It's my journal, I'll make icons if I want to. [TVD Premiere Squee Post!]: youcallitwinter

youcallitwinter

It's my journal, I'll make icons if I want to. [TVD Premiere Squee Post!]

Sep 18, 2011 18:25

Okay, first things first- I LOVED THE PREMIERE

Weird thing is that I actually felt it was rather incomplete while watching; like half an episode instead of a full one. So fine, I know it probably doesn’t compare to The Return and I actually loved it more on reflection than I did during the actual watching, but still.

I think they managed the jump pretty well, or at least rather conveniently, since all the pesky questions of what happened immediately after As I Lay Dying could easily be put on the backburner. And I loved the…I dunno, feel of the episode- for some reason it seemed closer to season one dynamics than season two doom, gloom and death. Also, this episode felt much more like an ensemble than any previous episode has, with almost each storyline getting equal time.

I think what I genuinely found very interesting about this episode was the idea of moving on. That eventually you possibly have to, regardless of what has passed- or just adjust, if nothing else. All the characters are such a different place emotionally than they were just a few months back, that it’s either a plot device or a rather profound comment on the human condition. Elena hasn’t run off in search of Stefan, which is what I would have imagined her as doing, Caroline can bear to have a semi-civil conversation with Matt (who’s still a jackass to my bb D:), Alaric can mention Jenna without having an emotional breakdown, Damon can stand next to Elena without making his love overt, and Stefan can actually becomes ripper!Stefan without turning the button off.

Except none of them have actually moved on, not really. Elena can barely make it through each day without slipping into that expression that just signifies an emptiness that didn’t exist before, Alaric’s barely functioning at all, so different from the motivated guy he was when he first arrived in Mystic Falls, and everyone else is just sort of holding on, but not really. And as the end of the episode demonstrated, they're all alone in handling their demons.

(Also, on a sidenote, I loved the little details, like Elena having told Caroline about the death-bed kiss. THAT IS SUCH A TEENAGE THING TO DO. And my girls so rarely get a chance to just be teenagers! I can imagine them having this sleepover and Elena being “omg, you know what happened?!” and then both of them analyzing every word to death. It made me grin.)

Stefan. OH MY GOD, PAUL, WHAT EVEN? It’s rather extraordinary how good Paul was as the ‘bad guy’ for once. It’s obvious he’s wanted to play this role since ages because his expressions were fantastic. There was that slight menacing air about him that rather over-shadowed Klaus’s because it was just so evil. The matter-of-fact way in which he carried out his the carnage, was genuinely creepy. As was the discovery of why Stefan is called The Ripper (which was pretty funny on its own earlier. Now? Not so much.) And then the ending breakdown, along with his obvious ploy to keep Damon safe throughout just revealed that he hasn’t ‘switched it off’. Unless he switches his emotions off during the killing and then turns them on again? God, I’m so confused. But I’d love to see how the show treats this Stefan, and at what point does the character become irredeemable for the audience or the other characters. Or whether that point exists at all.

Elena. ELENA GILBERT ROCKED THE EPISODE. She went through a whole spectrum of emotions; she laughed and cried and bitched and smirked and broke down and loved and SO, BASICALLY, CONSULT THE DICTIONARY NOW. Seeing Nina Dobrev crying sort of seems to initiate a visceral reaction wherein it becomes impossible to remain unaffected. She cried in this genuine, painful way and IT IS BOTH AWESOME AND HORRIFIC. And I loved how many relationships of hers the show could explore through five second sequences; Alaric, Jeremy, Caroline, Damon, Stefan. The whole scene of getting up in the morning was such a call-back to the idea of doing it over and over every single day till it isn’t so hard anymore. The return of the bitch!face during Damon’s typical “is his stash any good”, shall be celebrated by many. Also, her reaction to Damon’s birthday present was just fantastic acting, her whispered “I’m happy” followed/preceded by the slightly tremulous smile was one of the best lines of the episode.

Caroline. MY BB IS JUST AS MUCH A HBIC AS EVER. She organizes epic birthday parties! She’s gossip queen extraordinaire! She drinks straight out of the bottle! She doesn’t react to Matt’s obvious jealousy-inducing tactics! She tells Tyler things he’s not supposed to know! She’s snarky to Damon through a lust-and-alcohol filled haze! She pushes boys onto beds (how hot was that?)! She gives Elena good advice! She gets jealous and bitchy! She picks up random guys with one hand! She has hot supernatural sex! She does it all while being adorable! And then she gets hit by vervain darts. WTF, SHOW, WHY CAROLINE? WHY CAROLINE AGAIN? Honestly, I’m beginning to subscribe to whoever it was that said that it’s always Caroline because she’s adorable and seeing her get hurt just gets the strongest audience reaction. All I’m thinking right now is that there’s no Stefan to help her and be there for her this time round. Oh, god, Stefan.

Damon. This guy broke my heart in the episode. The oddest thing is that I didn’t realize just how amazing he really was till I sat down to make icons and saw some of his expressions in slow motion sequences. What I absolutely loved was that after a long time Damon actually fit my initial conception of the character. He carried out his epic bromance with Alaric. He searched covertly for his brother and made Elena feel stupid for helping. He was snarky instead of love-struck. He hid his emotions behind words. And sometimes, he just failed to hide them at all (that was lovely). He didn’t feel the need to tell he was still madly in love with Elena, he showed. He came off worse in an encounter with his baby brother. He broke down and smashed Stefan’s room. (I know lots of people might have found it overly melodramatic, but I loved the hell out of that scene because it was all about Stefan. The brother he thinks he’s lost. And honestly, I think there’s an element of his own growth here, because earlier he would’ve taken it as a law of nature, that vampires are meant to feed and Stefan needs to learn that). And the best thing was he did this all alone, no theatrics, no dramatic confessions (no eye-thing!) He kept his cool with everyone and then broke down in private, and that is so rare that I adored it even more. I could understand the motivation behind every gesture, every snarky comment, every glance and oh, Damon.

Andie. In my opinion, this was a weak point in the entire narrative. And an extremely shoddy storyline in its entirety with no overarching purpose that I could discern. So obviously she’s dead for good and is probably never going to be mentioned again. I think this was a rather irresponsible move on the part of the show, raking issues that they’re not going to conclude or deal with; especially since they involve physical abuse, and women being used as props to further the storyline of the men. Andie had no agency at all; after being thoroughly violated by Damon, she ultimately becomes a pawn in Stefan’s attempt to prove a point, etc, etc. What was also rather frightening was that it’s impossible to judge whether her emotions or reactions were genuine or just a result of Damon’s compulsion. Maybe it makes sense for the universe of the show and it’s spate of supernatural creatures and consistent amorality, however, considering that the show is actually aimed at teenage girls, it becomes even more important to address these issues if they’re being brought up. Also, TVD totally lived up to its reputation of making guest stars interesting just before conking them off. This was the first episode that I felt like Andie has potential and she can play a major role in the events-to-come…and then of course she jumped off the plank. :s

ALSO, NO ELIJAH AND NO KATHERINE. I NEED MY BAMF QUOTIENT, SHOW.

Tyler/Caroline. Hot, damn. That was an insane upping up of the CW sex quotient. I love how they absolutely didn’t need to make promises of forever before jumping into bed and that Caroline tried to sneak off afterwards (before being tazered /cries). They had marvelous chemistry throughout- mostly of the fluffy kind really, which was a good foil to the usual intense, angsty chemistry that various characters in this show generate. Also, Supernatural Sex is apparently alliterative a thing in TVD premieres.

Stefan/Elena. Okay, I’m probably one of the only Damon/Elena shippers to have adored their scene. It’s fascinating how Elena’s changed through the beginning of the first season when she hated Damon because “people [died] around [him]” and is now still in love with Stefan even after knowing what he’s done/is capable of doing. That ending scene was romantic in an extremely typical way, but so insanely glorious because Stefan is almost gone and he needs to remember why he should hold on, why he shouldn’t let go of that part of him that still cares, that still wants to hear Elena's voice, that still tries to protect Damon by any means necessary. In fact, this is exactly what Damon’s redemption arc has been grounded on, except of course he’s had himself to fight against, while Stefan’s situation is tied to Klaus’s subjectivity (coupled with his own extreme blood-lust). Elena quiet acknowledgment and Stefan’s silent agony was all just really well executed. And I love that she still loves him, I’d have hated it if suddenly three months later, he’d become some guy whom she was trying to keep faithful to while getting attracted to his brother or something.

Stefan/Damon. Oh my god, my dysfunctional brothership. The framing of “hello, brother” and the obvious callback to the first episode of the series was epic. As was their interactions where Stefan has to try and convince the guy who knows him better than anyone else that he isn’t the same anymore, that he’s actually let go completely. And how so many things were just about these two; Damon picking up the photograph, Stefan almost blowing his act in front of Klaus at the mention of Damon’s name. And Damon’s guilt in the last scene where he smashes everything, so much love for these two.

Damon/Elena. I can’t. I just…I can’t even begin to explain how perfect I thought they were. I know it was probably disappointing for many because of the buildup of expectations and the promo suggestion of a romantic/sexual vibe. But their scenes in this worked for me like nothing else would have. It reminded me why I’d started shipping them in the first place. I think in the middle somewhere they found what their relationship had initially been based on, that they’d almost lost- an understanding. I got such a deep friendship vibe from these two; they trust each other, they rely on each other, they can barely function without each other. Initially I was all “oh man” about the naked!Damon scene in the promo, but it was rather funny than otherwise; initially an accident and then Damon deciding to be a jackass, which is just so Damon.

But the necklace-giving scene; oh god. I’d expected it to be rather clichéd and contrived (although filled with UST because Nina and Ian can’t just turn it off), but then THAT happened, and I was just GUH. It’s not Damon being obvious and Elena being awkward like it has been in recent times. It’s a little awkward, a little tense, a little angst-ridden. And he doesn’t trap her, doesn’t try to make the moment more than it is, as he usually does. When Elena looks at him after he’s finished with the clasp, he moves away, doesn’t try to prolong the glance. It’s quiet in a way that most Damon and Elena scenes haven’t been recently. Honestly, I don’t think Elena asking him to help her with the necklace is ‘leading him on’ or whatever, it’s Elena trying to compensate in any way possible for Damon being in love with her. She can’t And Damon’s expressions are stunning. I actually only caught half of them properly while attempting to make icons. The tenderness that he’s half-reluctant to show and seems to find it impossible to hide, his half-smile when he picks up the photograph, the way he looks when Elena pushes her hair away to let him hook the necklace, his reaction at Elena’s “I am happy.” That’s all he wants, you guys, for her to be happy.

Be still, my beating heart.

Also, his voice. If you listen to it closely, his voice is in complete dissonance to the scene and his expressions. It’s not soft, it’s not earnest, it is, in fact, an absolute contrast to Elena’s, who’s almost whispering throughout the scene. And that is such a fine piece of acting. Because he can’t help being in love through every expression, every movement, every glance, every smile, but he’s going to goddamn try and he does it through the only thing he can control, his voice. So he makes it as casual, as matter-of-fact as he can, and it is glorious. His expressions at “it’s your party, you can cry if you want to” and “I found it”; I can’t even watch that scene without fangirling the entire time. This is actually all that I’d ever wanted from this ship.

I don’t usually do episode reviews or anything, but it’s the premiere and I’ll rant if I want to. Heh.

Now, have sixty-freaking-five animated icons because I have no will-power obviously.

Preview: