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butterflyDamon's characterization didn't bother me in this episode and it seems to have really bothered some people. So, I thought I'd walk through and talk about why he worked for me.
It's about an imminent threat. Damon does not enjoy being threatened. While we've seen him being to deal with his impulsiveness issues and not killing people because he's upset, that doesn't mean that he's going to start tolerating dangerous threats any better.
So, Damon was annoyed and he wanted Alaric out of his way. He honestly didn't think that it was something that would harm their friendship (as judging by how he behaved with Alaric afterwards). Which is... short-sighted of him and shows that he and Alaric had equally large blind spots about the nature of their friendship, I think. Damon wasn't killing Alaric because he was hurt and lashing out - he was getting Alaric out of his way so that he could go after a threat and he was pissed off that he needed to. Of course, to Ric, this was the person that he'd believed was a good friend of his deciding to snap his neck. Which brought it home to Ric how far he'd drifted from the man that he was when he first came to Mystic Falls.
This episode really brought it home to everyone involved that Damon is not operating out of the same sense of morality that they are. Damon's primary drive right now is to protect his people. And he tends to accomplish his goals with as much ruthlessness as he feels that they require. Bill was willing to torture his own daughter. Compulsion didn't work on him. From Damon's point of view, Bill is a huge threat with an easy solution.
I mean, I didn't shed any tears over Stefan eating Giuseppe Salvatore. I get why Caroline doesn't want Damon to kill or hurt her dad, but as an outside viewer... the man tortured his own daughter and planned to keep it up until he convinced her body to starve itself rather than suffer his torture anymore. Sorry, Caroline, but I wasn't shedding any tears over Damon attacking him. You love your dad, but he only loves you if you're the 'right' kind of daughter, so I can't love him for your sake.
So, for me, everything made sense because it all seemed to come primarily from Damon wanting to eliminate a threat. And he was pissed off that his compulsion didn't work on Bill. Plus, the two people that he's trying to tell about the danger that he now feels that he's in (Elena and Alaric) blow him off and tell him that Bill's ideas are good ones - Damon's been surviving by compromising the council since he first got into the town and vervain in the water supply would... not be fun for him. He's trying to tell them, "hey, I feel threatened here" and they're telling him that they're not on his side. It's the scene on the lawn that led to the scene inside the house, where Damon gets so frustrated at Elena (who is, of course, pissed off at him as well).
Now, is what Damon did 'right' from a more objective (or a more human-based subjective) view? No. It's not a nice thing to hurt your friend, even if you know it isn't going to be permanent. But it made perfect sense to me as something that Damon would do. I mean, look how baffled he is at the end when Alaric takes it personal that Damon snapped his neck. He was not trying to break his friendship with Alaric. I think there's a high chance that he wouldn't have temporarily killed Alaric if he'd realized that it could ruin their friendship.
I don't know, everything Damon did in this episode just made sense to me when I was watching it.
It's about an imminent threat. Damon does not enjoy being threatened. While we've seen him being to deal with his impulsiveness issues and not killing people because he's upset, that doesn't mean that he's going to start tolerating dangerous threats any better.
So, Damon was annoyed and he wanted Alaric out of his way. He honestly didn't think that it was something that would harm their friendship (as judging by how he behaved with Alaric afterwards). Which is... short-sighted of him and shows that he and Alaric had equally large blind spots about the nature of their friendship, I think. Damon wasn't killing Alaric because he was hurt and lashing out - he was getting Alaric out of his way so that he could go after a threat and he was pissed off that he needed to. Of course, to Ric, this was the person that he'd believed was a good friend of his deciding to snap his neck. Which brought it home to Ric how far he'd drifted from the man that he was when he first came to Mystic Falls.
This episode really brought it home to everyone involved that Damon is not operating out of the same sense of morality that they are. Damon's primary drive right now is to protect his people. And he tends to accomplish his goals with as much ruthlessness as he feels that they require. Bill was willing to torture his own daughter. Compulsion didn't work on him. From Damon's point of view, Bill is a huge threat with an easy solution.
I mean, I didn't shed any tears over Stefan eating Giuseppe Salvatore. I get why Caroline doesn't want Damon to kill or hurt her dad, but as an outside viewer... the man tortured his own daughter and planned to keep it up until he convinced her body to starve itself rather than suffer his torture anymore. Sorry, Caroline, but I wasn't shedding any tears over Damon attacking him. You love your dad, but he only loves you if you're the 'right' kind of daughter, so I can't love him for your sake.
So, for me, everything made sense because it all seemed to come primarily from Damon wanting to eliminate a threat. And he was pissed off that his compulsion didn't work on Bill. Plus, the two people that he's trying to tell about the danger that he now feels that he's in (Elena and Alaric) blow him off and tell him that Bill's ideas are good ones - Damon's been surviving by compromising the council since he first got into the town and vervain in the water supply would... not be fun for him. He's trying to tell them, "hey, I feel threatened here" and they're telling him that they're not on his side. It's the scene on the lawn that led to the scene inside the house, where Damon gets so frustrated at Elena (who is, of course, pissed off at him as well).
Now, is what Damon did 'right' from a more objective (or a more human-based subjective) view? No. It's not a nice thing to hurt your friend, even if you know it isn't going to be permanent. But it made perfect sense to me as something that Damon would do. I mean, look how baffled he is at the end when Alaric takes it personal that Damon snapped his neck. He was not trying to break his friendship with Alaric. I think there's a high chance that he wouldn't have temporarily killed Alaric if he'd realized that it could ruin their friendship.
I don't know, everything Damon did in this episode just made sense to me when I was watching it.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-07 05:12 pm (UTC)It was quicker than arguing with Ric (and Elena) and yes, short sighted, but the touching sold it.
Ric had committed to saying 'no.'