TVD 4x08
All right, I give up on owl posts until further notice. Here goes a brief but definitely verbal episode reaction.
I honestly have NO IDEA what to think. This whole thing is just so freaking inconsistent! First of all, can we please explain this?
Exhibit One:
Alaric: Tell me, Tyler... What is the difference. Between being sired and being compelled?
Tyler: Compulsion... That's just mind control, like hypnosis. And being sired is... It's like faith. You do something because you believe it's the right thing.
TVD 3x10, The New Deal
Exhibit Two:
Tyler: Being sired doesn't mean you feel differently about someone. I hated Klaus, but I still did everything he said. The bond affects how you act, not how you feel.
TVD 4x08, We'll Always Have Bourbon Street
Nobody? Hm? Because I've got NOTHING.
The glaring differences between Elena's behavior and Charlotte's behavior are the other thing. Charlotte did every single thing Damon asked, she did it immediately, without blinking, and no matter how dumb it was. Damon asks Elena a simple favor (to not tell Stefan that they slept together until the next day), something totally within the realm of reasonable, and he had to CONVINCE her to do it. Didn't take him long, and she eventually agreed, but there was hesitation. Not to mention Elena's completely not "sired" behavior in 4x05. He directly ordered her to stay put, and Elena pinned him to a bed and pointed a crossbow at him, because, apparently, she felt that simply telling him "Go fuck yourself" wouldn't cut it.
The sire bond is an actual clusterfuck (and I am disappointed that we introduce a new factor -- vampires being sired because of love -- when we totally could've worked with canon-established motivation coming from gratitude. Becoming a vampire DID free Elena from being the doppelganger). Which might be one of the things I liked. Damon literally CAN'T do the right thing now. He has two options, both are wrong. He can either set Elena free, which totally removes him from her life (that's how I understood the Charlotte scene: he didn't break the bond, he just removed his influence from her life) and equals taking away (compelling away) her genuine, human feelings, or stay with her and risk tampering with her mind every waking hour. It does make things easier that the sire bond, as we've established in this ep, is very literal. It doesn't make Elena try to guess Damon's wishes, it makes her follow his direct commands (or not, as shown above o_O).
To sum up: I have NO FUCKING IDEA what to do with this episode. There was some other problematic stuff that I saw, but, frankly, I don't want to discuss it now, because plot inconsistencies are bugging me too much to focus on anything else.
On a very shallow note: Damon totally came on command the second Elena drew blood. CANON!
I honestly have NO IDEA what to think. This whole thing is just so freaking inconsistent! First of all, can we please explain this?
Exhibit One:
Alaric: Tell me, Tyler... What is the difference. Between being sired and being compelled?
Tyler: Compulsion... That's just mind control, like hypnosis. And being sired is... It's like faith. You do something because you believe it's the right thing.
TVD 3x10, The New Deal
Exhibit Two:
Tyler: Being sired doesn't mean you feel differently about someone. I hated Klaus, but I still did everything he said. The bond affects how you act, not how you feel.
TVD 4x08, We'll Always Have Bourbon Street
Nobody? Hm? Because I've got NOTHING.
The glaring differences between Elena's behavior and Charlotte's behavior are the other thing. Charlotte did every single thing Damon asked, she did it immediately, without blinking, and no matter how dumb it was. Damon asks Elena a simple favor (to not tell Stefan that they slept together until the next day), something totally within the realm of reasonable, and he had to CONVINCE her to do it. Didn't take him long, and she eventually agreed, but there was hesitation. Not to mention Elena's completely not "sired" behavior in 4x05. He directly ordered her to stay put, and Elena pinned him to a bed and pointed a crossbow at him, because, apparently, she felt that simply telling him "Go fuck yourself" wouldn't cut it.
The sire bond is an actual clusterfuck (and I am disappointed that we introduce a new factor -- vampires being sired because of love -- when we totally could've worked with canon-established motivation coming from gratitude. Becoming a vampire DID free Elena from being the doppelganger). Which might be one of the things I liked. Damon literally CAN'T do the right thing now. He has two options, both are wrong. He can either set Elena free, which totally removes him from her life (that's how I understood the Charlotte scene: he didn't break the bond, he just removed his influence from her life) and equals taking away (compelling away) her genuine, human feelings, or stay with her and risk tampering with her mind every waking hour. It does make things easier that the sire bond, as we've established in this ep, is very literal. It doesn't make Elena try to guess Damon's wishes, it makes her follow his direct commands (or not, as shown above o_O).
To sum up: I have NO FUCKING IDEA what to do with this episode. There was some other problematic stuff that I saw, but, frankly, I don't want to discuss it now, because plot inconsistencies are bugging me too much to focus on anything else.
On a very shallow note: Damon totally came on command the second Elena drew blood. CANON!