tvd, 3.08, "everything is incest and nothing hurts" (that should have been the title though)

[petitebelette]

I think I'm going to stop watching The Vampire Diaries. Why continue after I've been given everything I've ever wanted? That episode read like a sweet, beautiful, steamy love letter addressed to me. It was spritzed with Alaric's cheap cologne and tied with a lock of Damon's mullet hair.


OKAY SO WE'RE BACK ON TRACK, GUYS. After that A Very Special Hour of TVD last week, we are now done with sentimental ghosty send-offs and back to what truly matters: siblings in love.

Because I loved this oh-so-much, perhaps even more than life itself, I am going to re-watch and live blog! We're all excited, YAY. (Or that's just me.)

For the record, the cut leading the previews into the episode? WAS SEAMLESS.

Can I just say that Damon and Elena's interactions this episode were so pitch-perfect? They act like twelve-year-olds with crushes, the best two-man Scooby Gang ever, and forever friends with sexual tension all at once. Damon poking and teasing her and Elena rolling her eyes back into her head and shoving him off! Then they crawl into bed together after a long day of dancing around their unresolved whateverness and separate awesome charges for the day, where they talk about how OT3 everything is, and they establish that Defan rules all! Mind is blown. I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyhow.

I'm glad they are not playing this off as the founding families being an ancient nuisance to vampires, which I'll be honest, I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if they did. I even half-expected this. WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOU, WRITERS? (Or me, of such little faith.) And Ric knows what runes are! Four for you, Glen Coco! (Even if the history of this is so wrong it hurts.)

Right off, we all agree Mikael is kind of a huge abusive douche, right? Right, 'kay. And we all agree Rebekah is the most wonderful, right? Okay, good.

"It's just a little blood. Be a man about it." GIVE ME ALL YOUR WONDERFUL. /drops dead

The big ol' dramatic music leading into the title was so The Walking Dead-esque. Me likey.

RIC, YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL HISTORICAL TASK AHEAD OF YOU! IT'S LIKE PORN FOR YOU, ISN'T IT? SAY IT. C'MON, SAY IT. Oh, you don't have to. It's all over your face, you big sweetheart.

Crying over my keyboard over Elena and Damon sparring. The cutest, most fanfiction-y thing come to life.

"Don't worry; I'm off him until he starts treating me better. In fact, you should probably take a page out of my book if I'm honest." You saucy thing, you. Of course Elena won't. This goes beyond her romantic expectations, don't you know? Elena has to help Stefan because she loves him, not because she wants to be with him. I believe that. (It's so a little that, but I also believe it's for the right reasons too, and primarily so.)

Should have been more Elijah in this episode. It's the truth.

Also, god Mikael. BE MORE OF A DOUCHE. WHY ARE YOU BEATING KLAUS UP? BECAUSE HE TORE ELIJAH'S BELT? For goodness sake. "Some days, it's a miracle you're still alive, boy." Get the fuck out. Leave. Now. Someone call Social Services on this bag of dicks.

"I just have to engage in a little mean girl power struggle first."
"Make sure she doesn't power struggle you into a wheelchair."

Okay, first off? ELENA, ENGAGING IN MEAN GIRL POLITICS. Be still my heart. That's right. You be an epic teenage girl. ACT YOUR AGE, HONEY. Second of all, brb pulling Damon in for a snuggle.

Side note, but admittedly the most important thing: I love how they work together. Anyone who goes on about Damon's decision-making skills and desperate attempts at saving Elena's life against her will in season two? Yeah well, you're right. I will not defend his decisions, which were at best unacceptable, but those were extenuating circumstances. Now? It's all about the teamwork, baby.

THERE IS NOTHING BUT DEFAN. NOTHING.

"You know I'm not a champion of this whole Lexi Recovery Plan~" Oh in a sad, twisted, Damonish way he really did kill Lexi to protect Stefan, didn't he? He looks at this whole set-up and he's thinking, 'This is nonsense.' WORD, BROTHER. Also every time they call each other 'brother' I let out a sob and feel things.

"We should all listen to Elena, right?" Oh ffffffuck my life. These brothers, loving this girl who makes them feel and care and appreciate all the colors of the rainbow. Oh, the resentment and sadness in Stefan's voice.

"Liar, liar pants ON FIRE."
"You got me! You got me."
Why can't every episode be like this? WHY CAN'T IT JUST BE PAUL AND IAN DELIVERING LINES PERFECTLY?

Oh my god, the look on Stefan's face when Damon strolls out. Sure, he doesn't feel anything, sure. Remember that time I said Damon would be the one to save Stefan? Yeah, and he knows it too. That defeat in his expression, defeat over everything. C'mere, Stef. Let me hold you.

"I'm obsessed." YES YOU ARE, RIC. FOUR FOR YOU!

God, I wanna ship Ric/Bonnie now too. Yep, it happened the moment I thought it. /shameless.

The depth of my love for this scene is unparalleled. HE ASKS HOW SHE IS? WELL I'M GLAD SOMEONE DOES. And his advice is so thoughtful and sweet and still so honest. He really is better at this than he thinks. He knows how to be there for people.

And his hair is amazing. Is it because you have purpose in life again, Ric? THAT'S THE KEY. That's the correlation between Ric's character arcs and his evolving hairstyles. Nailed it!

Shipping Rebeklaus until the very end. Of the universe.

Oh, Elena. Of course you would feel for Rebekah. Of course. /pets

"Damon, how could you let him out?" Oh fff, Elena. I love how scared she is over what Stefan is capable of doing, and what it does to him. You can't save someone by forcing morals on them, Elena. You just can't. But it's certainly understandable.

DAMON'S SMILE WHEN STEFAN SAYS HE WANTS SOMETHING WARMER AND BLONDER TO DRINK. As an aside, Stefan has such a thing for blondes, true stories.

"I happen to like the edge, Stefan. Your problem is your inability to resist falling over it. You're all or nothing, man. You can't just... be. Although who am I to judge?" Thank you, show. Thank you, Damon.

"You don't know anything about who he really is." Oh, Elena. I love you, doll. And your constant and complete faith in your image of Stefan is sweet but tarnished, and yet you still hold onto it. I get it. But you don't know who Stefan really is, not really, not the darker parts. Not the parts he has spent so much time keeping from you because no one has accepted them before. Because he hasn't accepted them of himself. (Thanks, Lexi.) You love him, but you don't know him.

ELENA, YOUR FACE. YOUR LITTLE SMIRK. YOUR MEAN GIRL POWER STRUGGLE SKILLS. Be still my heart. You play her like a harp. Move over Katherine! Elena is so much like Katherine and in all the awesome ways.

Little human Bekah, listening in on the adults. c:

Blah, blah exposition. But it doesn't clunk!

In fact, I like this twist, that their mom was the Original Witch. I didn't even see it coming because it seemed too awesome to be true when fans were speculating about it! Wow, show. My expectations are constantly being fulfilled right now.

"He killed you?" Oh, that whisper.
"And he wasn't delicate about it either."

Fff, oh the parallels of Mikael forcing his family to turn just as Stefan forced Damon. That whole sequence was played out beautifully, and it makes sense. Something on TVD makes sense! And it's poetic and interesting!

Damon dancing like a hot dork will never be old, js.

SCREAMING DURING THIS DEFAN SCENE. Where the hell do I even start? DAMON, TELLING STEFAN TO GET MAD ENOUGH AND FIGHT BACK? TO STOP THIS GIVING-UP CRAP? THAT HE THOUGHT STEFAN JUST NEEDED A HUG? Paul and Ian play off each other so well; so why do we see so little of them like this lately? But this isn't the time to complain, this is a time to scream.

The whole episode you can just see it happening. See Damon chipping away at Stefan, opening his eyes to how much of Klaus's bitch he is acting and does he really want that? I LOVE THIS. I love that this is not about him falling into some moralistic trap imposed on him by others and then by himself. THIS IS ABOUT STEFAN. THIS IS ABOUT STEFAN AND GIVING HIM THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE. After seven episodes, after two seasons, after 145 years of people telling Stefan what he has to be in order to be accepted and loved, finally. Finally someone - and it's rightly Damon - is telling him to do something and choose something for his goddamn self. THANK YOU, SHOW.

I wonder if it was Klaus who went on the rampage, killing the town? Or if that was actually Mikael, before Klaus killed Esther. I want to hear Klaus's side of this and I think, hope, feel we might next episode. There's more; of course there's more. AND I WANNA KNOW ELIJAH'S TOO.

OH FFFFFF SIBLINGS. Always and forever.

I love how Klaus locking Rebekah in a coffin for ninety years is enough for Elena to give a head tilt but Stefan killing dozens of people hasn't yet blipped on her radar. Yes, Elena, always and forever. I THOUGHT YOU WERE ON THAT PAGE ALREADY. Love is blind, people.

Rebekah is wonderful, essentially. Bares repeating forever. She sees all through her bratty attitude. Her description of her family is so sad and so beautiful.

"But you still love him?"
"He's my brother. And I'm immortal."

Basically the moral of this show. Weeping. This scene is flawless, right down to Elena's frankness.

Legit fucking dying inside and screaming over this part with Mikael. EVERYTHING IS DEFAN AND NOTHING HURTS. EVERYTHING. You know what Stefan's all about? Damon. He lives and breathes Damon.

Sebastian Roche is delicious.

Oh, Elena. Oh, Rebekah. I want them to be friends. They would be epic, unstoppable friends.

Hahahahahaha, Stefan. You keep spinning this however you want, you saved Damon because you love him. Looooooooooove hiiiiiiiiim.

"Because I have to." Yes, you do. Because you love him.

When Stefan makes the quip about Damon's humanity showing, and how Damon just snaps and roughs him up... /sits consumed with emotions. Stefan lost his humanity for him, and Stefan took away Damon's a century ago, and to insult him like that. And... crying.

ALL CRYING EVERYWHERE. REBEKAH.

I'm really appreciating how the new formula of the show seems to conclude with Damon and Elena talking about their diabolical plans to kill Klaus and save Stefan. I love how they work together without being together constantly too. As much as I've loved the previous episodes of overt shippy-ness, I also feel like a lot of this season has felt contrived. (Probably for, in part, that reason.) This episode didn't feel contrived in the slightest, and neither did this scene. At all.

There was major undertones of their usual tension, and overwhelming waves of affection and love and etcetera from them, but it felt so genuine and so true to where they are as individuals and friends. Just a really touching, gentle moment.

Also, giggling over Elena tugging futilely at the covers before just climbing on in.

Elena's description of Rebekah just screams a mash-up of both Damon and Elena's reaction and method of loving people. The non-look on Elena's face after she says it is beautiful, and how she faces Damon and doesn't look directly at him after a moment? Sigh.

I sat there in awe watching the scene, to be completely honest. In complete awe. I think it might be my favorite scene to date. (Move over, Damon force-feeding Elena blood.) Elena was saying all the things I've ever wanted her to know and say. That what truly matters is how much Damon and Stefan love each other; that'll be what saves them. For her to believe in not only both of them, but both of them as brothers. Someone has to. And I think it's the ultimate proof of how much she loves them both.

God, who read all that?