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butterflyAnd wrapping up the season. I'm not going to be able to do the S2 ones as quickly because:
a) the show is coming back tomorrow! Yay! I'll finally be watching it live
and
b) schoolwork will ramp up over the course of the quarter.
I may do an overall post regarding season one this weekend. Depending on time constraints. Or I might write that post about vampires as a parasitic-predator vs witches and werewolves as mutations in the human genetic line. Or I might not have time to do either. Hard to say. Also, realized that Damon kinda reminds me of another character that I love - Ed from "Deep Wizardry" (awesome book, btw. Still my favorite of the Young Wizards series). If Damon were, you know. A shark. And a lot older.
1x22 - Founder's Day
This episode is incorrectly punctuated. I just felt the need to mention that. Okay, I'm good now.
Elena and Stefan are getting dressed up in 1864-ish clothes with the flashback vignette effect over them. But I know it isn't a flashback, so I won't get excessively excited. I do think it's interesting for them to decide to open this way, with something that could have been Katherine but was really Elena - it's a perfect bookend to Katherine dressing up as Elena at the end of the episode.
The first hint that the show gives that we're in 'now' is that Stefan is wearing his ring. And then Elena puts her necklace back on and complains about her dress. Jenna is not sympathetic.
All the different groups are gathering at Mystic Falls high school to get together and work out the parade stuff. Carol Lockwood is organizing. Damon comes up to Stefan and remarks on his Ye Olde Time outfit. Stefan wants to know why Damon is even there - I mean, it's not like Damon is a social creature and he's hanging around all the people in town that he knows including, incidentally, his brother and the woman that he's in love with. I mean, seriously, why not be there? He doesn't need a big ulterior motive, Stefan.
"I'm here to... eat cotton candy and steal your girl."
"Don't start with me, Damon."
"Oh, you started it, Stefan with that whole... 'I'm insecure, leave Elena alone' speech. I'm just enjoying that."
Or, you know, what Damon said. Ha. I love that Damon's approach to the whole 'okay, so my brother and his girlfriend know I'm in love with her' thing is to attempt to make a joke out of it and basically brazen his way out of it. That's basically how he makes friends, too.
He attempts to do the same thing with Elena post-Jeremy neck-snap, which doesn't go so well for him - actually just being around and being helpful and not randomly killing people works a lot better for him in that department (the first time in S2 that Elena softens her stance toward him is after he doesn't kill Liz).
"But don't worry. Elena is not Katherine."
"You're right. She's not."
Though, romantically, they're actually in exactly the same position (loving Stefan and not being in love with Damon). Which, if they're going for a thing where the doppelgängers are all cut from the same cloth, with nurture shifting some traits, is one thing. And if they aren't, it's another. It was an interesting choice for them, in S2, to have Katherine genuinely loving Stefan (in her own selfish and thoughtless way). It aligns Katherine and Elena much more closely together than if Katherine were just playing around with both Salvatore brothers.
Anyway, that this moment, Damon spots Elena and Stefan must immediately turn to see what has captured Damon's attention, so he also soon sees Elena - all dressed up like it's 1864. Stefan does her a quick up-down. Damon looks like someone hit him over the head with a frying pan. Elena curtsies in their direction.
Jeremy is getting dressed in his parade outfit. He's going as a soldier (for the battle re-enactment float). Anna shows up and Jeremy tells her how worried he's been about her. Jeremy can see both points of view - Anna's as a vampire and John as a hunter. Anna is a bit hurt that Jeremy can understand John's PoV. Of course, Jeremy thinks that John's motives are more noble than they are, because he doesn't understand all the complex issues at play right now - John didn't kill Pearl and Harper because he thought they were going to attack the town. He knew that they weren't. He killed them because he could, because he didn't need them, because he wanted them dead and probably Katherine wanted them dead, too.
The upshot is that Anna tells Jeremy that she's leaving Mystic Falls. She asks Jeremy to come with her. She gives him a vial of her blood so that he can decide for himself whether or not he wants to turn.
"I know what it's like for you - being alone, always feeling empty inside, no one to understand. But when you're a vampire, you don't have to feel that way. You can shut it off. I can show you how."
"I wanted to. I did. I don't think I can. I'm sorry."
But she's already gone.
The impulse, the reflex, in vampires is not to feel - Damon said. From what we've seen, it tends to shut off when overwhelming feelings are being felt, something that is preventing the vampire from going about his/her life. It can be overcome, but it's hard - and knowing that it's possible would make things easier. You don't have to feel the regret or the pain or the horror or the guilt - you can just put it up on a shelf for now. Given what horrible things humans can do without the ability to put away their emotions (and without a killing drive or a food drive that has been realigned to see humans as primary prey), vampire behavior isn't that surprising.
Stefan is now immediately telling Elena about John (well, Damon's around. He might tell Elena at any moment. Gotta cut off that possibility). Elena is... not exactly thrilled at the idea that her bio dad is some guy that she's never liked.
"I just wanted to tell you before Damon dropped it on you in some typically inappropriate way."
Yes, because Damon showed no concern for Elena's emotional well-being in the last episode. Stefan, you were there in the room where Damon got all sweet and told Elena that she shouldn't have to see her bio mom if she didn't want to. But Stefan always casts things in the best possible light for Stefan - here, he gets to remind Elena that he is the considerate brother (because if he'd been the one to discover that Uncle John was actually Uncle-Daddy John and Damon didn't know at all, I would put it at 50% likelihood that Stefan would have told her about it. Maybe less).
"I'm happy that you told me, I just really hope that it's not true."
Damon would have been snarky at this moment, which I think Elena would have actually appreciated because she doesn't, you know, like Uncle-Daddy John. Elena wants Stefan to tell her what to do. I have no idea why she thinks he has any idea how to confront hard truths about other people. This is Stefan, Elena. Stefan hides from hard truths. Elena has moved on to fretting about the part(s) of her family that she actually cares about - Jeremy. He hates her and she's sad about that. Stefan reassures her that Jeremy doesn't really hate her - he's hurt and confused. Elena is convinced that she's the only Gilbert that can forgive people. This is something that Stefan does have experience in - forgiving a sibling that's hurt you. And his feeling is: "He's your brother. He'll forgive you." Much more useful on this subject than on the subject of telling people the truth.
Bonnie is taking a picture of Caroline and Matt posing together. Tyler wanders up, and Caroline wants a picture with Bonnie, so Tyler volunteers to take it. Matt sulks off. Tyler is frustrated that Matt is still pissed off, so Caroline reminds him that it's a big something to make up. Caroline tried so hard to make them friends again - this adds an extra tragic note to the triangle of S2.
(speaking of, on a random note, I saw someone say that the Elena-Bonnie-Caroline friendship felt fake to them because 'they're all struggling over the same guys' - huh? This person was writing during the recent break, so Elena has Stefan and Damon in love with her; Bonnie has Luka and Jeremy interested; and Caroline has Tyler and Matt. There's zero current overlap. And there's never been much - by the time Caroline wanted Matt, Elena didn't anymore. By the time Damon started falling for Elena, Caroline had moved on from caring about him. So, yeah, that was such an odd thing for someone to say, because it's so completely not true. Also, wow, this show is interested in exploring triads of connections. Though Dawson's Creek was always pretty triangle-heavy, too)
Elena catches up to Jeremy. He doesn't want to talk to her.
"I don't want it to be like this between us."
"So, why don't you have Damon erase my memory again? Then I could go back to being your in-the-dark little brother."
"Jer, please."
"Just don't! You can't fix that this easily. Something like this doesn't just... get fixed."
You know what this reminds me of? Damon and Elena in S2. Someone huge and potentially unforgivable has been done and the person responsible is trying to push for immediate forgiveness. It takes time to forgive someone and it takes time to rebuild relationships and that rebuilding can take longer than the original building did, if the offense was bad enough.
The parade is starting. Drummers drumming. We have a marching band. The recreation of the Battle of Willow Creek. The Mystic Court. Bonnie is watching the parade and clapping as Caroline and Elena wave. Damon slides into view and waves at Elena - Elena rolls her eyes and glances at Stefan, then looks down and smiles just a little, waving to the crowd (her reaction is such a 'oh, you' type of thing. It's amusing).
Damon turns around to see Bonnie. She wants to know what he wants. He tells her 'thank you'.
"I did it for Elena," Bonnie says, which means that Elena is the person that she actively betrayed (she probably doesn't like to think of it that way).
"I know, but I'm still grateful and I owe you."
Basically, Damon is being genuinely sincere in his appreciation. Bonnie getting this moment may contribute to her deciding to help save Damon's life later in the episode.
It all relates to Damon's heart opening up again. For one hundred and forty-five years, he had a singular goal and object: save Katherine, be happy. Well, Katherine didn't need saving and she doesn't want him, so he was left without a purpose. He kinda flailed around for a while after losing the hope of Katherine, but his purpose has already found him. He infiltrated the council for the purpose of keeping the vampire hunters off his back, but has managed to get a friend and the respect of some important people in the town out of it. He managed to make friends with Elena and, by this point, Alaric, without either of them attempting to force him to change - he's just sorta drifted in the direction of being less murderous, first for practical reasons but part of him resisting because he knows that it won't help him with the people that he likes. And he's been able to get closer to Stefan again. Like he tells 'Elena' - he ended up actually wanting to protect Mystic Falls. He's come home - not just visiting, but actually settling back in for however long.
Inside the old Doctor's office of Grayson Gilbert, John is putting together the device (which will incapacitate vampires for long enough for the 'V5' deputies to vervain them, nab them, and stick them in the basement so that they can be set on fire), under the curious eyes of Mayor Lockwood. We see cuts between the vampires planning the attack and John planning the counter attack. It's all about revenge on the founding families. Mayor Lockwood is concerned about their families getting hurt (especially since they are essentially being used as bait). Anna walks into the meeting of the tomb vampires.
At the Grill, Damon spots Elena coming in. She's dressed as herself now, but he's just as struck by her as he was earlier. He actually has to shake it off before he can go talk to her.
I was only looking for a shortcut home
"I like you better like this," he tells her. "Period look... it didn't suit you."
"Is that an insult?"
"Actually, Elena, it is a compliment of the highest order."
"Look, I know Stefan is worried about our friendship."
"Did he mention something to you, too?"
"No, did he mention something to you?"
"No. Nothing worth repeating."
"So, I think you should stop with the flirty little comments and that eye-thing that you do."
"What eye thing?"
"Don't make me regret being your friend, okay?"
Elena does try very hard to set boundaries here. Damon's flirtiness makes Stefan insecure, and she doesn't want that, so she wants Damon to stop that and just be her friend. She tries so hard to set boundaries and then, at the end of the episode, Katherine lets Damon feel like his emotions are reciprocated. He spends most of "The Return" obsessing over the kiss and then the fact that it isn't Elena and that he wanted it to be and he really does want, so desperately, for the feelings that he felt at the end of "Founder's Day" to be validated. The kiss itself screws him up, learning that it was really Katherine screws him up even more. And, as Elena says, then he does something stupid (and hurtful and wrong).
Elena goes over to try to talk to her brother again. She wants to fix things and she loves him. She just wants to know what she can do to fix things. He tells her to 'go to hell' and walks out. Damon follows him out.
"I have so many emotions but I don't have any way to express them. Being a teenager's so hard."
Ha.
"Dick."
"You do not talk to me like that. I am not your sister and, from now on, don't talk to your sister that way either."
"So, you're gonna kill me just because I hurt Elena's feelings?"
"Cut her some slack."
"She erased my memories."
"No, I did. She was protecting you."
"It wasn't her call to make. Let go of me before I cause a scene."
"You'd be unconscious before you got a word out."
Stefan walks into the conversation at this point, telling Damon to let Jeremy go. He tells Jeremy that he shouldn't blame Elena and that he's sorry - Jeremy remains stuck on not wanting his memory to have been erased and he walks off. Then Stefan turns around on Damon - he is not happy that Damon is concerning himself with Elena's relationship with her brother. Stefan tells Damon that he's not doing this for the right reasons.
"It's only real when it comes from your desire to do the right thing, for nothing in return."
I think this is the thing that gets me about Stefan. He's not a hero. He's basically an okay guy, who has both virtues and faults. And you know, there's nothing wrong with being an okay guy but it's not... Stefan just makes such a big deal over his superiority and I don't see it.
This is partly the fault of the universe that he lives in - dangers tend to be personal ones and not things that could end the world. The scope that he's working in is much smaller than, say, the scope that Angel is working on in the Jossverse. But then again, when Angel was talking about 'doing the right thing' he meant... going out and actively saving lives pretty much every night. Whereas Stefan basically talks about his pure heart like he's saving kittens from trees every day, but he's pretty much concerned with protecting Elena and her friends. Maybe he does it with a purer heart than Damon does; can't crack open his chest and take a look - but, again... it's not like he's out there trying to help the hopeless. He's going to high school. So that he can hook up with a girl more than a hundred years younger than he is. I'm pretty sure that's fairly low on the list of 'noble deeds'. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Now, the whole moonstone plot could go in the direction of 'heroic worldsaving' (because the curses being lifted could affect the rest of the world in a major way) but it hasn't, yet. I'm not sure if it will, because the theme of the show as a whole tends toward the 'protecting your own' model rather than 'reaching out and helping others' model that Buffy used.
So, yes, I apparently needed three paragraphs to talk about how Stefan isn't Angel. Amusingly enough, I actually do like Stefan more than I (mostly) liked Angel (though I did start loving the big lug after he erased Connor's memory in S4). Angel really was so much more broody than Stefan is. But Angel was also a hero, if one who got tarnished sometimes. And Stefan... isn't.
Just... if Stefan is going to use the vocabulary of a hero, I expect more from him than just being a mostly decent guy who wants to live a quiet, ordinary life.
Anyway, in this context, Stefan feels that him arguing for Jeremy to forgive Elena is somehow more noble than Damon doing the exact same thing. Because he's assuming that Damon is doing it as a way of hooking up with Elena and that can't be a motive for Stefan because he already is hooking up with Elena?
From over here, it looks like they had the same damn motivation to me - they like Elena and don't want her to hurt, so they want to influence her brother to be nicer to her. Stefan went about it in a more polite way, but that's method and not motive. If Jeremy were Stefan's primary concern, he would have spoken to Jeremy as soon as he knew that Jeremy had found out the truth and not waited until after Damon was already talking to him. Elena is Stefan's primary concern, same as with Damon. Dressing it up in prettier language doesn't change that.
Anyway, it's just a patronizing little moment that seems more about Stefan trying to get one over on Damon than anything else.
Sheriff Forbes is meeting with John and Mayor Lockwood. You know, if anyone in this show actually deserving of being known as having a heroic character, it would be Liz. She's a genuinely good, brave, self-sacrificing person. She doesn't buy into the idea that using their families as bait can be justified. She's not the best mother in the world (mostly through not being very attentive and also for not being the most tactful person ever - which is a trait Caroline inherited), but she does genuinely love her daughter, enough that (unlike Mr. Salvatore), she's able to get past her feelings about vampires for her daughter's sake (oh! And Alaric might qualify, too, now that I think about it. Alaric and Liz).
Here, she's the only member of the trio not going, 'yay, putting our children and our town at risk for the sake of getting the vampires is awesome'. In fact, they even knew that she would react that way, so they went over her head and already told the V5 (vampire-aware) deputies about the plan. When Liz won't agree, John asks Mayor Lockwood to step out. He bashes her over the head when her back is turned and handcuffs her to her plumbing.
It's the night of Founders' Day and Damon is wandering around the party, clearly on edge already, when he runs into Anna. She doesn't make his night better when she takes him to the side to tell him that the tomb vampires are planning to attack the Founding Families that night when the fireworks go off. She knows because she went spying and they think she's on their side. She tells Damon that the vampires want the founding families dead - as both of them are vampires in love with Gilberts, this is relevant to their interests. He tells Anna about the invention and also that "it doesn't work" - Anna doesn't think that's any better. Damon wants more info. She lets him know that the vampires are already arriving.
We cut to a quick scene of the head tomb vampire explaining matters to the troops. Seems like an opportune time for a headcount! 10 vampires - 9 male and 1 female. Huh. Interesting ratio. Anyway, it's not about feeding, but about killing. And off they go.
Damon is a vampire on a mission - first, he snags Alaric. No personal space bubble for Damon. He asks if Alaric brought his vampire weapons along today. Ric totally doesn't go anywhere without them. Damon tells him to go get them.
He spots Elena and Stefan next - walking hand in hand. Damon grabs Elena's hand and cradles it to his chest. Elena is like 'huh?' and Stefan is like 'wtf?'
D: "What are you doing?"
E: "Saving your life"
D: "Fifteen words or less: Tomb vamps are here. Founding families are the target. Get her out of here. Now."
S: "Wait - wait, where are you going?"
D: "That's more than fifteen words, Stefan."
Damon was totally resisting the urge to kiss Elena's hand during that conversation. He doesn't know how many vampires there are - he could die tonight. And he delegates Stefan to getting Elena (one of the primary targets of the vampires) out of the line of fire so that he (and Alaric) can take care of things.
Stefan is still going, 'huh?' but Elena is busy thinking like a big sister. Jeremy is in danger. The two of them go off to find the baby brother.
Matt and Caroline are watching Tyler play pool. Caroline tells Matt a story about a time when she and Bonnie had a horrible fight. Matt picks up her subtext and asks her to just... not, please. She sighs and sits back. Mayor Lockwood comes into the Grill. He'd told Tyler to go home earlier - yes, Mayor Lockwood had made an exception for his own kid. Everyone else's kids, we can risk, but Tyler he tried to send home earlier. Like I said above - protection of your own is a huge theme in this show. When Tyler is all 'whatever' at his dad, Richard takes him by the elbow and Tyler yanks his arm away.
Caroline pops up to distract the Mayor and Matt comes up from the other side, the two of them showing Mayor Lockwood that Tyler does not lack support. This time, Richard asks Tyler to go home. He suggests that Matt and Caroline go along (extension to friendships when noted). Matt wants to know what's up, but he won't tell them why, just that they need to leave. Tyler agrees and Richard gives him the keys to Richard's car, which is right out back.
Anna runs into Jeremy and hauls him into the women's restroom to talk to him in private.
Lots of talk from the podium about how awesome the founding families are. This town is so obsessed (well, the families have such a stranglehold on the town). The fireworks are about to go off. It's show time.
John is given the signal, the fireworks start, and the Lockwoods (hand in hand) attempt to leave the stage as quickly yet calmly and sedately as possible. Bonnie, walking along in the crowd, brushes by one of the vampires. She realizes that something is up and follows him. Stefan and Elena are still hurrying along, trying to find Jeremy.
Damon bursts into Grayson's old office and finds John there.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."
As Damon is heading toward him, John puts the key component into the device, and Damon grabs his head, falling to his knees. Outside, Stefan falls, too. A horrible pain in their heads. Yep, I'm going to guess it's a noise that triggers a bottled brain-aneurysm spell, such as the Bennett witches enjoy inflicting on supernaturals in order to level the playing field.
In the bathroom, Anna is cringing in agony. We get flashes of our three sympathetic vampires in pain, then we see the device again, and now the vampires on the crowd start falling. As they hit the ground, the deputies find them and jab them with a syringe of refined vervain. John, of course, shoots Damon up.
On the road, Tyler begins to hear the noise, too. He can't drive, the car swerving erratically as he clutches at his head. They crash into a fence.
Outside, one of the deputies is heading for Stefan and Elena when Alaric heads him off and sends him in another direction, hurrying over to help Stefan up. Alaric lets Elena know that the cops are injecting all the fallen with vervain.
The Mayor has fallen, too, and is quickly injected (he, incidentally, is bleeding from the ear - probably because he's not a triggered, functional werewolf, so he doesn't have quite the healing factor that Mason would in this situation). Two deputies comes into the bathroom and collect Anna from Jeremy. One of them holds him back while the other drags Anna away (after injecting her).
After the device is finished, John removes the key and puts it back in its round holder. He takes that part with him as he goes down to the basement where the vampires are being held. One of the deputies starts pouring gasoline on the downed vampires. As John starts to walk away, Anna manages to grab his ankle. Damon manages to turn toward the sound of John saying Anna's name, so he watches what happens next.
He watches as John sends the deputy away and stakes Anna. Oh, man, it was hard to see her die again. I'd gotten even more attached to her this time around.
John gets back to splashing gasoline around, heading up the stairs and still pouring a trail down. At the top of the stairs, John sets a fire and it races down. Damon had to be certain that he would die at this point. Vervained and about to be set on fire.
Stefan is starting to recover from the agonizing head pain. Alaric lets Elena and Stefan know where the vampires were taken to - her family's old doctor office. Stefan realizes that it has to have been the Gilbert device that felled them. Elena can't even consider that Bonnie lied to her, but Alaric doesn't have a problem believing it (given the evidence).
S: "We asked Bonnie to deactivate a device that could protect people from vampires."
E: "So we could protect you."
S: "And Damon. Vampires." Elena starts to get an 'oh, shit' look. "Where's Damon?"
Alaric doesn't know. Elena asks Alaric to go find Jeremy - she and Stefan have someone else to look for, now.
Carol gets back to the office and finds Sheriff Forbes handcuffed there. Carol wants an explanation and Liz really wants the handcuff key. She's confused because Richard is totally not a vampire, so why did the deputies take him away? Liz is taking charge and not happy.
In the burning basement, Richard is waking up and Damon is just about managing to roll over. He has taken note of our esteemed Mayor's presence in said burning basement.
"Mayor. Is that you?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm a vampire. What's your excuse? No, really. The vervain didn't effect you. You're not a vampire. The hell are you?"
But Mayor Lockwood inches away from Damon and right into the arms of a vampire who would love to kill a founding family member and who gladly snaps his neck. Damon smiles a little at the sight.
After the car crash, Matt is checking on Caroline. She says that she's fine. Tyler is out cold. Matt goes over to him and Caroline takes an unsteady step backwards, unnoticed. When one of the EMTs opens Tyler's eyes, we get a really neat wolf-human eye transition effect. It's gorgeous. Tyler comes back to himself with a huge gasp. But then we see that Caroline has fallen to the ground and it's her turn to have people rush to her side.
Stefan and Elena are on a mission to find Damon. Stefan listens and he can hear the sound of the burning building and the vampires inside. Elena and Stefan confront John.
E: "Where's Damon?"
J: "With the rest of them. Where he should be. It's over for Damon."
E: "You're crazy."
J: "Why? Because I'm doing what should have been done a hundred and forty-five years ago? This is the right thing, Elena."
While Elena and John are having their talk, Stefan is twitching slightly, staring at the building where his brother might be burning to death. Oh, and Elena looks at John like she's staring at a crazy person. Like she's staring at someone who is casually committing murder. Wanting Damon dead is 'crazy', according to the Elena of 1x22 (and even when she is at her most pissed at him in S2, even when she's hating him, she never actively wants him dead - out of her life for a time, yes, but not dead).
Because, for Elena, Damon is a person. A massively screwed up person, but a person. To John, Damon is a monster. John has noticed the hungry way that Stefan is staring at the building that Damon is trapped in and tells him to go ahead - go ahead and die with his brother. He'll be saving John some time. Stefan asks Elena about another entrance and she suggests the utility door. Stefan heads off and Elena starts to follow, but John grabs her by the arm.
"Take one more step and I'll alert those deputies that they missed a vampire."
"I'm asking you not to."
"That doesn't mean anything to me."
"As my father, it should."
"You know."
"I wasn't sure. Now I am."
Man, it must suck for Elena that both of her birth parents are people that she doesn't really like very much. He's let go of her in the surprise of her revelation of knowledge - the weapon that John tries to wield against everyone else does work against him. Elena runs past, following Stefan.
Bonnie finds Stefan before he runs in the building and warns him not to go in.
"He's my brother, Bonnie," Stefan says, and he goes in. He finds the door inside, tests the hot handle. Elena catches up and is about to run inside the building when Bonnie grabs her.
"Elena! You can't go in there!"
"Bonnie, what are you doing?"
"I'm sorry I lied to you."
Still holding onto Elena's arm, Bonnie begins to chant, casting a spell that pulls down the flames. Elena is still trying to tug away so that she can go into the burning building, with Stefan, to save Damon.
Stefan tries the handle again and manages to open it this time. As Bonnie chants, the flames die down enough for Stefan to make it down the stairs to where his brother is. As soon as Stefan has Damon out, Bonnie brings the flames back, and the rest of the vampires die. Bonnie falls back a step or two, looking unsteady.
"Bonnie, what is it? Are they going to be okay?"
Just then Stefan makes it out the door with Damon. Elena rushes to them, relief very clear in every part of her.
In the aftermath (the firetrucks have arrived), Stefan finds Elena at the Grill. She tells him the official party line - bad wiring. Damon disappeared and neither Stefan nor Elena know where he went. Elena hugs Stefan and tells him how glad she is that he's okay.
"I try so hard to hate him. I guess it's just pointless."
"You care about him. So do I." Stefan nods and looks down, and Elena realizes that it's 'reassure the boyfriend' time. "But I love you, Stefan. I know that you're worried about that."
"I just... you know, I know my brother."
"But I love you, Stefan."
"I know the trouble he can cause."
"I love you, Stefan. You."
Insecurity, table of one. Stefan nods in response to Elena's words, but he's obviously still troubled. She tells him that he has nothing to worry about and he nods (he will continue worrying). Stefan knows his brother. He's spent years - decades - doing his level best to hate his brother, but he can't. He can't stop loving him and caring about him. Seeing Elena's concern for Damon this night was probably helpful on one level (he's not alone) but worrying on another (Stefan sees Damon as a viable rival in a way that he does not see Matt as one).
Elena lets Stefan know that Jenna called to say that Jeremy had made it back home safely.
Back at the house, Jeremy is staring at the vial of blood that Anna gave him. He puts it away and then is surprised when he sees Damon leaning against his door frame. This is where Damon went, when he disappeared post-dying. He went to go let Jeremy know about Anna. He went to apologize for Vicki. He went, in his own words, as a 'failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing'.
"What are you doing here?"
"Anna's dead."
"I figured that once they took her away."
"I know you cared about her."
"Yeah, I did."
"I saw her killed. I was watching and all I could think about was that... I wanted to help her. But I couldn't."
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"I took away your suffering once before. I can do it again. But it's your choice."
Oh, I'd forgotten about the details of this conversation. No wonder Jeremy does glom onto Damon in S2 (after the attempted murder following the neck-snap). Here Damon is treating him like he's an adult capable of making his own decisions. He does reach out and create an independent connection with Jeremy here.
"Look, I know you think you took it away, but it's still there. Even if I can't remember why, I still feel empty. Alone. And making me forget won't fix it. It won't fix what's really wrong."
"What I did to Vicki... was wrong. I'm sorry for my part."
"Anna said that vampires don't have to feel pain. That they could turn it off, if they shut out their humanity."
"It's very true."
"Is it easier that way?"
"Is what easier?"
"Life."
"Life sucks either way, Jeremy. At least if you're a vampire, you don't have to feel bad about it if you don't want to."
"Is that what you did?"
"I did it for... for a very long time. And life was a lot easier."
This conversation is amazing. I don't know how I could have forgotten all the details (oh, I know - because the Damon/'Elena' scene happened soon after and that completely wiped everything else from my head).
Damon's humanity is running at full-bore in this episode and then "The Return", culminating in his murder (attempted murder?) of Jeremy. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Empathy, fear, guilt, love, hope, and then complete, soul-killing pain, anger and despair. Over the course of only a couple of days (as "The Return" picks up where this episode leaves off), Damon goes through just about every emotion possible. And he's left with an agonizing, hopeless numbness that is still emotional and not the 'shut-off' that a young vampire is capable of.
Life was easier when he didn't have to feel. When he could kill people (like Vicki) and just not care. When it didn't matter if he hurt or if he hurt other people, because he could just shut it all off.
At the hospital, Tyler is apologizing to Matt for losing control of the car. They sit down together, and Liz arrives. The doctors don't know if Caroline is going to be okay. And then she has to go to Tyler and let him know that there's more he has to think about (and mourn) tonight. She tells him to call his mom regarding his father.
Jeremy drinks Anna's blood and takes Elena's left-over pills from the accident, chasing numbness in the form of the vampire shut-off switch.
Stefan runs into Bonnie as he leaves the Mystic Grill. She wants to talk.
"Elena is my best friend. Because she loves you, I couldn't let you or Damon die in that fire."
"I'm very grateful, Bonnie. I hope you know that."
"I do. But I hope you know that things have to change. Damon has to change."
"We both want the same thing."
"We both want to protect the people we care about. The difference is, for you, Damon is one of them. You saw what I was able to do tonight. I know who I am now. If Damon spills so much as one drop of innocent blood, I'll take him down. Even if I have to take you with him."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
"Let's hope it doesn't."
Bonnie is playing big dog on the playground - and she's putting up a very strong front. Stefan doesn't make any promises. He's willing to say that he wants Damon to change. He's willing to hope that it doesn't have to come down to a fight between Bonnie and the Salvatore brothers. But both of them are aware that Damon is someone that Stefan will run into a burning building to save. Hell, Stefan might well run into a burning building to die with his brother (And now I'm reminded of the Tams). It's the moments like this that I like Stefan's character the most. He's not lying to himself or anyone else in this moment - he will pick his brother over Bonnie. He will pick his brother over a random innocent life. That's ugly, but it's honest.
Katherine is walking up to the Gilbert house, hoping to score an invite. She's dressed up as Elena and has also stolen Elena's dress. The song 'Bloodstream' is starting up. How horrible, painfully perfect was this song for this scene?
Damon comes out the door and, of course, thinks that Katherine is Elena. Katherine is surprised to see Damon casually exiting Elena's house.
"What are you doing here?"
"A failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing."
"Which was...?"
"It's not important," Damon tells her. He wasn't talking to Jeremy in order to try to get in good with Elena. He was talking to Jeremy for Anna's sake and Jeremy's sake and for his own. He takes Elena's bag from Katherine. Katherine is watching him pretty intently, trying to figure this new version of Damon out.
"You know, I came to this town wanting to destroy it. Tonight, I... found myself wanting to protect it. How does that happen? I'm not a hero, Elena. I don't do good. It's not in me."
"Maybe it is," Katherine says, seeing something new.
Wake up
"No," Damon says. "No, that's reserved for my brother and you and Bonnie... even though she has every reason to hate me, still helped Stefan save me."
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"Because she did it for you. Which means that somewhere along the way, you decided that I was worth saving. And I wanted to... thank you for that."
"You're welcome."
Damon leans forward and kisses her on the cheek, gently. It reminds me (or, I will be reminded) of the kiss from "Rose". When he pulls away, he looks her over and she looks back, and he sees an invitation, and he leans in, slowly. Giving her plenty of time to back away. She doesn't. The first touching of lips is almost chaste, but it grows more passionate quickly.
I think I might have inhaled you
I can feel you behind my eyes
you've gotten into my bloodstream
I can feel you floating in me
The kiss is interrupted by Jenna opening the door. Jenna tells her to come inside, obviously not approving of the whole 'making out with boyfriend's older brother' thing. Damon is... obviously completely blown away by everything. Jenna wants to know what Elena is thinking but, of course, since it's Katherine, that's something of a useless question. She blows it off.
Damon is on the porch, and the remaking of his world is, at the moment, complete (and, in "The Return", it will be shattered anew, but when it reforms, Elena remains at the center). He touches his lips and I'm reminded (pre-minded?) of Katherine doing the same thing in "Memory Lane" when she recalls the last kiss that she gave Stefan.
Jeremy curls up in bed, waiting to die and to be reborn.
John is in the kitchen and is surprised by Katherine (still posing as Elena). Katherine immediately goes to play with the big knives. John decides that he wants to attempt to bond with Elena. Bad timing.
"You know, I first met Isobel as a teenager. I fell in love with her instantly, though I'm pretty sure she never loved me. She was special. Part of why I hate the vampires so much is because of what she became. How it ruined her. And I never would have sent her to Damon had I known she wanted to turn. It's my fault. I'm telling you this because I hope maybe you'd understand."
Katherine must be wondering what about Elena triggers spontaneous emotional confessions.
Man, these are two conversations that it would have been really good for Elena to have had. Okay, we wouldn't have gotten the gorgeous porch kiss, because Elena wouldn't have gone there, but... man, it sucks that the most naked and vulnerable either of these men have been by this point is to Katherine. Seriously.
So, Katherine chops his fingers off and then stabs him in the stomach. Yeah. The season ends on Elena heading toward her house, talking on the phone to Stefan about how someone stole her clothes.
Katherine is so hardcore.
Deaths:
1. John stakes Anna.
2. John, Mayor Lockwood, and the V5 deputies set the ten tomb vampires on fire. They are also responsible for Mayor Lockwood's death - if he hadn't been killed by the vampire, he might have died in the fire.
3. One of the tomb vampires kills Mayor Lockwood.
Damon's current kill count: 19
Stefan's current kill count: 6
Alaric: 3
Katherine: 2
John: 14
Isobel: 2
Vamp Bites:
No vampire bites this episode.
Damon's current bite count: 23
Katherine's current bite count: 4
Stefan's current bite count: 4
Anna: 2
Isobel: 2
Compelled:
No one is (yet) compelled.
Stefan's current compelling count: 7
Damon's current compelling count: 17
Katherine: 1
Isobel: 4
Bechdel:
1. Elena complains to Jenna about her old-fashioned dress hurting.
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 15 episodes, at least five weeks)
Timeline:
This episode takes place one month after 1x18 ("Under Control"). It takes place the day and night of Founders' Day. Time covered is 1 day/1 night.
Shirtless shots:
None.
Bonnie's Visions:
She gets a flash from one of the tomb vampires.
a) the show is coming back tomorrow! Yay! I'll finally be watching it live
and
b) schoolwork will ramp up over the course of the quarter.
I may do an overall post regarding season one this weekend. Depending on time constraints. Or I might write that post about vampires as a parasitic-predator vs witches and werewolves as mutations in the human genetic line. Or I might not have time to do either. Hard to say. Also, realized that Damon kinda reminds me of another character that I love - Ed from "Deep Wizardry" (awesome book, btw. Still my favorite of the Young Wizards series). If Damon were, you know. A shark. And a lot older.
This episode is incorrectly punctuated. I just felt the need to mention that. Okay, I'm good now.
Elena and Stefan are getting dressed up in 1864-ish clothes with the flashback vignette effect over them. But I know it isn't a flashback, so I won't get excessively excited. I do think it's interesting for them to decide to open this way, with something that could have been Katherine but was really Elena - it's a perfect bookend to Katherine dressing up as Elena at the end of the episode.
The first hint that the show gives that we're in 'now' is that Stefan is wearing his ring. And then Elena puts her necklace back on and complains about her dress. Jenna is not sympathetic.
All the different groups are gathering at Mystic Falls high school to get together and work out the parade stuff. Carol Lockwood is organizing. Damon comes up to Stefan and remarks on his Ye Olde Time outfit. Stefan wants to know why Damon is even there - I mean, it's not like Damon is a social creature and he's hanging around all the people in town that he knows including, incidentally, his brother and the woman that he's in love with. I mean, seriously, why not be there? He doesn't need a big ulterior motive, Stefan.
"I'm here to... eat cotton candy and steal your girl."
"Don't start with me, Damon."
"Oh, you started it, Stefan with that whole... 'I'm insecure, leave Elena alone' speech. I'm just enjoying that."
Or, you know, what Damon said. Ha. I love that Damon's approach to the whole 'okay, so my brother and his girlfriend know I'm in love with her' thing is to attempt to make a joke out of it and basically brazen his way out of it. That's basically how he makes friends, too.
He attempts to do the same thing with Elena post-Jeremy neck-snap, which doesn't go so well for him - actually just being around and being helpful and not randomly killing people works a lot better for him in that department (the first time in S2 that Elena softens her stance toward him is after he doesn't kill Liz).
"But don't worry. Elena is not Katherine."
"You're right. She's not."
Though, romantically, they're actually in exactly the same position (loving Stefan and not being in love with Damon). Which, if they're going for a thing where the doppelgängers are all cut from the same cloth, with nurture shifting some traits, is one thing. And if they aren't, it's another. It was an interesting choice for them, in S2, to have Katherine genuinely loving Stefan (in her own selfish and thoughtless way). It aligns Katherine and Elena much more closely together than if Katherine were just playing around with both Salvatore brothers.
Anyway, that this moment, Damon spots Elena and Stefan must immediately turn to see what has captured Damon's attention, so he also soon sees Elena - all dressed up like it's 1864. Stefan does her a quick up-down. Damon looks like someone hit him over the head with a frying pan. Elena curtsies in their direction.
Jeremy is getting dressed in his parade outfit. He's going as a soldier (for the battle re-enactment float). Anna shows up and Jeremy tells her how worried he's been about her. Jeremy can see both points of view - Anna's as a vampire and John as a hunter. Anna is a bit hurt that Jeremy can understand John's PoV. Of course, Jeremy thinks that John's motives are more noble than they are, because he doesn't understand all the complex issues at play right now - John didn't kill Pearl and Harper because he thought they were going to attack the town. He knew that they weren't. He killed them because he could, because he didn't need them, because he wanted them dead and probably Katherine wanted them dead, too.
The upshot is that Anna tells Jeremy that she's leaving Mystic Falls. She asks Jeremy to come with her. She gives him a vial of her blood so that he can decide for himself whether or not he wants to turn.
"I know what it's like for you - being alone, always feeling empty inside, no one to understand. But when you're a vampire, you don't have to feel that way. You can shut it off. I can show you how."
"I wanted to. I did. I don't think I can. I'm sorry."
But she's already gone.
The impulse, the reflex, in vampires is not to feel - Damon said. From what we've seen, it tends to shut off when overwhelming feelings are being felt, something that is preventing the vampire from going about his/her life. It can be overcome, but it's hard - and knowing that it's possible would make things easier. You don't have to feel the regret or the pain or the horror or the guilt - you can just put it up on a shelf for now. Given what horrible things humans can do without the ability to put away their emotions (and without a killing drive or a food drive that has been realigned to see humans as primary prey), vampire behavior isn't that surprising.
Stefan is now immediately telling Elena about John (well, Damon's around. He might tell Elena at any moment. Gotta cut off that possibility). Elena is... not exactly thrilled at the idea that her bio dad is some guy that she's never liked.
"I just wanted to tell you before Damon dropped it on you in some typically inappropriate way."
Yes, because Damon showed no concern for Elena's emotional well-being in the last episode. Stefan, you were there in the room where Damon got all sweet and told Elena that she shouldn't have to see her bio mom if she didn't want to. But Stefan always casts things in the best possible light for Stefan - here, he gets to remind Elena that he is the considerate brother (because if he'd been the one to discover that Uncle John was actually Uncle-Daddy John and Damon didn't know at all, I would put it at 50% likelihood that Stefan would have told her about it. Maybe less).
"I'm happy that you told me, I just really hope that it's not true."
Damon would have been snarky at this moment, which I think Elena would have actually appreciated because she doesn't, you know, like Uncle-Daddy John. Elena wants Stefan to tell her what to do. I have no idea why she thinks he has any idea how to confront hard truths about other people. This is Stefan, Elena. Stefan hides from hard truths. Elena has moved on to fretting about the part(s) of her family that she actually cares about - Jeremy. He hates her and she's sad about that. Stefan reassures her that Jeremy doesn't really hate her - he's hurt and confused. Elena is convinced that she's the only Gilbert that can forgive people. This is something that Stefan does have experience in - forgiving a sibling that's hurt you. And his feeling is: "He's your brother. He'll forgive you." Much more useful on this subject than on the subject of telling people the truth.
Bonnie is taking a picture of Caroline and Matt posing together. Tyler wanders up, and Caroline wants a picture with Bonnie, so Tyler volunteers to take it. Matt sulks off. Tyler is frustrated that Matt is still pissed off, so Caroline reminds him that it's a big something to make up. Caroline tried so hard to make them friends again - this adds an extra tragic note to the triangle of S2.
(speaking of, on a random note, I saw someone say that the Elena-Bonnie-Caroline friendship felt fake to them because 'they're all struggling over the same guys' - huh? This person was writing during the recent break, so Elena has Stefan and Damon in love with her; Bonnie has Luka and Jeremy interested; and Caroline has Tyler and Matt. There's zero current overlap. And there's never been much - by the time Caroline wanted Matt, Elena didn't anymore. By the time Damon started falling for Elena, Caroline had moved on from caring about him. So, yeah, that was such an odd thing for someone to say, because it's so completely not true. Also, wow, this show is interested in exploring triads of connections. Though Dawson's Creek was always pretty triangle-heavy, too)
Elena catches up to Jeremy. He doesn't want to talk to her.
"I don't want it to be like this between us."
"So, why don't you have Damon erase my memory again? Then I could go back to being your in-the-dark little brother."
"Jer, please."
"Just don't! You can't fix that this easily. Something like this doesn't just... get fixed."
You know what this reminds me of? Damon and Elena in S2. Someone huge and potentially unforgivable has been done and the person responsible is trying to push for immediate forgiveness. It takes time to forgive someone and it takes time to rebuild relationships and that rebuilding can take longer than the original building did, if the offense was bad enough.
The parade is starting. Drummers drumming. We have a marching band. The recreation of the Battle of Willow Creek. The Mystic Court. Bonnie is watching the parade and clapping as Caroline and Elena wave. Damon slides into view and waves at Elena - Elena rolls her eyes and glances at Stefan, then looks down and smiles just a little, waving to the crowd (her reaction is such a 'oh, you' type of thing. It's amusing).
Damon turns around to see Bonnie. She wants to know what he wants. He tells her 'thank you'.
"I did it for Elena," Bonnie says, which means that Elena is the person that she actively betrayed (she probably doesn't like to think of it that way).
"I know, but I'm still grateful and I owe you."
Basically, Damon is being genuinely sincere in his appreciation. Bonnie getting this moment may contribute to her deciding to help save Damon's life later in the episode.
It all relates to Damon's heart opening up again. For one hundred and forty-five years, he had a singular goal and object: save Katherine, be happy. Well, Katherine didn't need saving and she doesn't want him, so he was left without a purpose. He kinda flailed around for a while after losing the hope of Katherine, but his purpose has already found him. He infiltrated the council for the purpose of keeping the vampire hunters off his back, but has managed to get a friend and the respect of some important people in the town out of it. He managed to make friends with Elena and, by this point, Alaric, without either of them attempting to force him to change - he's just sorta drifted in the direction of being less murderous, first for practical reasons but part of him resisting because he knows that it won't help him with the people that he likes. And he's been able to get closer to Stefan again. Like he tells 'Elena' - he ended up actually wanting to protect Mystic Falls. He's come home - not just visiting, but actually settling back in for however long.
Inside the old Doctor's office of Grayson Gilbert, John is putting together the device (which will incapacitate vampires for long enough for the 'V5' deputies to vervain them, nab them, and stick them in the basement so that they can be set on fire), under the curious eyes of Mayor Lockwood. We see cuts between the vampires planning the attack and John planning the counter attack. It's all about revenge on the founding families. Mayor Lockwood is concerned about their families getting hurt (especially since they are essentially being used as bait). Anna walks into the meeting of the tomb vampires.
At the Grill, Damon spots Elena coming in. She's dressed as herself now, but he's just as struck by her as he was earlier. He actually has to shake it off before he can go talk to her.
I was only looking for a shortcut home
"I like you better like this," he tells her. "Period look... it didn't suit you."
"Is that an insult?"
"Actually, Elena, it is a compliment of the highest order."
"Look, I know Stefan is worried about our friendship."
"Did he mention something to you, too?"
"No, did he mention something to you?"
"No. Nothing worth repeating."
"So, I think you should stop with the flirty little comments and that eye-thing that you do."
"What eye thing?"
"Don't make me regret being your friend, okay?"
Elena does try very hard to set boundaries here. Damon's flirtiness makes Stefan insecure, and she doesn't want that, so she wants Damon to stop that and just be her friend. She tries so hard to set boundaries and then, at the end of the episode, Katherine lets Damon feel like his emotions are reciprocated. He spends most of "The Return" obsessing over the kiss and then the fact that it isn't Elena and that he wanted it to be and he really does want, so desperately, for the feelings that he felt at the end of "Founder's Day" to be validated. The kiss itself screws him up, learning that it was really Katherine screws him up even more. And, as Elena says, then he does something stupid (and hurtful and wrong).
Elena goes over to try to talk to her brother again. She wants to fix things and she loves him. She just wants to know what she can do to fix things. He tells her to 'go to hell' and walks out. Damon follows him out.
"I have so many emotions but I don't have any way to express them. Being a teenager's so hard."
Ha.
"Dick."
"You do not talk to me like that. I am not your sister and, from now on, don't talk to your sister that way either."
"So, you're gonna kill me just because I hurt Elena's feelings?"
"Cut her some slack."
"She erased my memories."
"No, I did. She was protecting you."
"It wasn't her call to make. Let go of me before I cause a scene."
"You'd be unconscious before you got a word out."
Stefan walks into the conversation at this point, telling Damon to let Jeremy go. He tells Jeremy that he shouldn't blame Elena and that he's sorry - Jeremy remains stuck on not wanting his memory to have been erased and he walks off. Then Stefan turns around on Damon - he is not happy that Damon is concerning himself with Elena's relationship with her brother. Stefan tells Damon that he's not doing this for the right reasons.
"It's only real when it comes from your desire to do the right thing, for nothing in return."
I think this is the thing that gets me about Stefan. He's not a hero. He's basically an okay guy, who has both virtues and faults. And you know, there's nothing wrong with being an okay guy but it's not... Stefan just makes such a big deal over his superiority and I don't see it.
This is partly the fault of the universe that he lives in - dangers tend to be personal ones and not things that could end the world. The scope that he's working in is much smaller than, say, the scope that Angel is working on in the Jossverse. But then again, when Angel was talking about 'doing the right thing' he meant... going out and actively saving lives pretty much every night. Whereas Stefan basically talks about his pure heart like he's saving kittens from trees every day, but he's pretty much concerned with protecting Elena and her friends. Maybe he does it with a purer heart than Damon does; can't crack open his chest and take a look - but, again... it's not like he's out there trying to help the hopeless. He's going to high school. So that he can hook up with a girl more than a hundred years younger than he is. I'm pretty sure that's fairly low on the list of 'noble deeds'. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Now, the whole moonstone plot could go in the direction of 'heroic worldsaving' (because the curses being lifted could affect the rest of the world in a major way) but it hasn't, yet. I'm not sure if it will, because the theme of the show as a whole tends toward the 'protecting your own' model rather than 'reaching out and helping others' model that Buffy used.
So, yes, I apparently needed three paragraphs to talk about how Stefan isn't Angel. Amusingly enough, I actually do like Stefan more than I (mostly) liked Angel (though I did start loving the big lug after he erased Connor's memory in S4). Angel really was so much more broody than Stefan is. But Angel was also a hero, if one who got tarnished sometimes. And Stefan... isn't.
Just... if Stefan is going to use the vocabulary of a hero, I expect more from him than just being a mostly decent guy who wants to live a quiet, ordinary life.
Anyway, in this context, Stefan feels that him arguing for Jeremy to forgive Elena is somehow more noble than Damon doing the exact same thing. Because he's assuming that Damon is doing it as a way of hooking up with Elena and that can't be a motive for Stefan because he already is hooking up with Elena?
From over here, it looks like they had the same damn motivation to me - they like Elena and don't want her to hurt, so they want to influence her brother to be nicer to her. Stefan went about it in a more polite way, but that's method and not motive. If Jeremy were Stefan's primary concern, he would have spoken to Jeremy as soon as he knew that Jeremy had found out the truth and not waited until after Damon was already talking to him. Elena is Stefan's primary concern, same as with Damon. Dressing it up in prettier language doesn't change that.
Anyway, it's just a patronizing little moment that seems more about Stefan trying to get one over on Damon than anything else.
Sheriff Forbes is meeting with John and Mayor Lockwood. You know, if anyone in this show actually deserving of being known as having a heroic character, it would be Liz. She's a genuinely good, brave, self-sacrificing person. She doesn't buy into the idea that using their families as bait can be justified. She's not the best mother in the world (mostly through not being very attentive and also for not being the most tactful person ever - which is a trait Caroline inherited), but she does genuinely love her daughter, enough that (unlike Mr. Salvatore), she's able to get past her feelings about vampires for her daughter's sake (oh! And Alaric might qualify, too, now that I think about it. Alaric and Liz).
Here, she's the only member of the trio not going, 'yay, putting our children and our town at risk for the sake of getting the vampires is awesome'. In fact, they even knew that she would react that way, so they went over her head and already told the V5 (vampire-aware) deputies about the plan. When Liz won't agree, John asks Mayor Lockwood to step out. He bashes her over the head when her back is turned and handcuffs her to her plumbing.
It's the night of Founders' Day and Damon is wandering around the party, clearly on edge already, when he runs into Anna. She doesn't make his night better when she takes him to the side to tell him that the tomb vampires are planning to attack the Founding Families that night when the fireworks go off. She knows because she went spying and they think she's on their side. She tells Damon that the vampires want the founding families dead - as both of them are vampires in love with Gilberts, this is relevant to their interests. He tells Anna about the invention and also that "it doesn't work" - Anna doesn't think that's any better. Damon wants more info. She lets him know that the vampires are already arriving.
We cut to a quick scene of the head tomb vampire explaining matters to the troops. Seems like an opportune time for a headcount! 10 vampires - 9 male and 1 female. Huh. Interesting ratio. Anyway, it's not about feeding, but about killing. And off they go.
Damon is a vampire on a mission - first, he snags Alaric. No personal space bubble for Damon. He asks if Alaric brought his vampire weapons along today. Ric totally doesn't go anywhere without them. Damon tells him to go get them.
He spots Elena and Stefan next - walking hand in hand. Damon grabs Elena's hand and cradles it to his chest. Elena is like 'huh?' and Stefan is like 'wtf?'
D: "What are you doing?"
E: "Saving your life"
D: "Fifteen words or less: Tomb vamps are here. Founding families are the target. Get her out of here. Now."
S: "Wait - wait, where are you going?"
D: "That's more than fifteen words, Stefan."
Damon was totally resisting the urge to kiss Elena's hand during that conversation. He doesn't know how many vampires there are - he could die tonight. And he delegates Stefan to getting Elena (one of the primary targets of the vampires) out of the line of fire so that he (and Alaric) can take care of things.
Stefan is still going, 'huh?' but Elena is busy thinking like a big sister. Jeremy is in danger. The two of them go off to find the baby brother.
Matt and Caroline are watching Tyler play pool. Caroline tells Matt a story about a time when she and Bonnie had a horrible fight. Matt picks up her subtext and asks her to just... not, please. She sighs and sits back. Mayor Lockwood comes into the Grill. He'd told Tyler to go home earlier - yes, Mayor Lockwood had made an exception for his own kid. Everyone else's kids, we can risk, but Tyler he tried to send home earlier. Like I said above - protection of your own is a huge theme in this show. When Tyler is all 'whatever' at his dad, Richard takes him by the elbow and Tyler yanks his arm away.
Caroline pops up to distract the Mayor and Matt comes up from the other side, the two of them showing Mayor Lockwood that Tyler does not lack support. This time, Richard asks Tyler to go home. He suggests that Matt and Caroline go along (extension to friendships when noted). Matt wants to know what's up, but he won't tell them why, just that they need to leave. Tyler agrees and Richard gives him the keys to Richard's car, which is right out back.
Anna runs into Jeremy and hauls him into the women's restroom to talk to him in private.
Lots of talk from the podium about how awesome the founding families are. This town is so obsessed (well, the families have such a stranglehold on the town). The fireworks are about to go off. It's show time.
John is given the signal, the fireworks start, and the Lockwoods (hand in hand) attempt to leave the stage as quickly yet calmly and sedately as possible. Bonnie, walking along in the crowd, brushes by one of the vampires. She realizes that something is up and follows him. Stefan and Elena are still hurrying along, trying to find Jeremy.
Damon bursts into Grayson's old office and finds John there.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."
As Damon is heading toward him, John puts the key component into the device, and Damon grabs his head, falling to his knees. Outside, Stefan falls, too. A horrible pain in their heads. Yep, I'm going to guess it's a noise that triggers a bottled brain-aneurysm spell, such as the Bennett witches enjoy inflicting on supernaturals in order to level the playing field.
In the bathroom, Anna is cringing in agony. We get flashes of our three sympathetic vampires in pain, then we see the device again, and now the vampires on the crowd start falling. As they hit the ground, the deputies find them and jab them with a syringe of refined vervain. John, of course, shoots Damon up.
On the road, Tyler begins to hear the noise, too. He can't drive, the car swerving erratically as he clutches at his head. They crash into a fence.
Outside, one of the deputies is heading for Stefan and Elena when Alaric heads him off and sends him in another direction, hurrying over to help Stefan up. Alaric lets Elena know that the cops are injecting all the fallen with vervain.
The Mayor has fallen, too, and is quickly injected (he, incidentally, is bleeding from the ear - probably because he's not a triggered, functional werewolf, so he doesn't have quite the healing factor that Mason would in this situation). Two deputies comes into the bathroom and collect Anna from Jeremy. One of them holds him back while the other drags Anna away (after injecting her).
After the device is finished, John removes the key and puts it back in its round holder. He takes that part with him as he goes down to the basement where the vampires are being held. One of the deputies starts pouring gasoline on the downed vampires. As John starts to walk away, Anna manages to grab his ankle. Damon manages to turn toward the sound of John saying Anna's name, so he watches what happens next.
He watches as John sends the deputy away and stakes Anna. Oh, man, it was hard to see her die again. I'd gotten even more attached to her this time around.
John gets back to splashing gasoline around, heading up the stairs and still pouring a trail down. At the top of the stairs, John sets a fire and it races down. Damon had to be certain that he would die at this point. Vervained and about to be set on fire.
Stefan is starting to recover from the agonizing head pain. Alaric lets Elena and Stefan know where the vampires were taken to - her family's old doctor office. Stefan realizes that it has to have been the Gilbert device that felled them. Elena can't even consider that Bonnie lied to her, but Alaric doesn't have a problem believing it (given the evidence).
S: "We asked Bonnie to deactivate a device that could protect people from vampires."
E: "So we could protect you."
S: "And Damon. Vampires." Elena starts to get an 'oh, shit' look. "Where's Damon?"
Alaric doesn't know. Elena asks Alaric to go find Jeremy - she and Stefan have someone else to look for, now.
Carol gets back to the office and finds Sheriff Forbes handcuffed there. Carol wants an explanation and Liz really wants the handcuff key. She's confused because Richard is totally not a vampire, so why did the deputies take him away? Liz is taking charge and not happy.
In the burning basement, Richard is waking up and Damon is just about managing to roll over. He has taken note of our esteemed Mayor's presence in said burning basement.
"Mayor. Is that you?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm a vampire. What's your excuse? No, really. The vervain didn't effect you. You're not a vampire. The hell are you?"
But Mayor Lockwood inches away from Damon and right into the arms of a vampire who would love to kill a founding family member and who gladly snaps his neck. Damon smiles a little at the sight.
After the car crash, Matt is checking on Caroline. She says that she's fine. Tyler is out cold. Matt goes over to him and Caroline takes an unsteady step backwards, unnoticed. When one of the EMTs opens Tyler's eyes, we get a really neat wolf-human eye transition effect. It's gorgeous. Tyler comes back to himself with a huge gasp. But then we see that Caroline has fallen to the ground and it's her turn to have people rush to her side.
Stefan and Elena are on a mission to find Damon. Stefan listens and he can hear the sound of the burning building and the vampires inside. Elena and Stefan confront John.
E: "Where's Damon?"
J: "With the rest of them. Where he should be. It's over for Damon."
E: "You're crazy."
J: "Why? Because I'm doing what should have been done a hundred and forty-five years ago? This is the right thing, Elena."
While Elena and John are having their talk, Stefan is twitching slightly, staring at the building where his brother might be burning to death. Oh, and Elena looks at John like she's staring at a crazy person. Like she's staring at someone who is casually committing murder. Wanting Damon dead is 'crazy', according to the Elena of 1x22 (and even when she is at her most pissed at him in S2, even when she's hating him, she never actively wants him dead - out of her life for a time, yes, but not dead).
Because, for Elena, Damon is a person. A massively screwed up person, but a person. To John, Damon is a monster. John has noticed the hungry way that Stefan is staring at the building that Damon is trapped in and tells him to go ahead - go ahead and die with his brother. He'll be saving John some time. Stefan asks Elena about another entrance and she suggests the utility door. Stefan heads off and Elena starts to follow, but John grabs her by the arm.
"Take one more step and I'll alert those deputies that they missed a vampire."
"I'm asking you not to."
"That doesn't mean anything to me."
"As my father, it should."
"You know."
"I wasn't sure. Now I am."
Man, it must suck for Elena that both of her birth parents are people that she doesn't really like very much. He's let go of her in the surprise of her revelation of knowledge - the weapon that John tries to wield against everyone else does work against him. Elena runs past, following Stefan.
Bonnie finds Stefan before he runs in the building and warns him not to go in.
"He's my brother, Bonnie," Stefan says, and he goes in. He finds the door inside, tests the hot handle. Elena catches up and is about to run inside the building when Bonnie grabs her.
"Elena! You can't go in there!"
"Bonnie, what are you doing?"
"I'm sorry I lied to you."
Still holding onto Elena's arm, Bonnie begins to chant, casting a spell that pulls down the flames. Elena is still trying to tug away so that she can go into the burning building, with Stefan, to save Damon.
Stefan tries the handle again and manages to open it this time. As Bonnie chants, the flames die down enough for Stefan to make it down the stairs to where his brother is. As soon as Stefan has Damon out, Bonnie brings the flames back, and the rest of the vampires die. Bonnie falls back a step or two, looking unsteady.
"Bonnie, what is it? Are they going to be okay?"
Just then Stefan makes it out the door with Damon. Elena rushes to them, relief very clear in every part of her.
In the aftermath (the firetrucks have arrived), Stefan finds Elena at the Grill. She tells him the official party line - bad wiring. Damon disappeared and neither Stefan nor Elena know where he went. Elena hugs Stefan and tells him how glad she is that he's okay.
"I try so hard to hate him. I guess it's just pointless."
"You care about him. So do I." Stefan nods and looks down, and Elena realizes that it's 'reassure the boyfriend' time. "But I love you, Stefan. I know that you're worried about that."
"I just... you know, I know my brother."
"But I love you, Stefan."
"I know the trouble he can cause."
"I love you, Stefan. You."
Insecurity, table of one. Stefan nods in response to Elena's words, but he's obviously still troubled. She tells him that he has nothing to worry about and he nods (he will continue worrying). Stefan knows his brother. He's spent years - decades - doing his level best to hate his brother, but he can't. He can't stop loving him and caring about him. Seeing Elena's concern for Damon this night was probably helpful on one level (he's not alone) but worrying on another (Stefan sees Damon as a viable rival in a way that he does not see Matt as one).
Elena lets Stefan know that Jenna called to say that Jeremy had made it back home safely.
Back at the house, Jeremy is staring at the vial of blood that Anna gave him. He puts it away and then is surprised when he sees Damon leaning against his door frame. This is where Damon went, when he disappeared post-dying. He went to go let Jeremy know about Anna. He went to apologize for Vicki. He went, in his own words, as a 'failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing'.
"What are you doing here?"
"Anna's dead."
"I figured that once they took her away."
"I know you cared about her."
"Yeah, I did."
"I saw her killed. I was watching and all I could think about was that... I wanted to help her. But I couldn't."
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"I took away your suffering once before. I can do it again. But it's your choice."
Oh, I'd forgotten about the details of this conversation. No wonder Jeremy does glom onto Damon in S2 (after the attempted murder following the neck-snap). Here Damon is treating him like he's an adult capable of making his own decisions. He does reach out and create an independent connection with Jeremy here.
"Look, I know you think you took it away, but it's still there. Even if I can't remember why, I still feel empty. Alone. And making me forget won't fix it. It won't fix what's really wrong."
"What I did to Vicki... was wrong. I'm sorry for my part."
"Anna said that vampires don't have to feel pain. That they could turn it off, if they shut out their humanity."
"It's very true."
"Is it easier that way?"
"Is what easier?"
"Life."
"Life sucks either way, Jeremy. At least if you're a vampire, you don't have to feel bad about it if you don't want to."
"Is that what you did?"
"I did it for... for a very long time. And life was a lot easier."
This conversation is amazing. I don't know how I could have forgotten all the details (oh, I know - because the Damon/'Elena' scene happened soon after and that completely wiped everything else from my head).
Damon's humanity is running at full-bore in this episode and then "The Return", culminating in his murder (attempted murder?) of Jeremy. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Empathy, fear, guilt, love, hope, and then complete, soul-killing pain, anger and despair. Over the course of only a couple of days (as "The Return" picks up where this episode leaves off), Damon goes through just about every emotion possible. And he's left with an agonizing, hopeless numbness that is still emotional and not the 'shut-off' that a young vampire is capable of.
Life was easier when he didn't have to feel. When he could kill people (like Vicki) and just not care. When it didn't matter if he hurt or if he hurt other people, because he could just shut it all off.
At the hospital, Tyler is apologizing to Matt for losing control of the car. They sit down together, and Liz arrives. The doctors don't know if Caroline is going to be okay. And then she has to go to Tyler and let him know that there's more he has to think about (and mourn) tonight. She tells him to call his mom regarding his father.
Jeremy drinks Anna's blood and takes Elena's left-over pills from the accident, chasing numbness in the form of the vampire shut-off switch.
Stefan runs into Bonnie as he leaves the Mystic Grill. She wants to talk.
"Elena is my best friend. Because she loves you, I couldn't let you or Damon die in that fire."
"I'm very grateful, Bonnie. I hope you know that."
"I do. But I hope you know that things have to change. Damon has to change."
"We both want the same thing."
"We both want to protect the people we care about. The difference is, for you, Damon is one of them. You saw what I was able to do tonight. I know who I am now. If Damon spills so much as one drop of innocent blood, I'll take him down. Even if I have to take you with him."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
"Let's hope it doesn't."
Bonnie is playing big dog on the playground - and she's putting up a very strong front. Stefan doesn't make any promises. He's willing to say that he wants Damon to change. He's willing to hope that it doesn't have to come down to a fight between Bonnie and the Salvatore brothers. But both of them are aware that Damon is someone that Stefan will run into a burning building to save. Hell, Stefan might well run into a burning building to die with his brother (And now I'm reminded of the Tams). It's the moments like this that I like Stefan's character the most. He's not lying to himself or anyone else in this moment - he will pick his brother over Bonnie. He will pick his brother over a random innocent life. That's ugly, but it's honest.
Katherine is walking up to the Gilbert house, hoping to score an invite. She's dressed up as Elena and has also stolen Elena's dress. The song 'Bloodstream' is starting up. How horrible, painfully perfect was this song for this scene?
Damon comes out the door and, of course, thinks that Katherine is Elena. Katherine is surprised to see Damon casually exiting Elena's house.
"What are you doing here?"
"A failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing."
"Which was...?"
"It's not important," Damon tells her. He wasn't talking to Jeremy in order to try to get in good with Elena. He was talking to Jeremy for Anna's sake and Jeremy's sake and for his own. He takes Elena's bag from Katherine. Katherine is watching him pretty intently, trying to figure this new version of Damon out.
"You know, I came to this town wanting to destroy it. Tonight, I... found myself wanting to protect it. How does that happen? I'm not a hero, Elena. I don't do good. It's not in me."
"Maybe it is," Katherine says, seeing something new.
Wake up
"No," Damon says. "No, that's reserved for my brother and you and Bonnie... even though she has every reason to hate me, still helped Stefan save me."
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"Because she did it for you. Which means that somewhere along the way, you decided that I was worth saving. And I wanted to... thank you for that."
"You're welcome."
Damon leans forward and kisses her on the cheek, gently. It reminds me (or, I will be reminded) of the kiss from "Rose". When he pulls away, he looks her over and she looks back, and he sees an invitation, and he leans in, slowly. Giving her plenty of time to back away. She doesn't. The first touching of lips is almost chaste, but it grows more passionate quickly.
I think I might have inhaled you
I can feel you behind my eyes
you've gotten into my bloodstream
I can feel you floating in me
The kiss is interrupted by Jenna opening the door. Jenna tells her to come inside, obviously not approving of the whole 'making out with boyfriend's older brother' thing. Damon is... obviously completely blown away by everything. Jenna wants to know what Elena is thinking but, of course, since it's Katherine, that's something of a useless question. She blows it off.
Damon is on the porch, and the remaking of his world is, at the moment, complete (and, in "The Return", it will be shattered anew, but when it reforms, Elena remains at the center). He touches his lips and I'm reminded (pre-minded?) of Katherine doing the same thing in "Memory Lane" when she recalls the last kiss that she gave Stefan.
Jeremy curls up in bed, waiting to die and to be reborn.
John is in the kitchen and is surprised by Katherine (still posing as Elena). Katherine immediately goes to play with the big knives. John decides that he wants to attempt to bond with Elena. Bad timing.
"You know, I first met Isobel as a teenager. I fell in love with her instantly, though I'm pretty sure she never loved me. She was special. Part of why I hate the vampires so much is because of what she became. How it ruined her. And I never would have sent her to Damon had I known she wanted to turn. It's my fault. I'm telling you this because I hope maybe you'd understand."
Katherine must be wondering what about Elena triggers spontaneous emotional confessions.
Man, these are two conversations that it would have been really good for Elena to have had. Okay, we wouldn't have gotten the gorgeous porch kiss, because Elena wouldn't have gone there, but... man, it sucks that the most naked and vulnerable either of these men have been by this point is to Katherine. Seriously.
So, Katherine chops his fingers off and then stabs him in the stomach. Yeah. The season ends on Elena heading toward her house, talking on the phone to Stefan about how someone stole her clothes.
Katherine is so hardcore.
1. John stakes Anna.
2. John, Mayor Lockwood, and the V5 deputies set the ten tomb vampires on fire. They are also responsible for Mayor Lockwood's death - if he hadn't been killed by the vampire, he might have died in the fire.
3. One of the tomb vampires kills Mayor Lockwood.
Damon's current kill count: 19
Stefan's current kill count: 6
Alaric: 3
Katherine: 2
John: 14
Isobel: 2
No vampire bites this episode.
Damon's current bite count: 23
Katherine's current bite count: 4
Stefan's current bite count: 4
Anna: 2
Isobel: 2
No one is (yet) compelled.
Stefan's current compelling count: 7
Damon's current compelling count: 17
Katherine: 1
Isobel: 4
1. Elena complains to Jenna about her old-fashioned dress hurting.
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 15 episodes, at least five weeks)
This episode takes place one month after 1x18 ("Under Control"). It takes place the day and night of Founders' Day. Time covered is 1 day/1 night.
None.
She gets a flash from one of the tomb vampires.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-27 06:40 pm (UTC)He has TOLD Elena that he did things in order to get Katherine that he isn't proud of and that he did things to his brother that weren't nice, and yet here he is acting the part of the jealous boyfriend and then having the gall to lecture Damon when he does whatever he thinks will protect Elena - and not doing any better.
Stefan likes to avoid the truth as much as possible. Damon will shove it in your face - the bit about cotton candy and stealing Stefan's girlfriend, and he will laugh it off, because if people don't think something matters, or they think you might be kidding, it won't hurt when you don't get what you want.
Yep, that's a strategy that Damon has been honing ever since he was a kid and their father doted on Stefan instead of Damon.
I want to know how old they were when their mother died and how much she was like both of them, because I cannot imagine she would have stood for the treatment of her boys, either one of them, and another woman in that house wouldn't have tolerated Katherine's presence.
She may have been able to fool Papa Salvatore for a time, but another woman would have had to be compelled heavily, otherwise she would have said 'waitaminute here, missy.'
I liked the kids dressing up for Founders Day because you had them not knowing just how much of a lie that battle was, and being about to reenact it, and then the brothers, who were there- how weird must it have been for them to deal with seeing that all over again?
I noticed that Stefan dressed up in almost period attire but Damon didn't.
And, I think he had a few thoughts about the soldiers and the floats. :)
But then there is Bonnie, who tries to draw lines for herself, and then steps over them, which is definitely grounds for her to feel guilty. She has a lot of power, and it's impressive, but what I am liking in the current season is her having to come to terms with the fact that yes, she lives in a jungle, and sometimes you have to let the wolves be, because there are other wolves out there and they don't have *any* loyalties whatsoever.
Plus, all witches and warlocks are not trustworthy. It's enough to make her want to avoid dating, or just figure out some sort of truth spell - we need to know if compulsion works on witches - if Bonnie doesn't find one, she may just have that in the residence survey 'have you ever wanted to harm innocent people and/or screw over the current players in this town?'
John is an ASS. He is just so SHOCKED that Elena doesn't want to listen to him and that she has no respect for what he's doing - both of her birth parents say they care for her, and yet the aggressive ignorance tack they take leads both Elena and Jeremy into the company of the Salvatores - actually that is where MOST of the kids in this town end up.
Shockingly the vampires, Damon in particular, will tell you what's going on, and they aren't going to lie to you because they think 'kids are so precious they shouldn't know there are monsters out there that might eat them.'
Yes, that's a TERRIFIC strategy, see how well that's worked out. *facepalms*
Liz, especially, but she is still so awesome and take-charge.
I liked the scene with the Mayor, Tyler, Matt and Caroline because it was another example of a pack not based on blood protecting its own. *cuddles them*
Also Elena and Stefan almost carrying Damon out of that building. There was a lot of 'omg, you are okay' touching. *pets* As well as in the scene where Damon takes Elena's hand before he goes off to 'DEFEND THE TOWN.' Which he never expected that he'd do.
That was very smart tactically - get your loved ones OUT of the line of fire.
What John did was so utterly stupid because while it took the tomb vampires out of commision, it also hurt those vampires who were not actively harming anyone and who were in fact moving to defend their territory and their people. Way to go, Uncle John.
Anna. *sadface* I REALLY liked her.
What you said about Damon and Jeremy is just what I was thinking about - earlier Damon smacks Jeremy down, which he doesn't appreciate, but it's warranted, and then he comes to Jeremy, talks to him, SHARES, and ANSWERS QUESTIONS FRANKLY. From that point, even though Damon kills him later, Jeremy thinks 'huh, so this guy is kind of a jerk, and YET, he is one that TELLS ME STUFF.' You could practically see him go *hearteyes* over Damon. Truth telling and boundary setting. *coughs* A bit like what Katherine did with Damon back in the day? Indeed, but without the betrayal.
Damon is more inclined to nurture his pack, even if it's in ways they don't always understand - but for a vampire, it's all very much in line with 'be well informed, don't do anything stupid, and I will not have to knock you on your ass because you are being a noble moron.'
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-28 05:09 am (UTC)Stefan is hilariously bad at not learning from the past for the most part.
I want to know how old they were when their mother died and how much she was like both of them, because I cannot imagine she would have stood for the treatment of her boys, either one of them, and another woman in that house wouldn't have tolerated Katherine's presence.
I want to know this so badly!
John is an ASS. He is just so SHOCKED that Elena doesn't want to listen to him and that she has no respect for what he's doing - both of her birth parents say they care for her, and yet the aggressive ignorance tack they take leads both Elena and Jeremy into the company of the Salvatores - actually that is where MOST of the kids in this town end up.
Ha, yes.
I liked the scene with the Mayor, Tyler, Matt and Caroline because it was another example of a pack not based on blood protecting its own. *cuddles them*
Yes. I really hope that the new triangle doesn't ruin the awesome of Tyler-Matt-Caroline.
What John did was so utterly stupid because while it took the tomb vampires out of commision, it also hurt those vampires who were not actively harming anyone and who were in fact moving to defend their territory and their people. Way to go, Uncle John.
Yeah, that's his hate for vampires blinding him to what's tactically a better idea.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-28 05:25 am (UTC)If Damon gets bitten because Stefan WANDERS into a den of werewolves.. I will be utterly disgusted.
I know! We don't know ANYTHING about their mom, and I want to KNOW STUFF. NOW! *is demanding*
I think that Salvatores might have a bit of word of mouth going soon 'if you think stuff is kind of weird and your parents aren't listening, drop by.' Seriously, they could start a halfway house for disillusioned and supernaturally gifted kids. *giggles*
I am concerned that Jules is going to do a lot to mess up the trio, in that Tyler will trust another werewolf over a friend who was trying to protect him and hey, why not tell Matt what's going on too?
Which is why I hope that John will listen to reason this time around. Otherwise he isn't going to get ANYWHERE with this group. He isn't the boss, he has to get used to that idea.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-28 05:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-28 05:28 am (UTC)Although he didn't get to explain it to HER, at least he tried to tell SOMEBODY that he has reasons for his hatred of vampires.
We shall see.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-28 05:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-28 05:32 am (UTC)Mmm, and Elena cares about a couple of these dangerous, charming, powerful people, and vice versa. They're a pack, a family, and if he wants to be counted in any way as something besides a 'liability' he has to prove himself first.