Making new friends and enemies, Mystic Falls welcomes a few more into the fold
This was the episode of Katherine’s (Nina Dobrev) curse and Damon’s (Ian Somerhalder) gift. Katherine brought the doppelganger curse to Mystic Falls and painted a bright red bulls-eye on Elena (Nina Dobrev); and Damon forsook his own nature to give a gift to Elena.
In the aftermath of the take down of Katherine, Elena was taken. Not knowing who or what took her, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon heedlessly dashed off to her rescue. Only vampires would be so foolish to think that they are smarter and stronger than anything they may encounter.
In Stefan and Damon’s world, nothing was stronger and scarier than Katherine. Well now it was time to face whatever Katherine had been running from — Katherine who took the time to surround herself with an army of vampires, a witch and a werewolf and who wanted that moonstone more than anything. The world that Stefan and Damon grew up in was Mystic Falls and, for all their travels and partying for the past 100 years, they never really gave thought to the older vampires — the ones who created Katherine and from where she came from. Their world began and ended with Katherine. So imagine their surprise to find that their precious Elena was so sought-after.
Stefan and Damon wanted Elena because they were in love with her. She looked exactly like Katherine, yet was untouched by Katherine’s evil, diabolical nature.
Yet to the Originals, Elena was a doppelganger — a sacrifice to be used to break the sun and moon curse. It would allow vampires to walk in the day and werewolves to turn at will. Oddly enough, while Rose (Lauren Cohan) and Trevor (Trent Ford) seemed to shrink from the sun’s vicious rays, Elijah (Daniel Gilles) seemed immune. Did he too have a daylight ring? If so, why are the Originals so anxious to break the curse? Hopefully, Rose will shed some light on that little mystery. Since she has volunteered to be yet another Elena bodyguard, she should be a fount of information.
And Damon’s gift was unexpected — he did not just help save Elena, he told her that he loved her and then compelled her to forget. The gift was not just erasing her memory, but in telling her that she deserved to be with Stefan. Even without the memory of Damon’s blessing, Elena will feel it. Damon has chosen to set what he loves free. He has acknowledged that Elena should be allowed to choose her heart’s desire and, if that is Stefan, then Damon will step aside. Elena will not understand it, but she will feel the freedom Damon has given her. He is not burdening her with his feelings and he is allowing her to love Stefan. Damon’s gift was loving Elena enough to let her go.
What Worked
It was a moment a long time coming, but watching Caroline (Candice Accola) and Tyler (Michael Trevino) dance around each other the entire episode was awesome. From the moment Caroline covered for Tyler about Sarah’s death, Tyler had a sense that Caroline knew more than she was telling. The old Caroline would have broken down into hysterical tears. The new and improved Caroline was calm, cool and collected — and very strong as he soon found out. Despite Damon’s warnings to stay away from Tyler for it would only lead Tyler down the werewolf path to vampire boulevard, Caroline kept getting cornered by Tyler. Caroline’s unusual display of strength only fueled his suspicions. Tyler’s incredulous, “You’re stronger than me!” observation was priceless, as was his later misguided pronouncement, “I know . . . You’re just like me. Aren’t you?” To which Caroline laughingly said baring her fangs, “I’m not a werewolf. Okay?”
Just when Tyler thought life couldn’t get any weirder — he finds out that Caroline is a vampire. Watching them compare notes on what it was like to one day wake up and be a supernatural creature was great. Stefan and Damon had each other and Bonnie (Katerina Graham) had Grams (Jasmine Guy) when they all found out about their new supernatural lives. But both Caroline and Tyler were entirely alone when they were turned and there was no one there initially to tell them what to do. It made perfect sense that they would bond over their predicaments. Never before has Tyler been so sympathetic. Our hearts broke when he quietly told Caroline, “I have no one else to tell . . . I am alone with this. It’s going to happen to me. The next full moon I’m going to turn and I’m not going to be able to stop it. I’m scared.” As she hugged him, we wished we could too. Neither of them wanted to be creatures of the night, yet fate determined otherwise.
Also bonding over their mutual feelings of aloneness and alienation where Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) and Bonnie. Unlike at the masquerade where Jeremy was allowed to be a part of the plan, being relegated to map-questing on the home front was not what he wanted to be doing. Yet, as Jeremy soon found out, his presence was needed to watch over Bonnie after she passed out sending the message to Elena. When Bonnie told him, “Witchcraft has its limits. If I push too hard, it pushes back . . . it’s a reminder that I’m not invincible,” she was admitting her deepest, dark secret. Because Bonnie is the only witch amongst a multitude of vampires, revealing a weakness is deadly. So the fact that she trusted Jeremy enough with her secret was telling. When she said, “I’m all alone in this,” Jeremy shared, “That’s how I feel a lot of the time — alone.”
Caroline and Tyler, and Bonnie and Jeremy — the least likely of romantic pairings, yet the frisson of electric chemistry is palpable. They are lost and lonely teenagers grappling with mystical abilities, curses, and death on a regular basis. If there was ever a time to bond over how weird life has gotten and finding someone who really understands exactly what that means, this is it. It remains to be seen if these pairings do turn romantic, but for now, just even the hint of it sends shivers down our spines. A vampire and a werewolf and then a witch and an invincible man. Definitely foreshadowing lots of tales of forbidden love.
The other forbidden love of the night was Damon and Elena. The expression on Damon’s face after he staked Elijah and turned to Elena quickly shifted from joy to the realization of hopeless love. Damon may have saved Elena, but Stefan got the girl. The look that Elena gave Damon was an acknowledgment that what needed to be said would be said later. That is Damon’s life — it is always later. But since he pined for Katherine for over 140 years; he can probably bear to wait for Elena too.
Damon is making the best of a sticky situation. He so desperately wanted to be the hero — the one who Elena rushed to with gratitude. But that is not Damon’s place. As Stefan noted during their car ride, Damon had no choice but to come and rescue Elena. For if he didn’t, then what would he have had to live for? That is the price of choosing to be human again — Damon has to feel the pain of love lost, was well as the joy; and there is no guarantee that he will get the girl no matter how many times he risks his life to save her. All he gets is the promise of later. Elena may be in Stefan’s arms, but her eyes say “later.” Always later.
Thus, when Damon later came to see Elena, he softly told her, “I just have to say it once.” As she tried to protest, “Damon, don’t go there,” he firmly told her, “You just need to hear it once.” Then he bared his soul confessing, “I love you, Elena — and it is because I love you, I can’t be selfish with you — and why you can’t know this — I don’t deserve you, but my brother does. . . . God, I wish you didn’t have to forget this. But you do.” Then with a gentle kiss goodbye on her forehead and Damon was gone. It was a gesture of love and respect. Damon was acknowledging Elena’s freewill and that he would honor it. However, he did not want Elena to feel burdened remembering his declaration of love. For why should she have to live with the weight of his love? With one tear, he was gone and the vervain necklace safely around Elena’s neck once again. Stefan may be Elena’s physical protector, but Damon will protect her body and soul. He may have thought he was being selfish in making his declaration and then erasing her memory, but it ultimately showed how unselfish Damon was being — for perhaps the first time in his life.
What Didn’t Work
Rose and Trevor looked eerily like Alice (Ashley Greene) and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) from the “Twilight” films. It was distracting as they talked to Elena, for it felt like at any moment they were going to call her Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) was going to rip through the doors to save her. While it is nice to give the occasional shout-out to the other vampire-verse, it should not be so distracting that one forgets that this is “The Vampire Diaries.” It would have been more fun to have Rose and Trevor have their own distinct visual style and manner of speaking than to have them sound and look so much like Alice and Jasper.
It was also ridiculous that Damon and Stefan staked Elijah and then did not finish him off by decapitating him. With a threat that deadly, they should have finished the job and prevented any further problems. After all, vampires are notorious for rising from the dead.
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
‘Rose’ was written by Brian Young and directed by Liz Friedlander. ‘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. ET on the CW.
Related article: http://www.rabiddoll.com/node/1578/the-vampire-diaries-–-rose.html
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