The Vampire Diaries: Series Three: Episodes 6 - 10

[bookgazing]

As I mentioned before I’m doing an episode by episode breakdown of my reaction to series three of 'The Vampire Diaries' for Iris and Amy as I finish each disk. Behold my eventual post about the second disk of TVD S3! There are lots of spoilers behind the cuts as usual.



Episode Six: ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’

• Eh, it seems I have mostly forgotten this episode which is never a good sign. This is the episode where Stefan is imprisoned for his own good right? And does Damon help Rebekah make s’mores to distract her? Is this where Elena pulls the whole ‘holding on to a dead girl just isn’t healthy’ shtick on Jeremy, while I mentally scream at her to take a look at her own life and then she actually does and I feel I may need to embrace the TV? I’m afraid my recollection of the plot is hazy and some of this might have happened in the next episode.

• Anyhoo, I like that Elena is keen to learn how to defend herself. Up until now she’s been saying she can stand on her own feet, but she’s always had the cushioning protection of Stefan to back up that confidence. Now that’s been stripped away she finally starts to understand her precarious position and her response (to try and get to grips with some full on vamp weapons) is practical. I enjoy practical Elena and her approach to defense provides a good contrast to her romantic ideas, which seem wildly unrealistic. I also like that Alaric is hard on her about her physical training, because that whole grumpy trainer deal reminds me of a one aspect of the Giles/Buffy relationship.

• Sort of sadly, my prediction about whether Anna or Vicki would be the evil ghost didn't turn out to be right. It turns out that Vicki is the evil ghost and there is no clever switcharoo of expectations, which is shame because I love the thrill TVD generates when it launches a surprise attack. Vicki, you could have been such an interesting character if only this program hadn't been out to get you from the start.

• I love the Matt Vicki sibling relationship in this episode – troubled, but loving. I guess Matt’s feelings when he discovers his sister’s plans are a more sensible version of the way Stefan acts towards his brother; they both wrongly brought siblings back so they wouldn't be alone but Matt lets her go rather than allow the death of others. Ugh, but why did she have to get dead in the first place? Just imagine them playing off each other all the time, replicating the Elena Jeremy sibling deal from series one while coping with different plot twists. Imagine a new set of siblings providing another, different family story line (the family element of this program is one of my fav thing).

• But I still love Anna, so I’m not altogether sad that she’s not the evil one. There is a lot of Anna/Jeremy dramz, which I will come to later, but this episode I was just sad that Anna is alone and that Jeremy can shut her out. The ghosts are one of the best ideas TVD has had since introducing the werewolves (hybrids, I yawn at you) which is why I enjoyed the next episode so much.



Episode Seven: ‘Ghost World’

• I loved the concept behind this episode - ghosts accidentally given flesh again by magic. The discovery that Bonnie has turned all the ghosts into physical beings introduces danger as dead enemies return once again. It also furthers series three’s main plot and produces conflict between the central characters which will drive their relationships in new directions. But this device doesn't feel quite so much like an artificial problem solving/plot driving device unlike, oh let’s say, the discovery of the Never Say Die rings. Sure, giving the ghosts back their physical form has some convenient results, but it never feels like they were included purely to simplify plot problems from the writers.

• Caroline saves the day for Mrs Lockwood, establishing herself as the best vampire daughter in law candidate of all time.

• As much as I enjoyed the corporal ghosts, I disapprove of the way the program’s creators used this device to restart Jeremy and Anna’s romance. Look, Bonnie is awesome. Anna is also awesome. Please, please do not pit them against each other as pointless love rivals just to produce exceptionally dull, needless conflict between Bonnie and Jeremy. I mean, I recognise the truth of Anna and Jeremy’s story line (if you and your partner were separated by an unexpected death, you’d probably make out if you were reunited no matter who you were currently seeing). However, Bonnie is the only African American female character to have survived multiple series of TVD. Considering that TVD has a horrible racial track record, the direction of all her story lines take on a bigger significance than they might do in a more racially diverse program. It seems ill advised to pit her against a sad, dead white character in a romantic standoff. Team Anna vs. Team Bonnie would make my head explode.

• A thing I was more pleased about: the brief return of Lexi and Mason. Who doesn't love these characters? I mean, apart from Damon obviously:



And I’m grateful that this episode gave me some closure about Damon murdering Mason. I think the Mason and Lexi murders have kept me feeling that Damon has to be viewed as primarily a predator who you have to keep your eyes on at all times. Even though the program has tried to complicate that picture on multiple occasions (Rose, the wolf bite, and his relationship with Andie) the episode where Damon betrays Lexi and his horrific torture of Mason sticks hard in my memory. While his apology here is weak as, it is an apology and he looks like he actually understands what he did. I’m not really sure what that means, because in the last post I liked that he wouldn’t change for Elena to become the same kind of sympathetic vampire hero as Stefan…So what do I want here? A troubled vamp who still kills because he likes it, even though he knows it’s wrong? A vamp who only kills those who deserve it? I doooon’t knooooow.

• Also he apologises to Alaric – it’s all back on.

• Oh and the ending! Sads, but also how wonderful was the Anna/Pearl reunion. I was so glad they found each other.



Episode Eight: ‘Ordinary People’

• Ok, I have looked at the Wikipedia entry for this episode and I’ve read Amy’s posts from around this point in the series, but I think it’s time to admit that I remember almost nothing about this episode either. It mostly just explains the back story of the originals I think:



I mean, I love that the program decided to come up with its own vampire origin story, because so much vamp media appears to be uninterested in explaining how vampires come into being (which, what – this is fascinating). And I want to care about these kids, who have been turned into unnatural hunters against their will by their parents (a sub-plot of control which ties in nicely with Jeremy’s later compulsion) but frankly I just don’t. I care about Klaus’ unhappy relationship with his unstable father. Otherwise – meh.

• I also find TVD’s version of the faux Middle Ages setting so distracting. It reminds me of ‘Friends’ deliberately ridiculous 80s flashback episodes. I find myself wondering what is up with Elijah and Klaus’ hair all the time.



Episode Nine: ‘Homecoming’

• ‘Homecoming’, I knew you would be my absolute favourite from this set of episodes. *Swoon*. Thanks for not letting me down.

• We’re back to a high school/paranormal mix, which as I discussed before, I enjoy greatly. This episode is full of heart rending emotions and back stabbing (literally – oh TVD I do love a terrible, physical pun). It was just full of adorable, deadly emotions bunnies.

• On the one hand Elena stabbing Rebekah feels kind of icky because they are technically romantic enemies. But the program has done such a good job up to now of making sure that Rebekah doesn’t just replicate Katherine’s jealousy story line that I can’t feel any girl against girl competition subtext going on here. However, I do feel like, because Rebekah is so vulnerable in this scene we might be seeing a transfer of narrative approval from Elena to Rebekah. I say that having seen some series four gifs which seem to show that Stefan/Rebekah is going to be a big ship in S4. Has the program started trying to distance viewers from Elena already? I noticed how this incident helped to confirm the idea that Elena is growing harder and more defensive. And I love that – take sensible action in the face of super powerful vampires Elena. But…I felt like maybe I wasn’t supposed to totally love it? When Rebekah says ‘This is my first high school dance’…I mean…*sob*, right? It’ll be interesting to see how the program treats Elena and Rebekah as it progresses.

• Also I am so glad Mikael is dead. He was horrible and I had no wish to see him humanised. Sometimes you just need an ultimate Big Bad that you can hate and while I assumed in series two that this would be Klaus it seems he is to be something quite else. TVD delights in moving the emotional goalposts and pushing viewers to care about everyone, which I love, but sometimes you just need an uncomplicated outlet for hatred y’know? Mikael fits the bill. NEVER COME BACK!

• Stefan and Damon’s unbreakable sibling bond continues to be one of the best parts of series three. It’s noticeable this series that Stefan puts his brother above everything, even Elena.

• I hate the sire bond; let us never speak of it. Please fix Tyler TVD.

• And the final reveal of the plan – aces! Katherine! I love reveal episodes where nothing is as it seems and your breath is taken away by a final twist. But sadly it looks like this is the final appearance from Katherine in a present day story line for a while. I love how this episode reveals plot upon plot in a barrage of shocking twists. The final reveal where Stefan is shown standing in the moving van with coffins is excellent. I love revenge seeking Stefan.



Episode Ten: ‘The New Deal’

• Urrrghhh, this episode. There are break ups and plans and brotherly emotions and BFF betrayal and compulsion and awful car accidents and kissing-which-I-do-not-want. Supposedly it is all about setting up the next big showdown between Stefan and Klaus, while it reminds us all how far gone Stefan is. But I find thinking about this episode mostly just makes me want to mope around looking at things like this:





(source)



(source)


Mope.



What ships do I spy?

I will never ship Damon/Elena. I demand that this end right now.

I'm still shipping Forwood, despite the thing we do not speak of. I believe they can beat it. And Damon/Alaric is a pretty permanent ship for me now, no matter how much Damon tries to kill him (ugh, please stop).

Ok, I promise to try and write these up when I finish the disks from now on, so I don’t forget quite so much. Hopefully my abuse of sad gifs has made up for any important points I’ve forgotten to touch on. And you can always prompt me to discuss anything you fancy about TVD in the comments.

Comments

[myfriendamy]

lol Jodie I hope you keep watching so that you can keep telling me how you feel about this show and how it gets progressively worse in some ways...

I hate the sire bond, too. I hate that Tyler

Has the program started trying to distance viewers from Elena already?

I feel like the show favors Elena, and it's hard for a viewer to bear. Everyone does everything for Elena and no one is allowed to have valid emotions about the ways in which it sometimes hurt them. If they do acknowledge it, it feels like lip service. But I will say this season feels different, Elena feels different in a way I can't really talk about without spoiling major things. (also I don't think either Damon or Stefan will ever really be allowed to have a ship besides Elena--Stefan/Rebekah is ACES but I don't think Stefan will ever be allowed to feel about someone the way he feels about Elena. It's pretty much like watching Gossip Girl all over again for me, fml.

Lol I thought they killed off Michael way too fast, but I'm glad you to hear you thought it was a good decision. I'm looking forward to what you think about things as they progress!

[bookgazing]

'I thought they killed off Michael way too fast' - yeah it was too fast and a lot of emotions could have been wrung from the way he disempowers Klaus.But I just hated him and I hate that whole bully dynamic. Even if Klaus is the most evil, powerful guy ever I don't want him to be squished down by a parent who terrifies him. I want him to be beaten by people who don't use an unfair emotional adavantage. So when they killed him just after introducing him I couldn't get past 'Good, never come back!'.

Interesting to hear that about Elena, because I took a break after the ep where Bonnie's mother is turned 'for her safety' and she won't speak to Elena. I tought that was really well done and Bonnie does seem to be the only one who can have negative emotions around Elena (remember their friend break up?). But obs they can't sustain that because they need the two together. And then there's the whole Jeremy compulsion thing...What Elena wants ultimately becomes the thing the show validates I guess?

Anyway third post is in development and then I'll go back to watching the discs :)