TVD 4x03: "How about we just leave the murdering to Damon?"

[dante_kent]

I don't have anything particularly intelligent to say about this episode, tbh. It was pretty straightforward. It had its high points. But largely, it was an episode of TVD, which means crazy plot shenanigans and excessive bloodshed and pretty men taking their shirts off and then more ridiculous plot stuff. Aka the best show on television, yes?

So

Comments

[upupa_epops]

This was gross, no? I may or may not have squealed a bit to my tv. Heart-ripping brings me glee. Long needles pushed into gums? Ew no make it stop.

SAME. Ugh, I've had enough dental drama this week!

basically, everyone is calling Damon, Official Team Mystic Falls Team Leader

Lol, true! Damon gets shit done.

Speaking of which, "dramatic would be leaving BEFORE I kill this hunter."

I also love that Stefan calls him out on being dramatic ;). Stefan should have more Damon scenes, they do him good.

I'm pretty sure he started teaching his classes from the Grill on skype months ago.

Sobbing tbh.

Jeremy does a decent job of playing dumb, which means that Jeremy may be pretty high on the TMF Most Intelligent List. This is not a tremendous accomplishment.

Yeah, but watch out. This term Jeremy might be taking Badassery 101 taught by Dr Damon.

So please, show, don't make Caroline Stefan's official cheerleader and protector.Yeah, this is what I fear :(. Using Caroline as a Stefan mouthpiece? UGH, no, stop it, show. I don't really mind

[dante_kent]

Ugh, I've had enough dental drama this week!

Aww, poor you. TVD hitting your buttons just so. Tonight will be traumatic for different reasons. ;)

This term Jeremy might be taking Badassery 101 taught by Dr Damon.

YES PLEASE x 10000000. I would also like to audit this class.

I don't really mind that they're friends now (I'm that easy), because Stefan needs to interact with all the characters, pronto, but please, writers, don't hit me with a hammer.

Precisely this. I actively want Stefan to have different relationships, but I don't want them to be only for x purpose or something of the like. If Stefan is to develop other friendships and such, let it be to round out his character, NOT to serve as a means for the show to deliver more preaching on the heroic nature of Stefan Salvatore, All Around Good Guy.

Well, would you behave any better if you were her?

I never claimed to have the moral high ground.

Hmm, could it be that you got that impression from fandom rather than the show? Because I don't really see that on the show.You

[upupa_epops]

I KNOW. IT'S NEARLY HERE, AND I FEEL UNPREPARED. GIVE ME STRENGTH.

IT'S ONLY A FEW HOURS, AND I HAVE SCHOOLWORK TO FINISH BEFORE I WATCH. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?

[dante_kent]

I HAVE SCHOOLWORK TO FINISH BEFORE I WATCH. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?

Lol. Give up. Surrender. Let it consume you.

[ever_neutral]

So it seems Elena hates Rebekah. In two years they'll be making out on a motel balcony. You heard it here first. 
LOL OMG when Elena was like "I didn't think I was capable of hate!", I was just like - LOL BUT REMEMBER THAT WHOLE SEASON WHERE YOU WERE DECLARING YOUR PASSIONATE HATRED FOR THAT DUDE YOU LIKE TO DRY HUMP ON BALCONIES / IN BATHROOMS NOW AND THEN? REMEMBER???????!!!!

Where was their so-called wonderful friendship when Stefan was going off the rails and Caroline's father was torturing her and then dying and everything was going to hell?
Word. Everything you say is truth. I want to like them, so much, I DO, but I just can't take it seriously. Especially when their interactions here consisted of "you're the gr8est"/"no, you're the gr8est!!!" Painful, tbh. (And yeah, let's not start with Caroline's hero-worship. Stefan just needs to be lit on fire at this point.)

Same thing with "Too Close" by Alex Clare (and fuck you for putting it to an S/E makeout, even with a hilarious Damon hallucination cockblock).
Haha, but that's

[ever_neutral]

Oooh, The Five, how mysterious. Just kidding, I don't care. Take your shirt off again, Damon. 
This is the best line.

If the show is trying to go in some sort of direction in which Damon corrupts her and inspires Elena to embrace her evil side until she realizes that she needs Stefan to help her hold on to her humanity?
UGH STAB STAB STAB STAB STAB. Though, the worst part is how people ALREADY think this. Despite there being zilch evidence of this in the text. And also, shut up, your coded misogyny reeks from a mile away. Then again, as Marta said, the show hasn't really been presenting this. So I'm not as worried as I could be.

Klaus saves Elena, and I enjoy it. Klaus/Elena, y/y?
Y.

WHO WANTS TO CHECK INTO THE DAMON SALVATORE WING? A show of hands, please. 
WHAT. IS THIS ACTUALLY A THING THAT IS HAPPENING. HOW. WHAT. HOW. WHAT IS THIS SHOW. (NEXT SEASON: MAYORHOOD????)

I hate when shows recycle clearly well-beloved lines in a way that isn't particularly well done. It happens in this case with the "insecure control freak

[dante_kent]

Though, the worst part is how people ALREADY think this. Despite there being zilch evidence of this in the text.

I think I've been guilty of this too, in a sense. I've been getting on my Fandom Crusader Steed ready to ride into battle over something that hasn't even happened yet. I'm just so wary of the way fandom COULD react that I'm getting ahead of myself. But as I told Marta, I should just stop my premature fandom rage campaign and give the show the benefit of the doubt, because if this show has earned anything, it's the benefit of the doubt where D/E is concerned. So I will do my best to halt my spiraling. Stand by for further fandom freakouts (hey, alliteration!) after tonight's episode, however.

NEXT SEASON: MAYORHOOD????

I would be 0% surprised, tbh.

See, this is why you need to write recaps, so you can spew all my disdain for me!

One of the better compliments I've received of late. :D

And the way Ian played the scene suggested this, too. Damon just got a really resolved face all of a sudden towards the end of the

[arabian]

I'm just not understanding your constant refrains about "Season 03 never happened" as if the show is acting like it didn't. Everything that is going on with Stefan/Elena and Damon/Elena is BECAUSE of what happened in Season 03. The problems that have always been there with S/E, but didn't seem to permeate their bubble of delusion, are doing so now because of the separation, because of Stefan's actions, because Elena started to grow up (and grow stronger) without Stefan holding her back. Elena beginning to realize that she needs Damon's help, accepting Damon's help is BECAUSE of their relationship growing and evolving in season 03. The others turning to Damon, telling him stuff is BECAUSE of everything Damon did in season 03

[dante_kent]

While I think you raise a lot of good points here, I have to say, the way you delivered your thoughts in this comment actually made me feel a bit personally attacked. I'm more than happy to discuss our different points of view - I very much enjoy going back and forth about issues like these. But the tone of your comment brooks very little room for discussion. Rather, it feels like a teacher lecturing a naughty student. I had thought that I've been very clear on my journal that these are my personal opinions, more often than not come up with on a whim. I rewatch the episodes and write down my thoughts as they come to me, and I never claim to be speaking the gospel about this show. My recaps merely portray what I think when I think it, and I'm more than happy to be talked out of my current opinions, provided that it happens in an amiable, academic exchange. But I feel like you are basically telling me that I am 100% wrong and that your way of thinking is the way I SHOULD be thinking too. While I doubt that was your intention, I had to

[arabian]

It was not my intention to make you feel that way, and I'm sorry that you did. Reading my response I can see why you'd feel that way, but it truly wasn't my intention. I just get very frustrated when I read so many complaints (and I'd just read a few other posts) against the show that don't seem to track with what is happening on the show in my opinion

. And I let that flower my phrasing. I'm sorry it came across that way. Feel free to delete my original post. It wasn't my intention, I was just completely blown away by your take on things. I wasn't trying to attack you, it was rather I was shocked and that's where my commentary was coming from. We obviously see the show very differently now and neither one of us has made practically any effort to comment in the other's journals -- probably because we see the show so differently now so we just don't 'know' each other well at all.

[pocochina]

he mentions that he still intends to leave Mystic Falls

lol, but he so doesn't and never did. He just wants to bitch and snipe Stefan into admitting that *he* wants Damon to stay.

You'd think a teacher would see it and care, but that would presuppose there are any teachers at this school, and I'm pretty sure they all gave up.

ha! Wouldn't she compel them all to not care about the flyers? Though, as with the eventual stabbing, I think the people in this town are in a default state of Not Noticing Jack.

They had virtually nothing to do with Matt as a person. So the show suddenly pretending that Rebekah has a legitimate interest in Matt because he's Matt? No. Sorry. No. And I'm not saying that to be harsh to Matt. That's just not what this relationship has ever been about, and I don't want the show to abruptly decide to try and make this a real romance.I think it's about Rebekah feeling guilty about having caught Matt in the crossfire. She has to be emotionally involved with someone, love or hate or whatever. And the night at the

[dante_kent]

He just wants to bitch and snipe Stefan into admitting that *he* wants Damon to stay.

Oh, brothers. Just tell him you love him, Stefan. I'm envisioning Damon buying a wall emblazoned with "Ask me to stay," Pacey-style. You know he'd do it.

Though, as with the eventual stabbing, I think the people in this town are in a default state of Not Noticing Jack.

Pretty much this. At some point, the show should do an episode from the POV of one of the normal townspeople. It would be hilarious.

And the night at the bridge is connected with losing Klaus in her mind, so she transferred all that emotion onto Elena and Matt. Elena is a vampire and can take Rebekah's resentment, but Matt is a human and can't.Ooh, I like this. Obviously I am very RebeKlaus-minded, but I also think it makes a lot of sense that she would transfer all her Klaus feelings to someone else while she's trying to 'break up' with her brother. Rebekah is a feelings-y person, so I agree that she's doing some good old transference with Matt. My main point about Matt/Rebekah

[dante_kent]

Omg, it's YOU. I've missed you!

When "Hey Ho" came on, I experienced cognitive dissonance. It took me out of the ~narrative.~

RIGHT? This, exactly. "Never Let Me Go" was different because a) it was flawless, and b) it was a showpiece. It was basically a character in the scene. These other songs were just thrown in there, and it was a distraction rather than an addition to the narrative.

I am a little afraid of how excited I am for next week, tbh.

I am more than a little afraid. My hopes are sky high, and that is such a disaster waiting to happen. I just. I WANT IT.

TONIGHT. IT'S HAPPENING. You carry on with your bad self as well, friend.