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can it be next fall now?
I don't actually know where to put my thoughts on the finale. Based on the promo, I was preparing myself for this lackluster Damon-centric episode where he tries to force himself on Elena, again. [Remember the season opener?] But no, what we got was something very different, and something more bang, pop, wow! Instead of a laid back wind-down from the previous two episodes. And by "wow," I mean "ow," because, dude? That hurt.
A couple things I loved: Caroline and her mom, the cliffhanger, Anna and Vicki!, chills!, Kat Graham killing it, Alaric's complete character make-over, Katherine in general.
A couple things I didn't love: no Matt, no Tyler, Elijah dies (again, sorta), sweat, "just the way you are now."
A couple things I feel too strongly about to have a singular opinion: Stefan's sacrifice, what this all means for season three***** (this is loaded with a novel's worth of concerns involving Damon and Stefan mostly, I'll spare you.)
Meh: Klaus
And, really, the whole thing just sort of gutted me. I loved the pants off it, but it hurt so good.
WARNING: I do not go easy on Damon under the next cut:
But now I really want to talk a little bit about KW's latest interview.
Kevin Williamson says in an interview about where season three might go:
"For Elena, after two seasons of loving her as a strong female figure, I think the audience will now finally hopefully be receptive seeing her buy into what Katherine said, that it’s ok for Elena to love both Stefan and Damon."
That's a direct quote. And it bugs me. The sentence starts out like a comparison, "After seeing her strong, the audience should be ready to see her..." Something else? Something other than strong? (Why?) And I don't want to finish the rest of that with his actual words because I don't see how the two statements are related at all. To use the comparison given, it would seem as if he's equating loving both Stefan and Damon as being weak, but that's not where I have the problem -- even though I don't think such a thing could be described as being either weak or strong. My problem is the fact that the natural end to that partial paraphrase above is, "the audience should now be ready to see her weak."
There are no words to express how much I'm not ready to see that. The thing I've loved the most about Elena is her strength, specifically in season two. She's exceeeded my expectations and made me weirdly proud and impressed by her. She's always been vulnerable, just a girl in this big bad world, kind of thing. But along the way she stopped letting people make decisions for her, and in the end, she was the strong one, for Jenna, for Stefan, for Jeremy, and even for Damon. I have been worried about Stefan and where they're taking his character, but I hadn't stopped to consider where they might be taking Elena's character. Maybe he misspoke, but I still don't like the implications.
About Damon:
It's no secret to anybody that I'm very much in camp-Bonnie when it comes to Damon. And on top of that, and almost more so, I'm just not ready to ship him with anybody yet. Especially after his behavior in the back half of season two, the stuff with Andie specifically. Essentially, Damon continues to do "bad things" and be forgiven, despite never truly making amends for them. And with Andie, the only person who even called him on his behavior was Stefan, of course. No one else cared, or even gave two thoughts about it. For me, this is a huge problem. Watching a strong, attractive, white, male, lead character, abuse a woman -- nay, women -- and just get away with it, no questions asked. It's the major reason I can't see Damon as a romantic lead. Not with anyone. Not even Katherine. Damon is forgiven as a matter of circumstance: "Yesterday you killed my best friend as a pawn, out of convenience, but now someone's after Elena and I need your help so we have to put our differences aside." And over and over again. [And then again.]
Being feminist-minded, as I tend to be, his transgressions are not washed away so easily in my eyes. In my eyes he's an abuser who doesn't express remorse for those actions, or pay any penance for his crimes. I have no doubt that can eventually look past these things, and actually, in most situations I am fine with Damon: he's interesting, layered, snarky, and fun to watch. But when it comes to romance, it just gives me the wiggins. So for me, it's too soon. It's way too soon and way too many dollars too short. (Mostly that second one, where dollars indicate some sort of price one must pay for their actions, some kind of amends one must make, or some kind of change that must occur.)
And in the end, I do think Katherine is toying with Elena. Katherine "loved" both the brothers in a physical sense. But we know that she only ever truly loved Stefan, and probably still wants him back. We know from Anna that Katherine knew where Damon was the whole time but that she didn't care. By contrast, we know from Katherine that she spent time following Stefan around (the Bon Jovi concert with Lexi) and keeping an eye on him over the years. Unless they retcon this particular fact, Katherine thus far "only has eyes" for Stefan. I think Kevin sort of eludes to this when he suggest Elena will "buy into" what Katherine is telling her. Not believe, not realize it's true, but "buy into it." Katherine definitely has her own ulterior motives for saying it, that much I'm certain of.
My excitement for season three is tempered by my fears that they are just going to start Damon off with a clean slate. That won't be okay with me and I won't lie, I will judge the showrunners if that happens. I want to see him make sacrifices too -- to save the brother who saved him -- and I kind of want him to hate every minute of it. Doing something good, making actual choices, because it's the right thing to do, against his nature, and maybe discovering that it actually is in him after all. That's what Stefan and Elena have been saying all along, and that's the kind of journey I want to see him go on. And I'll be sorely disappointed if it's anything but.
Elena and Damon are another story, aside from my reservations about Damon being linked romantically with anybody, this has potential play out in a way that I'll be okay with, and that has largely to do with how they deal with Damon. It's all kind of the same deal. But based on what Kevin's said about Elena, and based on her "just the way you are right now" line, effectively freeing him of any responsibility, I'm skeptical on both accounts.
I have very little to say about Jeremy's coming storyline, even though that's probably the storyline I am feeling most excited about. I got chills. CHILLS. I can't even tell you how much I loved those two ladies. I want them back for real back! (This is me saying that, knowing it will probably not happen.) But I want them to be corporeal at least. And awesome. Oh yes, they will be awesome!
And honestly? Liz Forbes! I am so tired of people ragging on her and I am really excited to see where they take her character next season. You have no idea how excited I am for that. Especially when it comes to how she deals with Damon. It should all be very very interesting.
Stefan is... a post for another day. (And likely I'll be working out my Stefan issues in fic, okay?)
A couple things I loved: Caroline and her mom, the cliffhanger, Anna and Vicki!, chills!, Kat Graham killing it, Alaric's complete character make-over, Katherine in general.
A couple things I didn't love: no Matt, no Tyler, Elijah dies (again, sorta), sweat, "just the way you are now."
A couple things I feel too strongly about to have a singular opinion: Stefan's sacrifice, what this all means for season three***** (this is loaded with a novel's worth of concerns involving Damon and Stefan mostly, I'll spare you.)
Meh: Klaus
And, really, the whole thing just sort of gutted me. I loved the pants off it, but it hurt so good.
WARNING: I do not go easy on Damon under the next cut:
But now I really want to talk a little bit about KW's latest interview.
Kevin Williamson says in an interview about where season three might go:
"For Elena, after two seasons of loving her as a strong female figure, I think the audience will now finally hopefully be receptive seeing her buy into what Katherine said, that it’s ok for Elena to love both Stefan and Damon."
That's a direct quote. And it bugs me. The sentence starts out like a comparison, "After seeing her strong, the audience should be ready to see her..." Something else? Something other than strong? (Why?) And I don't want to finish the rest of that with his actual words because I don't see how the two statements are related at all. To use the comparison given, it would seem as if he's equating loving both Stefan and Damon as being weak, but that's not where I have the problem -- even though I don't think such a thing could be described as being either weak or strong. My problem is the fact that the natural end to that partial paraphrase above is, "the audience should now be ready to see her weak."
There are no words to express how much I'm not ready to see that. The thing I've loved the most about Elena is her strength, specifically in season two. She's exceeeded my expectations and made me weirdly proud and impressed by her. She's always been vulnerable, just a girl in this big bad world, kind of thing. But along the way she stopped letting people make decisions for her, and in the end, she was the strong one, for Jenna, for Stefan, for Jeremy, and even for Damon. I have been worried about Stefan and where they're taking his character, but I hadn't stopped to consider where they might be taking Elena's character. Maybe he misspoke, but I still don't like the implications.
About Damon:
It's no secret to anybody that I'm very much in camp-Bonnie when it comes to Damon. And on top of that, and almost more so, I'm just not ready to ship him with anybody yet. Especially after his behavior in the back half of season two, the stuff with Andie specifically. Essentially, Damon continues to do "bad things" and be forgiven, despite never truly making amends for them. And with Andie, the only person who even called him on his behavior was Stefan, of course. No one else cared, or even gave two thoughts about it. For me, this is a huge problem. Watching a strong, attractive, white, male, lead character, abuse a woman -- nay, women -- and just get away with it, no questions asked. It's the major reason I can't see Damon as a romantic lead. Not with anyone. Not even Katherine. Damon is forgiven as a matter of circumstance: "Yesterday you killed my best friend as a pawn, out of convenience, but now someone's after Elena and I need your help so we have to put our differences aside." And over and over again. [And then again.]
Being feminist-minded, as I tend to be, his transgressions are not washed away so easily in my eyes. In my eyes he's an abuser who doesn't express remorse for those actions, or pay any penance for his crimes. I have no doubt that can eventually look past these things, and actually, in most situations I am fine with Damon: he's interesting, layered, snarky, and fun to watch. But when it comes to romance, it just gives me the wiggins. So for me, it's too soon. It's way too soon and way too many dollars too short. (Mostly that second one, where dollars indicate some sort of price one must pay for their actions, some kind of amends one must make, or some kind of change that must occur.)
And in the end, I do think Katherine is toying with Elena. Katherine "loved" both the brothers in a physical sense. But we know that she only ever truly loved Stefan, and probably still wants him back. We know from Anna that Katherine knew where Damon was the whole time but that she didn't care. By contrast, we know from Katherine that she spent time following Stefan around (the Bon Jovi concert with Lexi) and keeping an eye on him over the years. Unless they retcon this particular fact, Katherine thus far "only has eyes" for Stefan. I think Kevin sort of eludes to this when he suggest Elena will "buy into" what Katherine is telling her. Not believe, not realize it's true, but "buy into it." Katherine definitely has her own ulterior motives for saying it, that much I'm certain of.
My excitement for season three is tempered by my fears that they are just going to start Damon off with a clean slate. That won't be okay with me and I won't lie, I will judge the showrunners if that happens. I want to see him make sacrifices too -- to save the brother who saved him -- and I kind of want him to hate every minute of it. Doing something good, making actual choices, because it's the right thing to do, against his nature, and maybe discovering that it actually is in him after all. That's what Stefan and Elena have been saying all along, and that's the kind of journey I want to see him go on. And I'll be sorely disappointed if it's anything but.
Elena and Damon are another story, aside from my reservations about Damon being linked romantically with anybody, this has potential play out in a way that I'll be okay with, and that has largely to do with how they deal with Damon. It's all kind of the same deal. But based on what Kevin's said about Elena, and based on her "just the way you are right now" line, effectively freeing him of any responsibility, I'm skeptical on both accounts.
I have very little to say about Jeremy's coming storyline, even though that's probably the storyline I am feeling most excited about. I got chills. CHILLS. I can't even tell you how much I loved those two ladies. I want them back for real back! (This is me saying that, knowing it will probably not happen.) But I want them to be corporeal at least. And awesome. Oh yes, they will be awesome!
And honestly? Liz Forbes! I am so tired of people ragging on her and I am really excited to see where they take her character next season. You have no idea how excited I am for that. Especially when it comes to how she deals with Damon. It should all be very very interesting.
Stefan is... a post for another day. (And likely I'll be working out my Stefan issues in fic, okay?)