Monsters of Television

“The Sacrifice”

Still pretty, but getting way scarier.

Lots of people were doing dumb things to save people they love on this week’s The Vampire Diaries.  Even Damon, who was trying to preach wisdom to Elena about her kamikaze mission, did his own dumb thing.  But when Damon does anything, somehow it seems less dumb, only sexy.  And there was much Damon sexiness to be had.  Perhaps they are trying to make amends for that wretched incident with Rose last week (yep, still hate this character). Maybe they just can’t let go of the tension between Elena and Damon.  Or maybe they know that Damon is why this show sizzles.  Case in point—the first half of this episode was rather lame—and I can only explain it by noting a decided dearth of Damon dash (the alliteration took over—apologies).

Reviewing each episode of a series is a problematic business because it can force a person to make too-firm pronouncements: i.e. episode A was excellent, episode B was crap, and episode C was passable.  When we start debating whether an individual episode was weak, I worry we lose the forest for the trees—after all, I wouldn’t be writing about this show if I didn’t enjoy it with some consistency.  Also, I haven’t yet seen a crap episode of The Vampire Diaries, so when I complain about weaknesses, I’m quibbling.  That said, this episode may be worth exploring a bit deeper to see where the show tends to be weakest in order to highlight why it succeeds as often as it does.

The show opens with Elena in bed, being observed silently by ultra-creepy warlock, Luka’s dad Jonas.  Elena snaps awake (good instincts, Elena) and runs into a naked Ric and an embarrassed Aunt Jenna.  While they are pleasantly chatting about the awkwardness of this particular situation, Jonas steals some objects from Elena, including jewelery, a photo, and a brush.  I think I smell a spell coming on.

Meanwhile, our earnest heroes visit their former beloved Katherine, who no longer seems as content to remain in her secure tomb.  She’s bored, it seems (made me think about Evil Willow’s famous “Bored now’” exclamation, which is high praise).  Katherine is ready to deal—her freedom for the moonstone.  The boys aren’t down with this plan, so they go to Bonnie to get her to release the spell on the tomb long enough for Stefan to get in and out.  Why they think this will work, I have no idea—didn’t Bonnie’s super experienced grandmother die last time they messed with the tomb spell?  Ah well, desperate times call for desperate measures.  Elena, being wise, hates this plan, btw.

Bonnie runs into Luka at school, and he pleasantly shows her how they can exchange a personal object and then channel each other—combining their powers with mutual efforts.  During this sequence, Bonnie looks super aroused as a wind picks up and leaves start to fly all around them.  I like when this show gets hot, but since I’m enjoying the flirtation between Bonnie and Jeremy, I’m hoping Luka ends up being evil.  Oh, and Luka walked off with Bonnie’s bracelet, so I started to brace for him demonstrating that evil. She has his dog tag necklace.

Elena walks into the Salvatore mansion and hears Rose’s annoying voice say, “it’s not nice to leave a girl naked so early in the morning..”  Okay, I am on record as hating Rose, but apart from that, I think I can objectively say this is just a bad line.  A super awful line that no person (or undead person) would ever say in real life.  Like we needed her to say this line for Elena to figure out something happened between Damon and Rose—the writers were trying too hard here, and the tension they seemed to want to add didn’t arise.

Anyway, Elena asks Rose to help her find Slater because the Salvatore brothers “are willing to risk everyone I love, and I’m not.”  This is something Elena repeats ad nauseum during this episode—again, the writers are overwriting.  This show doesn’t need to be so emphatic—we get it already, writers.  Quit talking to us like we’re stupid… In exchange for her help, Elena offers Rose a daylight ring since apparently those are as easy to achieve in this town as becoming undead .  Now Bonnie is not only the Salvatore brothers’ bitch, but Elena’s, too.  Sure she’ll love that.

Matt and Tyler have an awkward run-in—Matt feels bad, blah blah blah.  Awesome Vampire Caroline chats with Tyler, who claims he has a plan to deal with this whole wolf thing.  Off they go to discuss his plan further.

Rose and Elena arrive at Slater’s apartment and find his dead body and a hysterical human named Alice. Alice, it seems, is a fang banger—a vampire groupie hoping she’ll get turned in exchange for sex.  Seriously, Alice, just take a trip to Mystic Falls.  Young teen girls seem to get turned there with some ease.

Bonnie needs something of Katherine’s to do a spell that will incapacitate Katherine briefly, allowing Stefan to get the moonstone from the tomb.  Stefan hands her his photo of Katherine—it is a nice moment—and Bonnie burns the photo.  Her nose starts to bleed, so we know Bonnie is pushing too hard.

Tyler and Awesome Vampire Caroline check out the former Lockwood estate cellar, and Tyler explains that he thinks this can be a good place for him to undergo his first change.  Conveniently, Awesome Vampire Caroline finds a diary left behind by Mason in which he detailed his own change.  I miss Mason…hottest uncle ever.

We get some cuteness between Jeremy and Bonnie as he explains how worried he is about her plan to try this spell (I’ll talk more about them below) and then cut back to Elena being a way more interesting character than usual.  She has been briefed by Rose that Alice was mostly using Slater, so Elena kind of harshly ignores Alice’s tears.  Elena wants Slater’s password for his computer.  Alice balks, claiming grief.  Elena looks at her firmly: “I understand that. Do you know his password?”  Getting clever, Elena promises Alice she’ll convince Rose to turn Alice.  Elena is making lots of promises today.  Funny that when she later admits to Rose she has no intention of turning Alice, Rose doesn’t seem to make the connection that Elena also has no intention of giving Rose a sun-walking ring, but this glaring point doesn’t come to the surface.

Elena uses Slater’s email records to send a message to a seeming contact of Elijah, stating that the doppleganger is alive (“I knew I recognized you,” Alice exclaims), and she’s ready to surrender.  This is the first time Rose realizes Elena is here to die—again proving that Rose is a dumb character.  Elena explains, “it’s either me or my family.”  She’s beginning to sound like that awesome youtube video of Harrison Ford characters repeatedly discussing “my family”—if you haven’t seen that one here, you should.  It is great.).  We get it, Elena.  You are a great, heroic martyr.

Jeremy gets on the martyr bandwagon and takes matters into his own hands.  He goes to Katherine with some stolen ash from Bonnie’s spell, marches into the tomb and throws the moonstone out of Katherine’s reach right before she grabs him.  Oops.  Noble effort there, Jeremy, but your plan only works if your friends are willing to let Katherine repeatedly kill you (thanks to Jeremy’s own magical “na na na boo boo, you can’t kill me” ring).  Discovering that Jeremy is now Katherine’s captive, Bonnie starts the spell so Stefan can save him.  She pulls from Luka’s dog tags, his personal object that she used in their leaf-flying channeling experiment.  Huh, here I was all nervous that Luka was going to use Bonnie’s bracelet for ill, when in fact it was Bonnie who used the object to steal power.  I’m not familiar with the witch/warlock codes of conduct, but I’m gonna guess that forcing another witch to channel his power with you (to remove a spell that traps a vampire) is probably a party foul.  Hope the witches don’t have an ethics committee, Bonnie.

Brief shot of Luka’s dad and Elijah working some magical mojo with Elena’s objects—it is a finder spell, so Elijah can pinpoint Elena’s location.  Guess Luka’s dad knows a more specific version of this spell than Bonnie used a couple of weeks ago.  As the spell works, Elena suddenly sees Elijah’s reflection in a window—they both see each other through the spell.  Neat effect.

The next scene is the best of the episode.  Awesome Vampire Caroline and Tyler read Mason’s diary and watch a filmed  sequence in which he had recorded his own initial transformation.  Tyler watches in horror as the transformation lasts for hours, with Mason writhing on the floor in pain calling for help.  He writes in his diary that he felt every moment of the change.  Now this is a curse, people.

I’ve written repeatedly that this program suffers when being a vampire is portrayed as such a gosh darn great thing.  You are dead, sure, but as long as you have a day-walking ring, you can live kinda like a normal person.  You can choose not to kill and you can keep hold of your original personality.  Where’s the sacrifice (nod to episode title)?  Where’s the loss?  One of the only bummer parts of being a vampire that we’ve seen so far is Slater’s boredom—eternity is a long time.  But seeing Mason suffer like that, I realized how much the vampire curse is lacking.  Tyler is facing horror—not only pain but a complete loss of his self-control.  Yes, he will be strong, with enhanced abilities.  But at a great price.

Damon receives a call from Rose, alerting him to Elena’s suicide mission.  He leaves Stefan and Bonnie to handle the Jeremy thing and arrives to save Elena just in time.  She’s less than happy to see him, though.  He tells her she doesn’t get to make this choice, and she replies, “when have I ever made a decision? You and Stefan do that for me.  This?  This is my decision.”  Damon is unmoved.  “Get your ass out that door before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out myself.”  Damon stares intently at Elena throughout this entire scene, never breaking his attention to her.  Yes, it is super hot.

He grabs her arm, and she says “no,” trying to hit him.  Damon stops her, placing his hand over hers, continuing to stare deeply into her eyes.  As he pushes her hand down, he leans in towards her.  Elena’s breathing is heavy.  He whispers, “don’t ever do that again.”  There’s real menace in this scene, in addition to the sexual fireworks we’ve come to expect from these two.  But the menace is what makes the scene work—Damon means business, and so does Elena.  Their battle of wills is fascinating.

Luka’s nose starts to bleed as Bonnie’s theft of his energy increases.  His father is horrified, asking him what he was thinking in teaching her that trick.  “You told me to bond with her, so I bonded,” Luka apologizes.  Bonnie, too, collapses.

The spell having failed, Katherine plans to retreat with her Jeremy treat.  Stefan runs in, grabs Jeremy and throws him outside the tomb door.  Now Stefan is trapped with Katherine.

Back with Awesome Vampire Caroline and Tyler, she reads more from the diary.  Mason wrote about unimaginable pain: “it was the worst night of my life.” Tyler wants her to stop reading—it is all too much.  “Why are you helping me,” he asks?  “You just seem like you kinda need it.”  She tells him about her first night, alone in her transformation, and that she killed someone.  She doesn’t want Tyler to be alone.  Their conversation increases in its intimacy, and it seems Tyler is beginning to care about her.  A romantic pop song plays lightly in the background of the scene.

Of course, that is when Matt rings the doorbell.  He’s come to tell Awesome Vampire Caroline that he misses her (as he should, she is Awesome Vampire Caroline, after all).  Tyler walks out from behind the door, saying “hi” to Matt.  Hope they don’t want me to care about Matt and Awesome Vampire Caroline.  But I’m beginning to like Tyler.  More proof that making someone supernatural can redeem even the most awful character.  Poor Matt needs to be put out of his misery.

Some random dudes enter Slater’s apartment to get the doppleganger.  Damon prepares for battle.  But then Elijah arrives.  Damon stutters, “I killed you.  You were dead.”  “For centures now,” Elijah replies.  A funny sequence ensues in which we learn the random dudes come here to get Elena (for Klaus, it seems) have no idea who is Elijah.  Elijah confirms that no one knows they have come here for the doppleganger, sticks his hands into their chests and rips out their hearts.  “You have been incredibly helpful,” he states.  Elijah is getting cooler.  I’m beginning to regret my initial disdain for his girl hair and proper manner.

Damon sees Elijah pull out these hearts, and then steps in front of Elena, suggesting a “bring it on” attitude.  I heart Damon.  Elijah looks at Damon’s determination…and leaves.

Back with Luka’s dad, Elijah explains why he didn’t kill Damon.  “I spared him.  He’d die before he let anything happen to her.  She’ll be kept safe…for now.”  Huh—making me think Elijah is way scarier than I originally thought AND making me think he may be on our team’s side.  Fascinating.

More sexiness for Bonnie and Jeremy.  She asks him, “why did you have to get involved?”  “Because I didn’t want you to get hurt.”  Bonnie is scared, “you can’t feel that way about me.”  “No,” Jeremy says.  “What?” she replies.  “Don’t act like this is one-sided, like I’m some kid with a crush on his sister’s friend.  You could have died today.”  He places his hand on her cheek, softly.  “You almost did,” she says quietly.  “That’s a chance I was willing to take.”  He leans in, but Bonnie stops him.  “I can’t.  I can’t.  I’m sorry.”  And she runs out.

Bonnie?  You are dumb.

Elena learns Stefan is trapped with Katherine, so she rushes to his side with Damon in hot pursuit.  Stefan remains in the back of the tomb while Damon refuses to let Elena enter in search of him.  Their fight again suggests some menace.  Elena storms out, leaving Stefan and Damon to chat.  Stefan tells Damon he needs to work with Bonnie to remove the power of the moonstone.  “You martyr yourself in a tomb, and I get partnered with a semi-competent witch?” Damon cracks.  Stefan ignores his joke.  “Keep Elena away from here.  Promise me.  No matter what happens, that you’ll protect her.”  Damon gives his brother a steadfast look and leaves.

Katherine being her usual awesome self ends the episode with a foreboding prediction, “that right there was the biggest mistake you’ve ever made.”

So let’s go ahead and tally the sacrifices here.  Elena tried to sacrifice herself to Klaus for everyone.  Bonnie sacrificed herself for Elena.  Jeremy sacrificed himself for Bonnie.  Luka unintentionally sacrificed himself in service to his father by letting Bonnie know how to steak his power.  Stefan sacrificed himself for Jeremy (hence, Elena).  Damon tried to sacrifice himself for Elena.  All kinds of people acting rashly.  Not sure these were the smartest of actions, but it does demonstrate the everyone is aware of the high stakes in this game.

Course, no one ultimately paid the price of the sacrifice.  So the title is a bit of a misnomer.  Perhaps “The Intended Sacrifice” would have been better.  I write about this because this particular episode had a lot of people trying to do a lot of things, yet very little happened.  They got the moonstone, but they still have no idea what to do with it.

Not sure this is a huge complaint, but as we saw in the second half of the episode, these actions become more meaningful (and therefore more powerful) when we see the characters interact rather than just emote.  Damon’s relative absence during the first half of the ep did remove some of its sparkle, and Rose’s dud character dragged down any energy offered by Elena.  But more of Jeremy forcing Bonnie to talk about her limitations throughout the episode rather than mostly at the end would have provided a bit more character development in an episode that advanced the plot only slightly.   Or maybe I just hate Rose so much that she makes any episode featuring her more of a drag.

Despite all this talk of sacrifice, only Tyler is facing immanent pain and loss.  There’s real potential in this storyline, so I’m excited to see how it develops.

As for Damon and the love triangle–promos for next week suggest Katherine’s taunt at Stefan implied that Damon has no incentive to free Stefan since he now has an all-access pass to Elena.  That could be good fun to watch, but the triangle storyline only works for so long.  It can get messy real quick, with fans divided and no satisfying resolution possible.  Damon tried to end the insanity by telling Elena he loved her a few weeks ago, and then wiping her memory.  It was a great scene.  Will re-opening that can of worms work?  If it leads to a deeper understanding of our characters, perhaps.  My love for Damon does not depend on his connection to Elena, though, so I remain, for the time being, unsure.