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Vampire Diaries: 1x19 - Miss Mystic Falls (spoilers through 2x11)
I love this episode. I'm going to mention that even before I rewatch it. It's the S1 episode that remains most vivid in my head (for S2, it's still "The Return").
1x19 - Miss Mystic Falls
We open on Stefan driving to school in that classic car of his that Matt fixed up.
can't seem to get enough, we're lost inside the sound, we're never coming down, his radio tells us.
Elena admires Stefan finally driving his cute car, and Stefan plants a kiss on her face. She's glad to see him back at school.
"You know, I woke up this morning and I was feeling great and I figured it was time for me to get back into things." Also, I gave into my cravings and I'm drinking human blood again but, shhh, despite you telling me in the last episode that you want me to tell you these things and my promises to be honest with you, I'm not going to mention it, kay? Don't you want a pretty lie over the ugly truth?
"Does that mean you're okay now? With all the cravings?"
"Yeah, I mean, the worst part is over. So, now all I want to do is spend as much time with you as possible."
Another kiss. Stefan thanks Elena for 'helping him get through the rough patch'. Well, this is a lie but she will actually be doing that next episode, so perhaps we can call it a preemptive gesture of appreciation? Ha. Elena heads off to class while Stefan makes an excuse to go open the trunk of his car so that the audience can see the pile of blood bags (or he was getting his school bag. One of those). I count roughly ten. Some look drained. Man, I hope it's cold outside or those bags are going to spoil (but they'll probably be okay-ish. It must be the middle of winter, since school starts in September and it's been three-four months of show time, I think).
The Mystic Falls Founders' Hall has been the victim of a terrible crime. Someone stole the apostrophe that right belongs to it. Inside the building, Liz is telling us thatStefan stole blood from the local hospital there was a disturbance at the blood bank of the local hospital. They almost didn't even notice that the blood was being stolen as the records had been altered. John immediately says that it was vampiric mind-control.
"Meaning the vampire who stole the blood used mind-control to hide the theft."
"I know what she meant."
See, John, this is one of the reasons that no one likes you (except Mayor Lockwood, who is a major league asshole) - you talk down to everyone. Elena talks back, you talk down. Very big and very important difference - Elena comes across as having fire and you come across as being a jackass.
Anyway, Liz lets Damon know that John has told her about other discrepancies in more blood banks. It's a vampire epidemic.
"Lucky for us, we have... John."
The guards at the hospitals will be getting vervain from now on. Hey, you know who you could have given vervain to, Liz? YOUR DAUGHTER. Yes, Elena took care of that, but it's not like you know that. Argh. I love Liz but, yes. Not winning Mother of the Year anytime soon (then again, her competition consists of Kelly Donovan and Carol Lockwood, so she might have a fighting chance. The parents on this show are so horrible. Ha).
J: "Sheriff, if I might offer a suggestion... why don't Damon and I put our heads together? We could track down whoever's doing this."
L: "Truthfully, I could use the extra hands. That something you'd be willing to do?"
D: "Well, of course. If it'll help."
J: "I think we could make a good team. Don't you, Damon?"
D: "John, whatever I can do to help keep this town safe, even if it means spending time with you."
You know, there are moments when Damon comes across as very... snake-like. I don't mean that in a bad way just... the way his eyes glint and the way he smiles when he's really thinking about ripping someone's throat out. It makes me think of snakes. There's a flatness to the eyes, plus he tends not to blink in those moments (note, when he's facing toward Liz, he has a more warm affect to his face and he's blinking normally - when he turns to face John, that warmth is shown as false, only in the closed smile and not in the eyes, which stay fixed until the end of the line. Snake).
Back at school, Alaric is annoyed that the founders of the town are so obsessed with themselves - but they want him to teach town history for this week, so teach it, he will. Elena smiles at Stefan while he makes his way to his seat. Bonnie arrives, just a little late to class. Alaric welcomes her back. Bonnie freezes slightly when she catches sight of Stefan, and there is a moment of awkward tension.
Damon answers his door to find Anna there. He snarks about her deciding to actually ring the bell to announce her presence this time. Her mom sent her, she tells Damon. Anna apologizes for what Frederick and his gang did to Stefan.
"Abducting him, torturing him... it wasn't supposed to go down like that."
"You were playing house with a tomb of really pissed-off vampires. What did you think was going to happen?"
"My mom is devastated. They tried to overthrow her."
"Why isn't she here telling me this?"
"She doesn't really do apologies."
"Well, that's a coincidence, because I don't do forgiveness, so just run along. And if you're going to continue playing house with your little vampire pets, you might want to stop robbing the blood bank dry because they're onto it."
Damon's philosophy, right there - if you're going to agree to shelter someone, you'd better be willing to control them. That's also the essence what he tells Elena re: Caroline in S2. She's put Caroline under her protection, so it's her responsibility if Caroline breaks the rules of civil conduct in society. Negotiations between two leaders won't work if the followers are willing to break the agreement. It shows a lack of respect to the leader and to the rules that people need to follow if they are to get along.
When Damon first arrived in Mystic Falls, he didn't care about getting along. He wanted to get there, get the crystal, and get Katherine out of the tomb. But then he was forced to stay around by circumstance and he ended up building ties into the community - first as a means of self-protection (and because he has a hard time not getting involved in anything) and then, more and more, because he cared about the integrity of the community and wanted to keep his place/status in it.
But Anna tells Damon that it wasn't her or the other tomb vampires (who are gone). Damon wants to know where. Anna says that Pearl kicked them out and 'they took off' (of course, they didn't actually - they still want their revenge. Once again, Pearl is underestimating people). But the only people left in Pearl's place are Pearl, Anna, and Harper.
Damon gets thoughtful.
Elena tries to catch up to Bonnie. She asks Bonnie how she and her family are doing. Dealing, Bonnie says.
"I've just had so much to deal with after Grams' funeral. And, honestly, after you told me the tomb spell failed... I just didn't really want to come back."
"I hope you understand why I called. I wanted you to know before you came home."
"I understand why, I just... shouldn't know."
Elena tries to say more, but Caroline comes up, with a great big hug for Bonnie.
"Thank God you're home! I know we talked every day but I missed you. How are you doing?"
"Better. Just... better, you know? Glad to be back and trying to keep myself busy."
Caroline volunteers Bonnie to help Caroline out on picking the perfect dress for the Founders' Court, which Elena has completely forgotten about. Caroline reminds her that she actually signed up for it, back in the day. Caroline asks if that means that Elena is dropping out. Elena says that she can't - it was her mom who wanted her to do it.
Ah, this scene is very ouch-y. Bonnie is very good at freezing out her friends when she's upset (she does a similar thing to Caroline in S2). In this case, I understand her feelings more than when she does it in S2 - Elena was the person who insisted on trusting and helping Damon so, even though the extra expenditure of power that Grams took on was because Bonnie insisted (saying that she would try the spell herself if need be), I can understand where Bonnie is coming from better when she shuts out Elena, while in S2, Caroline is entirely innocent of what leads to her becoming a vampire.
Though, in both cases, I think there's a ton of repressed guilt pushing Bonnie's feelings and actions.
Stefan gets home and Damon pops out from behind a corner to ask him about school. Stefan doesn't understand why Damon is making with the small talk. Damon makes a public note of Stefan's recent cheery attitude.
"And you think it's because I drank human blood again."
"I- I don't want to brag but I would definitely take responsibility for this new and improved you."
"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm clean."
"Yeah, not possible."
"Not only is it possible but it is quite true."
"Stefan, be serious for a second. You spent the last century and a half being a poster child for Prozac and now you expect me to believe this new you has nothing to do with human blood? Nothing?"
"I'm clean."
"You're lying."
I find Stefan lying to Damon interesting because he can't be doing it for the reason that he pretends later to Elena that he's lying to her for ('look at your reaction! no wonder I didn't tell you!'). Damon isn't going to be upset or pissed off at Stefan simply for getting back on human blood. He's going to react that way for Stefan getting back on human blood stupidly and in a way that threatens what Stefan claims to want (a 'normal' life with Elena) and Damon's own security in the town.
Naturally, Stefan doesn't want Damon to be right about the blood. He doesn't want to feel better, stronger, happier on human blood and he hates that it feels like Damon has pinged him for going back on it when, to Stefan's knowledge (since he doesn't know about Liz-Damon-John meeting), it's just based on Stefan acting 'happier'. And, he doesn't want to show weakness to Damon, any more than he really wants to show it to Elena. The reaction almost doesn't matter - he's seen that Elena is willing to listen to him and give him another chance, but he still lies to her. It's not really her reaction to his confession that matters so much as the fact that he was forced to show a part of himself that he considers ugly and not worth loving. He couldn't love this part of Katherine - couldn't love Katherine after he saw this part of her. He is the one that can't love the dark parts of himself, not Elena.
Elena is on the phone with Stefan, asking him to be her escort for the Founders' Court thing. While she's talking about her mom, Stefan keeps getting distracted by the blood of bag in his hands. They hang up (with "I love you"s) and he puts the empty bag into a plastic garbage bag in a dresser drawer. He goes down into the basement and opens up the big refrigerator unit down there... only to get caught, of course.
"Well, well. He's a liar and a thief. So... when were you going to share?"
"Go ahead - help yourself."
"No, no. I'm talking about the fact that you're a closet blood-junkie."
"So, I'm drinking blood again. You're the one that shoved it on me - what's your problem?"
Ah, the flipping of blame. Classic. Once Stefan's hand is caught in the cookie jar, it's time to blame big brother for baking the cookies in the first place.
"I have it under control," Stefan says.
"Under control? You robbed the hospital."
"So, what's your point?"
"Fine, whatever, man. Drink up. Just remember that we're trying to keep a low-profile. Why don't you just walk up to Sheriff Forbes, ask her to tap a vein."
"Have my actions negatively impacted you? Oooh. I can't imagine what that must feel like."
"Yeah, what's Elena think about the new... you?"
"Nothing's changed. I'm still the same person."
"Clearly."
"Elena doesn't need to know anything yet."
Ah, this would be Stefan's philosophy of relationships in a nutshell. Where 'doesn't need to' means 'don't want her to'. Stefan is right to an extent - he is still the same person. He still covers things up and hides things as long as he can get away with it. That's classic Stefan behavior. But he's also jumpier - happier, yes, but edgier, too. And while he's drinking the human blood, I suspect that he's stopped hunting animals. And that means that while he's finally taking the edge off the desire for the taste of human blood, he is not satisfying the hunting urge, so he has that building up in him instead (maybe that's the difference in S2 - because he's only drinking a little human blood, he still needs to go hunting, and that works out both urges. Hmm).
I find it interesting that Stefan tries to make this all about Damon just wanting one over on him, and Damon turns it around to point out Elena. Stefan wants this issue to stay buried here, between the two of them.
Damon is concerned that Stefan is having problems controlling himself. Stefan denies any problems and Damon blows up a little that Stefan thinks he can lie about this to Damon.
"I know what it's like - that Jekyll and Hyde feeling. There's that switch that sometimes goes off and you snap. Right now is not a good time for me to be worried about you snapping."
"I know that it pains you to see this but I'm fine. Okay, I'm fine. So, please, do me a favor and back off."
Carol Lockwood is leading the committee that will choose Miss Mystic Falls. Caroline informs them that she organizes a hell of a lot, volunteers, and just all-around does shit. Elena has done nothing (except what Caroline has roped her into) but mentions that she's doing this for her mom.
John has come over to the Salvatore place to talk to Damon (he also knows how to use a doorbell! Good for him). He's been calling Damon but getting no reply.
"Where do we start looking for vampires?"
"Why the act, John? I mean, you obviously don't care about catching vampires, you're here talking to me."
"Actually, I care very much."
"What would Isobel say about that? I mean, considering that she is one."
"Isobel and I share a... mutual interest."
"Hmm."
"The original Jonathan Gilbert had an invention that was stolen by a vampire. That vampire was then burned alive in Fell's Church or so Jonathan thought. And the invention was lost forever."
"Hmm."
"But then the vampires weren't killed, were they? They were... trapped. And now they're free, thanks to you, which means the invention is retrievable."
"Well, what is it?" (Damon's face here is priceless)
"The only thing that matters is that I want it back. And you're going to help me if you want your secret safe."
"I mean, why bring me into it, John? I don't even know what you're talking about, much less who has it."
"Oh, come on, Damon. You were around back then. You know who these people are, what they look like. He was friendly with a woman who turned out to be a vampire. Her name was Pearl. Does that ring a bell?"
"I'm not playing anymore. Get out."
"Get out? I beg your pardon."
"You know, I only entertained this whole blackmail scheme of yours because I thought that you and Isobel could lead me to Katherine but, see, now I know you have no idea where Katherine is because if you did, you would know that Katherine and Pearl were best friends. See, you don't know everything, do you, John?"
"I'll tell the entire council what you are."
"Go for it. I'll kill every last one of them and then I'll sever your hand, pull your ring off, and I'll kill you, too. Do you understand that?"
I love that scene. I wonder when, exactly, Damon figured out that John was Elena's dad. It might have been the 'mutual interest' line (that's what twigged me the first time I was watching the series) or it might have been back when he figured out the timing on when John knew Isobel. This scene is great because of the way that Damon plays John - he draws out his information, figures out the gaps in his knowledge, and then lets John know that he's thought exactly about how he would get around John's back-up plan. And John gives away too much while he's trying to show how in control of the situation that he is and he ends up losing Damon's interest.
Carol Lockwood is leading the Founders' Court through the moves of the dance that they're going to need to perform that night. Elena and Stefan have a lot of fun dancing together (much more than normal - she should have guessed that he was either drunk or had had human blood! He's not a fan of dancing, as he's told her many times, yet he's fine with it in this scene). Carol tells the dancers to 'flirt with your eyes' and Elena does some hilariously overdone flirty eyes. The dance strikes Elena as 'ridiculous' and she gets a chance to tease Stefan about his age. This reminds me of that the other romantic scene of theirs that also seemed very giggly and happy was in "Plan B", also when Stefan was on human blood. Ah, yes. Well, there you go (hmm, makes me wonder if some of the sheer stupidity of Stefan going along with that plan in the first place might be excused by the fact that he's drinking human blood again... no, can't be. They started that stupid plan in 2x04 and he wasn't on human blood again until the end of 2x05). Stefan pulls Elena into a twirl and they are chastised by Carol.
"There's no touching during this part. It's about the simple intimacy of the near-touch."
Stefan feels that the near-touch is overrated. Elena notes what a good mood he's in.
"Is that a bad thing? Would you prefer me to be brooding and tortured?"
"Hey, I'm not complaining."
Yeah, Elena doesn't dislike some of the effects that drinking human blood gives to Stefan.
Caroline is talking to Bonnie about the other girls in the competition (Bonnie is there to stand in for Matt, who is at work). The Fell cousins aren't going to be a threat, and Amber is only there so that the Court doesn't look as hopelessly biased toward the founding families as it actually is in reality. She sees her biggest challenge to be against Elena, who has the sympathy vote all locked up. Bonnie reminds Caroline that that wasn't a very sensitive thing to say, but when Caroline apologizes, Bonnie says that she understands.
"I want this," Caroline says. "And I actually deserve this."
She does. I might not personally understand the desire to be Miss Mystic Falls, but under the rules and standards that those things exist under, she totally does. She's incredibly active in the community.
Bonnie spots Stefan and Elena, and she stiffens up. They come over to say 'hi' and Bonnie can't even really look Stefan in the face. Elena asks if she can talk to Bonnie for a minute. Bonnie tries to duck out, but Elena asks again and, this time, Bonnie agrees.
"Bonnie, you have to tell me what's wrong."
"It's not worth talking about."
"What do you mean not worth it? You've barely said ten words to me and you won't even look at Stefan. Is that what it is? Is it Stefan?"
"Listen, Elena, I can't just pretend like everything is okay. Everything my Grams did was to protect us from those vampires in the tomb and now they're out. Which means she died for nothing."
"I'm so sorry, Bonnie. What can I do to make it better?"
"That's just it. There's nothing you can do. I blame him, Elena. Him and Damon. And I'm not going to put you in a situation where you have to choose sides. I'm just having a hard time with it, okay?"
Stefan, of course, is overhearing everything, what with that vampiric hearing.
Blaming Damon in this case makes sense because, well, he's the driving force behind the opening of the tomb. He's the one who wanted in there. But I think Bonnie isn't being truthful and there are two people that she blames that she's not mentioning - herself and Elena. Like I mentioned above, Elena is the one who decided that they were going to trust Damon and who put them in the position of seeking out the tomb and opening it. And Bonnie is the one who insisted on taking the spell down after Stefan went in there - blaming Stefan because Bonnie decided that his life was important enough to take a risk over is irrational. Bonnie is the one who made the choice. But people are frequently not rational and it's easier to blame the vampire than it is your best friend (and yourself). We will see this pattern from Bonnie again in S2.
There's a minor accident on the basketball court - a bloody knee. It draws Stefan's attention. He's feeling overcome with his needs when Alaric touches his arm - he reaches for Alaric's neck, but not too strongly - Alaric is able to yank him away. Stefan apologizes and stumbles off. Alaric is concerned.
At her house, Elena is coming down the stairs carrying her dress in a bag when there's a knock at the door. It's Alaric, here to drive Elena to the Founders' Court party thing. He takes her bag and closes the door.
"How is Stefan?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, he seems... on edge."
"He went through a lot. He was in bad shape for a while but he's bouncing back now."
There's something about the fact that Elena didn't catch on to Stefan still having serious issues. She notes that he's acting 'happier' and he's willing to dance with her enthusiastically (rather than treating it like it's something special and rare that she must be grateful to him for doing), but she doesn't know him well enough to know what that means and she enjoys it. Part of it is because, despite their personal history, she's willing to trust and believe Stefan when he tells her something.
John comes into the entrance hall, surprised to find Alaric there. John thought he was driving, but, no. Jenna and Elena are going with the guy that they actually like to spend time hanging out with and like (you can see John having a moment of pause and sadness - I'm not sure that the guy really understands how he manages to offend and annoy even the people that he wishes would like him). Jenna offers to let John drive Jeremy, and off they go.
Anna arrives at the Lockwood mansion. The first person she sees there that she knows is Damon, who must snark. Anna isn't in the mood for a mocking session, but Damon does have important information to share that might be of interest to her: "John Gilbert thinks your mom stole an artifact from Jonathan... senior.... senior back in 1864." Damon doesn't know what John wants, but he's of the opinion that it shouldn't be given to him and he'd like Anna and Pearl to investigate the issue.
"You made it clear that you don't trust us, so why should I bother?"
"Because you want to stay in Mystic Falls and John Gilbert's in town, making that impossible. Find out where it is. He leaves, you can buy a welcome mat."
Jenna is helping Elena get ready for the dance, curling her hair. Elena remembers how her mom made this event sound like it would be so much fun. And she misses her mom. She leaves to go put on her dress and the focus shifts so that we can see that Caroline, who was also putting on her make-up, heard the conversation.
John checks in on his one relative that actually can stand his company - his nephew. Jeremy is still not getting why all this Founders' stuff is so important. John tells him that it's part of being a Gilbert. Jeremy, realizing that here is an untapped source of potential information, asks John about Jonathan Gilbert. "Prolific writer. Crazy inventor. What do you ask?"
Jeremy mentions that he read Jonathan's journal and that surprises John. Most of the journals were locked away but... hmm. So, right before Grayson died, he was reading/studying one of the Gilbert journals. He took it out of wherever they keep them locked up and it was in his stuff when he died, thus getting put into the boxes for Jeremy and Elena. Hmm. Now that makes me curious about what Gray might have been up to before he died.
We learn that "Jonathan Gilbert journaled his whole life, right down to the bitter, insane, drunken end. Guy had a lot of demons." Jeremy now feels John out on what he thought about Jonathan's journals. John just dismisses them as 'crazy ramblings of a mad man'. Jeremy has to be so sick of getting the run-around.
Then Jeremy sees Anna. He tells John that she's "a friend" and goes off to talk to her.
Upstairs, Elena walks in on Ambert (the non-Founding family member of the court) having nerves. She hates being the center of attention - they give her panic attacks. She leaves to go get some air, leaving Elena alone in the changing room. She's not alone for long - Damon is there.
"Stefan's still drinking human blood."
"What?"
"Yeah. A month ago, I would have rejoiced, but with the council back on the alert, it is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle."
"I know he's been a little edgy, but he said that was normal."
"He has a fridge full of stolen blood bank contraband in the house."
"Oh my god."
"He has no idea what 'normal' is. His entire existence isn't normal. Normal to a vampire is drinking human blood, but he's spent all this time fighting it when he should have been learning how to control it. And now it's controlling him instead."
"I can't believe this. I mean, it's Stefan that we're talking about here."
"Stefan on human blood, Elena. He'll do anything, he'll say anything, because he's not gonna wanna stop. Trust me."
And she does. She believes him and she trusts him on this, that he knows his brother better than she does (true, though, intriguingly, Elena frequently intuitively knows Damon better than Stefan does - see: "Fool Me Once", "The Return", etc).
Jeremy catches up with Anna, who isn't happy to see him.
"You were basically using me to turn you into a vampire so that you could be with someone else."
"No, I wasn't using you."
"Really? Then how would you like to define it?"
"Look, I don't think it's any worse than becoming friends with me so that you could give your mother my blood."
Anna is surprised that Jeremy knows this information and wants to know how, but he doesn't think that's important. But he also thinks that he knows 'everything'. Very Gilbert of him. Also, wrong (but that does seem to be part of it, too!).
Meanwhile, in the dressing room, Elena is putting herself on a guilt trip. She blames herself for giving Stefan blood because, you know, both of them getting killed by Frederick would have been so much better. Stefan comes into the room, not all that thrilled.
S: "What going on in here?"
D: "Just filling Elena in on your extracurricular activities."
S: "What are you talking about?"
E: "I know about the blood, Stefan."
Again, look at her choice of words - not "your brother's been telling me that you've been drinking blood". It's I know. She believes Damon completely. She trusts him to be honest with her, more than she is currently trusting Stefan. Damon excuses himself from the conversation, but you can see it hit Stefan, too, the fact that it took one conversation for Elena to go from being happy about him twirling her around to knowing that he's lied to her and believing it. Her instincts are leading her in absolutely the right direction (just as they do when she takes off her necklace and trusts Damon in FMO) but that doesn't make it any less interesting.
"I was gonna tell you," Stefan says.
"When?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine. The blood... it doesn't change anything."
"It's changing you."
"Why, because I kept it a secret from you?"
Stefan is kinda right here - after all, it's not the blood that makes Stefan willing to keep secrets from Elena. He's fine with doing that when he's not on human blood, too.
"Come on, Elena, look - given the way you're reacting right now, can you really blame me for doing that?"
And, with that, he slips right back into 'shifting blame' mode, like he did with Damon earlier in the episode. If he's keeping secrets, it's Elena's fault because she wouldn't be able to handle knowing the truth. This is where we see the biggest change in Stefan's personality while he's drinking the human blood - normally, Stefan is actually pretty thrilled to clutch guilt to himself and wallow around in it. But here, on this issue, it's everyone else's fault. Blame-shifting is a very common technique of addicts. Nothing (especially their addiction) is ever their fault. It's all someone else's fault for making them drink or making them want to drink or whatever else they can pull out of their... yeah. Let's not make another of these recaps all about my issues with my parents. Ha.
"You've been stealing blood and lying and you say everything's fine? Everything's not fine, Stefan."
"So what, so you and Damon all of a sudden have everything all figured out then."
"It's not about Damon. It's about what's happening to you."
"I know and I'm telling you that I'm fine! I'm fine. Please, come on, Elena, I thought you... I thought you believed in me."
But, for Stefan, it is partly about Damon. Elena's feelings have completely turned around and it's because Damon told her something and Elena trusted him over Stefan. For Stefan, in his current mind-set, it doesn't really matter that it's a true thing. Elena is supposed to believe in him, not in Damon. When offered a choice between the two of them, she should believe Stefan and trust Stefan, not Damon.
They get interrupted by Carol, who tells Elena to get dressed and Stefan to go down and wait with the rest of the escorts. Elena is not happy with Stefan right now. And Stefan goes into a room and closes the door, breathing hard, incredibly upset that Elena knows the truth. So upset and angry that he smashes his fist into the mirror, breaking it. And there Amber is, innocently opening the door and seeing Stefan like this - vamped out face, overcome.
It's time for the girls to come downstairs to meet their escorts. Carol can't find Amber and Elena can't see Stefan down waiting for her. Elena looks so stunning in that blue dress, incidentally. Matt's not down there either - he had to be at work, so Caroline has a fill-in escort. Elena starts to wonder if she should have even done this at all and Caroline reminds her of the reasons why she decided to go through with it and it's all so sweet. Ah, so much love for that girl. Caroline is called down and Elena is on her own at the top of the stairs.
Anna notes to Jeremy that he's missing Elena's introduction. He doesn't care. He's also confessed to Anna about reading Elena's journal. "There's a part of me that's so angry, that she covered up what happened to Vicki and erased my memory but... there's also this other part of me that's glad. I- I don't want to remember Vicki like that."
"As a monster."
"No. As someone who wanted to hurt me."
I love the line reading there - his pause, the way that his forehead pulls together in slight confusion, and the sincerity of his emotions. This is a really beautiful moment between Anna and Jeremy. Anna agrees: "When I met you, you were just a part of my plan to get my mother back. But then things changed, all the time we spent together... I would never do anything to hurt you. Not now. You know that, right?"
And John is watching their sweet moment, being creepy.
Out in the parking lot, Stefan is tugging Amber along. She worries about missing the ceremony and he compels her not to care about it. Then he apologizes and backs away.
"I'm sorry. I'm not very good to be around right now. I'm a little bit on edge. I've been drinking the human stuff and it's really been screwing with my head. She knows now. Hell, she wasn't supposed to find out- I didn't want her to find out, now everything's ruined."
He is certain, here, that him drinking human blood is something that would 'ruin' things between him and Elena - at least, him doing it and her knowing about it. And I do think that traces back to the primary issue with Stefan/Elena - Stefan is using it to hide away from being a vampire. That's why he's so happy to play the "let's just be normal teenagers" game with Elena. When he's with Elena, he can pretend to be the Stefan that existed before he ever met Katherine; he can pretend that Katherine has been re-done. Fixed. And her seeing any of the dark parts of Stefan ruins that.
Elena's name is being called, as is Stefan's - and he's not there, naturally. Damon looks over and can see that his brother is missing. He looks back up at Elena, making her way down the stairs to meet no one, and he steps into Stefan's place. She asks him about Stefan, but Damon doesn't know where he is, either. Elena takes Damon's hand and they head out.
Jenna and Alaric watch Damon lead Elena outside.
"What's she doing with Damon?"
"I have no idea."
Which, of course, makes me wonder what the excuse was to Jenna, who isn't in the know. Did Elena say anything to her, afterwards, about why Stefan wasn't there for her but Damon was? Hmm.
Elena asks Damon what they need to do - he tells her that they just need to get through this (and afterwards, presumably, they could look for Stefan). The dancing starts and, yeah. Intimacy of the near-touch. It works really well for them. You really can see both of them falling into the moment and forgetting the rest of the world as they get captivated by each other (oh, and Jenna and Alaric are riveted, by the way).
I've lost all my trust
though I've surely tried to
turn it around
Can you still see the heart of me?
All my agony fades away
When you hold me in your embrace
Don't tear me down
For all I need
make my heart a better place
give me something I can believe
Right after this lyric, Elena smiles, and she flirts her eyes up and down his face.
Don't tear it down
What's left of me
Make my heart a better place
Make my heart a better place
As the music finishes, you can actually see Elena coming back to herself, uncertain about what just happened. She's not anything close to that place yet, with Damon, but dancing with him felt right. She doesn't love him (and, by this point, he does love her) but she cares about him, she understands him, she trusts him (too much). As for Damon... that song pretty much perfectly encapsulates things from his perspective, I think. They put a lot of thought into their song choices on this show.
Out in the parking lot, Stefan continues his rambling speech to poor Amber.
"I don't hurt people. I don't do that. I'm the good brother."
So much in that short set of sentences. Stefan defines things in opposition and just as Elena is Not!Katherine, Stefan is Not!Damon. He is defined in opposition to his brother. He's the good brother, the good son, the good boy. Golden boy.
"Do you want to hurt me?"
"I want to kill you. I want to rip into your skin and I want to feed on your blood. Under your skin, pulsating, flowing... your carotid artery, right there. If you puncture this just right, you can control the blood flow. Takes practice but... it doesn't have to make a mess. Don't have to waste any."
"What's stopping you?"
"If I do this... if I give in, then there's no going back."
"Then don't."
"I just want one taste, that's all I need. I just want one taste."
"One taste."
And he bites down. First, he denies that this is something that he could be doing, because he's 'the good brother' and then, slowly, he justifies it in his own mind. Because he wants it. Again, I'm really curious about whether anything more is going to be done with the human blood in S2 or if Damon is right that Stefan was making a lot of fuss over nothing in this episode and that he just needed to learn to control himself.
It's time for the winner to be crowned. Caroline notices that Amber is missing. Mayor Lockwood thanks the contestants for honoring their community. Caroline wins and Elena congratulates her and gives her a sweet hug. Yay for friendship!
John and Liz are inspecting the bathroom where the mirror is smashed - with blood all over it. Liz tells her deputy to get her Damon.
It's dark now, and Stefan and Amber at still out by the cars. Stefan is freaking out and Amber is reassuring him, telling him that it didn't hurt that much and he should just bite less hard next time. Oh, and contrary to what he said about not needing to waste any - it's very messy. He wonders why she isn't afraid and she reminds him that he told her not to be afraid. He tells her now that she should be afraid of him - that she should run. She takes off while he tries to resist the urge to chase her.
At the party, Damon takes Elena aside and tells her about what Liz told him - signs of a struggle and Amber being missing. Bonnie overhears them talking. Elena says/hopes that Stefan wouldn't have hurt Amber. Damon isn't so sure and he just wants them to go find Stefan now. They go off to get Elena's coat. Bonnie follows.
Amber runs through the woods, right into Stefan. He bites down again, and Elena, Damon, and Bonnie are all on the scene - I'm guessing they found him so quickly because of Damon's hearing. Elena shouts Stefan's name and he pulls off Amber. Damon steps in front of Elena and tells Stefan to get control of it. He walks slowly closer to Stefan, talking in a calming voice, but Stefan grabs him and throws him and then heads toward him. Elena asks him to stop but he doesn't listen - but then he doubles over in pain, clutching his head. Bonnie is stopping him. After a while, he seems to snap out of the worst of it, his face returning to normal.
He looks at Elena and then runs off in horror.
In the aftermath, Amber is getting wrapped up and comforted by the police. Her memory is gone. Liz goes over to Damon, who says that it's lucky Bonnie and Elena found Amber when they did. Liz asks them if they saw anything and Elena looks back at Bonnie, waiting for her response. After she shakes her head, Elena tells Liz that they didn't see anything - they just found Amber and then called Damon for help. Liz thinks that Amber should be okay. She tells them to go back to the party - she and Damon will handle things. After the girls are gone, Damon reassures Liz that they didn't see the bitemark.
Elena is trying to talk to Bonnie. But Bonnie doesn't want anything to do with any of this stuff and she asks Elena to leave her alone and then Bonnie gets in her car and drives off.
At the party, Jeremy and Anna are still talking. John asks Jenna who the girl is, and Jenna reveals that Anna's mother is named Pearl.
Alaric spots Elena on his way out the door. He can immediately tell that something's wrong.
Damon is on his way back when he runs into Anna - and Pearl. Damon's "not in the mood. Today's been a no-good, very-bad day." Aw.
Pearl gives him the device that John wants, as a peace token and an apology. She'd been trying to steal the vampire compass, but stole this instead. She doesn't know what it does. Damon nods, accepting her offer. And then, presumably, hooking up with Elena and Alaric to make a plan about Stefan.
Stefan gets back to his room, upset. He hears Elena come in.
"You shouldn't be here."
"I know."
"Now you know."
"That wasn't you."
"Oh, it was absolutely me. A monster. A predator. It's who I am, Elena."
"That's what the blood makes you."
"The blood brings out what's inside of me and if you think any differently, then you're an idiot."
"I know this isn't you, Stefan."
"I wanted to drain every ounce of blood from that girl's body."
"No."
"It's who I am, Elena."
"No, you can't scare me off."
"Why would you risk it? Why would you come here?"
"Because I did this. This is my fault. I'm the one who made you drink the blood."
"All you did was expose me to who I really am."
"This isn't you."
"Stop saying that!"
"Stefan, I'm not going to give up on you. I believe in you."
He slams her up against his dresser, punches the wood next to her (though not hard enough to break it). It's hard to say how much of this Elena really believes and how much she's saying in order to get close enough to Stefan to jab him with the vervain. We know that she does blame herself for Stefan drinking the blood and she supports him through the actual purge and the guilt that Stefan goes through next episode. But it's also probably not a coincidence that she gives him the very words that he was begging for earlier in the episode, for her to believe in him. She knows that that's what he wants to hear from her.
How much of what Stefan's saying is true? Well, it's absolutely true that the monster - that the desire to drink human blood and to kill - is a part of who he is. But deciding not to let those things rule him is also part of who he is. Biology isn't destiny, not when you have a mind and a culture and independent thought. He can choose other than what his body tells him to be. He did it once before and he does it again. Lexi does it, Caroline does it, Damon is now beginning to get toward that place.
Stefan apologizes and begins to cry on her shoulder. She promises him that he'll be okay and jabs him with the vervain. Damon comes into the room after Stefan falls. Man, imagine being in the other room and hearing that conversation (and not bursting in there when Stefan is getting physical with things). He asks her if she's sure and she is. Damon shuts Stefan up in the basement cell. He warns her that it might not work and starts upstairs, turning back when she doesn't follow.
She tells him that she's going to stay, and she slides down to sit on the floor. Damon sits down, too, in front of the cell door, and joins her in her silent vigil. Not wanting her to be alone.
Deaths:
No deaths this episode.
Damon's current kill count: 18
Stefan's current kill count: 5
Alaric's current kill count: 3
Katherine's current kill count: 2
Harper: 1
Isobel: 2
Vamp Bites:
1. Stefan bites Amber.
Damon's current bite count: 22
Katherine's current bite count: 4
Stefan's current bite count: 2
Anna/Pearl: 2
Harper: 1
Compelled:
1. Stefan compels Amber.
2. I'm going to assume that Damon compelled Amber to forget.
Stefan's current compelling count: 6
Damon's current compelling count: 17
Katherine's current compelling count: 1
Isobel: 1
Pearl: 1
Bechdel:
1. Elena talks to Bonnie for a little bit about whether or not she's doing okay.
2. Caroline welcomes Bonnie home and recruits her to help Caroline with her dress for the Founders' Court.
3. The three women who are heading the Founders' Court stuff interview the girls competing to be Miss Mystic Falls.
4. Caroline talks to Bonnie about the chances Caroline has to win the Miss Mystic Falls title.
5. Elena and Jenna talk about Elena's mom.
6. Elena talks to Amber about Amber acting nervous.
7. Caroline wonders to Elena where Amber is.
8. Elena congratulates Caroline on winning Miss Mystic Falls.
Stefan/Elena Relationship:
Together: "Night of the Comet" - "Family Ties" (3 episodes; exact time uncertain, at least a week)
1st Breakup: "Family Ties" - "You're Undead to Me" (2 episodes; 4 days)
1st Reunion: "You're Undead to Me" - "Lost Girls" (2 episodes; 2 days)
2nd Breakup: "Lost Girls" - "The Turning Point" (3 episodes; exact time uncertain, at least 3 days)
2nd Reunion: "The Turning Point" - (at least 11 episodes, at least three weeks)
Timeline:
We open on a day of denial - Stefan doesn't tell Elena that he's drinking human blood again. Oh, and Bonnie comes back to school. She's been gone a while. This also appears to be all one day/one night. It happens sometime between in the month between the kick-off and the Founders' Day celebration.
Shirtless shots:
Nope.
Bonnie's Visions:
Nada.
We open on Stefan driving to school in that classic car of his that Matt fixed up.
can't seem to get enough, we're lost inside the sound, we're never coming down, his radio tells us.
Elena admires Stefan finally driving his cute car, and Stefan plants a kiss on her face. She's glad to see him back at school.
"You know, I woke up this morning and I was feeling great and I figured it was time for me to get back into things." Also, I gave into my cravings and I'm drinking human blood again but, shhh, despite you telling me in the last episode that you want me to tell you these things and my promises to be honest with you, I'm not going to mention it, kay? Don't you want a pretty lie over the ugly truth?
"Does that mean you're okay now? With all the cravings?"
"Yeah, I mean, the worst part is over. So, now all I want to do is spend as much time with you as possible."
Another kiss. Stefan thanks Elena for 'helping him get through the rough patch'. Well, this is a lie but she will actually be doing that next episode, so perhaps we can call it a preemptive gesture of appreciation? Ha. Elena heads off to class while Stefan makes an excuse to go open the trunk of his car so that the audience can see the pile of blood bags (or he was getting his school bag. One of those). I count roughly ten. Some look drained. Man, I hope it's cold outside or those bags are going to spoil (but they'll probably be okay-ish. It must be the middle of winter, since school starts in September and it's been three-four months of show time, I think).
The Mystic Falls Founders' Hall has been the victim of a terrible crime. Someone stole the apostrophe that right belongs to it. Inside the building, Liz is telling us that
"Meaning the vampire who stole the blood used mind-control to hide the theft."
"I know what she meant."
See, John, this is one of the reasons that no one likes you (except Mayor Lockwood, who is a major league asshole) - you talk down to everyone. Elena talks back, you talk down. Very big and very important difference - Elena comes across as having fire and you come across as being a jackass.
Anyway, Liz lets Damon know that John has told her about other discrepancies in more blood banks. It's a vampire epidemic.
"Lucky for us, we have... John."
The guards at the hospitals will be getting vervain from now on. Hey, you know who you could have given vervain to, Liz? YOUR DAUGHTER. Yes, Elena took care of that, but it's not like you know that. Argh. I love Liz but, yes. Not winning Mother of the Year anytime soon (then again, her competition consists of Kelly Donovan and Carol Lockwood, so she might have a fighting chance. The parents on this show are so horrible. Ha).
J: "Sheriff, if I might offer a suggestion... why don't Damon and I put our heads together? We could track down whoever's doing this."
L: "Truthfully, I could use the extra hands. That something you'd be willing to do?"
D: "Well, of course. If it'll help."
J: "I think we could make a good team. Don't you, Damon?"
D: "John, whatever I can do to help keep this town safe, even if it means spending time with you."
You know, there are moments when Damon comes across as very... snake-like. I don't mean that in a bad way just... the way his eyes glint and the way he smiles when he's really thinking about ripping someone's throat out. It makes me think of snakes. There's a flatness to the eyes, plus he tends not to blink in those moments (note, when he's facing toward Liz, he has a more warm affect to his face and he's blinking normally - when he turns to face John, that warmth is shown as false, only in the closed smile and not in the eyes, which stay fixed until the end of the line. Snake).
Back at school, Alaric is annoyed that the founders of the town are so obsessed with themselves - but they want him to teach town history for this week, so teach it, he will. Elena smiles at Stefan while he makes his way to his seat. Bonnie arrives, just a little late to class. Alaric welcomes her back. Bonnie freezes slightly when she catches sight of Stefan, and there is a moment of awkward tension.
Damon answers his door to find Anna there. He snarks about her deciding to actually ring the bell to announce her presence this time. Her mom sent her, she tells Damon. Anna apologizes for what Frederick and his gang did to Stefan.
"Abducting him, torturing him... it wasn't supposed to go down like that."
"You were playing house with a tomb of really pissed-off vampires. What did you think was going to happen?"
"My mom is devastated. They tried to overthrow her."
"Why isn't she here telling me this?"
"She doesn't really do apologies."
"Well, that's a coincidence, because I don't do forgiveness, so just run along. And if you're going to continue playing house with your little vampire pets, you might want to stop robbing the blood bank dry because they're onto it."
Damon's philosophy, right there - if you're going to agree to shelter someone, you'd better be willing to control them. That's also the essence what he tells Elena re: Caroline in S2. She's put Caroline under her protection, so it's her responsibility if Caroline breaks the rules of civil conduct in society. Negotiations between two leaders won't work if the followers are willing to break the agreement. It shows a lack of respect to the leader and to the rules that people need to follow if they are to get along.
When Damon first arrived in Mystic Falls, he didn't care about getting along. He wanted to get there, get the crystal, and get Katherine out of the tomb. But then he was forced to stay around by circumstance and he ended up building ties into the community - first as a means of self-protection (and because he has a hard time not getting involved in anything) and then, more and more, because he cared about the integrity of the community and wanted to keep his place/status in it.
But Anna tells Damon that it wasn't her or the other tomb vampires (who are gone). Damon wants to know where. Anna says that Pearl kicked them out and 'they took off' (of course, they didn't actually - they still want their revenge. Once again, Pearl is underestimating people). But the only people left in Pearl's place are Pearl, Anna, and Harper.
Damon gets thoughtful.
Elena tries to catch up to Bonnie. She asks Bonnie how she and her family are doing. Dealing, Bonnie says.
"I've just had so much to deal with after Grams' funeral. And, honestly, after you told me the tomb spell failed... I just didn't really want to come back."
"I hope you understand why I called. I wanted you to know before you came home."
"I understand why, I just... shouldn't know."
Elena tries to say more, but Caroline comes up, with a great big hug for Bonnie.
"Thank God you're home! I know we talked every day but I missed you. How are you doing?"
"Better. Just... better, you know? Glad to be back and trying to keep myself busy."
Caroline volunteers Bonnie to help Caroline out on picking the perfect dress for the Founders' Court, which Elena has completely forgotten about. Caroline reminds her that she actually signed up for it, back in the day. Caroline asks if that means that Elena is dropping out. Elena says that she can't - it was her mom who wanted her to do it.
Ah, this scene is very ouch-y. Bonnie is very good at freezing out her friends when she's upset (she does a similar thing to Caroline in S2). In this case, I understand her feelings more than when she does it in S2 - Elena was the person who insisted on trusting and helping Damon so, even though the extra expenditure of power that Grams took on was because Bonnie insisted (saying that she would try the spell herself if need be), I can understand where Bonnie is coming from better when she shuts out Elena, while in S2, Caroline is entirely innocent of what leads to her becoming a vampire.
Though, in both cases, I think there's a ton of repressed guilt pushing Bonnie's feelings and actions.
Stefan gets home and Damon pops out from behind a corner to ask him about school. Stefan doesn't understand why Damon is making with the small talk. Damon makes a public note of Stefan's recent cheery attitude.
"And you think it's because I drank human blood again."
"I- I don't want to brag but I would definitely take responsibility for this new and improved you."
"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm clean."
"Yeah, not possible."
"Not only is it possible but it is quite true."
"Stefan, be serious for a second. You spent the last century and a half being a poster child for Prozac and now you expect me to believe this new you has nothing to do with human blood? Nothing?"
"I'm clean."
"You're lying."
I find Stefan lying to Damon interesting because he can't be doing it for the reason that he pretends later to Elena that he's lying to her for ('look at your reaction! no wonder I didn't tell you!'). Damon isn't going to be upset or pissed off at Stefan simply for getting back on human blood. He's going to react that way for Stefan getting back on human blood stupidly and in a way that threatens what Stefan claims to want (a 'normal' life with Elena) and Damon's own security in the town.
Naturally, Stefan doesn't want Damon to be right about the blood. He doesn't want to feel better, stronger, happier on human blood and he hates that it feels like Damon has pinged him for going back on it when, to Stefan's knowledge (since he doesn't know about Liz-Damon-John meeting), it's just based on Stefan acting 'happier'. And, he doesn't want to show weakness to Damon, any more than he really wants to show it to Elena. The reaction almost doesn't matter - he's seen that Elena is willing to listen to him and give him another chance, but he still lies to her. It's not really her reaction to his confession that matters so much as the fact that he was forced to show a part of himself that he considers ugly and not worth loving. He couldn't love this part of Katherine - couldn't love Katherine after he saw this part of her. He is the one that can't love the dark parts of himself, not Elena.
Elena is on the phone with Stefan, asking him to be her escort for the Founders' Court thing. While she's talking about her mom, Stefan keeps getting distracted by the blood of bag in his hands. They hang up (with "I love you"s) and he puts the empty bag into a plastic garbage bag in a dresser drawer. He goes down into the basement and opens up the big refrigerator unit down there... only to get caught, of course.
"Well, well. He's a liar and a thief. So... when were you going to share?"
"Go ahead - help yourself."
"No, no. I'm talking about the fact that you're a closet blood-junkie."
"So, I'm drinking blood again. You're the one that shoved it on me - what's your problem?"
Ah, the flipping of blame. Classic. Once Stefan's hand is caught in the cookie jar, it's time to blame big brother for baking the cookies in the first place.
"I have it under control," Stefan says.
"Under control? You robbed the hospital."
"So, what's your point?"
"Fine, whatever, man. Drink up. Just remember that we're trying to keep a low-profile. Why don't you just walk up to Sheriff Forbes, ask her to tap a vein."
"Have my actions negatively impacted you? Oooh. I can't imagine what that must feel like."
"Yeah, what's Elena think about the new... you?"
"Nothing's changed. I'm still the same person."
"Clearly."
"Elena doesn't need to know anything yet."
Ah, this would be Stefan's philosophy of relationships in a nutshell. Where 'doesn't need to' means 'don't want her to'. Stefan is right to an extent - he is still the same person. He still covers things up and hides things as long as he can get away with it. That's classic Stefan behavior. But he's also jumpier - happier, yes, but edgier, too. And while he's drinking the human blood, I suspect that he's stopped hunting animals. And that means that while he's finally taking the edge off the desire for the taste of human blood, he is not satisfying the hunting urge, so he has that building up in him instead (maybe that's the difference in S2 - because he's only drinking a little human blood, he still needs to go hunting, and that works out both urges. Hmm).
I find it interesting that Stefan tries to make this all about Damon just wanting one over on him, and Damon turns it around to point out Elena. Stefan wants this issue to stay buried here, between the two of them.
Damon is concerned that Stefan is having problems controlling himself. Stefan denies any problems and Damon blows up a little that Stefan thinks he can lie about this to Damon.
"I know what it's like - that Jekyll and Hyde feeling. There's that switch that sometimes goes off and you snap. Right now is not a good time for me to be worried about you snapping."
"I know that it pains you to see this but I'm fine. Okay, I'm fine. So, please, do me a favor and back off."
Carol Lockwood is leading the committee that will choose Miss Mystic Falls. Caroline informs them that she organizes a hell of a lot, volunteers, and just all-around does shit. Elena has done nothing (except what Caroline has roped her into) but mentions that she's doing this for her mom.
John has come over to the Salvatore place to talk to Damon (he also knows how to use a doorbell! Good for him). He's been calling Damon but getting no reply.
"Where do we start looking for vampires?"
"Why the act, John? I mean, you obviously don't care about catching vampires, you're here talking to me."
"Actually, I care very much."
"What would Isobel say about that? I mean, considering that she is one."
"Isobel and I share a... mutual interest."
"Hmm."
"The original Jonathan Gilbert had an invention that was stolen by a vampire. That vampire was then burned alive in Fell's Church or so Jonathan thought. And the invention was lost forever."
"Hmm."
"But then the vampires weren't killed, were they? They were... trapped. And now they're free, thanks to you, which means the invention is retrievable."
"Well, what is it?" (Damon's face here is priceless)
"The only thing that matters is that I want it back. And you're going to help me if you want your secret safe."
"I mean, why bring me into it, John? I don't even know what you're talking about, much less who has it."
"Oh, come on, Damon. You were around back then. You know who these people are, what they look like. He was friendly with a woman who turned out to be a vampire. Her name was Pearl. Does that ring a bell?"
"I'm not playing anymore. Get out."
"Get out? I beg your pardon."
"You know, I only entertained this whole blackmail scheme of yours because I thought that you and Isobel could lead me to Katherine but, see, now I know you have no idea where Katherine is because if you did, you would know that Katherine and Pearl were best friends. See, you don't know everything, do you, John?"
"I'll tell the entire council what you are."
"Go for it. I'll kill every last one of them and then I'll sever your hand, pull your ring off, and I'll kill you, too. Do you understand that?"
I love that scene. I wonder when, exactly, Damon figured out that John was Elena's dad. It might have been the 'mutual interest' line (that's what twigged me the first time I was watching the series) or it might have been back when he figured out the timing on when John knew Isobel. This scene is great because of the way that Damon plays John - he draws out his information, figures out the gaps in his knowledge, and then lets John know that he's thought exactly about how he would get around John's back-up plan. And John gives away too much while he's trying to show how in control of the situation that he is and he ends up losing Damon's interest.
Carol Lockwood is leading the Founders' Court through the moves of the dance that they're going to need to perform that night. Elena and Stefan have a lot of fun dancing together (much more than normal - she should have guessed that he was either drunk or had had human blood! He's not a fan of dancing, as he's told her many times, yet he's fine with it in this scene). Carol tells the dancers to 'flirt with your eyes' and Elena does some hilariously overdone flirty eyes. The dance strikes Elena as 'ridiculous' and she gets a chance to tease Stefan about his age. This reminds me of that the other romantic scene of theirs that also seemed very giggly and happy was in "Plan B", also when Stefan was on human blood. Ah, yes. Well, there you go (hmm, makes me wonder if some of the sheer stupidity of Stefan going along with that plan in the first place might be excused by the fact that he's drinking human blood again... no, can't be. They started that stupid plan in 2x04 and he wasn't on human blood again until the end of 2x05). Stefan pulls Elena into a twirl and they are chastised by Carol.
"There's no touching during this part. It's about the simple intimacy of the near-touch."
Stefan feels that the near-touch is overrated. Elena notes what a good mood he's in.
"Is that a bad thing? Would you prefer me to be brooding and tortured?"
"Hey, I'm not complaining."
Yeah, Elena doesn't dislike some of the effects that drinking human blood gives to Stefan.
Caroline is talking to Bonnie about the other girls in the competition (Bonnie is there to stand in for Matt, who is at work). The Fell cousins aren't going to be a threat, and Amber is only there so that the Court doesn't look as hopelessly biased toward the founding families as it actually is in reality. She sees her biggest challenge to be against Elena, who has the sympathy vote all locked up. Bonnie reminds Caroline that that wasn't a very sensitive thing to say, but when Caroline apologizes, Bonnie says that she understands.
"I want this," Caroline says. "And I actually deserve this."
She does. I might not personally understand the desire to be Miss Mystic Falls, but under the rules and standards that those things exist under, she totally does. She's incredibly active in the community.
Bonnie spots Stefan and Elena, and she stiffens up. They come over to say 'hi' and Bonnie can't even really look Stefan in the face. Elena asks if she can talk to Bonnie for a minute. Bonnie tries to duck out, but Elena asks again and, this time, Bonnie agrees.
"Bonnie, you have to tell me what's wrong."
"It's not worth talking about."
"What do you mean not worth it? You've barely said ten words to me and you won't even look at Stefan. Is that what it is? Is it Stefan?"
"Listen, Elena, I can't just pretend like everything is okay. Everything my Grams did was to protect us from those vampires in the tomb and now they're out. Which means she died for nothing."
"I'm so sorry, Bonnie. What can I do to make it better?"
"That's just it. There's nothing you can do. I blame him, Elena. Him and Damon. And I'm not going to put you in a situation where you have to choose sides. I'm just having a hard time with it, okay?"
Stefan, of course, is overhearing everything, what with that vampiric hearing.
Blaming Damon in this case makes sense because, well, he's the driving force behind the opening of the tomb. He's the one who wanted in there. But I think Bonnie isn't being truthful and there are two people that she blames that she's not mentioning - herself and Elena. Like I mentioned above, Elena is the one who decided that they were going to trust Damon and who put them in the position of seeking out the tomb and opening it. And Bonnie is the one who insisted on taking the spell down after Stefan went in there - blaming Stefan because Bonnie decided that his life was important enough to take a risk over is irrational. Bonnie is the one who made the choice. But people are frequently not rational and it's easier to blame the vampire than it is your best friend (and yourself). We will see this pattern from Bonnie again in S2.
There's a minor accident on the basketball court - a bloody knee. It draws Stefan's attention. He's feeling overcome with his needs when Alaric touches his arm - he reaches for Alaric's neck, but not too strongly - Alaric is able to yank him away. Stefan apologizes and stumbles off. Alaric is concerned.
At her house, Elena is coming down the stairs carrying her dress in a bag when there's a knock at the door. It's Alaric, here to drive Elena to the Founders' Court party thing. He takes her bag and closes the door.
"How is Stefan?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, he seems... on edge."
"He went through a lot. He was in bad shape for a while but he's bouncing back now."
There's something about the fact that Elena didn't catch on to Stefan still having serious issues. She notes that he's acting 'happier' and he's willing to dance with her enthusiastically (rather than treating it like it's something special and rare that she must be grateful to him for doing), but she doesn't know him well enough to know what that means and she enjoys it. Part of it is because, despite their personal history, she's willing to trust and believe Stefan when he tells her something.
John comes into the entrance hall, surprised to find Alaric there. John thought he was driving, but, no. Jenna and Elena are going with the guy that they actually like to spend time hanging out with and like (you can see John having a moment of pause and sadness - I'm not sure that the guy really understands how he manages to offend and annoy even the people that he wishes would like him). Jenna offers to let John drive Jeremy, and off they go.
Anna arrives at the Lockwood mansion. The first person she sees there that she knows is Damon, who must snark. Anna isn't in the mood for a mocking session, but Damon does have important information to share that might be of interest to her: "John Gilbert thinks your mom stole an artifact from Jonathan... senior.... senior back in 1864." Damon doesn't know what John wants, but he's of the opinion that it shouldn't be given to him and he'd like Anna and Pearl to investigate the issue.
"You made it clear that you don't trust us, so why should I bother?"
"Because you want to stay in Mystic Falls and John Gilbert's in town, making that impossible. Find out where it is. He leaves, you can buy a welcome mat."
Jenna is helping Elena get ready for the dance, curling her hair. Elena remembers how her mom made this event sound like it would be so much fun. And she misses her mom. She leaves to go put on her dress and the focus shifts so that we can see that Caroline, who was also putting on her make-up, heard the conversation.
John checks in on his one relative that actually can stand his company - his nephew. Jeremy is still not getting why all this Founders' stuff is so important. John tells him that it's part of being a Gilbert. Jeremy, realizing that here is an untapped source of potential information, asks John about Jonathan Gilbert. "Prolific writer. Crazy inventor. What do you ask?"
Jeremy mentions that he read Jonathan's journal and that surprises John. Most of the journals were locked away but... hmm. So, right before Grayson died, he was reading/studying one of the Gilbert journals. He took it out of wherever they keep them locked up and it was in his stuff when he died, thus getting put into the boxes for Jeremy and Elena. Hmm. Now that makes me curious about what Gray might have been up to before he died.
We learn that "Jonathan Gilbert journaled his whole life, right down to the bitter, insane, drunken end. Guy had a lot of demons." Jeremy now feels John out on what he thought about Jonathan's journals. John just dismisses them as 'crazy ramblings of a mad man'. Jeremy has to be so sick of getting the run-around.
Then Jeremy sees Anna. He tells John that she's "a friend" and goes off to talk to her.
Upstairs, Elena walks in on Ambert (the non-Founding family member of the court) having nerves. She hates being the center of attention - they give her panic attacks. She leaves to go get some air, leaving Elena alone in the changing room. She's not alone for long - Damon is there.
"Stefan's still drinking human blood."
"What?"
"Yeah. A month ago, I would have rejoiced, but with the council back on the alert, it is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle."
"I know he's been a little edgy, but he said that was normal."
"He has a fridge full of stolen blood bank contraband in the house."
"Oh my god."
"He has no idea what 'normal' is. His entire existence isn't normal. Normal to a vampire is drinking human blood, but he's spent all this time fighting it when he should have been learning how to control it. And now it's controlling him instead."
"I can't believe this. I mean, it's Stefan that we're talking about here."
"Stefan on human blood, Elena. He'll do anything, he'll say anything, because he's not gonna wanna stop. Trust me."
And she does. She believes him and she trusts him on this, that he knows his brother better than she does (true, though, intriguingly, Elena frequently intuitively knows Damon better than Stefan does - see: "Fool Me Once", "The Return", etc).
Jeremy catches up with Anna, who isn't happy to see him.
"You were basically using me to turn you into a vampire so that you could be with someone else."
"No, I wasn't using you."
"Really? Then how would you like to define it?"
"Look, I don't think it's any worse than becoming friends with me so that you could give your mother my blood."
Anna is surprised that Jeremy knows this information and wants to know how, but he doesn't think that's important. But he also thinks that he knows 'everything'. Very Gilbert of him. Also, wrong (but that does seem to be part of it, too!).
Meanwhile, in the dressing room, Elena is putting herself on a guilt trip. She blames herself for giving Stefan blood because, you know, both of them getting killed by Frederick would have been so much better. Stefan comes into the room, not all that thrilled.
S: "What going on in here?"
D: "Just filling Elena in on your extracurricular activities."
S: "What are you talking about?"
E: "I know about the blood, Stefan."
Again, look at her choice of words - not "your brother's been telling me that you've been drinking blood". It's I know. She believes Damon completely. She trusts him to be honest with her, more than she is currently trusting Stefan. Damon excuses himself from the conversation, but you can see it hit Stefan, too, the fact that it took one conversation for Elena to go from being happy about him twirling her around to knowing that he's lied to her and believing it. Her instincts are leading her in absolutely the right direction (just as they do when she takes off her necklace and trusts Damon in FMO) but that doesn't make it any less interesting.
"I was gonna tell you," Stefan says.
"When?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine. The blood... it doesn't change anything."
"It's changing you."
"Why, because I kept it a secret from you?"
Stefan is kinda right here - after all, it's not the blood that makes Stefan willing to keep secrets from Elena. He's fine with doing that when he's not on human blood, too.
"Come on, Elena, look - given the way you're reacting right now, can you really blame me for doing that?"
And, with that, he slips right back into 'shifting blame' mode, like he did with Damon earlier in the episode. If he's keeping secrets, it's Elena's fault because she wouldn't be able to handle knowing the truth. This is where we see the biggest change in Stefan's personality while he's drinking the human blood - normally, Stefan is actually pretty thrilled to clutch guilt to himself and wallow around in it. But here, on this issue, it's everyone else's fault. Blame-shifting is a very common technique of addicts. Nothing (especially their addiction) is ever their fault. It's all someone else's fault for making them drink or making them want to drink or whatever else they can pull out of their... yeah. Let's not make another of these recaps all about my issues with my parents. Ha.
"You've been stealing blood and lying and you say everything's fine? Everything's not fine, Stefan."
"So what, so you and Damon all of a sudden have everything all figured out then."
"It's not about Damon. It's about what's happening to you."
"I know and I'm telling you that I'm fine! I'm fine. Please, come on, Elena, I thought you... I thought you believed in me."
But, for Stefan, it is partly about Damon. Elena's feelings have completely turned around and it's because Damon told her something and Elena trusted him over Stefan. For Stefan, in his current mind-set, it doesn't really matter that it's a true thing. Elena is supposed to believe in him, not in Damon. When offered a choice between the two of them, she should believe Stefan and trust Stefan, not Damon.
They get interrupted by Carol, who tells Elena to get dressed and Stefan to go down and wait with the rest of the escorts. Elena is not happy with Stefan right now. And Stefan goes into a room and closes the door, breathing hard, incredibly upset that Elena knows the truth. So upset and angry that he smashes his fist into the mirror, breaking it. And there Amber is, innocently opening the door and seeing Stefan like this - vamped out face, overcome.
It's time for the girls to come downstairs to meet their escorts. Carol can't find Amber and Elena can't see Stefan down waiting for her. Elena looks so stunning in that blue dress, incidentally. Matt's not down there either - he had to be at work, so Caroline has a fill-in escort. Elena starts to wonder if she should have even done this at all and Caroline reminds her of the reasons why she decided to go through with it and it's all so sweet. Ah, so much love for that girl. Caroline is called down and Elena is on her own at the top of the stairs.
Anna notes to Jeremy that he's missing Elena's introduction. He doesn't care. He's also confessed to Anna about reading Elena's journal. "There's a part of me that's so angry, that she covered up what happened to Vicki and erased my memory but... there's also this other part of me that's glad. I- I don't want to remember Vicki like that."
"As a monster."
"No. As someone who wanted to hurt me."
I love the line reading there - his pause, the way that his forehead pulls together in slight confusion, and the sincerity of his emotions. This is a really beautiful moment between Anna and Jeremy. Anna agrees: "When I met you, you were just a part of my plan to get my mother back. But then things changed, all the time we spent together... I would never do anything to hurt you. Not now. You know that, right?"
And John is watching their sweet moment, being creepy.
Out in the parking lot, Stefan is tugging Amber along. She worries about missing the ceremony and he compels her not to care about it. Then he apologizes and backs away.
"I'm sorry. I'm not very good to be around right now. I'm a little bit on edge. I've been drinking the human stuff and it's really been screwing with my head. She knows now. Hell, she wasn't supposed to find out- I didn't want her to find out, now everything's ruined."
He is certain, here, that him drinking human blood is something that would 'ruin' things between him and Elena - at least, him doing it and her knowing about it. And I do think that traces back to the primary issue with Stefan/Elena - Stefan is using it to hide away from being a vampire. That's why he's so happy to play the "let's just be normal teenagers" game with Elena. When he's with Elena, he can pretend to be the Stefan that existed before he ever met Katherine; he can pretend that Katherine has been re-done. Fixed. And her seeing any of the dark parts of Stefan ruins that.
Elena's name is being called, as is Stefan's - and he's not there, naturally. Damon looks over and can see that his brother is missing. He looks back up at Elena, making her way down the stairs to meet no one, and he steps into Stefan's place. She asks him about Stefan, but Damon doesn't know where he is, either. Elena takes Damon's hand and they head out.
Jenna and Alaric watch Damon lead Elena outside.
"What's she doing with Damon?"
"I have no idea."
Which, of course, makes me wonder what the excuse was to Jenna, who isn't in the know. Did Elena say anything to her, afterwards, about why Stefan wasn't there for her but Damon was? Hmm.
Elena asks Damon what they need to do - he tells her that they just need to get through this (and afterwards, presumably, they could look for Stefan). The dancing starts and, yeah. Intimacy of the near-touch. It works really well for them. You really can see both of them falling into the moment and forgetting the rest of the world as they get captivated by each other (oh, and Jenna and Alaric are riveted, by the way).
I've lost all my trust
though I've surely tried to
turn it around
Can you still see the heart of me?
All my agony fades away
When you hold me in your embrace
Don't tear me down
For all I need
make my heart a better place
give me something I can believe
Right after this lyric, Elena smiles, and she flirts her eyes up and down his face.
Don't tear it down
What's left of me
Make my heart a better place
Make my heart a better place
As the music finishes, you can actually see Elena coming back to herself, uncertain about what just happened. She's not anything close to that place yet, with Damon, but dancing with him felt right. She doesn't love him (and, by this point, he does love her) but she cares about him, she understands him, she trusts him (too much). As for Damon... that song pretty much perfectly encapsulates things from his perspective, I think. They put a lot of thought into their song choices on this show.
Out in the parking lot, Stefan continues his rambling speech to poor Amber.
"I don't hurt people. I don't do that. I'm the good brother."
So much in that short set of sentences. Stefan defines things in opposition and just as Elena is Not!Katherine, Stefan is Not!Damon. He is defined in opposition to his brother. He's the good brother, the good son, the good boy. Golden boy.
"Do you want to hurt me?"
"I want to kill you. I want to rip into your skin and I want to feed on your blood. Under your skin, pulsating, flowing... your carotid artery, right there. If you puncture this just right, you can control the blood flow. Takes practice but... it doesn't have to make a mess. Don't have to waste any."
"What's stopping you?"
"If I do this... if I give in, then there's no going back."
"Then don't."
"I just want one taste, that's all I need. I just want one taste."
"One taste."
And he bites down. First, he denies that this is something that he could be doing, because he's 'the good brother' and then, slowly, he justifies it in his own mind. Because he wants it. Again, I'm really curious about whether anything more is going to be done with the human blood in S2 or if Damon is right that Stefan was making a lot of fuss over nothing in this episode and that he just needed to learn to control himself.
It's time for the winner to be crowned. Caroline notices that Amber is missing. Mayor Lockwood thanks the contestants for honoring their community. Caroline wins and Elena congratulates her and gives her a sweet hug. Yay for friendship!
John and Liz are inspecting the bathroom where the mirror is smashed - with blood all over it. Liz tells her deputy to get her Damon.
It's dark now, and Stefan and Amber at still out by the cars. Stefan is freaking out and Amber is reassuring him, telling him that it didn't hurt that much and he should just bite less hard next time. Oh, and contrary to what he said about not needing to waste any - it's very messy. He wonders why she isn't afraid and she reminds him that he told her not to be afraid. He tells her now that she should be afraid of him - that she should run. She takes off while he tries to resist the urge to chase her.
At the party, Damon takes Elena aside and tells her about what Liz told him - signs of a struggle and Amber being missing. Bonnie overhears them talking. Elena says/hopes that Stefan wouldn't have hurt Amber. Damon isn't so sure and he just wants them to go find Stefan now. They go off to get Elena's coat. Bonnie follows.
Amber runs through the woods, right into Stefan. He bites down again, and Elena, Damon, and Bonnie are all on the scene - I'm guessing they found him so quickly because of Damon's hearing. Elena shouts Stefan's name and he pulls off Amber. Damon steps in front of Elena and tells Stefan to get control of it. He walks slowly closer to Stefan, talking in a calming voice, but Stefan grabs him and throws him and then heads toward him. Elena asks him to stop but he doesn't listen - but then he doubles over in pain, clutching his head. Bonnie is stopping him. After a while, he seems to snap out of the worst of it, his face returning to normal.
He looks at Elena and then runs off in horror.
In the aftermath, Amber is getting wrapped up and comforted by the police. Her memory is gone. Liz goes over to Damon, who says that it's lucky Bonnie and Elena found Amber when they did. Liz asks them if they saw anything and Elena looks back at Bonnie, waiting for her response. After she shakes her head, Elena tells Liz that they didn't see anything - they just found Amber and then called Damon for help. Liz thinks that Amber should be okay. She tells them to go back to the party - she and Damon will handle things. After the girls are gone, Damon reassures Liz that they didn't see the bitemark.
Elena is trying to talk to Bonnie. But Bonnie doesn't want anything to do with any of this stuff and she asks Elena to leave her alone and then Bonnie gets in her car and drives off.
At the party, Jeremy and Anna are still talking. John asks Jenna who the girl is, and Jenna reveals that Anna's mother is named Pearl.
Alaric spots Elena on his way out the door. He can immediately tell that something's wrong.
Damon is on his way back when he runs into Anna - and Pearl. Damon's "not in the mood. Today's been a no-good, very-bad day." Aw.
Pearl gives him the device that John wants, as a peace token and an apology. She'd been trying to steal the vampire compass, but stole this instead. She doesn't know what it does. Damon nods, accepting her offer. And then, presumably, hooking up with Elena and Alaric to make a plan about Stefan.
Stefan gets back to his room, upset. He hears Elena come in.
"You shouldn't be here."
"I know."
"Now you know."
"That wasn't you."
"Oh, it was absolutely me. A monster. A predator. It's who I am, Elena."
"That's what the blood makes you."
"The blood brings out what's inside of me and if you think any differently, then you're an idiot."
"I know this isn't you, Stefan."
"I wanted to drain every ounce of blood from that girl's body."
"No."
"It's who I am, Elena."
"No, you can't scare me off."
"Why would you risk it? Why would you come here?"
"Because I did this. This is my fault. I'm the one who made you drink the blood."
"All you did was expose me to who I really am."
"This isn't you."
"Stop saying that!"
"Stefan, I'm not going to give up on you. I believe in you."
He slams her up against his dresser, punches the wood next to her (though not hard enough to break it). It's hard to say how much of this Elena really believes and how much she's saying in order to get close enough to Stefan to jab him with the vervain. We know that she does blame herself for Stefan drinking the blood and she supports him through the actual purge and the guilt that Stefan goes through next episode. But it's also probably not a coincidence that she gives him the very words that he was begging for earlier in the episode, for her to believe in him. She knows that that's what he wants to hear from her.
How much of what Stefan's saying is true? Well, it's absolutely true that the monster - that the desire to drink human blood and to kill - is a part of who he is. But deciding not to let those things rule him is also part of who he is. Biology isn't destiny, not when you have a mind and a culture and independent thought. He can choose other than what his body tells him to be. He did it once before and he does it again. Lexi does it, Caroline does it, Damon is now beginning to get toward that place.
Stefan apologizes and begins to cry on her shoulder. She promises him that he'll be okay and jabs him with the vervain. Damon comes into the room after Stefan falls. Man, imagine being in the other room and hearing that conversation (and not bursting in there when Stefan is getting physical with things). He asks her if she's sure and she is. Damon shuts Stefan up in the basement cell. He warns her that it might not work and starts upstairs, turning back when she doesn't follow.
She tells him that she's going to stay, and she slides down to sit on the floor. Damon sits down, too, in front of the cell door, and joins her in her silent vigil. Not wanting her to be alone.
No deaths this episode.
Damon's current kill count: 18
Stefan's current kill count: 5
Alaric's current kill count: 3
Katherine's current kill count: 2
Harper: 1
Isobel: 2
1. Stefan bites Amber.
Damon's current bite count: 22
Katherine's current bite count: 4
Stefan's current bite count: 2
Anna/Pearl: 2
Harper: 1
1. Stefan compels Amber.
2. I'm going to assume that Damon compelled Amber to forget.
Stefan's current compelling count: 6
Damon's current compelling count: 17
Katherine's current compelling count: 1
Isobel: 1
Pearl: 1
1. Elena talks to Bonnie for a little bit about whether or not she's doing okay.
2. Caroline welcomes Bonnie home and recruits her to help Caroline with her dress for the Founders' Court.
3. The three women who are heading the Founders' Court stuff interview the girls competing to be Miss Mystic Falls.
4. Caroline talks to Bonnie about the chances Caroline has to win the Miss Mystic Falls title.
5. Elena and Jenna talk about Elena's mom.
6. Elena talks to Amber about Amber acting nervous.
7. Caroline wonders to Elena where Amber is.
8. Elena congratulates Caroline on winning Miss Mystic Falls.
Together: "Night of the Comet" - "Family Ties" (3 episodes; exact time uncertain, at least a week)
1st Breakup: "Family Ties" - "You're Undead to Me" (2 episodes; 4 days)
1st Reunion: "You're Undead to Me" - "Lost Girls" (2 episodes; 2 days)
2nd Breakup: "Lost Girls" - "The Turning Point" (3 episodes; exact time uncertain, at least 3 days)
2nd Reunion: "The Turning Point" - (at least 11 episodes, at least three weeks)
We open on a day of denial - Stefan doesn't tell Elena that he's drinking human blood again. Oh, and Bonnie comes back to school. She's been gone a while. This also appears to be all one day/one night. It happens sometime between in the month between the kick-off and the Founders' Day celebration.
Nope.
Nada.