Basically, We Suck
Apr. 20th, 2012 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kricketsI have to re-watch the episode because I was kind of out of it while watching. But these are my half-baked thoughts on last night's Vampire Diaries:
I found the whole "let's send Elena on a cross-country trip with Damon because we're deciding stuff for her now and she's clearly too stupid to figure stuff out on her own" etc. storyline to be a bit... How do I say this? OFFENSIVE? I mean, not to mention contrived as hell.
I still feel like most of the Damon/Elena chemistry/love-sick/whatever is told to us instead of shown. Elena watching him in the hotel room was kind of silly. I mean, how many times has she seen the dude without his shirt on? She already knows he's attractive! She doesn't need a road trip to tell her that. At least I hope she doesn't. He's just so incredibly hot that she suddenly can't help herself? Are we supposed to believe she hadn't figured that out by now? TRUTH: I went into this season knowing it was going to be "The Damon/Elena" season and I was really hoping that they would tell it in a compelling way but so far I haven't felt that they've done that. Unfortunately. Too bad, because Ian and Nina do know how to make out. It would be nice to be able to enjoy that.
I was really disappointed that Damon's one purely selfless act of kindness (giving Rose her perfect day) was revealed to Elena and Jeremy. I liked that this was something he had for himself. It's one of my all-time favorite Damon moments simply because it was something he did out of the goodness of his heart with no potential benefit to his own situation. It was one of the first moments where I finally saw his humanity (one being during Anna's death) and it's the moment I keep going back to over and over again because it gives me hope for the show's ability to make me care and feel for him. Now it's kind of ruined.
Sidenote: As a Rose fan, I find it hard to believe that she would pop back in just to tell Jeremy he should ship Damon/Elena. Number one, why is that important? And number two, doesn't she have better things to think about? And number three, Jeremy = the viewing audience and this was the show's thinly veiled attempt at trying to convince me. (Not convinced, for the record.)
Back to my original point, I really dislike how the show is putting all of this on Elena. I especially hate it knowing how fans tend to react to love triangles involving one girl and two potential suitors. She's the villain, and the "slut", and it's her stupid lame inability to make a decision that has put them all in this situation and she's the reason Damon has a sad and she should be PUNISHED for making him hurt and for driving Stefan crazy (or what have you) and it just sickens me. Stefan saying "Nothing matters if she has feeling for someone else, because I'm stubborn and broody" and Damon saying "You have to make a choice and I'm not gonna do it for you this time, you stupid girl" just infuriates me. Both of them are just being these apathetic lovesick puppies who are trying to guilt the woman into fucking them. I love Stefan, but this whole storyline just makes me root for Matt fucking Donovan okay?
Dear Elena,
SCREW THE SALVATORES. PICK MATT.
I would.
(No really. Pick Matt.)
Anyway, onto other things. You know there is a problem when after an episode you talk on the phone to your IRL friend and they're like "that fight scene with Stefan and Alaric was brutal, I hated it" and you are like "wow, that's like my favorite part of the episode." Stefan's line (paraphrase again?) "If I put any more into it I'm going to break. your. spine." I don't know why but that does things to me. I loved this whole part of the episode. I mean, the whole possession/alter ego thing is a little lulzy but the scene itself was kind of my favorite. I'm not going to lie.
Kol is definitely my 2nd favorite original after Elijah. (For the record: Elijah, Kol, Rebekah, Klaus.) He's just so diabolical. I love him! Why Klaus ever daggered him I will never know.
Jeremy Gilbert I missed you and your snark! *snuggles him* I really really wish Elena would stop treating him like he's 12 years old though. Seriously? Also, I hope the writers give him something to do. (Sleepover with Tyler? YES/YES?)
Tyler! He's back! (Looking very thin. Or did I imagine that?) Also, the writers have fucked him over on the storyline department this year big time. I am displeased. By the end of the episode he's walking out on Caroline like a douche. Granted her answer as to why she kept Klaus' sketch was WRONG. The correct answer should have been: "Are you kidding me? Look at this thing! It's comic GOLD! Also potential blackmail material!"
I feel like they've really given Matt a boost this year as far as storylines go. He's pretty much perfection in all of his scenes and looks really good in shirts. (And out of them, okay?) Him and Caroline teaming up in the beginning was adorable and then him telling her to say hi to Tyler? Aw, Matt Donovan, let me love you!
I wasn't sure what was happening with Klaus and Stefan. Part of me thinks that Klaus just wants to make out with him, but the truth is he clearly just wants a real BFF and it's kind of sad but also... how are we supposed to take him seriously? Klaus, step aside, your brother Kol is ready to take your place in the role of super villain. (Cause you fucking suck at it!)
Rebekah just wants to be normal, you guys! And she just wants to go to a dance! (At this rate, Bex, I'm sorry it just doesn't look like it's in the cards for you.) And she's just a girl who lost her mom too young and then her mom came back and tried to kill her and then she possessed her body so she still doesn't get to go to the dance and make out with Matt Donovan afterward! It just breaks your heart when you think about it. That grin right after Matt drives away? Rebekah just wants to be a real girl you guys. That's all!
Esther. I... don't care. (Is my apathy showing?)
I found the whole "let's send Elena on a cross-country trip with Damon because we're deciding stuff for her now and she's clearly too stupid to figure stuff out on her own" etc. storyline to be a bit... How do I say this? OFFENSIVE? I mean, not to mention contrived as hell.
I still feel like most of the Damon/Elena chemistry/love-sick/whatever is told to us instead of shown. Elena watching him in the hotel room was kind of silly. I mean, how many times has she seen the dude without his shirt on? She already knows he's attractive! She doesn't need a road trip to tell her that. At least I hope she doesn't. He's just so incredibly hot that she suddenly can't help herself? Are we supposed to believe she hadn't figured that out by now? TRUTH: I went into this season knowing it was going to be "The Damon/Elena" season and I was really hoping that they would tell it in a compelling way but so far I haven't felt that they've done that. Unfortunately. Too bad, because Ian and Nina do know how to make out. It would be nice to be able to enjoy that.
I was really disappointed that Damon's one purely selfless act of kindness (giving Rose her perfect day) was revealed to Elena and Jeremy. I liked that this was something he had for himself. It's one of my all-time favorite Damon moments simply because it was something he did out of the goodness of his heart with no potential benefit to his own situation. It was one of the first moments where I finally saw his humanity (one being during Anna's death) and it's the moment I keep going back to over and over again because it gives me hope for the show's ability to make me care and feel for him. Now it's kind of ruined.
Sidenote: As a Rose fan, I find it hard to believe that she would pop back in just to tell Jeremy he should ship Damon/Elena. Number one, why is that important? And number two, doesn't she have better things to think about? And number three, Jeremy = the viewing audience and this was the show's thinly veiled attempt at trying to convince me. (Not convinced, for the record.)
Back to my original point, I really dislike how the show is putting all of this on Elena. I especially hate it knowing how fans tend to react to love triangles involving one girl and two potential suitors. She's the villain, and the "slut", and it's her stupid lame inability to make a decision that has put them all in this situation and she's the reason Damon has a sad and she should be PUNISHED for making him hurt and for driving Stefan crazy (or what have you) and it just sickens me. Stefan saying "Nothing matters if she has feeling for someone else, because I'm stubborn and broody" and Damon saying "You have to make a choice and I'm not gonna do it for you this time, you stupid girl" just infuriates me. Both of them are just being these apathetic lovesick puppies who are trying to guilt the woman into fucking them. I love Stefan, but this whole storyline just makes me root for Matt fucking Donovan okay?
Dear Elena,
SCREW THE SALVATORES. PICK MATT.
I would.
(No really. Pick Matt.)
Anyway, onto other things. You know there is a problem when after an episode you talk on the phone to your IRL friend and they're like "that fight scene with Stefan and Alaric was brutal, I hated it" and you are like "wow, that's like my favorite part of the episode." Stefan's line (paraphrase again?) "If I put any more into it I'm going to break. your. spine." I don't know why but that does things to me. I loved this whole part of the episode. I mean, the whole possession/alter ego thing is a little lulzy but the scene itself was kind of my favorite. I'm not going to lie.
Kol is definitely my 2nd favorite original after Elijah. (For the record: Elijah, Kol, Rebekah, Klaus.) He's just so diabolical. I love him! Why Klaus ever daggered him I will never know.
Jeremy Gilbert I missed you and your snark! *snuggles him* I really really wish Elena would stop treating him like he's 12 years old though. Seriously? Also, I hope the writers give him something to do. (Sleepover with Tyler? YES/YES?)
Tyler! He's back! (Looking very thin. Or did I imagine that?) Also, the writers have fucked him over on the storyline department this year big time. I am displeased. By the end of the episode he's walking out on Caroline like a douche. Granted her answer as to why she kept Klaus' sketch was WRONG. The correct answer should have been: "Are you kidding me? Look at this thing! It's comic GOLD! Also potential blackmail material!"
I feel like they've really given Matt a boost this year as far as storylines go. He's pretty much perfection in all of his scenes and looks really good in shirts. (And out of them, okay?) Him and Caroline teaming up in the beginning was adorable and then him telling her to say hi to Tyler? Aw, Matt Donovan, let me love you!
I wasn't sure what was happening with Klaus and Stefan. Part of me thinks that Klaus just wants to make out with him, but the truth is he clearly just wants a real BFF and it's kind of sad but also... how are we supposed to take him seriously? Klaus, step aside, your brother Kol is ready to take your place in the role of super villain. (Cause you fucking suck at it!)
Rebekah just wants to be normal, you guys! And she just wants to go to a dance! (At this rate, Bex, I'm sorry it just doesn't look like it's in the cards for you.) And she's just a girl who lost her mom too young and then her mom came back and tried to kill her and then she possessed her body so she still doesn't get to go to the dance and make out with Matt Donovan afterward! It just breaks your heart when you think about it. That grin right after Matt drives away? Rebekah just wants to be a real girl you guys. That's all!
Esther. I... don't care. (Is my apathy showing?)
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no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 05:54 pm (UTC)And I would literally screw both Salvatores and then pick Matt. I mean, if everyone else gets to taste test Damon's dick, it's only fair Elena gets to as well.
And I totally agree about Tyler looking thinner. It looks like MT got super cut.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 06:09 pm (UTC)Having characters just leave town randomly and be gone forever also screws with this dynamic. No more of that, please!
no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 06:27 pm (UTC)I think this sums up the entire season. No plotline gets seen through; everything ends up aborted.
I'm really hoping next season is Petrova-centered, which can mean a lot of Katherine.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 07:28 pm (UTC)Yes, yes, yes!
LOTS of Katherine is like a dream come true. Please let it happen.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 09:25 pm (UTC)No kidding. Both last ep and this ep I was all, "who fucking cares if she has feelings for Damon? If she's choosing you, accept her choice. And besides, your getting your life back on track should be for yourself, not for her." Then when Damon's all "I'm not going to do it for you" I'm all "By any *REASONABLE* standard, you just did. It's just in TV(D) land where lashing out emotionally isn't considered doing anything at all.
Re: Alaric+Stefan scene, I loved it after zealot!Alaric came out (it seems unfair to call him the evil alter ego, given his motivations) and he was goading Stefan. Though for a while I was thinking that it was Zealaric the whole time, trying to goad Stefan into killing him so that the method of killing the Originals would remain safely hidden (which, really, makes a lot more sense). Also why didn't they just give them some random stake that wasn't really an Original Killer and just say that it was? And does anyone *really* think that this accounts for every last scrap of that tree, and that tree was the only other one ever? I mean, normal White Oaks aren't exactly rare...
I used to love this show SO MUCH. Now I am kind of meh about it.
[Also, making out in the motel with Damon is a definite books reference, though definitely one of the less inspired ones.]
no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 10:28 pm (UTC)I am pretty sure that the white oak has to be from that specific tree? I don't know? *shrug*
Yeah this season has really made me meh over it. I realized how true that was when re-watching my TVD vid recently when testing my site. Makes me sad. I have hope for next season.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 11:08 pm (UTC)My thought about other white oak trees was maybe that they'd be able to tell whether it was white oak or not but not that it was THE white oak, because clearly they couldn't tell before... Meh. If they established that fakes would not fly that'd be one thing, but this does not seem established.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-20 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 12:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 04:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 04:16 am (UTC)Seriously, in the books Delena made sense, but in the show... he needs to get his head on straight first. He's come a long way since season 1, but he's hardly made it yet.
I'm not particularly rooting for Matt, but Elena... go patch things up with Rebecca or Elijah and date one or both of them. Or just decide you're ok with being single. Decide to grow up first and deal with love later. *sigh*
no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 05:00 am (UTC)I never read the books. At this point I feel like I probably shouldn't, haha.
I'd root for Elijah if I thought he was a viable option. Matt, on the other hand, seems like a real possibility. If not this season, then next season or beyond.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 05:23 am (UTC)I. WILL. NEVER. UNDERSTAND.
SRSLY.
I feel like other people have said, though, that by forcing Delena to happen for real they killed it, which I basically agree with.
I never read the books. At this point I feel like I probably shouldn't, haha.
IDK, the books are alright, but you're not missing anything amazing? As far as books!delena, Damon is a *much* better person in the books (he uses his powers to give people paradise in their dreams in exchange for non-fatal blood drain and ray-bans and leather jackets and cars, rather than raping and killing people. Still sketchy, Elena disapproves (they'll lose their job dumbass!), but not quite the same, you know? And he's never such a jackass to Elena, though he's kind of a jerk to other people), which makes Delena much less bad. Also Elena starts off as a not-particularly-good-person, though she becomes one, so no one has quite the same expectations for her.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 08:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 07:58 pm (UTC)