we'll cross that bridge when we come to it
F-list temperature on this episode seems to be lukewarm? It delivered on a surprising proportion of the things I cared about most, and so I really enjoyed it.
A backup plan. A contingency plan. If there’s anything Bonnie can do. It’s the season of the kids moving into adulthood, about how it’s not the END OF THE WORLD if things don’t go your way. Elena turning wasn’t what she wanted, but the idea of the doppelganger surviving for long as a human (or even being completely human at all, which the ring business established way back in S2 that she isn’t, entirely) was always a precarious proposition at best. I’m thinking the Council’s whole self-Rapturing is a part of a longer game which was supposed to go down if the vampire problem ever got out of control again.
I liked the way Elena’s transition played out. ND did a very, very good job showing what it’s like to be that massive bundle of raw emotional nerves. I did roll my eyes a bit at all her “I was supposed to die” nonsense, because if she wanted to be dead, she would just not feed. I’m not sure if the most interesting thing about Elena to me is her survival instinct, or if it’s the massive commitment she has to the cognitive back-flips of pretending she doesn’t have it. But since she does have eternity, she can completely rely on that happening on her terms. I loved the way Elena flipped between “we” and “I” when talking about her relationship with Stefan. Forever, if I want. Stefan’s wants can be taken for granted or disregarded entirely.
Resolved: neither Elena nor Stefan understands that there’s a difference between “conversation” and “mind games.” Like, I think Elena really means it when she says Stefan respects! Her! Decisions!, and I think that’s what Stalker-Boy really does believe he tried to do in their relationship. I do not think either of them gets where the knack and drive for being the person whoever they’re with expects to see ends, and where they as individuals begin.
For all Damon’s “screw you and your dumb choices, Elena” his bark was a hell of a lot worse than his bite. A Damon who’s not interested in respecting! Elena’s! decisions! would have snapped Stefan’s neck and dropped blood in Elena’s mouth while she was out. We know that, because we have seen him do basically that. But see, that would’ve been easy; that would’ve been a low-cost action to no real effect (since everyone knows Elena would turn). Way, way more fun to use himself as bait by making crazy-eyes at Pastor Fell and fucking with Matt. Oh, and stab people with their own rifles, which is that dark, bizarre gore that the show can do so well. Even if the good brother/bad brother dichotomy has crumbled for good, the social dynamic of the brothers stays the same, with Damon outside, causing all kinds of danger to others and especially himself in his ineffectual attempt to get in; Stefan inside but caged up and powerless. Oh boys.
Honestly, the “Bonnie should do everything for everyone but herself” motif was so overwhelming that I think it was happening on purpose to set up a reckoning on that front, and I will be really interested to see this. I like that there’s a door number 3, and Bonnie doesn’t take it. It was one thing for her to turn her back on Damon last season - Damon deserved it, she had to get away from Klaus before he snapped and changed his mind - it’s quite another for her to leave Elena on the other side. And she knew she was doing some questionable shit, as she was doing a lot of keeping secrets. She didn’t tell the whole truth about deciding to leave Elena on the other side; she didn’t call Caroline about Klausler. Bonnie does not trust the people around her with shit.
Can we call the real going-dark arc this season as belonging to Jeremy? Long odds, but I wants it. What could be more horrible than you turning into a vampire? I need my sister, not another one of them. I want for Jeremy to be so fucking done with vampires. I think that would be fascinating. I mean, could you blame the kid? After loving and losing both Anna and Vicki, and then getting killed by Damon just to be forced into being around Damon all the time, and then Klaus coming to kill off the rest of his family, and then Anna and Vicki both trying to use him to come back from the beyond, and after having his mind meddled with just to make him even more vulnerable to the Originals, and after everything that happened with Ric? And then he asks for ONE DAY WITHOUT ANY VAMPIRES and it ends with the only person he has left in the world getting vamped? Jeremy is too young, too resilient, too emotionally alive to go too far down John’s and Ric’s path, I think, but he could, and who could blame him?
Things were as good as I could have expected on the Klausler front (another improvised backup plan). Did Trevino nail the shit out of Klaus or what?! That was fab. I think it’s really important that we found out ASAP that Tyler had agreed to the deal with Klaus. Which, MY BB, WHAT A HERO, right? He probably saved all the vampires in the crew with that move; he definitely saved himself with it. I think if we hear him talk about it, it will be along the lines of why he tried to break the sire bond last season - he’ll say and honestly believe that it was all for Caroline, because he doesn’t think he gets to do these things for himself. But ugh, this might be the first decision Tyler’s ever made that worked out optimally (given the circumstances) for himself, too. Of course, he and Bonnie were willing to hang someone else out to dry - Klaus was going to jump into “someone else’s body” at the first opportunity - but desperate times, &c. Watching the whole “killer in me” thing with Klaus destroying Tyler from the inside pressed all of my buttons that make me love the werewolf/hybrid vein of the story so much.
I know I should be all het up about Klaus and his attempted rape of Caroline, but I think it ended up being one of those things the show can do so well, which is to show just how creepy X Fantasy Trope really is. My ish with that stuff is when it’s romanticized or handwaved, which didn’t happen here. And anyway, every time someone tries to prey on girly little Caroline and breaks their teeth on all her strength and self-respect, my Grinch heart grows three sizes. Child, you are perfect.
In conclusion, I choose to take this episode as a sign that S4 will be the Season of Rebekah. This girl and her torrents of emotion, wearing her heart on a supernatural Kevlar vest. She’s like Damon on crack cut with adorability. DOES MATT EVEN HAVE AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE. lol gurl.
A backup plan. A contingency plan. If there’s anything Bonnie can do. It’s the season of the kids moving into adulthood, about how it’s not the END OF THE WORLD if things don’t go your way. Elena turning wasn’t what she wanted, but the idea of the doppelganger surviving for long as a human (or even being completely human at all, which the ring business established way back in S2 that she isn’t, entirely) was always a precarious proposition at best. I’m thinking the Council’s whole self-Rapturing is a part of a longer game which was supposed to go down if the vampire problem ever got out of control again.
I liked the way Elena’s transition played out. ND did a very, very good job showing what it’s like to be that massive bundle of raw emotional nerves. I did roll my eyes a bit at all her “I was supposed to die” nonsense, because if she wanted to be dead, she would just not feed. I’m not sure if the most interesting thing about Elena to me is her survival instinct, or if it’s the massive commitment she has to the cognitive back-flips of pretending she doesn’t have it. But since she does have eternity, she can completely rely on that happening on her terms. I loved the way Elena flipped between “we” and “I” when talking about her relationship with Stefan. Forever, if I want. Stefan’s wants can be taken for granted or disregarded entirely.
Resolved: neither Elena nor Stefan understands that there’s a difference between “conversation” and “mind games.” Like, I think Elena really means it when she says Stefan respects! Her! Decisions!, and I think that’s what Stalker-Boy really does believe he tried to do in their relationship. I do not think either of them gets where the knack and drive for being the person whoever they’re with expects to see ends, and where they as individuals begin.
For all Damon’s “screw you and your dumb choices, Elena” his bark was a hell of a lot worse than his bite. A Damon who’s not interested in respecting! Elena’s! decisions! would have snapped Stefan’s neck and dropped blood in Elena’s mouth while she was out. We know that, because we have seen him do basically that. But see, that would’ve been easy; that would’ve been a low-cost action to no real effect (since everyone knows Elena would turn). Way, way more fun to use himself as bait by making crazy-eyes at Pastor Fell and fucking with Matt. Oh, and stab people with their own rifles, which is that dark, bizarre gore that the show can do so well. Even if the good brother/bad brother dichotomy has crumbled for good, the social dynamic of the brothers stays the same, with Damon outside, causing all kinds of danger to others and especially himself in his ineffectual attempt to get in; Stefan inside but caged up and powerless. Oh boys.
Honestly, the “Bonnie should do everything for everyone but herself” motif was so overwhelming that I think it was happening on purpose to set up a reckoning on that front, and I will be really interested to see this. I like that there’s a door number 3, and Bonnie doesn’t take it. It was one thing for her to turn her back on Damon last season - Damon deserved it, she had to get away from Klaus before he snapped and changed his mind - it’s quite another for her to leave Elena on the other side. And she knew she was doing some questionable shit, as she was doing a lot of keeping secrets. She didn’t tell the whole truth about deciding to leave Elena on the other side; she didn’t call Caroline about Klausler. Bonnie does not trust the people around her with shit.
Can we call the real going-dark arc this season as belonging to Jeremy? Long odds, but I wants it. What could be more horrible than you turning into a vampire? I need my sister, not another one of them. I want for Jeremy to be so fucking done with vampires. I think that would be fascinating. I mean, could you blame the kid? After loving and losing both Anna and Vicki, and then getting killed by Damon just to be forced into being around Damon all the time, and then Klaus coming to kill off the rest of his family, and then Anna and Vicki both trying to use him to come back from the beyond, and after having his mind meddled with just to make him even more vulnerable to the Originals, and after everything that happened with Ric? And then he asks for ONE DAY WITHOUT ANY VAMPIRES and it ends with the only person he has left in the world getting vamped? Jeremy is too young, too resilient, too emotionally alive to go too far down John’s and Ric’s path, I think, but he could, and who could blame him?
Things were as good as I could have expected on the Klausler front (another improvised backup plan). Did Trevino nail the shit out of Klaus or what?! That was fab. I think it’s really important that we found out ASAP that Tyler had agreed to the deal with Klaus. Which, MY BB, WHAT A HERO, right? He probably saved all the vampires in the crew with that move; he definitely saved himself with it. I think if we hear him talk about it, it will be along the lines of why he tried to break the sire bond last season - he’ll say and honestly believe that it was all for Caroline, because he doesn’t think he gets to do these things for himself. But ugh, this might be the first decision Tyler’s ever made that worked out optimally (given the circumstances) for himself, too. Of course, he and Bonnie were willing to hang someone else out to dry - Klaus was going to jump into “someone else’s body” at the first opportunity - but desperate times, &c. Watching the whole “killer in me” thing with Klaus destroying Tyler from the inside pressed all of my buttons that make me love the werewolf/hybrid vein of the story so much.
I know I should be all het up about Klaus and his attempted rape of Caroline, but I think it ended up being one of those things the show can do so well, which is to show just how creepy X Fantasy Trope really is. My ish with that stuff is when it’s romanticized or handwaved, which didn’t happen here. And anyway, every time someone tries to prey on girly little Caroline and breaks their teeth on all her strength and self-respect, my Grinch heart grows three sizes. Child, you are perfect.
In conclusion, I choose to take this episode as a sign that S4 will be the Season of Rebekah. This girl and her torrents of emotion, wearing her heart on a supernatural Kevlar vest. She’s like Damon on crack cut with adorability. DOES MATT EVEN HAVE AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE. lol gurl.