My Review of Vampire Diaries 4.15- Stand By Me

The stages of grief: denial, anger, grief, and....Damon?!?!?!?!

So, Jeremy is really dead.  Elena and Bonnie are so not taking it well.

At first, Elena was in a state that was walking that fine line between denial and hopefulness.  I was right there with her because I was so hoping that Jeremy would have stopped being supernatural and would therefore be revived by the ring.  She definitely crossed over into denial when she did not recognize that he was decomposing and when she was refusing to even listen to Meredith.  When Matt came in to talk to Elena was when Jeremy's death first seemed real.  Before that everything seemed hopeful, but when Matt came in it all crashed down on me very unexpectedly.  It was nice to see the two of them go out and talk about Vicki and Jeremy.  And you knew the moment that everything hit Elena was when she talked with April and actually said that Jeremy was dead.  At that point, her entire world came crashing down.  And that is when the anger/grief really kicked in.

Her solution of burning down the house was definitely on the extreme side, but I can sort of understand it.  As Stefan said, Elena feels grief very intensely and that feeling is magnified now that she is a vampire.  And that was on full display.  She has lost her parents, her brother, her uncle/dad, and her aunt all of whom lived in that house with her.  Was burning it down the best option?  Probably not, because I expect that she would have wanted to go back eventually, but I do get it.

I must admit that I sort of hoped that wake up, even if that meant that he had been taken over by Silas.  If he had, then we would at least have a chance to save him or something.  Instead, he is gone.  I also must admit that had Jeremy been revived as Silas, that may have been even more cruel than just losing him because it would be Jeremy but not-Jeremy at the same time.  Double-edged sword there.

And Bonnie has apparently gone completely off her rocker thanks to a judicious push by Shilas (Silas masquerading as Shane).  Shilas used Bonnie's feeling for Jeremy to push her over the edge so that she would be willing to do anything to revive Jeremy.  The problem?  Well, first off, the revival could only happen with another massacre of 12 people, presumably vampires.  Second, the revival would not only release Jeremy, but also Grams as well as every other evil monster that has been killed.  I would assume that from this springs the idea that Silas would end the world because that is more or less what would happen.  Elena is rational enough; even pre-feeling-being-turned-off; to know that this is bad.  Bonnie is willing to sacrifice the world for Jeremy.  Not a good thing, particularly for an uber-powerful witch.

The rest of the crew spends time reacting to Jeremy's death, Bonnie's information, and trying to keep Elena from flying apart.  Not sure I am fond of Damon's solution, but it is completely understandable.  I hope that Stefan and Damon will be able to help Elena through any transition, but forcing her to shut off her emotions was probably the best short-term solution.  Stefan and Bonnie were being as practical and helpful as possible.  Matt was helpful until he was alone and then he broke down.  It was nice to see him help Elena out.  Hopefully, he will continue to help her and become a bigger part of the overall picture per my mini-diatribe last week.

Katherine has better watch out if she crosses Elena's path again.  Elena is not only upset about Jeremy's death, but she is also fairly stone cold and probably a touch more analytical at this point.  Could she beat Katherine in a fight?  Probably not, but I do think that she could give Katherine a good one.  And Hayley had better watch out if Elena finds out that she was helping Katherine.

Until March 14th!

My Review of Arrow 1.15- Dodger

Felicity takes part in her first mission, Oliver and Diggle both have missions that have nothing to do with the Arrow, Thea meets an interesting person, and Moira takes some shocking steps....

Well, Felicity is definitely not an out-and-proud member of the Arrow squad.  She doesn't seem to mind helping Walter, but is seriously balking at doing *ANYTHING* that will hurt people.  While I can applaud the sentiment, she is being a tad bit naive.  She is acting as if Oliver is somehow enjoying hurting people, when it seems more that he hurts people if necessary, but prefers not to.  She needs to have a little more trust in Oliver.  Whatever else you can say about him, Oliver is not a bad guy.  He is a guy who is trying to make things better.  Is he going about it in the best way?  That is debatable.  However, he is still only doing what he sees as the best thing.  And Felicity should be glad that he is, because that is what saved her life tonight.

Did Oliver do the right thing on the island when he left that guy tied up?  In one sense, I totally get where he is coming from.  He is trapped on an enemy island and is not sure who to trust.  And what are the chances that someone who has nothing to do with what is going on would be left tied up in his cave?  In that sense, I get what he did.  However, maybe he could have done something else.  It was a bad choice either way, so it seems like he just did what he thought was best under the circumstances.

Oliver and Diggle had dates.  Diggle, dude, I so cannot believe you brought up your dead brother when you were on a date with his widow.  So incredibly stupid.  And as far as I am concerned, Oliver didn't do that much wrong.  The detective was grilling him and asked him a sensitive question about his time on the island that he didn't want to answer.  And so she gets upset at him?  Not cool girl.  He may have been a bit abrupt, but I think he reaction was sensible and justified.  I also think it was pretty biog of him to apologize to her.  Oh, and I cannot believe Detective Lance.  Is there any doubt; particularly given the look he directed at Oliver; that he asked the Detective to be on the task force because she is dating Oliver?  Yeah, that's what I thought.

Moira has hired China White to get rid of Malcolm.  And she is also trying to get out of the Undertaking.  Put these things together, and it is not going to be good for the Queen family.  Honestly, I did not think Moira would have the stones to try and kill Malcolm.  If he gets wind of this, things are going to get *VERY* hairy for the Queens.  Interesting question: would Oliver stand by while China and Malcolm duke it out?  Or would he intervene?  If he did intervene, whose side would he take?

Thea rather obviously has a new potential love interest in the form of Roy Harper.  I wonder how much of his story is true and how much is not.  I will be honest and admit that I thought that the title of the episode referred to Roy Harper.  In "Oliver Twist", the Artful Dodger is a thief who takes Oliver (Twist) under his wing.  I was thinking that maybe the situation here is reversed and Oliver (Queen) takes the Dodger (Roy Harper) under his wing.  I guess it is still possible for this to happen, but given that the main villain is called the Dodger, it is slightly less likely.

Until next week!

My Review of Vampire Diaries 4.14- Down the Rabbit Hole

Holy crap!  Those last few minutes were completely unexpected and I am so hoping there is an out, even if I sort of doubt that there is.....

Silas is awake courtesy of Katherine feeding Jeremy to him.  And Silas rewarded Jeremy by snapping his neck.  That was the WTF! moment of the night.  I have to say that I am hoping that Jeremy is still alive somehow, even if I doubt he is.  I did not notice whether or not he was wearing his ring (I was too busy looking at his chest again!), but even if he was I don't know if he would be protected by it since, if I remember properly, if you are not fully human the ring will not protect you. Since Jeremy was one of the Five, he would probably be considered supernatural.  However, I wonder if Jeremy was still a hunter given the fact that Bonnie drained the tattoo off of him in order to open the tunnel.  So, we will see next week.  Hoping Jeremy is still alive, but I sort of doubt it.

Which brings me to my serious peeve with the Vampire Diaries.  Most of the characters seem to get good meaty stories, except for Matt and Jeremy.  Jeremy's aren't that bad, but Matt is constantly in the background hovering.  I really wish they would find a way to better integrate the two characters into the overall stories.  They are both routinely criminally underused.  And don't tell me that a non-supernatural character can't be in a story like this.  Buffy did it with Xander.  He was the only regular human in the whole show and he managed to survive and thrive under the circumstances.

I feel really bad for Elena, Stefan, and Rebekah.  All three of them want the cure for different reasons, but only one could get it before it was retrieved by Katherine.  Then there was Vaughn who wanted to use it to turn Silas into a mortal and kill him.  That was not a good situation.  I was glad that Elena was willing to give it to others when she heard there was only one dose.  Annoyed at Rebekah for snapping Stefan's neck, but it was understandable.  She wants it for herself and if Stefan got it, he would give it to Elena, who she dislikes intensely.

I also feel sorry for Caroline.  Not so much for Tyler, whom I have never really liked, but definitely for Caroline.  She cannot manage to maintain much happiness.  I wonder how much she can do to manipulate Klaus before he gets sick of it and stops doing things for her.  Here's hoping Tyler manages to do something soon.

I was definitely smirking at Shane.  That guy deserved what he got.  The only bad thing is that I wonder what would have happened if Shane had been in the crypt with Bonnie and Jeremy.  Would Katherine have fed him to Silas instead?  Or will only the blood of one of the Five revive Silas?  If so, might that somehow bring Jeremy back?

I was intrigued by the weapon that Vaughn used on Rebekah.  Not much can keep an Original down other than the white ash stake.  I wonder if that was a device with the symbols from the bullet that Damon was shot with carved into it.  Maybe that would act like a dagger on one of the Originals, rather than outright killing them.

Next week, Dr. Fell returns and Elena is insisting that Jeremy is not dead....

My Review of Arrow 1.14- The Odyssey

Well, Moira had an interesting (and not terribly surprising) reaction to the Arrow, we find out more about the island, and someone else learns the secret....

Unsurprisingly, Moira shot the Arrow when given the chance.  Can't say I blame her because he does have a not too great reputation.  And that was setup for the entire episode.  I do wonder what she would do if she discovers that she shot Oliver.

Felicity is now in on the secret and, all in all, she handled it well.  Finding a shot Oliver in her car could not have been fun, but she kept her cool and took him to Diggle.  Love his reaction when she came in saying that Oliver was heavy.  Also love how she was able to upgrade the computers and fix the wires as needed.  She says that she is only on the team temporarily in order to find Walter, but I suspect that; given the fact that she is a regular next season; she will join the team permanently.  Having a computer whiz on the team will be very helpful.

It was nice to get a little bit of back story on Diggle.  Gave some nice insight as to why he is helping Oliver and why he is the way he is.  Protecting a bad guy would have to truly suck.

Then there is Oliver.  Talk about a rough time on the island.  He had a chance to get away and lost it because he wanted to save his mentor (Yao Fe?).  Unfortunately, the mentor's daughter was captured by the mercenaries and he wanted to keep her safe.  Which sort of sucked for Oliver because he went through some pretty grueling training to help out and ended up being fairly useless until the escape was almost over.  But the training finally kicked in and he did a good job helping to escape.

Not entirely sure what to make of Slade.  He is very, very tough, but he also seems to have a bit of a soft spot for Oliver.  I wonder if he will continue to train Oliver now that they are trapped on the island or if he will go the way of his newly departed friend.

Next week,a purse snatcher comes to town...

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 4.13- Into the Wild

The crew is searching for the cure and Klaus acts very Klausian....

Well, most of the gang went to an island off of Nova Scotia to look for the cure.  Jeremy is along because of the Hunter's Mark, Bonnie is needed for her magic, Stefan and Rebekah have the gravestone, Shane has the knowledge of what to do locked in his head, and Damon has "a nice behind" (quote courtesy of Rebekah).  Elena is (apparently) the only one there without a helpful reason.   And that was only the start of the catfight that she and Rebekah are now locked in.  Rebekah is understandably upset that Elena has had a part in killing 2 of her brothers and that Elena is forgiven for things that Rebekah has been castigated for.  Elena is trying to be the bigger woman, but Rebekah is making it really hard.  I do think Rebekah has a point, however do note that when Elena has done bad things, she tends to agonize over them, whereas Rebekah does them because she can.  More than a slight difference there.

That mark has seriously grown as we saw when Bonnie was taking pictures of Jeremy's shirtless torso.  That is some intricate makeup.  Wonder how often they'll need to reproduce it.  And how come everyone can see it now when only a few people could before?  And what is up with the new hunter?  Was it just me, or did he look a little like Klaus?  So not liking that Shane has had Jeremy kidnapped and is now well on his way to getting the cure.  I so don't trust him right now.

Unfortunately, our crew has been whittled down to three now that Damon has stormed off sulking.  And he is at the mercy of the hunter.  Again, not a good thing.  I do think he has a point.  Will Elena still love him if the sire bond wears off?  Or will she go back to Stefan's orbit?  It is a very legitimate question, and one that deserves to be asked and answered.  I know that she is currently convinced that she will stay with Damon, but given the fact that she chose Stefan while she was still human, will that change?

Then there was Klaus.  Caroline made a dumb mistake and got way too close and paid for it; almost with her life.  Fortunately, Klaus does love her and can (apparently) be redeemed.  He just needed a lot of encouragement and needed to get over his bruised ego.  I honestly thought for a second that we were going to lose Caroline, which would have seriously sucked.

Next week, they continue the search for the cure.

My Review of Arrow 1.13- Betrayal

Very apt title for the episode. With one exception, every major character betrays, is betrayed, or both in this episode....

Poor Oliver finds out that he, his father, and his stepfather (and his sister to an certain extent) have all been betrayed by his mother. Granted, we know that she hasn't exactly had alot of choices, but he doesn't know that and he is now at the point where he is ready to demand answers. I understand why he was reluctant to believe that his mother was capable of doing anything wrong and why he trusted her denial, but I am glad that his eyes were opened by Diggle. That eye-opening came about as a result of a betrayal. Now, this betrayal was for Oliver's benefit, but it was still a betrayal. Fortunately, Oliver was able to get over it very quickly. I was shocked by the ending. I was not expecting the Arrow to come crashing through window and demand answers. I figured that Oliver might approach Moira himself. But I guess that all things considered, he did the only thing that would really work.

Oliver was also (possibly) betrayed on the island. He was sent to find a man to help him and ended up getting attacked and tied up, only to free himself and to discover that the man who captured him had the same mask as the man who tortured him. So, was Slade telling the truth when he said that his partner also had the same mask or was he lying? I assume we'll find out very soon. Sort of nervous about that.

 

Oliver and Laurel were also betrayed by Detective Lance. Using his daughter to catch the Arrow was just beyond cold and I so cannot blame her for freezing him out. He is so obsessed with catching the Arrow that he is missing what is obvious to everyone else: the Arrow is a good person who is doing good. Outside of the law, granted, but still doing good. He has now shattered his relationship with his daughter, even if his rescuing her with the Arrow in the end was enough to start to mend it. Lance is also a hypocrite. He gets all upset about the Arrow, but will rely on him for personal stuff. I get it, but he is still a hypocrite.

 

Laurel is also a bit of a hypocrite. She condemns her dad for lying to her about the phone, but she has been lying to Tommy this entire time. Again, I get why she is hiding the fact that she is in contact with the Arrow from Tommy, but she is still being a hypocrite. I was impressed with how well she fought of her attackers. The question now is if the Arrow is doing the right thing in leaving her alone. I would say probably not, but I do get his reasoning.

 

I think Thea was the only one who was not betrayed and did not betray anyone else this week. Granted, she was only in a few minutes, but still. Her interning with Laurel ought to be highly amusing.

 

Until next week!

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 4.12- A View to a Kill

A plan comes to fruition, Bonnie unequivocally declares her independence, Klaus gets severely pissed off, and Rebekah makes a confession.

I have to say that I did not expect the plan to kill Kol come to fruition as fast as it did.  Conceived in one episode and finished in the next.  Wow.  And it worked because Jeremy's mark was definitely growing in the end.  Loved the revelation of that by the way.  Ripping the shirt was a nice touch.  Of course any shirtless Steven McQueen is a nice touch! :-)  I was a little surprised at how upset Klaus got about the whole thing, particularly since it advanced his interests of finding the cure.  Then again, I wonder if Klaus was upset because Kol was killed or if he is upset that it was done without consulting him.  I was also surprised that Rebekah seemed to accept the whole thing so quickly.  Is she that eager to become a human or is she plotting revenge of some sort?

Bonnie is becoming dangerously close to being completely out of control.  She can obviously use Expression (and use it well), but I wonder if she is going to become its slave.  Dark Bonnie, anyone?  That would be truly scary.  Not only did she manage to hold off Kol in the school and get away from her parents, but she also managed to trap Klaus in the living room of Elena and Jeremy's house after magically dragging him in.  She is becoming incredibly powerful very, very quickly and that worries me.

Rebekah wanting to be human surprised me, but it makes sense.  She has always seemed to be one of the more human of the Originals (Elijah being the other most human), so it makes sense that she would want to regain what she lost so long ago.  Besides, it might also get her out of Klaus' orbit and into a world of her own, so there would be that to consider.  I do wonder what would happen to an Original's line if they become a human.  I suspect nothing, but it is possible that it could have some weird ripple effect.

I wonder if Silas is as bad as Kol thinks or not.  It is entirely possible that Silas could be the cure and the end of the world for vampires (so to speak) or he could literally bring on the apocalypse.  That will be interesting to see.

Next week, we go on a search for the cure now that the map is complete....