Thoughts on TVD 2.04 - Memory Lane
Well, if there's one thing I can say about The Vampire Diaries, it's that it never fails to disappoint me. Every week I find myself falling just a little bit more in love with this show. I'll give you fair warning, I had a lot of thoughts about this episode, so this post will be long. I'll just take it scene by scene.
- Stefan's dream - I'm glad this was just Katherine getting into Stefan's head like I thought it would be because it made so much more sense than most of the other spec out there (like that they were just trying to fake her out). Dream or not, though, the Delena goodness in this scene was beyond cute! I think I broke my remote's rewind button, lol. It just gives me so much hope for when it becomes reality. Another part of the dream I liked was the S/K dance and how it compared to D/E's in Miss Mystic. While I do love S/K, their dance just reminded me of how much more insane UST Damon and Elena shared during their own dance.
- They did a really good job with the first Elena/Katherine fake-out scene. They didn't even let you see Kat's signature curls as she was laying on Stefan's chest.
- I see that Nina's been taking some classes at the Somerhalder School for Snark and Sassiness. ^_^ I can see her channeling Damon as she's playing Katherine, but it works so well for her. And really, it makes sense in a way, because I can imagine Damon actively taking on Katherine's personality, post-vamping, as a way of honoring her and in order to be worthy of her once they were reunited. In general, I think Nina is doing an amazing job distinguishing Katherine from Elena. Her entire demeanor changes when she's portraying Kat, so much so that I find myself forgetting that they're played by the same actress. As a person who was far less than impressed with her acting skills on Degrassi (I watched it with my sister... sue me, lol) I can honestly say that after watching a whole season of her as Elena and now the subtleties of Katherine, Miss Dobrev has more than proven herself to me.
- Tyler/Mason scenes - I never read the books, so I'm not familiar with the mythology, but I really don't understand why Mason insists on keeping Tyler in the dark and that "ignorance is bliss." If the curse is activated by killing someone, wouldn't it be better to let Tyler in on that fact? He might be a bit moody, but I doubt that he'd be intentionally murderous, and I'm pretty sure that he'd be more inclined to avoid killing someone if it meant he'd be a feral wolf once a month. I am very curious what's so special about this moonstone, however, especially if George Lockwood was willing to align with Katherine in order to get his hands on it.
- Loved Katherine's dig at Twilight. : p
- I always thought I disliked S/E because Nina and Paul lacked chemistry, but I was totally proven wrong tonight. Stefan and Katherine have chemistry coming out the wazoo! It just comes down to the fact that for a couple to work and be dynamic on television, they need to have a yin/yang, give and take nature. Elena and Stefan are too low key and down-to-earth, just like Damon and Katherine are too in-your-face and proactive. Too much of one thing, one way or another, and interest dwindles fast IMO, but mix and match and you make two very exciting couplings.
- I totally woohoo'd when Stef kissed Kat, but then I was just as happy when he vervained her. I don't see Stefan as the cheating type, so I'm glad that they didn't go there. I was surprised that Katherine fell for it, though. Even if she is vervain-resistant, I don't think she would've expected him to stab her like that.
- LOL, so Stefan's a little kinky, huh? Bondage and S&M... who knew?
- How exactly can werewolves pinpoint who the vampires are? Both George and Mason did it pretty easily. Are they just thorough with their background checks, or is it something innate?
- Hmmm, Mason/Jenna/Alaric... I think I smell another love triangle headed our way, and I'm not sure I like it. I'm loving Mason more and more as a character, and he and Jenna do share a bit of chemistry, even if they only appeared in one scene together. But this show is quickly filling it's quota for romantic entanglements. So far we have Damon/Elena/Stefan, Damon/Katherine/Stefan, Elena/Stefan/Katherine, and I'm assuming Tyler/Caroline/Matt may be on the horizon (I'm leaving Stefan/Caroline out for the moment... their scenes are super cute together, but I don't think the show's going that way right now). I like Jenna, and I'm sure she deserves love too. I just don't know if I wanna watch her find it rather than watching plot developments with other characters that I'm more invested in.
- Alaric, baby! Oh, how I love you! The bromance returns tonight! ^_^ It may have been quick, but it was worth it to see Ric's look of sympathy for Damon facing Jenna's wrath, and him calling Damon "buddy" was priceless! I soooo bro-ship them!
- Best line of the show, hands down:
Mason: Heard great things about you.
Damon: Really? That's weird... 'cause I'm a dick.
LOLOL forever. So true.
- I think we were all aware that Stefan's feelings for Katherine ran deeper than he cared to admit, but it was nice to see him finally getting the wake-up call.
- On the other hand... poor, poor Damon. The scene where Katherine compelled him into leaving absolutely gutted me. What the hell is wrong with these girls?!! I mean, Stefan's nice and all, but... Watching Kat once again play Kick the Damon gave me an instant flashback to human Spike from BtVS. I've always seen similarities between the two characters, but it struck me in this episode how truly alike they are. Both are extremely loyal to those they love, both are emotional to a fault, both are ruled by passion and love, and both changed their personas post-vamp in response to the rejections/losses of the women they loved. Anyway, seeing how poorly Katherine treated Damon made me surer than ever that Delena is going to be an epic romance, because she'll actually be worthy of his love once he has earned hers.
- Damon playing Pictionary! LOL! Damon sucks at drawing!! LOLOL!!!
- D/E kitchen scene... *sigh* I've sooo missed these. I have to admit, I paused and rewound this scene far too many times. Fun fact, though: if you slow-motion forward frame by frame after Damon gets all up in Elena's face, it looks like he's doing something veeeery naughty to her and she's enjoying it very much. ; )
- I also love the D/E looks after Damon calls himself a "work in-progress." So true, Damon, so true. But you're getting there!
- On a shallow, girly note - can I please go back in time and be fabulously wealthy so I can wear those gorgeous dresses like Katherine? The red one was particularly stunning.
- There were too many bad puns being tossed around the Gilbert household to count, lol. I like that Mason keeps Damon on his toes, though. If they hadn't become mortal enemies later on, Damon/Alaric/Mason would've totally become my new BroT3. ^_^
- Oh, Caroline. I had such high hopes that you'd be above Katherine's coercion. : ( Although, on second viewing I had a lot more sympathy for Caroline's situation. I'm sure that Katherine threatened more than just her own life, but probably her mom's and Matt's as well (regardless of how blue his eyes are). I can't say I'd do any different in her place. And really, in the end she was only telling Elena the truth.
- What, or who, is Katherine running from? The idea of something bad-ass enough to scare Katherine, who isn't fazed by vervain or witchy migraines, really excites me.
- Another interesting tidbit about Damon - he likes Guitar Hero! Someone needs to write a fic about him and Elena playing this like now. I'm willing to pay money for this. ; )
- Oh, Damon... I love you, baby, but why you so stoopid? He's already on pretty much everyone in-the-know's shit-list, and then he goes and makes another mortal enemy, and this one can actually kill him. Although... while at first I took Mason to be completely sincere with Damon about putting the past behind them, on second viewing it seemed like he may have been baiting him by not touching the silver pie server. So who knows?
- Ugh, last year it was Bing and Match.com, and this year it's the damn Ford Fiesta. Don't do this to me, show. It's annoying as hell and it completely breaks the narrative flow. Blatant product placement pisses me off. I'm boycotting Ford, dammit. >_<
- I get Elena was worried about Stefan, but how dumb was it for her to leave a fledgling, not-completely-in-control vampire alone on a deserted road with the tow-truck driver? Not smart, girlie.
- Frustrating dialogue of the night:
Elena: How do we look exactly alike?
Katherine: You're asking the wrong questions.
Grrr! So what the heck are the right questions?! I'm used to being teased with questions that go on for far too long (hello LOST), but this is gonna drive me crazy until it gets explained.
- I hate to admit it, but I was completely fooled by the S/E break-up. I should've known it wouldn't be that easy, lol. But props to Elena and Stefan for making it so believable. Maybe Elena should consider joining the Mystic Falls High drama club. ^_^ I like the possibilities created by not telling Damon the truth, though. I think it'll lead to more of a companionship between him and Elena, and I'm all for them gradually rebuilding their friendship.
- While I totally don't believe that Stefan's her true reason for returning to Mystic Falls, I have no doubt in my mind that Katherine really does love him, especially after the final scene where she repeats the same line she said to him in the dream sequence about loving him and that they'll be together again. The point is really hammered home when she's touching her lips as Stefan's voiceover says that she's incapable of caring about anyone but herself. This was way too reminiscent of Stefan saying the same about Damon early last season. As someone on the episode reaction thread mentioned, Stefan appears to be horrible judge of character because it looks like he's about to be wrong on both counts. ^_~
Whew... Okay, that was a lot. This episode continued TVD's perfect record of impressing me week after week, and I felt it did a good job of balancing an equal amount of answers to the number of new questions it raised. I do have to say that I wasn't quite as impressed by next week's promo, though. Hopefully I'll be more excited once I see an extended promo or sneak peek.