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The Vampire Diaries has a brain cramp, or: Why is Damon the only one with a brain?

- Season 1, Episode 8 - "162 Candles"

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

“I’m worse than shallow — I’m a kiddie pool.” – Caroline

I’ve got to hand it to The Vampire Diaries. Just when I think they are going to deliver a boring episode, or go someplace entirely lame or sappy with the storyline, they fool me. In a good way, because they are not afraid to kill, maim or otherwise off a character that we all (well, those of us who didn’t read the books anyway) thought had some staying power for one reason or another.

Where I need to suspend my disbelief, or extend my total trust to the writers, is when it comes to everyone being so very stupid when it comes to Damon. OK, Caroline can’t really help it, but everyone else should be able to have a synapse or two from their brains firing at some point in the episode. It’s not going to be much fun if Damon gets away with everything, all the time.

If I were the leader of a secret organization, I wouldn’t trust anyone that came to me second-hand. Shame on you, Sheriff! Just because he’s Zach’s relative and comes bearing vervain? I bet you’d sleep with the first guy who brought you roses, would you? No wonder one of you has already gotten himself murdered. Take a lesson from Buffy 101: Don’t let in any new Scoobies without letting them build some trust first.

Then we have Lexi (a great guest appearance from Arielle Kibbel, for you Gilmore Girls fans), who is supposed to be an older, wiser, stronger vampire. Sure, she’s a little drunk and has some vervain coarsing through her dead circulatory system, but don’t you think she could have somehow seen it coming, saved herself, gotten out of it without ending up dead? Because a) I kind of liked her and b) Damon has yet to be thwarted, and that’s just ridiculous.

Finally, we have Stefan. Oooo, big scary vampire out for revenge. All that anger and angst. He finally gets the better of Damon, pins him, stakes him and then… spares his life? Seriously? I get that there wouldn’t be much of a series without Damon, but could Stefan at least have tried? Perhaps there’s some vampire mythology I’m not aware of, like when you are a good vampire you lose your testicles or something….

Other stuff:

  • Loved the title of this episode, “16 Candles.” It spoke to my ’80s teenager.
  • Unexpected surprise? I think the wrong brother went back to high school.” – Lexi to Damon. There’s some subtle, sharp writing in this show if you listen for it.
  • Did anyone else think of the Capri Sun juice boxes (or pouches, as the case may be) when Lexi was snacking on the blood bank blood?
  • Caroline gets zapped by Bonnie’s necklace and delivers a quote that send me into a fit of giggles: “Are you wearing polyester?”
  • Bonnie’s dream at the end… what’s coming? A brain for the Sheriff? Some testicles for Stefan? I guess we’ll find out next week, on The Vampire Diaries….

Photo Credit: The CW

4 Responses to “The Vampire Diaries has a brain cramp, or: Why is Damon the only one with a brain?”

November 6, 2009 at 10:59 PM

Yes on Capri Sun. A big ole blood juice bag.

Damon is just too. Too everything. Maybe I missed it, but is he glamoring the sheriff? Everyone says they are looking at newbies to town and certainly the underground group knows about the family history. It doesn’t make sense for anyone to trust him without him using “the force”.

At least its consistently entertaining, and I really like the witch storyline, if only grandma would go away. She’s a tad on the young side to be a granny. Who cast that role??

November 7, 2009 at 8:07 AM

I was assuming the sheriff couldn’t be glamoured b/c she was protected with vervain…

November 7, 2009 at 12:36 PM

She hadn’t run out the first time they met? For some reason I thought he gave it to them after their first meeting, which would have given him time to glamor her. Once glamored always glamored, right? If Jeremy takes vervain, will he bad memories come back?

If I was wrong, then she is the very worst sheriff that town could possibly have. :-)

November 7, 2009 at 5:29 PM

I like that whoever is in charge of music is a fan of Tiesto since 2 of his tracks from his new album were playing in the club for the party! Don’t know if the third song was Tiesto’s as well.

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