It's fun to lose and to pretend [Smells Like Teen Spirit: 3x06]: youcallitwinter

youcallitwinter

It's fun to lose and to pretend [Smells Like Teen Spirit: 3x06]

Oct 23, 2011 19:23

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[ALL THE STUFF YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU WANTED BUT REALLY, REALLY DID glorious Klaus crack!fic]

BEST. EPISODE. EVER.

Honestly, I don’t know what was the last episode of TVD I enjoyed this much. I sort of had to keep rewinding most scenes while watching because they were so utterly delightful. I’M JUST HAPPY, OKAY; NO ONE SHOULD RAIN ON MY PARADE WITH THINGS LIKE LOGIC, SENSIBILITY, ETC, ETC.

Also, I’m actually, literally worried for this show, because HOW ON EARTH ARE THEY GOING COMPLETE A FULL SEASON WHEN EVERY EPISODE SEEMS LIKE IT SHOULD COME BEFORE A MID-SEASON HIATUS? (That is, if not the season finale itself) DD:

Also, you remember that thing I said about restricting myself to ~200 words?

I lied.

+ Okay, they changed the beginning recap thing? Whoa, that’s major, because usually it stays the same till mid or end season, so obviously fast-paced developments. I APPROVE. And btw, did anyone notice this last episode or during the recap; Stefan’s pupils didn’t dilate at all when Klaus was compelling him to ‘turn it off’. Initially, I thought they did, but now I realize those were Klaus’s eyes, NOT Stefan’s. The last time this happened was with Bill Forbes (I rechecked); make of that what you will. (Okay, actually nobody’s eyes dilate while they’re being compelled. BUT WHAT, THAT’S MY DENIAL AND I’M STICKING TO IT).

+ I LOVED THE PEPPY, PARTY MUSIC THROUHGOUT. Way to get into the spirit of the episode title! (No Nirvana though, I think?)

+ ELENA GILBERT: BAMF EXTRAORDINAIRE. God, I enjoyed her so much this episode. She was everything there is to be and I adored it every step. This is also why I didn’t wax too lyrical about her passivity in the previous episodes, because I knew this was totally coming. AND DID SHE BRING IT OR WHAT? Every scene with her was golden. Also, again with Elena’s fragmented psychological state defined through mirrors. THIS SHOW IS GOOD YOU GUYS. I absolutely loved the part where she’s applying concealer to her neck wounds, because it’s a tiny detail but it’s remarkably poignant. She may technically be weak in comparison to all the supernatural beings around her but she’s damned if she’s going to let that weakness show. Even with Stefan. Especially with Stefan.

+ MORE WITH THE ALARIC/ELENA. Alaric’s ‘talk to the hand’ was glorious :D And especially because he managed to say the right things for once and he obviously believes in her so much. GOD, STOP MAKING ME SHIP THIS, SHOW. I was all prepared to eyeroll when Elena didn’t manage the projecting stake thing at the beginning and I assumed would manage it by the end of the lesson when Ric handed her back the stakes, and then she didn’t. IDK, IT JUST MAKES ME HAPPY WHEN THIS SHOW TURNS OUT BETTER THAN MY EXPECTATIONS. And her totally convinced “that’s weird, it must be jammed or something” was ridiculously adorable. OF COURSE IT IS, ELENA, DON’T YOU LISTEN TO MEAN PEOPLE WHO THINK YOU’RE NOT STRONG ENOUGH. They’re just jealous /pets. And Ric, did you notice you found a reason to get out of bed this morning as well? What, I don’t ship this. Obviously.

+ Also, digression: does nobody in town question that this hot single teacher is randomly living with his just-came-of-age history student? Seriously? In a town like Mystic Falls where there are apparently TOWN WIDE POTLUCKS and everyone seems to know everyone’s family tree dating right back to the stage before the evolution of blood bags humans? Uh, yeah.

+ Okay, I have to say this- I love how the women in this show don’t allow the men in their lives to actively mistreat them? Like, there’s no ‘they didn’t know what they were doing’ or ‘they won’t do it again’. In this show the girls won’t allow it to happen again; Ric’s “Stefan hurt you, you don’t want it to happen again” totally reminded me of Caroline’s “what happened to me today, will never happen to me again” to Tyler in Daddy Issues. And Elena’s response to Stefan on Damon forcing her to drink his blood, “but he did this to me, which means he doesn’t really know what love is”. And pertaining to Damon/Caroline “listen dungeon boy, I’m done being your little slave girl. You seriously hurt me and I’ll be damned if…” (well, he compelled her then, ouch). I know fandom has its views on all of these scenes, but I ADORE the fact that there’s no apologism involved in this respect’ in the show or in the minds of these girls.

+ Also on the topic of girls, I LOVE ALL THE BFFNESS WITH THE BONNIE/CAROLINE/ELENA SCENE. I can never get over how flawless Caroline is; she makes me feel like she’s seventeen and it’s the best thing ever. Her expressions and excitement and smiles at the prospect of senior year, GUH, OKAY, I MADLY LOVE THIS GIRL. Also, it’s so tragic because you know years later she’ll still possibly be a senior somewhere. A hundred and fifty and she’ll still be seventeen.

+ Also, this episode was totally the return of HBIC, Queen Forbes. No more Miss Nice Girl. I love how her expressions for Rebekah were all ‘yeah, you helped turn my boyfriend into hybrid thing’ and now you want my place on the squad? Think again, not-even-worth-a-completely-original-nickname-from-Damon-Barbie-(Number Two). [ALTHOUGH ‘BARBIE!KLAUS’ IS HILARIOUS AND IS OBVIOUSLY GOING TO STICK IN FANDOM]. Her reactions to Tyler were perfect, she’s is not taking his bullshit, but she’s also not unnecessarily harsh and willing to give him a chance to prove himself. That’s one of her most defining traits actually; forgiveness. I love how she was totally rude and demanding and open without the slightest fear of how it might affect her ‘relationship’ with him. (This is also paralleled in Damon/Elena re: Elena btw). Again, with no apologism. Caroline is always, always stunning, but I especially enjoy her at these moments.

+ Interesting points raised on the “how do I fix [Tyler]?” question though, considering just two episodes before Caroline’d told her dad that she can’t be “fixed”. So obviously, humanity still has the highest hierarchical position.

+ SPEAKING OF GLORIOUS RETURNS; HOUSEKEEPER!DAMON. OMG. OMG. OMG. HOW MUCH DO I LOVE HIM LIKE THIS?! THIS IS TOTALLY CANON, YOU GUYS. MOAR CRACK!FIC PLZ.

“Hey, those two brunettes on the staircase owe me a Persian rug.”
“Derippify Stefan before he destroys my house”
*rolls bloody carpet*
*picks glass shards with the most pissed-off expression ever*

SERIOUSLY, EVEN GHOST!MASON (OH HAI THERE, SURFER UNCLE MASON. THIS EPISODE, I DON’T EVEN) KNOWS THE BEST WAY TO FUCK WITH DAMON IS TO BREAK THINGS IN HIS HOUSE. Which, super annoyed, he will then clean up, the big bad vampire that he is *nods*

+ Also, Damon must be insanely fond of Caroline to allow her to throw a high school party at his place even for Elena’s birthday, what?

(If the Salvatore Mansion ever became a paying guest thing, everybody would come for the maid service, js).

+ EVIL!VAMPIRE!TWISTER? COULD YOU BE ANY MORE AWESOMELY CREEPY, STEFAN? How will I ever look at my Twister set again? D:

+ Rebekah, if they ever kill you off or stake you, I WILL CUT A BITCH. BEST NEW CHARACTER EVER. How amazing is she? I love brats, I really, really do. And her incredulous laugh at “my brother actually left me here” She obviously can’t stand to be without him. THE SHOW WANTS ME TO SHIP THIS, YOU GUYS. And how can you be so casual about “guess she’s staying here”, Stefan? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MORE CLEANING UP THERE IS? LIKE, ARE YOU GONNA PAYING DAMON EXTRA OR WHAT? DON’T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GOODNESS OF THE BOY’S HEART.

+ I haven’t looked at any reactions as yet, but I can already tell there’ll be the reawakening of the ‘Bonnie is so judgy thing’ (love, how Damon’s labels stick). Which, idk, it seems a bit unfair to me. I love that she IS judgmental about this. Because this is not a Super-Powerful-Witch-Trying-To-Save-The-People-She-Loves thing, this is a Teenage-Girl-Whose-Boyfriend-Sees-His-Dead-Exes thing and I’m totally cool with that. She should be allowed to feel this stuff. This is the same kind of jealousy that nobody would think of faulting Elena or Caroline for (mostly. This fandom can fault anything though).

+ Katherine in the beginning with the rat? HILARIOUS. (I actually laughed straight through the first fifteen minutes of this episode, which is also why best. episode. ever). Her reactions to Damon are still A+++++ AND SHE IS NOT DEAD OKAY, LIKE THERE’S NOT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST POSSIBILITY OF IT. What I hope is that this doesn’t mean she’s out of commission for a bit, I DON’T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN, ONE EPISODE PER SEASON WITHOUT HER IS ENOUGH AND YOU’VE ALREADY OVERDRAWN ON THAT QUOTA, SHOW. (waltzmatildah, are you freaking out? DON’T FREAK OUT.)

+ Damon wouldn’t tell Elena about what Stefan’s actually doing, obviously. Significant, because we’ve pretty much established that Damon rarely, if ever, really lies to Elena. I made a meta-ish post about it once, but Damon and Stefan? They’re always defending each other. Like, ALWAYS. Especially if it involves Elena. Stefan’ll be the first one to tell Elena that Damon only forced his blood on her because “he loves you” and Damon’ll be the first one to support the “he’s switched it off, he’s not Stefan anymore” pseudo-theory. Which is so dysfunctional and messed up and MY BROTHERSHIP, JUST SAIL FOREVER, OKAY?

+ LOL@the Stefan/Elena running into each other parallel from the Pilot. Man, this show REALLY loves its parallels. More than the Year of the Originals, it’s the Season of the Parallels.

+ Matt/Vicki and Jeremy/Anna was just really interesting. Like, I didn’t get the Vicki-is-evil vibe; yeah, she’s selfish, but then who on this show isn’t (just different ways). And the witches WOULD want Elena dead because she can upset the balance of nature completely, and it’s their job to protect it. I had no reaction to Vicki trying to kill Elena, really. It’s fine, it makes sense. (I love how they totally ‘went there’ with the “I can come back” and then resolved the whole issue in this very episode itself, THIS SHOW OMG). Also, I adored that Matt sent her back, because he so badly wants to not be alone and he misses Vicki terribly, but even he’d do that for the people he loves. And I like it, because in his own way it’s quite a sacrifice, but it’s not going to remembered amongst all the bigger ones that the others have made, which makes it even more touching. Also, if Jeremy’s inability to ‘not think about’ Anna keeps her around longer, I’m all for it :D But still, I liked Bonnie/Matt interaction this episode too. I’m starting to like Bonnie a lot, really. <3

+ Seriously, this is a show about vampires and the first time they use the term “sire” is in the third season? How does this show even live? (Oh, wait, it also sets itself in the Civil War era without once mentioning slavery, so).

Caroline/Stefan

+ (I know, I know, what Caroline/Stefan, right? IT’S MY POST, I’LL SHIP IF I WANT TO) The only little thing I found fairly odd in this episode was Caroline’s non-reaction to Stefan’s return. HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THEY WERE ON THEIR WAY TO BEING EPIC BFFs SHOW? But I adored that one second interaction they had. I actually like REWINDED TEN MILLION TIMES to try and figure out if his smirk and hey/or whatever was for Elena only. But by the end I think I’m almost sure that his eyes slide to Caroline for like a second, AND IT MADE MY STEFAN/CAROLINE HEART JUST MELT. GUH, THESE TWO. WHY AREN’T WE GETTING MORE OF THEM TOGETHER SHOW, JUST SO MUCH WASTED POTENTIAL HERE.

+ Also, it’s so totally ridiculous, but when Elena said that she can’t involve Bonnie because she doesn’t trust Stefan to not hurt her, all I was thinking was OF COURSE CAROLINE IS HERE, BECAUSE STEFAN WOULD NEVER EVER HURT HER.

Rebekah/Damon

+ DAMON IS BASICALLY THE SHOW’S RESIDENT WHORE.

+ I thought this scene was rather awesome; Rebekah sitting by herself, obviously feeling left out and trying to figure out how to eat marshmallows? Aww.

+ SPEAKING OF; Damon/Marshmallow = OTP

+ And I love how obvious his seduction techniques were. Like, oh, Damon. But they were also rather good? Because he seemed totally into her. And it looked like a genuinely sweet moment, if you remove the quasi-seductive vibes (which, ngl, were hot on their own, I COULD SHIP THIS, like I do everyone/everyone else in this show).

+ But mostly I LOVED how Rebekah totally wasn’t fooled at all she has her brother, she totally doesn’t need Damon and his marshmallows. I think it was good continuity with how long she’s lived, even if she HAS been out of action for nine decades. It’s going to take a lot more than that.

Stefan/Elena

+ THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I THOUGHT THEY LACKED CHEMISTRY? WHAT? WHAT? They were so magnificent this episode. I enjoyed every single one of their scenes and shipped them so hard. The head tilt acknowledgment, the defamiliarization, of their relationship the reversal of all romantic tropes ever. EVERYTHING WAS JUST SO AMAZING WITH THESE TWO.

+ The scene at the bleachers, I’M SORRY FOR ALL THE CAPSLOCK UGAIZ BUT THIS EPISODE DEMANDS IT. I loved that little soft moment with “I used to know ever constellation, how did I forget them all?” Elena being (pretend?) drunk and adorably silly and Stefan being the “fun police”, and all the snark? GIVE ME THIS FOREVER. And then he caught her. Of course he did. I love how that totally ties in with ‘Klaus wants him to keep her safe’ and yet it’s also a Stefan loving Elena thing; the ambiguity is so well developed D:

+ Okay, I cannot figure out Stefan at all? Like, I’m not getting this, he ‘turned his humanity off’ feeling. Or maybe I’m projecting, I don’t even know. But then he does these little things and it’s exactly the feeling that I get, that he HAS ‘turned it off’ (whatever that means). And it’s not even shoving Alaric against a locker or throwing random guy on the ground or telling Elena she’s pathetic to still care. That stuff I can still see Stefan doing to deliver an Oscar-winning, believable, performance. But actually holding her arm too tight and hurting her to tell her to come to class? Somehow, I DON’T see Stefan doing that if he’s acting. I don’t know, it’s possibly the smallest thing on the list but that’s the part that made me feel he’s actually flipped the switch.

+ His “you say it like I’m supposed to care”. GOOD META MOMENT THERE SHOW, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN? DOES HE FEEL? DOESN’T HE? OH MY GOD, TVD WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME. DD:

+ Also, ngl, I was way more annoyed when Alaric cockblocked the Stefan/Elena moment than when he did the Damon/Elena moment because I already know that D/E is going to be developed, but I have no idea where we are on the S/E front. Are they over? Can they possibly ever happen again? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

+ And then when she staked him at the end. FABULOUS.

Damon/Elena

Oh god, I don’t even.

I don’t want to be all flaily and capslocky here, because these two made me feel so damn much.

+ Let me guess, Elena got majorly hated on for “do it for me.” Fine, I understand some of it, but my own viewpoint is that I love how it’s just laid there bare, there are no pretentions, no attempts at coercion, no “please, Damon.” Damon KNOWS he’s being played and he goes along, which is totally fine with me.

+ The Buffy/Xena scene, oh my god. It was insanely hot. Like, they literally sexed each other up just through hands and eyes. ~fans self. And obviously the audience wasn’t the only one affected, Elena literally looked orgasmic. WHICH, WHO CAN BLAME HER. (Also, heh, Damon’s such a sap “the way to a vampire’s heart…” METAPHOR IS VERY METAPHORICAL, YES).

+ Also, I LOVE that Elena’s jealousy came through for the first time with Rebekah and NOT Andie, as most of fandom had wanted. If that had happened, I would’ve been pissed off for all eternity. That’s NOT something you want her to be jealous about. But here, and Stefan’s provocative intervention, just ~perfect.

+ Speaking of perfect; the ending scene, just. I keep saying this over and over and over, but I love how quiet this ship can be. All those moments like “I want you to remember what you felt while he was gone” or “I will never leave you again”, like, I like them well enough but they don’t change anything for me. I just take those as just another good scene and move on. But moments like this? Are the times when I ship these two the hardest. When nobody used the words “forever” or “never” or “always” and they’re still epic. It’s all about the subtext. There was nothing significant said on either side, but the whole scene just made me melt. Elena’s eyebrow raise at “you and your marshmallows” and her quiet “I was faking most of it”. And the way her eyes lit up when he told her, equally quietly, without any inflection, that he was too. I watched it over and over and each time the interplay of expressions and the general softness of the entire scene just hit me just as hard.

+ And I think more than the scenes where Damon holds Elena or looks at her straight and tells her ‘he will always choose her’ or whatever, I love it best when Damon is unable to meet her eyes. The moments when he’s at his most vulnerable and he can’t look at her because he worships her so much and he’s so in love with her, that it’s impossible for him to let her see that. He can snark and be seductive and make Elena want him, but he can’t handle actually being in love with her this insanely. He looked down in the scene in the first episode too, the one in which he gets her the necklace; my other absolutely favorite scene with these two in this season.

+ Also, significant is the growth of that conversation. Elena brings up the topic of Rebekah, phrases her questions in a way as to make her jealousy apparent and he doesn’t push it. It’s NOT important to him to get out of her what she feels for him. He’s not going to play on her jealousy. He’s not going to try and make it seem as if the moment with Rebekah was anything other than what it actually was. He’s not going to pretend it’s something it’s not, even if it puts him at a disadvantage. The only thing he wants to do is make his position clear, Elena has to know how he feels.

They made me all *clasped hands* and *starry eyed* this episode.

+ Can anyone figure out why exactly was Damon’s “before she skewered me” so ridiculously adorable? It makes me 'aww' each time but I don’t know if it’s the delivery or expression or what D:

Basically

It’s not that the episode was sequentially, logically or presentationally brilliant, it wasn’t. There were a whole host of things to be critical about including Elena not including Bonnie in her plan (which, what?) or Caroline’s “so prank night was a bust” (yeah, only two of your classmates died, hon, no biggie), or Bonnie once again being used in a mostly token way, Rebekah’s random attempts to take over Caroline’s life (seriously, what even? Cheerleading is what she decided she wanted to do after having missed almost a century of her life?) So yeah, it had a whole lot of faults, but the point is that none of them mattered to me while I was actually watching. I never felt the need to be critical, never once thought about ‘is Stefan morally responsible for killing those girls’ or should Tyler be given an out like being ‘sired’ by Klaus. I actually felt bad for Stefan the moments when I thought that he wasn’t compelled. All through the D/E sort-of scenes at the bonfire, I was all “oh god, I hope he’s not feeling otherwise he has to watch Elena falling in love with Damon and he can’t do anything about it and he’ll think it’s good because he’ll never again feel like he can be with her even if he can’t stop being in love with her”. D: Which means the show got it absolutely right for me at least; it doesn’t have to answer everything or set any sort of a moral base as long as I BELIEVE in what I’m watching. And this episode, I totally did!

Also, can anyone figure

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