I'm developing this distressing habit of watching TVD nearly on time.
Granted, this time it's because my brain was fried and TV sounded like a good idea. Still pretty weird, though.
1. So it looks like every episode is going to be a 'worry desperately about Caroline' episode for me now. This must be what it feels like to be a mom, or at least what it feels like to be Joyce Summers. On the other hand, \o/ for her getting a sunscreen ring!
2. I really like that we got follow-up on Stefan helping Caroline adjust, but I vaguely wish there were more repercussions - or at least more worrying - about the fact that she almost killed Matt. Vervaine helps protect him, sure (which... why wasn't that the first thing Stefan took care of, especially after she casually mind whammied her friend?) but it's a pretty bad sign re: everyone else's safety. Oh well, I'll always have a problem with narrative choices in vampire stories in this area, and at least TVD is doing much better than some.
3. Speaking of which, yay for finally consistently remembering Damon is a very charming homicidal psychopath, and that's more than a vaguely annoying trait. I wish anyone managed to remember that without requiring him murdering a blood relation first, but again, better than some. And I do like how they're writing Elena's reaction to it all.
4. I'm starting to like Mason, but since we haven't seen much of his personality so far, I can only conclude it's because he was looking pretty hot this week. Even before the chains came out.
5. That said, I love werewolves, but with all this elaborate, season-long set up to a fairly obvious point, I was kind of hoping TVD was being itself and gearing up for a plot twist - that the Lockwoods would really be something else entirely, or, I don't know, werepanthers. I'm excited about where they take this, though, other than 'one more reason to worry about Caroline'.
6. I'm going to bravely resist watching season one again, so I can't really be sure if Damon is being more exaggeratedly himself these days or not. I feel like he's pulling the little kid faces and the I Will Dazzle You With My Bizarre Eye/Eyebrow Action more, and much harder, but it might just be that they're letting him be more... childish, I guess, now that he's not even pretending to be the scariest thing in town, especially since it's more about his stability and less about his random taste for murder now.
And a belated 2.5: Considering the casual mind whamming, I wonder if they're planning on doing anything more with Caroline reacting to her memories of what Damon did to her. It was long enough ago that, in most shows, I would assume they'd leave it behind, and it isn't like we're short on Other Shit Happening to fill up the time, and Caroline is exactly the kind of person I could very much see repressing it all and making it okay - especially since between becoming a vampire and killing a person, she's not short on things to fill up her brain, either. But I'd actually trust TVD to handle it right, I think, and I hope they choose to have it come up, not just in animosity towards Damon but in Caroline dealing with the fact of it, maybe in relation to the fact that she's doing/can do compulsion herself now. Little moments would be enough, show, really. I just want to know we remember it means something.
ETA: And then Community was suddenly there, and so I had to watch it, of course. And I was very squeeful for half the episode. And then it sort of spiraled down into mostly-disappointed bewilderment.
1. So. Show! Thank you so much for climbing down the tree you went to live on in the season finale. Like, say, remembering that Annie is eighteen, and Jeff is seriously not the guy you want an eighteen year old to have any kind of thing with. I have a hard enough time with you expecting me to root for him and Britta.
2. Speaking of which, I'm going to cautiously assume all this flailing around meant you're backing off the Jeff/Britta for a while, too, and I'm very grateful, even if you went about it in a pretty idiotic way. Here is a clue for the future, though: most people probably don't watch for Jeff's love life. LISTEN TO ABED. Abed is always right.
3. Hi Betty White! OH MY GOD BETTY WHITE WHAT. Okay, that was hilarious. And eeee, very good sign for the rest of the season, this class. (Which... was only there for one episode? Who knows.)
4. I go between loving the meta on this show and wishing there was a bit less of it, or at least that it was lighter on the obvious, but one thing is a pretty clear fact: Abed, you are still my favorite, and I'm still glad the show knows that. (Even if the writers still try to pretend it's Jeff. In their hearts, they know.)
1. So it looks like every episode is going to be a 'worry desperately about Caroline' episode for me now. This must be what it feels like to be a mom, or at least what it feels like to be Joyce Summers. On the other hand, \o/ for her getting a sunscreen ring!
2. I really like that we got follow-up on Stefan helping Caroline adjust, but I vaguely wish there were more repercussions - or at least more worrying - about the fact that she almost killed Matt. Vervaine helps protect him, sure (which... why wasn't that the first thing Stefan took care of, especially after she casually mind whammied her friend?) but it's a pretty bad sign re: everyone else's safety. Oh well, I'll always have a problem with narrative choices in vampire stories in this area, and at least TVD is doing much better than some.
3. Speaking of which, yay for finally consistently remembering Damon is a very charming homicidal psychopath, and that's more than a vaguely annoying trait. I wish anyone managed to remember that without requiring him murdering a blood relation first, but again, better than some. And I do like how they're writing Elena's reaction to it all.
4. I'm starting to like Mason, but since we haven't seen much of his personality so far, I can only conclude it's because he was looking pretty hot this week. Even before the chains came out.
5. That said, I love werewolves, but with all this elaborate, season-long set up to a fairly obvious point, I was kind of hoping TVD was being itself and gearing up for a plot twist - that the Lockwoods would really be something else entirely, or, I don't know, werepanthers. I'm excited about where they take this, though, other than 'one more reason to worry about Caroline'.
6. I'm going to bravely resist watching season one again, so I can't really be sure if Damon is being more exaggeratedly himself these days or not. I feel like he's pulling the little kid faces and the I Will Dazzle You With My Bizarre Eye/Eyebrow Action more, and much harder, but it might just be that they're letting him be more... childish, I guess, now that he's not even pretending to be the scariest thing in town, especially since it's more about his stability and less about his random taste for murder now.
And a belated 2.5: Considering the casual mind whamming, I wonder if they're planning on doing anything more with Caroline reacting to her memories of what Damon did to her. It was long enough ago that, in most shows, I would assume they'd leave it behind, and it isn't like we're short on Other Shit Happening to fill up the time, and Caroline is exactly the kind of person I could very much see repressing it all and making it okay - especially since between becoming a vampire and killing a person, she's not short on things to fill up her brain, either. But I'd actually trust TVD to handle it right, I think, and I hope they choose to have it come up, not just in animosity towards Damon but in Caroline dealing with the fact of it, maybe in relation to the fact that she's doing/can do compulsion herself now. Little moments would be enough, show, really. I just want to know we remember it means something.
ETA: And then Community was suddenly there, and so I had to watch it, of course. And I was very squeeful for half the episode. And then it sort of spiraled down into mostly-disappointed bewilderment.
1. So. Show! Thank you so much for climbing down the tree you went to live on in the season finale. Like, say, remembering that Annie is eighteen, and Jeff is seriously not the guy you want an eighteen year old to have any kind of thing with. I have a hard enough time with you expecting me to root for him and Britta.
2. Speaking of which, I'm going to cautiously assume all this flailing around meant you're backing off the Jeff/Britta for a while, too, and I'm very grateful, even if you went about it in a pretty idiotic way. Here is a clue for the future, though: most people probably don't watch for Jeff's love life. LISTEN TO ABED. Abed is always right.
3. Hi Betty White! OH MY GOD BETTY WHITE WHAT. Okay, that was hilarious. And eeee, very good sign for the rest of the season, this class. (Which... was only there for one episode? Who knows.)
4. I go between loving the meta on this show and wishing there was a bit less of it, or at least that it was lighter on the obvious, but one thing is a pretty clear fact: Abed, you are still my favorite, and I'm still glad the show knows that. (Even if the writers still try to pretend it's Jeff. In their hearts, they know.)