Vampire Diaries 30 day meme - Day 18
Day 18 - Your favorite friendship
I had to mull this one over in my mind for awhile before making my choice. I narrowed it down to 3 pairs of friends: Elena & Caroline, Stefan & Caroline, and Damon & Alaric before making my decision.
The process of how they became friends (or Team Bad-Ass as they are also known) is what drew me to them. Their journey was well played out: it started with Alaric wanting to kill Damon, to Damon killing Alaric, to them somehow working together to save Stefan, to them turning into real friends who will back each other up. I found this all to be intruiguing, genuine and became vested in them early on.
Let's start with the Alaric death scene that hints a little at Damon identifying with Alaric (over unrequited love):
www.youtube.com/watch
Maybe that's when the seed was planted that would eventually let these two be friends. Continuing on, the hostile antagonism is evident between them in Let the Right One In but Elena's plea makes Alaric consider helping them:
www.youtube.com/watch
By the end of this episode, Damon comments on how they make a good team, only to be punched in the face (for lying to Ric).
However, sometime in the next couple of episodes, things change enough that Alaric actually called Damon to share a lead with him (in Blood Brothers):
(thanks, arabian , for the use this video - hope you don't mind me "borrowing" it ;o)
www.youtube.com/watch
This leads to a field trip where they turn up nothing on Alaric's ex but do bond (amid some great banter). This is followed by more evidence of their growing comfort (and maybe even respect) with each other in Isobel:
"Sorry I'm late, the dog ate my ... never mind."
"Hell, you're a dick and you kill people, but I still see something human in you."
After this point, Ric is among the first ones that Damon goes to for help in several situations (tomb vamps on Founders Day, info about werewolves, and finally killing Katherine). Ric willing participates in all of these, albeit still with a little resentment.
What showed me how far their relationship had come was when Ric warns Damon to go home and lock the doors after their "recon scene turned bad" with Jules. Ric seems genuinely concerned about Damon's well being and Damon actually listened to Ric's advice.
Other factors in my choosing them include the brotherly chemistry they have going for them - Ian and Matt enjoy playing off each other and it shows through in their performance, and the way that Alaric calls Damon out when he's being a dick. The main reason is how they've overcome some big obstacles and did it in a real, believable fashion.
I hope we'll get a bunch more Team Bad-Ass action in the second half of season two.