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Saturday 3 November 2012

The Vampire Diaries 4.2 "Memorial" Review

Stefan  (Paul Wesley) knows Elena (Nina Dobrev) won't be able to handle it if she hurts anyone.  Damon (Ian Somerhalder) thinks Stefan is delusional, Elena needs human blood.  She can't live on a 'bunny diet.  Damon wants her to be who she is and be a part of the natural food pyramid, otherwise she'll be miserable.  Elena likes Stefan holding her, er, enough with the 'heightened emotions' already!

Damon meets up with the sheriff (Marguerite MacIntyre) and claims he "always takes credit for killing people."  She reminds him his friends tried to kill her daughter.  Stefan wants to celebrate Elena's first feed, she did it and survived and brings a bottle of champagne dated for her birthday.  Damon didn't blow up the town council but can help.

Elena doesn't want human blood and Damon tells her blood sharing is personal.  Connor (Todd Williams) turning up at the Lockwood (Susan Walters) house wasn't an accident and she tells him she wasn't at the meeting cos it wasn't official town business.  He shoots Tyler (Michael Trevino).  Stefan finds he has specially carved bullets and if Tyler was a normal vampire, he'd be dead.  His gloves were also soaked in vervain.

Bonnie (Kat Graham) is still grieving, the bullets weren't magical but have some sort of writing on them.  Elena needs Damon's help.  Well, considering the mess she made of the bathroom.  Damon doesn't shake Connor's hand, he's a "germaphobe."  He brings Elena a clean dress after the blood incident and he tells Connor they've got "scenery to die for...pun too soon?"  Nah Damon wouldn't care whether it was soon or not.  Damon thinks Elena's doppelganger blood could be stopping the transition.

Stefan fears if Elena hurts someone she could turn off her humanity and thinks she's more like Damon. But she couldn't even keep Damon's blood down, as he blabs to Stefan.  Connor arrives at the service with more bullets.  Damon crosses himself with holy water when he enters the church and remarks, it makes him smile for some reason.  All the vampires smell blood, dripping from the ceiling from April (Grace Phipps) and Damon warns it's a trap.

Matt (Zach Roerig) says Elena should feed from him.  Tyler speaks out about Young and is shot.  Caroline (Candace Accola) stops Elena from feeding on April and Elena must compel April to forget what's happened to her.  Connor notices Matt's bite on his neck and Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) comments on his tattoos which Matt didn't see.

Stefan's not happy, he's in hell cos of Elena and still she goes to Damon for help and feeds on him.  This meant a lot to Damon.  Liked Stefan punching Damon for sharing his blood with Elena, but it's not like he hasn't done that before in season 3.

They need to finish the memorial so they can begin to heal.  Damon doesn't want to stick around for that sentimentality and will find out who he hunter is.  Stefan says goodbye to his uncle Zack, Lexie and Alaric.  Matt says goodbye to Vicki.  Caroline to her father.  Jeremy to his parents, Vicki, Anna and Jenna, Alaric.  Bonnie says goodbye to Grams.  Elena to her mother and father, Jenna, Alaric and all those they have lost, releasing the paper lanterns.

Leaving Damon to say goodbye in his own way, well not really goodbye but share his feelings at Alaric's grave, ruing they're not children or even Japanese.  He doesn't want Elena to end up like the rest of the murdering vampires.  The only thing left is a hole in his life where someone used to be.  Alaric appears, he left Damon in the lurch and alone here and Alaric owes him.  Alaric misses Damon too.
Damon: "...in the end when you lose somebody, every candle, every prayer is not gonna make up for the fact that the only thing you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody that you cared about used to be."  Ahh, Damon babysitter!

Memorial was a bit of a hit and a miss episode in that it was geared specifically to a teen audience in some respects as paper lanterns is something not very many adults would associate themselves with.  As was Damon's criticism at the end when he spoke to Alaric, hey forget spoke, he had a manly heart to heart and really misses the only friend he ever had.  Who accepted him for who and what he is, flaws 'n'all.  Easily the best scene in the entire episode.  Damon grieves, of course he does but he prefers to do it alone (with a bottle) and not have to share the moment, sometimes it's just better that way.  Grief is private and personal and doesn't need to be ritualistic like lighting lanterns.  Damon venting for being left alone and not getting the girl.  He's better off without her.

It was difficult for Elena to make the transition but you'd wish she'd do it already.  She can't decide whether she's with Stefan or if she should contact Damon to help her out, why the hesitation. She's made her choice, Stefan is there for her, yet she pulls Damon back in causing more trouble between the two.  Okay Stefan would have 'mothered' her and she didn't want to disappoint him but as said she made her choice, now live with it.

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