My Review of Vampire Diaries 4.23- Graduation

A new doppleganger is revealed, a vampire is cured, graduation occurs, the effects of a spell is revealed, and we are left with a "Oh, $hit!" cliffhanger....

So Stefan is Silas' doppleganger?  That was totally unexpected.  I am also a little thrown by the ending.  If I understood it correctly, Silas is the one who created the immortality spell and in doing so, created a doppleganger that could be killed.  So does this mean that Silas is Qetsiyah (never sure how to spell her name)?  Or, did he create the spell and she cast it?  I am a little confused there.  And is Silas one of the original members of the Salvatore bloodline?

With all of the linkage between families here, it is no wonder they all settled together.  Bonnie's ancestors have all been uber-witches responsible for creating/casting some of the most powerful spells in the world: the immortality spell, the Originals vampire spell, the curse to contain Klaus' hybrid side, the Petrovka doppleganger spell, the spell to contain the vampires beneath the church, the daylight rings/jewelry, and then everything Bonnie has done.  So they've been linked to the vampire community since the beginning.  Elena is descended from Katherine and her family who are needed in order to make hybrids and release Klaus' hybrid side.  And now Stefan is Silas' doppleganger and Silas is *THE* original vampire.  Talk about some seriously screwy stuff.

Katherine is no longer a vampire.  This cannot be good for her.  She has created enough enemies in the group that she needs to be seriously worried about what will happen to her.  The Salvatore's can't stand her, Rebekah hates her, and almost everyone else around wants her dead.  She will either need some serious protection or get out of town hella fast.  I suspected that she might get the cure, but I did not count on it being the way it was.  Loved it when Elena shoved it into her mouth and then forced her to swallow it.  I am fascinated by the idea of Katherine as a human.  I so want to see how well she'll cope.

Elena has chosen Damon.  I want to say that it had to do with the sire bond, but since we can be fairly confident that it is broken now, I can't.  Hafta feel sorry for poor Stefan.  I do wonder how long it is going to take for people to realize that "Stefan" is not really Stefan and put the pieces together.  This is so not going to be pretty when people figure it out.  The problem is that I do not think there is a way to kill Silas, especially now that Bonnie is gone and so is her witchly line.  I do wonder if Jeremy (as one of the Five, assuming he still is one of the Five after his resurrection) has the power to stop Silas at all.  That could be interesting.  Also, where exactly is Jeremy going to live?  His house and stuff are all gone.  I assume he'll live with Matt, but he may also stay with Elena and Damon.

Matt has decided to go on a road trip with Rebekah.  However, he has told her flat out that he wants to remain human, so she'll have to behave herself.  Not that I think that is going to be a problem for her because she has turned out to be a decent human being.  I was impressed with how she managed to take Matt's place on the bomb.  It made sense since she cannot be killed except by the White Oak stake.  Singed a little, sure, but not killed.

Loved the reappearance of Klaus.  Did he really behead the witch with the graduation cap?  That was nifty, as was his threat to continue to do so.  I also liked that he told Caroline that he wanted to be her last love and that he was willing to wait for her.  I wonder how long it will be before that happens.  And will Tyler come back?  Honestly, I won't miss him if he doesn't unless they can give him (and Jeremy!) a decent storyline to work with.  Jeremy's this year as a Hunter was pretty cool, I hope they continue to give them good stories and not just addons as needed.

It was really cute to see how excited Caroline was by everyone showing up for graduation.  That was funny.  I liked the way they lingered on each person.  I can't say I'll particularly miss Bonnie because she was getting to be way too powerful.  I am not sure where else they would be able to go with her.  Maybe they can bring her back periodically to advise Jeremy about what to do since he is a medium and can talk with ghosts.

This is my last review for a little over two weeks.  I will be back with the first of the new Teen Wolf episodes.  Have fun!

My Review of Arrow 1.23- Sacrifice

As Oliver rushes to stop Malcolm's plan, Moira steps up and tragedy strikes.....

As much as I love Twitter, it can be spoilerific.  Unfortunately, I did not get to watch the episode last night because I was out helping my sister.  But when I got home and looked through my tweets, the likely name of the deceased person came to mind.  It wasn't a huge deal for me and didn't impact my emotional response since I could think of a dozen different ways for Tommy to have died.  My initial thought was that it was because he got in between a fight that his dad and Oliver were having.  I must say that if you are going to die, the way Tommy went is the way to go.  Not the impaling part, but the saving someone you love part.  Sucked for Oliver and Laurel, but it was nice for Tommy to go out a hero.

The poor guy though.  His former (and actual) beast friend sleeps with his ex and then tells him that his dad is the leader of an evil scheme to demolish the Glades.  Then Daddy dearest confirms the accusation and acts like a diabolical madman.  So Tommy decides to go make sure that Laurel is safe and manages to do so, but at the cost of his own life.  Not the best last day.  But at least he made his death meaningful.  I was seriously worried that in the finale Oliver would kill Malcolm without Tommy finding out the truth, so that Tommy would be out with a vendetta against Oliver.  Now, unfortunately, Malcolm is alive (and presumably going to jail!) with a vendetta against Oliver and his family for foiling the Undertaking.

At long last, Oliver takes Diggle along with him to fight Malcolm as the Dark Archer.  Two times now, Malcolm has kicked Oliver's ass up one side and down the other because Malcolm knew what his cause was and would do anything to see it through.  Oliver's was more nebulous, so he needed something more specific to focus on.  When he got that thing (the Glades and his family), he pulled out all the stops and stopped Malcolm without killing him.  That was impressive.  It was equally impressive that Malcolm managed to fight off both Diggle and Oliver at first.  That was truly impressive.

So glad that Moira came around and told the truth.  What happened last week must have shamed her enough to do the right thing.  Will it be enough to get Walter back?  I don't know.  I hope so, but I don't know.  I am betting that she will plead to a lesser charge in exchange for testifying against Malcolm at a trial or something like that.  I would say that given everything, she has totally earned that sort of leniency.

It was nice to hear Detective Lance realize that sometimes upholding the spirit of the law requires breaking its letter and that people are more important than the law.  That is what the Vigilante stands for.  The importance of people over the law and the primacy of human life over dead letters on a page.  Glad that Moira held her conference in time to help corroborate his story for the police.  Will he still be punished?  Probably, but I hope not.  And seeing him work with Felicity to disarm the device was quite cool.

Thea and Roy are back on and going fairly strong.  I hope he comes out of the Glades and moves in with the Queens because that would be cool.  Or maybe they could put him up somewhere since a large portion of the Glades is destroyed.  I want to see more of him as the Vigilante's sidekick.

Tonight, Vampire Diaries and then reviews takes a rest until June 3 when Teen Wolf Season 3 is on.

Some Thoughts about the 90210 Series Finale- We All Fall Down

Given that it was a series finale, I wanted to record some of my thoughts about 90210, both in general and about the finale specifically.

I actually watched the first half of the first season, but stopped watching around the midseason break.  I wish I hadn't now, but at the time, it really bored me and didn't have anything that I was interested in.  I have never seen the second half of Season 1 or any of Season 2, so I missed the introduction of Liam and Teddy and the exits of Dixon/Annie's dad and Ethan.  I tuned back in (in all honesty) because I heard they were going to bring a character out of the closet, and I am always interested in seeing how well that sort of storyline is done.  I started watching during the 3rd episode ("2021 Vision") of Season 3 (went back and saw the rest on reruns).  I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised that the show had gotten much better and I found myself enjoying it.

Fast forward to last night.  I must admit that I was hoping for a flashforward to see where the crew ends up, which would have been very cool.  I liked the finale and the way that they paired everyone off (even if I think that Naomi should have gotten Max back, I will never get off that particular wagon).  I did think that it was a little maudlin for a finale, but maybe that was what they were going for.  Liam and Annie and Adrianna and Navid (never really liked either of them, so glad this worked out!) were nice.  I just wish we weren't left hanging on the fates of Dixon and Silver.  That was a little annoying.

If you're on my TV Reviews list (and read my commentaries!), you've noticed that I have a very soft spot for Silver, Naomi, and Teddy (until recently with the way he's treated Silver) and can barely stand Adrianna.  I've also never quite liked Navid and my opinion about Dixon has varied depending on what he is doing.  I've pretty much always liked Annie and Liam and barely notice that Ivy is gone (thank goodness!).  As I said above, I so wish that Naomi and Max had stuck it out, because they were practically perfect together.  Then again, I always liked that type of pairing: geek and beauty queen.  That's part of the reason I was so pro-Mouth/Brooke (or to a certain extent Mouth/Rachel) on OTH.  Naley is a similar pairing that maybe shouldn't have worked, but really did.

Anyway, I did love 90210.  Was it perfect?  No, but from what I can see, dumping the older cast and everything worked well, so I am glad that it lasted.  I would have loved a little bit more to clean up the ending a tad, but other than that, I thought it was nice.  The ending was like the show, a bit of a hot mess.  Regardless of that fact (or maybe because of it), I still loved it.

My Review of Vampire Diaries 4.22- The Walking Dead

Bonnie drops the Veil leading to some familiar faces returning, Elena has revenge on her mind, and there are some unexpected consequences to Bonnie's endgame....

Talk about an uber-witch!  Bonnie drops the Veil, medusas Silas, and manages (apparently) to resurrect every (or st least some) undead creature(s) within the Expression Triangle.  Unfortunately, this last takes all of Bonnie's strength and has killed her.  I must admit that I was so not expecting that.  I do hope this means that Jeremy is back and that the writers are going to use him better now.  I do not think he has *EVER* been used as good as he could be used, so if they get another chance, I will be very happy.  The unfortunate thing is that three of the Five are back and it is entirely possible that Kol is as well.  The other nice thing is that both Alaric and Lexie were within the Expression Triangle, so maybe they'll be back to.  That would be totally cool.  The other interesting thing is that since Bonnie is the last of the Bennett line (I think) this powerful line of witches can't do anything anymore.  And they have been involved in vampire business since the very beginning.

Elena has managed to go with a new mono-focus.  This one is the killing of Katherine, and she very nearly manages to do it.  I don't think that Katherine has honestly thought of Elena as a serious threat, but it is obvious that under the right circumstances, Elena can be a major threat.  She has considerable emotions and when she channels all of those emotions into one thing, it will take more power than there is on heaven and earth to stop her.  She stabbed Damon, hit Stefan, and came within inches of killing both Bonnie and Katherine.  This girl is dangerous.  *VERY* dangerous.

Out of all the returnees we saw, I think I was the most surprised by Alaric and Lexie.  I was expecting Jeremy and we saw Kol in previews, so neither of them was particularly surprising.  When Alaric appeared, I whooped with joy and nearly teared up with joy for Stefan when Lexie appeared.  I was also very surprised when the Hunters appeared and was even more surprised when they stayed around.  As I said above, I so hope that Alaric, Jeremy, and Lexie stay around.  I suspect the Hunters will too and that they probably play a part in Rebekah leaving for New Orleans.

I was impressed with how well Silas was able to play Caroline.  Seeing Silas play her was actually a little chilling.  Caroline is so sweet that seeing her as an uber-villain was scary.  I also loved how Rebekah managed to snap the real Caroline out of the Silas illusion.  That was amusing as was Rebekah's reaction of satisfaction.  I also loved Matt's explanation about why he will not let Rebekah cure him.  He wants to remain human.  He was careful to make it clear that he was *NOT* rejecting Rebekah, but was rejecting the whole idea of vampire blood curing him because he does not want to turn into a vampire.  Very cool of him.

Damon now has the cure.  Will he give it to Elena?  Or will he give it to someone else?  I suspect that he will give it to Elena, but I cannot wait to see what he does with it.

Next week looks like chaos courtesy of the Hunters.  If Jeremy and Alaric are back, could they help out here?  Maybe Elijah and/or Klaus will return to help out.  Until then...

My Review of Arrow 1.22- Darkness on the Edge of Town

Secrets are revealed, couples change, and damage is done....

Well, Oliver now knows the extent to which Moira has been working with Malcolm and he is not happy about it.  I must admit that I honestly thought that it was the Dark Archer who kidnapped Oliver and Moira and that he was trying to make it look like he was the Hood.  So when I realized it was Diggle, I was quite surprised.  And those hits that Diggle gave Oliver looked quite real.  Granted, Oliver can take the licking and keep on ticking, but it was still surprising.  Then there was his fight with Malcolm where Malcolm more or less revealed that he was the Dark Archer.  That was quite a fight.  Oliver did better this time, but I think it will be quite some time before he is ready to take on Malcolm on any sort of equal footing.  And now that Malcolm knows who the Hood is, it is not a good thing.

Feel bad for Felicity.  Oliver did try to rescue her, but he got trapped first by Malcolm and then by Thea and Roy.  Nice thinking on Diggle's part and good reaction by Felicity.  Her yelling about wanting Tommy was priceless, as were her mouth-foot utterances.

I was a little surprised that Walter managed to keep things together and realize that Moira was involved in what was happening to him.  Can't say I blame him for wanting a divorce, but I do think it may have been smarter to have stayed with her and learned as much information as he could before leaving her.  Nicest thing?  No, but it would have been the smarter move.

Not sure whether or not Roy's obsession with finding the Hood is a good thing or not.  He has lost Thea, but the Hood does seem to give his life purpose, so it is not an awful thing.  Hopefully he'll find the Hood soon and straighten things out with Thea.  Did love the way that Oliver threatened him.  That was amusing, in part because I think the brotherly concern bit was real.

Tommy and Laurel are done and Oliver and Laurel are apparently back on.  I would feel bad for Tommy except for the fact that he did manage to screw everything up all on his lonesome.  He had Laurel, but he was insecure after discovering who Oliver was and let her go.  If he had held onto her, nothing would have happened between her and Oliver.  Oh well.

Next week, I am anticipating another fight between the Hood and the Dark Archer.  If the Hood does somehow manage to kill the Dark Archer, then I would suspect that Tommy will be the new Big Bad and go after Oliver for killing his dad.

My Review of Vampire Diaries 4.21- She's Come Undone

The Salvatore brothers take a drastic step to turn on Elena's humanity, Caroline meets Silas, Bonnie meets Katherine, and Rebekah grows closer to Matt....

I must say that I was impressed with how far the Salvatores would go to restore Elena's humanity.  Torturing her themselves was never really going to work because she knew that they would not go to far, so she just had to outlast them.  Bringing in Katherine, however, was a stroke of genius.  Katherine does not like Elena and would do whatever she needed to do in order to accomplish her goal.  The problem is that Katherine is so independent that she is unreliable, so when she decided it would be more fun to let Elena free, that is what she did.

Killing Matt was perfect.  Of all the humans in her life, he is the most vulnerable and the one she cares about the most.  Bonnie could perform a spell to make it look like she died and Caroline is no longer human.  By killing Matt so vividly and brutally right in front of her, Damon forced Elena to let some feelings bubble up to the surface.  I was glad that Matt agreed to it because I do not think there was another viable option.  I was a little surprised that Elena did not think that Matt was wearing the ring, but then again, everything happened so quickly that she was not given time to think.

So not sure what Bonnie is up to at this point.  She has become such a good liar at this point that she could be working for Silas or could be working against him.  Given that she wants the headstone, I would suspect that she is working for Silas.  The only other option I can think of is that she somehow thinks that using the headstone will give her the power to kill Silas or strip him of his immortality, thus allowing him to be killed.  That girl just keeps getting scarier and scarier.

Poor Caroline.  First, she tries to help Elena and fails.  Then she has to listen as Elena is tortured and discovers the Rebekah knew that Matt needed help before she did.  Finally, she is haunted by Silas as a method to draw out Bonnie.  Other than Rebekah, Caroline is the vampire who most wants a normal human life, and she is doing everything in her power to make her last few weeks of high school normal.  Then she thought that her mom was dead.  Rough time for her.

I was very impressed with Rebekah.  She obviously cares about Matt and wants to help him out.  Her offer to compel good grades or a scholarship for him came from a good place, so even if he would never accept it, you had to know that he appreciated the thought.  And dude, do draw on her vast knowledge.  She can obviously be really helpful.  Given that she vowed to not leave Matt, I wonder what causes her to go to New Orleans.

Until next week!

My Review of Arrow 1.21- The Undertaking

We get a lot of backstory about the Undertaking and what led to the sinking of the Queen's Gambit.  The Vigilante kicks some serious booty, Tommy has another talk with Laurel, and someone returns.

Turns out that the Undertaking (in its current form) is not that old.  It was proposed by Malcolm shortly before the fateful voyage of the Queen's Gambit.  Before that Robert and several other people had decided to do what Oliver is doing and clean up Starling City one person at a time.  Malcolm decided that the best thing would be to completely wipe the Glades out and start from scratch, in no small part because his wife was killed in the Glades.  Somehow, Malcolm was planning on getting a piece of technology that would allow him to make the whole thing look like a natural disaster.

Robert was not happy with this idea and plotted with Frank Chen to buy up enough of the Glades to force Malcolm to give up his plan.  This was after he told Moira about the proposal and she reacted in horror.  So Chen went to supposedly fly to China while Robert would take his boat.  Oliver decided at the last minute to come along and took Laurel's sister along with him- probably because Laurel wanted to move in together.  Chen planted the bomb as instructed by Malcolm, and the rest is history.

What I found interesting is that Moira blames herself for what happened.  That is understandable, because Robert rebelled openly in large part because of her reaction.  Not that he didn't have his own doubts already, but I do not think he would have moved as openly as he did without knowing Moira's reaction.  Her reaction when Oliver (mistakenly) said that Walter was dead was pretty much what I expected.  Anger and surprise because of the fact that Malcolm had promised not to hurt Walter.

I was definitely shocked that Oliver decided to follow Moira.  I don't know if it was her reaction to what he said or if he was suspicious for another reason, but following her seemed a little odd.  It did let him know that Malcolm had Walter, that Moira knew this, and that Moira was working with Malcolm.  Given the look on his face, none of this was welcome news.  Loved the rescue of Walter.  That was just awesome.  An incredibly brassed-off Oliver against 20 (or so) guys?  They never had a chance.  When Oliver is motivated, he is motivated and can accomplish almost anything.  I do wonder if Walter figured out his secret, because Walter was giving Oliver an odd look when he was in the hospital.

Poor Laurel got two punches to the gut tonight.  First, Tommy tells her that he broke up with her because she and Oliver belong together and because Oliver still loves her.  So, she confronts Oliver and asks him to tell Tommy that he is not in love with her, only to have Oliver tell her that he won't lie to Tommy.  That poor girl is going to need some serious alone time so that she can figure things out.

Loved Felicity tonight.  Between going to Diggles to help him and Oliver make up, going into the casino to help find Walter, and then helping Oliver plan how to free Walter, Felicity did a lot of good stuff.  Also loved that Oliver and Walter both called her "a friend".  She was very happy to hear that.  Glad that Diggles and Oliver made-up because they will both be needed to combat the Undertaking.