we're all mad here.
The dynamics between Elena and the Salvatores were set up perfectly, as well. When you abuse someone’s trust, you can’t be the person to interfere for their own good, even when they clearly need someone to, and that’s what happened with Stefan here. Stefan can’t even face her when he backhandedly asks if she even wants the cure, because he knows she doesn’t, at least, not entirely.
I initially thought that the curse would affect the vampire who’d killed the hunter for as long as the hunter should have lived a natural life, but this isn’t a ‘verse where fate seems to be much of an issue, so I like this explanation better. It gives a little context to Klaus and his big freak-out in the flashbacks a couple of weeks ago, where he had just killed Alex.
Thanks for not ditching the ring after it drove Alaric crazy. HA. I don’t really know why the ring should have been at issue - would he really bleed out so fast she couldn’t give him any blood before he died? - but the mention of Ric is really weighty here. Ric wasn’t one of the Five, though he may have been a potential, but his story of being gradually pulled into that violent spiral is pretty similar to Connor’s, and now Jeremy has to grapple with that legacy. Not necessarily maturely - “give me a stake! I’ll kill Damon right now!” Things have change a little, as shown on the blackboard talking about the first moon landing of the 1960s rather than the usual 1860s rehash.
New witchy MacGuffin and power-hungry Bonnie and sleazy Professor Shane, YES. Bonnie is seeking him out, eager to earn and prove her place at the non-family adult witch table, and her open desire for badassery is what makes her vulnerable to his manipulation. THIS IS MY FAVORITE STORY. And I love that Damon is the one with the Cassandra truth that Shane is creepy as hell.
Klaus is suitably terrible! I wouldn’t have let Tyler hurt you, Caroline! I would have made him do it, like that time I made him bite you! Klaus is used to making all his hybrids and their werewolf friends dance to his tune; he’s not satisfied until they are all throwing themselves around for his approval.
The treatment of Chris was egregious, obviously, and pretty horrible coming right on the heels of the Connor thing. Not just with the getting killed, but that the first thing he was supposed to do after freeing himself from Klaus was to go off and save the white girl, GOD. I will say, I thought the actor gave Chris a lot of very sympathetic depth for a one-off character - hybrids don’t often get the innate tragedy and struggle of their existence foregrounded, but it would have been tough not to feel for Chris.
And here’s what the cure means: Chris dead, Tyler and Hayley mourning in the dark. I was…maybe not pleasantly surprised, but certainly gratified to see the dynamics of that whole story acknowledged. The idea of C/T’s problems stemming from a love quadrangle was silly, which is why it was dismissed and openly mocked early in the episode to make way for real underlying tensions. Caroline and Tyler support each other as best they can, and it’s clear that Caroline accepts Tyler insofar as she understands him. But there are parts of him that she doesn’t (and couldn’t reasonably be expected to) get. She hasn’t lived the Lockwood curse, having that terrible relationship with anger and power and fear even before she learned about the supernatural world. She’s definitely sincere in wanting to help the hybrids, and not just to stick it to Klaus, but her optimism is too easily bought, because she really doesn’t have a frame of reference which would let her understand the sire bond, or for that matter the trauma which necessarily precedes it.
And she’s so loyal, and so ensconced in a social network in which she’s confident and comfortable, that she can’t understand what it’s like for Tyler to be between these two worlds when they finally collide. Tyler’s compartmentalizing an incredible amount of pressure - Klaus is around, making Tyler and everyone dance to his tune. Having the other hybrids around is great, because he’s helping them and doing something against Klaus, but it’s also incredibly wearing, to be surrounded by reminders of this awful part of his life that’s not even over. And Caroline doesn’t see any of this. She thinks that having ticked the sire bond problem off the to-do list makes that part of Tyler’s identity disappear, and Tyler knows it doesn’t work that way. Chris was a friend. He’s like me.
Tyler responds with his lowest moment in a long time, when he throws the glass past her head. It’s violent, it’s scary, it’s the guy Tyler hated and hasn’t shown any sign of missing in all the time they’ve been together. It’s all the parts of himself that he calls the wolf, that he’s just been reminded that Caroline won’t acknowledge. And so he acts on that awful impulse to show her, to make her see him. Not in a way that would hurt her - the shot is pretty wide, and he doesn’t let go until it’s almost past her - but it scares her because it’s meant to. Oh, Ty.
This entry was originally posted at http://pocochina.dreamwidth.org/277797.html. Leave a comment here, or there using OpenID.
I initially thought that the curse would affect the vampire who’d killed the hunter for as long as the hunter should have lived a natural life, but this isn’t a ‘verse where fate seems to be much of an issue, so I like this explanation better. It gives a little context to Klaus and his big freak-out in the flashbacks a couple of weeks ago, where he had just killed Alex.
Thanks for not ditching the ring after it drove Alaric crazy. HA. I don’t really know why the ring should have been at issue - would he really bleed out so fast she couldn’t give him any blood before he died? - but the mention of Ric is really weighty here. Ric wasn’t one of the Five, though he may have been a potential, but his story of being gradually pulled into that violent spiral is pretty similar to Connor’s, and now Jeremy has to grapple with that legacy. Not necessarily maturely - “give me a stake! I’ll kill Damon right now!” Things have change a little, as shown on the blackboard talking about the first moon landing of the 1960s rather than the usual 1860s rehash.
New witchy MacGuffin and power-hungry Bonnie and sleazy Professor Shane, YES. Bonnie is seeking him out, eager to earn and prove her place at the non-family adult witch table, and her open desire for badassery is what makes her vulnerable to his manipulation. THIS IS MY FAVORITE STORY. And I love that Damon is the one with the Cassandra truth that Shane is creepy as hell.
Klaus is suitably terrible! I wouldn’t have let Tyler hurt you, Caroline! I would have made him do it, like that time I made him bite you! Klaus is used to making all his hybrids and their werewolf friends dance to his tune; he’s not satisfied until they are all throwing themselves around for his approval.
The treatment of Chris was egregious, obviously, and pretty horrible coming right on the heels of the Connor thing. Not just with the getting killed, but that the first thing he was supposed to do after freeing himself from Klaus was to go off and save the white girl, GOD. I will say, I thought the actor gave Chris a lot of very sympathetic depth for a one-off character - hybrids don’t often get the innate tragedy and struggle of their existence foregrounded, but it would have been tough not to feel for Chris.
And here’s what the cure means: Chris dead, Tyler and Hayley mourning in the dark. I was…maybe not pleasantly surprised, but certainly gratified to see the dynamics of that whole story acknowledged. The idea of C/T’s problems stemming from a love quadrangle was silly, which is why it was dismissed and openly mocked early in the episode to make way for real underlying tensions. Caroline and Tyler support each other as best they can, and it’s clear that Caroline accepts Tyler insofar as she understands him. But there are parts of him that she doesn’t (and couldn’t reasonably be expected to) get. She hasn’t lived the Lockwood curse, having that terrible relationship with anger and power and fear even before she learned about the supernatural world. She’s definitely sincere in wanting to help the hybrids, and not just to stick it to Klaus, but her optimism is too easily bought, because she really doesn’t have a frame of reference which would let her understand the sire bond, or for that matter the trauma which necessarily precedes it.
And she’s so loyal, and so ensconced in a social network in which she’s confident and comfortable, that she can’t understand what it’s like for Tyler to be between these two worlds when they finally collide. Tyler’s compartmentalizing an incredible amount of pressure - Klaus is around, making Tyler and everyone dance to his tune. Having the other hybrids around is great, because he’s helping them and doing something against Klaus, but it’s also incredibly wearing, to be surrounded by reminders of this awful part of his life that’s not even over. And Caroline doesn’t see any of this. She thinks that having ticked the sire bond problem off the to-do list makes that part of Tyler’s identity disappear, and Tyler knows it doesn’t work that way. Chris was a friend. He’s like me.
Tyler responds with his lowest moment in a long time, when he throws the glass past her head. It’s violent, it’s scary, it’s the guy Tyler hated and hasn’t shown any sign of missing in all the time they’ve been together. It’s all the parts of himself that he calls the wolf, that he’s just been reminded that Caroline won’t acknowledge. And so he acts on that awful impulse to show her, to make her see him. Not in a way that would hurt her - the shot is pretty wide, and he doesn’t let go until it’s almost past her - but it scares her because it’s meant to. Oh, Ty.
This entry was originally posted at http://pocochina.dreamwidth.org/277797.html. Leave a comment here, or there using OpenID.