“It was very Katherine of you.” – Damon to Elena after she daggered Rebekah
And with that quote right there, we should have seen it coming. But I didn’t — did you? The Vampire Diaries is doing everything within its power to challenge me as a viewer, a reviewer and a writer in general this season. It’s a miracle that I can even write coherently about this show, especially what just happened tonight. I feel like I’m about to do the writing equivalent of drooling wordlessly.
I started off taking insightful notes. I was going to write all about the scene between Elena and Rebekah bonding over homecoming dances and necklaces, and how it was such a wonderful continuation of last week’s theme of Rebekah being just an ordinary girl … even though she’s 1000 years old, murders often and would likely try to eat her date. Her humanity shone through like a light, and Katherine’s confession of humanity at the end of this episode made me think back to Rebekah and this scene. Anyway, I would have written something like that, but then Elena goes and daggers Rebekah! That was just the first of many complete and total surprises throughout this episode. I completely adore how utterly unpredictable this show is.
I’m not talking about guessing that Mikael was Klaus’s father, that Bonnie would be mad at Jeremy, that Tyler would become a hybrid or any of those minor details. I’m talking about the bigger picture: how storylines never twist and turn in an expected way, how you can never see the outcome of the journey the writers take us on, how you can never count on the bad guys being bad or the good guys being good. Complexity.
And it’s not out of left field, either. Of course we should have guessed that Mikael could compel Klaus’s minions; he’s the original original. Not a stretch. I’ll admit that I did expect Mikael to eat Stefan the moment he walked in the room, since Damon didn’t offer. And Tyler, in his own, twisted way, really does love Caroline and would do anything to protect her, even though he goes about it all ass-backwards. The ugly part of his humanity is accentuated by his hybrid-ness, remember.
When it comes down to it, it’s all about humanity. No one actually counted on Stefan’s kicking in; they figured it was his lack of humanity that would mess up the plan. Elena was right last week when she said that it was Damon’s love, not hers, that would bring Stefan back. The question is, what will he do with his freedom now that he has it? Everyone thinks he really sucks — can he redeem himself?
Maybe, but first, we get to see him mad … mad at Klaus, mad enough to steal his family (which is really pretty hilarious when you think about it). When Lexi was teaching Elena to get Stefan back, love wouldn’t work — she encouraged getting him mad. Now that he is, he’ll be back.
This and that:
I guess I didn’t drool that much after all. Waiting until January 5 for another new episode, though, makes me froth at the mouth.
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Nov 10, 2011 @ 21:42 EST5EDT
