The Vampire Diaries 1x05-1x13
Thu, Feb. 11th, 2010 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterTrying to get this out before tonight's episode!
Spoilers for the eps and the books
I had stopped watching this for a while untilshewhohashope told me the episodes were getting better. It is still not high quality TV, but there's enough interesting stuff to keep sucking me in each week. Also, lots of flashbacks! This always helps, even though Katherine's hair is more what a prom hairdresser thinks is Civil War, as opposed to actual 1860s hair.
I hated the entire Vicki storyline, from how she went from one controlling, belittling boyfriend to another and then danced around in her underwear then turned into a vamp then died. The show basically just had a broad stereotype of unrestrained women from the wrong side of the tracks who go out and do drugs and dance wildly and meet a bad end. Not only that, but she acted as a woman in a refrigerator to not just one, but THREE men! Grrrr. And from what I last remember, Tyler and Jeremy may be bonding now that she is out of the way.
Jeremy and Jenna largely bore me, as their lack of knowledge about the supernatural makes them passive recipients of the overarching plot, as opposed to actors. Caroline and Matt are at least cute enough together for me to forgive them the time apart from vampire mythology.
I continue to think Elena and Stefan have very little chemistry together, although the episode with the 50s dance had them acting as an actual couple! And I very much like that they tend to get over the Big Misunderstandings fairly quickly. That said, Stefan rescued Bonnie from a pit in the ground in 5 minutes, and I think they had more chemistry than Stefan and Elena!
I am extremely uncertain as to where they are going with the Damon-Stefan-Elena triangle. Damon is definitely a charismatic character, but quite frankly, he is a scary murderer. I liked it more when the show agreed that he was a scary murderer, as opposed to attempting to justify it because he did it all out of luuuuuurve for Katherine. It may explain some of his actions in the flashbacks, before Katherine is dragged to the barn and burned, but I feel going on a killing rampage for the next century or so speaks more of conscious action than acting out of grief. Also, I have no idea why Elena seems to be warming up to him a bit after their roadtrip; from what I could tell, he basically just proved he was a scary murderer all over again, which I feel should trump any sort of car trip bonding! I had been secretly shipping him and Bonnie due to book 4 of the series, but now I am sort of shipping Bonnie and Stefan! Especially after Damon killed Gina Torres!
The Bonnie storyline makes me so happy! I do wish she had a better love interest, to avoid the Single Sassy Black Sidekick syndrome, but I'm hoping the current bad vampire boyfriend will lead to other things in future episodes. But I love the history and I love her grandmother and I love Emily and I want to know more! I cannot believe they wasted Gina Torres on a Damon storyline when they had the awesome Bennett witches storyline to go with! That said, I am a little wary of the entire Emily-protecting-her-masters thing. Why would she do this? What's her motivation? And I'm wary of this becoming a Black women with power who exist only to further the White women's storylines. It's particularly icky given the Civil War era, and I'm quite certain the show will ignore the slavery issue or address it in a ham-handed way. Right now, all the Bennett witches' powers are being subordinated to the getting-Katherine-back storyline, and although I loved the Stefan-Sheila interaction and her not inviting him in, I still want to know why she's protecting his secret.
And Anna! I feel I should be more disapproving of another POC turning out to be villainous, but she's so much more interesting this way! Also, it makes her enthusiasm around Jeremy much more understandable (I feel Jeremy is too boring to inspire that much enthusiasm). And I love that she's the mastermind now that her partner is gone, and I love the way she completely dismisses the boy-toy bartender. I'm also curious about her and Pearl's histories. Are they actually mother/daughter? I'm glad the show is reading them as POC, given how they made sure to cast them both with multiracial Asian actors (as opposed to Lana Lang in Smallville). But I want to know how multiracial Asian women ended up in Virginia during the Civil War!
I'm also curious if the show will end up vamping Elena, as L.J. Smith did in the books, or if they'll bring in the vampire who was Katherine's sire.
Spoilers for the eps and the books
I had stopped watching this for a while until
shewhohashope told me the episodes were getting better. It is still not high quality TV, but there's enough interesting stuff to keep sucking me in each week. Also, lots of flashbacks! This always helps, even though Katherine's hair is more what a prom hairdresser thinks is Civil War, as opposed to actual 1860s hair.I hated the entire Vicki storyline, from how she went from one controlling, belittling boyfriend to another and then danced around in her underwear then turned into a vamp then died. The show basically just had a broad stereotype of unrestrained women from the wrong side of the tracks who go out and do drugs and dance wildly and meet a bad end. Not only that, but she acted as a woman in a refrigerator to not just one, but THREE men! Grrrr. And from what I last remember, Tyler and Jeremy may be bonding now that she is out of the way.
Jeremy and Jenna largely bore me, as their lack of knowledge about the supernatural makes them passive recipients of the overarching plot, as opposed to actors. Caroline and Matt are at least cute enough together for me to forgive them the time apart from vampire mythology.
I continue to think Elena and Stefan have very little chemistry together, although the episode with the 50s dance had them acting as an actual couple! And I very much like that they tend to get over the Big Misunderstandings fairly quickly. That said, Stefan rescued Bonnie from a pit in the ground in 5 minutes, and I think they had more chemistry than Stefan and Elena!
I am extremely uncertain as to where they are going with the Damon-Stefan-Elena triangle. Damon is definitely a charismatic character, but quite frankly, he is a scary murderer. I liked it more when the show agreed that he was a scary murderer, as opposed to attempting to justify it because he did it all out of luuuuuurve for Katherine. It may explain some of his actions in the flashbacks, before Katherine is dragged to the barn and burned, but I feel going on a killing rampage for the next century or so speaks more of conscious action than acting out of grief. Also, I have no idea why Elena seems to be warming up to him a bit after their roadtrip; from what I could tell, he basically just proved he was a scary murderer all over again, which I feel should trump any sort of car trip bonding! I had been secretly shipping him and Bonnie due to book 4 of the series, but now I am sort of shipping Bonnie and Stefan! Especially after Damon killed Gina Torres!
The Bonnie storyline makes me so happy! I do wish she had a better love interest, to avoid the Single Sassy Black Sidekick syndrome, but I'm hoping the current bad vampire boyfriend will lead to other things in future episodes. But I love the history and I love her grandmother and I love Emily and I want to know more! I cannot believe they wasted Gina Torres on a Damon storyline when they had the awesome Bennett witches storyline to go with! That said, I am a little wary of the entire Emily-protecting-her-masters thing. Why would she do this? What's her motivation? And I'm wary of this becoming a Black women with power who exist only to further the White women's storylines. It's particularly icky given the Civil War era, and I'm quite certain the show will ignore the slavery issue or address it in a ham-handed way. Right now, all the Bennett witches' powers are being subordinated to the getting-Katherine-back storyline, and although I loved the Stefan-Sheila interaction and her not inviting him in, I still want to know why she's protecting his secret.
And Anna! I feel I should be more disapproving of another POC turning out to be villainous, but she's so much more interesting this way! Also, it makes her enthusiasm around Jeremy much more understandable (I feel Jeremy is too boring to inspire that much enthusiasm). And I love that she's the mastermind now that her partner is gone, and I love the way she completely dismisses the boy-toy bartender. I'm also curious about her and Pearl's histories. Are they actually mother/daughter? I'm glad the show is reading them as POC, given how they made sure to cast them both with multiracial Asian actors (as opposed to Lana Lang in Smallville). But I want to know how multiracial Asian women ended up in Virginia during the Civil War!
I'm also curious if the show will end up vamping Elena, as L.J. Smith did in the books, or if they'll bring in the vampire who was Katherine's sire.
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