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ozmissageThis is less a review of the finale as it as a collection of rambling thoughts on season two as a whole. This is what I get for failing to do weekly recap posts. Please excuse the word vomit beneath the cut. And I have conflicting feelings on Damon, so fair warning there. By conflicting, I mean even I’m not sure what I’m feeling, but it’s something along the lines of I like you, but I hate the things you do. It’s very confusing and if I think about it too hard it gives me a headache.
Alaric
I try to pretend that I care as much about the teens and vampires on this show as I do about this guy, but that’s all dirty lies. Alaric is my favorite; he’s the character most likely to make my heart beat a little faster when he shows up on screen, the one whose safety/happiness/well-being I fret over, and sadly for me the one the show is consistently not terribly interested in exploring. That’s what he gets for daring to be both alive and an adult.
For the most part, Alaric had a crap season. His characterization took a beating as he went from tragic-backstory-having, badass-vampire-hunting history teacher to the dude who gets locked out of the big fight “for his own safety” by his sixteen year old student and best vampire buddy. Not cool, show.
In between he made some moral choices that bugged me, being a-okay with Damon compelling Andie all season long being number one. The persistent lying to Jenna coming in a close second and letting a bunch of teenagers call the shots being third. Unpopular life opinion: teens need guidance, nothing good ever comes from letting pre-adults run amuck and the undead are apparently just as prone to silliness. Says the 24 year old.
Despite that, he still had some nice moments and flashes of awesome when the writers allowed it---remember when he put a dagger in Elijah’s back? Good times. And I dig his devotion to Damon for no other reason than it hits my friendship sweet spot and I love devotion that’s so strong it ends up making one character morally compromise themselves for another; see also George/Mitchell. This is clearly not a healthy kink, but I dig it anyway.
Specific to the finale: dropping his self-pity to be with Damon and the conversation they had while Damon was locked in the cellar were highlights, but the thing that had me bouncing up and down in my seat with unrestrained glee was his scene with Jeremy. YES, SHOW. THAT. That is exactly what I want for him: a purpose. Elena and Jeremy need an adult in their life, one that knows what kind of crap they consistently get themselves into and one who will provide them with both support and possibly (hopefully) some boundaries as well.
I want storylines about him struggling with what role he should play in their lives and wondering if he’s cut out to be a surrogate dad/uncle/whatever. I want him to teach Jeremy how to defend himself so that he too can stop being shoved out of the action (vampire hunting lessons are a thing that needs to happen). I want to see the three of them become the most heartwrenching/adorable assembled family this side of a Whedon show.
Outside of the family angle, I very much want to see Alaric dealing with the possession arc and to some extent the loss of Jenna, although they never spent enough time on that relationship for me to get a good idea of how serious they were. Either way, we know he’s pissed with Klaus. I want the writers to explore that, to let him be part of the action. Matt Davis is good. Too good to only get trotted out once every five episodes.
And just to be clear, I never, ever want him to stop drinking with Damon.
Caroline
I loved her arc this year, it didn’t get quite the attention it deserved toward the end, but on the whole it was consistently the most compelling and moving story they told. Caroline as a vampire was inspired. When I think back over the course of season two the scenes that immediately come to me are all Caroline centric: Caroline in the hospital experiencing the first pangs of bloodlust, Caroline kicking Damon’s ass in the corridor, Caroline taking away her mother’s memory of what she is, Caroline holding Tyler as he changed…her compassion, her gradual loss of innocence, her growing strength---it was truly the year of Caroline and I love the writers for that.
I probably shouldn’t have waited until now to talk about the finale because my brain’s already going fuzzy on the details, but she didn’t seem to play much of a role there. There was a bit of clumsiness to the way they dealt with the Liz situation, but I’m assuming that was their way of letting us know they’re going to be dealing with that next season.
My hopes for Caroline in s3: as little interaction with Matt as possible unless they’re planning to fully integrate him into the larger story, more friendshippy scenes with Stefan and the girls, lots of Tyler interaction, and an emphasis on rebuilding her relationship with Liz.
Bonnie & Jeremy
Since their stories were so closely entwined this year, I might as well tag team them. Bonnie took a darker turn as she explored the extent of her powers and I enjoyed that very much. I liked seeing her push the boundaries of her own morality and figuring out just how powerful she could be. She really is getting the full Willow treatment at this point and honestly, I just want them to keep doing exactly what they’re doing with her because it’s working for me.
Jeremy was more problematic. On the one hand, he became one of my favorite characters after spending s1 as the super annoying king of the emo kids. On the other, he didn’t really have much to do besides fall for Bonnie. And that’s cool. Bonnie/Jeremy is a sweet, if slightly undeveloped, ship. I like watching them together. But like pretty much every other character on the show, his story is too compartmentalized. For long stretches, it was easy to forget he and Elena were even related for the complete lack of screen time they shared.
They seemed to be setting him up with his own story in the finale, but that story is already making me cringe. If it’s “Jeremy now has the ability to see ghosts” that’s awesome. I can work with that; it even has a bit of a Miles-flavor to it. But if the storyline is “Jeremy now has the ability to see his super annoying dead girlfriends that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ozmissage was rather glad to see the back of and hey, now he and his sister can compare notes on being stuck in arbitrary love triangles” well that’s less awesome. I wouldn’t be concerned about the two of them sticking around if I hadn’t read a Julie Plec article where she was giddy about the unusual love story they were cooking up for next season. I could deal with it if it was just Anna, who wasn’t a bad character; just one that never did much for me. But Vicki? Seriously? Do not want.
Tyler
My opinion of Tyler changes so often it’s a wonder it hasn’t given me whiplash. I loved him at the start of the season, lost interest in him when he started hanging with Jules, and then fell hard all over again when he came back. I love werewolves, okay? I love the angst. I love the transformation scenes. LOVE. And TVD isn’t scrimping on the fun werewolf type details at all. The transformation scenes make me downright giddy---so good. They seem uniquely designed to make me geek out and beyond that I’m enjoying his friendship/pining for Caroline.
On a superficial note, Tyler became ridiculously attractive while he was away. The hair, man. It’s nice.
What I’m saying is: I want more of this guy. Lots more.
Katherine & Elena
Katherine delights me. The more they tell us about her backstory and the more we see just how far she’s willing to go to survive, the more I fall for her. She can be devious and awful, but also capable of small moments of grace. Saving Damon because he helped her? Lovely. And: It’s okay to love them both. I did. was my favorite line of the night. Canon OT3 baby. Even if she’s probably stretching it a bit on the whole “loved” thing. I think she probably has a different definition of that word than most.
I hope she’s not on the run for too long. Personally, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some bad!Stefan/Katherine sexy times---she is his Darla, after all.
I used to find Elena exceedingly dull, but over the course of s2 she finally became a character that I could care about. The whole doppelganger debacle put her in the horrible position of watching her family and friends constantly put themselves in harm’s way in the name of her safety. In many ways, I felt like every character around her, with the notable exception of Stefan, tried to strip her of her agency at one point or another under the guise of it being for her own good. Damon was the number one offender on that front.
But Elena consistently and tirelessly fought back. She devised her own plans, some ridiculous, some far more practical than what anyone else was throwing out there; she formed a strangely compelling alliance with Elijah and most importantly she gave that speech to Stefan that made it clear that she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that she was going to want to be with him forever. That’s a level of gracefulness that it took Buffy seven seasons to reach and even then it didn’t stick thanks to those stupid comics.
Elena grew so much and lost so much---her journey was beautifully done and I feel like they’ve brought her to a place where she’s harder than she ever has been before. For the first time, I can see her pursing a relationship with Damon that wouldn’t completely squick me out. Actually, let me rephrase that, I can see her hooking up with Damon. Relationship seems like the wrong word.
It’s like they’ve reached the same point, at the same time---they’re both consumed with guilt and there was a sense of mutual understanding in the scene they shared in the finale. I still don’t ship it, but I can once again see how Damon might be an appealing detour for Elena’s character at this particular moment. But if they start bandying around the dreaded soul mate label, I’m calling foul.
Matt
He was temporarily awesome with his crossbow and I get that he would rather live his normal life than take part in the crazy, but dude’s either going to have to embrace the insanity or go away because his scenes suck the energy right out of the show. He needs to be part of the ensemble, not just the mopey kid that works at The Grill and makes Caroline do wacky things to make him like her.
Damon & Stefan
I don’t know what to say about Damon. I cut him far more slack than I ever cut Spike and they are arguably the same character. Much of it stems from actor loyalty.
His arc made me ragey multiple times this season. Look, I like my vampires dark, but this whole “vampires as romantic figures” trend does nothing for me. The slow unraveling of Damon didn’t bother me---vampires are supposed to be monstrous---but the way they tie his increasing unhinging to his love for Elena and Katherine and their rejection of him makes me groan.
Look, just because a lady rejects you that doesn’t mean you get to snap her brother’s neck or compel some poor girl to be your lap dog. That’s gross and disturbing behavior whether you’re a vampire or not. I have no problem with Damon going all darkside, but it needs to be motivated by something other than love drama for me to take it seriously and the writers need to recognize that redemption shouldn’t be as simple as nearly dying and being forgiven by your favorite lady friend.
Damon is a fun character to watch, he’s half of my truest OTP on the show, and I do genuinely feel for him most of the time. But they need to be mindful of the way they write his interaction with women. You can’t show me a guy being that much of a predator and then ask me to ship him with a human, teenage girl. It’s not going to happen.
I would much prefer if they shifted the focus to the more interesting part of his character: his twisted, wonderful, strange relationship with his brother. He owes Stefan his life. These two have a cycle of saving each other and hating each other and I needed my brother---it’s the single most compelling and layered relationship on this show. I want more of it. Seriously, if the entire season was just Damon reluctantly playing the hero to bring his little brother back from deep end I would be perfectly happy. Their codependency issues almost make Sam and Dean’s relationship look normal because they’re so tied up in mutual loathing and love. UGH, I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
Which brings me to the best part of the finale, Stefan sacrificing his sobriety (yeah, that’s the word I’m going with) to save Damon. Stefan was on fire all year. I mean, he was a good, supportive boyfriend who didn’t try to control his girlfriend. He was a terrific friend to Caroline. He was heroic and sweet and not even a little bit dull.
But we know there’s something darker lurking in him. There always has been and I can’t wait to see that side of his character come out again. The scenes where he was drinking the blood in Alaric’s apartment were so raw and animalistic, it was insane and dark and heartbreaking, but also made me long for season three.
Allow me to channel my inner Chris: I LITERALLY can’t wait to see what happens next.
Misc. Thoughts
- My biggest gripe about this show is that for an ensemble with so many different connections to one another they lack any sort of cohesion. Group scenes are your friend, writers. As cool as the mythology of the show is it’s the characters that make all of that WTF-ness work. I need to believe their friendships. And in order to do that I need to see them sharing scenes and moments together more than I need to see them yammering about moonstones and hook ups.
They have a unique opportunity to bring the characters together in s3. Everyone’s in the know. There should be less of a need for subterfuge. Let them hang out. Let them at least stand by their lockers occasionally so we don’t forget they’re in high school. The more they care about each other, the more likely I am to care about them.
-That being said: keep the wacky, gothic mythology coming. I never would have expected a teen soap on The CW to be so delightfully gory and spooky. But I’m very glad that it is.
-Klaus is kind of an ass.
Alaric
I try to pretend that I care as much about the teens and vampires on this show as I do about this guy, but that’s all dirty lies. Alaric is my favorite; he’s the character most likely to make my heart beat a little faster when he shows up on screen, the one whose safety/happiness/well-being I fret over, and sadly for me the one the show is consistently not terribly interested in exploring. That’s what he gets for daring to be both alive and an adult.
For the most part, Alaric had a crap season. His characterization took a beating as he went from tragic-backstory-having, badass-vampire-hunting history teacher to the dude who gets locked out of the big fight “for his own safety” by his sixteen year old student and best vampire buddy. Not cool, show.
In between he made some moral choices that bugged me, being a-okay with Damon compelling Andie all season long being number one. The persistent lying to Jenna coming in a close second and letting a bunch of teenagers call the shots being third. Unpopular life opinion: teens need guidance, nothing good ever comes from letting pre-adults run amuck and the undead are apparently just as prone to silliness. Says the 24 year old.
Despite that, he still had some nice moments and flashes of awesome when the writers allowed it---remember when he put a dagger in Elijah’s back? Good times. And I dig his devotion to Damon for no other reason than it hits my friendship sweet spot and I love devotion that’s so strong it ends up making one character morally compromise themselves for another; see also George/Mitchell. This is clearly not a healthy kink, but I dig it anyway.
Specific to the finale: dropping his self-pity to be with Damon and the conversation they had while Damon was locked in the cellar were highlights, but the thing that had me bouncing up and down in my seat with unrestrained glee was his scene with Jeremy. YES, SHOW. THAT. That is exactly what I want for him: a purpose. Elena and Jeremy need an adult in their life, one that knows what kind of crap they consistently get themselves into and one who will provide them with both support and possibly (hopefully) some boundaries as well.
I want storylines about him struggling with what role he should play in their lives and wondering if he’s cut out to be a surrogate dad/uncle/whatever. I want him to teach Jeremy how to defend himself so that he too can stop being shoved out of the action (vampire hunting lessons are a thing that needs to happen). I want to see the three of them become the most heartwrenching/adorable assembled family this side of a Whedon show.
Outside of the family angle, I very much want to see Alaric dealing with the possession arc and to some extent the loss of Jenna, although they never spent enough time on that relationship for me to get a good idea of how serious they were. Either way, we know he’s pissed with Klaus. I want the writers to explore that, to let him be part of the action. Matt Davis is good. Too good to only get trotted out once every five episodes.
And just to be clear, I never, ever want him to stop drinking with Damon.
Caroline
I loved her arc this year, it didn’t get quite the attention it deserved toward the end, but on the whole it was consistently the most compelling and moving story they told. Caroline as a vampire was inspired. When I think back over the course of season two the scenes that immediately come to me are all Caroline centric: Caroline in the hospital experiencing the first pangs of bloodlust, Caroline kicking Damon’s ass in the corridor, Caroline taking away her mother’s memory of what she is, Caroline holding Tyler as he changed…her compassion, her gradual loss of innocence, her growing strength---it was truly the year of Caroline and I love the writers for that.
I probably shouldn’t have waited until now to talk about the finale because my brain’s already going fuzzy on the details, but she didn’t seem to play much of a role there. There was a bit of clumsiness to the way they dealt with the Liz situation, but I’m assuming that was their way of letting us know they’re going to be dealing with that next season.
My hopes for Caroline in s3: as little interaction with Matt as possible unless they’re planning to fully integrate him into the larger story, more friendshippy scenes with Stefan and the girls, lots of Tyler interaction, and an emphasis on rebuilding her relationship with Liz.
Bonnie & Jeremy
Since their stories were so closely entwined this year, I might as well tag team them. Bonnie took a darker turn as she explored the extent of her powers and I enjoyed that very much. I liked seeing her push the boundaries of her own morality and figuring out just how powerful she could be. She really is getting the full Willow treatment at this point and honestly, I just want them to keep doing exactly what they’re doing with her because it’s working for me.
Jeremy was more problematic. On the one hand, he became one of my favorite characters after spending s1 as the super annoying king of the emo kids. On the other, he didn’t really have much to do besides fall for Bonnie. And that’s cool. Bonnie/Jeremy is a sweet, if slightly undeveloped, ship. I like watching them together. But like pretty much every other character on the show, his story is too compartmentalized. For long stretches, it was easy to forget he and Elena were even related for the complete lack of screen time they shared.
They seemed to be setting him up with his own story in the finale, but that story is already making me cringe. If it’s “Jeremy now has the ability to see ghosts” that’s awesome. I can work with that; it even has a bit of a Miles-flavor to it. But if the storyline is “Jeremy now has the ability to see his super annoying dead girlfriends that
ozmissage was rather glad to see the back of and hey, now he and his sister can compare notes on being stuck in arbitrary love triangles” well that’s less awesome. I wouldn’t be concerned about the two of them sticking around if I hadn’t read a Julie Plec article where she was giddy about the unusual love story they were cooking up for next season. I could deal with it if it was just Anna, who wasn’t a bad character; just one that never did much for me. But Vicki? Seriously? Do not want. Tyler
My opinion of Tyler changes so often it’s a wonder it hasn’t given me whiplash. I loved him at the start of the season, lost interest in him when he started hanging with Jules, and then fell hard all over again when he came back. I love werewolves, okay? I love the angst. I love the transformation scenes. LOVE. And TVD isn’t scrimping on the fun werewolf type details at all. The transformation scenes make me downright giddy---so good. They seem uniquely designed to make me geek out and beyond that I’m enjoying his friendship/pining for Caroline.
On a superficial note, Tyler became ridiculously attractive while he was away. The hair, man. It’s nice.
What I’m saying is: I want more of this guy. Lots more.
Katherine & Elena
Katherine delights me. The more they tell us about her backstory and the more we see just how far she’s willing to go to survive, the more I fall for her. She can be devious and awful, but also capable of small moments of grace. Saving Damon because he helped her? Lovely. And: It’s okay to love them both. I did. was my favorite line of the night. Canon OT3 baby. Even if she’s probably stretching it a bit on the whole “loved” thing. I think she probably has a different definition of that word than most.
I hope she’s not on the run for too long. Personally, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some bad!Stefan/Katherine sexy times---she is his Darla, after all.
I used to find Elena exceedingly dull, but over the course of s2 she finally became a character that I could care about. The whole doppelganger debacle put her in the horrible position of watching her family and friends constantly put themselves in harm’s way in the name of her safety. In many ways, I felt like every character around her, with the notable exception of Stefan, tried to strip her of her agency at one point or another under the guise of it being for her own good. Damon was the number one offender on that front.
But Elena consistently and tirelessly fought back. She devised her own plans, some ridiculous, some far more practical than what anyone else was throwing out there; she formed a strangely compelling alliance with Elijah and most importantly she gave that speech to Stefan that made it clear that she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that she was going to want to be with him forever. That’s a level of gracefulness that it took Buffy seven seasons to reach and even then it didn’t stick thanks to those stupid comics.
Elena grew so much and lost so much---her journey was beautifully done and I feel like they’ve brought her to a place where she’s harder than she ever has been before. For the first time, I can see her pursing a relationship with Damon that wouldn’t completely squick me out. Actually, let me rephrase that, I can see her hooking up with Damon. Relationship seems like the wrong word.
It’s like they’ve reached the same point, at the same time---they’re both consumed with guilt and there was a sense of mutual understanding in the scene they shared in the finale. I still don’t ship it, but I can once again see how Damon might be an appealing detour for Elena’s character at this particular moment. But if they start bandying around the dreaded soul mate label, I’m calling foul.
Matt
He was temporarily awesome with his crossbow and I get that he would rather live his normal life than take part in the crazy, but dude’s either going to have to embrace the insanity or go away because his scenes suck the energy right out of the show. He needs to be part of the ensemble, not just the mopey kid that works at The Grill and makes Caroline do wacky things to make him like her.
Damon & Stefan
I don’t know what to say about Damon. I cut him far more slack than I ever cut Spike and they are arguably the same character. Much of it stems from actor loyalty.
His arc made me ragey multiple times this season. Look, I like my vampires dark, but this whole “vampires as romantic figures” trend does nothing for me. The slow unraveling of Damon didn’t bother me---vampires are supposed to be monstrous---but the way they tie his increasing unhinging to his love for Elena and Katherine and their rejection of him makes me groan.
Look, just because a lady rejects you that doesn’t mean you get to snap her brother’s neck or compel some poor girl to be your lap dog. That’s gross and disturbing behavior whether you’re a vampire or not. I have no problem with Damon going all darkside, but it needs to be motivated by something other than love drama for me to take it seriously and the writers need to recognize that redemption shouldn’t be as simple as nearly dying and being forgiven by your favorite lady friend.
Damon is a fun character to watch, he’s half of my truest OTP on the show, and I do genuinely feel for him most of the time. But they need to be mindful of the way they write his interaction with women. You can’t show me a guy being that much of a predator and then ask me to ship him with a human, teenage girl. It’s not going to happen.
I would much prefer if they shifted the focus to the more interesting part of his character: his twisted, wonderful, strange relationship with his brother. He owes Stefan his life. These two have a cycle of saving each other and hating each other and I needed my brother---it’s the single most compelling and layered relationship on this show. I want more of it. Seriously, if the entire season was just Damon reluctantly playing the hero to bring his little brother back from deep end I would be perfectly happy. Their codependency issues almost make Sam and Dean’s relationship look normal because they’re so tied up in mutual loathing and love. UGH, I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
Which brings me to the best part of the finale, Stefan sacrificing his sobriety (yeah, that’s the word I’m going with) to save Damon. Stefan was on fire all year. I mean, he was a good, supportive boyfriend who didn’t try to control his girlfriend. He was a terrific friend to Caroline. He was heroic and sweet and not even a little bit dull.
But we know there’s something darker lurking in him. There always has been and I can’t wait to see that side of his character come out again. The scenes where he was drinking the blood in Alaric’s apartment were so raw and animalistic, it was insane and dark and heartbreaking, but also made me long for season three.
Allow me to channel my inner Chris: I LITERALLY can’t wait to see what happens next.
Misc. Thoughts
- My biggest gripe about this show is that for an ensemble with so many different connections to one another they lack any sort of cohesion. Group scenes are your friend, writers. As cool as the mythology of the show is it’s the characters that make all of that WTF-ness work. I need to believe their friendships. And in order to do that I need to see them sharing scenes and moments together more than I need to see them yammering about moonstones and hook ups.
They have a unique opportunity to bring the characters together in s3. Everyone’s in the know. There should be less of a need for subterfuge. Let them hang out. Let them at least stand by their lockers occasionally so we don’t forget they’re in high school. The more they care about each other, the more likely I am to care about them.
-That being said: keep the wacky, gothic mythology coming. I never would have expected a teen soap on The CW to be so delightfully gory and spooky. But I’m very glad that it is.
-Klaus is kind of an ass.
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no subject
Date: 5/18/11 08:26 pm (UTC)But redemption? I rambled about that a bit in my S2 finale reaction post but I don't think Damon;s (or Elena's) story is about redemption anymore. Or at least it wasn't this season. It's about falling to the absolute bottom you can get, whether it's others or yourself putting that upon yourself, and then finding someone there with you. Not romantic, not hopeful, not redemption. Maybe Damon can get some ~redemption in S3 though honestly I'm just hoping he goes after Stefan. Obviously the rest of our bbs can come too.
Alaric and Damon + Damon and Stefan, slashy or otherwise, are my favorite parts of this show. Plus Caroline/Tyler. I'm not choosing, okay?
no subject
Date: 5/19/11 09:14 pm (UTC)It makes everything doubly problematic to tie that much violence to his "romantic nature", especially in a program aimed at young, teenage girls. The message they're sending makes me uncomfortable on so many levels.
It's about falling to the absolute bottom you can get, whether it's others or yourself putting that upon yourself, and then finding someone there with you.
I like that. It makes more sense than a redemption arc because if that was what they were going for they failed spectacularly---dude was the opposite of redeemed this year. But I like the idea that this was the two of them hitting rock bottom. I did quite like that scene, there was so much understanding between them, it was very nicely done. I'm totally with on s3, all I want is to see Damon launch a reluctant rescue mission.
Alaric and Damon + Damon and Stefan, slashy or otherwise, are my favorite parts of this show. Plus Caroline/Tyler.
WORD.
no subject
Date: 5/18/11 10:54 pm (UTC)AMEN. Jesus in the beginnings of S1 I'd have -never- thought I'd get seriously invested in this thing. WELL LOOK AT ME, it was the show I liked more consistently this entire year, WHAT HAPPENED.
Anyway: WORD ON ALARIC. OH SO MUCH. Next season he needs to be bonding with Jeremy and move in at the Gilbert place and be badass and have drinks with Damon forever. (And ha. Er. I might have that kink where you care about someone so much that it spooks your moral compass as well. Hey, it's all fiction anyway, we can embrace it.)
Also: WORD ON DAMON/STEFAN NEEDING TO BE THE CENTER OF WHAT HAPPENS NEXT SEASON. Ugh I love their relationship so much, and damn if they have Damon being the reluctant hero to bring Stefan on the good side of the force again I'll explode of joy.
Also: so much word on Elena. I always liked her more or less, but this season I really appreciated her a lot.
let's also say that the part of me that ships Stefan/Elena like woah was very satisfied with how they dealt with things. And haha Tyler's finale hair was SO SEXY UNF.Also: YES. CAROLINE YOU'RE AMAZING. To think I wouldn't have cried if she had died last year, now if that happened I'd be devastated. She's so awesome, and I just loved her arc this year. Also I'll word on Jeremy's storyline - I hope it's that he sees ghosts, not that he'll have two dead girlfriends cockblocking him (Vicki especially. I mean come on the only good scene she ever had was when Damon turned her, and that was because Ian was half-naked. YEAH WELL I DIDN'T WATCH FOR THE PLOT BACK THEN). Then again I'm way beyond happy that Jeremy dropped the emo and became interesting this year
also his biceps, mmmmm.Also I probably give Damon way too much leeway too (but hey I started watching this show for his face, I guess that's what happens), but your points = totally valid. Now I'd hope that next season other than trying to save his brother he also gets a good conscience crisis over his coercion-related ways, and mostly I want goddamn flashbacks where they show how he got like THAT. Heck, in the flashbacks of the ep where Alaric stabbed Elijah it was pretty clear that he was the most stable out of the two of them and he didn't seem remotely as far gone as Stefan, dark-side speaking (and then again he also had told Lexi to look after Stefan, he never asked for himself - I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM because to go from 1864!Damon to current!Damon - well, that's a lot. Also HE said it himself in the finale so I just want to see that angle explored - damn now I wrote a novel. Lol Damon I guess I'm invested).
Also Stefan in the finale: ;___________________; FOREVER. I LOVE STEFAN I DO.
In conclusion I'll agree with pretty much everything you said. I probably just bypass half of this show's faults (you're totally right that it needs more ensemble) but it might be because I'm perpetually surprised by the fact that it's actually good, you know. XDD
no subject
Date: 5/19/11 09:29 pm (UTC)Just the fact that they seem to get that Alaric's awesome and needs stuff to do makes me happy. He has to move into the Gilbert house. His apartment has too many vampire squatters popping in and out now, anyway, the writers might as well give us what we want.
Ugh I love their relationship so much, and damn if they have Damon being the reluctant hero to bring Stefan on the good side of the force again I'll explode of joy.
YES. Every time I think about I get downright giddy. It's going to be so good. I can't wait.
TYLER'S HAIR. I don't know why I'm so obsessed, but he went from being too pretty, to complete hotassery seemingly overnight.
(Vicki especially. I mean come on the only good scene she ever had was when Damon turned her, and that was because Ian was half-naked. YEAH WELL I DIDN'T WATCH FOR THE PLOT BACK THEN).
THANK YOU. Remember her spastic dancing? That is seriously the only thing I remember about that girl. Her spastic dancing and rolling around on the floor in her underwear that triggered massive amounts of cringing and headdesking on my part. UGH, VICKI. And both of those ladies were around at the height of Jeremy's emo phase. Blech. Can't we just have cute Bonnie/Jeremy times? Stupid witches, what kind of consequence is that anyway?
hey I started watching this show for his face
This is my dilemma too. I'm like, "ugh, what are doing?" and then this other part of my brain is like, "but, but, it's Ian" and that's the part that usually wins. ;)
Now I'd hope that next season other than trying to save his brother he also gets a good conscience crisis over his coercion-related ways, and mostly I want goddamn flashbacks where they show how he got like THAT.
YES TO ALL OF THIS. These things should totally make up Damon's arc next season. And I want lots of flashbacks. I really love the flashbacks.
I'm disturbed by how excited I am for this show to come back.
no subject
Date: 5/18/11 11:13 pm (UTC)This, right here? Though?
Look, just because a lady rejects you that doesn’t mean you get to snap her brother’s neck or compel some poor girl to be your lap dog. That’s gross and disturbing behavior whether you’re a vampire or not. I have no problem with Damon going all darkside, but it needs to be motivated by something other than love drama for me to take it seriously and the writers need to recognize that redemption shouldn’t be as simple as nearly dying and being forgiven by your favorite lady friend.
Damon is a fun character to watch, he’s half of my truest OTP on the show, and I do genuinely feel for him most of the time. But they need to be mindful of the way they write his interaction with women. You can’t show me a guy being that much of a predator and then ask me to ship him with a human, teenage girl. It’s not going to happen.
I can't tell you how much I agree with it. (SO MUCH!) I just... yes this all of it. (Okay not the Alaric/Damon thing cause my issues with shipping him extend to even the older, penis-having people on the show.) But other than that? YES. I said something kind of like this in my own s2 wrap-up post, but not quite so eloquent lol.
I am still not totally ready to talk about Stefan, but I will agree with you about pretty much everything you've said here. So that's something.
When did Matt have a crossbow? LOL. Also, I agree, Matt being cast as "that guy who dates Caroline" was really a disservice -- but I found him more interesting after he found out the truth! So hopefully he's got more interesting things to do this coming season.
I feel like there is so much more I need to respond to but my brain is all mushy now.
You see what you do to me?
no subject
Date: 5/19/11 09:38 pm (UTC)Stefan getting his Angelus on is going to be good, I think. And also a little bit traumatic.
When did Matt have a crossbow?
Oh wait, it wasn't a crossbow was it? It was a...shotgun? A crossbow would have been awesome though. They're so underused these days. ;)
You see what you do to me?
Heh. I do what I can.
no subject
Date: 5/19/11 11:13 pm (UTC)I think the only part of this show that I'm disappointed in that's worth mentioning, is their inability to hook me with the Damon storyline. And it's because of all the reasons you mentioned -- his motivation being a huge factor. The thing with Damon is that when he's acting out, it's not out of some inherent vampire instinct, it's because of his human emotions, humiliation, rage, jealousy, a sense of entitlement, that he does these things -- and almost all of those emotions, essentially, motivated by as you say the "love drama." And it just does not work for me at all.
There's this conflict where Stefan says that vampires have this ability to turn off their human emotions, but in Damon's case, it seems like the opposite is true. [And he acts out as a result of it.]
To quote a few of my favorite vampire shows:
"It's not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy. It's the man." - Angel
"Do you know what I think? I think that there is a poison in you that has nothing at all to do with being a vampire." - Nina
And with Damon, those sentiments feel true as well. Except, the trouble is that we've got this... well... this dues ex machina of the mythical "vampire switch" that prevents Damon from being held responsible for those actions. And you know, even if there is a switch, I think he should still be held responsible for choosing to engage it.