The Vampire Diaries
Friday Night Bites
Original Air Date: Sept 24, 2009
Zeba – TwoCents Reviewer
zeba@thetwocentscorp.com
Rejoice! Tonight’s episode of The Vampire Diaries is a definite step up from the past two weeks. Stefan and Elena become “official,” though Bonnie has her misgivings. Caroline goes MIA after her escapade with the older, more mysterious Salvatore brother. Is she a vampire too, now? Oh and of course, Damon still has something evil up his sleeve…
Last week, bad boy vamp Damon got a little frisky in bed with cheerleader Caroline and, as vampires are wont to do, bit her. In the beginning of this episode, it’s the morning after and a scared and confused Caroline wakes up to find herself with some unsightly bite marks on her neck. She tries to sneak out of the room, only to be cornered by Damon who, after her futile attempts to throw a lamp, an alarm clock, and a pillow at him – attacks her again.
Cut to Elena and Bonnie arriving at school that morning. Bonnie, who was the biggest champion of her best friend dating Stefan Salvatore, is suddenly changing her tune. After her psychic episode the other night, she’s urging Elena to take it slow with Stefan. When asked for a reason she vaguely says that she has a “bad feeling” about him.
Stefan and Elena walk down the school’s halls in full-on couple mode, and it’s refreshing to see that rather than all that tiresome smoldering we got in previous episodes, they’re actually smiling, and, you know, having chemistry. Elena playfully suggests Stefan join the school’s football team after he impressively catches and throws a football that Tyler, the resident Jerky Jock , maliciously chucks at his head in the school parking lot.
After a little brooding and smoldering Stefan decides to give it a whirl. There is a bit of resistance from Matt (Elena’s ex-boyfriend) and Tyler, as well as the football coach who just happens to be Mr. Tanner, the resident Jerky History Teacher who earlier tried (and failed) to school Stefan in the super-cool art of Knowing Dates of Historical Events. Nevertheless, Stefan more than proves himself on the field, easily making the team.
Meanwhile, Elena is on another part of the pitch, half-heartedly participating in cheerleader tryouts. Caroline has been MIA all day but suddenly she shows up in a Cadillac with none other than Damon, whose obviously glamoured her into forgetting his attacks. She hops out wearing short shorts and a suspicious looking polka dot scarf around her neck, bragging to Elena and Bonnie that she’s bagged “the other brother.”
Everything seems fine, for the most part. But then night falls.
That evening, Elena invites her best friend and her boyfriend to dinner at her house, hoping Bonnie will change her mind. Before Stefan arrives, however, Bonnie once again insists that she really is psychic. She correctly guesses where all the special utensils in the house are (woopty-doo) and mentions a series of numbers that won’t get out of her head: 8, 14, and 22.
Stefan shows up and dinner is awkward. The trio sit mostly in a sort of heavy silence, and in an attempt to liven up the discussion Elena brings up the fact that Bonnie is descended from Salem witches (ugh, yes, we get it!). Stefan is intrigued by this and tells Bonnie that the Salem witches are known for their individuality and unwillingness to conform. He wins her over with his whole “I’m a sweet, polite and insightful dude” spiel.
Suddenly, the doorbell rings and who should it be at Elena’s doorstep than Caroline – and Damon. Caroline lets herself in without being invited but Damon stands there with a smirk, waiting for Elena to speak the magic words. Stefan tries with some effort to stop Elena from inviting his brother across the threshold but with a flippant, “Sure, come on in” the deal is done. Damon saunters inside the house with the smarmiest of smiles on his face. You’ve got to love it.
After an uncomfortable scene where Damon, once again, brings up Stefan’s long lost love Katherine, he and Elena share a heart to hear t of sorts alone in the kitchen.
The dynamic between the two of them is pretty darn interesting – Damon is clearly trying to play the predator, the manipulator, but Elena can almost see all the way through his façade. Somehow she manages to bring out something semi-human in him. He encourages her to drop the whole cheerleading bit if she really doesn’t have her heart in it. She cleverly deduces that Katherine, who he informs her died in a fire, was not only Stefan’s lover but Damon’s, too. “I’m sorry for your loss.” Damon is impressed. And…touched? Perhaps.
There is a huge pep rally at the school later that night, at which Stefan makes his official debut as an offensive player for the football team. Before running off to join the others, he gives Elena a silver necklace, under the pretense of a thank you for pushing him to get out there and play his favorite sport (although really, this trinket will somehow protect her from Damon).
While all this is happening, Elena’s little brother Jeremy has been getting progressively more and more wasted and self-destructives since witnessing Annie making out with Tyler at the Mystic Grill. He’s so peeved that when Annie tries to invite him to a concert he rejects her – wondering if the only reason she even slept with him was for the drugs. He recklessly threatens Tyler at the Grill but, luckily, the potential fight is broken up by Matt.
At the pep rally though, emotions are running high. Tyler is pissed off that Stefan is in the spotlight, and when he sees a drunken Jeremy walking across the football field he takes that as an opportunity to vent his anger. A huge fight ensues, and Stefan finds himself working to break it up and protect Jeremy – inadvertently getting his hand sliced open with a broken bottle in the process.
Elena, who observes the whole thing, freaks out and asks to see how deep the gash is. When Stefan opens up his hand, there’s nothing there. What with him being a fast-healing vampire and all. Too bad Elena doesn’t know this. She walks away, perplexed and a little spooked, asking Bonnie what exactly it was she saw when she touched Stefan. “Death. I saw death.”
In the parking lot Elena is, I dunno, getting something from her car. Damon pops up out of nowhere. He claims he’s avoiding Caroline, which Elena takes offense to, good friend that she is. Damon accuses Elena of putting on her whole tough-girl act because, secretly, she wants him. “In fact,” he commands, “you want to kiss me right now.” He’s obviously glamouring her, and for a millisecond it seems as if he has when – SLAP. Elena gives him a smack across the face and warns him to check himself before he wrecks himself, storming off.
Realizing that Elena is wearing an herb that repels the effects his gift of persuasion, Damon goes off in search of his little brother. He finds Stefan, right in the middle of a nice moment where a remorseful Matt thanks Stefan for defending Jeremy, and apologizes for his earlier behavior at practice with a shake of the hand. Once Matt’s gone, Damon steps out of the shadows and in his usual derisive way (he slow claps!), mocks Stefan for his attempt at a human life. Stefan has had enough. Rather than being angry, he pities his brother. It’s been 145 years he says, and still Damon cannot seem to get over what happened to Katherine. He cites this as Damon’s inherent humanity – his love for Katherine, the part of himself he can never run away from. That’s why he knows Damon will never hurt him or Elena.
At that moment, Jerky History Teacher/Coach picks the worst timing ever to come yell at Stefan to get ready to play. In literally the blink of an eye Damon, in order to prove to his brother that any shred of humanity in him is as dead as he is – RIPS. OUT. MR. TANNER’S. THROAT. It was pretty gruesome, at least by network television standards. With a blood covered face he glares at Stefan and declares, “Anybody. Anytime. Anywhere.”
Minutes later, after an argument with Tyler about his bullying ways, Matt goes outside for some fresh air and finds the coach’s dead body. End of festivities. The cops are called in as a crowd forms, and Bonnie is horrified and disbelieving when she sees the letters 8, 14, and 22 peppered throughout the crime scene (on a license plate, painted on the pavement, etc.)
Afterwards, Stefan makes an entry in his journal. “I thought there was hope,” he writes, “Hope that somewhere deep inside Damon was still human. Normal. But I was wrong. There’s nothing human left in Damon. No love, no kindness. Only a monster. A monster that needs to be stopped.”
These words are juxtaposed by the image of Damon in Elena’s room while she sleeps. He gently strokes her cheek and looks at her with an expression not unlike one of loving devotion. What’s going on here? When Elena awakes, he’s gone.
So who else is looking forward to next week’s episode? Things are finally picking up in terms of plot and character development, and I cannot wait to see where the Damon and Elena storyline goes. The whole situation is very reminiscent of the Beel/Sookeh/Eric set up on True Blood. But what do you guys reckon? Does Damon really lack any remnants of his humanity? Or does he just put on a good show? Shoot me your TwoCents!
TwoCentsTV 