Monsters of Television

“It’s not the place that makes the home.”

Smallville has been quite nostalgic lately. Last week they re-aired the 2001 pilot episode. This week both Clark and the audience were treated to reminders of the past. “Kent” was an episode about moving forward, remembering the past to influence the future. This final season has done a lot of looking back. Brainiac 5 gave us some looks back (and forward) and things that are going to help shape Clark as he continues his transformation into the iconic superhero we already know he will become. The past is important. You don’t have to be defined by it, it can be a weapon when wielded correctly. Now that Clark knows he doesn’t have to let go of it, that it keeps living on inside of him, he can use that power. And boy is it going to come in handy.

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Since nothing happened this week on TVD, let's remember the reason it is never a bad show, even when not good.

I really, really hate to write this. I’m serious, this is tough. These reviews take time, effort, and patience. I don’t enter into them lightly. So when I have to write a rather negative one, it bums me out. I don’t do this to bitch and moan—rather, I am excited about this show and I always want it to be good. For reals.

But this week? The Vampire Diaries was not terribly good. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t like the premiere of Perfect Couples (wretched) or the awfulness that was the DC season of Top Chef (frustrating) or the finale of Rubicon (hah—wrote that just to annoy Noel). No, wait, it may be a bit like the finale of Rubicon, because that most excellent show failed to deliver…something happening. We didn’t get answers, the plot didn’t advance enough, there was little satisfaction after a season of questions. This week’s TVD was sorta like that. Before you freak out, I’m going to give a brief diagnosis of this week’s problem. Then I’ll offer a few more elaborate thoughts. Then you can tell me why I’m wrong. I welcome it. I want this show to be good. And I’m not always right. [Note: I wanted to rewatch parts of the episode so I could confirm my opinion, but my DVR decided not to record the show, so what we have is my reaction to first viewing alone.]

I’ve had to write something like this about TVD before—its pacing is a blessing and a curse. The show moves so fast that you sometimes wish it gave you a bit more time to savor the moment. Then when it slows down, you get annoyed that it didn’t deliver enough thrills. This week wasn’t quite like that. There were sparking lights, a big showdown, Damon dancing—all stuff that shows much potential for goodness. But the episode never came together. I kept waiting for the twist, for the reveal, for the stakes to raise. I can envision a review of this episode that thought this week delivered all that—the twist was the resurrection, the reveal was the Elena deception, and the stakes were seemingly life and death. But life and death becomes less meaningful when no one dies.

I’m the first person to admit I’ll be furious if Alaric gets killed off. His disappearance this week at the end of the episode has left a pit in my stomach—how is Klaus gonna leave Ric after he departs that body? But sometimes genuine loss can advance a story in a unique way. If there isn’t at least the risk that someone will go, then the tension never raises high enough to engage the audience fully.

Here’s what I expected the reveal to be (super spoilery—WARNING)—Bonnie was so committed to saving Elena that she was going to die for real. Not through some vague (unexplained) spell. But rather, she was going to die. Twist—she was going to die with Damon’s blood in her. So she’d be a witch and a vampire. Now, that would be loss. And stakes. And sacrifice.

But I’m not sure that is what happened. It seems they somehow found some magic way to save Bonnie. Well, if it was that freakin’ easy, then why all this talk about Bonnie having to die to defeat Klaus?

There may be more answers coming, but at this moment, the episode left me deflated. And that is not how TVD usually operates—this show is exhilarating, exciting, and always—fun! This week was just kind of lame. Can’t imagine a worse thing to say about it than that.

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Mommy Dearest is back! Ready to f some shit up. (Spoiler alert: she does a good job of that.)

The Vampire Diaries is back! And boy ever. Just when you thought this series had gotten a bit tired, it reminds you that there are few rules here. For instance, the endless betrayals by Katherine and Isobel eventually begin to seem routine—gee, Katherine can’t be trusted—who would have guessed that? But then a new type of betrayal happens, and the show takes a new direction. I imagine there are other viewers like me—waiting to see how long the writers and producers of TVD can keep up this lightening pace. According to this week’s episode, they aren’t slowing down a bit.

Some events that occur during this episode excited me (Matt!), some horrified me (Ric!), and some simply entertained me (all things Damon). But despite my personal allegiance to particular characters (Ric again) or aversion to them (Bonnie) I have to admit that particular moves suggest the writers’ are all too aware of critiques and have responded to them.

The title of this week’s episode speaks to a whole host of characters—Katherine, Isobel, Uncle John, Elena, Awesome Vampire Caroline, among others. All these characters are unsure who to trust. The best answer in the world of TVD, of course, is trust no one, but as these characters reach out to find someone in whom to put their faith, they remind us that the human part of all of them (dead and undead alike) is that part who wants to believe in someone else. It is an interesting message for a show that often fails to highlight any drawbacks to being undead, perhaps suggesting that it isn’t the status of your beating heart that matters, but rather the ability of your heart to care for another—that is what divides the alive from the dead.

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World's dumbest plans--Werewolves prove once and for all that they are less evolved than vampires.

I’m a bit torn about this week’s episode. Some of my complaints about last week—Are all werewolves naturally sadistic? What the heck does Jules want with Tyler? Does Tyler have any compassion at all for his so-called “friends”?—remained issues for much of the episode. Not that there wasn’t goodness—Damon and Ric bantered like buddies, Jeremy and Bonnie got hot and heavy, Stefan and Elena were crazy cute—but I remain a bit less than satisfied.

This show is repeatedly praised for its fast pacing.  Things happen on The Vampire Diaries.  People die, many people get shot, stabbed, tortured, and lots of couples fall in love.  But without character development, all of that feels empty.  The first half of this season did an admirable job putting Tyler on the path to redemption.  He became sympathetic in his fear and pain, and his friendship with Awesome Vampire Caroline brought out the best in Tyler.  But in the past weeks, Tyler’s story has been pushed to the sidelines.  Even though the wolves have been the primary actors–doing all kinds of stupid things with the goal of getting Tyler and getting revenge–Tyler has not been given a chance to process all these actions.  He has followed other people without much comment and without a true crisis of self-preservation versus a duty to others.  There is much more than could have done with Tyler in the last three episodes.  Sadly, this potential was not fulfilled.  A rare instance of The Vampire Diaries failing to deliver the one-two punch of adrenaline and emotion.

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Just as I was beginning to like you...

I should begin with an apology for the extreme lateness of this post. I was out of town, unable to watch on my usual schedule. And as all fans of The Vampire Diaries know, the CW takes its own sweet time getting new episodes loaded into their video player. Ah, well.  Today I’ll offer thoughts on “Daddy Issues,” and tomorrow I’ll catch up by describing “Crying Wolf.”

In addition to my trip last week, I have experienced another change in my life—my partner has caught up with The Vampire Diaries at long last. We have spent the last two months watching season 1, and in the last week during my absence, he blew through season 2. This means I now have a buddy when watching this pretty great show. But that also means I can’t pause to take notes as I had been doing.

I bring this up because my reviews have gotten longer and longer as I’ve tried to be more and more thorough. This may change as I focus more on the big picture rather than individual scenes.  If I have any regular readers, though, I’m happy to oblige your preferences, so let me know what you think of these monstrously long recaps.  Too much?  Just right? Better to focus on particular scenes of interest rather than detail every scene?  Happy to hear your thoughts in the comments.

It was virtually impossible for me to dislike this episode as it featured the return of Jonathan Gilbert. Uncle John pretty much rules me—not just because I loved Anders on Alias as Sark but also because his character on TVD is wonderfully ambiguous. Just as Damon continually intrigues with his battle between good and evil, Uncle John may also provide a similar satisfaction. I believe he does love Elena, but when someone commits as fully to duty as does Johnathan Gilbert, that commitment may become a mania. Bad for Gilbert, but great for viewers.

The episode also begins and ends with a naked, bathing Damon. Sure, this may seem like pandering, but I am not going to complain. Even better, Awesome Vampire Caroline got a lot of story this week—she became the centerpoint of this week’s central plot and I appreciate how capably Candice Accola portrayed Awesome Vampire Caroline’s torture, anger, and devastation.

Notwithstanding these highlights, the pacing this week seemed to move almost too quickly.  As I’ll describe more fully below, sometimes the characters need a moment to breathe in order to, you know, change and grow.  I’m becoming a big fan of the Tyler-Awesome Vampire Caroline friendship, but I think the show dropped the ball a bit this week.  These two characters made big decisions this week, but we saw little of their process in making those decisions.  In particular, Tyler seemed pretty clueless during the entire episode, and I don’t understand why.  Well, I do understand, but I wish the show would have showed his fear and confusion more clearly. If Tyler is going to become a better person, then show me how and why that is happening, including a more thorough depiction of the motivation behind the setbacks we see this week.

This episode also put Damon in a bit of holding pattern.  Though he makes a number of ironic comments this week that remind viewers of his bid admission last week that he missed being human, he doesn’t actually do much.  Here’s hoping we see bad boy Damon get a bit more to do in the coming weeks.

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“Alright Alice, where’s the rabbit hole outta here?”

About time this show came back. We were left with quite the cliffhanger when last we saw our fledgling heroes, mysteriously rendered unconscious at the funeral of Hawkman after his epic battle with Slade. In it’s return (albeit a week later than originally stated) Smallville gave us an episode about trust. And about TRON and The Matrix. Got your attention?

Turns out the VRA was waiting at Carter’s tomb, ready to ambush the heroes. They held them prisoner hooked up to some central computer that was projecting a virtual world. Essentially they had locked them in the Grid. But no worries, Chloe returns! — and this time she’s the one coming to the rescue.

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“Glee doing Michael Jackson is worse than Michael Jackson being a child molester.”

Even with not a whole lot going on (and down one partner in crime), the gentlemen discuss the week that was. I wish there was more I could say here but you really just have to listen to the podcast. I will say, though, that if you’re not caught up on How I Met Your Mother or Lost, you should probably get up to speed before listening or you might get — well, lost. Some items to help you with HIMYM references: The Gentleman, Slap Bet, A Gentlemen’s Agreement, Challenge Accepted. If you haven’t watched Lost — well, what are you doing here in the first place?

Topic: Place in the podcast

Running time: 64 minutes

• How I Met Your Mother (episode 0614): 0:01:22
• House: 0:07:38
• Chuck: 0:15:41
• Fairly Legal: 0:25:28
• CW Scheduling: 0:37:08
• The Office: 0:39:58
• 30 Rock: 0:45:32
• Parks & Recreation: 0:49:08
• The Rest of NBC Thursday: 0:50:11
• Downton Abbey: 0:52:31
• Showtime Programming: 0:52:38
• Cable news coverage of Egyptian unrest: 0:54:34

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Do I see a tear? God, I hope so, you sensitive beast.

The Vampire Diaries is back! The Vampire Diaries is back! Hey, did you hear, TVD is back!!  Okay, now that I have that out of my system, I can move on.

Hate to say it, though, not sure I loved this episode. I liked it. I mean, it featured the return of a character I really like and the departure of a character I really did not. There were two impulsive kisses, a sweet hug between Elena and Damon, and actual, sincere Damon tears! You’d think that would all add up to a truly excellent episode. So, let’s try to figure out why I’m not using as many exclamation marks for this particular episode as I would for the series as a whole.

I should also probably issue a small apology to poor, tortured Rose. I’ve been pretty mean to her, and I suppose I liked her character a teensy bit more this week. Sort of. Since she was dying from a werewolf bite, Rose was suddenly all philosophical and telling people to want to live and that kind of stuff. Not sure the character earned all the heartfelt conversation, but since Rose was basically used (and disposed) by the showrunners as a tool more than a character, I can appreciate her for the purpose she served with regard to Damon. Because Damon’s story is the only reason to celebrate this episode.  More about that after the jump.

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“We were the only real family you had, Nikita, and you betrayed us.”

Percy. Did you really think that this would hold Nikita? Really?

Karen and I have been watching Nikita all season, though neither of us on a super-regular basis. I know I had to marathon the series twice, missing  three or four episodes at a time, never exactly sure when it was on (and when I would try to watch it live, it would be a rerun!).

The most recent episode is perhaps the best way to check on the series, and make the case for tuning in, or going back if you stopped after a few episodes, like I nearly did. While “All the Way” provides for nice plot and character advancement and the episode also nicely raises the stakes of the series, eliminating some aspects of the show that would’ve eventually gotten worn out. Read more »

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!

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