My Review of The Vampire Diaries 4.07- My Brother's Keeper

We get an explanation for Elena's recent behavior, Jeremy gets more involved in being a hunter, Hayley has a secret, Professor Shane reveals a secret to Damon, and Caroline and Klaus get closer.

Well, apparently Elena is sired to Damon.  Which actually makes a lot of sense.  After talking with Klaus, Caroline realized that when Damon said to do something, Elena would do it.  When he said she could only drink from a live human's vein, that was all she could stomach.  When he likes something and says so, she likes the same thing.  Basically, if he says something, she agrees with him.  So the question is, how can a vampire break a sire bond?  This should be interesting. 

I noticed that a lot of Delena fans online hate the sire bond because they see it as a cop-out.  People, Elena chose Stefan at the end of last season.  She admitted that she has feelings for Damon, but that she wanted Stefan more.  It's pretty much over.  Her sudden preference for Damon which was inexplicable is now understandable.  As everyone has been noticing, she has not been the same person since she changed and (as Caroline noted) being a vampire only enhances traits, it does not invent new ones.  So logically, Elena's feelings for Stefan should have been magnified along with her feelings for Damon.  However, they were not and therefore we can conclude that this sudden intense attraction to and preference for Damon is not a natural extension of her personality. 

Please note that I am not saying that she does not love Damon.  She rather obviously does.  It is equally obvious that she loves Stefan.  But as a human, she made a choice and that was Stefan.  Could she change her mind?  Sure, it is always possible to change your mind, however, to have such a major decision so quickly and decisively changed reeks of outside interference.

Jeremy is becoming more dangerous.  Stefan created a vampire for Jeremy to kill, not knowing that the more vampires Jeremy killed, the more he would want to kill.  This lack of knowledge got Stefan and Elena injured by Jeremy and also caused Elena to move out of her house to keep her safe from Jeremy.  Fortunately, Matt agreed to move in with Jeremy to see what he could do to keep his hunter side under control.  This could be very bad for Jeremy.

Not surprisingly, the professor has an ulterior motive for wanting Bonnie to practice magic again.  Apparently, only a Bennett witch can open the location where the cure for vampirism is which makes her practicing magic again of the utmost importance.  Was he lying?  Possibly, but I would believe him if only because the Bennett witches have been up to their eyeballs in vampiric activity since the beginning of vampires.

Hayley is also working with the professor.  I am not sure why she is, but she is.  And he wants as many hybrids as possible unsired from Klaus.  Again, not sure why, but there it is.  Presumably he thinks that Klaus will be weaker without the hybrids, but I could very easily be wrong.

Not sure how I feel about Caroline and Klaus getting closer.  I get that it was necessary to maintain the cover that Tyler and Hayley have been using, but it cannot be that good of a thing.  I am waiting for it to come back and bite the group in their collective asses. 

Until next week!

My Review of Arrow 1.07- Muse of Fire

Oliver gets a partner/sidekick/romantic interest (or something like that), we find out the identity of the well-dressed man, and Tommy gets some unwelcome news....

So, the well-dressed man who has been visiting Moira is in fact Tommy's dad, which we find out when Tommy goes to see him to demand to know why his bank accounts are empty, credit cards cancelled, and trust fund drained. And the worst part? Tommy found out about this while on a date with Laurel. Oh so embarassing. I can get that his dad wants him to do something, but to totally cut him off seems a little extreme. But that's just me and what do I know?

Not entirely sure what Helena is supposed to be. Partner? Sidekick? Or love interest? Possibly an erstwhile ally? So far, not really feeling the love interest part, but if they are going for the erstwhile ally part, then the rush job on romance is understandable. And sweetie, you are very different from Arrow. You are out to kill and get revenge whereas the Arrow will kill if needed, but will be satisified if he can simply get justice. Big difference. The desire for revenge is completely understandable, but the metheods totally set you apart from him.

 

I was impressed that Oliver was almost able to catch her when she was on the motorcycle. That was completely impressive. I also appreciate Diggle's concern for Oliver, but I think he was being a little too uptight about Oliver working with her. Oliver could tell that she was someone who was as driven as he is. Granted there was also the romantic angle, but I do think that he can work with her if she is willing to rein herself in slightly. Somehow though I suspect that she will get out of hand and he'll have to rein her in himself.

 

She also has a problem with collateral damage. Don't think Oliver has ever harmed someone who was not either on the list or protecting a person on the list. Again, a very big and important difference. Whereas Helena brought harm to Moira who was not her target. Wonder if she really cares or not.

 

It was nice to see that Thea and Oliver are coming closer. She is really starting to accept the new Oliver and he seems to be taking her advice about finding someone to confide in seriously. Diggle will work for some things, but I don't see Oliver pouring his heart out to him. Laurel would be good for the whole heart-pouring thing, but I think she'd realize that he's not telling her everything and that would ruin things. Maybe Helena is going to be the confidant.

 

Until next week!

Some Thoughts on Revolution and a Probable Timeline

Ok, so last night was the fall finale of Revolution, so I wanted to give it a lengthier treatment that my normal one paragraph commentary. Also, I got a decent sense of the timeline from last night, and I wanted to share that.

First off, glad to see the family is back together. There is obviously some bad blood between Rachel and Miles though. Not sure if that is just because he was behind her being taken by the militia or if there is more to it. I must say that I briefly wondered if maybe Miles tried to kill Monroe because he thought that Monroe had killed Rachel. Miles was obviously very surprised to hear that Rachel was still alive, so I thought that maybe he thought Monroe had done something and therefore tried to kill him. However, after hearing Monroe ask how Miles could leave Rachel, I don't think that is what happened. My brother and I are both thinking that Monroe broke the warrior's code and attacked civilians or something and that is what led to the split.

Second, how on earth do Rachel and Aaron know each other? Rachel left her family before they reached the village, and so far as we know, Aaron met the Matheson's in the village. But they both obviously knew each other well. Don't see how they could have met before the blackout, but I guess it is possible. I so want to figure out how they met. If anyone has any clue, let me know please.

Third, Miles and Monroe are now implacable enemies. Any chance Miles had of going back were totally blown last night when he severed all ties with Monroe. Given the fact that the two of them were best friends growing up, that is going to be alot of hatred. That fight was pretty awesome and when Monroe gave the order to kill Miles was when you knew that it was officially on.

Finally, the timeline. After last night, I have a fairly firm idea of the time of the Blackout and the show. In the episode last night, Monroe was at the graves of his parents and sister(s?) 2 years before the blackout. Now, the graves love fairly fresh and he was obviously still grieving, so it could not have been that long after they died. He also said that they died on their way to a Harry Potter film. Now, that would set the date of their deaths at November 2011 at the latest since what was when Deathly Hallows, Part II came out. So, I would put that scene in late 2011 or early 2012 at the latest which would set the Blackout in late 2013 or early 2014 at the latest which would put the series in 2028 or 2029 at the latest.

My brother looked up some information and said that the Blackout was in 2012 which means that Monroe's family died on their way to see Deathly Hallows, Part I in November 2010 and set the series in 2027. I could not independently verify the information this morning, but if anyone can point me to sites which have the info, that would be awesome.

Granted, nailing down the timeline is not the most important thing, but it is fun.

Don't forget that Revolution will be back on March 25, 2013. Until then!

My Review of Vampire Diaries 4.06- We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes

Elena suffers the consequences of killing Connor, as does everyone else....

 

The entire episode dealt with the fallout of Elena's killing of Connor. And the fallout hit everyone...

 

Turns out that when the object of a hunt kills the hunter, the object of the hunt is haunted by the hunter until the object either kills itself or a new hunter is activated by killing vampire. Klaus managed to last for 53 years and 4(?) months until the ghosts haunting him went away. He never figured out why (apparently) but he is determined to help Elena since she is his last shot to make more hybrids.

 

Jeremy is now a full-fledged vampire hunter. Since he was a potential hunter, all he had to do was kill a vampire to be activated. So, Klaus sacrificed one of his hybrids to activate Jeremy and thereby save Elena. Somehow, I don't think she'll be happy about this, particularly since she has been trying to get him away from all of this for a long time. Now she can't because he is needed to find the cure for her. Oh well, sucks to be her. But this is the consequence of her actions, however necessary or justified they may have been.

 

Stefan and Elena are through. After everything, she realizes that her feelings for Damon are very strong and are amplified because she is a vampire now. Also, she doesn't want Stefan to see her in a certain light, whereas she doesn't seem to mind Damon seeing her the same way. So, she and Stefan have split. Wonder if this time will stick. And, will Damon step in to take Stefan's place or will Elena remain single for a little while.

 

Bonnie is getting closer to the professor, which cannot be a good thing. And now that Jeremy is a hunter, he will probably get closer to him too, which is also not a good thing. Unfortunately, they think they need him (and they actually might), so the closeness will continue.

 

And poor Hayley, Caroline, and Tyler. They promised that hybrid that they would protect him, only to have Jeremy kill him right in fron of them to save Elena. That had to seriously suck. Not sure what else to say about that...

 

Until next week!

My Review of Arrow 1.06- Legacies

Departure from our rich enemy of the week format which has Diggle stepping up. We also learn something about Thea and Tommy.

Well, Thea has a crush on Tommy. So much so that she thought he was asking about her when he was actually asking for advice about Laurel. Ow. But seriously, why did she think he was talking about her? She is his best friends' younger sister, not exactly romance material. Although why he went to her for advice in the first place is beyond me. It was good advice, but I still don't get why he went to her. Hopefully this won't go much further, because that would be a weird coupling, IMNSHO.

Appreciated what Diggle did. Oliver is *SO* focused on that list his father left him, that he is ignoring everything else, so Diggle is forcing him to step up and do the right thing. Oliver is right, he cannot stop everything. However, if he can stop things, he should try. Like tonight, it is not always going to work out, but he has to at least try. In Smallville (ironically), Oliver Queen served the same purpose where Clark Kent was concernedm i.e. trying to get him to see beyond the borders of his own town. Like it.

And that net arrow was pretty nifty. I like the trick arrows, although I would love to see where he gets them at some point. It was also nice to see Oliver reconnect with Moira. While I am wary of her, she does love him and will protect him (at least to a certain extent). It was nice to see her somewhat vulnerable and also talking with Oliver about what she is looking for from him.

And what was up with Laurel? She was so upset about the funding being lost and then she gets sort of bitchy with Tommy when he offers to throw a fundraiser. Granted, it was an obvious move to get back in her good graces, but I would think that she could have accepted the help gracefully and made sure he knew the limits/rules.

That dad should have accepted Oliver's help. I get why he was mad at Oliver and his father, but the guy knew he was doing wrong and chose to continue doing it anyway. Not a good thing. I am sorry he died, but he was given a chance by Oliver and he blew it.

I also found how Oliver discovered the list of names to be interesting. And it was at a moment when he needed it too. He needed a reason to keep going, and the list gave it to him.

Until next week!

My Review of Vampire Diaries 4.05- The Killer

And there were a couple of killers tonight.  There were also secrets being kept, plots being made, misunderstandings, and then a surprise at the end....
 

This was not a good day for Elena.  First, she is trying to deal with what happened last week.  Then, Jeremy and Matt are kidnapped by Connor.  Finally, she kills Connor and then starts seeing things.  So not a good week.  All in all, can't blame her for killing Connor.  She didn't know Klaus wanted him alive because Klaus insisted that no one know about the cure.  Given that everything is amplified, she is having a lot of trouble dealing with killing Connor.  She is so on edge already that this is just that extra little shove that sent her over that edge.  And now Jeremy is a hunter.  This is not going to be a good thing, particularly seeing as she doesn't want him involved in this life at all.
 

Poor Stefan.  He is caught between lying to everyone because of Klaus and trying to keep Connor alive for Klaus.  Not a good place for him.  Not fond of the fact that he vervained Damon, but it was understandable.  He was trying to control the situation so that no one got hurt.  Unfortunately, Connor got killed, so that didn't work out.  Wonder how Klaus will react.  His anger might be mitigated by the fact that Jeremy is now one of the Five.
 

Tyler is also caught in a bad spot.  He wants to help Hayley free other Hybrids from Klaus' control, but he knows that if Klaus finds out about, there will be death.  So, he was forced to let Klaus (and by extension Caroline) think that he was cheating on Caroline with Hayley.  Now that Caroline knows all about it, I hope she can help Tyler freeing other Hybrids from the siring.  This will be bad if/when Klaus finds out about it.
 

Not sure how to react to Connor.  He is very unsympathetic because he is trying to kill the gang, however it does seem like he is either being manipulated by outside forces.  First, there is the professor who is using him to kill vampires.  Then there is his friend that he killed when she was turned.  Also, there seemed to be times when he seemed so monofocused as to be almost obsessed to a degree that implied that there might be an outside force at work.

Glad that Damon learned the truth and talked with Stefan.  Maybe now the two of them can work together for Elena's sake.

Until next week!

My Review Of Arrow 1.05- Damaged

The ramifications of last weeks arrest arrive, Oliver reveals a plan, Moira and Walter have a talk, Moira threatens the Well Dressed Man, and Laurel has a couple of revelations....

 

According to Oliver, he planned the arrest to happen. He knew that the camera would see him and he knew that people would put together the fact that he arrived shortly before the Arrow did and realize that they were the same. So, he decided to use the arrest to throw suspicion somewhere else. So, he threw a party while Diggle put in an appearance as the Arrow elsewhere, thereby proving that Oliver is not the Arrow. Nice plan, I have to admit. Between this and passing the polygraph, Oliver has definitely thrown most people off of his trail. Unfortunately for him, Oliver lied on one question during the polygraph and Laurel knew it, so she is obviously a little suspicious, particularly after hearing about his being tortured.

 

I was impressed with Diggle. While I think he is at least partially wrong about Oliver not considering others, he does have something of a point. Oliver is obsessed with his task, and while I do believe that he is thinking of his family, I also think that he is not considering the full effects of everything. Either that or he doesn't care because the mission is more important. I liked watching Diggle lay down the law of truthfulness with Oliver. Not many people do that, but Diggle is right, he *NEEDS* to know everything in order to help Oliver. And his fighting abilities are; not surprisingly; impressive.

 

I almost feel sorry for Detective Lance. I know that he is still pissed about his daughter's death, but the evidence against Oliver was sort of skimpy. If you are going to take on someone like Oliver Queen, you need to have a pretty ironclad case. Was Lance right? Yes, however he is letting his feelings for the family interfere with his reasoning. I suspect that with someone else in a similar position to Oliver, Lance would have been more cautious.

 

Walter is definitely in over his head with the Queen's Gambit. I get that he wants the truth, but what he doesn't seem to realize is the extent to which his wife is involved in what is going on. If Walter (or any outsider) were to examine the wreck, they would realize that it was sunk, which is not a good thing for Moira or the Well Dressed Man. And watching Moira threaten the Well Dressed Man after he sent someone to kill Oliver was interesting. I do not think she is (precisely) in league with the WDM or his group, even if she does know about the activities. I could be wrong there though.

 

I wonder what Laurel is going to do with the revelations she received tonight. Between the revelation of Oliver's torture and her knowledge of his lie on the polygraph, she knows that something is not quite kosher. That being said, I don't expect her to turn on Oliver. Investigate, yes. Turn on, no. Well, not unless something major happens and she receives some sort of new information that is very damaging to him.

 

Until next week!

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 4.04- The Five

Well, not happy with Elena right now, struggling with whether or not to be happy with Klaus, and agreeing with Damon.  Oh, and we learn about The Five. 

Ok, so let's start with The Five.  They are a group of witch-enhanced vampire hunters who originated in the 1100s after the Originals (especially Klaus and Kol) became a bit too public.  They were given maps and access to a cure for vampirism.  Only thing is that when they daggered the Originals, they didn't know that the dagger would not work on Klaus, so he killed them all and lost access to the cure.  So, now we have Connor who is a member of the Five.  So, here what I think happened.  When a member of The Five dies, their magic is passed onto a potential hunter (i.e. someone who can see the tattoo) that they have met.  After the initial Five were killed, their magic passed on to other people who presumably knew enough to stay out of sight or at least away from the Originals.

Now, Damon did ask an interesting question: how can Jeremy see the tattoo?  Connor thought it was because he is a potential hunter, which is still possible.  But, given Jeremy's sympathies for certain vampires, is it possible that he can see it as a result of the ring or dying and being brought back (as I originally speculated)?  We do know that Alaric had planned on training him as a hunter, so that is not out of the realm of possibility. 

Speaking of Damon, I am going to have to agree with him as far as Elena is concerned.  Elena does need to feed directly from the vein, so she will need to learn how to feed without killing.  Damon can teach her that and Stefan cannot.  Could Caroline?  Sure, but I do think Damon is better.  I was very annoyed at the way Elena yelled at Damon last night.  She willingly went into the frat party and drank from people.  Was she enjoying it a bit too much?  Maybe, but if it is a choice between enjoying it too much or becoming a Ripper-like creature, I would take the enjoying it too much.

When Klaus daggered Rebekah, I had to cheer.  Rebekah really gets on my nerves, so I was happy to see her out.  But, I cannot say I was happy that Stefan participated in the daggering or that he is hiding things from Elena.  I think he is doing so partially because Klaus said to and partially because he doesn't want to get her hopes up.  Regardless, seeing him and Klaus being all buddy-buddy is not a good thing.

And then there is the professor.  He sent Connor to Mystic Falls and knows about witch craft.  I am going to be very worried.  Is he the evil that is coming?  Or is there something worse?

Until next week!

My Review of Arrow 1.04- An Innocent Man

Oliver gains a helper, gains and loses another, and frees an innocent man. His mom is keeping a secret that her husband finds out about. Oh, and did I mention that Oliver gets arrested?

That was what we call an eventful episode. Lots of stuff happened and we got some setup for future episodes.

I have to say that I was surprised that Detective Lance figured out this early that Oliver is Arrow. I figured it would wait until later. Now, I know that somehow Oliver is going to weasel his way out of the situation, and I really look forward to seeing how he does it. Thing is that I don't think the video showed him actually changing into the outfit, so the case is circumstantial. The family could also claim that, given his antipathy for the Queens, Detective Lance somehow altered the video to frame Oliver. Or they could alter the video themselves. I wonder what they'll do.

I have to admit to being disappointed in Laurel. She knows that the Arrow was helping to prove Declan's innocence, so he is not all bad. And then he saves her life and she says he is remorseless? Doesn't exactly make sense. I get that he looked a little crazed, but did she stop to consider that he looked that way because he was saving her? I am glad that she did the right thing by helping Declan, even if it bent ethics a bit.

For the first time, I actually liked Thea. It was nice to see another side to her beyond the rich, hard-partying teenage girl. She was actually very helpful to Oliver. He needed someone to talk to about Laurel, and she did so. Now he didn't take her advice quite the way she intended, but given that she doesn't have all the facts, that ain't terribly surprising.

I wonder what Walter is going to do now that he knows that Moira has the Queen's Gambit and has been hiding it from him. He could do the smart thing and investigate what is going on; particularly since she lied to his face; or he could do the not-so-smart thing and confront her. I think he'll do the first. He asked her about the money and she lied to his face about it, so if he were to confront her without more evidence, it would be a bad idea. My question is why exactly does she have the boat? What was on it that she wanted? I doubt it was brought to her for evidentiary purposes, or else it would not have been hidden.

Diggle is going to be Arrow's sidekick. And dude, no matter what you say, you are the sidekick. And; given his speech and his hesitancy in accepting; he will also be the conscience of the operation. Good on both scores. He is right that Oliver is not a soldier. He has done a good job so far, but he will need help to continue moving on. I am glad that Oliver realizes this and has asked for help. A very mature decision.

And then there was Oliver on the island. His rescuer/captor/mentor (yes, that is alot of slashes), has decreed (apparently) that Oliver will only eat that which he himself kills. Makes sense, work for your food and what not, but it was a little harsh. But I guess yous gotsa do what yous gotsa do...