAHA RIGHT? I am growing fond of Matt. Wonders never cease.
Elena's ditched family night, and I must admit, this scenario is actually rather different than how I imagined it initially. I always thought Elena sort of snuck off and/or insisted upon going off and partying, but here it seems like she just sort of asked her parents if she could go to the bonfire instead and they happily said yes.
omg, THANK YOU. That part of the flashback was SUCH a disappointment to me. It was so tame! WHAT? STOP FUCKING WITH MY HEAD!CANON, SHOW.
Why would she be afraid to say that she didn't have feelings for the serial killer brother of her boyfriend? It doesn't make sense. The only thing that Elena would be scared to admit is that she does love Damon.
RIGHT? Unless the show wants us to think that Elena's afraid to admit that she really doesn't love Damon back so must therefore let him go and possibly lose him? I can accept that she doesn't love him back, but the way the show presents D/E in comparison to Matt/Elena makes this reading incoherent. VERY ODD INDEED.
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Oh no, I think Stefan's sincere here. He's been an emotionally manipulative douche lately, for sure, but shit has gotten real. They might be about to die. Time for bullshit is over. I think he really is being kind here.
I'm all for D/E, obviously, but this scene should have been about the Brothership.
SERIOUSLY. There was no reason there couldn't have been an epic Brothership goodbye scene, AND THEN the D/E angst. FFS.
can I pretend it's significant that Matt says he can "turn around and go back to Stefan?" Like, Elena would go back to Stefan?
HAHA BUT THERE WAS NO AMBIGUITY TO THIS? The metaphor was blatant. Elena can keep moving forwards (Damon) or go backwards (Stefan). This episode was heavy with the "journey" theme.
I'll discuss the actual choice later, but I think it's hugely important that Damon was on his own outside of town while everyone else was back in Mystic Falls.
UGH, YES. I actually think the use of space in this episode was brilliant. Especially with D/E and their transitory spaces (physical and metaphorical). Damon had to be the one removed from Elena's physical ~home. That's what he is to her. Everyone to her is "home" except for Damon. She meets him on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere, and THAT will forever be where they reside.
And it hurts. It just hurts, in this deep, relentless way… Nothing has changed. And yet he knows for sure that that stupid sliver of hope he allowed himself to hold on to is as foolish as he knew it was, and realizing that he set himself up for this despite everything is crushing.
AUUUUUUURGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHY WOULD YOU WRITE SUCH A PARAGRAPH AS THIS. I AM SITTING UNDER MY DESK AND PLAYING MIKA'S "HAPPY ENDING" ON REPEAT. YOU SEE WHAT YOU DO TO ME.
Elena starts talking about how she feels for Stefan, but the thing that strikes me here... is that she doesn't actually answer his question... She never really says who she would pick, all things being equal.
Agreed. It's why I don't get people reading this scene as Elena definitively saying she'll ~always love Stefan more, the end. She… isn't… saying that…
"Hey, I get it. It's Stefan. It's always gonna be Stefan."… And it's something he resents and loathes and rages against with all his being, but worst of all, he understands. Because he loves Stefan too.
AHHHHHHH YES. I love so hard that this is a line Elena said in the opening of S2, and here, two seasons later, Damon remembers it verbatim. WHERE IS A BUCKET FOR MY FEELINGS.
This is something gloriously wonderful about D/E. Elena has never felt responsible for Damon. Damon doesn't let Elena be his saviour. They are two individual people who need each other, but don't need each other to survive.
CO-FUCKING-SIGNED. This is everything - EVERYTHING - to me. They ALWAYS SURVIVE, Liz. Damon & Elena are about respecting each other's innate Aloneness.
If she chooses Stefan and he dies, she can live with herself. Nothing will change.
This. All of this. We are who we are, and we do what we (think we) have to do to survive. It's as simple as that.
(LOL THIS COMMENT IS ALREADY FOUR PARTS. ON TO PART TWO WE GO.)
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That said,
She meets him on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere, and THAT will forever be where they reside.
THIS might just be the single greatest D/E line ever.
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