The Vampire Diaries : 3x05 Review
When Julie Plec previewed “The Reckoning” for us she said that this episode would be a game changer. She was NOT kidding. I was on the edge of my seat the ENTIRE episode. This is what finales are made of!
I’ve been able to let the episode sink in over the last couple of days and have had time to discuss and speculate with friends on twitter, tumblr, fan forums and here on LJ.
We learned a lot this episode and yet were left with a billion more questions. Who is Mikael and why is Klaus so afraid of him? How is Vicki in contact with the original witch, but not Anna? Matt can see ghosts too now? Hybrid Tyler? What even?
I’m going to talk about every character (who made an appearance in 3x05) because even though I am shipper biased (I’ll admit it) I do love the show as a whole. So let’s get to it.
We open with Matt who is working out, full clothed I might add (what is that fuckery) in the Mystic Falls High School’s dark gym. Things start to get a little spooky, but Matt eventually stumbles in on his friends enjoying senior prank night.
So I TRY to like Matt, and I blame Zach for this, but he’s become more and more boring to me it’s hard to stay interested in him. Especially when he’s so about his poor life and his never ending man pain. It get’s hard to feel sympathy for someone who is always trying to take it from you. If the show showed Matt struggling and not have him TELL us that his life sucks then maybe I could get some sad eyes going, but it doesn’t. Matt is constantly telling anyone who will listen how hard his life is. Life IS hard Matty, cowboy the eff up and deal with it.
Surprisingly enough he didn’t annoy me too much in this episode. I was irked by his conversation with Bonnie and how she fed into his man pain while they toilet papered the pool, but it was his genuine concern for Tyler that makes me like him. His relationship with woman isn’t always something I like. 12_12_12 points out how gender biased Matt is; where he treats woman (other than Elena) terribly (whether he is conscious of this or not), but in scenes with Tyler you can see that he’s more open and concerned with him than other characters. I still want them to be bffs, sue me. But it’s Matt’s constant woe is me that makes it difficult to care about him. He’s been mostly irrelevant up until now. Which is where things got interesting and confusing. Matt surmised, all by himself, that all he needs to do in order to talk to Vicki is simply to die and come back to life. Hmmm…that’s genius! So what does Matty do? He drowns himself and hopes that Bonnie can perform CPR and bring him back. Noble? Maybe. Stupid? Most definitely, but what can I say…it worked. Thing is, I thought that Jeremy could see ghosts because Bonnie brought him back from the dead using magic. So how is it that Matt can see them? If this is a rule, then shouldn’t everyone who’s died, and that’s basically everyone on the show at this point, be able to see ghosts? Answer me that one TVD.
As 12_12_12 said in her reaction post, I didn’t like how when it comes to Elena’s life over someone else’s everyone assumes to save Elena. It was either her or Tyler and it seemed that they had accepted that Tyler would probably die. RAGE. It’s that idea that Elena is more important than everyone else that makes me dislike the character. What is so much more special about her life than the lives of others? Tell me please, because I’m not getting it.
Throughout the episode we saw Bonnie interacting a lot with Matt. Their conversation at the pool about his man pain and seeing Vicki, taking him away with her after Klaus sent her on her mission to figure out his hybrid problem, and then her ultimately saving him. Bonnie has never been one of my favorite characters, to be honest she’s my least favorite, but I found myself rooting for her in this episode. I loved her run to save Matt. I was actually a little anxious that she wasn’t going to be able to save him and Matt would be gone forever. Okay, so I knew he would live, but the moment had me on the edge of my seat. Again.
I’m officially shipping Bonnie and Matt. Not because they are two of my least favorite characters, it does play a part, but the two have some really sweet chemistry with each other that I found extremely refreshing for them.
Which brings me to my next character, Jeremy. Little Gilbert is not so little anymore am I right? Let me be completely shallow right now and say that McQueen just keeps getting more and more UNF every episode.
I WANT to like Jeremy’s storyline and up until recently I was mostly bored. Now that Anna is the ghost he’s communicating more with I am now very much interested. Anna has this sweetness about her, even as a vampire, that I found so endearing during S1 that I was crushed when she was killed. I very much ship her and Jeremy together. Vampire Ghost or not, they belong together. He can touch her! So what if it’s weird that no one else can see her? LOL. Okay, so it’s a little out there, but my shipper heart wants it.
I need more Jeremy and Katherine scenes. Those two always put a huge dorky smile on my face whenever they are in the same scene together. Jeremy has come so far since the pilot that I love that he’s more involved with the meta-plot and not just being the emo kid off to the side. We saw this slowly begin to happen as he was more proactive in helping in S2, but we haven’t seen too much of him in S3. I hope this changes soon and we’ll really get something out of his “I see dead people” storyline.
Katherine and Damon. Katherine > Every one. Katherine is a great character and it still blows my mind that Nina Dobrev can make you feel like she is a completely different person when playing Katherine in contrast to playing Elena. Katherine, in all her wonderfully selfish ways, is a strong female character and to be belittled by Damon made my blood boil. I’m not the biggest Damon fan and I don’t apologize for it. His constant need to put her down is just irritating. Yes, she screwed him and Stefan for all eternity, but he’s no damn angel either. Why the writers feel like they have to point out that Elena is more superior in relation to Katherine is beyond me. You can try and force it down my throat all you want TVD writers, I’m not swallowing that BS.
Elena. I can’t even comment on her right now. I have never felt so strongly about my dislike about her in the entire series. There were times in season two that I rooted for her and had hopes that her development would start to look up and then…no. It’s the propping of her character at the expense of other’s that gets me. Until that stops, which it won’t, I probably won’t ever love Elena.
Stefan. What is this? So the power of love can resist, for a time, compulsion from an Original? Pfft. Give me a break. I usually lean towards Stelena, but I wasn’t feeling them at all in this episode. Maybe it was my Elena hate or maybe it was just bad writing, but I couldn’t feel for them as a couple.
I’ll always like Stefan as a fan of the show. He’ll never reach Tyler status for me because unlike Tyler, I don’t care as strongly for him. I just take him as is for the most part. I love how amazing he can be, but his martyr act with giving himself over for Klaus started off okay but now it’s just meh. I told myself that he did what he did, by leaving with Klaus and going back to his ripper days, because he wanted to save Damon. The love for a sibling knows no bounds and when it comes to his life or the life of his brother, he would choose Damon every time. It became less and less about that sibling love and more and more about saving Elena. I know his reasons for what he did in 2x22 did include saving Elena as well, but I’m just not feeling it anymore.
He has been trying to tell Elena and Damon both that the Stefan they knew was gone, BUT calls Elena on her birthday AFTER murdering Andie. So her death was pointless. After being a chew toy for Damon for weeks she dies for nothing? MORE RAGE. I’m just taking his storyline as it comes. I’m not going to analyze anything from here on out because it makes my head hurt.
So now we have Klaus and Rebekah. The siblings from hell.
I like them both. A lot. Why? No clue. Maybe it’s the accents. Whatever it is, it’s working. I liked Klaus all on his own, but with the addition of Rebekah, he’s just so much more fun to watch. Their relationship is awesome in that realistic sibling way. They bicker like children, but there is that subtle love/concern/affection for one another. Even though both would deny feeling any of that toward one another. I wonder where the show plans on taking Klaus. We saw in his conversation with Rebekah at the end of the episode that his obssession with hybrids is stemming from his fear of being alone. Don't give Klaus man-pain please. He's awesome as is. I wouldn't mind them adding another dimension to his character as long as it doesn't involve them trying to add sympathy to his character. Klaus is evil and ruthless. He should stay that way.
Rebekah is a breath of fresh air. She’s more catty than Katherine. The ultimate Mean Girl. I hope she’s not written off too soon, because I’m loving her. I wonder now that Klaus has left her behind in Mystic Falls, just what trouble will she cause? We can be safe to assume that she will be directly involved in making Elena's life hell because of her connection with Stefan. Since I am biased, I'm curious to see if she'll try and befriend Tyler now that he's a hybrid. Klaus wouldn't want him harmed and since Stefan is now in charge of Elena, who is going to look after Tyler? Her involvement in his life could cause some problems for TC.
Klaus is eventually going to have to return to Mystic falls and I really can’t wait to see a scene with all three original siblings. Elijah will be de-daggered. How? When? I don’t know, but the dude’s coming back. He better.
Caroline. I love Caroline. Let’s get that out there, because I’m going to say some not so nice things about her right now. No, not about her, but her behavior. I’m going to blame it on bad writing because I refuse to believe she would willingly act this way.
There is no doubt on how Tyler feels about Caroline. It’s painfully obvious and written all over his face that he’s head over heels in love with her. Will he say it? Probably not, but Tyler’s feelings for her have reached that level. What I fear is that Caroline doesn’t feel the same way. I don’t expect her to be at the level Tyler is at because he’s known how he feels about her for months. Caroline gave into her emotions after spending a platonic summer with him. I’m not saying she doesn’t care for him, when it’s clear that she does, it was her lack of concern when Rebekah told her Tyler was dead-ish that gave me pause. It looked as if Caroline dismissed it or didn’t believe her and gave a slight roll of her eyes. Whether or not Rebekah was lying, Caroline didn't know that for sure. Tyler was dead…ish. There was hardly any reaction from Caroline and I’m hoping that was in the writing and not on Candice Accola’s part. I couldn't buy that after hearing that her best-friend, companion and lover was dead that she would just roll her eyes. No. I'm not believing that for a second.
In previous scenes with Tyler you can see the affection she feels towards him, especially in her smile. I know she cares and when she put herself in between Tyler and Rebekah my shipper heart was soaring. So it was bothering me that she had little to no reaction about hearing that he was dead.
Her worried look at the end, while embracing Tyler, sent me into a panic. Yes, Tyler was acting weird, but I was at the time thinking she was more worried about THEM rather than HIM. All coming from my fear that Caroline doesn't feel the same way about Tyler. Now that so many of their werewolf/vampire relationship obstacles are no longer obstacles she might be second guessing being involved with him. Luckily, I had some amazing friends talk me down and my panic was slightly eased. Only slightly. Because there was his whole, "This is going to be an amazing year," and I was yelling that he was jinxing it and now everything is going to go to hell.
Tyler/Tyler-Caroline. Michael Trevino for all of the awards okay? Okay. Tyler was everything in this episode. From being just an every day teenager having fun with his friends, a pranking senior, a loving boyfriend, terrified, confused, transitioning and changed forever.
I love that it wasn’t OOC for Tyler to be enthusiastic about senior prank night because it was right up his alley. Along with Caroline’s enthusiasm about creating memories, it was just another show of how compatible those two are for each other. *Swoons*
If I ever had a worry about Matt becoming a problem for TC, it died with this episode. We see Tyler standing behind Caroline, as he kisses her shoulder gently as Caroline asks if he thinks Matt would be okay. Whoa! Why are we talking about Matt Caroline?! Tyler agrees with me and addresses the issue, only to have Caroline ask him if he thinks that the FRIEND whom they both love is going to be alright? Tyler voices some concern for Matt, but turns the subject from Matt to Caroline by telling her that he LOVES how big her heart is. That was HUGE. It's always been about how these two show their emotions rather then vocalize them. However, that doesn't mean we can get it from time to time. Hearing Tyler tell Caroline that he loves something about her was such a big step for Tyler that it had me swooning all over the place. Tyler fully accepts Caroline and trusts her completely. You can see it in his eyes and he doesn't doubt her for a second and he is comfortable being open and honest with her, because he knows she will understand and won't judge him and that she truts him as well. Which I love most of the time, but lately it's been worrying me for reasons I mentioned above concerning Caroline's feelings. Tyler already felt strongly for her and his heightened emotions added to that. Tyler told Caroline he experience the same heightened emotions in 3x01, so we can assume his emotions were as intense as a vampire's. Now that he's a hybrid, does he feel more intensely than he did before? Will his feelings for Caroline become even stronger now that he's a hybrid?
I was unsure where the Matt topic was going to go and I didn’t like that Caroline brought him up, but as she explained herself to Tyler I understand her concern. Even though she and Matt are no longer together, and she’s clearly over him, she still cares about him as a friend because that’s Caroline.
Everything about this couple is perfect. Trevino and Candice have such wonderful chemistry with each other. They are the most realistic teens on the show and I know others would agree. What I want from TC right now is for them to define their relationship. Are they a couple? Friends with Benefits? What? From the viewers perspective I would say they were definitely in a relationship. It’s obvious with the way they are around each other and how affectionate they are. If anything proved that they were was the gentle forehead touch of couple bliss.
However, they have yet to be affectionate with each other in front of others. I would like to see some recognition for ANYONE at this point.
Back to the show. So Caroline tells Tyler she just wants everyone to be happy even when things are going terribly wrong (which is about to start happening in like 30 seconds) Tyler then dips down to look her straight in the eyes when he tells her the HE’S happy.
Just look at that smile! Perfection. So they we get some kissage only for them to get cockblocked by Rebekah who shows up looking for Tyler.
Can I say how much I flailed when Caroline put herself between Tyler and Rebekah? Because I flailed like there was no tomorrow.
Before we know it Rebekah is attacking Caroline knocking her out and taking Tyler to Klaus. Klaus is going to use Tyler as leverage in his plan to get Bonnie to figure out how to keep his hybrids from dying during transition. In all about five seconds he’s feeding Tyler his blood before snapping his neck, killing him and therefore beginning the hybrid process. I was yelling NOOOOOO at my computer screen and in complete shock of what had just gone down.
Most compelling momenta of the night? Tyler in transition. The moment Caroline breaks the news to him was heartbreaking. The terrified look on his face as he realized what was happening to him and would would happen if Bonnie didn't come through was just brilliant.
Then we see Tyler actually make the final transition into they hybrid. Klaus has found out from Matt and Bonnie that the Original Witch said for Klaus to break his curse that the doppleganger had to die. Which he did, only Elena didn’t stay dead in what turned out to be to Klaus’s benefit. The blood of the doppleganger is what keeps the hybrids from dying. The Original Witch knew if Klaus ever did break the curse that the doppleganger would be dead and he wouldn’t be able to make his hybrid army. Unfortunately, Klaus figured that out and performed an experiment on Tyler testing his theory.
The whole scene was amazing. We see Caroline comforting Tyler who looks like death as Klaus comes in and explains the situation. Rebekah holds Caroline as Klaus offers Elena’s blood to Tyler. Caroline tells Tyler no as he stares at the small vile in Klaus's hand. I really liked how Tyler seemed to want the blood, but resisted as Caroline told him no. Was Caroline telling Tyler no because of the possibility of him dying during transition, because it was Elena's blood or because it was Klaus who was giving it to him? I'm going with the first one. They all know now that once in transition the hybrids are not surviving, but as Klaus pointed out, Tyler would die if he didn't feed anyway. What is Tyler to do? There is a small moment between Tyler and Klaus when Tyler looks up at Klaus who softly assures him that it is okay, only then does Tyler take the vile of blood from Klaus and drinks it. I don’t know why I liked that moment so much, but I guess it could be foreshadowing what is to come for Tyler and Klaus. Will Tyler’s allegiances turn? I wondered earlier if Rebekah would make it a point to get to know Tyler and this is where I think his friends will start to question his loyalties if he begins to spend more time with her. That is if Tyler continue to acts as he was at the end of the episode. Also if, when Klaus does return if he returns alone. Did Klaus leave with some of Elena's blood? I can't remember. If he did he has all he needs to start making more hybrids. Either way, Klaus is the original and I'm sure Tyler will want answers since there is now NO ONE who would understand what he's experiencing other than Klaus.
This was probably the hardest scene to watch through out the entire episode. Tyler drinks the vile and falls down in agony as Caroline screams and struggles against Rebekah. Tyler convulses on the ground and screams out (I could barely watch. Trevino KILLS.) before becoming Klaus’s first successful hybrid, equipped with golden vampire veiny eyes and fangs. Oh boy. Klaus is very pleased. I kind of liked the way that Tyler seemed more werewolfy when he turned. He was on all fours and growled. I wonder if that was something Trevino consciously did or was just a force of habit. Klaus and his failed hybrids seem to have more vampire characteristics than that of a werewolf. The Golden eyes being the only tell-tale sign of the werewolf side of them. I figured since Klaus's werewolf side was dormant that his vampire side would be the more dominant one. So when he did break the curse his vampire characteristics would be more prominent. Plus, visually it looks coooler. I just liked that with Tyler's transition it seemed more like him going through a full moon rather than a regular vampire transition. Maybe I'm looking too into it, but I still liked it.
I knew the hybrid storyline was going to come back to Tyler and many had speculated that Tyler was going to be turned. I was strongly against the idea because I wanted him to stay a werewolf. I loved the conflict and angst that could have resulted from that in the TC relationship. I was excited about the possibilities for them and turning him into a hybrid would take away some of the aspects that I loved about the relationship. Such as the issue of mortality and the full moons. I'm assuming that now Tyler is a hybrid that he is now immortal and the anxiety of TC facing full moons is gone now that Tyler can change at will. Which I'm very sad to see go. It was the full moons that bonded TC and to have that taken away makes my heart ache. No, I didn't want Tyler to agonize for the rest of his life, but it was special and unique in regards to the TC relationship that we could claim as our own. I'm curious to see if Tyler will WANT to turn in a werewolf now. Klaus has yet to do it since 2x22, so I'm wondering if the writers have neglected that or if they have something planned down the line for that side of the hybrids.
As much as I love the idea of my OTP being eternal I didn’t want it at the expense of Tyler’s character. I’ll get into more that in a bit.
12_12_12 feared that there would be a permanent personality change in Tyler and a part of me worried this as well, but I’m going to hope that isn’t the case. Tyler just needs time to adjust to his newfound hybridism. That the euphoria he’s feeling from being recently turned will wear off in time and that the conflict will become him trying to understand his new capablities. Not only was he a newbie werewolf, but now he’s a bb vamp and that means he has to feed. Or does it? Klaus feeds because he was a vampire first, but does that mean that Tyler absolutely needs blood to survive? Will Caroline be there for him to show him how to handle his urgers? Will he want to feed on humans? Will he kill? Will he want to kill? This is what I want to know. What I fear is that he will change in some way and the Tyler that has been written so beautifully since the pilot will be ruined to appeal more interesting when he was perfect just as he was. Do I have faith that the writers will continue to write him amazingly as a hybrid as they have up until now? I don’t know. They have completely flipped my lid and all my marbles are scattered all over the place. They have completely given me a 180 and I have no idea what’s next. That's what we call a game changer. What’s to come from this? What will happen to Tyler when Klaus returns? Will he want to befriend him despite everything? Klaus is the only other hybrid. Will Tyler feel some kind of loyalty towards him? How will this effect his relationship with Caroline? Just what can Tyler do as a hybrid? Is he stronger? Can he compel? Over at Vampire-Diaries.net they have an awesome hybrid speculation post that raises a lot of interesting questions. Be sure to check that out.
I am a Tyler fan above all else and I’m afraid for my guy. The writers have built him up so perfectly and I’m afraid of them tearing him all down to make him go dark side because it would appeal more to the viewers. I hope I’m wrong. I really hope I’m wrong. So I’m going to stay cautiously excited about this storyline.
Lastly, RIP Not Now Dana. You'll be missed.
So there it is. I’m sure there were points I forgot to make, I left something out or just plain mis-interoperated something. *Shrugs* It’s been a long day.
So TVD friends, what did you think? I’m a spoiler whore and speculation is most welcome. So if you’re spoiler free, beware. ;)
Side note: All gifs are mine. :)
I’ve been able to let the episode sink in over the last couple of days and have had time to discuss and speculate with friends on twitter, tumblr, fan forums and here on LJ.
We learned a lot this episode and yet were left with a billion more questions. Who is Mikael and why is Klaus so afraid of him? How is Vicki in contact with the original witch, but not Anna? Matt can see ghosts too now? Hybrid Tyler? What even?
I’m going to talk about every character (who made an appearance in 3x05) because even though I am shipper biased (I’ll admit it) I do love the show as a whole. So let’s get to it.
We open with Matt who is working out, full clothed I might add (what is that fuckery) in the Mystic Falls High School’s dark gym. Things start to get a little spooky, but Matt eventually stumbles in on his friends enjoying senior prank night.
So I TRY to like Matt, and I blame Zach for this, but he’s become more and more boring to me it’s hard to stay interested in him. Especially when he’s so about his poor life and his never ending man pain. It get’s hard to feel sympathy for someone who is always trying to take it from you. If the show showed Matt struggling and not have him TELL us that his life sucks then maybe I could get some sad eyes going, but it doesn’t. Matt is constantly telling anyone who will listen how hard his life is. Life IS hard Matty, cowboy the eff up and deal with it.
Surprisingly enough he didn’t annoy me too much in this episode. I was irked by his conversation with Bonnie and how she fed into his man pain while they toilet papered the pool, but it was his genuine concern for Tyler that makes me like him. His relationship with woman isn’t always something I like. 12_12_12 points out how gender biased Matt is; where he treats woman (other than Elena) terribly (whether he is conscious of this or not), but in scenes with Tyler you can see that he’s more open and concerned with him than other characters. I still want them to be bffs, sue me. But it’s Matt’s constant woe is me that makes it difficult to care about him. He’s been mostly irrelevant up until now. Which is where things got interesting and confusing. Matt surmised, all by himself, that all he needs to do in order to talk to Vicki is simply to die and come back to life. Hmmm…that’s genius! So what does Matty do? He drowns himself and hopes that Bonnie can perform CPR and bring him back. Noble? Maybe. Stupid? Most definitely, but what can I say…it worked. Thing is, I thought that Jeremy could see ghosts because Bonnie brought him back from the dead using magic. So how is it that Matt can see them? If this is a rule, then shouldn’t everyone who’s died, and that’s basically everyone on the show at this point, be able to see ghosts? Answer me that one TVD.
As 12_12_12 said in her reaction post, I didn’t like how when it comes to Elena’s life over someone else’s everyone assumes to save Elena. It was either her or Tyler and it seemed that they had accepted that Tyler would probably die. RAGE. It’s that idea that Elena is more important than everyone else that makes me dislike the character. What is so much more special about her life than the lives of others? Tell me please, because I’m not getting it.
Throughout the episode we saw Bonnie interacting a lot with Matt. Their conversation at the pool about his man pain and seeing Vicki, taking him away with her after Klaus sent her on her mission to figure out his hybrid problem, and then her ultimately saving him. Bonnie has never been one of my favorite characters, to be honest she’s my least favorite, but I found myself rooting for her in this episode. I loved her run to save Matt. I was actually a little anxious that she wasn’t going to be able to save him and Matt would be gone forever. Okay, so I knew he would live, but the moment had me on the edge of my seat. Again.
I’m officially shipping Bonnie and Matt. Not because they are two of my least favorite characters, it does play a part, but the two have some really sweet chemistry with each other that I found extremely refreshing for them.
Which brings me to my next character, Jeremy. Little Gilbert is not so little anymore am I right? Let me be completely shallow right now and say that McQueen just keeps getting more and more UNF every episode.
I WANT to like Jeremy’s storyline and up until recently I was mostly bored. Now that Anna is the ghost he’s communicating more with I am now very much interested. Anna has this sweetness about her, even as a vampire, that I found so endearing during S1 that I was crushed when she was killed. I very much ship her and Jeremy together. Vampire Ghost or not, they belong together. He can touch her! So what if it’s weird that no one else can see her? LOL. Okay, so it’s a little out there, but my shipper heart wants it.
I need more Jeremy and Katherine scenes. Those two always put a huge dorky smile on my face whenever they are in the same scene together. Jeremy has come so far since the pilot that I love that he’s more involved with the meta-plot and not just being the emo kid off to the side. We saw this slowly begin to happen as he was more proactive in helping in S2, but we haven’t seen too much of him in S3. I hope this changes soon and we’ll really get something out of his “I see dead people” storyline.
Katherine and Damon. Katherine > Every one. Katherine is a great character and it still blows my mind that Nina Dobrev can make you feel like she is a completely different person when playing Katherine in contrast to playing Elena. Katherine, in all her wonderfully selfish ways, is a strong female character and to be belittled by Damon made my blood boil. I’m not the biggest Damon fan and I don’t apologize for it. His constant need to put her down is just irritating. Yes, she screwed him and Stefan for all eternity, but he’s no damn angel either. Why the writers feel like they have to point out that Elena is more superior in relation to Katherine is beyond me. You can try and force it down my throat all you want TVD writers, I’m not swallowing that BS.
Elena. I can’t even comment on her right now. I have never felt so strongly about my dislike about her in the entire series. There were times in season two that I rooted for her and had hopes that her development would start to look up and then…no. It’s the propping of her character at the expense of other’s that gets me. Until that stops, which it won’t, I probably won’t ever love Elena.
Stefan. What is this? So the power of love can resist, for a time, compulsion from an Original? Pfft. Give me a break. I usually lean towards Stelena, but I wasn’t feeling them at all in this episode. Maybe it was my Elena hate or maybe it was just bad writing, but I couldn’t feel for them as a couple.
I’ll always like Stefan as a fan of the show. He’ll never reach Tyler status for me because unlike Tyler, I don’t care as strongly for him. I just take him as is for the most part. I love how amazing he can be, but his martyr act with giving himself over for Klaus started off okay but now it’s just meh. I told myself that he did what he did, by leaving with Klaus and going back to his ripper days, because he wanted to save Damon. The love for a sibling knows no bounds and when it comes to his life or the life of his brother, he would choose Damon every time. It became less and less about that sibling love and more and more about saving Elena. I know his reasons for what he did in 2x22 did include saving Elena as well, but I’m just not feeling it anymore.
He has been trying to tell Elena and Damon both that the Stefan they knew was gone, BUT calls Elena on her birthday AFTER murdering Andie. So her death was pointless. After being a chew toy for Damon for weeks she dies for nothing? MORE RAGE. I’m just taking his storyline as it comes. I’m not going to analyze anything from here on out because it makes my head hurt.
So now we have Klaus and Rebekah. The siblings from hell.
I like them both. A lot. Why? No clue. Maybe it’s the accents. Whatever it is, it’s working. I liked Klaus all on his own, but with the addition of Rebekah, he’s just so much more fun to watch. Their relationship is awesome in that realistic sibling way. They bicker like children, but there is that subtle love/concern/affection for one another. Even though both would deny feeling any of that toward one another. I wonder where the show plans on taking Klaus. We saw in his conversation with Rebekah at the end of the episode that his obssession with hybrids is stemming from his fear of being alone. Don't give Klaus man-pain please. He's awesome as is. I wouldn't mind them adding another dimension to his character as long as it doesn't involve them trying to add sympathy to his character. Klaus is evil and ruthless. He should stay that way.
Rebekah is a breath of fresh air. She’s more catty than Katherine. The ultimate Mean Girl. I hope she’s not written off too soon, because I’m loving her. I wonder now that Klaus has left her behind in Mystic Falls, just what trouble will she cause? We can be safe to assume that she will be directly involved in making Elena's life hell because of her connection with Stefan. Since I am biased, I'm curious to see if she'll try and befriend Tyler now that he's a hybrid. Klaus wouldn't want him harmed and since Stefan is now in charge of Elena, who is going to look after Tyler? Her involvement in his life could cause some problems for TC.
Klaus is eventually going to have to return to Mystic falls and I really can’t wait to see a scene with all three original siblings. Elijah will be de-daggered. How? When? I don’t know, but the dude’s coming back. He better.
Caroline. I love Caroline. Let’s get that out there, because I’m going to say some not so nice things about her right now. No, not about her, but her behavior. I’m going to blame it on bad writing because I refuse to believe she would willingly act this way.
There is no doubt on how Tyler feels about Caroline. It’s painfully obvious and written all over his face that he’s head over heels in love with her. Will he say it? Probably not, but Tyler’s feelings for her have reached that level. What I fear is that Caroline doesn’t feel the same way. I don’t expect her to be at the level Tyler is at because he’s known how he feels about her for months. Caroline gave into her emotions after spending a platonic summer with him. I’m not saying she doesn’t care for him, when it’s clear that she does, it was her lack of concern when Rebekah told her Tyler was dead-ish that gave me pause. It looked as if Caroline dismissed it or didn’t believe her and gave a slight roll of her eyes. Whether or not Rebekah was lying, Caroline didn't know that for sure. Tyler was dead…ish. There was hardly any reaction from Caroline and I’m hoping that was in the writing and not on Candice Accola’s part. I couldn't buy that after hearing that her best-friend, companion and lover was dead that she would just roll her eyes. No. I'm not believing that for a second.
In previous scenes with Tyler you can see the affection she feels towards him, especially in her smile. I know she cares and when she put herself in between Tyler and Rebekah my shipper heart was soaring. So it was bothering me that she had little to no reaction about hearing that he was dead.
Her worried look at the end, while embracing Tyler, sent me into a panic. Yes, Tyler was acting weird, but I was at the time thinking she was more worried about THEM rather than HIM. All coming from my fear that Caroline doesn't feel the same way about Tyler. Now that so many of their werewolf/vampire relationship obstacles are no longer obstacles she might be second guessing being involved with him. Luckily, I had some amazing friends talk me down and my panic was slightly eased. Only slightly. Because there was his whole, "This is going to be an amazing year," and I was yelling that he was jinxing it and now everything is going to go to hell.
Tyler/Tyler-Caroline. Michael Trevino for all of the awards okay? Okay. Tyler was everything in this episode. From being just an every day teenager having fun with his friends, a pranking senior, a loving boyfriend, terrified, confused, transitioning and changed forever.
I love that it wasn’t OOC for Tyler to be enthusiastic about senior prank night because it was right up his alley. Along with Caroline’s enthusiasm about creating memories, it was just another show of how compatible those two are for each other. *Swoons*
If I ever had a worry about Matt becoming a problem for TC, it died with this episode. We see Tyler standing behind Caroline, as he kisses her shoulder gently as Caroline asks if he thinks Matt would be okay. Whoa! Why are we talking about Matt Caroline?! Tyler agrees with me and addresses the issue, only to have Caroline ask him if he thinks that the FRIEND whom they both love is going to be alright? Tyler voices some concern for Matt, but turns the subject from Matt to Caroline by telling her that he LOVES how big her heart is. That was HUGE. It's always been about how these two show their emotions rather then vocalize them. However, that doesn't mean we can get it from time to time. Hearing Tyler tell Caroline that he loves something about her was such a big step for Tyler that it had me swooning all over the place. Tyler fully accepts Caroline and trusts her completely. You can see it in his eyes and he doesn't doubt her for a second and he is comfortable being open and honest with her, because he knows she will understand and won't judge him and that she truts him as well. Which I love most of the time, but lately it's been worrying me for reasons I mentioned above concerning Caroline's feelings. Tyler already felt strongly for her and his heightened emotions added to that. Tyler told Caroline he experience the same heightened emotions in 3x01, so we can assume his emotions were as intense as a vampire's. Now that he's a hybrid, does he feel more intensely than he did before? Will his feelings for Caroline become even stronger now that he's a hybrid?
I was unsure where the Matt topic was going to go and I didn’t like that Caroline brought him up, but as she explained herself to Tyler I understand her concern. Even though she and Matt are no longer together, and she’s clearly over him, she still cares about him as a friend because that’s Caroline.
Everything about this couple is perfect. Trevino and Candice have such wonderful chemistry with each other. They are the most realistic teens on the show and I know others would agree. What I want from TC right now is for them to define their relationship. Are they a couple? Friends with Benefits? What? From the viewers perspective I would say they were definitely in a relationship. It’s obvious with the way they are around each other and how affectionate they are. If anything proved that they were was the gentle forehead touch of couple bliss.
However, they have yet to be affectionate with each other in front of others. I would like to see some recognition for ANYONE at this point.
Back to the show. So Caroline tells Tyler she just wants everyone to be happy even when things are going terribly wrong (which is about to start happening in like 30 seconds) Tyler then dips down to look her straight in the eyes when he tells her the HE’S happy.
Just look at that smile! Perfection. So they we get some kissage only for them to get cockblocked by Rebekah who shows up looking for Tyler.
Can I say how much I flailed when Caroline put herself between Tyler and Rebekah? Because I flailed like there was no tomorrow.
Before we know it Rebekah is attacking Caroline knocking her out and taking Tyler to Klaus. Klaus is going to use Tyler as leverage in his plan to get Bonnie to figure out how to keep his hybrids from dying during transition. In all about five seconds he’s feeding Tyler his blood before snapping his neck, killing him and therefore beginning the hybrid process. I was yelling NOOOOOO at my computer screen and in complete shock of what had just gone down.
Most compelling momenta of the night? Tyler in transition. The moment Caroline breaks the news to him was heartbreaking. The terrified look on his face as he realized what was happening to him and would would happen if Bonnie didn't come through was just brilliant.
Then we see Tyler actually make the final transition into they hybrid. Klaus has found out from Matt and Bonnie that the Original Witch said for Klaus to break his curse that the doppleganger had to die. Which he did, only Elena didn’t stay dead in what turned out to be to Klaus’s benefit. The blood of the doppleganger is what keeps the hybrids from dying. The Original Witch knew if Klaus ever did break the curse that the doppleganger would be dead and he wouldn’t be able to make his hybrid army. Unfortunately, Klaus figured that out and performed an experiment on Tyler testing his theory.
The whole scene was amazing. We see Caroline comforting Tyler who looks like death as Klaus comes in and explains the situation. Rebekah holds Caroline as Klaus offers Elena’s blood to Tyler. Caroline tells Tyler no as he stares at the small vile in Klaus's hand. I really liked how Tyler seemed to want the blood, but resisted as Caroline told him no. Was Caroline telling Tyler no because of the possibility of him dying during transition, because it was Elena's blood or because it was Klaus who was giving it to him? I'm going with the first one. They all know now that once in transition the hybrids are not surviving, but as Klaus pointed out, Tyler would die if he didn't feed anyway. What is Tyler to do? There is a small moment between Tyler and Klaus when Tyler looks up at Klaus who softly assures him that it is okay, only then does Tyler take the vile of blood from Klaus and drinks it. I don’t know why I liked that moment so much, but I guess it could be foreshadowing what is to come for Tyler and Klaus. Will Tyler’s allegiances turn? I wondered earlier if Rebekah would make it a point to get to know Tyler and this is where I think his friends will start to question his loyalties if he begins to spend more time with her. That is if Tyler continue to acts as he was at the end of the episode. Also if, when Klaus does return if he returns alone. Did Klaus leave with some of Elena's blood? I can't remember. If he did he has all he needs to start making more hybrids. Either way, Klaus is the original and I'm sure Tyler will want answers since there is now NO ONE who would understand what he's experiencing other than Klaus.
This was probably the hardest scene to watch through out the entire episode. Tyler drinks the vile and falls down in agony as Caroline screams and struggles against Rebekah. Tyler convulses on the ground and screams out (I could barely watch. Trevino KILLS.) before becoming Klaus’s first successful hybrid, equipped with golden vampire veiny eyes and fangs. Oh boy. Klaus is very pleased. I kind of liked the way that Tyler seemed more werewolfy when he turned. He was on all fours and growled. I wonder if that was something Trevino consciously did or was just a force of habit. Klaus and his failed hybrids seem to have more vampire characteristics than that of a werewolf. The Golden eyes being the only tell-tale sign of the werewolf side of them. I figured since Klaus's werewolf side was dormant that his vampire side would be the more dominant one. So when he did break the curse his vampire characteristics would be more prominent. Plus, visually it looks coooler. I just liked that with Tyler's transition it seemed more like him going through a full moon rather than a regular vampire transition. Maybe I'm looking too into it, but I still liked it.
I knew the hybrid storyline was going to come back to Tyler and many had speculated that Tyler was going to be turned. I was strongly against the idea because I wanted him to stay a werewolf. I loved the conflict and angst that could have resulted from that in the TC relationship. I was excited about the possibilities for them and turning him into a hybrid would take away some of the aspects that I loved about the relationship. Such as the issue of mortality and the full moons. I'm assuming that now Tyler is a hybrid that he is now immortal and the anxiety of TC facing full moons is gone now that Tyler can change at will. Which I'm very sad to see go. It was the full moons that bonded TC and to have that taken away makes my heart ache. No, I didn't want Tyler to agonize for the rest of his life, but it was special and unique in regards to the TC relationship that we could claim as our own. I'm curious to see if Tyler will WANT to turn in a werewolf now. Klaus has yet to do it since 2x22, so I'm wondering if the writers have neglected that or if they have something planned down the line for that side of the hybrids.
As much as I love the idea of my OTP being eternal I didn’t want it at the expense of Tyler’s character. I’ll get into more that in a bit.
12_12_12 feared that there would be a permanent personality change in Tyler and a part of me worried this as well, but I’m going to hope that isn’t the case. Tyler just needs time to adjust to his newfound hybridism. That the euphoria he’s feeling from being recently turned will wear off in time and that the conflict will become him trying to understand his new capablities. Not only was he a newbie werewolf, but now he’s a bb vamp and that means he has to feed. Or does it? Klaus feeds because he was a vampire first, but does that mean that Tyler absolutely needs blood to survive? Will Caroline be there for him to show him how to handle his urgers? Will he want to feed on humans? Will he kill? Will he want to kill? This is what I want to know. What I fear is that he will change in some way and the Tyler that has been written so beautifully since the pilot will be ruined to appeal more interesting when he was perfect just as he was. Do I have faith that the writers will continue to write him amazingly as a hybrid as they have up until now? I don’t know. They have completely flipped my lid and all my marbles are scattered all over the place. They have completely given me a 180 and I have no idea what’s next. That's what we call a game changer. What’s to come from this? What will happen to Tyler when Klaus returns? Will he want to befriend him despite everything? Klaus is the only other hybrid. Will Tyler feel some kind of loyalty towards him? How will this effect his relationship with Caroline? Just what can Tyler do as a hybrid? Is he stronger? Can he compel? Over at Vampire-Diaries.net they have an awesome hybrid speculation post that raises a lot of interesting questions. Be sure to check that out.
I am a Tyler fan above all else and I’m afraid for my guy. The writers have built him up so perfectly and I’m afraid of them tearing him all down to make him go dark side because it would appeal more to the viewers. I hope I’m wrong. I really hope I’m wrong. So I’m going to stay cautiously excited about this storyline.
Lastly, RIP Not Now Dana. You'll be missed.
So there it is. I’m sure there were points I forgot to make, I left something out or just plain mis-interoperated something. *Shrugs* It’s been a long day.
So TVD friends, what did you think? I’m a spoiler whore and speculation is most welcome. So if you’re spoiler free, beware. ;)
Side note: All gifs are mine. :)