Review ‘THE VAMPIRE DIARIES – Bad Moon Rising (2010)

It’s a supernatural party in Mystic Falls — vampires, witches and werewolves — oh my!

With werewolves now in the mix in Mystic Falls, it’s getting a bit crowded for the creatures of the night. Thanks to an ancient Aztec curse, vampires are slaves to the sun and werewolves are slaves to the moon. Thus, vampires are supposed to be confined only to the night and werewolves only come out when the moon is full. Yet thanks to some helpful witch’s spells, some vamps get to live normal daylight lives. Wouldn’t those werewolves like to have a handy witch in their corner casting up a spell or two so they were similarly unchained from their part of the curse? Is that what the moonstone Tyler (Michael Trevino) found in his father’s safe does? Does it release the bearer from the monthly full moon curse? Or does it only grant whoever has it the power over all other werewolves? After watching how easily Tyler was able to issue a command to Mason (Taylor Kinney), that may be at least one of its mystical powers.

So while Elena (Nina Dobrev), Alaric (Matt Davis) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) went on a road-trip to Duke University to snoop through Isobel’s (Mia Kirshner) long-forgotten research materials in search for a few clues, Stefan (Paul Wesley) was stuck at home being the life coach for Caroline (Candice Accola). Alas, Stefan is turning out to be too distracted to give Caroline proper attention. Just as soon as his back was turned, she decided to snack on Matt (Zach Roerig) and nearly got bitten by a werewolf. Stefan was not even there to save Elena from a misguided arrow — that became Damon’s job.

However, it was poor Damon who got really shafted in more ways than one. The arrow in his back was the least of his problems with Elena behaving more and more like her doppelganger every day. And just to make sure that everyone was not having too much fun without her, Katherine (Nina Dobrev) popped in for a friendly chat with Caroline — just when everyone hoped that particular problem had left town. No rest for the wicked and no rest for the unwary.

What Worked

In the understatement of the century, Damon dismissively said, “I’ve been on this planet 160 odd years and never come across one. If werewolves exist, where the hell are they?” While not quite believing that werewolves existed, Damon was still curious to find out why the Lockwoods are not affected by vervain, yet were still susceptible to the Gilbert Device. As he noted, “We need to know what we’re dealing with. If this wolfman thing is true, I’ve seen enough movies to know it’s not good.” It is bad enough that vampires, humans and witches are at each other’s throats, but throw in a werewolf with an uncontrollable urge to kill vampires — that’s definitely not good.

With a new threat looming on the horizon and Katherine lurking in the shadows, Caroline was still adjusting to her new vampire-life. Yet, as she discovered, being a prisoner in one’s own home is not ideal. She was literally held hostage by sunlight, unable to open the door and let her boyfriend in. As she found out, life as a vampire is not as great as everyone makes it out to be. Not only was she stuck indoors hiding from everyone, but she also found out that she has become Caroline super-sized. All of her human insecurities, neurotic behavior, jealousy, and control-freak attributes are now amplified. As Caroline miserably noted, “I may have just stayed dead, my entire personality is killing me!”

So while Caroline may be a slave to sunlight and her heightened emotions, she still had enough self-control to know that she had to let Matt go. After attacking him once in a blood-lust, she knew that she had to be cruel to be kind. She pushed him into breaking up with her, just to keep him safe. For all her frailties, Caroline showed that her love was strong enough to let Matt go. In that sense, she is stronger than Stefan, who cannot let Elena go — even though he should. Stefan’s quiet confession, “I know I should have, I just can’t” revealed his one true weakness. For him, it will always be Elena.

Caroline also got in one of the better lines of the night when she asked, “Isn’t killing cute defenseless animals the first step to becoming a serial killer?” Which was nicely followed by Stefan’s quip, “Well, you kind of skipped serial killer and went straight to vampire.”

While Bonnie (Katerine Graham) is still forced to be an ally to the vampires, she is a wild card that should not be taken for granted. Bonnie was initially reluctant to reward Caroline with a daylight ring right after Caroline killed a man, but as Stefan reminded her, each day Caroline is cut off from her friends, school and her life, it will be that much harder to hold onto her humanity. So Bonnie warned Caroline, “You want to be friends? You’re going to have to prove to me that the Caroline I remember isn’t gone.” Bonnie may be worried that Caroline is out of control, but she had better get her priorities straight and start practicing for her next encounter with Katherine — the one vampire that she cannot drop with one look. Bonnie may be a powerful witch, but all that power will not help her if she is unprepared. With Damon and Stefan distracted over Elena and Caroline, perhaps Bonnie should be the one tracking down Katherine to keep her out of mischief.

Then another person who should not be forgetting about the one woman he has been obsessing over for the better part of a century is Damon. Yet, remarkably, Damon is more interested in getting Elena to forgive him than tracking down Katherine. Does Katherine’s rejection mean so little that Damon can forget so quickly about her? Elena is definitely the object of his obsession now as he cannot stop himself and is constantly finding ways to be a part of her life. While his instinct to jump in front of a wooden arrow to save her was gallant, it revealed how he felt.

Thus, when Elena forbade him from killing Vanessa (Courtney Ford) in retaliation, Damon taunted, “What makes you think that has any power over me? ‘Cause I took an arrow in the back for you? You are severely overestimating yourself.” To which Elena simply retorted, “Right, I forgot that I was speaking to a psychotic mind who snaps and kills people impulsively. Fine, go ahead. Do whatever you want.” Yet even Damon caught on to what Elena was trying to do, saying, “You’re trying to manipulate me.” He knows that she does not care for him the way that he wants her to, but Damon cannot resist her. With Katherine, she rejected Damon time and time again. But with Elena, there is time to win her over. Thus, later when Damon teasingly said, “You’re not going to be able to hate me forever . . . You hated me before and we became friends. It would suck if that was gone forever.” And she did not respond, Damon pressed, “So is it? Have I lost you forever?” That is what matters to him most. Damon wants to win Elena. If he has lost both Katherine and Elena, what is all of eternity worth living for?

So after Damon finally confessed that he did not know that Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) was wearing the healing ring when he killed him, Elena icily said, “Thank you for being honest with me — and the answer to your question about our friendship is: yes. You have lost me forever.” Damon then angrily replied, “But you knew that already, didn’t you? You used me today. . . You and Katherine have a lot more in common than just your looks.” Perhaps that is exactly what a doppelganger is. It is not just someone who looks like you and causes mischief in your life — it slowly influences the other into being just like them. Damon and Stefan were not just drawn to Elena because she looks like Katherine — and not just because of her good heart — there is something at the very core of who Elena is that resembles Katherine. An echo of a long-lost persona or a mirrored personality. Is that the ultimate curse of Katherine — is she merely a splintered persona of Elena’s separated by some dark magic and Katherine is looking to complete herself? Imagine if you were not a complete person, but a shadow of another.

Finally, in the swoon-worthy moment of the night, it was beautiful watching Alaric return to sweep Jenna (Sara Canning) up into his arms. After being abandoned by Isobel, it is nice to see him moving on with his life and pursuing a chance at happiness.

What Didn’t Work

Who the hell invited Katherine into Caroline’s house? How is it possible that Katherine was standing over Caroline’s bed when she was not invited in? Did Caroline’s mother actually invite a vampire into her house? The lax attention to safety and security with known vampires on the loose is appalling. And where was Stefan who was supposed to be keeping watch over Caroline and keeping her safe?

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

‘Bad Moon Rising’ was written by Andrew Chambliss and directed by Patrick R. Norris. ‘The Vampire Diaries’ stars Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Steven R. McQueen, Candice Accola, Katerina Graham, Michael Trevino, Zach Roerig, Sara Canning, Matt Davis. ‘The Vampire Diaries’ airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.

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