TVD 3.15 All My Children
This time around, I decided to make my rounds first and do a re-watch of the episode before posting. Part of my reason for doing that was the emotional turmoil I found myself in last week. I thought this process would allow me to come from a better place.
The thing that I enjoyed most was the return of snarky, quick-witted & tongued Damon. As much as I love his emotional, tender, soft-hearted side, it felt good to have him take a step back, become just detached enough and have him be able to give Elena what for. I think that's exactly the Damon to make her realize she's been taking him for granted and just how much she wants to rely on his never-changing love for her. That will lead her to finally see how much she actually loves him.
Also highly enjoyable was how telling Elena's reactions were. I'm so glad the show did not go for the obvious jealousy, rather they had her stay completely in character by having her exhibit her I-was-wrong-and-do-not-know-how-to-act side. Her repeated attempts at reaching him showed how much she cared about having him upset with her. I believe she called Stefan mostly as a means to find out if Damon was okay, and a little to tell him again that she didn't want Elijah to go down with the rest of his sibling. Most of all, the look on her face when she's greeting by Damon & Rebekah, her tone of voice, and her immediately thinking that Damon was lashing out was her I-was-wrong-and-do-not-know-how-to-act side in full force giving us a clear view of her jealousy. Add to that her girl chat with her 2 BFFs and I totally see that Elena is jealous of the fact that Damon has pulled back. She may not be ready to admit the depth of her feelings for him, but she's definitely exhibiting (as badboy_fangirl so eloquently put it) 'Typical Crazy Girlfriend Behavior'.
Another thing that made me happy, and somewhat related to this, was Damon & Stefan's interactions. All their scenes were based in the brothers' knowledge of each other, their effectiveness when they work together, Damon's desire to spare Stefan more guilt, and Stefan's ability to see through Damon.
I did want to smack Stefan when his superiority complex showed up, but at least that's consistent with the Stefan I know. Damon's belief that he was unable to win her fair and square just makes me sad. When he said, "I do." I added in my head "but it doesn't change anything". I just wanted to snuggle Damon after that and try to convince him that he's not right. Ian's performance in that whole scene was just perfection and melted my heart (once again). Here's a link: http://youtu.be/45m6oUS-6fY
Next, I have to voice my delight in Caroline. I love her to pieces and in this episode I enjoyed her a great deal. The expressions on her face in Bonnie's bedroom were lovely. Exhibit A:
Her playing Klaus, while he was playing her was delightful. She was excellent as a distraction and I loved Klaus' "Isn't she stunning?". She gets so many girl-points for her "Just to be clear. I'm too smart to be seduced by you." She is just made of awesome sauce <3! Besides that, she is totally hot in this scene. Exhibit B:
Random stuff:
[*] How perfect was the opening song 'Poison & Wine' by The Civil Wars?? This show sure has a knack for fitting appropriate music to scenes.
[*] Bonnie does seem to be the one that always get caught in the crossfire. I do feel bad for her.
[*] Good for Elijah for taking ownership of the idea that although their mother was responsible for making them vampires, each of them turned themselves into monsters. I'm a little confused about the whole drinking human blood idea. Esther seemed to be suggesting that it was her children's choice to do that. Did she not make it a part of her spell? Why would they choose to be dependant on human blood if they didn't need to? It seems no condition or rule of the supernatural has any kind of permanence on this show (which is to be expected in a TV series).
[*] I love that the Originals way of speaking denotes the length of time they have inhabited this planet.
[*] I didn't find Ric getting shot that great of a cliffhanger in the traditional sense. My curiosity is based more on my wondering if maybe Meredith is a supernatural being, thereby meaning that Ric has a chance to come back from the dead (although his ring hasn't been working very well lately). I'm actually fairly convinced that she is human and that Ric is then dead-dead. This should bother me more, but evidently I've lost interest in him as a character this season.
Here's some memorable quotes to finish up.
Klaus: How can I acquit myself?
Kol: Our sister is a strumpet, but at least she's having fun.
Elijah: I can hear your heart beat. It jumps when you are being dishonest.
Damon: She didn't want me.
Caroline: I can hear every word you're saying about Damon, the vampire gigolo
Alaric: Well, I'm surprised you have time to call what with all this Original sex you've been having.
The thing that I enjoyed most was the return of snarky, quick-witted & tongued Damon. As much as I love his emotional, tender, soft-hearted side, it felt good to have him take a step back, become just detached enough and have him be able to give Elena what for. I think that's exactly the Damon to make her realize she's been taking him for granted and just how much she wants to rely on his never-changing love for her. That will lead her to finally see how much she actually loves him.
Also highly enjoyable was how telling Elena's reactions were. I'm so glad the show did not go for the obvious jealousy, rather they had her stay completely in character by having her exhibit her I-was-wrong-and-do-not-know-how-to-act side. Her repeated attempts at reaching him showed how much she cared about having him upset with her. I believe she called Stefan mostly as a means to find out if Damon was okay, and a little to tell him again that she didn't want Elijah to go down with the rest of his sibling. Most of all, the look on her face when she's greeting by Damon & Rebekah, her tone of voice, and her immediately thinking that Damon was lashing out was her I-was-wrong-and-do-not-know-how-to-act side in full force giving us a clear view of her jealousy. Add to that her girl chat with her 2 BFFs and I totally see that Elena is jealous of the fact that Damon has pulled back. She may not be ready to admit the depth of her feelings for him, but she's definitely exhibiting (as badboy_fangirl so eloquently put it) 'Typical Crazy Girlfriend Behavior'.
Another thing that made me happy, and somewhat related to this, was Damon & Stefan's interactions. All their scenes were based in the brothers' knowledge of each other, their effectiveness when they work together, Damon's desire to spare Stefan more guilt, and Stefan's ability to see through Damon.
I did want to smack Stefan when his superiority complex showed up, but at least that's consistent with the Stefan I know. Damon's belief that he was unable to win her fair and square just makes me sad. When he said, "I do." I added in my head "but it doesn't change anything". I just wanted to snuggle Damon after that and try to convince him that he's not right. Ian's performance in that whole scene was just perfection and melted my heart (once again). Here's a link: http://youtu.be/45m6oUS-6fY
Next, I have to voice my delight in Caroline. I love her to pieces and in this episode I enjoyed her a great deal. The expressions on her face in Bonnie's bedroom were lovely. Exhibit A:
Her playing Klaus, while he was playing her was delightful. She was excellent as a distraction and I loved Klaus' "Isn't she stunning?". She gets so many girl-points for her "Just to be clear. I'm too smart to be seduced by you." She is just made of awesome sauce <3! Besides that, she is totally hot in this scene. Exhibit B:
Random stuff:
[*] How perfect was the opening song 'Poison & Wine' by The Civil Wars?? This show sure has a knack for fitting appropriate music to scenes.
[*] Bonnie does seem to be the one that always get caught in the crossfire. I do feel bad for her.
[*] Good for Elijah for taking ownership of the idea that although their mother was responsible for making them vampires, each of them turned themselves into monsters. I'm a little confused about the whole drinking human blood idea. Esther seemed to be suggesting that it was her children's choice to do that. Did she not make it a part of her spell? Why would they choose to be dependant on human blood if they didn't need to? It seems no condition or rule of the supernatural has any kind of permanence on this show (which is to be expected in a TV series).
[*] I love that the Originals way of speaking denotes the length of time they have inhabited this planet.
[*] I didn't find Ric getting shot that great of a cliffhanger in the traditional sense. My curiosity is based more on my wondering if maybe Meredith is a supernatural being, thereby meaning that Ric has a chance to come back from the dead (although his ring hasn't been working very well lately). I'm actually fairly convinced that she is human and that Ric is then dead-dead. This should bother me more, but evidently I've lost interest in him as a character this season.
Here's some memorable quotes to finish up.
Klaus: How can I acquit myself?
Kol: Our sister is a strumpet, but at least she's having fun.
Elijah: I can hear your heart beat. It jumps when you are being dishonest.
Damon: She didn't want me.
Caroline: I can hear every word you're saying about Damon, the vampire gigolo
Alaric: Well, I'm surprised you have time to call what with all this Original sex you've been having.