Here's what I've been doing with my spare time: Not Writing Fanfiction.
So a while ago I stalked arabian's journal, friended her, and decided I would make a list of the top ten episodes of The Vampire Diaries like she had. Except that once I actually TRIED to do it, it felt IMPOSSIBLE to narrow down. So I tried making it easier on myself by limiting it to JUST Season One. This still proved to be quite a hardship for me.
So it's taken me, like, weeks to do it. Now that I'm finished with it, I still feel a little dissatisfied. It's like I just can't express myself enough, find the correct words to communicate just how awesome this show is, and so I keep trying in all my annoying ways to do so.
This is yet another attempt, so bear with me.
My 10 Favorite Episodes of TVD, Season One.
Disclaimer: I could actually come up with reasons why you should watch every episode, but I forced myself to choose. IT WAS BERY HARD! Also, these are mostly in chronological order because the whole season builds so well upon itself, and when I watched it, it was always that feeling of how can I love it more? Except that with every episode, I managed to fall deeper every time.
10) 1x03 "Friday Night Bites"
This episode follows two rather weak starter episodes, IMHO. And it wasn't until I had watched the series the whole way through that I went back and recognized the glory of this one. Let me expound a little: despite the Grease-like feeling of the nighttime pep rally, and Stefan being on the football team, and Elena quitting the Cheerioscheer squad, what this episode really does is establish the Stefan-Elena-Damon dynamic. This element is what will push the whole season, and at its crux possibly the whole series. It's here that the set up for Stefan to fear Damon will hurt Elena amps up while the fact that Elena's innate generosity as a human being actually ignites Damon's return to humanity. It's all so deftly done, minus the part where Stefan TELLS Damon this is what's happening, thus sparking Damon to kill someone just to prove HE DON'T FEEL NOTHIN'!
Stefan spends the whole episode inner monologuing about how he hopes Damon will change/how to show Damon that his human self is still deep inside him/lamenting that no, in fact there is nothing good about Damon anymore. Elena spends the episode proving that she "is not Katherine" in any way, shape, or form, and Damon spends the whole episode showing the audience that he's a good-for-nothing supernatural monster, only to debunk it all with a late-night visit to Elena's bedroom ála Edward Cullen.
[Bonus moment: when Matt gives Tyler what for, for being a 'dick' and 'a friggin' bully,' thus solidifying the fact that The CW is completely off the FCC's radar.]
9) 1x06 "Lost Girls"
So as not to make all my favorite episodes about Damon, I'll start praising this one by saying here's the first episode we meet Katherine in. It's the first flashback episode, and it's delightful to see "human" Damon and Stefan, both of which have bad hair, and are very different boys, Damon especially.
Oh, wait, see, it is all about Damon. This episode continues a thread from my #10 favorite episode: Damon kills someone in order to NOT feel. Only, this time, the person he kills isn't an annoying history teacher from Mystic Falls High, it's Vicki Donovan. And he kills her after he's fed on her (a second? third? time), after he's fed her his blood to revive her, danced all day with her, trashed Stefan's bedroom with her (very Joker-ish from the 1989 Batman), and then held her in his arms while she cries about her miserable life. The telling aspect? The way he strokes her hair just minutes before he snaps her neck. Pure genius.
The rest of the episode, with Elena demanding that Stefan tell her everything about himself, and ultimately her rejection of him at the end of it, is the other heart wrenching part. During my first viewing of this episode, I teared up as Elena slides down the closed door she's just shut between her and Stefan. I felt her pain, and empathized with her.
[Bonus moment: we learn all the steps to becoming a Vampire in this 'verse by watching Vicki's transformation. Kayla Ewell's performance is noteworthy.]
8) 1x08 "162 Candles"
Yes, this is a birthday episode: Stefan's birthday to be exact. However, it also contains the best guest star of the season (Stefan's 100 year BFF, Lexi) and sparks the beginning of the Matt/Caroline relationship, which is one of my favorites (their best moment is in 1x12 "Unpleasantville" but that episode didn't make the cut). We also learn that being an older Vampire gives one great advantage. Bonnie gets her Witch certification, and then acts like a normal teenage girl by showing off her powers by...making feathers float. Aces.
There's some great humor in this episode, and Lexi blends in seamlessly--she's known Stefan and Damon for a long time, and it shows. Her interaction with each of them is so believable you can practically touch the history. The other thread of humor stems from the fact that Jeremy has had a personality transplant due to the fact that Elena had Damon compel him to forget Vicki's death. Now he's acting all responsible, doing his homework, etc., and suddenly Elena's all up in Damon's face with "What did you do to my brother!?" (Damon's response is both poignant and telling because soon no one will be able to take away the pain he's about to inflict.)
One of my favorite parts of TVD is the way the writers allow the characters to clue the audience in on the plot. It happens again and again throughout the series, but this deft foreshadowing is just one of the many reasons to love the show. Stefan tells Lexi in their first scene together "Be careful." Sheriff Forbes tells Damon when he brings her vervain that she suspects that Vampires have the ability to walk during the day. Damon tells Lexi he's got a diabolical plan and that's why he's in Mystic Falls.
This all culminates in Lexi's death via Damon's stake through her heart, and amps up the tension between Stefan and Elena (who have been toying with getting back together all episode) and Damon and Stefan who had some sort of uneasy truce, but both of those things are off the table now.
[Bonus moment: We learn that Stefan's favorite band is Bon Jovi. 162 years on the earth, and he loves the Jersey rockers. For a split second, I think I almost loved Stefan.]
7) 1x13 "Children of the Damned"
This is the best flashback episode. Basically we see how Damon became Damon. Everything about Katherine in this episode is something we've seen Damon do in one of the twelve previous ones. We find out that Damon's father favored Stefan because Damon was a deserter from the Confederate Army, though you have to assume this wasn't the first or only time he'd been seen as "less than."
We get Stefan and Alaric scenes, with Stefan basically threatening Alaric on Damon's behalf, even though Alaric accuses Damon of killing his wife. Stefan doesn't refute this possibility, but he's still vividly clear about the fact that Alaric would be unwise to try to seek revenge on his brother.
We get great Anna stuff, and we begin to understand just what is at stake for everyone because Elena gets to give the exposition that explains it all: Everything Damon's done, he thinks he's done for love. Emphasis on the thinks part. We get another kitchen scene with Damon and Elena, which becomes thematic. The kitchen is an important place for these two.
We see the betrayal on his face, both in 1864 and in present day. We just breach the tip of the proverbial iceberg that is Stefan and Damon's relationship. We see that Damon will hurt Elena if need be, but that he loves how she smells. *g*
[Bonus scene: Damon and Jeremy playing X-Box and discussing girls. A bromance is born.]
6) 1x14 "Fool Me Once"
This episode might be the true "you start to ship Damon and Elena right here, right now" one. I sort of see it as the you either start to go deeper, or you just aren't ever going to get on this ship. There is so much going on, but the most obvious is that Elena gets Damon, on like every level. And this scene at the end--when she hugs him is both achingly awful and a sign of things to come for Stefan. The first reason why is of course that he would like to comfort his brother, I think. We don't get to spend much time thinking about how Stefan feels about the fact that Katherine isn't in the tomb (FIRST BIG SHOCKING TWIST OF THE SERIES), but it's apparent he's much more worried about how Damon's going to handle it than how it affects him. Secondly, it is one of many times the audience gets to see Stefan watching a moment between his brother and his girlfriend. They have a lot of moments, but the ones Stefan witnesses are always a bit more powerful, IMHO.
And I cry every time Bonnie finds Grams at the end. It's heartbreaking, and Kat Graham knocks it out of the park as she's sobbing hysterically in Elena's arms.
[Bonus moment: Elena staring at Damon's mouth when he puts her vervain necklace back around her neck.\o/]
5) 1x15 "A Few Good Men"
I don't even care if this is gratuitous. YUM.
So this episode is so tight, and the storytelling is so perfect that it probably should be higher on the list. But truthfully, most of the episodes in the second half of the first season could all be described as such. This show is that good.
So here we get another awesome guest star, who actually sticks around for more than one episode: Kelli Donovan, Matt and Vicki's mom. Melinda Clarke is AWESOME, and I always lament that there were never any Vicki/Kelli scenes, because seriously, these two are perfectly cast as mother and daughter. (I also lament that now that MC is on Nikita we may never get a revisit.)
We get Alaric's whole backstory; the Isobel storyline heats up beautifully preparing us for things to come; Damon's friendship with Liz becomes a real thing, his fliration with Carol Lockwood never comes to fruition (unfortunately), and the Damon/Alaric showdown introduces us to more man rings of special power.
We get more of Elena looking at Damon's lips, too. Damon utters one of many lines that illustrate his actions so perfectly: I have to exploit some women in the name of grief. And Stefan worries his pretty little furrowed brow almost right off his forehead. He and Elena have another common argument about Damon, and lastly, we see that it actually pains Damon to hurt Elena in anyway. He has no problem inflicting his own pain on to Alaric in the most cruel manner, but hey, for Damon, it's growth.
Lastly, the Tomb Vampires set up house.
[Bonus moment: X-Files reference!]
4) 1x17 "Let the Right One In"
It is all about the Bros. Salvatore in this episode. Really, it's been about them all along, but I didn't really get it until this episode. Damon LOVES Stefan, he really does. He's just broken and can't show it properly. This is also the beginning of Team Badass, and I adore Alaric so much. His begrudging help, and all his Vampire killing weaponry is awesome.
Vicki's body is found, angst ensues for Matt and Caroline, and something is revisited in the Matt/Elena history, which gives me an opportunity to say how much I love this thread of S1. Other episodes where it's showcased had to be cut from the line up, but the believability factor of all those years of friendship between Matt and Elena is always there, which is a such a hats off moment to Nina Dobrev and Zach Roerig. I never wanted them to get back together or anything, but every time they are there together, I can feel the history. They do such a great job with it.
The MVP of this episode is Ian Somerhalder's face though. And not just because, as always, he's inhumanly beautiful. When he sees Stefan being tortured by the Tomb Vamps, it's enough to crack your heart open, but his face at the end, when he finds Stefan sucking up the blood bags? That's the real moment where he can't hide his true feelings for his brother. He quickly recovers in the next episode by mercilessly teasing and tempting Stefan, but there for a split second it's something more--it's the reality of what's about to come. It's foreshadowing at it's best.
[Bonus moment: Damon holding Elena's face while it rains. So shippery...yet not, because they're terrified Stefan's about to die.]
3) 1x21 "Isobel"
This episode is amazing because we have already met Isobel in several flashbacks. She's a character we have some familiarity with, right? Only, not at all, because flashback!Isobel was human. Present!Isobel is a badass, switch-flipped Vampire who is on a mission.
All the same her moment with Ric at the end of the episode is worth everything because you have to wonder why she wasn't happy with him. Ric's messed up now, sure, but he's basically the most decent guy you'll ever meet next to Matty Donovan. It makes no sense why Isobel wouldn't love him--so they clear that right up. She does love him. She just chose her obsession over him and now she has to live with the way things are. But because she loves him, she makes it so he doesn't have to.
There are so many other gems in this episode, including my favorite all-time Damon-ism about why he'll kill the messenger. Plus his chemistry with Isobel? HAWT! I don't know what it is about those Petrova gals, but he just has IT with all of them. The reveal via Isobel that Damon is in love with Elena is awesome because Damon doesn't try to deny it, and Stefan is not really surprised. Apprehensive? Oh, hell yeah. But not surprised, not at all.
In the end, you get to see that Uncle John does love Elena in his own neglectful, abandoning-father sort of way.
[Bonus moment: Damon playing strip poker with Isobel's little minion.]
2) 1x20 "Blood Brothers"
Let me start off by saying this is a great episode because of the editing. The juxtaposition of flashback and present day is done so well--as are so many episodes of TVD--but this one in particular works so well because of Stefan's angst. The opening scenes are literally some of my most favorite and don't technically involve Damon! I know, right? How crazy!
Let's also just cut to the chase: for all the twists and turns of this season, with obviously the biggest one happening in the season finale, this one, the one about Stefan coercing Damon into feeding to transform into a Vampire? That is by far my favorite and the most shocking. It's one of the best ways to illustrate how the writers make all of these characters complex and interesting, tie everything together in such a way that you're slapping your forehead in realization, and why the whole series deserves to be re-watched once you know the whole story so you can pick up the foreshadowing more easily.
Once again, it's all about the Bros. Salvatore and their dramaz. I ♥ them.
[Bonus moment: Damon and Alaric bond while Vampire Hunting. They really are Team Badass.]
1) Tie between 1x19 "Miss Mystic Falls" and 1x22 "Founder's Day" (So sue me, I whittled it down to 11 out of 22 episodes, when really it could have been 18 of 22! And because of the awesomeness of these two eps, each one gets two picture references!)
While Damon and Elena dance....Stefan is freaking hungry!
Damon's face is PRICELESS when he sees Elena dressed in 1864 garb, looking very much like a girl he used to know...
...and then he unwittingly kisses that girl he used to know on the front porch in a case of mistaken identity.
1a) "Miss Mystic Falls"
Everything that happens in this season leads up to the dance in this episode. The heat between Damon and Elena is palpable, and as you can tell by both of their expressions, a bit unexpected. Aside from every little thing that has brought them here to this moment, the fact that it happens because Stefan's off going NUTS is just a bonus. [Not the bonus moment, however.] Paul Wesley's descent into Blood Junkie!Stefan is so brilliant, and his addict behavior with Elena after Damon rats him out is amazing. His lament that he's the "good brother" before sinking his fangs into poor little Amber, or whatever her name is, is so...tragic and self-righteous. Right up until the moment, Stefan is still elevating himself above Damon, and I really think this is the cause of his downfall. Damon calls Elena and Bonnie "Judgey" but Judgey McJudge lives at the Boarding House with him all the time. There is also nothing more terrifying than when Stefan asks Amber why she's not afraid of him and she says, "Because you told me not to be." Oh, my gawd. He's so Damon in that moment.
My favorite part though is when, at the end of the episode, Elena is trying to calm Stefan down and he all but hits her in a classic abusive-boyfriend moment. He sobs into her shoulder that he doesn't know what's happening to him, and she shushes him gently--and then injects him with vervain, a moment for me that shows just how badass Elena can be.
[Bonus moment: Caroline winning Miss Mystic Falls--which even though her dress is fugly, she so deserves to win.]
1b) "Founder's Day"
I expected there to be some scary cliffhangery type thing happening in this episode, because there were plenty of moments like that all season long. This episode had to have something shocking and tantalizing. All the same, I was SO shocked that I gasped and screamed "It's Katherine, OMG!" like my viewing partner had not just figured it out at the same moment I did.
It's still one of the best things ever, because all the pieces are there. You've listened to Elena give a big speech to Stefan about how she loves him and only him and so when she's kissing Damon on the front porch, very willingly, I might add, it's so very disconcerting. But I was sucked in, I, like Damon, wanted them to kiss so badly, that I believed it. I had no idea he'd been duped until she chopped off Uncle John's fingers. When I re-watch it, it's so obvious to me that it's not Elena I can't believe I couldn't tell the first time.
Jeremy's still mad at Elena for lying to him and letting Damon compel him, so he's being all assy to her, so Damon's all assy to him, and then Stefan's all assy to Damon. I really like this scene because it perfectly depicts how Stefan's NOT PERFECT. His calling Damon on the carpet for calling Jeremy on the carpet is just an outlet of his jealousy and insecurities, and I love it. I love how self-righteous Stefan is because it lets me hate him for a bit, when most of the time he's a pretty decent guy.
Damon tries to make nice with Bonnie, who is not having any of it. Damon wishes he could save Anna, and tells Jeremy about it later. Damon bonds with Jeremy. Damon has a cathartic moment of clarity on the porch with not!Elena, and really what's interesting about this episode is how much Damon has grown. His human attributes are starting to show more and more, so Katherine's reappearance is such a scary prospect on so many levels, I can't help but give this episode a STANDING OVATION.
[Bonus moment: The set up for Tyler to become a Werewolf and Mayor Lockwood getting his Full-grown Alpha Male Douchebag neck snapped.]
So it's taken me, like, weeks to do it. Now that I'm finished with it, I still feel a little dissatisfied. It's like I just can't express myself enough, find the correct words to communicate just how awesome this show is, and so I keep trying in all my annoying ways to do so.
This is yet another attempt, so bear with me.
My 10 Favorite Episodes of TVD, Season One.
Disclaimer: I could actually come up with reasons why you should watch every episode, but I forced myself to choose. IT WAS BERY HARD! Also, these are mostly in chronological order because the whole season builds so well upon itself, and when I watched it, it was always that feeling of how can I love it more? Except that with every episode, I managed to fall deeper every time.
10) 1x03 "Friday Night Bites"
This episode follows two rather weak starter episodes, IMHO. And it wasn't until I had watched the series the whole way through that I went back and recognized the glory of this one. Let me expound a little: despite the Grease-like feeling of the nighttime pep rally, and Stefan being on the football team, and Elena quitting the Cheerioscheer squad, what this episode really does is establish the Stefan-Elena-Damon dynamic. This element is what will push the whole season, and at its crux possibly the whole series. It's here that the set up for Stefan to fear Damon will hurt Elena amps up while the fact that Elena's innate generosity as a human being actually ignites Damon's return to humanity. It's all so deftly done, minus the part where Stefan TELLS Damon this is what's happening, thus sparking Damon to kill someone just to prove HE DON'T FEEL NOTHIN'!
Stefan spends the whole episode inner monologuing about how he hopes Damon will change/how to show Damon that his human self is still deep inside him/lamenting that no, in fact there is nothing good about Damon anymore. Elena spends the episode proving that she "is not Katherine" in any way, shape, or form, and Damon spends the whole episode showing the audience that he's a good-for-nothing supernatural monster, only to debunk it all with a late-night visit to Elena's bedroom ála Edward Cullen.
[Bonus moment: when Matt gives Tyler what for, for being a 'dick' and 'a friggin' bully,' thus solidifying the fact that The CW is completely off the FCC's radar.]
9) 1x06 "Lost Girls"
So as not to make all my favorite episodes about Damon, I'll start praising this one by saying here's the first episode we meet Katherine in. It's the first flashback episode, and it's delightful to see "human" Damon and Stefan, both of which have bad hair, and are very different boys, Damon especially.
Oh, wait, see, it is all about Damon. This episode continues a thread from my #10 favorite episode: Damon kills someone in order to NOT feel. Only, this time, the person he kills isn't an annoying history teacher from Mystic Falls High, it's Vicki Donovan. And he kills her after he's fed on her (a second? third? time), after he's fed her his blood to revive her, danced all day with her, trashed Stefan's bedroom with her (very Joker-ish from the 1989 Batman), and then held her in his arms while she cries about her miserable life. The telling aspect? The way he strokes her hair just minutes before he snaps her neck. Pure genius.
The rest of the episode, with Elena demanding that Stefan tell her everything about himself, and ultimately her rejection of him at the end of it, is the other heart wrenching part. During my first viewing of this episode, I teared up as Elena slides down the closed door she's just shut between her and Stefan. I felt her pain, and empathized with her.
[Bonus moment: we learn all the steps to becoming a Vampire in this 'verse by watching Vicki's transformation. Kayla Ewell's performance is noteworthy.]
8) 1x08 "162 Candles"
Yes, this is a birthday episode: Stefan's birthday to be exact. However, it also contains the best guest star of the season (Stefan's 100 year BFF, Lexi) and sparks the beginning of the Matt/Caroline relationship, which is one of my favorites (their best moment is in 1x12 "Unpleasantville" but that episode didn't make the cut). We also learn that being an older Vampire gives one great advantage. Bonnie gets her Witch certification, and then acts like a normal teenage girl by showing off her powers by...making feathers float. Aces.
There's some great humor in this episode, and Lexi blends in seamlessly--she's known Stefan and Damon for a long time, and it shows. Her interaction with each of them is so believable you can practically touch the history. The other thread of humor stems from the fact that Jeremy has had a personality transplant due to the fact that Elena had Damon compel him to forget Vicki's death. Now he's acting all responsible, doing his homework, etc., and suddenly Elena's all up in Damon's face with "What did you do to my brother!?" (Damon's response is both poignant and telling because soon no one will be able to take away the pain he's about to inflict.)
One of my favorite parts of TVD is the way the writers allow the characters to clue the audience in on the plot. It happens again and again throughout the series, but this deft foreshadowing is just one of the many reasons to love the show. Stefan tells Lexi in their first scene together "Be careful." Sheriff Forbes tells Damon when he brings her vervain that she suspects that Vampires have the ability to walk during the day. Damon tells Lexi he's got a diabolical plan and that's why he's in Mystic Falls.
This all culminates in Lexi's death via Damon's stake through her heart, and amps up the tension between Stefan and Elena (who have been toying with getting back together all episode) and Damon and Stefan who had some sort of uneasy truce, but both of those things are off the table now.
[Bonus moment: We learn that Stefan's favorite band is Bon Jovi. 162 years on the earth, and he loves the Jersey rockers. For a split second, I think I almost loved Stefan.]
7) 1x13 "Children of the Damned"
This is the best flashback episode. Basically we see how Damon became Damon. Everything about Katherine in this episode is something we've seen Damon do in one of the twelve previous ones. We find out that Damon's father favored Stefan because Damon was a deserter from the Confederate Army, though you have to assume this wasn't the first or only time he'd been seen as "less than."
We get Stefan and Alaric scenes, with Stefan basically threatening Alaric on Damon's behalf, even though Alaric accuses Damon of killing his wife. Stefan doesn't refute this possibility, but he's still vividly clear about the fact that Alaric would be unwise to try to seek revenge on his brother.
We get great Anna stuff, and we begin to understand just what is at stake for everyone because Elena gets to give the exposition that explains it all: Everything Damon's done, he thinks he's done for love. Emphasis on the thinks part. We get another kitchen scene with Damon and Elena, which becomes thematic. The kitchen is an important place for these two.
We see the betrayal on his face, both in 1864 and in present day. We just breach the tip of the proverbial iceberg that is Stefan and Damon's relationship. We see that Damon will hurt Elena if need be, but that he loves how she smells. *g*
[Bonus scene: Damon and Jeremy playing X-Box and discussing girls. A bromance is born.]
6) 1x14 "Fool Me Once"
This episode might be the true "you start to ship Damon and Elena right here, right now" one. I sort of see it as the you either start to go deeper, or you just aren't ever going to get on this ship. There is so much going on, but the most obvious is that Elena gets Damon, on like every level. And this scene at the end--when she hugs him is both achingly awful and a sign of things to come for Stefan. The first reason why is of course that he would like to comfort his brother, I think. We don't get to spend much time thinking about how Stefan feels about the fact that Katherine isn't in the tomb (FIRST BIG SHOCKING TWIST OF THE SERIES), but it's apparent he's much more worried about how Damon's going to handle it than how it affects him. Secondly, it is one of many times the audience gets to see Stefan watching a moment between his brother and his girlfriend. They have a lot of moments, but the ones Stefan witnesses are always a bit more powerful, IMHO.
And I cry every time Bonnie finds Grams at the end. It's heartbreaking, and Kat Graham knocks it out of the park as she's sobbing hysterically in Elena's arms.
[Bonus moment: Elena staring at Damon's mouth when he puts her vervain necklace back around her neck.\o/]
5) 1x15 "A Few Good Men"
I don't even care if this is gratuitous. YUM.
So this episode is so tight, and the storytelling is so perfect that it probably should be higher on the list. But truthfully, most of the episodes in the second half of the first season could all be described as such. This show is that good.
So here we get another awesome guest star, who actually sticks around for more than one episode: Kelli Donovan, Matt and Vicki's mom. Melinda Clarke is AWESOME, and I always lament that there were never any Vicki/Kelli scenes, because seriously, these two are perfectly cast as mother and daughter. (I also lament that now that MC is on Nikita we may never get a revisit.)
We get Alaric's whole backstory; the Isobel storyline heats up beautifully preparing us for things to come; Damon's friendship with Liz becomes a real thing, his fliration with Carol Lockwood never comes to fruition (unfortunately), and the Damon/Alaric showdown introduces us to more man rings of special power.
We get more of Elena looking at Damon's lips, too. Damon utters one of many lines that illustrate his actions so perfectly: I have to exploit some women in the name of grief. And Stefan worries his pretty little furrowed brow almost right off his forehead. He and Elena have another common argument about Damon, and lastly, we see that it actually pains Damon to hurt Elena in anyway. He has no problem inflicting his own pain on to Alaric in the most cruel manner, but hey, for Damon, it's growth.
Lastly, the Tomb Vampires set up house.
[Bonus moment: X-Files reference!]
4) 1x17 "Let the Right One In"
It is all about the Bros. Salvatore in this episode. Really, it's been about them all along, but I didn't really get it until this episode. Damon LOVES Stefan, he really does. He's just broken and can't show it properly. This is also the beginning of Team Badass, and I adore Alaric so much. His begrudging help, and all his Vampire killing weaponry is awesome.
Vicki's body is found, angst ensues for Matt and Caroline, and something is revisited in the Matt/Elena history, which gives me an opportunity to say how much I love this thread of S1. Other episodes where it's showcased had to be cut from the line up, but the believability factor of all those years of friendship between Matt and Elena is always there, which is a such a hats off moment to Nina Dobrev and Zach Roerig. I never wanted them to get back together or anything, but every time they are there together, I can feel the history. They do such a great job with it.
The MVP of this episode is Ian Somerhalder's face though. And not just because, as always, he's inhumanly beautiful. When he sees Stefan being tortured by the Tomb Vamps, it's enough to crack your heart open, but his face at the end, when he finds Stefan sucking up the blood bags? That's the real moment where he can't hide his true feelings for his brother. He quickly recovers in the next episode by mercilessly teasing and tempting Stefan, but there for a split second it's something more--it's the reality of what's about to come. It's foreshadowing at it's best.
[Bonus moment: Damon holding Elena's face while it rains. So shippery...yet not, because they're terrified Stefan's about to die.]
3) 1x21 "Isobel"
This episode is amazing because we have already met Isobel in several flashbacks. She's a character we have some familiarity with, right? Only, not at all, because flashback!Isobel was human. Present!Isobel is a badass, switch-flipped Vampire who is on a mission.
All the same her moment with Ric at the end of the episode is worth everything because you have to wonder why she wasn't happy with him. Ric's messed up now, sure, but he's basically the most decent guy you'll ever meet next to Matty Donovan. It makes no sense why Isobel wouldn't love him--so they clear that right up. She does love him. She just chose her obsession over him and now she has to live with the way things are. But because she loves him, she makes it so he doesn't have to.
There are so many other gems in this episode, including my favorite all-time Damon-ism about why he'll kill the messenger. Plus his chemistry with Isobel? HAWT! I don't know what it is about those Petrova gals, but he just has IT with all of them. The reveal via Isobel that Damon is in love with Elena is awesome because Damon doesn't try to deny it, and Stefan is not really surprised. Apprehensive? Oh, hell yeah. But not surprised, not at all.
In the end, you get to see that Uncle John does love Elena in his own neglectful, abandoning-father sort of way.
[Bonus moment: Damon playing strip poker with Isobel's little minion.]
2) 1x20 "Blood Brothers"
Let me start off by saying this is a great episode because of the editing. The juxtaposition of flashback and present day is done so well--as are so many episodes of TVD--but this one in particular works so well because of Stefan's angst. The opening scenes are literally some of my most favorite and don't technically involve Damon! I know, right? How crazy!
Let's also just cut to the chase: for all the twists and turns of this season, with obviously the biggest one happening in the season finale, this one, the one about Stefan coercing Damon into feeding to transform into a Vampire? That is by far my favorite and the most shocking. It's one of the best ways to illustrate how the writers make all of these characters complex and interesting, tie everything together in such a way that you're slapping your forehead in realization, and why the whole series deserves to be re-watched once you know the whole story so you can pick up the foreshadowing more easily.
Once again, it's all about the Bros. Salvatore and their dramaz. I ♥ them.
[Bonus moment: Damon and Alaric bond while Vampire Hunting. They really are Team Badass.]
1) Tie between 1x19 "Miss Mystic Falls" and 1x22 "Founder's Day" (So sue me, I whittled it down to 11 out of 22 episodes, when really it could have been 18 of 22! And because of the awesomeness of these two eps, each one gets two picture references!)
While Damon and Elena dance....Stefan is freaking hungry!
Damon's face is PRICELESS when he sees Elena dressed in 1864 garb, looking very much like a girl he used to know...
...and then he unwittingly kisses that girl he used to know on the front porch in a case of mistaken identity.
1a) "Miss Mystic Falls"
Everything that happens in this season leads up to the dance in this episode. The heat between Damon and Elena is palpable, and as you can tell by both of their expressions, a bit unexpected. Aside from every little thing that has brought them here to this moment, the fact that it happens because Stefan's off going NUTS is just a bonus. [Not the bonus moment, however.] Paul Wesley's descent into Blood Junkie!Stefan is so brilliant, and his addict behavior with Elena after Damon rats him out is amazing. His lament that he's the "good brother" before sinking his fangs into poor little Amber, or whatever her name is, is so...tragic and self-righteous. Right up until the moment, Stefan is still elevating himself above Damon, and I really think this is the cause of his downfall. Damon calls Elena and Bonnie "Judgey" but Judgey McJudge lives at the Boarding House with him all the time. There is also nothing more terrifying than when Stefan asks Amber why she's not afraid of him and she says, "Because you told me not to be." Oh, my gawd. He's so Damon in that moment.
My favorite part though is when, at the end of the episode, Elena is trying to calm Stefan down and he all but hits her in a classic abusive-boyfriend moment. He sobs into her shoulder that he doesn't know what's happening to him, and she shushes him gently--and then injects him with vervain, a moment for me that shows just how badass Elena can be.
[Bonus moment: Caroline winning Miss Mystic Falls--which even though her dress is fugly, she so deserves to win.]
1b) "Founder's Day"
I expected there to be some scary cliffhangery type thing happening in this episode, because there were plenty of moments like that all season long. This episode had to have something shocking and tantalizing. All the same, I was SO shocked that I gasped and screamed "It's Katherine, OMG!" like my viewing partner had not just figured it out at the same moment I did.
It's still one of the best things ever, because all the pieces are there. You've listened to Elena give a big speech to Stefan about how she loves him and only him and so when she's kissing Damon on the front porch, very willingly, I might add, it's so very disconcerting. But I was sucked in, I, like Damon, wanted them to kiss so badly, that I believed it. I had no idea he'd been duped until she chopped off Uncle John's fingers. When I re-watch it, it's so obvious to me that it's not Elena I can't believe I couldn't tell the first time.
Jeremy's still mad at Elena for lying to him and letting Damon compel him, so he's being all assy to her, so Damon's all assy to him, and then Stefan's all assy to Damon. I really like this scene because it perfectly depicts how Stefan's NOT PERFECT. His calling Damon on the carpet for calling Jeremy on the carpet is just an outlet of his jealousy and insecurities, and I love it. I love how self-righteous Stefan is because it lets me hate him for a bit, when most of the time he's a pretty decent guy.
Damon tries to make nice with Bonnie, who is not having any of it. Damon wishes he could save Anna, and tells Jeremy about it later. Damon bonds with Jeremy. Damon has a cathartic moment of clarity on the porch with not!Elena, and really what's interesting about this episode is how much Damon has grown. His human attributes are starting to show more and more, so Katherine's reappearance is such a scary prospect on so many levels, I can't help but give this episode a STANDING OVATION.
[Bonus moment: The set up for Tyler to become a Werewolf and Mayor Lockwood getting his Full-grown Alpha Male Douchebag neck snapped.]