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Wednesday, 16 May 2012

The Vampire Diaries - 3.1: "The Birthday" Review



Elena celebrates her 18th at the party Caroline throws for her, though she's more interested in learning if Stefan is still alive or not. He proves he is with yet another trail of bodies.

Tennessee: Klaus (Joseph Morgan) under the pretext of his car breaking down asks a girl if he can use her phone, so she can invite him in.   She says she'll get the phone but he compels her.   He's looking for Ray (David Gallagher).   Stefan (Paul Wesley) waits outside and he's invited in too, so he can play lackey to Klaus once again as he lets rips into them.   Caroline (Candice Accola) is planning a party for Elena's (Nina Dobrev) 18th.   There's been a third animal attack  in Memphis, more of Klaus's Vics.  Alaric (Matt Davis) sleeps on the couch since he doesn't want to sleep in Jenna's room.

Damon (Ian Somerhalder) in the bathtub asks Andie (Dawn Olivieri) for more champagne and has to get it himself.   So he leaves the tub naked and who should walk in, Elena of course.   So after getting a good eyeful of him, she throws him a towel, which he has the decency (ha) to put on.   Damon tells her he's hit another dead end and she tells of a new lead.   Damon reminds her (and us) that Klaus has to remain believing Elena is dead.   Damon has a list of cuttings and has been following the slew of killings.

Jeremy (Steven R McQueen) has a summer job and he sees Vicki (Kayla Ewell) again and Anna (Malese Jow).   Bonnie (Kat Graham) is away.   Matt (Zach Roerig) asks Jeremy to swap tables with him since he doesn't want to wait on Caroline and Tyler (Michael Trevino).  Carol Lockwood (Susan Walters) watches Caroline.

Ray recognizes Klaus and Stefan as vampires but Klaus refers to himself as a "different kind of monster."  He's a hybrid and he wants more like himself.   Thus he wants the location of Ray's pack.   Stefan says they'll play 'truth or wolfsbane' a drinking game.  Curiously later on, Damon will refer to drinking games and how Stefan is much better at them.

Alaric calls himself Damon's accomplice and he's waiting for Elena and Jeremy to throw him out.   So how did Damon just walk into the girl's farmhouse?   Cos they were dead? They were turned into vampires and he knows this is Stefan's signature and what his Vics look like when he's done with them.   That's why he's called a 'ripper.'  He puts the bodies back in order to feel some remorse.

Caroline told Tyler about Elena kissing Damon and she calls it a goodbye kiss, yeah she thought she'd get one in before he dies.  (2.22) Caroline and Tyler talk about their horny feelings, eeww, "emotions are heightened and we're on overdrive." Tyler agrees it's the same for werewolves.   Damon has to cover their tracks, well Stefan's tracks since he's the one Klaus is getting to do all his dirty work for him and sets fire to the house, after finding chains under the floorboards, there to hold a werewolf.

Stefan tortures Ray with darts, so that's what happens when you feel like throwing darts at someone on a dartboard.   Stefan has been compelled to continue until he gives him info.   A woman tells Klaus about Damon being seen at the house and Stefan offers to take care of Damon himself.   Stefan will return as he's in service to him for saving his brother.

Damon gives Elena the necklace he found in Alaric's loft.   Not only does he give it to her but he slides it around her neck (well he could have gotten hot under the collar here).   Yet he lends Elena her arm to escort her to the party.

Jeremy smokes a joint at the party along with Matt and he's been seeing things since he got back.   Elena's blabbed to Matt about Jeremy dying.  Caroline in yet more man strife is convinced Matt hates her and so he's taken to drugs.   Damon loves high school parties. Was that an old pet love of his then?   Alaric's the worst teacher chaperon and he should talk to Jeremy.   Stefan comes after Andie, meaning to send a message to Damon and terrorizes her.   Matt tells Caroline she's been with Tyler everytime he saw her over summer and Caroline is jealous of Tyler being with the other girl.  Damon gets a call and has to pick up Andie and sits on that infamous wall with Alaric, which will be deja vu for a later episode.   Elena wonders if everyone all just want her to get on with her life.   She's not giving up on finding Stefan and just wants to know if he's alive (as alive as he can be) and that's her birthday wish.   Elena finds Damon's board.   Damon was definitely in need of a haircut, but I digress.

Stefan demands Damon should let him go and he doesn't need saving.   Damon replies Elena won't let him do that.   Andie's on the 'bridge' above them and Stefan ruthlessly compels her to walk over the edge, pulling Damon away so he can't save her.  Then disappears.

Jeremy sees Vicki and she asks him for help.   Matt hears him utter her name.   Tyler tells Caroline if he doesn't want her to date then she should say so.   Damon takes his anger out on the furniture in Stefan's room after Elena confronts him over why he lied and kept secrets.   Damon is sure they were both stupid and reveals it's not Klaus's Vics but Stefan's.    Damon's seen it before, as he told Alaric earlier and that's why Stefan's the the ripper.  "Stop looking for him.   Stefan is gone and he's not coming back, not in your lifetime." It's harsh and to the point but Elena's not listening.

Ray gives up the location  and Klaus forces him to drink his blood before killing him.   Klaus knows Stefan still cares for Damon and his old life and he hopes Damon believes him for his own sake, "never stop caring about family." The blood makes it easier to let go.

Alaric leaves Elena's  and he's no role model.   He still misses Jenna and they can do better without him.  Damon loses it, so does Stefan but in a different way; he so wants to be free from Klaus's compulsion.   He finally picks up the phone and says nothing.   She knows it's him and her heartfelt plea to him is that he'll be okay, "I love you Stefan, hold onto that.   Never let that go." Lockwood fires darts on Caroline when she leaves Tyler.

As season 3 returned it was time for Elena to grow up and take responsibility for herself and Jeremy.   Hence Alaric moving out.  he was just down on himself for losing Jenna. He failed her so he feels he'll do the same with them.   He's had his share of being a father figure as he can only do well with his students.   Alaric and Damon in the same boat, though Jenna was the love of Alaric's life and Andie was just Damon's 'would-be' girlfriend.

As for Elena, not only does she have to watch out for Jeremy but also has to move on from Stefan, easier said than done cos she doesn't want to, he's still under Klaus's compulsion and there were moments where he showed signs of his humanity trying to break through.   Yet he still has to struggle since his allegiance with Klaus is based on Damon remaining alive and keeping the secret of Elena being alive.   Doesn't he believe Damon can look after himself, but clearly not where Klaus is concerned, he can't take the risk.   He's his only family.   As Klaus also tells him, family is important.

Elena finds Damon's 'wall of ripper', for want of a better phrase and realizes Damon's been trailing Klaus.   However he hasn't told her.   The only lead she has is from the sheriff, which Caroline told her about.   Nice plot twist when Damon reveals it's not Klaus's Vics he's been tracking but Stefan's.   He's a ripper and Damon has his heart set on disowning him.   Stefan won't return and especially since he killed Andie (doing Damon a favour in getting rid of the 'other' woman for him.  That sounds harsh.)  Then Elena has Damon around as she tries to convince herself when she kissed him, it was as a goodbye kiss, when she finds out Caroline told Tyler.   For all her faults Caroline can't keep a secret, neither can Elena.   Ha.

Elena is still naive as far as Stefan goes and she can't believe he would do something so cruel.

Damon in the nude, how gratuitous was that scene? Ha, well Ian Somerhalder has appeared in a movie in a full frontal nude scene, (now don't all rush to watch it, I won't mention the name.)   An unashamed attempt to keep viewers glued from the outset.  Ha.   If  the Season 1 DVD release is entitled 'Love Sucks' then season 3 should be called 'Life Sucks.'  Elena's wish is to know Stefan is alive and she finds this out when he calls her, but even before that, when Damon tells her he's been killing, that should have woken her to the fact he is alive.   She instinctively knows it was him. Well, it wouldn't be Damon breathing heavily on the other end.  

For avid fans the scene where Stefan makes the call would have been heart wrenching as he struggles with his conscience and of becoming the very thing he fought hard not to become, a fiend, a monster under Klaus's control.   Still just being alive and barely surviving isn't enough as he kills Andie just to send a message to Damon to keep out of his way and life.   With everything Elena has to be angry with Damon about, he doesn't tell her Stefan killed Andie and what Damon's feeling right now.   Then he takes it out on the furniture.   A touching scene for Damon cos he's reacting not just to Andie being dead, killed by his own brother, but he realizes he can't help Stefan.   For once for Damon no humans bore the brunt of his anger.   Damon could not see what Stefan was really doing but that's cos he knew Stefan as he once was, just as Damon was too, a cruel, sadistic ripper and now he can see that resurface in Stefan.   Stefan needs help but Damon won't be giving it to him - thus his last ditched attempt to call Elena and hear some normalcy from the madness Klaus has instilled in him.

Stefan can still feel guilt showing his humanity is still intact somewhere.   Only Alaric would use the word, "chivalrous" seeing as he teaches history.   Damon was saddened by Andie's death and was affected by it, surprising everyone.   He genuinely cared, unless it was more concern with what Stefan is capable of doing.

Damon: "Andie wants me to pick her up."
Alaric: "Your fake, compelled girlfriend wants you to be a chivalrous boyfriend."
Damon: "Well...it's a complicated dynamic."  Isn't it always?

That wall where Alaric, Elena and Damon sit has become like a second home. Next time they are there, Damon will take his frustrations out on a human and not the furniture.   Stefan won't be back in her lifetime, but Damon's here keeping the home fires burning. That's the signal he's been sending her.   But she's too absorbed in her love for Stefan to notice, at least right now.   They are trying to get Damon to to make Elena glance his way with the necklace scene and being her protector now.   Caroline and Tyler getting together  was on the cards and Lockwood stopping her.   Why did Caroline steal away like a thief in the night (or day) like that?  She made it seem she was ashamed of spending the steamy night with Tyler.

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