As I’ve always told you guys, I’m not really a fan of the History Lesson episodes on The Vampire Diaries. For the most part, they are never handled smoothly. Most shows can’t do this well, regardless, so it’s not something I hold against The Vampire Diaries all that much. However, I do dock points when the flashbacks seem to serve no purpose for the currently storyline… and to be honest, I wouldn’t say that tonight’s were particularly imperative to the overall narrative. Of course, I love that it was a great example of why Elena should turn her humanity (drink!) back on. However, I would go as far as to say some particular things were a bit out of character. Personally, I just don’t buy Lexi sleeping with Damon… or Stefan sending her off. Perhaps I’m forgetting the context of what Stefan was preoccupied with in the ’70s, or perhaps we haven’t been given that information, but it seems to me that he would be the one to go save his brother.
But let’s not dwell on the negatives, shan’t we? For there are plenty of positives to talk about during “Because the Night.” For one, Apathetic Elena was written much better than last week. As opposed to telling everyone she didn’t care, she actually just displayed the fact that she didn’t care. And even then, I would exactly call it complete apathy (which is something I think last week’s episode didn’t execute properly; so Elena doesn’t care, why should we? that emotion is about as engaging as… well… it’s not engaging at all). I would call it something along the lines of conscienceless. There was a moment during tonight’s episode when Elena and Damon are kissing where I finally felt like I was watching something completely different from the past year and a half. Damon and Elena could kiss on that rooftop and the context didn’t have to be about the love triangle between them and Stefan or even about romance at all. And let’s be honest, that’s a much more interesting subtext.
Translation: we like Elena when she does things. This episode, she knows that Damon is playing her, so she decides to go along with his rouse so that she can get to the cure first and choose to not take it. I groaned and rolled my eyes when Damon said he would make sure she take the cure even if it meant that he had to break her neck and tie her up to do so because wow what’s new? But when Rebekah came and twisted his neck and she and Elena exchanged sly grins, it’s almost what I’ve been waiting a long time for and never even knew I wanted. Shutting off her humanity (drink!) may have given this show that extra push it needed to stop feeling like a gothic love story — where a teenage girl’s fairytale crumbles before her — and transition into something much more adult and mature… or maybe not, it’s only been one episode.
Over in Mystic Falls, Bonnie is actually still part of the storyline. She and Silas gather up 12 witches to slaughter, and at somewhat-Caroline’s hand, they are successful. There are plenty of reasons to not like what transpired here tonight. First, I thought we were done with the entire no-one-remembers-anything plots. There is absolutely zero dramatic tension having Bonnie forget everything she did, as if she were just in a daze and under some spell. The plot was much more interesting when Bonnie was crazed with power. Now it just seems like she has been manipulated (and not in a teen drama high school evil way) since episode one this season, and that’s boring. Second, it’s kind of gross that the show may be using Caroline indirectly allowing 12 people to die as a way to validate that she is as bad as Klaus and therefore shouldn’t be judging any attraction she has to him. Actually, having Caroline be attracted to “the darkness” was good enough. But I digress, what I do like about this storyline is that it gets the ball rolling. Somehow, the Vampire Diaries writers truly did amp up the Big Bad tension from this time a year ago. And just like last year, I’m currently asking myself how they could top a season where both the living and the dead’s universe are about to blend together. We soon shall see, I guess. But this entire Silas plot has actually got me guessing and double-guessing in a way I used to do during seasons one and two of TVD.
That’s always welcome.
What I think the show is doing with Caroline currently, however, is something that I would have loved to see them do with Elena just a couple of seasons ago… and which they have now squandered. I think that the love triangle would have been quite compelling had Elena been shown to be attracted to the darkness, much like Caroline currently is. I can’t say why I’m not jumping on it for Caroline in this instance, but unfortunately it just doesn’t do much for me. There’s a certain je ne sais quoi about it that I unfortunately cannot define. Although, I think in some ways that Klaus was introduced as someone who hasn’t exactly lived up to his full potential. Tonight, when Silas stabs Klaus, it was supposed to be seen as this triumphant moment for him — “Oh no, he can even beat KLAUS? OF ALL PEOPLE?” But really, I’m not all that shocked, and I suppose most of the audience isn’t either. Klaus’s reputation definitely hurt the potential “sucked by the darkness” storyline in that respect. Besides that, it was probably also a case of too little, too late.
Overall, this was a much needed and welcome episode after last week’s. And I’m looking forward to where the story progresses from here.
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Thanks for the recap.
I like Elena in this ep better than last ep where she was just being a brat. This Elena is smarter and more Katherine-like, although still not as sexy and interesting as Katherine before she was turned into a convenient plot device.
Hated what they did to Lexi character though. I don't buy that they slept together too. This flashback didn't serve any purpose and did not reveal anything new. We all knew Damon loves his darkness and he chose to turn it off since season 1 already. No need to remind us. But whatever, random hook ups seem to be TVD's thing.
Elena and Rebekah work great as a pair. I'm just glad the writers don't make these two get into a fight where Elena magically beats 1-thousand-year-old Rebekah just to prove that Elena is now a baddass (like how they did with Caroline last ep)
I like that Klaus told Caroline to find someone else suitable for her moral standard to comfort her because I already got sick of seeing him help her through stuff whenever she shows some softness to him only to get the cold shoulder immediately after. It's frustrating and leading this loveline to nowhere.
Also glad that boring Hayley doesn't appear this episode. I hope she can find her parents and do whatever she wants to do OFF SCREEN. Same for April, love how the writers just introduced her for no reason and then they just sorta forgot she was even a character.
Hayley will be going off to New Orleans with Klaus, so her storyline may continue in the new show.
I would really like to see somebody hurt Elena to show her that she is a new vampire and not more powerful than her elders. She is the star of the show so they probably want her to seem more powerful, but please somebody tie her up and feed her the cure once is found.
"I think that the love triangle would have been quite compelling had Elena been shown to be attracted to the darkness, much like Caroline currently is."
Funny you mention this since THAT is the entire premise of the books and hence why the are AWESOME (or at least THIS much better than the show).
Nah, ugly strips sporting Elena still does not do it for me. Loved JoMo's spit flying close-up shot - now that is commitment to character, take notes Ian - its not all about the pretty blue eyes.
Also, yeah the brothers checking in on each other to see who screwed up more - priceless.
Elena and Klaus just to piss Stefan and Damon off.
That will be great.
I could not enjoy this episode after what they did to Bonnie. A whole season's arc wasted and given to Caroline in order to justify her ship with Klaus. I'm actually angered by this. If there was a time for Bonnie to show how big & bad she was, was then. She should have KILLED those witches & then dealt with the consequences. We all know how guilt affects vampires. The concept of HUMANITY has been drilled into our heads. I wanted to see how Mystic Falls most powerful supernatural being aka Bonnie, would have dealt with that pain. I wanted her to lose herself. That would have been a good storyline. Instead of trying to make Caroline see she's the same as Klaus, thus she should consider dating him. The death of 12 witches to make a ship happen. How utterly ridiculous and pointless (see The original spinoff). the writers were too lazy & just concentrating too much on that crackship. So now Bonnie will probably not appear in next week's episode, because she will be somewhere "grieving Jeremy"... OFFSCREEN.
Thank you Julie Plec & staff writers. If I were an inspiring tv writer I would just take you guys as an example not to follow. Such missed opportunities for ridiculous romantic pairings.
Couldn't agree more. And this definitely proves my point about Jeremy affecting more people instead of just Elena. So it was very selfish for his body to be destroyed along with the house. Bonnie won't ever be able to visit him at his grave. It's as though he never existed. It's clear that on the CW very few black female characters are liked, let alone written well.
I don't see how Caroline killing the witches to save Bonnie means she's somehow gone over to the dark side. It just seems natural that you would try and save your friend, even without realizing the consequences. And unfortunately with the way the other witches were written they only had two choices. And I'm glad they chose Bonnie. If they didn't there wouldn't be Silas as big bad. And of course Bonnie would be officially dead, and what an awful send-off this would be.
But I'm constantly pissed that they always don't include her. Esp when the gang has a party or a ball or gala. They never want to include Bonnie in glamorous things. Hell, they never want to celebrate her birthday or have a "thank you Bonnie" event, actually acknowledging how much she has sacrificed for these pieces of shit.
I'm just thankful for works of fiction like Kill the Salvatores and Kill Klaus b/c they do things way better than this show ever could.
Just real talk, this show never wants Bonnie to outshine the other characters, esp lil miss Elena who can't do shit. If it's not helping her friends or advancing the causes of evil characters Bonnie just isn't meant to succeed. Heaven forbid she act like a real witch and start axing some vamps and Originals left and right.
The only good thing about this episode was seeing Elena as more of an antagonist, which I feel suits her. She rarely crosses me as being a good character, and the writers can't keep making it impossible for people to judge her horrible actions. Not when characters like Bonnie get judged for everything.
And for real that Lexi/Damon hook-up was some ole bullshit. Seriously, who does that? Like that's even whimpy by villain standards. Sunk a punkass thing to do.
Bonnie being the only black girl and the only one without a steady boyfriend at least for a while is annoying. Jeremy and Bonnie didn't really last long enough for me to consider them to be boyfriend/girlfriend.
I believe that the show desperately needs a new male character for Bonnie.
How about Wentworth Miller. He could be a mysterious vampire and doesn't tell Bonnie until the end of the season. Shane/Silas is so not Bonnie's type.
The only time I enjoyed her character was when she was when her grandma died. She seemed really annoyed with everyone and hateful.
I don't think Silas is meant to be an option. To him Bonnie is expendable. He certainly did nothing while the witches were about to kill her.
And personally I felt like the pairing between Bonnie and Jeremy came out of no where and only served to build up Jeremy's character. It's like if Bonnie and Matt had dated each other, you would know it would only be to keep Matt relevant. But Jeremy grew on me, especially since McQueen really became handsome over time. But it's sad that their pairing is based around a narrative of him being the only person who really cared about her in spite of the sacrifices she made for the team.
And part of the reason they didn't last was b/c he cheated on her with a ghost and then Elena had his memories whipped so he could move out of state. It was never clear if he ever regained those memories of Bonnie after he came back to Mystic Falls.
I also enjoyed seeing her as more angry and annoyed. She seemed to take less shit back in seasons one and two.
that episode was so frustrating!bonnie had to have amnesia???really?now she has to grieve jeremy all over again and that's wasted time!she should use her time to be bad-ass,hell-rising super witch to defeat silas!and she was used like a toy,REALLY?COULDN'T SHE BE BAD FOR ONCE AND ENJOY IT?THEY DO THE SAME WITH ELENA,ALL THE TIME!i liked the tension between klaus and caroline,he gave her the boot FINALLY,i mean i don't care if she likes him or not but you can't just use a person oven and oven again,in your times of sadness and when you're happy to treat them like a piece of shit,no matter how bad or shameful that person is.you shouldn't go to him,in the first place if you find him that disgusting.anyways why do the writers show all the nonsense with caroline killng 12 witches in order to sleep with klaus?that's the easiest thing in the world:create a sad plot for caroline,make klaus save her,telling her something like ''don't die because i can't live without you and i'm immortal'' BOOM!HOT SEX!jesus do i have to do their work for them?damon and lexi,nahh,new elena,who cares anyways,stefan,whatever and rebecca awesome as ALWAYS!
Couldn't agree more. It pissed me off when Caroline gave a heartfelt lecture to Klaus about how bad people can be fixed and stuff just so he could save her from the his wolfbite and then the day after she walked away like it never happened. And I supposed the writers thought it was a baddass and moral move from Caroline. I'm not even a Klaroline shipper anymore since a while ago, but that's just annoying and repetitive.
Caroline has stopped being awesome since Elena broke up with Stefan. The writers turned a mature Caroline into a judgmental, self-righteous high school best friend Caroline. These days she just walks around complaining about everything. Even I sometimes feel bad for Elena that she has to hear all the nagging although I don't like Elena character that much either.
They didn't even turn her judgemental the right way, because goodness knows Caroline is justified in not thinking Damon good for Elena but they didn't even have her show the realistic reason why she's not the guy's biggest fan! They just made her seem like a Stefan fangirl >.< GAHHHH!!!
Big Bonnie storyline ended for the sake of Caroline/klaroline, Can Caroline gtfo of Bonnie's storyline? I can't even with this writers -.- I started to hate her after this episode. One minute she hates klaus next minute she wants to shag him ugh -.- she looks like a hypocritical beyotch, writers should make up their damn mind
I kinda wanted Bonnie to die, her character is extremely boring. She is the only black girl on the show so I guess is good that she is staying. I like Rebbekah and Elena working together and Elena's new hair style. It looks like Kathrine's but with red streaks.
As for Damon and Stefan working together for the next episode it seems as it will add a bit of excitement to a very boring season.
I honestly do not like the actor playing Shane/Silas. His face bugs me, they should've gotten a more attractive actor, but beggars cannot be choosers.
I hope that something happens with Caroline and Klaus before he leaves the show. I want them together at least for a couple of episodes.
This weeks episode wasn't as boring as last week's, but it didn't have too many original or exciting things. At least they mentioned Jeremy again.
Her character is boring?
Are we watching the same show because most of the character's time on the show is spent saving everyone else and then having her loved ones die as a result of it. She's like the most interesting one on the show and has the best potential storylines if the writers would capitalize on it. Plus some of the things we see happen to Caroline and Elena are things that originally happened to Bonnie in the books.
So you watch this show just to see attractive people then? Welp.
I think if the people on the show wouldn't have been attractive it wouldn't have lasted this long. Yes, I do enjoy watching the attractive people such as Paul, Ian and Matthew Davis (Alaric).
Bonnie could have a great storyline since she is a witch and capable of hurting vampires if she felt like it, but after the second season her character is just boring and her acting has gotten worse. She walks around saying her lines like a Zombie. I do Like Kat Graham, but her character needs to have her own life as well not just going around saving people.
See I think the opposite because seeing the emotions (what little the writers have allowed us to see onscreen) from Bonnie after she gets used and loses something else has been refreshing to me. Her breaking down outside Klaus' mansion, now that was good to see. I believe her grief more than I do Elena's. But I completely agree, Bonnie needs to develop into a protagonist to Elena & company (shoot I'd love to see her and Caroline bond together even more and possibly leave Elena on her lonesome). I'd like to see her worry about her own survival and her blood familiy's than Elena. But knowing the head writers of this show, that will not happen :(
I dont agree that elena and rebekah working together is amazing, I hated it actually! Had it been before elena had kol killed I would have loved it, but come on! How can rebekah be all friendly with someone who killed her brother, permanently, just days ago??
Honestly I dont understand why any of the orginals havent already killed all of the MFG, with all the trouble they cause them!!! the writers should have come up with a good excuse other than just because!!!
I think Silas is in her head, or at least that's what I interpreted when he said what he told Klaus.
That makes sense. I mean, I know they've had Bekah going a little soft on her lately, but them teaming up just doesn't make any sense. So that's a decent twist, didn't occur to me that was implied in the conversation Klaus had with Silas.
I hope that' it... see that's an explaination! I didnt get it from silas and klaus' conversation, I think he just meant that he read rebekah's mind to find the stake, but if he is actually controling her, it would be pretty cool!
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I love the last conversation between klaus and caroline, it was more in character for him, that it would be conforting her!!!
I definitely prefer Silas as the show's big bad to Esther!
Two seasons ago,we were worried about Klaus's plan to kill Elena and dominate the world and this year,we were introduced to Silas who will stop at nothing not as to gain more power and rule the world or because he wants to kill any of the characters (the main and the recurring ones anyway)but in order to kill himself and be with his lover again!It's so dark and twisted and romantic in some dark and twisted way and I love it!This season's big bad's evil plan is to bring everyone back to life and then,kill himself!
ahhahahahhah i remember the ''fear'' we had about klaus,the ultimate enemy and before him,where was catherine,the ruthless vampire and now they look like toodlers in front of silas!
Silas hasn't really done much yet.
Killing Jeremy was sad, but since I think he might bring him back is no big deal.
What he did to Klaus was exciting since he thought that being an original nobody could hurt him, but the show is dragging the Silas storyline. Silas needs to show more of his powers.
The vampire diaries has become gossip girl with vampires. I won't be watching after this season.