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Vampire Diaries: Lost Girls

“Tip for later: be careful who you invite in the house.”

Sure, this episode is about lost girls: confused Elena, compelled and compliant Vicki, and catty Katherine. But it’s also about our lost boys: Stefan and Damon, pulled apart and coerced by the very same Katherine. Does she count as a lost girl? Seems to me like she knows what she’s doing.

“Lost Girls” ran hot and cold for me. I should love the flashbacks: I think corsets and hoopskirts are fabulous, and Gone with the Wind was one of my favorite books as a kid. But VD isn’t quite comfortable with the flashback model yet. The little snippets of 1864-life were all tease, no pay-off. And the present-day stuff shifted from dull to silly to darn interesting.

Stefan and Elena are still working through their issues, but it’s pretty clear that they’re fated for each other, even if she has to get over the whole “your brother mind-raped my friend, caused her death, and now we have to lie about it.” The writers spread this out over the hour, perhaps because it’s not really compelling television to watch a couple talk things out.

Damon and Vicki dancing was silly, but the punchline was Damon snapping her neck—that wouldn’t have been quite as surprising if we hadn’t wasted all that time on them playing around. At first, I felt like it was a tease to end an act on her dead on the floor, only to have her be undead when we returned from the commercial break. But, on second thought, that scene doesn’t lose any of its force even when she revives: she’s dead for sure, whether as vampire or a corpse. Poor Vicki.

Just as Vicki was damaged by Damon (and, well, by life), so were Damon and Stefan damaged by Katherine. But the parallel ends there: Vicki succumbed to Damon’s overtures because of her lust for intoxication, and it’s that need that led to her accidentally becoming a vampire (“Oops.”). But the cause of Damon’s and Stefan’s infatuation with Katherine isn’t—yet—that clear. Plus, it’s hard to really feel Damon’s victimization when he’s running around, all caustic and scary. He has the emotional maturity of a two-year-old, doesn’t he? Take away his toy ring and he throws a tantrum. Give him the ring back, and he’s all sweetness and life-saving blood.

The anti-vampire council really pooched things this week: their hunt through the woods led to Logan’s death, Vicki becoming a vampire, and them losing the watch. By the way, what a weird coincidence that the vampire brothers would wind up in the woods, just where the council was looking for them. Wacky fate.

Bites:


• Stefan: “I’ve been 17 years old since 1864.” That does sound awful.

• Vicki: “He’s going to get a football scholarship and marry Elena, have a lawnmower and lots of babies.”

• Damon: “Don’t look at me with those judgy little eyes.”

And Pieces:

• Tip for all you moody vampires out there: saying “I would never hurt you” while holding your girlfriend pressed against the door she’s trying to escape through is sending mixed messages.

• Loved the look on Damon’s face when he let Vicki feed on him.

• Was that a Depeche Mode cover playing when Vicki was dancing in her undies? I like the DM version better.

• This episode didn’t begin or end with a bite. But it did deal, almost exclusively, with the repercussions of biting.

Two and a half out of four hoop skirts

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

8 comments:

  1. The one scene that I don't understand in this episode was Damon and Vicki trashing Stefan's room. The subtext there was something like "Stefan, I'm abusing Vicki, but it's all your fault anyway." It didn't seem to make the point because we never see Stefan's reaction to it. But this episode did have a lot of open-shirted Ian candy. Yum!

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  2. "It didn't seem to make the point..."

    Yeah, I think this episode would have gone down better if we got to see the next episode, too: it's a lot of set-up.

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  3. Okay, Josie you sucked another viewer in.

    I watched the pilot a long while back before Supernatural and thought it was alright, although the second episode made me want to die.

    But after reading how the show gets so much better I decided to give it another shot and I'm glad I did. I just finished this episode and finally admitted to myself that I'm hooked.

    You've got to love a show that is not afraid to kill anyone, anytime and yet remains shocking in doing so. (Reminds me of my experience during the first season of 24).

    And your reviews make it clear that it just keeps getting better. Thanks for taking the time =)

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  4. I'm a first time watcher and while I haven't minded the episodes up until now, I'm starting to get a bit impatient with the whole thing. I liked the first flashback (felt like the early Highlander flashbacks though and I agree no one really knew what they were doing: actors, writers etc.) but I much prefer Stefan to Damon. I suppose I'm supposed to at this stage. People who've seen the show before seem to gush fondly over Damon in these early episodes because of who he is in the later episodes I guess. I have no idea who he is later, so he's just annoying to me right now!

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  5. Ok, Josie, I have to say I don't think the dancing scene was silly. This is the scene that finally got my attention last night. Seeing Boone ( I mean Damon) dancing with an open shirt and a six pack to Depeche Mode's Break the Silence was just off the chain. ( And makes me feel old. The song is a quarter century old this year). To me, there is nothing sexier than a hot guy dancing. And I got to annoy my daughter with music history. " Guess the last time I saw Depeche Mode live? It was 14 years ago when I was 6 months pregnant with you. It was 90 degrees outside and I was dancing on the lawn with the dozen friends I brought." which resulted in repeatative eye rolling. Great bonding time for us and Mom is beginning to start to like this.

    And, Gone with the Wind was one of your favorite books just as a kid? It remains mine as an adult.

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  6. And this is Nina's http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/05/30/nina-dobrev-vampire-diaries-favorite-episode-lost-girls/ and Ian's http://www.eonline.com/news/501966/the-vampire-diaries-ian-somerhalder-reveals-his-favorite-scene-plus-damon-salvatore-s-best-one-liners Favorite episodes.

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  7. "Tip for all you moody vampires out there: saying 'I would never hurt you' while holding your girlfriend pressed against the door she’s trying to escape through is sending mixed messages." LOL! I was thinking the same thing!

    I also was disappointed by the lack of anything interesting in the flashbacks. I'm hoping this was just the tip and we'll get more drama from that time. Also, to be nit-picky, it was completely against etiquette of the time for Katherine to invite Stefan to call her by her first name when, if I understood the context correctly, they had just met. I was also wondering why she was staying with them at all. The flashbacks seemed lacking in flavor, which is often the main purpose of having flashbacks at all.

    Logan's death was lame. Why was he by himself when Caroline's mom (whatever her name is) had a partner, when I'm guessing Caroline's mom is better-equipped to defend herself? And with the magic watch where he was the first wave?

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  8. Marianna, the flashbacks never get much better on this show. But the show as a whole does get much, much better. For me, the turning point is the episode called, appropriately, "The Turning Point."

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