The Vampire Diaries: Pilot
Sep. 5th, 2011 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gryfndor_godessDisclaimer: I’ve watched the Season 2 finale and I know a fair number of spoilers (frex, Aunt Jenna dies, Caroline becomes a vampire, Bonnie’s a witch, etc.), but I’m going to try to avoid spoilers from here on out while I watch. So please don’t tell me anything, and if I ask a question, please assume it was rhetorical, unless I specifically say otherwise.
Thoughts I had while watching:
-This opening voiceover is cracking me up.
-After the young couple is killed, I really wanted Voiceover!Stefan to go, “That’s not my story. That’s some other lunatic vampire.”
-That woman looks way too young to be their aunt.
-Bwaha, I like Caroline already.
-Elena seems like a good big sister. That counts a lot in my book.
-Bonnie waiting for Stefan to turn around is a little bit stalker-y.
-I really dislike crows.
-Aw, that’s cute the way she says they have history together and he immediately adds, “And also English and French.”
-Lol, Uncle Stefan.
-I really like the soundtrack for this show.
-Oh my God this teacher is a dick.
-Aw, Stefan’s face when she invites him inside!
I’ve heard this opinion through fandom osmosis, so perhaps it was impossible for me to be objective, but I agree that Elena and Stefan are legitimately adorable together. I like how she’s not stir-crazy over the new boy like everyone else but is captivated (he’s undeniably hot) once she meets him. Normally her the-only-girl-to-not-go-gaga-over-the-new-boy “special snowflake” characterization would annoy me, but in this case it makes sense that she’s dismissive since, you know, her parents died. She has so much more important things to worry about than potential attractive new boys. N.B., none of that is to say there’s anything wrong with how Bonnie or Caroline react- although I maintain Bonnie’s initial fixation is a little creepy; it’s just a commonly used trope in YA fiction for the MC to be “above” it all, only to fall head-over-heels once she’s thrown into the New Guy’s orbit; and I appreciate that here Elena has a legitimate reason to be “above” it all.
The corollaries to this trope, that the MC falls instantly head-over-heels (HOH) and that the NG irrationally ignores or is rude to all other girls, don’t both me here either. Elena neither falls HOH nor obsesses over him (Stefan repeatedly seeks her out instead of the other way around), and their first meeting outside the boys’ bathroom is one of the most adorkable things I have ever seen. As for the second corollary, Stefan is only interested in Elena, but he’s not rude to Caroline, and I can understand why he’s fixated on Elena.
That said, while they are cute together, the boy-knows-a-secret-about-the-girl-and-is-hiding-something trope always creeps me out and starts warning bells in my head. It’s present in almost every YA romance these days (which is why I don’t read much YA anymore, unfortunately, even though it used to be pretty much all I read), and it’s even close to home in BtVS. I can forgive Angel for not telling Buffy immediately that he was a vampire, because how is he supposed to break that to the vampire slayer, but I can’t forgive the fact that he spied on her months before he met her, essentially decided to fall in love with her, and never told her any of it. She never finds out that he watched her suck lollipops at Hemery High. How fucking creepy is that? Really fucking creepy, and it’s not an anti-Bangel argument I see brought up nearly enough.
Stefan was harmless in this episode, but the fact that he came back to Mystic Falls specifically for Elena is similarly really creepy to me. Again, I can overlook the vampire thing, but the lying about his intentions and his knowledge is just icky. I hope she finds out the truth soon.
Elena + Stefan = Cute. Their voiceovers? Not so much. Those have got to go.
So far this show seems funny. Some of the dialogue was snappy and made me giggle. And it was mostly the girls’ dialogue, not Damon’s, which was what I had expected. I really appreciate a show that can make me laugh while also being angsty and romantic.
Thoughts on other characters:
-Right now Bonnie seems a little clichéd as the Perfect Best Friend, but I still like her. Her pretending to be psychic was hilarious.
-Caroline is funny, and I’m glad she’s not a clichéd Mean Girl. She seems a little vapid and insensitive- a little thoughtless at the beginning- but she doesn’t seem mean. I really appreciate that there are (so far at least) female friendships in this show (Elena and Bonnie, Caroline and Bonnie at the end) and that they aren’t just all frenemies.
-I could do without the Jeremy/Vicki/Tyler storyline. She was a clichéd sexy bad girl, and Tyler was a jackass. Also, he started to sexually assault her, and since he’s around for the long-term, I get the feeling that’s not going to be addressed and we’re just supposed to forget about it; and if my spoiler bank is correct, she dies, so it’s another example of a sexually experienced, “bad” girl being punished. Yuck all around.
-I like Matt. His puppy dog act around Elena is going to get old fast, but I really appreciate how mature he was when telling her that he still believes in them. He wasn’t a jerk to Stefan, and he didn’t denigrate Elena. I can completely understand why she broke up with him when she did, and I can completely understand why he’s not over her, since from his perspective, it was all about the circumstances and not actually about their incompatibility. I also really liked his panic for Vicki. Sibling relationships FTW! Although, lol, in the hospital where the fuck were their parents? Why must you always make parents look bad, YA???
-I am meh about Jeremy so far. I can understand why he is the way he is, but I don’t have much patience for potheads. I appreciate his presence for what it means for Elena (sibling relationship!), but that’s about it so far. Hopefully his storyline picks up.
-I want to learn more about Stefan’s nephew, Zach. Just looked up his name (thought he was Alaric) and saw that Damon kills him. Whoops.
-And last but not least (certainly not least if my flist’s opinions are anything to go by, which they are), Damon: I certainly enjoyed his moments on screen. Can’t say that I’ll like him (can’t say I won’t). I’ve heard too much about him to not be leery of him. I certainly look forward to him, though. He seems like he’ll a) be hilarious b) break up the monotony of romantic angst and c) drive the plot. I kind of look forward to the controversy of liking him, god help me. I've gotten over my angst about loving Spike- time for a new morally ambiguous character to feel bad about liking! Aside from the character, there’s Ian Somerhalder himself to look forward to. Boone was my favorite part of Lost and I stopped watching the DVDs the episode before he died (I knew it was going to happen). There were other reasons I stopped watching, but his death was a biggie. I was like, If I don’t watch it, Boone won’t die, LALALALALALALA. So it is a boon (LOL, I LOVE PUNS) to have Ian Somerhalder on my screen again.
Thoughts I had while watching:
-This opening voiceover is cracking me up.
-After the young couple is killed, I really wanted Voiceover!Stefan to go, “That’s not my story. That’s some other lunatic vampire.”
-That woman looks way too young to be their aunt.
-Bwaha, I like Caroline already.
-Elena seems like a good big sister. That counts a lot in my book.
-Bonnie waiting for Stefan to turn around is a little bit stalker-y.
-I really dislike crows.
-Aw, that’s cute the way she says they have history together and he immediately adds, “And also English and French.”
-Lol, Uncle Stefan.
-I really like the soundtrack for this show.
-Oh my God this teacher is a dick.
-Aw, Stefan’s face when she invites him inside!
I’ve heard this opinion through fandom osmosis, so perhaps it was impossible for me to be objective, but I agree that Elena and Stefan are legitimately adorable together. I like how she’s not stir-crazy over the new boy like everyone else but is captivated (he’s undeniably hot) once she meets him. Normally her the-only-girl-to-not-go-gaga-over-the-new-boy “special snowflake” characterization would annoy me, but in this case it makes sense that she’s dismissive since, you know, her parents died. She has so much more important things to worry about than potential attractive new boys. N.B., none of that is to say there’s anything wrong with how Bonnie or Caroline react- although I maintain Bonnie’s initial fixation is a little creepy; it’s just a commonly used trope in YA fiction for the MC to be “above” it all, only to fall head-over-heels once she’s thrown into the New Guy’s orbit; and I appreciate that here Elena has a legitimate reason to be “above” it all.
The corollaries to this trope, that the MC falls instantly head-over-heels (HOH) and that the NG irrationally ignores or is rude to all other girls, don’t both me here either. Elena neither falls HOH nor obsesses over him (Stefan repeatedly seeks her out instead of the other way around), and their first meeting outside the boys’ bathroom is one of the most adorkable things I have ever seen. As for the second corollary, Stefan is only interested in Elena, but he’s not rude to Caroline, and I can understand why he’s fixated on Elena.
That said, while they are cute together, the boy-knows-a-secret-about-the-girl-and-is-hiding-something trope always creeps me out and starts warning bells in my head. It’s present in almost every YA romance these days (which is why I don’t read much YA anymore, unfortunately, even though it used to be pretty much all I read), and it’s even close to home in BtVS. I can forgive Angel for not telling Buffy immediately that he was a vampire, because how is he supposed to break that to the vampire slayer, but I can’t forgive the fact that he spied on her months before he met her, essentially decided to fall in love with her, and never told her any of it. She never finds out that he watched her suck lollipops at Hemery High. How fucking creepy is that? Really fucking creepy, and it’s not an anti-Bangel argument I see brought up nearly enough.
Stefan was harmless in this episode, but the fact that he came back to Mystic Falls specifically for Elena is similarly really creepy to me. Again, I can overlook the vampire thing, but the lying about his intentions and his knowledge is just icky. I hope she finds out the truth soon.
Elena + Stefan = Cute. Their voiceovers? Not so much. Those have got to go.
So far this show seems funny. Some of the dialogue was snappy and made me giggle. And it was mostly the girls’ dialogue, not Damon’s, which was what I had expected. I really appreciate a show that can make me laugh while also being angsty and romantic.
Thoughts on other characters:
-Right now Bonnie seems a little clichéd as the Perfect Best Friend, but I still like her. Her pretending to be psychic was hilarious.
-Caroline is funny, and I’m glad she’s not a clichéd Mean Girl. She seems a little vapid and insensitive- a little thoughtless at the beginning- but she doesn’t seem mean. I really appreciate that there are (so far at least) female friendships in this show (Elena and Bonnie, Caroline and Bonnie at the end) and that they aren’t just all frenemies.
-I could do without the Jeremy/Vicki/Tyler storyline. She was a clichéd sexy bad girl, and Tyler was a jackass. Also, he started to sexually assault her, and since he’s around for the long-term, I get the feeling that’s not going to be addressed and we’re just supposed to forget about it; and if my spoiler bank is correct, she dies, so it’s another example of a sexually experienced, “bad” girl being punished. Yuck all around.
-I like Matt. His puppy dog act around Elena is going to get old fast, but I really appreciate how mature he was when telling her that he still believes in them. He wasn’t a jerk to Stefan, and he didn’t denigrate Elena. I can completely understand why she broke up with him when she did, and I can completely understand why he’s not over her, since from his perspective, it was all about the circumstances and not actually about their incompatibility. I also really liked his panic for Vicki. Sibling relationships FTW! Although, lol, in the hospital where the fuck were their parents? Why must you always make parents look bad, YA???
-I am meh about Jeremy so far. I can understand why he is the way he is, but I don’t have much patience for potheads. I appreciate his presence for what it means for Elena (sibling relationship!), but that’s about it so far. Hopefully his storyline picks up.
-I want to learn more about Stefan’s nephew, Zach. Just looked up his name (thought he was Alaric) and saw that Damon kills him. Whoops.
-And last but not least (certainly not least if my flist’s opinions are anything to go by, which they are), Damon: I certainly enjoyed his moments on screen. Can’t say that I’ll like him (can’t say I won’t). I’ve heard too much about him to not be leery of him. I certainly look forward to him, though. He seems like he’ll a) be hilarious b) break up the monotony of romantic angst and c) drive the plot. I kind of look forward to the controversy of liking him, god help me. I've gotten over my angst about loving Spike- time for a new morally ambiguous character to feel bad about liking! Aside from the character, there’s Ian Somerhalder himself to look forward to. Boone was my favorite part of Lost and I stopped watching the DVDs the episode before he died (I knew it was going to happen). There were other reasons I stopped watching, but his death was a biggie. I was like, If I don’t watch it, Boone won’t die, LALALALALALALA. So it is a boon (LOL, I LOVE PUNS) to have Ian Somerhalder on my screen again.