Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

Vampire Diaries: Haunted

“So she’s a vampire with issues?”

Vicki is a terrible vampire. Her lack of impulse control, her tendency towards addiction, and her lack of awareness about the harm she causes those around her are just magnified by the newer, stronger hunger for blood. We knew this couldn’t end well. But, even so, how it ended came as a surprise to me.

Killing off a cast member is almost de rigeur these days, but I was shocked that VD did it so quickly: they easily could have created a mini-arc in which Vicki terrorizes the town, and that’s what I was expecting. But that’s not what this show is about: it’s about how people react to trauma, change, and grief—and Vicki’s death, and everything that came before and after it, represent a serious turning point for a few of our characters.

Poor Jeremy has a lot to deal with on top of the general trauma of being a teenage boy: his disinterest in school and school activities, his parents’ death, his semi-girlfriend’s issues. Vicki’s death would have pushed him over the edge, if Damon hadn’t compelled him out of his black pit of grief. We’ll see what the effects of that compulsion are in the next episode: they might be more than you expect.

It’s Damon’s reaction that I found most interesting, though—and what he was reacting to. He turned Vicki because he was bored, by his own admission. In the first 30 minutes of the episode, he was still a snarky jerk. But when Elena called him out on his own apparent disinterest, and specifically when she slapped him, something changed. Was he reacting to the entire Vicki crisis? Or just to Elena’s willingness to risk her own neck [groan] to prove him wrong? Whatever it was, Damon was suddenly willing to help. He might be on a mission of redemption, helping the helpless. Maybe.

Meanwhile, we also got some more info about Bonnie’s powers and the Founder’s Council. Damon played it pretty cool with the Mayor’s wife, but I get the sense he might be plotting something with the vervain-offer. Wonder how that will play out.

This was our first episode that didn’t end with a bite. Vicki’s life ended with a stake to the heart, but I think it’s Damon compelling Jeremy that really matters. For the first time in the history of the show, Damon did something good for someone else.

This was a fabulous episode, and I’ve got a massive quote list to prove it:

Bites:

• Damon: “You: don’t talk.”
Tyler: “Screw you, dude.”
Damon: “Dude? Really?”

• Damon: “What is it? Skunk? St. Bernard? Bambi?”

• Damon: “He walks on a moral plane waaay out of our eye-line. I say snatch, eat, erase.”

• Damon: “Okay, Count Deepak. I’m outta here.”

• Elena: “How can you be so arrogant and glib after everything that you’ve done?”
Damon: “And how can you be so brave and stupid, to call a vampire arrogant and glib?”
Elena: “If you wanted me dead, I’d be dead.”
Damon: “Yes, you would.”
Elena: “But I’m not.”
Damon: “Yet.” Sparks just flew off my screen. Those two are on fire.

• Stefan: “Coffee is our friend.”

• Damon: “She’s been cooped up in your room all day. She’s not Anne Frank.”

• Caroline: “I am going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with.”

• Damon: “You confuse me for someone with remorse.”

• Matt: “Is this what I’m in for? A lifetime of worrying about her?” Sometimes, even though it’s a tragedy, death is also a release for the survivors. Then again, Matt doesn't know.

And Pieces:

• Stupid Josie: I just realized that Elena and Matt are both basically parent-less. Sure, Matt has Julie Cooper for a mom, but she’s fairly absent, and Elena has her aunt... but their concern for Vicki and Jeremy was almost parental.

• Elena was a sexy nurse, Bonnie was a sexy witch, Vicki was a sexy vampire, and Caroline was a sexy... did we get to see Caroline in costume?

• Our first mention of Emily Bennett this week.

Three and a half out of four mugs of Bambi blood.

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

6 comments:

  1. Totally gross and appropriate rating there. This was a really good one, and I was surprised that they did what they did to Vicki.

    Her character really didn't work, but she brought tension to the story. I remembering thinking when I watched this episode, if there would be lasting ramifications to what happened, and I'm glad they there have been.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so pleased you're doing the episodes they missed, Josie, because I got so into the last one ("Lost Girls") that I watched the rest (quite legally, on Amazon, for two bucks a pop).

    And this was a terrific episode. I am finally into Damon. He was always the most interesting character, but what he did to Vicky was really interesting. So was what he did to Jeremy, but in a different way. And his reaction to Elena slapping him.

    I made some notes while watching so I could make intelligent comments when you were able to post reviews (mostly because I went through the skipped episodes so quickly) and I loved the dialogue. "Count Deepak" may have been my favorite. But I also loved Vicki's line, "Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead."

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm ok with 3 1/3 out of four mugs. Gotta save room for the powerful episodes downstream.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Elena: “If you wanted me dead, I’d be dead.”
    Damon: “Yes, you would.”
    Elena: “But I’m not.”
    Damon: “Yet.”


    This is fantastic dialogue and so meaningful throughout the series.

    I'm actually enjoying these early shows more the second time through. Picking up bits and pieces that sailed right by the first time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Billie, I loved that line of Vicki's as well. She delivered it perfectly. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. This episode was a big improvement but I too am surprised by how rapidly they're going through major characters. I expected Logan to hang around for a while, and certainly expected the Vicky vampire storyline to play out over more episodes. Though I didn't enjoy the character much so I'm not sad to see her go. But I do wonder whether they'll be anybody left alive in Mystic Falls after a few more seasons of this!

    I was wondering whether Damon is afraid of Bonnie. I get the sense that her mother's advice of learning to control her powers before she uses them isn't going to be practical...I have a feeling she's a much stronger witch than her mother.

    The founders are an interesting group. They're not a very likeable bunch, but you have to sympathize with their desire to protect the town.

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.