Monsters of Television

Don't let his mild-mannered career fool you--dude is Bad Ass.

I read some comments on Twitter that suggested this episode started slow and got bogged down in flashbacks. Allow me to disagree. Sure, the flashback stuff can distract from the always-more-interesting awesomeness of the present moment, but there was much goodness to be had this week.

Right at the top of my “goodness” list is Alaric Saltzman. Can I say enough about why this character rules me? Important to note: Alaric? Not undead. Yet he still manages to be quite the badass. As the show’s coolest humans, aka guys who don’t take guff from vampires, I kinda want Ric and Uncle John to form a bromance. Course, I haven’t actually seen Uncle John kill a vampire, have I? So maybe he isn’t good enough for Ric.

Elena and Stefan largely took a backseat this week. Sure, they talked about the past, and that final scene was pretty terrific, but largely, this episode was about Ric and Damon negotiating their friendship. Not sure if I was supposed to read a parallel between Stefan’s relationship with Lexi and Damon’s relationship with Ric, but I won’t mind if it goes that way. There’s a respect between Damon and Ric, solidified this week, that I hope the writers nurture.

There are some issues with this episode.  The rules surrounding the Originals seem awfully slippery–less for logic than for the writers to have an excuse to surprise us.  Trouble is, surprises work best when they are consistent with the world view developed by the show.  Without that, they are cheating and cheap.  But hey, this is a show about vampires so I won’t be too particular about realism.  More troubling is that Damon seemed to have a breakthrough (the bad kind) a few weeks ago–rediscovering his need to suppress all genuine emotion.  Other than feeding on Andie, though, we aren’t seeing much of that.  I hope the show is just taking its time, waiting for the darkness to explode in dramatic fashion.

As for my other favorite, literal bromance—there’s some signs the show is trying to create a divide between our Salvatore brothers. Was wondering when that whole “Damon killing Lexi” thing would come back up. Could be a good way to get Damon to rethink a few things. But more about that…after the jump.

Elena is curled up reading the old journals of long dead, eventually insane Johnathan Gilbert. Unfortunately for Elena, it turns out Stefan killed Gilbert’s family, and bit Johnathan himself, but left him alive [sloppy killing, Stefan]. Seeing Stefan be a killer is sort of fun, but otherwise, I agree with some Twitter comments that the flashbacks only add so much to the show. Since we have no relationship with Johnathan Gilbert’s wife, watching Stefan eat her only resonates through our contemporary relationship with him, as opposed to our caring about her death. Alternatively, flashbacks that focus on characters we know today provide a double significance. In other words, flashbacks that help us better understand the Stefan/Damon relationship can work. Other flashbacks tend to be supplemental, not integral.

Damon phones Stefan at the lakehouse to inform him that Tyler Lockwood has run away from home: “thus ending our werewolf chapter.” I’ve written in week’s past about my dissatisfaction with much of the handling of the werewolf storyline. Uncle Mason was wasted—his character had potential to be way more interesting but got killed too soon. The other random werewolves were whackjobs without an understandable motivation for their sadistic actions. Jules’ interest in Tyler always remained too vague. And Tyler himself started well—loved his developing relationship with Awesome Vampire Caroline and found his first transformation incredibly moving. But after that? They dropped the ball, big time, making Tyler’s character inexplicable in his betrayal of his friends and his aimless following of the aforementioned sadistic whackjobs. So perhaps it is good that the werewolf chapter is done—maybe Damon’s comment is an acknowledgment by the writers’ that they failed to deliver here. But I remain hopeful that Tyler will return with a clearer set of objectives.

While chatting about how they will kill Elijah, Damon comments to Stefan that he plans to be thorough in his research: “Oh, trust me, Stefan, I’m going to dot all my t’s—I don’t want any surprises.” “Wow, Damon, are you actually going to be careful for once?” Stefan jokes. “Yes, Stefan, I’ve become you. How tragic for both of us. Gotta run. Have a murder to plan. Busy day.”   I love Damon.

Elijah is wandering in the woods with his tour guide, Jenna, informing her that his information suggests the town’s founders were not in fact the actual founders of the town. Instead, he posits that a group of villagers from Salem came to Mystic Falls two hundred years before the town’s so-called “founders” to avoid persecution. That they were eventually burned alive in Mystic Falls suggests persecution followed them, but Jenna enjoys the idea that the town’s snooty founders are not as important as they claim. Jenna offers that it was likely the male members of the founding families that took the title of “founder” because “men are very territorial.” Elijah answers, “yes they are” as he spots Ric walking toward them. Jenna rushes off to get some maps or something, and Ric stares at Elijah with a “she’s my girlfriend and I don’t trust you” look. Elijah, being awesome, comments, “You don’t have to be jealous. I rarely pursue younger women…” Ric continues to stare, unmoved, so Elijah notes, “It’s a joke, Ric, lighten up.” He he. Elijah has come so far since his first appearance when I was so disappointed by his pretty boy hairdo.

Jeremy runs into Bonnie, who says she can’t stop thinking about last night. Jeremy gets excited, agreeing that he, too, has been preoccupied. When Bonnie talks about the spell, though, Jeremy’s face falls. Clearly, they were preoccupied by different types of thoughts. Luka comes in all pissed because he has no memory of the evening prior, and Jeremy has to step in and ask him to back off. Jeremy gets hotter and hotter all the time, doesn’t he?

Stefan, done with his hobby of skipping rocks, comes into the lakehouse. Elena asks him if he is still mad (you know, that she is planning to sacrifice herself). He is still mad: “to say we have a difference of opinion is the understatement of the century.” Annoyed, Elena says, “you would know.” Then she informs Stefan that the journal describes how he slaughtered Johnathan Gilbert’s family. Stefan doesn’t deny it: “we were angry at the founding families, for what they did to Katherine. We wanted revenge.” Another understatement. Elena persists, “he described you as a monster.” Stefan agrees, “that’s what I was.” He wants to tell Elena about his past himself, rather than have her learn it from the journal. He begins, “In the weeks after I became a vampire, I relished in it. I took it to the darkest place I could.” Another flashback…

Stefan is feeding off of four different ladies in their undergarments. Damon walks in and seems annoyed. “Company, brother?” Stefan offers to share, but Damon has no interest. Instead, he compels the ladies that aren’t dead, telling them to leave. Damon argues that Stefan’s irresponsible behavior can get them killed: “staying alive is more fun, we have to be more careful than this, more clever, like Katherine was.” “Look where that got her,” Stefan snorts. Damon, steely eyed, says that he is going to leave town.

Back in the present, Stefan explains, “I wasn’t myself then. I was full of guilt…what I did to my father, what I did to my brother… and I had to turn it off.” Elena hears echoes of a particular dark-haired vampire we all know and love in this, “it sounds like you were Damon.” Stefan does not disagree, “I was worse.”

Damon talks about Elijah with Ric at the Grill, while a beaming Andie looks on. Ric is uncomfortable, but Damon assures him that Andie is compelled not to reveal any secrets. Jenna and Elijah enter, and Andie suggests a dinner party, which Damon offers to host. Oh, to be a guest at this dinner party. The minute Damon offers to host, you know it is going to be awesome. [Btw, hosting means letting people in his house.  But we don’t see Damon cook a dang thing.  When Andie mentions the sexism of the party’s planning, he compels her to silence. I protest as a feminist!]

Damon visits Katherine, who is looking pretty old [nice makeup, CW team]. He gives her some blood and as she returns to her more youthful form, he notes, “you’re almost pretty again.” Damon informs Katherine that Johnathan Gilbert is back in town. Katherine pretends not to know that bit of information. Damon wants to know if Gilbert was honest about the method he offered Damon to kill an Original. Katherine becomes upset that Damon is planning to kill Elijah—she informs him that she will be trapped in the tomb forever if Elijah dies before setting her free. Damon is super unconcerned about this but enjoys seeing Katherine scared. He leaves, convinced the ashes of the tree and dagger will indeed do the deed.

Back in flashback land, we see Stefan feeding off dying Civil War soldiers [that’s pretty low, Stefan]. He sees a hooded woman, and follows her. When he throws her down to feed off her, he sees that she, too, is a vampire. Lexi! She returns home with Stefan and finds all the bodies of the young girls he has been eating. There is a better way to live, she assures Stefan. Elena is surprised to learn that this is how Stefan met Lexi. He is troubled, “talking about her brings up things I’d rather forget.” First sign that Damon is eventually gonna have to answer for killing Lexi.

Andie and Jenna enjoy some girl talk while getting ready for world’s strangest dinner party. Jenna admits that she is worried Ric is keeping something from her. Andie says trust is important. Clueless, she comments, “I am so grateful that Damon tells me everything.” Sure, he does tell her everything, but she’s kind of a robot. That said, I am enjoying Damon’s exploitation of Andie. Is that wrong? My love for Damon is making me a bad person.  I object as a feminist to my own enjoyment of Andie and Damon.

Ric asks Damon if he’s planning anything diabolical for the dinner party, but Damon assures him tonight is just a fact-finding mission. Then Uncle John arrives for the party and this evening suddenly offers epic potential for foolishness, mind fuckitude, and betrayal.

Bonnie arrives at Jeremy’s for their planned evening of spell testing, only to find lit candles throughout the room. “Uh, gosh, this is a date,” she says anxiously. Jeremy assures her they can just hang, but Bonnie says she has to clear all this with Elena. Considering the number of times Bonnie has done things without telling Elena, this is sort of funny, but perhaps she has turned a new leaf as a friend.

Elijah arrives for the dinner party last, greeting Damon with a threat: “if you have less than honorable intentions about how this evening is going to proceed, I suggest you reconsider… Although Elena and I have this deal , if you so much as make a move to cross me, I’ll kill you and I’ll kill everyone in this house.” [That’s one way to start a party.]  The dinner chitchat consists of Elijah elaborating about his research interest in locating the burial ground for the burned witches, which intrigues Damon.

Elena, still reading the journals, discovers that Johnathan Gilbert was researching the Originals and learned how to kill them [how convenient]. Stefan has to admit that he and Damon are already well aware of the ashy knife method, which annoys Elena. She keeps reading, learning that the knife must be brandished by a human. If wielded by a vampire, both the stabbed and the stabee will die. Stefan immediately realizes that Uncle John has been awfully clever, setting up Damon to try to kill Elijah—thus killing two vampires with one ashy knife. Well done, Uncle John. Gotta give you props for that mischievous plan.

Uncle John continues his dastardly deeds by reminding Ric that he will keep fucking with his relationship with Jenna unless Ric gives John that magical ring. You know, Ric could probably get Bonnie to make him another one, couldn’t he? Everyone else in town seems to have a magical ring—things seem to grow on trees in Mystic Falls.

Damon is making small talk with Elijah, reaching for the dagger, when Ric interrupts. He and Damon communicate without words—Damon is frustrated with Ric for f’ing up his plan, and Ric is rushing to keep Damon from losing his cool. He writes on a note that using the dagger will kill Damon. Meanwhile, back in the dining room Andie asks Ric to get her notepad so she can ask Elijah more questions about his research. Damon, talking to Elijah, cracks that Uncle John is Elena’s father but someone that she hates, “so there’s absolutely no need to keep him on the endangered species list.” Suddenly, a knife appears through Elijah’s gut. Guess who wielded it, kids? Awesome Non-Vampire Ric! “Get rid of him, before Jenna comes back with dessert,” Ric demands. Damon looks as impressed as I felt.

Now Elena is the one that is angry at Stefan, for failing to tell her about the plan to kill Elijah. They bicker about everything, including Elena’s sacrificial plans and Stefan’s past. “I was telling you about a time when I thought that everything was lost, when I had given up, because that is exactly what you are doing right now.” In a flashback, we see Lexi explain to Stefan why he should let back in his feelings of guilt: “once you can hurt, you can love.” Stefan explains to Elena that Lexi showed him there was another way, and he wants to show the same thing to Elena: “I just want you to fight for it.”

Ric and Damon are bickering as they dispose of Elijah’s body in the basement cell at Damon’s house. “You said there wasn’t going to be any violence,” Ric reminds Damon. “Says the guy who did all the killing,” quips Damon. Ric stops Damon from being sarcastic by reminding him, “I am your friend, damnit, and you don’t have any friends. So no more lying.” These two are adorable. If the show’s writers ever kill off Ric, I am going to be seriously upset.

Stefan tells Elena that Ric killed Elijah. She keeps reading…turns out there’s a clause to that whole killing an Original thing—the vampire will only stay dead if the dagger remains in his body. Oops. Elena should have read faster.

Bonnie and Jeremy are being super cute when a very angry Dr. Martin rushes in. With Jeremy stuck against a wall, Martin stares into Bonnie’s eyes, forcing her to tell him that she made Luka confess about his sister. Then, Dr. Martin says he is going to do something for Bonnie’s own good. He leaves, and Bonnie looks devastated. He took her power, she sobs to Jeremy.

A very not dead Elijah shows up at the lakehouse. He picks up some rocks, and you know Elena is in deep doo doo. Sure enough, he throws those rocks through the door, forcing it to collapse. “I will wait you out,” Elijah warns Elena. She stands inside the house, facing Elijah, who can’t enter. “The deal is off,” he calmly informs her. When Elena tries to renegotiate, Elijah notes that she has little power here. Not so fast, Elijah. “I’d like to see you lure Klaus to Mystic Falls after the doppleganger bleeds to death.”  Elena can be pretty bad ass herself, it seems.

She tells Elijah that if he tries to kill her, Stefan will feed her his blood, and she’ll kill herself—making herself a vampire like Katherine did years before. Elijah calls her bluff, so Elena stabs herself in the gut with a knife [ballsy move, Elena]. She falls into Elijah’s arms and stabs him with an ashy dagger!  Seems Damon arrived before Elijah [not sure how that happened since Damon already mentioned Elijah being faster than him, but I’ll let that one go] and had given Elena the weapon that will kill Elijah. Elena drinks Stefan’s blood to heal her own gut. Damon offers, “little tip, don’t pull the dagger out.”

Ric and Jenna fight when she asks him point blank what happened to Isabelle. He tries to avoid the question when she gets even more direct, “are you being honest with me?” Ric can’t respond, giving Jenna the answer she needs. She leaves, and Uncle John arrives to gloat. Ric removes his ring and places it on the table. “After what you did to Damon, you’re going to need this more than me.” Even when defeated, Ric is cool.

Damon finds the moonstone in Elijah’s coat pocket and grabs it for safekeeping. Elena, all empowered after stabbing herself in the stomach, informs the Salvatore brothers that from now on, they are doing things her way. Damon is impressed by Elena’s renewed interest in life. Stefan explains that he told her a love story about there being another way to live. “Lexi,” Damon mutters. “Yeah, you remember her?” Stefan asks. Uh oh, this Lexi thing is not going away any time soon.

Flashback to Lexi seeing Damon leave town two hundred years ago. “You know the hate you’re feeling? Towards Stefan? Towards everyone? You think you have it under control, but you don’t. It will get the best of you,” she warns.

Damon arrives home to find a brunette in his shower. He’s surprised that Andie has surprised him, when a naked Katherine exits the shower, asking for a robe. Of course, Katherine was lying when she said a dead Elijah would trap her forever. “I knew if I begged you not to kill Elijah, that is exactly what you would do.” Instead, a dead Elijah freed her, as she well knew. Then she informs Damon that she is here to help him.

All in all, this week was a vast improvement upon the last. Katherine is back, which means all kinds of doppleganger hijinks next week. Bonnie has been humbled, which will be fun to watch (yes, she is an improved character but still has a tendency to be super annoying). Damon will have to balance Katherine, Andie, a ring-wearing Uncle John, and his new commitment to friendship with Ric. And Elena will have to inform everyone of about her plan for how to deal with Klaus, now that she wants to be in charge. I’m excited.