The Vampire Diaries 5.08 Review: Knowing Who You Are

For all those that have yet to watch tonight’s episode of The Vampire Diaries, entitled ‘Dead Man on Campus’, now would be a good time to go and do that. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Well, looks like Damon went and got his smartass captured. It makes me very curious to learn who this Augustine is, although it seems a little bit out of leftfield that something like this has ever happened to Damon in the past. I am happy, though, that he’s getting what seems to be a bigger story that surrounds him and not just his relationship with Elena. We haven’t gotten enough one-on-one time with Damon in a while, so his very own story was definitely necessary. I’m just not too big on this college secret society; couldn’t there just be something that isn’t vampire centric for once? Because contrary to Elena’s statement that being a vampire is awesome (Really, Elena? Really?), it’s not all that fascinating; it’s a little too easy.

Elsewhere, Bonnie began dealing with the fact that every supernatural being goes through her to pass on to the other side. She also got a new haircut, which, while nice enough looking, makes her head look far too big, and is a tad bit unflattering for her skull sculpture. But at least her character doesn’t come off as all doom and gloom, although I’ll kind of miss the all-powerful witchness that she was. I could’ve sworn she would still come back as a witch, but I suppose she swapped with Amara, not Silas. Still I’m on the fence concerning her character at the moment, I kind of still wish she had stayed dead.

So Dr. Wes basically made Jesse into what the Mikaelson patriarch was? Is that what this series is trying to tell me? It seems an awful lot like retread ground, doesn’t it? Is that all this series has become, recycled seasons past stories? Here’s the new father Mikaelson – although he’s now dead – and Bonnie’s back to her bubbly, first half of season one type character. Does Plec not have any originality?

All in all, it was a decent episode. I’m still not too big on the whole Katherine, Nadia relationship, mostly because she doesn’t seem to have that motherly chemistry. I’m sure they’d just write that off as the character, but there’s something off about the way Katherine says her daughter’s name and such. Also, I’m not all that into the college life that they’re depicting. All this series seems to try to do is make it look like being a vampire is easy and full of rainbows and daisies. At least in Buffy and Angel the vampires had depth and actual character to them. Damon and Katherine are about the only two things keeping me watching this show. Although, I am intrigued by Aaron’s character, I’m just surprised he can be compelled being that Wes is his legal guardian. But I suppose that’s just so Elena could compel him to open up to her. Oy vey.

My rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Who the hell turned you into a vampire?” – Caroline exclaims.

“Gross. (Pause) So I’m going to do that.” – Damon explains to the professor.

“You’re Katherine Pierce. Suck it up.” – Stefan tells Katherine.

Okay, I’m off to watch Once Upon A Time In Wonderland now. Afterwards it’ll be Grey’s Anatomy, and wrapping things up will be The Crazy Ones. Stay tuned.

The Vampire Diaries 5.04 Review: Memories Make Us Who We Are

For all those that have yet to watch tonight’s episode of The Vampire Diaries, entitled ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, I suggest you go and do so immediately. This is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Not a bad episode overall. Everyone whose name isn’t Jeremy finally learned of Bonnie’s death, and it came rightfully around the time of the bell ringing remembrance day in Mystic Falls. Although that’s more likely just because the writers wrote it that way.

While the funeral thing they gave Bonnie was a very moving ceremony between the friends, it was a little lackluster – I think – for the audience because Bonnie is still circulating within the series. It’d be different, and more memorable if we knew for certain she would not be coming back. Like on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when Buffy’s mom died and there was no possible way she would be able to come back. That gave the cast very harrowing material to work with. But on this series, it’s almost like they’re cheating because she’s still sticking around and watching over them. Although I do have to say that I enjoyed what she said to each of her friends, and the fact that Tyler came back. It was definitely the perfect moment for that, even though I do want him to go away and never be spoken of again now.

For the most part, the whole amnesiac Stefan wasn’t quite that convincing. He still acted a lot like Stefan, not like someone who didn’t know who they were and were a little weirded out to find they were, of all things, a vampire. Maybe the writing isn’t up to par, or maybe Paul Wesley lacks the skill of being able to play the character that way. Probably a bit of both, because I still don’t think he was convincing enough in playing Silas. However, the man does do angry well, especially in the moment where he’s seething about how much he doesn’t want to go back to the life where all these things he’s done and had happened to him. That was probably my favourite part with him this week.

A few other things to note about the episode definitely begins with how Elena was far too flirty with amnesiac Stefan, as she tried to show him his memories. She really did lead him on to want to kiss her, so it’s kind of her fault he blew out on her after that. I almost thought she was actually going to kiss him, but thankfully she didn’t break Damon’s heart by doing that. I mean, enough with the back and forth already, settle on one of them. The other thing was the ludicrousness of Damon hugging Jeremy. Sure it may have been to show how far along Damon has come, in not trying to kill him after Jeremy tells him the bad news, but it just wasn’t completely natural. And they both kind of looked weirded out by it.

Overall, this series is becoming a little too much too handle, I’m really not sure how much longer I’ll be sticking around. I very well might just try and give it this season, but if the writing and acting doesn’t get a little more natural, who knows? Really, there’s way too much back and forth in this series, and it’s almost like the characters are stuck in a loop, so much further than where they began in the first season. Almost like the character growth, and story growth, has stagnated.

My rating: 6 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Well I’m no shrink… right?” – Amnesiac Stefan asks Damon.

“And my girlfriend let him.” – Stefan states, in a surprisingly powerful speech about his life and how his brother “stole” his girlfriend. Such power behind these specific words.

Anyways, I’m off to go watch Once Upon a Time in Wonderland now. After that it’ll be Grey’s Anatomy, and then The Crazy Ones. Stick around.

The Vampire Diaries 5.02 Review: Surviving Together

If you have yet to watch this week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries, entitled ‘True Lies, then now would probably be a good time to do so, if you don’t want the episode to be ruined. As always, this is not a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

What is there to say about this episode? There’s not really much to review about this show. It’s passed its prime, time to put it to bed, let Ian Somerhaulder get a better series to act in because he’s honestly one of the best things this show has going for it.

There were some funny lines to this episode, but other than that, I literally have one note about it. That note would be a complaint about the showrunners still trying to play up the love triangle. It’s over, Elena’s made her choice, why are you trying to make it harder on Stefan?

While last week Elena and Katherine kind of seemed to blend together, this week they were a tad better. It’s interesting that Katherine’s having to depend on Matt and Jeremy, especially since she seems to have grown a little attached to Jeremy. Or at least as attached as Katherine Pearce can be attached to anyone. Her shining moment, I believe, was the point where she explains all the things she’s survived, but a sinus infection is going to do her in.

On the other hand, Elena’s shining moment was when she impaled her leg into the chair to stop Silas’s mind control from forcing her to kill Damon. Was anyone hoping her love for him would end up overpowering the hate trigger? But no, it was the sinking pit in her stomach that told her something was wrong with Stefan that stopped it. And what is it about that, anyway? This isn’t True Blood, and the last I checked Damon had sired her, so shouldn’t he be the one – if any – she feels when they’re in serious peril?

Otherwise, I’m bored of this whole Silas deal. The whole build up to this guy, and he doesn’t even beat Klaus in the baddie department. Honestly, why did he have to be Stefan’s doppelganger? It’s just completely ludicrous, and feels like it was just thrown in there last minute, just because they liked Paul Wesley’s acting when he played Ripper Stefan. See, that was done over on Buffy, and Wesley is no David Boreanaz, but they just gave the guy a spinoff, not another, terribly written, role to play. Elena (and Katherine) is the doppelganger, turning Stefan into one makes that whole significance less special.

So basically, this episode was nominally better than the premiere, but still not good enough to warrant a sixth season. Then again, this is a series on The CW, they’re going to milk it for everything it’s got. (See proof via Smallville and Supernatural.)

My rating: 6 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“A bullet would’ve been more effective, but we’re trying to be nice.” – Jeremy says to Katherine, emulating Damon rather well.

“You do realize you’re dating a reformed serial killer right?” – Damon rhetorically asks Elena, in a rather dead on definition of his own character.

“It’s because you haven’t had sex with me.” – Damon tells Silas.

“Plus, I work out.” – Jeremy remarks to Silas, as he gives him a beat down.

Okay, that’ll be all for tonight. My head is killing me, I’m not quite sober yet, and I’m just plain exhausted. I’ll hit this place up with my review of Grey’s Anatomy and my Best Performances of the Week first thing tomorrow. Then it’ll be the review of Haven, followed by tomorrow night’s reviews of Once Upon A Time and Revenge. I’m off to go watch the Glee’s memorial episode.

The Vampire Diaries 5.01 Review: Your Problems Follow You No Matter Where You Go

This is your only warning; if you haven’t watched the season five premiere of The Vampire Diaries, entitled ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’, or are simply not caught up at all in the series, then now would be the time leave. As with all my reviews, there is a chance of spoilers. I repeat, THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

The season five premiere wasn’t as great as other premieres this series has had. I find it didn’t have quite the oomph of past years. Maybe it had something to do with the fact last year wasn’t much of a cliffhanger season finale, so it didn’t quite excite me to see the premiere as all the years before it. Or maybe this series is just becoming tiresome and tedious. Either way, something good really needs to pick this show up from the cliff it’s growing closer to hanging over.

First can I just say how very Gossip Girl it was of this show to throw that whole threesome thing in with Matt, Rebecca, and that other girl? Yes, this show is on the same network that series was on, but this is not the same show, please demonstrate some originality. Also, who was that girl? What did they do to Matt? And why was it completely necessary to keep Matt and Rebecca together all summer, just to have her written off this show with very little tie-ups?

I’m really confused, why is there water in Stefan’s coffin/vault? Shouldn’t it have been sealed? Aside from that, why is he breathing? He’s a vampire, he should not be breathing. Yes, in this series there bodies work much the same as long as they keep ingesting a steady supply of blood, but Stefan’s not ingesting any blood. His body should not be forcing him to drown over and over again, otherwise he wouldn’t be a vampire.

Also, can I add how very Angel it is for Stefan to be at the bottom of a body of water, constantly imagining scenarios that never happened in his head? Can this show not come up with anything at all that is original, other than the title of it’s sister series? I don’t want to see the same things that have been acted on screen on other TV series, I want something new, and I very much thing the writers and showrunners owe their audience that.

I have to say I’m really not a fan of Stefan being Silas’s doppelganger. They already had a line of doppelgangers, why in God’s name did they have to add another? They really can’t come up with anything original. It’s truly aggravating. Not only that, but I’m not a fan of how they’re now playing Silas. They built up to be this truly badass, and he just seems like a washed up version of Klaus pre his love for Caroline. I was completely down for when Stefan shut off his emotions, but this guy is also just a mirror of that. Can Wesley not play something new and different?

Last season, the way they ended it with giving Katherine the cure, was completely fitting for her character, almost poetic, now she doesn’t even seem like Katherine. When she’s begging for help from Damon, she just seemed too much like Elena. In the past, Dobrev has been able to differentiate these characters significantly, including when Elena’s emotions were turned off, this year I don’t really feel like these characters are very individualized, or even fully formed characters. In making Elena happy, she almost seems un-Elena.

One highlight of the episode was definitely Damon. Somerhaulder is astounding in his acting of this role, particularly in the scenes where he plays off the Silas character. The guy still has his sarcastic charm too him. And I still felt that subtle moment where he questions where Stefan is, and is pained when he finds out. That and the teary moment where he rushes to Jeremy and hopes he still has enough life in him that his blood will bring him back to life (and can I just say, if he hadn’t, what a waste of Bonnie dying to bring him back to life in the first place?).

Can I just comment on how unhappy I am with the way they’ve gone with Tyler? When he had a thing for Caroline, before they started dating, he had become a much more interesting, werewolf character, but ever since he became a hybrid he’s been terrible. The way this series keeps making excuses for his character not being, it just doesn’t feel organic to the story. Why would he fight for his relationship with Caroline, and basically not care when Klaus has left the building? It just feels to me like they’re trying to keep him out of the story for random reasons, just to let him rear his hybrid head again.

Several questions before I sign off. What is Elena’s connection with Stefan? I’m getting too much of a True Blood vibe from the way she senses something bad about him. Also, are they still trying to play up this love triangle? It was interesting for the first few seasons, but if they’re thinking of going back to that, it’s tired. Buffy was able to rely on good storylines, not love triangles; I don’t see why The Vampire Diaries can’t. Or is it just that Stefan hasn’t been able to get over it, because he’s stuck at the bottom of a lake?

My rating: 6 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Do you have any idea what it’s like to run in heels? I have blisters.” – Katherine, human again.

“Yes! In the privacy of your home!” – Damon explaining to Jeremy how he killed him in private, which is how he should take out frustrations on people.

Okay, so I’m still debating on whether I actually want to watch The Originals tonight, or if I just want to go watch August Rush and finally see if I’d like Felicity. Either way, I won’t be posting a review tonight. Check back here tomorrow night, around twenty-four hours from now for that one. Then I’ll probably be reviewing Haven, or, if I do end up having to go to that funeral for my great uncle, that’ll be up here Saturday night/Sunday morning. Anyways, have a nice night.