TVD 4x2
GUYS THAT WAS REALLY GOOD.
That was the strongest episode in a while. As painful as it is to admit because I love them so, I think the Originals might be Sometimes Foods at this point. Paring the episode down to the kids gave the episode time to introduce two new characters and set up some long-arc suspense while also being a fantastic use of the ensemble.
I liked this episode a lot for Elena, and specifically for Caroline and Elena. Because yes. Elena doesn’t need someone to TELL her how to be a vampire, or just to cut her loose. Elena is at her best when she’s facing a crisis head-on. She needs someone to remind her who she is while she figures it out herself. And so I found myself in those early scenes wondering WHY in the WORLD she was with Stefan, when the person she CLEARLY needed was Caroline - and that’s exactly what I was supposed to think, because it sets up the climax so perfectly. I love that she feeds from Matt, representative of her human self, to complete this stage of her adjustment, whereas he’s stepped into her role of “bag of blood and survivor’s guilt.”
I also found the scene with Caroline and Tyler to be one of those lovely nuanced scenes that managed to bring home how messed-up these poor kids are without actually mentioning the immediate source of trauma. Because that was about Klaus, right? Caroline doesn’t blame Tyler for what Klaus tried to do to her, but she’s having an understandably tough time feeling safe enough to get into it. Tyler is riding a huge wave of adrenaline in relief at having gotten himself back from Klaus, and so he’s all kinds of in the mood because who wouldn’t be? They make it about the dead because that’s about as much of a given as weather-chat in Mystic Falls, but it’s about the person they haven’t been able to kill.
TYLER LOCKWOOD, BIG DAMN HERO. I mean, if they had to decide who to send up there, Tyler was the obvious choice. He knew he could survive Connor’s weapons, and he knew Connor had already identified him. He could draw fire and let everyone else out, without blowing anyone else’s cover. But for him to step up like that is big for him. Like. He just seems so easy about sacrificing himself for the team now, because what could possibly be worse than the grenade he leapt on with Klaus? He’s a hybrid, he can take it. There’s nobody else who can and would.
CONNOR I WANT TO LIKE YOU SO YOU NEED TO STOP SHOOTING MY FAVORITES. DEAL?? He has serious potential to crank up the worldbuilding - he’s the feds to their small-town sheriff’s office. (lol, Carol Lockwood calling an ambulance to keep up appearances.) There is a Vampire Issue in the outside world, not just the Mystic Falls line.
Can we talk about what a dick Stefan was in this episode, and how much I adored it? Oh, he’ll do anything to help Elena survive, as long as he has Damon around to blame for the hard decisions. He doesn’t want her to end up like him, so he tries to push her into his opposite-of-coping mechanisms. And whenever she starts for just a moment to face what has happened to her, or is happening with her, he brushes it aside by saying her “emotions are heightened.” IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD, YOU’RE JUST HORMONAL, SWEETIE. That part of it I don’t think was necessarily entirely cruel? He knows Elena doesn’t like people to see her pain; giving her the cover of vampirism isn’t entirely an unkind gesture. But those are the old terms of their whole dysfunctional dynamic; they’re not going to work anymore no matter how much he wants to pretend the last year never happened. Elena is ready to deal.
But his real dick behavior was toward Damon. (And Bonnie, obviously, but that goes without saying.) Damon is always the scapegoat, of course. This isn’t new. And the jealous boyfriend act is foul, that goes without saying. But the real dick move was at the very end, when he called Damon for the memorial thing. Being ambushed with enforced emotional vulnerability is cruel to anyone, but he knows Damon can’t deal with that. And then he throws down with - Zack, Vicki, Ric. Damon’s victims. That wasn’t about holding Damon accountable, which he of course always deserves, but about using that violence to get one up on Damon. That was so fucking low. Stefan’s ability to be dark because he is so good at playing the role is so chilling and delicious.
Damon lost Rose. He lost Sage. He could’ve thrown Andi right back in Stefan’s face. (Yeah, yeah, it would have been gross. Damon is gross. In case it’s your first day here.) And Ric’s loss meant so much more to him than it did to anyone else. That talk in the graveyard ended up being one of the most emotionally affecting moments in the show so far for me, and it was such a wonderful touch that Ric was there to hear it. And I do think that was something of a mark of maturity for him, honestly. Not so much that his way of coping makes him better than the folks who prefer to share emotions, so much as, he knew that wasn’t what he needed to do, and he went off and did what he needed to do without taking his grief out on anyone. He knows and admits to himself why he's sticking around, and it's a good reason.
That wonderful, heartbreaking moment at the end of the episode works because he’s turned his bitch up to eleven for the entire episode leading up to it. His blood-sharing with Elena, while holding back what it meant generally and to him specifically, struck me as kind of creeptastic even by his standards, but it was a gorgeously raw emotional moment that made perfect character sense. He’s petty enough to love making Stefan jealous about it, and enough of a thrill-seeking jerk to go after Connor himself. Crossing himself with holy water will never, ever stop being funny to me. Also part of me thinks he does have a fabulous custom-made “I Blew Up the Council” t-shirt now. Just ‘cause.
That was the strongest episode in a while. As painful as it is to admit because I love them so, I think the Originals might be Sometimes Foods at this point. Paring the episode down to the kids gave the episode time to introduce two new characters and set up some long-arc suspense while also being a fantastic use of the ensemble.
I liked this episode a lot for Elena, and specifically for Caroline and Elena. Because yes. Elena doesn’t need someone to TELL her how to be a vampire, or just to cut her loose. Elena is at her best when she’s facing a crisis head-on. She needs someone to remind her who she is while she figures it out herself. And so I found myself in those early scenes wondering WHY in the WORLD she was with Stefan, when the person she CLEARLY needed was Caroline - and that’s exactly what I was supposed to think, because it sets up the climax so perfectly. I love that she feeds from Matt, representative of her human self, to complete this stage of her adjustment, whereas he’s stepped into her role of “bag of blood and survivor’s guilt.”
I also found the scene with Caroline and Tyler to be one of those lovely nuanced scenes that managed to bring home how messed-up these poor kids are without actually mentioning the immediate source of trauma. Because that was about Klaus, right? Caroline doesn’t blame Tyler for what Klaus tried to do to her, but she’s having an understandably tough time feeling safe enough to get into it. Tyler is riding a huge wave of adrenaline in relief at having gotten himself back from Klaus, and so he’s all kinds of in the mood because who wouldn’t be? They make it about the dead because that’s about as much of a given as weather-chat in Mystic Falls, but it’s about the person they haven’t been able to kill.
TYLER LOCKWOOD, BIG DAMN HERO. I mean, if they had to decide who to send up there, Tyler was the obvious choice. He knew he could survive Connor’s weapons, and he knew Connor had already identified him. He could draw fire and let everyone else out, without blowing anyone else’s cover. But for him to step up like that is big for him. Like. He just seems so easy about sacrificing himself for the team now, because what could possibly be worse than the grenade he leapt on with Klaus? He’s a hybrid, he can take it. There’s nobody else who can and would.
CONNOR I WANT TO LIKE YOU SO YOU NEED TO STOP SHOOTING MY FAVORITES. DEAL?? He has serious potential to crank up the worldbuilding - he’s the feds to their small-town sheriff’s office. (lol, Carol Lockwood calling an ambulance to keep up appearances.) There is a Vampire Issue in the outside world, not just the Mystic Falls line.
Can we talk about what a dick Stefan was in this episode, and how much I adored it? Oh, he’ll do anything to help Elena survive, as long as he has Damon around to blame for the hard decisions. He doesn’t want her to end up like him, so he tries to push her into his opposite-of-coping mechanisms. And whenever she starts for just a moment to face what has happened to her, or is happening with her, he brushes it aside by saying her “emotions are heightened.” IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD, YOU’RE JUST HORMONAL, SWEETIE. That part of it I don’t think was necessarily entirely cruel? He knows Elena doesn’t like people to see her pain; giving her the cover of vampirism isn’t entirely an unkind gesture. But those are the old terms of their whole dysfunctional dynamic; they’re not going to work anymore no matter how much he wants to pretend the last year never happened. Elena is ready to deal.
But his real dick behavior was toward Damon. (And Bonnie, obviously, but that goes without saying.) Damon is always the scapegoat, of course. This isn’t new. And the jealous boyfriend act is foul, that goes without saying. But the real dick move was at the very end, when he called Damon for the memorial thing. Being ambushed with enforced emotional vulnerability is cruel to anyone, but he knows Damon can’t deal with that. And then he throws down with - Zack, Vicki, Ric. Damon’s victims. That wasn’t about holding Damon accountable, which he of course always deserves, but about using that violence to get one up on Damon. That was so fucking low. Stefan’s ability to be dark because he is so good at playing the role is so chilling and delicious.
Damon lost Rose. He lost Sage. He could’ve thrown Andi right back in Stefan’s face. (Yeah, yeah, it would have been gross. Damon is gross. In case it’s your first day here.) And Ric’s loss meant so much more to him than it did to anyone else. That talk in the graveyard ended up being one of the most emotionally affecting moments in the show so far for me, and it was such a wonderful touch that Ric was there to hear it. And I do think that was something of a mark of maturity for him, honestly. Not so much that his way of coping makes him better than the folks who prefer to share emotions, so much as, he knew that wasn’t what he needed to do, and he went off and did what he needed to do without taking his grief out on anyone. He knows and admits to himself why he's sticking around, and it's a good reason.
That wonderful, heartbreaking moment at the end of the episode works because he’s turned his bitch up to eleven for the entire episode leading up to it. His blood-sharing with Elena, while holding back what it meant generally and to him specifically, struck me as kind of creeptastic even by his standards, but it was a gorgeously raw emotional moment that made perfect character sense. He’s petty enough to love making Stefan jealous about it, and enough of a thrill-seeking jerk to go after Connor himself. Crossing himself with holy water will never, ever stop being funny to me. Also part of me thinks he does have a fabulous custom-made “I Blew Up the Council” t-shirt now. Just ‘cause.