What a waste of an episode.
I already had low expectations about the episode from everyone's comments, the scenes I'd seen and the quotes I'd read. But I was still surprised by just how bad this episode was. I don't know if the writers were on crack for this one or what.
Everyone being in love with Katherine/Elena/someotherdoppelganger is just proof of how much they all adore Nina. They think that Nina (and Ian) is the key to keep people watching or something, but really? There's only so many times that you can pull the 'oh there's a doppelganger and this pair of brothers was in love with her and they fought over her and it destroyed them' trick before people just aren't surprised or even phased by it anymore. There are some other, very beautiful main female cast members or maybe even the possibility of explaining it differently (a power struggle, perhaps? Daddy issues?), you do not always have to make everything about a woman that is played by Nina Dobrev.
Also, if Ian Somerhalder were to decide to pursue other roles after the season 2 finale and thus they'd send Damon on a soul searching mission to Farfarawayland, I would cry tears of joy. I never thought this day would come, because there have been occasions when I thought I'd one day be able to like Damon again. But after the way he behaved in this episode, I am done with him. Sure, one could blame Stefan "provoking" Damon or Elena/Katherine not requiting Damon's love for his bad behaviour, but at the end of the day: his actions are his responsibility. And his constant whining is getting on my nerves, his temper tantrums - during which, mind you, someone (usually a compelled female) ends up getting hurt/dying. I don't know if the writers actually think it's fun to watch a guy abuse woman after woman as long as there's a nice wideshot of his pained expression coming after it, or if they think that Ian's looks will make up for it. People say how far Damon has come that he'd admit his love for Elena, that he would compel Andie to leave instead of killing her (thank you, show, for giving her character such a graceful exit: on her hands and knees while wearing underwear), that he's so honorable for not going after Elena and trying to save her even though she doesn't reciprocate his feelings. He hasn't gone anywhere. The only difference between now and then is that now, the object of his obsession (now-Elena, then-Katherine) is right in front of his face and he's acting like he has a right to her. Even when he compelled her to forget that he confessed his love to her, it was never about HER, it was about HIM. He said that he didn't deserve her, that he had to say it at least once. And by that, he gave himself the option to come back later one when he deems himself deserving of her and demand her, like he did in 2x01. He doesn't treat Elena like he loves her as a person, he doesn't give her the option to have her own free will (well, he does, but only because he'd have to physically fight Stefan otherwise), he doesn't even ask her if she wants him (she, on her own accord, has repeatedly told him that this isn't the case). He acts as if Elena is a thing/pet/prize that the winner of the good-behaviour-contest gets. It doesn't seem to matter to him that she has chosen Stefan, it doesn't seem to matter that she has even chosen Elijah over him in the ritual plan, as long as he can tell himself that he's the one who will keep her alive. Because that's all that matters to HIM. It's not at all what matters to her, which is keeping Bonnie alive in the process as well (which Damon not only lets happen, he even encourages it!). He treats her like she's a hysterical little girl or "out of her mind" whenever she does something emotional that he doesn't expect. Choosing to take the knife out of Elijah may not turn out to be the best thing, but it's HER decision. And instead of pouting and crossing his arms and stomping his foot and saying "You can all go to hell", he should have stuck it out with her. Because that's what you do when you love someone, you accept their decisions even if they're not the ones that you would pick. But that's a concept that Damon cannot grasp, after all, he's only ever had his compelled, wind-up-toy girls to play with and whenever they object him, he just makes them obey. Like Andie. Or Caroline. Or Jessica. The list probably goes on, but I don't care right now.
But apparently, the writers are right in their assumption: people online seem to eat it up. Whether that's the Twilight mindfuckery that teaches young girls that it's romantic if your boyfriend takes the engine out of your car so cannot leave and have to obey his wishes not to visit your best friend, or whether that is because Ian Somerhalder is supposedly oh-so-fucking-awesome-hot, I don't know. I seem to be affected by neither, and I just sincerely hope that those girls that swoon over Damon's beautiful tears every time he dwells on the fact how he can't be with Elena realize that in real life, a guy like that is the kind that you run the fuck away from.
Stefan isn't any better, neither is Alaric or even Elena. They have all been enabling Damon, forgiving him time and time again, letting the whole Andie scenario quietly slip by. Sure, Stefan made a few comments in this episode, but it's not like he actually DID anything to help this poor woman! The abuse is happening before everyone's eyes, practically, and they just don't say anything. Maybe that's out of fear of what he'll do when they take his "toy" away, or maybe that's just the show telling us how wonderful a relationship like that is. You can treat women like crap as long as you cry beautifully into the camera afterward.
This show was supposed to be about a TOWN. A town full of people, witches werewolves, humans, younameit, and all they ever seem to focus on is Ian and Nina and the characters they play. Everyone else just gets sidelined, waiting for decent storylines to come up for them. Like Matt Davis, who's been waiting for a decent storyline since... well, 1x21, I'd say. Or like Katerina Graham, who only seems to be called to set whenever the special effects guys want to play with fire a little bit and it fits into the storyline (translation: the Salvatore brothers need a witch). Or even Steven R. McQueen, whose only storyline in this season was getting together with Bonnie so that they can kill two birds with a stone. We need witchy voodoo done? Jeremy can tag along and carry Bonnie's grimoire!
The writers have said time and time again that they don't know how to incorporate all those great actors they have. I have an idea: Skip a few of Damon's "Everyone hates me" scenes (I can count at least three in the past few episodes!) and a few of Katherine/Elena's "Everybody loves me" scenes and you'll have about 15 minutes more each episode. And you can fill this episode with stuff that should be told, like Bonnie's back story or something about witches in general. Or maybe show some school things. Or maybe some more of Liz and Matt and Jenna and... yeah, get where I'm going with this?
I'm not even sure why I still watch this show. Actually, I know exactly why: Bonnie and Caroline and all that surrounds those two. I was thisclose to not even watch this episode because they weren't in it. NOBODY was. Except Damon and his tears, Stefan and his quietly-standing-by, Elijah and his awesomeness (although he's a guest star, I expect him to die soon) and Elena and her curious/astonished/everybodylovesme faces. What a waste of an episode.
The things that we found out that were interesting: the sun/moon curse are fake, Bonnie doesn't have to die, Klaus is half/half. I summed this up in 30 seconds. The show needs 42 minutes for this.
Everyone being in love with Katherine/Elena/someotherdoppelganger is just proof of how much they all adore Nina. They think that Nina (and Ian) is the key to keep people watching or something, but really? There's only so many times that you can pull the 'oh there's a doppelganger and this pair of brothers was in love with her and they fought over her and it destroyed them' trick before people just aren't surprised or even phased by it anymore. There are some other, very beautiful main female cast members or maybe even the possibility of explaining it differently (a power struggle, perhaps? Daddy issues?), you do not always have to make everything about a woman that is played by Nina Dobrev.
Also, if Ian Somerhalder were to decide to pursue other roles after the season 2 finale and thus they'd send Damon on a soul searching mission to Farfarawayland, I would cry tears of joy. I never thought this day would come, because there have been occasions when I thought I'd one day be able to like Damon again. But after the way he behaved in this episode, I am done with him. Sure, one could blame Stefan "provoking" Damon or Elena/Katherine not requiting Damon's love for his bad behaviour, but at the end of the day: his actions are his responsibility. And his constant whining is getting on my nerves, his temper tantrums - during which, mind you, someone (usually a compelled female) ends up getting hurt/dying. I don't know if the writers actually think it's fun to watch a guy abuse woman after woman as long as there's a nice wideshot of his pained expression coming after it, or if they think that Ian's looks will make up for it. People say how far Damon has come that he'd admit his love for Elena, that he would compel Andie to leave instead of killing her (thank you, show, for giving her character such a graceful exit: on her hands and knees while wearing underwear), that he's so honorable for not going after Elena and trying to save her even though she doesn't reciprocate his feelings. He hasn't gone anywhere. The only difference between now and then is that now, the object of his obsession (now-Elena, then-Katherine) is right in front of his face and he's acting like he has a right to her. Even when he compelled her to forget that he confessed his love to her, it was never about HER, it was about HIM. He said that he didn't deserve her, that he had to say it at least once. And by that, he gave himself the option to come back later one when he deems himself deserving of her and demand her, like he did in 2x01. He doesn't treat Elena like he loves her as a person, he doesn't give her the option to have her own free will (well, he does, but only because he'd have to physically fight Stefan otherwise), he doesn't even ask her if she wants him (she, on her own accord, has repeatedly told him that this isn't the case). He acts as if Elena is a thing/pet/prize that the winner of the good-behaviour-contest gets. It doesn't seem to matter to him that she has chosen Stefan, it doesn't seem to matter that she has even chosen Elijah over him in the ritual plan, as long as he can tell himself that he's the one who will keep her alive. Because that's all that matters to HIM. It's not at all what matters to her, which is keeping Bonnie alive in the process as well (which Damon not only lets happen, he even encourages it!). He treats her like she's a hysterical little girl or "out of her mind" whenever she does something emotional that he doesn't expect. Choosing to take the knife out of Elijah may not turn out to be the best thing, but it's HER decision. And instead of pouting and crossing his arms and stomping his foot and saying "You can all go to hell", he should have stuck it out with her. Because that's what you do when you love someone, you accept their decisions even if they're not the ones that you would pick. But that's a concept that Damon cannot grasp, after all, he's only ever had his compelled, wind-up-toy girls to play with and whenever they object him, he just makes them obey. Like Andie. Or Caroline. Or Jessica. The list probably goes on, but I don't care right now.
But apparently, the writers are right in their assumption: people online seem to eat it up. Whether that's the Twilight mindfuckery that teaches young girls that it's romantic if your boyfriend takes the engine out of your car so cannot leave and have to obey his wishes not to visit your best friend, or whether that is because Ian Somerhalder is supposedly oh-so-fucking-awesome-hot, I don't know. I seem to be affected by neither, and I just sincerely hope that those girls that swoon over Damon's beautiful tears every time he dwells on the fact how he can't be with Elena realize that in real life, a guy like that is the kind that you run the fuck away from.
Stefan isn't any better, neither is Alaric or even Elena. They have all been enabling Damon, forgiving him time and time again, letting the whole Andie scenario quietly slip by. Sure, Stefan made a few comments in this episode, but it's not like he actually DID anything to help this poor woman! The abuse is happening before everyone's eyes, practically, and they just don't say anything. Maybe that's out of fear of what he'll do when they take his "toy" away, or maybe that's just the show telling us how wonderful a relationship like that is. You can treat women like crap as long as you cry beautifully into the camera afterward.
This show was supposed to be about a TOWN. A town full of people, witches werewolves, humans, younameit, and all they ever seem to focus on is Ian and Nina and the characters they play. Everyone else just gets sidelined, waiting for decent storylines to come up for them. Like Matt Davis, who's been waiting for a decent storyline since... well, 1x21, I'd say. Or like Katerina Graham, who only seems to be called to set whenever the special effects guys want to play with fire a little bit and it fits into the storyline (translation: the Salvatore brothers need a witch). Or even Steven R. McQueen, whose only storyline in this season was getting together with Bonnie so that they can kill two birds with a stone. We need witchy voodoo done? Jeremy can tag along and carry Bonnie's grimoire!
The writers have said time and time again that they don't know how to incorporate all those great actors they have. I have an idea: Skip a few of Damon's "Everyone hates me" scenes (I can count at least three in the past few episodes!) and a few of Katherine/Elena's "Everybody loves me" scenes and you'll have about 15 minutes more each episode. And you can fill this episode with stuff that should be told, like Bonnie's back story or something about witches in general. Or maybe show some school things. Or maybe some more of Liz and Matt and Jenna and... yeah, get where I'm going with this?
I'm not even sure why I still watch this show. Actually, I know exactly why: Bonnie and Caroline and all that surrounds those two. I was thisclose to not even watch this episode because they weren't in it. NOBODY was. Except Damon and his tears, Stefan and his quietly-standing-by, Elijah and his awesomeness (although he's a guest star, I expect him to die soon) and Elena and her curious/astonished/everybodylovesme faces. What a waste of an episode.
The things that we found out that were interesting: the sun/moon curse are fake, Bonnie doesn't have to die, Klaus is half/half. I summed this up in 30 seconds. The show needs 42 minutes for this.