Vampire Diaries | The Dinner Party drive by thoughts
Ha, sometimes, I love this show even with all my many problems (Tumblr knows). Drive by reactions while I'm on the train.
The womens are full of interesting on this show.
1. So did TVD just go all political on us or what? Elijah, "some say the descendants of slaves are the true keepers of history." Then we hear the true story about the 'founding' of Mystic Falls and the truth that these so-called Founding Families, didn't found shit at all. Instead, they probably came in and massacred the original founders who were witches from Salem, of which, Bonnie's ancestors may be a part ... since we know some of these Bennetts came from Salem years ago. Can it be??? Cultural and historical appropriation explicitly referred to on this show when we've been getting sly references of it from the very start but I figured they were too chicken shit to confront it openly? It makes everything about the Founding Families that much more sinister and real-world because we see this all the damn time in the world in which we live. Revisionism and appropriation - the abridged version; the 'other' narrative peeled back a little to reveal the nasty reality. They will probably forget it or not talk about it so openly again but damn, I love it.
P.S. Witches actually do own this town. I've been saying it for months but ha.
2. Also, Crying for Bonnie, because that was painful to watch her being violated and so thoroughly disempowered by Jonas like that. Really uncomfortable and it was meant to be but, tears. And the scene wasn't even that long.
3. Elena did some great things in this - basically no one should listen to the brothers' plans because they are almost always wrong. I like that she just negotiated some control for herself and her life with everyone (mens) trying to take that away from her - this episode was as much about reclamation as it was about loss for different characters. She's as wily as Katherine. I must say that I sometimes don't really understand Elena's thought processes, I can struggle to identify with her as a character but I loved her in this one, I liked her interactions with Stefan. They was conflict between them, yet they continued to talk it out and they're really such an interesting couple to watch. Loves. It was nice to see Elijah begging and seriously ruffled, possibly the first time we've seen that happen. Love that she was the one to kill Elijah. This show gets a lot wrong with the womens but I like that there was such a blatant subversion of 'traditional' heroic narratives and Alaric wasn't actually the hero of anything. More on him later.
4. Ben and Jerry. My heart. Guys, I ship it so hard, it's embarrassing. So in-character. I love how eager Jeremy is and so obvious and protective and awed by her. And Bonnie's often so oblivious to it and all focused on the spell and Jeremy's like, oh, my bad. I love it. I want to draw little hearts around it and kiss it to bits. Also, the channeling scene, I need fic of that because I see lots of channeling in their future with a bucket-load of kink tossed in. The sex will be amazing.
5. Stefan, I thought his story was a bit lost at sea in this episode. I understood why we had it; it was awesome to see Lexi; and that there was a 'lesson' embedded in it for Elena but it felt oddly out of sync and I wanted more. Except for the new mileage I got out of it in terms of the brothers and their relationship. Salvatores just got interesting again, this history between them, the co-dependency, the guilt, and the roles each of them plays in their relationship and how that's shifted and is constantly shifting. It can feel simplistic but there's room in there for cool stuffs. Also, Paul was so creepy with the girl playing the piano, "Snap, snap."
5b. Lexi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not enough show. Really not enough.
6. Elijah, he can't be dead forever. I refuse to believe it. Also, Daniel Gillies and his silent but violent hotness how did that happen. Remember when I used to call him Badwig McGee? I want to know why he's so desperate to kill Klaus, why he's allying with these particular witches, everything? Also, I don't usually go for younger woman, who?? When? Where? What? I want to know now.
7. Last week I said Alaric would be dead to me if I saw him openly acknowledging the nature of Damon and Andie's relationship and sitting idly by while it went on. He did that this week (and last week sort of as well). We are not on speaking terms.
8. Also, I didn't realize how much I cared about Jenna until I saw her nearly break in the face of all these lies. She doesn't deserve this and these people are stupid. I love her for walking away and not just trying to smooth things over or pretend like it's not happening.
9. Can these people who keep saying Bonnie's being stripped of her powers is something she deserves/she's useless anyway and all she can do is make candles flicker/the gang has got an 'upgrade' in Luka and Jonas which is not only false but a dumb thing to say/she should go die in a fire, actually stop. I hope we get follow-up on this and what it means for her to be powerless (or is she?) and she doesn't miss twenty episodes again or else it's back to me hating the shit out of this show. Again.
10. Uncle John is such an irl troll it's hilarious. I love him.
11. Katherine is free, bitches. Devious survivor to the end.
P.S. And Damon's facial expressions are just confusing, it's all crazy eyes and I can't tell if he's disgusted or lustful or happy or tired or energized or what. Please may he stop for the love of Moses.
12. Speaking of Damon. This Andie business is appalling, I find it hard to even bother to care what he's saying or doing. There are few things that can break me as a viewer, dubious consent and rape are two of them. I don't like this at all. It doesn't help that for some reason Andie (the Android) is actually characterized as a bit android-y. I know in that horrid interview KW and IS gave, they said something about how she had 'spunk' or 'personality' and yet she has none that I can see except for her being a journalist and asking questions every now and again and then promptly being told to shut up by Damon like she's a yipping dog or something. The whole proprietary thing he has with her. Yuck. All of it, just yuck.
P.S. But the glimpse of his past self was fascinating. I need a flashback to find out what broke him and made him turn to the dark side, or was it just increasing bitterness or boredom or Stefan?
13. I feel for Luka, not cool at all what happened to him last week - what Bonnie, Caro and Jeremy did to him. Just, no. And him and Jonas, I really feel for their plight, I like that the show never positions these characters predictably. I empathize for sure and their story in particular fill me with all sorts of righteous angry feelings about the way vampires use and abuse witches to meet their own ends. But yeah... I hope they don't die. How cool would it be if Bonnie helped them get Luka's sister back?
14. So, Lucy's coming back right? Because we need some Bennett back up in hurr.
15. This ep reminds me of Plan B except the pacing wasn't as good. Also the flashbacks just - I don't know, I feel Stefan's history deserved a good chunk of an episode but like I said earlier, it didn't seem to quite fit in here. Way too many moving parts in this one. The dinner party was also underwhelming. So basically, the witches, Elijah, Bonnie and Jeremy, most of Elena, and the good shots of Jenna saved it for me. The themes: dis-empowerment and loss, reclamation and more loss; what that means for identity; power and agency; men and women and ways in which we empower and take power away from each other; just so much to work with on this show sometimes - it can feel smarter than it actually is tbh.
16. Yeah, this show is full of some race/historical politics that really need to be dealt with. So much here and I can't help but feel now that it's deliberate. Fingers crossed we'll see something come of that.
Warning: for possible rape triggers and mention of rape in this post.