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Vampire Diaries: We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes

“Third time’s a charm?”

After a string of episodes that left me concerned that one of my favorite shows was losing me, VD offered some resolution to the mini-arc of the first half of this season and hinted that we might be moving in the right direction. “We All Go…” also had some great character moments, from scheming to break-ups to (finally!) more Caroline.

So: Elena and Stefan broke up. In an episode filled with death, attempted suicide, and lots of mythology, that’s what we’re really all concerned with, isn’t it? Last week, Stefan told Damon that he didn’t want Elena to become the vampire she was becoming. This week, he accepted the break-up gracefully: is he willing to let her go that easily? Is he accepting it with his typical Stefan stoicism? How does that play with Damon’s willingness to take the “very high, annoying road”?

On VD, breakups can raise more questions than they answer. Maybe some distance from Stefan (and Damon) will give Elena the chance to figure out her new vampire-identity herself. As callous as Katherine is, maybe she could be of some assistance here. After all, doppelgangers must have more in common than just good looks and great hair.

Elena and Stefan weren’t the only couple that broke up, of course. Finally, Caroline and Tyler are done! Well, for now. And I feel terrible about feeling great about this, since Caroline looked so sad. Tyler and Caroline broke up over a fundamental misunderstanding about the role that Chris could play in their lives: to Tyler, he was a friend and pack-mate. To Caroline and to us, he was obviously a redshirt.

A redshirt whose death was instrumental in this week’s byzantine plotting. Elena killing the hunter meant Elena had hallucinations that could only be cured by the next hunter, Elena’s brother, killing a vampire and moving up the food chain from “potential” to “kick-ass,” which led to the Caroline/Tyler break-up and some likely awkwardness between possible couples Klaus/Caroline and Tyler/Phoebe Tonkin. This show is like a supernatural Rube Goldberg device.

I sincerely hope that Caroline’s upcoming pseudo-date with Klaus takes up numerous minutes next week, because Klaus’s fake sympathy was hilarious. After a billion years (give or take), he really hasn’t figured out that asking someone to see his etchings and being the shoulder to cry on are transparently silly ways of getting in a girl’s pants?

Meanwhile, Professor Creepypants just gets creepier. Damon unwittingly revealed that Connor is dead, so Shane knows his weapon has been, um… deweaponized. He knows roughly who is responsible, and that Bonnie is mixed up in it. And he knows something about the mysterious Silas, who does sound awfully hardcore. I hope Bonnie regains her powers soon, because the professor is too weird to be left unguarded. (Although the wonderful Matt/Damon alliance might keep him in check.) And I hope he’s not doing something to keep Bonnie from regaining those powers.

I also hope that Jeremy is able to control his hunter urges. Elena loves her brother so much; that love is one of the things I love about Elena. But now Jeremy will be, like Connor, overcome with the urge to kill vampires. What will that mean for his relationship with his big sister?

And now for the paragraph of unambiguous praise: while I haven’t loved Elena’s character arc so far this season, I have been impressed with Nina Dobrev’s acting. This episode certainly didn’t disappoint. She was so, so sad. Now that she’s had the fairy-tale-esque third trip to the scene of her deaths, I would like her to have a moment of joy soon. Even if it’s just silly dancing in the living room with Caroline.

Bites:

• Prof: “What’s your specialty?”
Damon: “The origin of the species.”
Prof: “I think Darwin might arm-wrestle you for that distinction.”

• I loved Caroline telling an original vampire “Don’t get mad!”

• Damon: “Vampires hate to swim.” Huh?

• Damon: “I’d say I’m in the market for a new drinking buddy. You’re not qualified.”

• Matt: “And anyone who knows stuff in this town is creepy until proven otherwise.”

• Damon: “You’re on the verge of impressing me. Drive it home.”

And Pieces:

• Elena still had Jeremy’s blood on her hands after Damon had arrived—so did she call him with bloody hands? Is her cell phone covered in blood right now?

• I hope that April’s only role in this season is to wander into an episode, ask if anyone has seen Rebekah, and then wander out to be compelled again. Because that would be hilarious.

• Are Bonnie and Jeremy still a couple?

Four out of four fallen hybrids. Because every time someone says “hybrid” I think of the car. And it keeps me laughing.

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

18 comments:

  1. Loved this episode! And I don't know if any of you wander over to Tumblr at all (I joined it to promote my site and because of all the pretty/funny gifs), but take all the drama from a season of TVD, times it by 100, and that's what the 24 hours following a new episode of the show is like over there.

    I don't usually pay attention to stuff like that in shows, but seriously, is it in Kat Graham's contract or something that she's the only African-American character who can last more than a few episodes in the show? Connor last week, Chris this week. And why did Jeremy have to kill the one hybrid other than Tyler who'd broken the sire bond? True, Klaus would have probably figured it out and killed or at least punished Chris anyway, but it still was very cruel.

    Also cruel and sad - Elena's own mother telling her to kill herself.

    I love it that Damon is still missing Alaric - even though it's been months for many viewers, it's still only a few weeks (right? Hard to tell TVD time) for him. Matt Davis really needs to make a guest cameo again this season. On another note, I loved Damon calling Jeremy "Little Gilbert" and Jeremy suggesting staking Damon as a cure for Elena.

    I don't think Bonnie and Jeremy are a couple at all (not since the kissing ghost Anna stuff, if I remember right), but it's obvious she still cares for him a lot.

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  2. While I ADORED the final scene which was just magnificent on every level, I was kind of bored throughout the rest of the hour. Elena constantly whining was really repetitive and there wasn't any suspense because you knew she wouldn't actually kill herself.

    However, Nina Dobrev just knocks it out of the park whenever she plays Katherine. Seriously it's insane how effectively she transforms into a whole other character. Please keep her around full time (and yes I know that would burden Nina with quite the workload, so feel free to stake Elena and just keep her doppelganger)

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  3. I can feel myself pulling away from this show. The last two episodes really irritated me and this one, although better, still didn't feel like the show of old.

    I am over newly vampiric Elena who does nothing but whine and I laughed out loud when Katherine said, "don't you ever stop crying?" Nadim is right in that we all knew Elena wasn't going to die, so that whole part of the show dragged for me.

    The last scene, however, was really well played and surprisingly moving. Much of my sympathy for Stefan evaporated in the last episode, but watching these two break up was sad. I'm looking forward to seeing who the writers set up with whom.

    Finally, does anyone else think that the professor is Silas?

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  4. Katie, as someone with a serious Tumblr addiction I know exactly what you're talking about.

    And Nadim you are absolutely right, Katherine needs to come back for real ASAP. Mystic Falls is more fun when she's around.

    I love how hybrids have become this show's version of redshirts/Spinal Tap drummer's/Murphy Brown assistants. Every week we meet a new on and every week they die a horrible death.

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  5. That would explain how he could have traveled the world "ten times over." That takes time, which isn't something most college professors have a lot of.

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  6. That response was for Chris, not Mark. (Because if you read it as a response to Mark, it sounds like I'm linking the deaths of Murphy Brown's assistants to world travel.)

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  7. I don't think the professor is Silas, but maybe possessed by Silas like Alaric was possessed by Klaus. Silas is supposed to be trapped and I am willing to bet that this quest for a cure will involve freeing him somehow.

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  8. I loved this episode, it's an old idea but really well done. Plus, Elena and Stefan broke up, yay!

    Killing Chris was a serious what the frell? moment though. I mean honestly, are these people completely morally bankrupt? We know characters like Damon will kill anyone to protect the object of their affection, but Caroline, Stefan and Jeremy are supposed to be the more morally upstanding ones, how can they think it's OK to murder someone just to save their friend? That guys had friends too...

    Luckily my favourites (Matt, Damon, Elena, weirdly Rebekah and missing in action Ghostaric) had nothing to do with it, so I guess I can choose to ignore it.

    (Did anyone else giggle at Matt/Damon? Just me?)

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  9. Seriously, they couldn't find a better way to help Elena than to kill off a nice guy (ok, a hybrid, but still), who was only on the outs with Klaus because he had tried to help our "heroes"...who then turned around and killed him for his efforts. I'm still a fan, but any more things like could make it hard to continue seeing our protagonists as the "good guys."

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  10. >>Finally, does anyone else think that the professor is Silas?

    Yes, the thought crossed my mind, too, but I'm seldom right, so maybe you'll want to dump it as a theory ;o)

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  11. Loved every single moment of it. Especially Damon with Elena in her bedroom when he told her the truth. He's changed so much too, and is becoming more and more worthy of her. Yes, I agree with you Josie, we had creepy stories, an old legend coming about a greater evil (Silas) who may be the professor after all, who as Matt (the boy's surprised Damon!!!!) pointed knowing too much, but all we're worried about is who Elena will choose, and about Klaus and Caroline, because in the end, it's the people (adding vampire and hybrids to that) who matter....

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  12. Normally I would agree about the horrible death of someone that was trying to change (our sacrifice to save Elena). But I think he would've died anyway, Klaus doesn't have much patience and I bet it was his influence that made the group choose that poor hybrid. I think it was like, well Klaus is gonna kill him anyway, so lets save Elena. How much do you wanna bet that Klaus is gonna start feeding vampires to Jeremy.

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  13. I think Shane has some ties, either by possession or he's a descendent of Silas. But I'm loving David Alpay at the moment, and I laughed when April was like "I recognise him from somewhere..." and my friend and I yelled "Because he was on The Tudors!" at the screen.

    Sigh. I'm over the Delena/Stelena stuff. Not a Delena fan at all. Although I am really, REALLY loving the "Klaroline" scenes this season.

    Can Phoebe Tonkin please choose an accent? It's giving my Australian accent a complex.

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  14. As others have said the death of Chris was horribly selfish by the gang. You'd expect that from Damon and maybe even Jeremy who's character is terribly written (what so now he hates vampires again despite being prefectly fine dating one?), but why did Caroline go through with it?

    Tyler said that Chris was a friend and Caroline even had the nerve to begin to say that he wasn't. Tyler's reaction matched mine and I'm firmly on his side. Why is Elena's life more important than Chris'?

    I am really having a hard time liking anybody at the moment.

    Elena- Whinges far too much.
    Jeremy- His hatred of vampires came from nowhere. This is someone who wanted to be a vampire once.
    Steffan- Has never escaped my early impression of him as being Angel V2. He has also been a terrible boyfriend from the get go really, but they are now making him more selfish so that the fans want Elena to get with Damon.
    Damon- Damon is great really. His character arc as the love-sick Spike-ish vampire is so consistent, but he is still a killer. I found it hilarious in episode 2 of this season when every character is remembering their dead loved ones such as Vicki, Lexi and Steffan's uncle that nobody went "hang on a minute, Damon killed all of them!"
    Bonnie- I despise her. I found Xander a bit of a knob in Buffy, but he at least had a wonderful sense of humour whereas Bonnie is just a kill job bigot.
    Matt- Just a bit pathetic really and a total wet blanket.

    That leaves me with Caroline (who despite this episode I still love), Tyler who I don't actually mind and Klaus who is growing on me now with his great lines like "Oh yeah, I'm as evil as they come."

    Then there's Rebecka. I love her. Yes she killed Elena, but Matt killed her brother and nobody is at all sympathetic to her plight. Elena literally stabbed her in the back, Damon pretended to be interested in her romantically and wasn't, Steffan acted like she meant nothing to him all those years ago when she clearly loved him, Klaus is constantly horrible to her and now even Matt is on her case and taking her gift of a car without even hearing her out. Thanks to Elena & her Mum she missed two school parties that she was really excited for. Her only flaw is that she's insecure and is a total fool for love. I just want to take the knife back out of her and hug her.

    I've compared the show to Buffy a lot, but I'm surprised I'm the first to mention that the Elena plot here is so much like Buffy season 3 great Amends. Not only do both involve a vampire attempting suicide via sunlight, not only are both talked out of it by a loved one (Buffy/Damon), but both are prompted into doing it by visions of people they've recently killed (Jenny as played by The First/Connor).

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  15. I'm always intrigued why women always root for guys like Damon (or Eric or Spike). What makes them better? What makes them so special that they get get out of jail card for free?

    Why is Stefan (or Tyler) so much worse?

    You want to root for the bad guy because... he's bad? He's dangerous? He wants to do right just by himself and treat the rest of the world disposable? You want to lie to yourself that deep inside he's good and you'll do right by him (and yourself) if you just scratch the surface enough to make that part manifest? The part you know you're lying to yourself but you still want to believe?

    I never learned to understand that. I'm not sure I want to.

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    1. Ugh & I really don't get how Tyler is so hated he's like the most decent person on this show, but of course everyone would rather her be with Klaus. Klause!?!

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    2. I agree! This disturbs me so much, nearly every review or comment section I read, the majority of viewers love Damon & treat Stephan as though he's boring or lame because he's actually a great guy who cares about the repercussions of his actions, who actually has remorse, who's kind to others, who actually treats his woman as a separate human being capable of making her own decisions & mistakes, rather than his property like Damon. This is why so many people are in unhappy, screwed up relationships right now, it's because deep down that's what they actually want. This society has created a bunch of warped minds & warped senses of love. Elena even considering wanting to be with Damon shows exactly the kind of person she is, did she forget that he actually tried to permanently kill her human brother, that he pretty much repeatedly raped her best friend Caroline when she was a human & never so much as apologized, that he doesn't give two shits about hurting others & continues to do it. Oh but none of that matters because he's so sweet when it comes to her. Stephan hasn't so much as even looked at another woman, yet she wants his BROTHER! How Jerry Springer can you get! That's screwed up on so many levels, it's something a decent human being wouldn't even think of doing, but since it's Elena & Damon no one sees a problem with keeping it in the family. I wonder how everyone would feel if Stephan had conflicting feelings for Elena & Jenna, hell even if it were Caroline or Bonnie. You just don't do that if you have any amount of decency within you & Elena doesn't have any.

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  16. This episode annoyed me... a lot. What was the point of breaking Elena out of Klaus's suicide-proof room without a solid plan on what to do with her once they broke her out? The whole thing seemed forced to make it plausible for Elena to actually kill herself. If they hadn't done that, they probably also could have been choosier about finding a vampire for Jeremy to kill and found one that kills a lot of people instead of Chris who seemed nice and could potentially be useful down as a hybrid that Klaus doesn't know has been un-sired.

    I knew something was wrong with the professor as soon as we saw him at the frat party. Seriously, what kind of professor goes to a frat party!?

    Matt: “And anyone who knows stuff in this town is creepy until proven otherwise.” Well said, Matt.

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