More (better developed) thoughts on TVD The Descent
So now that I've had time to re-watch The Descent, I'm back to post again with some better developed thoughts. It took me longer than expected to write this, life kept getting in the way ;o)
The topics are in order of importance to me, so you know I'm going to lead off with Damon & Elena ;o)
This episode had plenty of screentime for my two favorite characters. Thank heavens for that after the lack thereof this season. In this episode, alot of the furthering of Elena & Damon was through other characters like Rose and Stefan.
I thought it was telling that Elena immediately went to Damon to talk Stefan out of seeing Isobel. I feel there is a division in Stefan and Elena's relationship as they do not respect each other's point of view anymore. They don't talk things out anymore, but rather Elena's first response is to go to Damon.
Rose was an excellent mirror - reflecting several key insights back to Elena & Damon:
"So much time wasted. I just wish I hadn't been so afraid." - this could be a metaphor for either Damon or Elena
"You're lucky, you know. No one has ever loved me the way that you are loved." - meant for Elena
"That's the worst part about it. The need to kill, first. The pleasure it brings you afterwards." - for Damon
"He wants to care, the minute he does, he runs away from it." - for Damon
"You need fight. I know that you're scared but you have to do it anyway." - for Elena
"Who'd a thought you'd be a nice guy?" - for Damon
"But you do. You've built a life whether you want to admit it or not. " - for Damon
All of these things were better received coming from Rose, I think. Rose also gave Elena the opportunity to see Damon in a different light. Witnessing Damon with her at the scene of her murderous rampage affected Elena. The look of concern on her face at the school seemed more for him than Rose. There's also the little but significant line that Elena says while in Damon's room for the first time - "It's just a room with a bed. Maybe I expected there to be silk sheets." It's great that Elena has had forethoughts about Damon's inner sanctum. I loved that our (the viewers) first real look at Damon's room is through Elena's eyes and the book Gone With The Wind is a great detail :o).
Then there is the interaction between Damon and Elena themselves. Damon's immediate concern for her at the boarding house, when she greets him with a stake. Also, his giving her his stake at the school was a significant gesture. These both showed how important Elena's safety is to him.
During the most intense DE scene, he tries only twice (a small number indeed for Damon) to deflect the touchy subject of how he's feeling about the Rose situation. The telling part was that as soon as Elena asks it of him, he gives in and speaks openly despite that it's fueling his raging, inner conflict. As an aside, it seems that Elena has started using Damon's deflection technique just a little. For example, when she says, "It's just a room with a bed." to Rose. This seems like something new to me.
Getting back to this great DE scene, several of Damon's lines are filled with subtext. Here is what I heard ...
"Go home, Elena. Get some rest. Tomorrow is a whole new day." Please leave because I can't keep it together in your presence.
"I'm well aware of that." and it is eating away at my newly-feeling heart.
"I'm not human." If I were, then I'd have a least a chance at being worthy of you.
I loved the awesome give and take between the two of them in this scene. Elena is so concerned for him and trying to help him become a better person. She's completely oblivious to how she's making his inner crisis so much worse. But even in the midst of that, Damon tries to bring home an important point:
"That's all you've done is give up."
The manner of delivery (turning her own words around) gives the neccessary weight to bring it home with her. I also believe that Elena hears it better, because it's coming from Damon. Her expression and the shaky breath that she exhaled shows it gave her pause.
Finally, Damon's face during the hug started with him trying to be stoic, then evolved into this heart-breakingly human and vulnerable expression. GAH!! My heart was bleeding for him. (This moment is actually GAH #2, there are more to come).
Moving on to the brilliance of Ian Somerhalder, he had such an emotional arc in this episode and his performace was phenomenal. Especially when you consider that he was still sick with walking pneumonia. There were 3 epic scenes and he nailed every single one of them. I like to call them GAH #1, 2, and 3, mostly because I'm at a loss for a word that accurately describes his ability to bring intense emotions across on screen.
GAH #1 was when he ends Rose's suffering. As he's preparing to stake her, we only see his face for an instant, but he shows such resignation and despair. Immediately following, his tortured expression, tears, then putting his chin on her head had me weeping. It was just so pure and intense.
GAH #3 was his existential crisis. His delivery of these lines:
"I can't be what she wants me to be." and "There's only so much hurt a man can take."
was simply amazing. Every single emotion that passed over his face was clear and powerful and GAH.
It boggles my mind the performances this man can give even when he's under the weather. Poor guy having to pick up Lauren Cohan and make it look easy.
It was great to see Elena thinking on the fly while being chased by Rose - moving the drapes, digging her nails into the wound, and making a stake. It shows how strong and resourceful she can be when the situation demands it.
I love Caroline and Tyler's chemistry. That moment after he says, "Look. I really want to thank you. I don't know what I would have done, if you hadn't been there" was simply adorable, and filled with possibility.
Matt definately gives the show the grounded, good-guy character, which it needs to balance all the supernatural, mix of good-and-bad characters.
Stefan's whole tone with Alaric was abrupt and felt kinda condescending (for want of a better word). Once again, Stefan has tunnel vision about Elena and no one else matters.
Jules needs to go away. I mean, taking the clothes of the campers you ate - EWWW and the very fake crying for the park ranger???? I have no use for this character.
To finish off, a couple of questions ...
Did anyone else think that Jessica bore a striking resemblance to Anne Hathaway?
Why didn't Damon high-tail it home after Elena left him the message? It seemed like she was holed up in his study for awhile before he got home.
The topics are in order of importance to me, so you know I'm going to lead off with Damon & Elena ;o)
This episode had plenty of screentime for my two favorite characters. Thank heavens for that after the lack thereof this season. In this episode, alot of the furthering of Elena & Damon was through other characters like Rose and Stefan.
I thought it was telling that Elena immediately went to Damon to talk Stefan out of seeing Isobel. I feel there is a division in Stefan and Elena's relationship as they do not respect each other's point of view anymore. They don't talk things out anymore, but rather Elena's first response is to go to Damon.
Rose was an excellent mirror - reflecting several key insights back to Elena & Damon:
"So much time wasted. I just wish I hadn't been so afraid." - this could be a metaphor for either Damon or Elena
"You're lucky, you know. No one has ever loved me the way that you are loved." - meant for Elena
"That's the worst part about it. The need to kill, first. The pleasure it brings you afterwards." - for Damon
"He wants to care, the minute he does, he runs away from it." - for Damon
"You need fight. I know that you're scared but you have to do it anyway." - for Elena
"Who'd a thought you'd be a nice guy?" - for Damon
"But you do. You've built a life whether you want to admit it or not. " - for Damon
All of these things were better received coming from Rose, I think. Rose also gave Elena the opportunity to see Damon in a different light. Witnessing Damon with her at the scene of her murderous rampage affected Elena. The look of concern on her face at the school seemed more for him than Rose. There's also the little but significant line that Elena says while in Damon's room for the first time - "It's just a room with a bed. Maybe I expected there to be silk sheets." It's great that Elena has had forethoughts about Damon's inner sanctum. I loved that our (the viewers) first real look at Damon's room is through Elena's eyes and the book Gone With The Wind is a great detail :o).
Then there is the interaction between Damon and Elena themselves. Damon's immediate concern for her at the boarding house, when she greets him with a stake. Also, his giving her his stake at the school was a significant gesture. These both showed how important Elena's safety is to him.
During the most intense DE scene, he tries only twice (a small number indeed for Damon) to deflect the touchy subject of how he's feeling about the Rose situation. The telling part was that as soon as Elena asks it of him, he gives in and speaks openly despite that it's fueling his raging, inner conflict. As an aside, it seems that Elena has started using Damon's deflection technique just a little. For example, when she says, "It's just a room with a bed." to Rose. This seems like something new to me.
Getting back to this great DE scene, several of Damon's lines are filled with subtext. Here is what I heard ...
"Go home, Elena. Get some rest. Tomorrow is a whole new day." Please leave because I can't keep it together in your presence.
"I'm well aware of that." and it is eating away at my newly-feeling heart.
"I'm not human." If I were, then I'd have a least a chance at being worthy of you.
I loved the awesome give and take between the two of them in this scene. Elena is so concerned for him and trying to help him become a better person. She's completely oblivious to how she's making his inner crisis so much worse. But even in the midst of that, Damon tries to bring home an important point:
"That's all you've done is give up."
The manner of delivery (turning her own words around) gives the neccessary weight to bring it home with her. I also believe that Elena hears it better, because it's coming from Damon. Her expression and the shaky breath that she exhaled shows it gave her pause.
Finally, Damon's face during the hug started with him trying to be stoic, then evolved into this heart-breakingly human and vulnerable expression. GAH!! My heart was bleeding for him. (This moment is actually GAH #2, there are more to come).
Moving on to the brilliance of Ian Somerhalder, he had such an emotional arc in this episode and his performace was phenomenal. Especially when you consider that he was still sick with walking pneumonia. There were 3 epic scenes and he nailed every single one of them. I like to call them GAH #1, 2, and 3, mostly because I'm at a loss for a word that accurately describes his ability to bring intense emotions across on screen.
GAH #1 was when he ends Rose's suffering. As he's preparing to stake her, we only see his face for an instant, but he shows such resignation and despair. Immediately following, his tortured expression, tears, then putting his chin on her head had me weeping. It was just so pure and intense.
GAH #3 was his existential crisis. His delivery of these lines:
"I can't be what she wants me to be." and "There's only so much hurt a man can take."
was simply amazing. Every single emotion that passed over his face was clear and powerful and GAH.
It boggles my mind the performances this man can give even when he's under the weather. Poor guy having to pick up Lauren Cohan and make it look easy.
It was great to see Elena thinking on the fly while being chased by Rose - moving the drapes, digging her nails into the wound, and making a stake. It shows how strong and resourceful she can be when the situation demands it.
I love Caroline and Tyler's chemistry. That moment after he says, "Look. I really want to thank you. I don't know what I would have done, if you hadn't been there" was simply adorable, and filled with possibility.
Matt definately gives the show the grounded, good-guy character, which it needs to balance all the supernatural, mix of good-and-bad characters.
Stefan's whole tone with Alaric was abrupt and felt kinda condescending (for want of a better word). Once again, Stefan has tunnel vision about Elena and no one else matters.
Jules needs to go away. I mean, taking the clothes of the campers you ate - EWWW and the very fake crying for the park ranger???? I have no use for this character.
To finish off, a couple of questions ...
Did anyone else think that Jessica bore a striking resemblance to Anne Hathaway?
Why didn't Damon high-tail it home after Elena left him the message? It seemed like she was holed up in his study for awhile before he got home.