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gryfndor_godessOne of my friends at college (a Spuffy fan, coincidentally) is conducting a survey about romance novels and fanfic in preparation for a Feminist Theory paper (you DO NOT need to read romance novels to take the survey; gonna go out on a limb here and assume most of you do read fanfic... :P). It only takes five minutes. The link is below, and if any of you feel like taking it, she and I would be much obliged!
http://kwiksurveys.com/
1x09: History Repeating
-Hello, Kendra!
-So this is Alaric! He is attractive; also, familiar.
-Hee, I like the brothers mimicking each other.
-Bonnie drives a Prius! Woot!
-“Handmaiden.” I think certain writers are ignoring Virginian history.
-HA! Damon impaled on a tree, that is excellent.
Alaric is Warner from Legally Blonde! That’s where I know him from!!
Overall Thoughts:
This was a very engrossing episode, and I giggled/grinned/snorted with mirth too many times to keep track of (at Stefan and Damon’s squabbling/mimicking, Caroline making amends with Bonnie in a completely Caroline kind of way, etc.).
So if I understand the history of Mystic Falls and Damon’s plan correctly, 145 years ago, the townsfolk were persecuting vampires. Katherine and 26 other vampires were trapped in a church and supposedly killed. Damon made a deal with Emily to put Katherine in magical stasis or whatever, and in return he would save her descendants. The catch (that Stefan didn’t know about) was that the rest of the vampires were saved along with Katherine. Damon wanted to resurrect not only Katherine but also the other vampires so that they could take their revenge on Mystic Falls. Ja?
What I don’t quite get is that Damon made it sound like Katherine is physically trapped in a tomb beneath the church, so if it’s a physical entrapment, why can’t he just use physical means to get her out? Are there mystical barriers on the tomb or something? If Emily could channel so much power, why didn’t she just transport the vampires to another location instead of imprisoning them? I hope we see a flashback of this night at some point.
Of course this might all be a moot point because I’m fairly certain from fandom osmosis that Katherine was either never in the tomb in the first place or is not there when Damon finally does unearth it.
I loved the relationships highlighted in this episode. It was great to see the brothers hanging out and pretending (ish) to be friends for once; when they were getting in each other’s faces during football, I was thinking, oh, if you weren’t brothers, you’d probably be making out by now (which, hey, has possibly happened at some point regardless). This episode gave us our first real unequivocal look at Damon’s…I hesitate to say ‘good’ side, but ‘less evil’ side seems appropriate. Whatever his heartless plans for revenge, it’s clear that he really does love Katherine. His anger/hurt when Stefan says he’d been with Katherine last is as plain as the nose on his face, even before he threatens to rip Stefan’s heart out, and he’s positively anguished when begging Emily not to destroy the crystal. It’s the first episode where I’ve felt real sympathy for Damon, albeit objective sympathy, not I-wish-things-had-gone-differently sympathy (I don’t want Damon to die, but I’m also perfectly happy with him being thwarted/staked at every step of the way; call me vindictive, but I’m glad he’d getting some karmic punishment). I love that he’s nuanced and has motivations and feelings he tries so desperately to deny and that he’s not only evil for the sake of being evil.
The other relationship I enjoyed seeing was the girls’. Even though they have their ups and downs, Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline seem like steadfast, wonderful best friends. I loved when Caroline apologized to Bonnie in the living room and told her she would believe in witchcraft because it meant something to Bonnie. I’m also glad that Elena was proactive in getting her friends to make up. It’s a shame that Caroline is once more distanced from them at the end, but it’s realistic.
What is less realistic to me is the continued will-they-won’t-they between Elena and Stefan. Right after Bonnie had been attacked was a really bizarre time for Elena to bring up their relationship again. I suppose I can understand both their POV and why they would angst about their relationship, but as a viewer I’m getting sick of it. At least it’s supposed to clear up next episode, according to my DVD guide.
I’m also not crazy about the way Caroline/Matt developed. He’s never liked her but they’re both alone so they might as well be together? Maybe I missed something, but it didn’t seem very romantic. More like needy, on both their parts. Which hey, that’s a valid reason to be with someone if you’re both aware of it and fine with it. It wasn’t what I expected, though. It’ll be interesting to see how Matt figures into her life now because I’m pretty sure Damon isn’t ready to pull his claws out of her yet.
http://kwiksurveys.com/
1x09: History Repeating
-Hello, Kendra!
-So this is Alaric! He is attractive; also, familiar.
-Hee, I like the brothers mimicking each other.
-Bonnie drives a Prius! Woot!
-“Handmaiden.” I think certain writers are ignoring Virginian history.
-HA! Damon impaled on a tree, that is excellent.
Alaric is Warner from Legally Blonde! That’s where I know him from!!
Overall Thoughts:
This was a very engrossing episode, and I giggled/grinned/snorted with mirth too many times to keep track of (at Stefan and Damon’s squabbling/mimicking, Caroline making amends with Bonnie in a completely Caroline kind of way, etc.).
So if I understand the history of Mystic Falls and Damon’s plan correctly, 145 years ago, the townsfolk were persecuting vampires. Katherine and 26 other vampires were trapped in a church and supposedly killed. Damon made a deal with Emily to put Katherine in magical stasis or whatever, and in return he would save her descendants. The catch (that Stefan didn’t know about) was that the rest of the vampires were saved along with Katherine. Damon wanted to resurrect not only Katherine but also the other vampires so that they could take their revenge on Mystic Falls. Ja?
What I don’t quite get is that Damon made it sound like Katherine is physically trapped in a tomb beneath the church, so if it’s a physical entrapment, why can’t he just use physical means to get her out? Are there mystical barriers on the tomb or something? If Emily could channel so much power, why didn’t she just transport the vampires to another location instead of imprisoning them? I hope we see a flashback of this night at some point.
Of course this might all be a moot point because I’m fairly certain from fandom osmosis that Katherine was either never in the tomb in the first place or is not there when Damon finally does unearth it.
I loved the relationships highlighted in this episode. It was great to see the brothers hanging out and pretending (ish) to be friends for once; when they were getting in each other’s faces during football, I was thinking, oh, if you weren’t brothers, you’d probably be making out by now (which, hey, has possibly happened at some point regardless). This episode gave us our first real unequivocal look at Damon’s…I hesitate to say ‘good’ side, but ‘less evil’ side seems appropriate. Whatever his heartless plans for revenge, it’s clear that he really does love Katherine. His anger/hurt when Stefan says he’d been with Katherine last is as plain as the nose on his face, even before he threatens to rip Stefan’s heart out, and he’s positively anguished when begging Emily not to destroy the crystal. It’s the first episode where I’ve felt real sympathy for Damon, albeit objective sympathy, not I-wish-things-had-gone-differently sympathy (I don’t want Damon to die, but I’m also perfectly happy with him being thwarted/staked at every step of the way; call me vindictive, but I’m glad he’d getting some karmic punishment). I love that he’s nuanced and has motivations and feelings he tries so desperately to deny and that he’s not only evil for the sake of being evil.
The other relationship I enjoyed seeing was the girls’. Even though they have their ups and downs, Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline seem like steadfast, wonderful best friends. I loved when Caroline apologized to Bonnie in the living room and told her she would believe in witchcraft because it meant something to Bonnie. I’m also glad that Elena was proactive in getting her friends to make up. It’s a shame that Caroline is once more distanced from them at the end, but it’s realistic.
What is less realistic to me is the continued will-they-won’t-they between Elena and Stefan. Right after Bonnie had been attacked was a really bizarre time for Elena to bring up their relationship again. I suppose I can understand both their POV and why they would angst about their relationship, but as a viewer I’m getting sick of it. At least it’s supposed to clear up next episode, according to my DVD guide.
I’m also not crazy about the way Caroline/Matt developed. He’s never liked her but they’re both alone so they might as well be together? Maybe I missed something, but it didn’t seem very romantic. More like needy, on both their parts. Which hey, that’s a valid reason to be with someone if you’re both aware of it and fine with it. It wasn’t what I expected, though. It’ll be interesting to see how Matt figures into her life now because I’m pretty sure Damon isn’t ready to pull his claws out of her yet.