Monsters of Television

Quickly becoming TVD's most sympathetic character--who knew?

I cannot believe I am writing this, but here goes. Tyler is my new favorite character on The Vampire Diaries. I know, that is completely crazy, right? He’s a self-proclaimed dick. But among all the various happenings in the most recent episode, his storyline is the most effecting. The performance by Michael Trevino as Tyler is quite strong, and the character may give Damon a run for his money in the clever jackass department. If you read my posts about this show regularly, you know I am a big fan of Awesome Vampire Caroline. And now it seems I have found the best match for her greatness. Really hope the show continues to depict Tyler’s transformation with such honesty and rawness.

It isn’t possible for me to express how moving was Tyler’s transformation and Awesome Vampire Caroline’s refusal to leave him. He was terrified and experiencing shattering pain; all she could do was be with him, but you admire her compassion. I’m super nervous about how Tyler will react when he learns Awesome Vampire Caroline has lied to him (about Mason, about the Salvatores), but I am loving these two as a duo. I should also note that the visual and aural elements of his change were executed in impressive fashion by the program’s technical people—really good work for a show I don’t imagine has a huge budget.

As for the rest of our merry band of warriors, Elijah continues to improve upon his initial awful introduction—he’s becoming a real frightening bad guy. Elena got sidelined for the most part, but even trapped in her home, she proved herself a capable negotiator. And the best news? Someone I hate got bit by a werewolf. What excellent news!

We open with Tyler getting ready for his first full  moon since he fell under the power of the curse.  He gathers his chains while Mason’s video of his first torturous transformation plays in the background. In desperation, Tyler calls Mason’s home (yep, I still miss hot Uncle Mason). But wait, a woman is in Mason’s home? Who is she? And why the heck does Mason have an old-school answering machine? The mystery deepens.

Next scene features Bonnie and Elena talking about the moonstone. Elena wants Bonnie to focus on getting Stefan out of the tomb, but Bonnie is taking Stefan’s side by focusing on the moonstone unbinding spell. Jeremy enters, and an awkward Bonnie announces, “I need a coffee.”

All-grown-up Jeremy challenges his sister. “why are you on some suicide mission,” he asks. Elena recites her mantra, “I’m trying prevent everyone else getting hurt… blah blah blah” (I added that last part). Jeremy retorts, “So bringing Klaus the moonstone so you can get yourself killed is okay?” Thank you, Jeremy, for reminding us how dumb was that plan.  Jeremy walks out of the room.  With no end to her ability to generate dumb plans, Elena steals the moonstone from Bonnie’s purse and heads for the door.

Luckily, it was all an elaborate use. Jeremy and Bonnie inform Elena: “We tested you. You failed.” Even better? Bonnie cast a spell that will keep Elena trapped in her house. Cut to the Salvatore brothers.

Stefan: “You trapped her in the house?” Damon explains, “It’s for the best. Trust me. Elena’s on a martyr tear that rivals your greatest hits.” That was a good line but otherwise this was a pretty useless scene with repetitive dialogue. Stefan: please keep Elena safe. Damon: ambiguous stare at his brother that is supposed to convey fortitude. Blah blah blah.

In another useless interaction, Tyler’s mom asks him where he is headed. Then, a knock on the door—ah, it is the pretty girl from Mason’s apartment come looking for him. Uh oh.

In a seemingly random plot point involving (who else) Jenna, Ric learns Jenna has been asked by Mrs. Lockwood to help a writer researching small town Virginia. You just know there must be more behind this because otherwise there’s simply no reason to show us useless Jenna at all. Awesome Vampire Caroline arrives to inform Ric that someone is looking for Mason—pointed look.

Damon visits a rather disgruntled Elena. Much though I love me some Ian Somerhalder, I had to rewind twice to try to catch what the heck clever line he mumbled to Elena. Then I actually had to turn on mute to read the subtitles to understand: “Com on, Pouty, at least give me points for ingenuity.” (Yeah, that line wasn’t worth all the effort.) Sometimes, Ian, your understated cadence bit gets a bit too much.

The main thing we learn here is that Damon didn’t tell Stefan that Elijah is still alive. Oh, and Damon refers to Awesome Vampire Caroline as “Vampire Barbie,” which I loved. Elena learns to her surprise that it is the night of a full moon. Damon remarks, “You’re too absorbed with all your suicidal tendencies to notice.” Ric calls Damon about Mason’s girl and Damon is off to the grill to investigate.

The pretty woman from Mason’s house is named Jules. She leaves the Lockwood home and calls someone unknown on the phone: “You were right. Mason was lying. There’s another werewolf. His nephew” Bam. (I put in that “Bam” part because the show actually inserted an audio sound to convey the importance of that line. As if that wasn’t clear.)

At the Grill. Jules walks in. Ric and Damon hatch a plot to test if she’s a werewolf by putting wolfsbane in her drink. Ric pretends to be a drunk, which is kind of funny (he’s underused by this show), and Damon arrives to chase off the drunk to win Jules’ trust. They chat, but she doesn’t drink.

Awesome Vampire Caroline has wolfsbane, too. She brought it for Tyler to drink, as per Mason’s example.  Tyler touches the plant and recoils as if he had put his hand into a fire. Then Tyler takes off his shirt.  Awesome Vampire Caroline asks nervously if he’s getting naked in front of her. Tyler jokes that his pants are elastic because, “I don’t think its like the Hulk where I get to keep my pants.” His pants stay on and Awesome Vampire Caroline exhales, but it seems that she had a slight moment of arousal upon seeing Tyler’s awesome pecs.  (Authorial aside: is any show doing sexy hotness better than The Vampire Diaries right now? Every one of their main couples achieves super hotness at some time or another. Love. It.)

Bonnie visits to Luka so she can use him some more. She begins what seems like it will be a long speech of apology, but Luka forgives her immediately. (Alert, Bonnie, he shouldn’t forgive you that easy—that is a sign that he’s up to something.) Luka shows Bonnie his dad’s collection of spell books and talks about the importance of keeping the family’s heritage intact and about a code of loyalty among witches (ahem…). Word to the wise, Bonnie—when someone seems too good to be true, they are.

Back to Stefan, Katherine makes an elaborate pass by taking off her dress. (Boy, Nina Dobrev is thin.) Then out of nowhere, she and Stefan start making out and slamming each other into a wall. It gets pretty steamy until…Stefan wakes up and asks Katherine to stay out of his head. So, pretty much the entire scene was a trick and advanced our plot not at all. But it gets points for sexy appeal.

A much better scene has Elena chatting with Useless Jenna about her research work with the writer. Jenna closes a closet door and we see Elijah right behind it. Holy crap!

Commercial Break.

Oh, Elijah is the historian. He he—that explains how Jenna matters (a tiny bit) in this episode. “Thank you so much for inviting me into your home, Jenna,” Elijah says to explain how he gained access to the house. Elena rushes upstairs to tell Jeremy, but Elijah appears and stops her. “I think its time we had a little chat,” he says.

“He’s a great guy!” That is Damon talking about Mason with Jules. He’s trying to be pleasant and normal, and it is as funny to watch as you might expect.

Cut to Tyler in chains—and it is almost as hot as Mason in chains. He drinks the wolfsbane to diminish his strength and falls to the ground, coughing up the poison. Awesome Vampire Caroline reaches for him, but he doesn’t want her to comfort him. After a moment, he gives her a long look. “I’m sorry,” he says to his only friend. This night is going to be long for Tyler.

I’m going to offer Elijah’s speech pretty much verbatim here since really, this is the most important plot advance we get during this episode. He explains to Elena, “I mean your family no harm. I didn’t want you to be taken. Klaus is the most feared and hated of the Originals, but those that fear him are desperate for his approval. Word gets out that the doppleganger exists, there’ll be a line of vampires eager to take her to him. And I can’t have that … Let’s just say that my goal is not to break the curse … Klaus’ obsessions have made him paranoid. He’s a recluse. He trusts only those in his immediate circle… (‘Like you?’ Elena asks) … Not anymore …. (Again, Elena, ‘You don’t know where he is, do you, so you are trying to use me to draw him out.’) … I’m prepared to offer you a deal. Do nothing. Do nothing, live your life, stop fighting. And then, when the time is right, you and I shall draw Klaus out together, and I shall make certain that your friends remain unharmed … (Elena: ‘And then what?’) … Then I kill him. I’m a man of my word, Elena.”

Elijah also tells her he has a witch of his own. Then Elena proves her worth, saying, “I need you to do one more thing for me.” Elijah is surprised (and impressed). “we’re negotiating?” he asks with a smile.

Bonnie and Luka do a spell even though she won’t tell him what is the spell they are unbinding. The moonstone levitates and breaks. Shards of it fall in all kinds of pretty lights, like a firework. Maybe it is because Luka is possibly evil, but I don’t feel any chemistry between these two.

Tyler is burning up. It sounds like all his bones are breaking, as he screams, “It hurts, it hurts.” This scene is truly heartbreaking to watch. Awesome Vampire Caroline does her best to help him.

Damon keeps trying to get Jules to drink her laced cocktail, but she loses patience. “You fool. Think you’re clever, don’t you?” she asks with disdain. Undeterred, Damon suggests, “You should leave town.” Also undeterred, Jules mocks, “You threatening me. On a full moon? How stupid are you?” (She’s good.) “Tonight, is not the night to pick a fight with me. You’ve been marked.” Okay, so clearly Jules is a werewolf. And I can report that she is 450% more interesting than Rose. And has way more potential for sexiness with Damon. But I’m guessing that isn’t where this is going.  Jules remains an intriguing cypher.  Despite her comments, it is unproven that Jules is really a werewolf.  It is even less clear if she means Tyler help or harm. I’m guessing the latter.

Awesome Vampire Caroline won’t leave Tyler, even though he keeps telling her to leave. She puts her hands on him, reminding him that she is with him.

Super angry that Jules has threatened him, Damon is raging to find her. Luckily, Ric talks Damon into being smart—going home and locking his door.

Tyler seems more calm. But only for a second. His teeth come in. He breaks the chain. Awesome Vampire Caroline escapes outside the cellar and bolts the door. Tyler tries to break the door, but he can’t get out. Awesome Vampire Caroline cries. Then runs.

Damon arrives home, but seems suspicious. Rose is there. (Ugh, I hate her) She wants to apologize for abandoning Elena. I’m super bored until a werewolf breaks through the window. Damon sees the wolf, the wolf shows its teeth, Rose shouts, “Damon,” and the wolf takes a bite out of Rose. Hooray! Rose is dead. It seems the werewolf hates her as much as I do. Damon stabs the wolf, who runs out the window.

No, wait,Rose is not dead. Damon looks at the wound, and it is healing. Dang.

Luka arrives home. “You were successful?” his father asks. “Course I was. She fell for the whole… (he hesitates and spits out the word)… show and didn’t suspect a thing.” Luka refuses to place the moonstone in his dad’s hand, instead putting it on a table. It seems Luka doesn’t like following his dad’s orders—maybe he isn’t evil. But his dad has one more thing for Luka to do.

Stefan wants Katherine to talk about her regret. She refuses, “It’s called self preservation.” He wants her to prove that there is something inside her worth trusting, but she is defiant, “You’re playing me.”   Stefan wants Katherine to help him find Klaus. She seems to comply, suggesting he start with Isabelle, since she was a research expert. “You’re welcome,” she offers to Stefan’s refusal to thank her.

Suddenly, Elijah is in the tomb. He looks at Katherine, “Thank you for having the good sense to be frightened.” To Stefan, “Your release has been requested.” Turns out that one more thing Luka had to do was to lift the tomb spell because Elijah was willing to bargain with Elena–Stefan’s freedom and her friend’s protection in exchange for her help in luring out Klaus. Not trusting Elijah, Stefan nevertheless exits the tomb. When Katherine tries the same thing, Elijah glamors her, telling her she won’t leave until he lets her. He also tells her Klaus will want her to stay there. Katherine begs Stefan, “please don’t let him leave me in here.” But Stefan leaves behind.

Awesome Vampire Caroline returns to the former Lockwood estate and descends gingerly into the cellar. She calls out and learns Tyler is back to being human. She rushes in and hugs him. “You’re okay,” she says, relieved. “No, I’m not,” he answers. And my heart breaks again.

Stefan rushes into Elena’s room. And they kiss. And then fall onto the bed. And I’m happy to see them together again.

Damon and Rose celebrate their discovery that werewolves made up the lie that their bite could kill a vampire simply to keep vampires away. Then it gets gross when Damon starts to come on to Rose. She says she wants to be friends, but he grabs her in a way that would normally be sexy but for Rose’s presence. Rose explains, “I don’t love men that love other women. I think more of myself than that. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be a special friend.” (Hm, that was a good line. Maybe my hatred for Rose is a bit unfair. Normally, I like a strong gal.) Then Rose winces. Her shoulder is a mess of blisters. So much for Rose.

End of episode.

We are heading in to a long TVD drought—no new episodes until January 27. But the writers left us with a number of satisfying semi-conclusions and a whole host of intriguing open questions. The weeks will be long, but I expect the wait will be worth it. And if you need a fix, a marathon begins Monday.