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Vampire Diaries: The Walking Dead

I feel like I’ve written enough about supernaturalism-as-character development, and enough about Stefan and Damon telling Elena what she really wants or really needs to do this season. At this point, although I’m still enjoying the episodes in a thoughtless way, I’m mostly waiting for the excitement of a partial reset next fall. And, since I don’t want to continue to repeat my annoyance at the writers’ reliance on things like a “humanity switch” (which apparently is more of a rheostat than a toggle) to create dynamic characters, I don’t really have much to say about this episode.

That’s not to say that nothing happened. The return of Alaric was, for me, the absolute highlight (even if Damon’s “something only Alaric and I would know” was rather naïve, given Silas’s psychic powers). He and Damon were hesitant but wonderful best friends, and Alaric brings an intelligence and maturity to the Mystic Falls wackiness that was sorely missed this season. Can you imagine him condoning torturing Elena?

I certainly hope that Alaric’s return sticks. Because I like him so much, I would be willing to trade Alaric’s return for Jeremy’s or Bonnie’s. Elena’s goodbye to Jeremy felt like closure, and I’ve been expecting Bonnie’s death since Season One. So long, in fact, that I’d forgotten to expect it anymore. It’s a pity that she had to go out like she did: still vaguely out of control of her magic/expression.

Silas is dead, or calcified, or enstonified (that ought to be a word), though. Hooray! Silas was more interesting as a plot device than as a true baddie: most of the trouble he caused was getting others, especially Bonnie, to cause trouble for him. He was an excuse for chaotic action rather than an agent of chaos, and it’s interesting to consider his influence in contrast to that of Grams, Alaric, and even Lexi.

Grams is the one who helped Bonnie realize her power, even if that power made Bonnie try a bit too much, killing herself to save Jeremy. I wonder if that’s why the hunters came back at the end: were they part of the massive veil-dropping? Or were they revivified when Bonnie tried to revivify one of their kind?

I suppose we’ll get a clearer answer to that next week, when hopefully Lexi and Alaric (and dead-but-still-here Bonnie?) will stick around for a while. Lexi seems to be shipping Caroline and Stefan, which is interesting. Rebekah seems to be shipping herself and Matt; making Matt like Rebekah makes her somehow more likeable, since Matt has turned into a fairly awesome, stable character this season. I hope that doesn’t mean he’ll die soon.

Bites:

• Damon: “Silas wants Bonnie to do a spell to drop the veil from the other side.”
Sheriff Forbes: “I have no idea what that means.” God bless you, Sheriff Forbes.

• Rebekah: “Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary really want to see you graduate with both hands.”

And Pieces:

• AWOL Nation’s “Sail” opened the episode. I love that song. I can listen to it (and have done so) on repeat for up to one hour.

• Qetsyah’s name seems to have undergone shift in stress in the past few episodes.

• As Billie reported in this week’s Doux News, Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder have broken up. Alas.

• Once again, apologies for the lateness of this review. I had another work trip that was completely exhausting, and I’m behind on all my “real life” work. My apartment is also really messy—I can’t stand a messy apartment, and I just don’t have time to clean it. I hate a messy home! It’s so unsettling.

• Yes, that’s too much information. Sometimes I overshare.

• Silas has pockets?

What would you rate this? It left me feeling blah, but many other reviewers seem to have liked it. Where do you stand?

Josie Kafka is a full-time cat servant and part-time rogue demon hunter. (What's a rogue demon?)

7 comments:

  1. I actually really liked this episode, and I didn't realize how much I missed Alaric until you pointed it out. He really did ground things when he was around.

    I think Bonnie's death will stick. It seemed final, and the dropped veil should give her time to graduate and say goodbye.

    I hope there's a huge change-up next season to freshen things up. And I really hope that change-up includes Katherine. Please don't let her die!

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  2. I want Alaric and Lexi to stay. I don't care if Bonnie stays dead. But Katherine had better be ok. She's too good an enemy for Elena to be gone.
    Anna

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  3. I'm a little dubious about this whole turn of events. Silas was disposed of way too easily. Are we sure Silas was even actually petrified? Maybe that was all a scam and "Grams" is just Silas, still messing with Bonnie's head.

    And what's the big deal about his "true face" anyway? Who could he be that we would recognize?

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  4. And what's the big deal about his "true face" anyway? Who could he be that we would recognize?

    TSK, that is an excellent question. I've been wondering that for weeks. Is it someone we're supposed to know? Or is it just curiosity on the part of all the characters?

    The show is clearly implying it matters, but I just can't see how it would.

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  5. Maybe one of the existing male characters is a "Silas doppelganger".

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  6. I want to simply echo Juliette -- Alaric! His friendship with Damon is one of the best relationships of the entire series and watching them together again put a huge smile on my face. Now that his other show has gone to TV heaven, he'll be back? I can only hope.

    This had a definite feel of setting up the finale and next season. Let's hope they re-jig it back to its former glory days. This felt like a good start.

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