The Downside of Taking Stimulants: A TVD Re-Watch Liveblog
So it's seven in the morning and I'm completely wired. I haven't even been to bed yet. So let's re-watch The Vampire Diaries and quasi-liveblog it!
This turned into a recap with commentary! Yay commentary!
- Matty setting off the senior prank. HIL-arious! You can see the disappointment on Caroline's face. "We ruined the good surprise on you!" What movie is that line from? Loving Caroline's Senior Speech. As someone who spent their senior year depressed and at a nightmare high school, she's kinda right. I have no good memories of my senior year. I miss what might have been had I been well. I want what my sister has - but we won't go there, because that's where this trigger thing started to begin with
- And there's Klaus. Brilliant entrance. We already know Elena's in trouble, so we cut to --
- Damon and Katherine on their little road trip. Katherine tries to manipulate Damon, but he's not having none of it. Witty banter, sexual tension. So good to see these two together. Very much the funTP
- Stefan and Rebekah are chatting about Klaus and Elena, and Rebekah is PISSED.
- So is KLAUS. And he is magnificently angry.
- Damon and Katherine park at a roadstop, with Damon forcing Katherine's hand. The necklace is important, but Katherine's real treat is in the trunk - trussed up, knocked out, Jeremy Gilbert makes an appearance this episode. Damon's unimpressed "Jeremy? Really?" was priceless.
- Caroline and Tyler worrying about Matty. So cute! They're like sunshine and rainbows in the middle of a storm. FYI: MVP this episode was Matty, so he'll get a lot of love from me.
- And up walks Rebekah to rain on the parade. Bitch off between Rebekah and Caroline!
- Cut to Bonnie and Matty TP'ing the pool, where they have a heart to heart about Jeremy seeing Vicki. Matty's hurting, and he and Bonnie reminisce about the good old days. Matty's the only normal one left, and he commiserates with Bonnie over that fact.
- Matty goes to get more TP, and Vicki tries to contact him via bathroom stall graffiti. She wants to talk to him so bad. It's rather sweet. Don't know which one of you said it (aerintine? ever_neutral? eowyn_315?) but this is at it's best a show about families, and Matty's lost all of his family.
- Bonnie enters the gym where Klaus is holding Elena while tormenting two random kids. Klaus says Bonnie started the problem, Bonnie's gotta fix it, just as Rebekah comes on the scene with Tyler in tow. Klaus is gonna try to make himself a hybrid right here, right now, and Bonnie's the one who has to save Tyler and make him a real hybrid. Klaus feeds Tyler his blood then kills him. Then he has a brilliant grin while everyone just looks horrified. Knock that one out of the park, Klaus. Knock it out of the park.
- Meanwhile, Stefan wakes from the iron-stake induced stupor Rebekah put him in.
- Klaus explains his nefarious plan for those of us (me) too dim to pick it up. Bonnie and Elena share a telling look, as if Bonnie's asking Elena what she should do. Elena has a lot of untapped leadership skills somewhere in there, I think.
- Bonnie and Matty discuss how to contact the dead and get the info they need. They need someone who can talk with the dead. They need . . .
- . . . Jeremy, who is at Katherine and Damon's dubious mercy. Katherine's got a plan - Pearl knows how to kill Klaus, Pearl told Anna, and Jeremy can see Anna, so he can get the information for Kat and Damon. Jeremy takes being kidnapped by two vampires rather well. Nothing fazes this kid.
- Back in the gym, Stefan makes an appearance - he's come to pledge his loyalty to Klaus. Klaus decides to test him - he tells Stefan to kill Boy 1 and Girl 1 in front of Elena. It's when Klaus hits Elena that Stefan gets all angry. So Klaus does the reasonable thing, and the writers take a cop-out: Klaus compels Stefan to obey. This is problematic because it takes away any agency Stefan has in his downward spiral. Like everyone's said, it's Angel/Angelus all over again. Now we're gonna have to deal with obnoxious Stelena fans who won't allow Stefan to take any of the blame, just like certain Bangels insist Angel and Angelus are two different people and Angel isn't culpable for Angelus' crimes. But Spike and Damon will be guilty forevermore and will always have epithets like "rapist" attached to their name. It's keeping Stefan squeaky clean so that he can remain the romantic hero, and I like Stefan. I don't want to get a hang up about him like I have for Angel. Anyway, Paul Wesley's FACE during this scene is brilliant. It's the writers we're mad at, not Stefan himself.
- Boy 1 and Girl 1 are killed by Stefan the Ripper. Elena is horrified.
- Meanwhile, at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, Katherine teases Jeremy with "teenybopper drama" about Bonnie. Anna refuses to talk to Katherine and Damon, so Damon gives Jeremy a concussion and tries again with Anna. This time she says the name Michael, who's a vampire who kills other vampires, and that they'd be idiots to wake him. Katherine and Damon get ready to head out.
- Caroline wakes up to Rebekah playing with her phone. "Where's Tyler?" "He's dead-ish". Bratty Rebekah FTW! Rebekah sees a pic of Elena wearing the necklace and gets royally pissed.
- Rebekah storms the gym and attacks Elena because of the necklace. Best line: "NICK, MAKE HER GIVE ME BACK MY NECKLACE!" She takes a chunk out of Elena's neck in the process of whining to her brother. Klaus decides to put a timer on Bonnie to get her to hurry up, and the ticking clock is on: if Bonnie doesn't find the cure for the hybrids in 20 minutes, Stefan's gonna feed on Elena.
- Matty and Bonnie make plans to look for Jeremy, but someone's left a trail of Matty's clothes leading to the pool. It's Vicki, trying to get through to Matty via ghosty text message. Matty's gonna do something crazy - he's gonna kill himself to see Vicki, then rely on Bonnie's CPR skills to resuscitate him. And there he goes . . . into the pool with a weight around his waist. Matty, nooo!
- Bonnie races through the school to get to Matty.
- Back with Katherine and Damon. They're debating whether or not to go after Michael. Damon snatches his phone from Katherine, and finds out Bonnie's been texting Damon. Throughout all the chaos, Bonnie had time to send a text message to Damon. Who she hates. But smart girl, isn't she, because someone has to be the cavalry, right? Damon goes back after Klaus. "You're gonna get yourself killed," Katherine says. "The Damon I remember wouldn't have been that stupid." "I wouldn't have done it for you." Katherine Pierce, eat your heart out.
- Bonnie is trying to get Matty back - in wherever ghosts are, Vicki tells Matty that he has to give Bonnie a message - and Bonnie resuscitates Matty.
- Stefan and Elena are having it out about Stefan not being able to resist compulsion. Stefan insists that when the buzzer goes off, he'll rip her throat out, but Elena believes he can resist it. "You'll fight because after everything we've been through you owe me that." Good line, Elena. Let love conquer all.
- Caroline cries over Tyler, who awakens from his death-sleep only to be informed he's gonna die if Bonnie isn't successful.
- Matty and Bonnie come to the realization that the only way to save Tyler might be to kill Elena. Klaus is okay with this.
- Time's up! Stefan yells at Elena to run because the compulsion's about to make him go berserk. He tries to fight the compulsion, but decides to stake himself instead of ripping out Elena's neck. Klaus tells Stefan to turn off his emotions, and Stefan refuses, so Klaus has to compel him to. (Stupid writer cop-out!) Klaus tempts the turned-off Stefan to gorge himself on Elena's blood. Blackout.
- Klaus comes to Tyler with Elena's blood. We don't know what happened to Elena, but Tyler drinks the blood and Tyler has a fit before fully transforming into a hybrid.
- We next see Elena in the hospital, where Klaus is draining her of her blood.
- Rebekah asks Klaus how he knew it was the doppelganger's blood that worked to turn the hybrids. He tells her that the original witch hated him, so he decided to do the opposite of what she told Bonnie to do. "A thousand years dead and she's still screwing with you," says Rebekah. Klaus just doesn't want to be alone.
- Crazy eyed Damon comes upon Klaus, and mentions the name Michael as leverage against Klaus. And Damon goes into the hospital to "rescue" Elena, but they both know he's too late, and they both have to live with that.
-Caroline and Tyler share a happy moment together, which doesn't bode well for their future.
- While Bonnie reassures Matty that he's important even if he isn't supernatural. And I'm totally shipping him with Bonnie. Matty asks for a minute to say goodbye to Vicki. And he can see her. It's a sweet sibling moment.
- Elena sees that Stefan is really gone this time, and she accuses Damon of not being there when she needed him. Damon promises to be there next time.
- And Stefan walks in on their moment without saying a word about their closeness. Turned-off Stefan is there to babysit Damon and Elena for Klaus, and the complications abound.
Overall, that was one excellent ensemble episode. Everybody was working on the same plot thread, everyone had a part to play, even my Matty. Next week should be interesting with turned-off guardian Stefan harassing Elena.
This turned into a recap with commentary! Yay commentary!
- Matty setting off the senior prank. HIL-arious! You can see the disappointment on Caroline's face. "We ruined the good surprise on you!" What movie is that line from? Loving Caroline's Senior Speech. As someone who spent their senior year depressed and at a nightmare high school, she's kinda right. I have no good memories of my senior year. I miss what might have been had I been well. I want what my sister has - but we won't go there, because that's where this trigger thing started to begin with
- And there's Klaus. Brilliant entrance. We already know Elena's in trouble, so we cut to --
- Damon and Katherine on their little road trip. Katherine tries to manipulate Damon, but he's not having none of it. Witty banter, sexual tension. So good to see these two together. Very much the funTP
- Stefan and Rebekah are chatting about Klaus and Elena, and Rebekah is PISSED.
- So is KLAUS. And he is magnificently angry.
- Damon and Katherine park at a roadstop, with Damon forcing Katherine's hand. The necklace is important, but Katherine's real treat is in the trunk - trussed up, knocked out, Jeremy Gilbert makes an appearance this episode. Damon's unimpressed "Jeremy? Really?" was priceless.
- Caroline and Tyler worrying about Matty. So cute! They're like sunshine and rainbows in the middle of a storm. FYI: MVP this episode was Matty, so he'll get a lot of love from me.
- And up walks Rebekah to rain on the parade. Bitch off between Rebekah and Caroline!
- Cut to Bonnie and Matty TP'ing the pool, where they have a heart to heart about Jeremy seeing Vicki. Matty's hurting, and he and Bonnie reminisce about the good old days. Matty's the only normal one left, and he commiserates with Bonnie over that fact.
- Matty goes to get more TP, and Vicki tries to contact him via bathroom stall graffiti. She wants to talk to him so bad. It's rather sweet. Don't know which one of you said it (aerintine? ever_neutral? eowyn_315?) but this is at it's best a show about families, and Matty's lost all of his family.
- Bonnie enters the gym where Klaus is holding Elena while tormenting two random kids. Klaus says Bonnie started the problem, Bonnie's gotta fix it, just as Rebekah comes on the scene with Tyler in tow. Klaus is gonna try to make himself a hybrid right here, right now, and Bonnie's the one who has to save Tyler and make him a real hybrid. Klaus feeds Tyler his blood then kills him. Then he has a brilliant grin while everyone just looks horrified. Knock that one out of the park, Klaus. Knock it out of the park.
- Meanwhile, Stefan wakes from the iron-stake induced stupor Rebekah put him in.
- Klaus explains his nefarious plan for those of us (me) too dim to pick it up. Bonnie and Elena share a telling look, as if Bonnie's asking Elena what she should do. Elena has a lot of untapped leadership skills somewhere in there, I think.
- Bonnie and Matty discuss how to contact the dead and get the info they need. They need someone who can talk with the dead. They need . . .
- . . . Jeremy, who is at Katherine and Damon's dubious mercy. Katherine's got a plan - Pearl knows how to kill Klaus, Pearl told Anna, and Jeremy can see Anna, so he can get the information for Kat and Damon. Jeremy takes being kidnapped by two vampires rather well. Nothing fazes this kid.
- Back in the gym, Stefan makes an appearance - he's come to pledge his loyalty to Klaus. Klaus decides to test him - he tells Stefan to kill Boy 1 and Girl 1 in front of Elena. It's when Klaus hits Elena that Stefan gets all angry. So Klaus does the reasonable thing, and the writers take a cop-out: Klaus compels Stefan to obey. This is problematic because it takes away any agency Stefan has in his downward spiral. Like everyone's said, it's Angel/Angelus all over again. Now we're gonna have to deal with obnoxious Stelena fans who won't allow Stefan to take any of the blame, just like certain Bangels insist Angel and Angelus are two different people and Angel isn't culpable for Angelus' crimes. But Spike and Damon will be guilty forevermore and will always have epithets like "rapist" attached to their name. It's keeping Stefan squeaky clean so that he can remain the romantic hero, and I like Stefan. I don't want to get a hang up about him like I have for Angel. Anyway, Paul Wesley's FACE during this scene is brilliant. It's the writers we're mad at, not Stefan himself.
- Boy 1 and Girl 1 are killed by Stefan the Ripper. Elena is horrified.
- Meanwhile, at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, Katherine teases Jeremy with "teenybopper drama" about Bonnie. Anna refuses to talk to Katherine and Damon, so Damon gives Jeremy a concussion and tries again with Anna. This time she says the name Michael, who's a vampire who kills other vampires, and that they'd be idiots to wake him. Katherine and Damon get ready to head out.
- Caroline wakes up to Rebekah playing with her phone. "Where's Tyler?" "He's dead-ish". Bratty Rebekah FTW! Rebekah sees a pic of Elena wearing the necklace and gets royally pissed.
- Rebekah storms the gym and attacks Elena because of the necklace. Best line: "NICK, MAKE HER GIVE ME BACK MY NECKLACE!" She takes a chunk out of Elena's neck in the process of whining to her brother. Klaus decides to put a timer on Bonnie to get her to hurry up, and the ticking clock is on: if Bonnie doesn't find the cure for the hybrids in 20 minutes, Stefan's gonna feed on Elena.
- Matty and Bonnie make plans to look for Jeremy, but someone's left a trail of Matty's clothes leading to the pool. It's Vicki, trying to get through to Matty via ghosty text message. Matty's gonna do something crazy - he's gonna kill himself to see Vicki, then rely on Bonnie's CPR skills to resuscitate him. And there he goes . . . into the pool with a weight around his waist. Matty, nooo!
- Bonnie races through the school to get to Matty.
- Back with Katherine and Damon. They're debating whether or not to go after Michael. Damon snatches his phone from Katherine, and finds out Bonnie's been texting Damon. Throughout all the chaos, Bonnie had time to send a text message to Damon. Who she hates. But smart girl, isn't she, because someone has to be the cavalry, right? Damon goes back after Klaus. "You're gonna get yourself killed," Katherine says. "The Damon I remember wouldn't have been that stupid." "I wouldn't have done it for you." Katherine Pierce, eat your heart out.
- Bonnie is trying to get Matty back - in wherever ghosts are, Vicki tells Matty that he has to give Bonnie a message - and Bonnie resuscitates Matty.
- Stefan and Elena are having it out about Stefan not being able to resist compulsion. Stefan insists that when the buzzer goes off, he'll rip her throat out, but Elena believes he can resist it. "You'll fight because after everything we've been through you owe me that." Good line, Elena. Let love conquer all.
- Caroline cries over Tyler, who awakens from his death-sleep only to be informed he's gonna die if Bonnie isn't successful.
- Matty and Bonnie come to the realization that the only way to save Tyler might be to kill Elena. Klaus is okay with this.
- Time's up! Stefan yells at Elena to run because the compulsion's about to make him go berserk. He tries to fight the compulsion, but decides to stake himself instead of ripping out Elena's neck. Klaus tells Stefan to turn off his emotions, and Stefan refuses, so Klaus has to compel him to. (Stupid writer cop-out!) Klaus tempts the turned-off Stefan to gorge himself on Elena's blood. Blackout.
- Klaus comes to Tyler with Elena's blood. We don't know what happened to Elena, but Tyler drinks the blood and Tyler has a fit before fully transforming into a hybrid.
- We next see Elena in the hospital, where Klaus is draining her of her blood.
- Rebekah asks Klaus how he knew it was the doppelganger's blood that worked to turn the hybrids. He tells her that the original witch hated him, so he decided to do the opposite of what she told Bonnie to do. "A thousand years dead and she's still screwing with you," says Rebekah. Klaus just doesn't want to be alone.
- Crazy eyed Damon comes upon Klaus, and mentions the name Michael as leverage against Klaus. And Damon goes into the hospital to "rescue" Elena, but they both know he's too late, and they both have to live with that.
-Caroline and Tyler share a happy moment together, which doesn't bode well for their future.
- While Bonnie reassures Matty that he's important even if he isn't supernatural. And I'm totally shipping him with Bonnie. Matty asks for a minute to say goodbye to Vicki. And he can see her. It's a sweet sibling moment.
- Elena sees that Stefan is really gone this time, and she accuses Damon of not being there when she needed him. Damon promises to be there next time.
- And Stefan walks in on their moment without saying a word about their closeness. Turned-off Stefan is there to babysit Damon and Elena for Klaus, and the complications abound.
Overall, that was one excellent ensemble episode. Everybody was working on the same plot thread, everyone had a part to play, even my Matty. Next week should be interesting with turned-off guardian Stefan harassing Elena.