TVD 3x11: All you have to do is get Stefan to stop decapitating my friends.

[dante_kent]

After a week of waiting eagerly for a new TVD episode, I somehow allowed myself to pass out on the long-awaited Thursday evening, figuring that I could postpone the gratification and watch the new episode on Friday night instead.

MISTAKE.

For one, I had to avoid the internet all day. It is embarrassing how much of my internet-related doings are TVD

Comments

part two.

[ever_neutral]

Ooh, the force-feeding in this episode was more of a callback to the first time Damon did it to Elena back in S1, IMO. That was more of a collateral damage situation than the 2x20 incident, which really was abuse in the name of love, as opposed to THIS. Which, omfg, this: He feeds Elena his blood as part of his plan, but hell if there isn't the tiniest part of him that believes that this is the way to have his forever with Elena. -- LKDJFSDFS;F. It's like punishing her for telling him she DIDN'T want to be with him forever. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT MY EMOTIONS ARE DOING.

AMEN to all your Elena/Stefan thoughts. I will never get tired of Elena just RAGING at Stefan, all illusions shattered. And heh, it's weird that Damon/Elena should be any sort of model for any other r/ship, but. I kind of love that this persistent disillusionment and persistent love is something D+E have already mastered. OUR KIDS ARE THE BEST LOL.

More than anything, he doesn't understand how anyone could love any version of himself other than the Stefan-approved Hero version… So he takes away any opportunity she has to make her own choice (guys, THIS THEME, IT IS EVERYWHERE).

I CANNOT WITH YOUR BEAUTIFUL MIND. And it's so INTERESTING that he's always done this. See: the numerous scenes in S1 where he tries to walk away in order to protect her (from himself). It's an amusing inverse of Damon's MO, i.e. knowing full well that Elena is probably better off without him, but not really giving a fuck (except on his deathbed).

Because it doesn't matter what Elena thinks of all this. Stefan has made his mind up. The only person who thinks Stefan can't come back from this is Stefan. But he's the only person whose opinion really matters.

UGH, YES. MY WHOLE HEART. It is fucking predictable that this season is of course when I understand Stefan best, lmao. There's a lot of talk about how Stefan has "become Damon", and obviously that's not true -- but this self-destructive thought process? This is exactly how Damon works. It does not matter shit what other people think of Damon, because HE knows the truth: He's an unworthy, undeserving piece of shit, and nothing will change that. Not people's hatred, nor their love. Which is, of course, why Damon is the only person who can get through to Stefan now. IT HAS TO BE HIM.

Haha, don't worry about not SHIPPING shipping Elena/Stefan. I mean. There's no danger right now of them overtaking D/E in emotional investment for me, because I've been invested in the D/E dysfunction for at least a season and a half, whereas S/E has only gotten me emotionally this season.

Yes to the beauty of the Caroline/Klaus scene. Despite the lulz. It was a legit beautifully written, fascinating scene, and Joseph sold the hell out of it.

Because Klaus, this megalomaniacal psychopathic super villain, is giving her one. He does what Katherine didn't, what no one ever really did - he gives her the choice to live like this.

I sort of have to LOL @ Klaus here, because he's the one who's responsible for Caroline dying in the first place. LOL Klaus.

lol, there's a lot of TVD/Dawson's Creek talk, hey. I never watched the latter, but I hear things.

part three: this part is just shameless damon/elena talk, basically.

[ever_neutral]

Did anyone else have trouble understanding what Elena said in the "You can't kiss me again" line? … I was all "I KNOW I LOVE THIS SCENE. I'm just not entirely sure what's going on."

ME TOO. Nina's delivery was fucking cute, but also a bit incomprehensible on first listen. But omg, I love how emotional and vulnerable she got with that line. My heart exploded.

It's basically the D/E tagline: Not yet. Someday, who knows what day. But not yet.

UGHHHHH, WHY MUST YOU PULL MY FEELS FROM MY PERSON. And yes to the anti-soulmates thing. These two are so the antithesis of that. They've never fitted perfectly, they were never meant to happen, but man, idk. SOMETHING. Probably just chemistry, lol. It's like they happened DESPITE the universe's best efforts to stop it. They are simultaneously impossible and inevitable. TOO MUCH WAXING POETIC? idec. I'm in a fucking great mood today, lol.

Also, shameless shipper moment: "The girl who didn't fall in love with vampires." Vampires. Plural. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, ELENA.

lol. A slip of the tongue, no doubt. I don't think Elena's in love with Damon right now, but she knows she's headed in that direction and that it will be terrible, so.

On the topic of being more invested in D/E despite my huge interest in S/E… Can I offer my perspective? I think I've figured it out. It's the way that D/E are constructed, in comparison to S/E. It's that disillusionment/lack of delusions/brutal honesty about the other person that they've always had, and that S/E is only just now starting to achieve - I am fascinated by the breakdown of S/E here, but I RELATE with D/E better. I relate with their frustrated, pessimistic selves when they're around each other. Plus: Damon and Elena are legit friends. As close as Stefan and Elena were… there was no (solid) basis of friendship there, because look how hard they've disintegrated after the romantic love failed to be enough. Stefan is unambiguously Elena's first choice for a romantic partner, but I am pretty certain that she KNOWS Damon better.

THAT SAID. My emotions are receptive to them both. I went right from ugly creying over S/E to squish-squish feelings at D/E on the porch. So.

shameless damon/elena talk is THE BEST talk.

[dante_kent]

But omg, I love how emotional and vulnerable she got with that line. My heart exploded.

MINE TOO. Once I understood it, obviously. She sounds so pleading - she's not laying down the law, she's asking, because she knows if he kisses her, she'll kiss him back. CAN'T EVEN I AM DYING I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

It's like they happened DESPITE the universe's best efforts to stop it.

THIS IS THE REASON I WILL DIE WITH THIS SHIP. It shouldn't exist, it shouldn't work - but it does. They can't help themselves with each other. NEVER ENOUGH WAXING POETIC WITH THESE TWO.

EVERYTHING THAT YOU SAY about D/E vs. S/E. Absolutely everything. The varying timelines of the two relationships are the reason I can actually understand D/E working in any fashion - Elena fell in love with Stefan before she really knew him (I'm not sure she even knows him now), but she knew all the worst parts of Damon before she even thought of having feelings for him. Everything that happens between them is fully informed and completely fair. They've seen each other at their very worst, and if they can still love each other, then, well. Need I even repeat that I will die with this ship?

Also, YESx1000000 to Damon and Elena being friends. Stefan and Elena can't exist without being in love, but Damon and Elena will be connected in some way no matter what. Their relationship is beyond their control, and it's something they're stuck with, for better or for worse. Brb, DYING.

Stefan is unambiguously Elena's first choice for a romantic partner, but I am pretty certain that she KNOWS Damon better.

I need to create some sort of short hand for "I literally couldn't agree with you more you brilliant fool you," because I want to say it too often. But ILCAWYMYBFY hardly seems like an improvement.

[ever_neutral]

But ILCAWYMYBFY hardly seems like an improvement.

LOL. ~squish squish~

I want to clarify something. Because I was reading my comment just now and thinking I might have been too critical about Elena/Stefan or Elena. The thing is, I actually think Elena does understand Stefan pretty well. Like. They did manage to have a functional relationship for a year for reasons. So, I think there are a lot of things about Stefan that Elena probably knows better than most people, and in some respects she DOES in fact know him better than Damon. (Like... what's on Stefan's iPod, and shit. I'm being facetious, but not really. It's the little things that make an intimate relationship.) Plus, her friendship with Damon was really strained in S2, so it's not like they were hanging out all the time and sharing music and crap.

But when I say that Elena "knows" Damon better, it's what you described here: she knew all the worst parts of Damon before she even thought of having feelings for him. -- Yes. She has never had the opportunity to NOT see him, because he point blank refuses to hide from her in that way. E.g. standing before her with his mouth bloody in 3x04 (and that's not the only episode). It's Elena's familiarity with Damon's dark ugly side that leads me to remark that she "knows Damon better". It's a different kind of "knowing" than the normative thing that she had with Stefan. Actually, seeing is probably a better word for it. She SEES Damon, and Damon sees her, and romantic illusions have no say in the matter.

/babble babble babble

[dante_kent]

I get what you mean, friend, and I am with you. I'm a rather strange die-hard D/E shipper, because while I will never, never waver from my OTP, I get really enraged when people try to bash S/E. I find myself wanting to defend them. I HATE it when people try to invalidate their relationship because Stefan was not totally honest with her. I'm not thrilled with how much he withheld, but it doesn't make the relationship any less real. Elena didn't fall in love with Stefan because she thought he was human. Granted, we don't know how she would have felt had she known absolutely everything about him, but her attraction to Stefan was about him as a person - she was drawn to him. They fall in love, maybe partially because they don't know the whole truth about each other, but that doesn't change the fact that they DID fall in love. That's what I find so interesting about the breakdown of their relationship - they were in love, and now they're dealing with it, because even if it shouldn't have happened, it did.

And everything you say +100 about Elena knowing them both in different ways. She has a greater understanding of Damon's character. She will always know why he does what he does. But she knows who Stefan wants to be and how hard he tries, and that's terribly important too.

AND SHE CAN MAKE MIX TAPES FOR STEFAN, AND THAT IS THE DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF TRUE LOVE. (No joke, though, the instant way to my heart is playing me Mumford & Sons songs. #things you didn't see in the pilot that probably still happened)

Re: part two.

[dante_kent]

The similarity to the S1 Damon force-feeding has been pointed out to me a few times now, and it's very true. I just forget about so many S1 things because my S1 watching has been so shamefully disjointed and incomplete. WHERE DID THE SHAME IN THIS BAR COME FROM???

It's like punishing her for telling him she DIDN'T want to be with him forever.

THIS SO MUCH THIS. Season 1&2 Stefan would never admit to Elena that he hates her a little for not choosing him. This Stefan takes what he wants, and all versions of Stefan will reap the benefits.

I kind of love that this persistent disillusionment and persistent love is something D+E have already mastered.

DYING. MY OTP FOREVER.

asdfghjkl;///// for Stefan always walking away while Damon always forces the issue. I think it's because Stefan knows that he CAN have what he wants. Everyone always chooses Stefan. Damon can push and push because he knows deep down that it will never work, while Stefan tries to escape because he knows if he pushes it WILL work. The second these truths cease to be, both boys implode. I can't even with these beautiful miserable brothers.

I intellectually ship Stefan/Elena...sort of. But my heart will always belong to D/E.

Oh, Klaroline. When I wrote my recap I was all wrapped up in the scene itself, and then when I gave it a few hours and read everyone else's recaps I realized how fucking random and weird the scene was. It's still completely gorgeous, but it's also so out of the blue and WTF, and basically this has become my canon crack!ship forever and ever. ALL MY TRIPPY LOVE.

Dawson's Creek is a whole clusterfuck of inexplicable writing, and thank GOD KW and JP have gotten so much better through the years. For the most part, the show was a mess, but Pacey Witter is a thing of beauty, so I can forgive them (somewhat) for the years and years of questionable decisions, plotlines, and characters.