The Moth Chase

Season 2, Episode 1

Dear Kathryn,

Yey Vampire Diaries is back!  And boy is it ever.  This was a fun episode, in which we actually got to see moments to prove that Nina Dobrev can act.  I mean, she’s no Meryl Streep, but transitioning between Elena, Katherine, and Katherine pretending to be Elena was no mean feat, and outside of Katherine’s awkwardly weird, overly exaggerated sexy walk, I think she nailed it.  How on earth did no one notice at the wake, though?  I mean, really – one Elena has super straight hair, and normally fitting pants, the other has big curls (with massive extensions) and the tightest pants, like ever (really, why is it that bad girls always wear tight pants and have curls? One day I want to see evil show up in sweats!).  I suppose I’m willing to suspend frustration at this type of silliness for now, so long as they don’t overdo it.  Even within this single episode, I got tired of the whole “is the person going to realize that’s not Elena or not?” gimmick – although Bonnie’s ability to figure it out for herself was a welcome change of pace and made it all worth while…and given that nothing makes one evolve more than threat, I’m hoping Katherine is going to help Bonnie kick up her powers a little more!  She’s cool right now, but not super cool.  Confident though she is now, I can’t wait to see where they take her.

Ok, so let’s talk the brothers: Stefan is on my last nerve.  So he’s kind of a bad boy now?  Is that to make him sexier?  Because, while I thought he was drippy before, his bad boy persona isn’t fixing that.  Slapping Jeremy, using the B-word (even on someone who deserves it), threatening John – he just seems childish in his strength to me.  He’s no Damon!  I find his attempts to be tough shallow and grating.  Of course, Damon took things way too far (i.e. he killed Jer! Totally cheeky fake-out there with the ring, though – that could have been annoying, but I actually found it funny).  But at least he’s taking things too far in an interesting, complexly motivated way – emotionally ripping apart, broody and continuing to drink up a storm (bourbon waited till minute 48 to come in this episode…that might be a record for Vampire Diaries – usually we see it within the first 10).  His heartfelt, desperate plea to Katherine was well done, and sad to watch, especially when immediately echoed by Elena.  Damon reminds us of the vampire’s longevity, one of the themes that takes this show a step above teenage melodrama – pair adolescent invincibility with too long to brood over a lost love, and you actually create something quite dangerous – the effects of which we’re going to see.

And whatever on Elena’s ‘no, no I’m virtuous’ – when we thought she’d kissed Damon at the end of last season, that was WAY more believable than her resistance last night.  She’s a teenage girl, for pity sake, and he’s a smoking hot vampire!  Unless they were trying to make some point about him not compelling her, I don’t buy it.  Sure she might hate him now, but I hope they don’t just erase the clear attraction she had for him last season.  Because that was fun!

For all the ways they differ, Vampire Diaries is already sharing one trait with this season’s True Blood – neither can keep up with the subplots in a meaningful way.  When you have the room in books for everyone to have a slow-reveal secret, that’s one thing.  Pack every character with something supernatural – woo hoo!  But in the shows, it’s tougher to pull off.  We’ve seen an unevenness to True Blood’s storytelling, and I’m worried the same is going to happen here – exhibit A, Tyler!  The scene with Uncle Mason ominously telling him to control his temper was quick and misplaced.  We know what’s coming here (or we have a sense-I mean, maybe he won’t actually be a werewolf, but it’s certainly something like that).  They need to speed up the big reveal and move the story along.  The current pacing is doing nothing for it and that makes it into a weird distraction from everything else.

Especially when we’ve got another fascinating minor plot brewing!  Caroline is going to become a vampire?!  Of course, we had numerous hints that the blood may have left her system….but come on, she’s not just going to get killed like that!  I LOVE the idea of her turning!  It was such a natural progression for Vicki, but Caroline turning bad girl – that would be awesome.  Bring on the tight pants and curly hair extensions – let’s see her hunt some blood!

The scene with Caro gave us another point of distance from True Blood (and as I’m watching Buffy on dvd right now, I’m refraining from making too many comparisons there – although the connections between all these vampire stories and the ways their worlds are set up is fascinating) – vampire blood is such a part of True Blood, but it’s still feared here in Mystic Falls.  That saving Caroline’s life with a little drop was even a debate was funny to me.  And it’s a way of marking the borders between human and vamp even as it makes the vamps seem more human.  Stefan doesn’t bite Elena, she doesn’t feel drawn to his blood – and so for all intents and purposes, they look much more like a regular teenage couple.  But as his anger builds this season, I wonder how long they can hold on to that appearance.  And as danger builds, will Elena need just a sip soon?  And will she get hungry for more?

Wearing sweats, but sporting curls, so it’s hard to know  just how evil I am -
xoxo,
Natalie

—–

Dear N,

Yes and double yes about the return of Vampire Diaries! It was very fun to be back in the world of teenage angst and supernatural mayhem. I was thinking all week about Katherine and I was not disappointed. I agree that Nina Dobrev really stepped it up and I was glad to see that her Katherine is not a super camp vamp, but a subtle mix of playful naughty and downright wicked.

Like, um, SHE KILLED CAROLINE! Or rather, I predict, she turned her. Since she told Caroline to deliver the message “game on” to the Salvatore brothers (about whom more later), does this mean that she is about to start a vampire-creation project in Mystic Falls? We heard hints last night from Stefan that this is what she did before (apparently most/all of the tomb vampires were her creation). Maybe she plotting a similar scheme this time round – one by one picking off unsuspecting residents and “recruiting” them for the life of the undead. Which raises the question, whose next? Not, apparently, Jeremy, since he is the only one who wants to be a vampire. Matt perhaps? Is Elena her end game? What the end game in all this would be, I’m not sure, but it does raise the stakes of the vampire-human distinction.

I agree that the non-frequent exchange of blood does make the vampires on this show seem more human, but perhaps if the characters we love (especially like the all-too-human Caroline) turn it will help emphasize just what makes them distinct. We dealt a little with the lust for human blood in the last season when Stefan fell off the wagon and when Vicki was first turned. But watching Caroline deal with her new craven desires should be a new lesson in just what makes a vampire tick. It also helps re-focus the whole “good vampire/bad vampire” plot, which was starting to fade after Damon seemed like he’d turned to the light side.

So Damon. Ah Damon. How good it is to have you back, even if your sarcastic one-liners are a bit overwritten! Like you, I loved his raw moment of vulnerability with Katherine, his eager, wounded, desperate to be loved confession – the look of frantic hope in his eyes that after all this time he might just get what he has wanted most of all. To be honest, I am surprised he didn’t become more unhinged after Katherine’s stone cold rejection of him. That might have been the only moment that didn’t quite ring true to me – I wasn’t sure Katherine would ever been that nakedly honest about her feelings. Unless, of course, she is just trying to stir up trouble. If that is the case, though, why not string both brothers along, instead of so roundly rejecting one of them? I hope the next few weeks will help us understand these motives more. And I look forward to seeing just what kind of hijinks will ensue if Damon’s bad mood continues.

I am not so interested in Stefan’s bad mood. How often can a clenched jaw muscle signify frustrated anger, mixed motives, or protective jealously? One might think Stefan Salvatore is related to Edward Cullen. Sensitive, puppy dog Stefan isn’t necessarily anyone to write home about, but at least there was some integrity to his character there. Now Stefan just seems all over the place: sometimes angry and vindictive, sometimes macho and protective, sometimes sweet and coddling. It was fun when he almost went over to the dark side last season, but not so fun when he pretends to be a bad boy.

Speaking of bad boys, yes, let’s get to the werewolves (or whatever) or just let it go. Right now, it just seems like Uncle Mason and Tyler are eye candy (as my husband said, how many good looking men can populate one hour of prime time. And did you notice the way Damon was checking Mason out? Perhaps his supernatural hackles were raised, but he also looked a bit jealous of the competition). If they do introduce a new level of supes, I am curious to see how they will fit into the nice vampire/human mythology and its overlay on teenage melodrama.

Final thought in this too long response: Bonnie! Agreed – let’s bring on the badass Bonnie. She is really coming into her own and doesn’t seem scared or whimpy or dependent on others and I want to see her take center stage.

welcome to the fall season!
K

**************

Season 2, episode 2

Dear Kathryn,

I couldn’t resist this picture of Caroline from a first season staff-party as it seemed so perfectly prescient.  I loved watching C’s process and slow move to realization (aided by the return of memories from her early abuse by Damon).  The confusing hunger for blood, the pain of sunlight, the heat of silver…it all made me wonder what I would think if I woke up in a hospital with such compulsions.  Would I assume I had some weird disease, or would I too start to wonder if something supernatural was happening.  For all our rational ways of approaching the world, I can’t 100% say I wouldn’t at least wonder at the latter.  But what intrigued me most about C’s transformation was the balance she played between instinct and control.  Instincts not only hungered blood, but they also enhanced her natural abilities to convince people to do what she wants by slipping effortlessly into the skill of compelling someone.  “I don’t know how that works but I love it” – she might be a vampire, but she’s still Caroline!  And so I was kinda bummed when Stefan taught her to – ok, I gotta get the quote here, because the ways he said it made it sound so much like a teenage boy fighting an embarrassing erection at a school dance with pseudo-Freudian techniques I laughed out loud – he said, “when you feel the blood rushing, not matter how good it feels to give yourself over to it, you fight it. You bury it”.  I guess I had hoped we’d get a little more of the Vicki side of Caroline to play with, so when she slowed her pulse while kissing Matt, I was a little disappointed.  But maybe Mystic Falls needs its Caroline back, because God bless Elena, but it’s true – that girl does not understand the meaning of the world fabulous!

Which is why I was happy to see her and boring Stefan fade into the background a little this week.  Their self-aware, ‘this is what my adolescence needs – a kiss atop a ferris wheel’ crap wears me out!  That level of awareness of one’s own teen-ness wrecks the magic of being a teen.  When did kids become so cynical.  Boo on cynics, I say – let’s get some more kids discovering their supernatural powers so we can at least see some of the wonder a young person should feel for life.

Which leads me to Tyler – thank God we had some real movement on his story this week!  Between the Salvatores meeting a real foe at the fair’s arm wrestling competition (love the hopped up masculinity of it all!) and that poor, poor kid who got compelled, beaten up and then eaten, we at least had some real revelations.  Mason’s wolf-jump-move thing was pretty cool – and I wouldn’t mind if these wolves didn’t actually look like wolves…just a little wolfy enhancement of their natural features would be a cool way to go.  So I’m thinking about Tyler in contrast to Tommy, Sam’s kid were-bro on True Blood, and the weres from Twilight.   Tommy plays puppy so well, following around his abusers with fear but the desire for more love.  And I love it!  Jacob and his posse have the alpha male hierarchy going on – it’s all aggressive (and playful), but with a strong structure of respect for one’s elders.  And now I’m intrigued to see this version with a young, lonely were who is willing to forge his own path against the path of a potential (but sneaky) mentor.  Sure, under the floorboards in the safe was probably a safer spot for that stone, but at least we know Tyler’s working things out for himself.

Random thoughts – um, can Stefan fly?  Was that supposed to be a revelation or just a big jump?  I’m curious to see if Bonnie’s guilt over C’s predicament will continue to heighten or start to assuage her hatred of Damon.  And speaking of Damon, is he about to forge a dad-abandonment relationship with Jer?   And what is it that compels Damon to do the right thing, even in the midst of all his dickishness?  Again, for me Damon had the best line – “It was 1864. People knew how to whittle”.  So dry. So perfect. But Jer had the best move – vervaining the bourbon…gets ‘em every time!

xoxo,
Natalie

ps: my friend Kate watched the episode with me last night – and I learned two things from watching it with a first timer.  First, this show is more complex than I typically give it credit for – a lot has happened over the course of 1.2 seasons! And second, she asked me “why would a guy who looks 17 but is in fact 100+ want to be with a girl who is actually 17? Isn’t that boring for him? Doesn’t she seem childish?” It’s a thought I’ve had a hundred times, but which fades away while watching – but the shared immaturity of Stefan, Ed Cullen and Bill makes me wonder what it is about masculinity and an eternal narrative that nevertheless leaves us with glorified children.

—

Dear Natalie,

I love the picture and the fun, flighty, flirty Caroline it represents. I also love, love, love Caroline the vampire. Really, as confusing as it must be for her, I think it is the best thing to happen to her character and one of the best things that has happened on the show so far. As a teenager she is a little too whiny, a little too insecure, just a little too stereotypically blond. But as a teenage vampire all of these minor flaws become fodder for humor, camp, and drama. It also really drives home the analogies between vampire lust and just regular teenage hormones. The strange urges you don’t fully understand, the desire to bend everyone to your will, the oscillation between anger, regret, and euphoria.

You are so right that the talky, self-aware irony of Elena and Stefan only emphasizes how un-teenagery they really are (though, to your postscript, even our hundred+ year old vamps have a lot of immaturity to work through). Or rather, perhaps it emphasizes how stuck they are in a post-adolescent self-reflective irony that can’t really grow up. This has something to do with the perpetual self-restraint of both of them. I half-suspect they would seem more grown-up if they realized that maturity is not necessarily about mastery, but about striking a balance between desire and restraint. Which might explain why Damon, for all his dickishness (as you say) seems more grown-up. And why he is capable of taking on the father/mentor role in a way that seems a little less 12-step sponsorish than Stefan with Caroline.

The other two things that vampire Caroline open up are 1) Bonnie’s relationship to the undead. I think you are absolutely right that she is going to have to face her “all vampires are evil fiends who deserve to burn to death” prejudice now that her best friend is one. It was a nice detail from the end of last season that Bonnie began to prioritize her relationship with C over E; that won’t be the easy out she was hoping for anymore. My guess is that she is going to come round to a lose alliance with the “good” vamps of Mystic Falls for some other purpose – um, like fighting Katherine, who started this whole brouhaha. 2) The future of poor Matt. Right now, he is the only one in the inner circle of friends who has no idea what the hell is going down in his home town with all his best friends. That can’t last for long. If Katherine is on a vampire making mission, my money is on Matt being next. But if that doesn’t happen he at least is going to learn that his girlfriend is an immortal bloodsucker right? How much bad luck can one guy have?

And I also loved the werewolf plot this week. It felt clunky and draggy last week and I have worried that they would drag it out to no end. But finally it looks like we are getting traction with the Lockwood men and I can’t wait to learn more about the mythology. Though, did you find it just a little implausible that after 140+ years neither Salvatore brother has ever run across a supe like Mason? Really, the vampires have NO idea werewolves exist? Sounds like a weak plot device to me… Though I am not sure the Lockwood men really know what they are either. And I am very curious to know more about the moon stone. Does it keep the wolfy transformations at bay, or bring them on? Is Mason looking for the final piece in his practice of self-control (you know, when surfing doesn’t bring the mellow) or is he looking to jack up his inner wild and see where it can go? I am kind of hoping for the latter, partially because now that Tyler has the stone in his pocket the full moon might bring more than a nasty head rush or a blackout.

Mystic Falls feels like an exciting, dangerous, unexpected place to live again, and that definitely makes me want to spend more time there. Interestingly, I have cajoled my husband into procrastinating his grading and watching with me the past two weeks. He was full of eye-rolls and mild self-loathing for getting sucked in last week, but more interested than he wanted to admit this week round. I can see why.

One final thought to pick up on our conversation last season: where the hell are the adults in this town? Do they do anything except have flirty drinks with hot young vampires posing as vampire slayers? Really, C’s mom was no where to be seen at the hospital for over 24 hours? Got to love the utter suspension of disbelief!

Kathryn

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Dear Kathryn,

Well, I am in the market for a new phone – and the last few weeks of Vampire Diaries has got me thinking some version of a Samsung, LG something or other might be the way to go.  Have you seen the cool things these phones can do!  But seriously, overly-done – and, by extension, kind of awesome – product placement aside, these past few weeks have been AMAZING!  If last week’s locking up of Katherine wasn’t enough (the equivalent of a season finale mid-season!), this week got even better.  Let’s start with the opening up of a deeper vampire mythology than the show has previously seen.  The Originals – what a cool, badass name.  And for what sounds something like Twilight’s Volturi, but which I think is going to be cooler (I mean, Elijah can come back from the dead after a few hours rest!).  So these guys trusted Trevor to deliver Katherine – but not because she’s Katherine, but rather because she was some version of this Petrova doppelganger.  I got the sense here that the doppelganger is actually something older than Katherine herself, and that she was just one version of it.  So Trevor was trusted.  He failed. Now he’s dead.  And Rose is left behind, fearing Claus – but who is Claus?  How many are in this ancient family?  If they are “original,” how were they originally turned?  And while we’re asking questions, I’ll ask it once again – what the heck is a doppelganger?!?!?  Elijah’s reference to Katherine’s bloodline made it sound like the doppel is just family resemblance, but I still feel like it’s something more – something spiritual or supernatural or, I don’t know what…but it can’t just be an uncanny lookilike to one’s great aunt!  I’m dying to find out.And while we’re on this theme of family – that was really the thread that held this episode together: family, friendship and the ongoing threat of loneliness.  I love it when Vampire Diaries picks up an adolescent theme and blows it up fierce!  We’ve got Rose and Trevor, bonded across the years as friends and, it seems, some form of sibling loyalty.  We’ve got Stefan and Damon working out their junk (and thank God – it’s about freaking time Stefan apologizes for his dickish past behaviour!).  We’ve got Bonnie and Jer left out in the cold, finding each other in their vulnerability (I’m worried about Bonnie and her nosebleeds, but excited about the hook-up potential brewing with Jer!).  And we’ve got Tyler and Caroline bonding over their shared, fresh exclusion from the human world.

Much as I’m pleased to see the Salvatores patch things up, it’s the Jer/Bonnie and Tyler/Caro storylines that intrigue me the most.  Finally, these more minor folks are getting fleshed out, and the results are fantastic.  They’ve all experienced exclusion from the larger storylines, and now their finding each other in their own ways of connecting to them.  It was heartbreaking to see Caro’s mum finally proud of her last week – but that confidence continues to grow, and I’m genuinely impressed with the acting that’s keeping it moving.  The same can be said of Tyler – and as the two experiment with their powers with each other, I have to wonder if we’re headed in a direction that will leave poor Matt the loneliest of all.

I chose the picture above because I continue to puzzle over why on earth these ladies all love Stefan so (I was pleased to hear Rose once resisted him).  And it’s not just Damon’s piercing eyes!  When it comes down to it, as Stefan admitted in this episode, the original selfishness was his – he started the mess that made Damon who he is.  And, indeed, Damon shows an amazing capacity to forgive, a depth of loyalty to those he cares for unparalleled by any other character on the show and, actually, at times, a selflessness that Stefan certainly can’t rival.  Sure, he’s a blood-thirsty killer – but, um, he is a vampire…what do we expect (as you noted last week, Bonnie constantly reminds us)?  And he’s not even that blood-thirsty (we only see him drinking juice boxes stolen from the hospital now).  I loved the insight we gained from Caro tonight that alcohol is what they use to calm the inner storm – I thought Stefan was going to be our broody, angsty guy, but Damon is going to be so much better at that complexity.  Which leaves me wondering how his admission of love to Elena will surface again.  Sure, he compelled her – but I think/hope somewhere deep within she’ll resist.  How will that memory surface later, I wonder?  How is it planted in a sub-conscious to be accessed at a time when its needed most?  I don’t think it’s over – I just wonder what it will begin.

I’ll close by noting that the aesthetics of this episode were fantastic.  That old house in the middle of nowhere managed to avoid some of the steampunk cliches it nevertheless toyed with.  The look was more interesting, I thought.  And the fight scenes were fully compelling, summoning gasps from me at the appropriate moments.  I’ve loved this show all along – but perhaps in a type of ironic way.  Between this episode and the last, I think that irony has slipped away a little and now I’m just loving it.

Can’t wait to hear what you thought!

xoxo,
Natalie

—–

Dear Natalie,

I agree completely that this episode and last week took the show to a new level of coolness. I was so sorry not to write on last week because it was such a great episode, but I loved this week even more. The dip into vampire mythology is awesome and a perfect balance to the hot and heavy teenage angst and emo themes, more about which in a moment.

The Originals – yes, let’s have some more history soon. If I remember the Sun and the Moon myth we learned during the quick foray to Duke and Isobel’s old office, it was an Aztec myth, whereby the original vampires and werewolves were cursed with daylight aversion and subservience to the moon, respectively. I don’t remember anything in the story about a female sacrifice, but I gathered from this episode that the even if the blood of a maiden (metaphorically speaking, since we know Elena is not a virgin) was not needed to seal the curse, it will be needed to undo it. And not just any blood, the blood of a Petrova Doppelganger. The introduction of a Russian name (Petrova) doesn’t quite fit with the Aztec story, but it does fit with the part of the world we associate with our Western notion of vampires. And it makes sense of Rose’s and Trevor’s comments that the Originals are Old World, probably meaning Euro-Asia. I’ll roll with it for now. Like you, I think the doppelganger is a kind of supernatural thing – not just a coincidence look-a-like, but almost like a supernatural copy. My guess is that Katherine was one of these (maybe the first and presumed to be the only?). I think Trevor saved her by turning her [and did you get hints that Elena will be offered vampiric life as a way to get the originals off her back during the "next week on?"]. It definitely seemed essential that the doppel be human, meaning Katherine is off the hook herself now, but was in danger when she was still human. The real question is, if doppelgangers are some kind of supernatural copy, what/who was the original? Was there an original Petrova girl that was somehow the only one who could undo the curse? Thinking down this line makes we wonder if that girl’s blood was used to seal the curse. I really hope they take us a bit deeper into the mythology and answer some of these questions.

And, um, yes, I agree completely that the greater mystery is why in the world is Stefan supposed to be so attractive? We might disagree a bit about Damon. I think he is incredibly compelling, but in a weird, hyper-campy way it is hard to define. He plays his camp so straight it almost becomes a parody of itself, which always leaves me wondering if he knows what he is doing or if he is so caught up in the bizarre character he has created he can’t even see it anymore. But either way, I can’t take my eyes off him and I find him far more interesting than Stefan, who as he gets cleaner and straighter becomes less interesting by a long shot. Even Elena seems to kind of know this is true, what with the longing, slightly catty looks she gives Damon while hanging over Stefan’s shoulder in a fond embrace. It was entirely possible she would have run into Damon’s eager arms after he staked Elijah if Stefan hadn’t popped up off the ground and into her path instead. Here is a thought: she does eventually become vampire and then Damon’s compelling wears off and she remembers his confession and realizes she is with the wrong brother.

But if that doesn’t happen, we can at least hope that Bonnie and Jer move past the weird brother/friend hangup and give into the sweet chemistry that is brewing between them. I love it! And likewise with Caro and Tyler, though not so much the chemistry there. I like that these two – the stereotypical airhead and jock – are the ones vested with supernatural powers and having to lean on each other for support in the midst of their crazy new lives. And poor Matt! I have been bemoaning the degree to which he is left out in the cold, and I am still hoping that this season won’t end before he is made aware of the supernatural world around him, if he doesn’t somehow join it.

Final thought: do you think there was any significance that Elena was being held somewhere near a small town in North Carolina named Eden? Which, by the way, is where my husband was born.

xoxo,

Kathryn