You want a better story. Who wouldn't? (Damon/Elena Top Ten Scenes)
So. Once upon a time, ever-neutral wrote a HUGE Damon/Elena Top 10 Scenes, and she made me promise I would also make my own D/E Top 10. I started working on it after 3x15 aired, but then decided to leave it until the end of s3. A challenge at tvdbloodstream was a motivation to finally finish
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Once upon a time, ever_neutral wrote a HUGE Damon/Elena Top 10 Scenes, and she made me promise I would also make my own D/E Top 10.
omg WHYYYYYYY DO YOU KEEP DRAGGING MY NAME INTO THIS BUSINESS LMFAO? ISN'T MY REPUTATION TERRIBLE ENOUGH. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS, LOSER.
First unfiltered thought: LOL you totally wrote what you did here to start flamewars, didn't you. Probably 2% of D/E fandom will agree with the opinions contained in this post. You troll. You fucking troll.
Onwards.
This is who Elena is: she doesn't have to try to accept Damon, it's not an effort for her. She can't help it, which means it's real (in Damon's world, things aren't real if you can control them).
Does she really though? I would think Elena has enormous difficulty accepting Damon. She has no trouble UNDERSTANDING him -- or seeing him as he really is -- but that's not quite the same thing. Since Damon acts as a narrative ~mirror for Elena, accepting all of him would mean accepting all of herself, which she can't do right now.
Soon after he finds out Katherine was never in the tomb, he gets into this thick head of his that Elena will fall for him the way he started falling for her, and that her love will redeem him somehow, will give him goal and meaning. Damon clutches the first narrative he can find, Redeemed By The Love Of A Good Woman, and tries to make it work.
Word. It is brilliantly encapsulated in that sappy "you believed I was worth saving" blah blah nonsense in the S1 finale (which Ian plays perfectly btw, insofar as it's clearly Damon performing a role -- the role of the bad boy seeing the error of his ways, HAHAHAHA). And that would be the last time Damon ever subscribes to that narrative. Thank God. (It is not a coincidence that I only really started to get interested in D/E in S2.)
He knows she's strong, but 2x03 is when he finds out that she has the kind of strength that appeals to him the most. This scene is when Damon discovers that Elena likes power play - and that she's willing to play.
LOL, you have a more optimistic interpretation of this than myself. I agree that Damon digs playing games. But I think this moment is significant because it's the first moment (in a long line of) that Elena shows that she has the power to break him. It's the first time she's deliberately (and EASILY) cruel to him. (Before they became friends, she wasn't obligated to treat him well, so their early S1 bitching doesn't count. And after they do become friends, she's nothing but good to him.)
I mean, we can all agree that Damon is attracted to pain. Part of it is his deeply ingrained belief that ~if it don't end in bloodshed, dear, it's probably not love~. But part of it is also really just a manifestation of his history with abuse. He offers everything he has to people who reject him, and treats the people who are good to him like crap (see: Caroline, Andie, every other person he has victimised). So, when Elena starts treating him the way he thinks he deserves, it cements his emotional attachment to her. I don't mean to say that he goes out consciously seeking abuse (though sometimes he does - lol), but he's incredibly drawn to relationship patterns that are bad for him, despite himself.
… I think that's an even more pathetic interpretation than you've got here, lol. But I'm sure you approve. I do think Damon is becoming a healthier person these days, though, as you noted.
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In this scene, Elena is taking up the role of The Good Woman whose Compassion will Save The Dark Antihero... She sees that he's worth saving. And you know what he does after he hears all that? // He goes out and kills an innocent girl, because he can't handle the expectations.
THE. FUCKING. BEST. DSLJFDS;LKFJDFJDS;LJFDSL. I actually don't care for that particular scene (or episode tbh, way too heavy-handed), precisely because I don't care for the way Elena behaves wrt Damon. This Good Woman business does not fly. Not in my ship, thank you and goodbye. BUT. THE ARC. THE ARC HAS IT. This is one of the many reasons why I do not comprehend why S2 D/E is considered inferior to S1 D/E. S1 was just the set-up for the ugly, ugly deconstruction, fools. This is where shit gets real.
He wants something, and when he gets it, he doesn't know what to do with it, so he ruins everything. It's not Elena's place to save him. See what happens when she tries?
PREACH. It is not Elena's fucking job to be the saviour of any dick. Bless this narrative for being so consistent about this right up to the present day.
That's why he doesn't know what love is - he only knows what he read about it.
S T U N N I N G
Because, as ever_neutral correctly noticed, Elena is not a reward for good behavior.
LOL THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING ME AGAIN. I will keep a knife next to my bed.
One of my favorite things about D/E is that Elena's identity isn't dependent on Damon, and 3x22 made me realize that it works both ways: Damon's identity can't be dependent on Elena.
A-fucking-men. And I think Damon really did buy into that idea earlier on in the season? "I thought I could win her fair and square." It's not that he actively decided to ~turn over a new leaf so as to earn her love, but… something. IDK. He was definitely wrapping up his idea of happiness/contentment/whatever in his relationship with her. No longer. Bless.
Yes, they're both terrible people. Yes, this is one of the reasons why I ship it.
*single perfect tear*
The show uses fairy tale setup to show the ugly side of romantic love.
Yes. In which the princess finally becomes queen and exiles her huntsman -- just so she can have her Prince Charming back. And then ends the night completely alone. :')
Do I have to remind anyone how this was the hottest thing on TV this year?
Indeed.
Which is why they keep happening in negative spaces: cellars, porches, hallways.
You say these things JUST TO HURT ME, DON'T YOU
And this is when I started shipping Damon/Elena.
HIGH MOTHERFUCKING FIVE. #regret is not a friend to this bar
The abuse is never other-ed in D/E, but at the same time it can't be ignored or excused. You want the love that consumes you? Well, this is how it works.
O U C H.
SAME #1 SCENE. \o/ Flawless top 5 in general, yo.
Damon and Elena can defy Epic Romance, because there is no place for friendship in traditional romantic narrative. Princess locked in her ivory tower never had time to befriend her White Knight. The Good Woman whose love is supposed to redeem the Antihero is too concerned with changing him to get to know him properly. When you're consumed by passion, there's no place for decent conversation. But friendship?
This is such a good point. Thank you.
IN CONCLUSION: Bless your pretentious quotes.
This is an embarrassing comment.
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IKR? Not that I dislike s1 D/E, it's fun. But in s2 it gets INTERESTING!
It's not that he actively decided to ~turn over a new leaf so as to earn her love, but… something. IDK. He was definitely wrapping up his idea of happiness/contentment/whatever in his relationship with her.
I had an impression that at some point he was thinking that she would just naturally fall for him. "It's right, just not right now". He sure as hell knows that she lusts after him, and things between them were so good, so he assumed this is where they were heading. It didn't take Elena long to prove him wrong.
You say these things JUST TO HURT ME, DON'T YOU
I enjoy your pain and misery as much as you enjoy them.
Bless your pretentious quotes.
Thank you, I quite enjoy them myself.
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First unfiltered thought: LOL you totally wrote what you did here to start flamewars, didn't you.
I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT NO FLAMEWAR HAPPENED. I spammed so much D/E nonsense that everyone grew tired of it, and only a few people read this post at all. So here you go.
I would think Elena has enormous difficulty accepting Damon.
Hmm. I think we're talking about the same thing, but using different words. I think Elena intuitively accepts Damon, but she intellectually knows that it's wrong, so she chooses to push it away. It's her instinct to accept him, and she fights that instinct. It's like you once said that she has to work very hard to keep herself isolated from him. (Ugh, there is a better word to say it, but I'm just totally braindead, and I can't find it :(.)
But I think this moment is significant because it's the first moment (in a long line of) that Elena shows that she has the power to break him. It's the first time she's deliberately (and EASILY) cruel to him.
I CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED THIS. You are correct. I'm dumb :(. I got fooled by the idea that both Elena and Katherine already broke him in 2x01, and I totally missed the fact that in 2x01, Elena didn't do it deliberately.
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