Friday, May 15, 2015

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 6.22- I'm Thinking of You All the While

We say goodbye to Elena, Tyler, and more and hello to an old character or two; Stefan and Caroline have a good talk; Lily is reunited with her family; and time jumps....

If you're going to write the central character off of a show, this is the way to go.  By making it so that Elena's waking is linked to Bonnie dying, the writers have opened the door to whole loads of mischief.  As long as they keep Bonnie alive, Elena remains gone, but they can also bring her back at any point by the simple expedient of killing Bonnie.  That was well done and completely unexpected.  I honestly thought that they were going to make Matt and Elena leave together to live a normal human life.  I didn't see Damon leaving, so that was never really an option as far as I was concerned.  Of course, having Elena gone also allows the writers to return Damon to his seasons 1 and 2 self, which were a whole lot of fun to watch because Ian does snarky and smarmy better than most.

Of course, having Elena go away also meant that we got a whole load of touching goodbye scenes as each of her friends entered her mind and had a chance to see what she wants for them.  I think that Bonnie got the best of the bargain.  She has lost and sacrificed so much over the past few years that's it's nice to see someone else choose to make a sacrifice for her.  I don't know if this is going to do much for her relationship with Damon given that he had to choose between Bonnie and Elena, but I think he made the right decision.  Elena wants Bonnie to live a long life and Damon won't age, so he will just have to survive without Elena until Bonnie passes away.  Of course, given the intensity of his feelings, that may be easier said than done.  I also really appreciated that they brought back Jeremy for a goodbye scene.  I wish they'd bring Steven back for next season, but I don't see that happening.  Oh well....

We also got the chance to say goodbye to one of the best villains that The Vampire Diaries has ever had: Kai.  He was a world class sociopath, but he was loads of fun to watch.  Tonight, he just went off the deep end and took his entire coven with him.  That was quite the impressive body count for your swan song.  Coming back as a heretic vampire was quite the twist.  Of course, he was doomed, particularly since he was attacked by Tyler.  But his final death was one of the greatest scenes, just as we thought Damon had abandoned Bonnie, he decapitated Kai and saved her.  Sort of disgusting, but it was a wonderful exit for an awesome character.

It was also nice to see Stefan and Caroline have a  good, honest talk.  It will have to be the first of many, but it was definitely a good start.  Since I don't see Damon having a love interest any time in the near future, we'll probably have to depend on Steroline for our romantic storylines.  Speaking of romance, never *EVER* date Alaric Saltzman.  Every woman he has ever loved has ended badly, which seriously sucks for him.  Gotta wonder how he's going to recover from this one.

Then we also have Lily reunited with her "family".  Given that ending, that cannot be a good thing.  We obviously jumped forward an uncertain amount of time and Mystic Falls looks like it has undergone an apocalypse.  I wonder if the heretic vampires and Lily are to blame for what happened or if this is Damon going on a rampage after losing Elena.  Then again, it could be a mixture of the two.

I know that I've been hard on this show recently, but I am now excited to see where the show is going in the fall.  If the really bring back old Damon and have the heretic vampires tearing around town, we have the possibility for some serious fun next season.

Until then!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

My Review of The Originals 2.22- Ashes to Ashes

Klaus' plan to defeat Dahlia goes into effect, Davina's plan to resurrect Kol doesn't go off as planned, an unexpected person from the past appears and disappears, an old-time threat to the Mikaelsons is removed, and the stage is set for a different season 3...

Klaus' plan for Dahlia was impressive.  I was impressed that he felt confident enough in how he had manipulated his siblings that he would dagger himself in order to delay Dahlia.  I have to say that the daggering himself was a nice touch.  Unfortunately, he didn't take into account the fact that Dahlia is one of the most powerful witches...EVER.  While down for the count, she managed to destroy the dagger by melting it and also broke her connection to Klaus so that she could hurt him without hurting herself.  The look on his face when she told him that she destroyed the link was almost funny.  He was so clearly not expecting her to have been able to do that.  I honestly think that he thought that he could keep her under his thumb by keeping the link active.  All that being said, his plan was a good one.  By giving his siblings the time they needed to resurrect Esther so that her blood could be used to kill Dahlia, Klaus managed to come up with a nice plan.

The major flaw in Klaus' plan is that he managed to piss off all of his siblings and fracture his relationship with Elijah to such a degree that it took Hayley asking him to take care of Hope to bring him back to Klaus' side.  As far as that goes, there is definitely blame enough to go around.  Klaus' actions to convince Dahlia that he was with him were, as I said last week, as much about punishing the people who betrayed him as much as it was about convincing her that he had aligned himself with her.  Did Klaus go too far with the curse and by killing Gia?  Absolutely.  But his actions did have a certain amount of justification.

One of the major problems that the Mikaelsons who remain in New Orleans will face is a seriously pissed off Davina.  She had one chance to resurrect Kol and they took that away from her.  As far as betrayals go, this one was justified because they needed Esther to defeat Dahlia, but Davina doesn't see the big picture, she just sees another betrayal by the Mikaelsons.  If Dahlia had remained in New Orleans, there is no telling how much damage she would have been able to cause.  I just hope that Davina somehow finds another way to bring back Kol because it would be cool to have him back.

The White Oak Stake is gone.  Dahlia destroyed it in order to use it as a weapon of mass destruction.  Also, the dagger used to desiccate the Mikaelsons is gone.  That means that unless there is a witch out there with enough juice to stop the Mikaelsons, they are truly unstoppable.  Elijah and Rebekah still have their weakness to werewolf bites which will incapacitate them, but Klaus is not affected by werewolf bites and he is immune to all other weapons.  That is not a good thing.  Davina and other witches can temporarily stop him with magic, but other than that, Klaus is more or less going to have his way in New Orleans.

So Rebekah is now gone and back in her witch body, Hayley and her pack are trapped by the curse, Klaus is more or less alone, Marcel is apparently back in charge of the city (for a little), and Elijah and Freya are sticking around New Orleans.  I can only assume that Season 3 is going to be about undoing some of the damage Klaus caused in the name of stopping Dahlia and raising Hope.  We will also have to deal with the fallout of Davina being betrayed by Elijah and Rebekah.

Thursday is the season finale of The Vampire Diaries and then after that it will be until the fall.  See ya!

Monday, May 11, 2015

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 6.21- I'll Wed You In The Golden Sunshine

Alaric and Jo head towards the altar, which always means trouble, Stefan and Elena work together to force Damon to consider his future, and Caroline does the amends tour...

Can anyone truly blame Stefan and Elena for wanting to be sure that Damon had thought everything through thoroughly?  While he does love Elena, Damon is also beyond mercurial and not the most stable person in the world.  He is impulsive, passionate, and prone to acting without thinking.  If he is going to be a human again and be with Elena, she wanted to be sure that he truly wants it.  And Stefan wants to make sure the his brother and friend (as well as ex-girlfriend) are going to be happy together and not regret their actions.  Was it cruel?  Sure, but with Damon the direct approach is important.  He seemed to get that, which would explain why he was able to take the whole thing so calmly.  At this point, I do not think that either Stefan or Elena would even try and stop him because he has honestly thought about it and considered everything.  You know it is not going to be that simple.  I can't imagine the show losing both Elena and Damon, so I am expecting that Damon will remain a vampire while Elena leaves or dies.

Watching Caroline in wedding planner mode was all sorts of fun.  Organizing people and events is the sort of thing she excels at.Watching her step right in a completely take charge was just the thing that we needed to see.  Having her combine that with her apology tour was a good thing.  I wish we could have seen her apologize to Matt, particularly seeing as she has done so much damage to him recently.  Then again, he probably has little to no desire to forgive her for what she has done, given his stance on vampires as of late.  Watching her and Stefan was almost painful.  I do get that she wants to make sure she has control and can stand on her own, but pushing Stefan away may not be the best option for her.

Then there was her talk with Tyler.  To be honest, I am getting very tired of people on shows like this refusing to listen to the voice of experience.  If someone has done something that they regret or knows what something is like, it behooves you to listen to them./  If they are trying to help you avoid that path, it does not make them a hypocrite.  What would make them a hypocrite is if they were actively looking to do something that they are telling others not to do.  I get that Tyler's talk with Liv went badly and that was mostly on her.  She was the reason for their breakup and she is blaming him.  But the way he talked to Caroline was just wrong.  Dude, she's trying to help.  I so want to smack both Liv and Tyler for being idiots and refusing to listen to Tyler and Caroline (respectively) when words of wisdom were offered.

Watching Jo be a panicked bride was actually fun, especially because all of her worries were perfectly normal.  There was nothing supernatural threatening the wedding (well, until Kai that is), so she was just focused on the dress, shoes, etc.  Even her fainting was perfectly normal.  Which meant, naturally, that something horribly supernatural had to happen and that was Kai's appearance.  Stabbing Jo in the gut and then using his magic to disable everyone and make the glass explode?  That is what we calla good entrance.My only questions is how the hell did he get back?  There is no more Ascendant and there was no Bennet blood around.  I am assuming that the wedding had it's part to play, but how could Kai have known about that?  Hope they tell us all about this next week.

Tonight, my review of The Originals season finale and then the Vampire Diaries season finale on Thursday.  Until then!

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

My Review of The Originals 2.21- Fire With Fire

Klaus and Dahlia wreaks havoc on everyone who stands in their way, Rebekah takes a desperate step, and Davina takes a major new step...

Let's start with Davina.  She is now the Regent of the witches in New Orleans.  Given everything about her, this is a little surprising, but not overly so.  She has been separated from the witches for some time because of her affiliation with Marcel, but her sheer power and knowledge of the vampiric community should stand her in good stead as she leads the witches.  She is definitely not being shy about her power and why she is needed.  That is what we call justified arrogance.  Davina is one of the few people to stand toe to toe with the Mikaelsons and survive.  I have the feeling that Davina and the witches will be needed to defeat Dahlia, but I could be wrong.

Klaus played everyone something fierce and got his revenge all at the same time.  That is what I call effective acting.  If he didn't go after his siblings and the pack for betraying him and running off with Hope respectively, that would have put Dahlia on alert because one of Klaus' most enduring traits is his desire for revenge against those who wronged him.  I wasn't sure something was up until Klaus bit Cami.  He does care for her and has done so much to protect her that I don't see him purposefully hurting her.  So what exactly did he figure out and communicate to her about Dahlia's weakness?  Who is the witch that she cares about the most?  It's not Freya, so my bets are on either Hope or Dahlia herself.  If it is Dahlia, then by binding herself to Klaus, it is entirely possible that he could use his own blood to create the weapon to kill her.  Ok, that may be a little out there, but it would help explain his actions.

Using Dahlia to recast the Crescent Curse on Hayley, and therefore on the pack linked to her, was one of the nastier things Klaus has ever done.  Given that Hayley took their daughter away from him, I am not surprised that he was furious at her.  This particular punishment accomplishes two things.  First off, it gets him Hope.  Secondly, it removes the wolves from the equation in New Orleans.  If Klaus wants to make sure that they survive, that may be the best way.  I also guarantee you that this is going to give us a pissed off Hayley if/when the curse is broken.

Using Marcel and Gia to get revenge on Rebekah and Elijah was also a nasty move on Klaus' part.  He punished both of them while using that punishment to get himself into a position where Dahlia trusts him.  Betraying Klaus is *ALWAYS* a bad idea and he reminded everyone why it is so bad.  Klaus is one of the nastiest customers around because he can read people and figure out what areas to press to hurt them the most.  I also suspect that by forcing Rebekah to make a choice between her current body and her own body, Klaus is trying to give himself another advantage.  Rebekah's vampire body is more powerful than her current body and she is much more comfortable in it, which will mean that Klaus will have that much more of an advantage during the final showdown with Dahlia.

The major downside to what Klaus did is that he has managed to piss everyone off.  Granted, there was a good reason behind it (ie to ingratiate himself to Dahlia), but he will still have to figure out how to get them to work with him against Dahlia.  I also wonder if they'll be able to wake Freya from the sleep Dahlia forced her into.  Given that Rebekah is no longer a witch, unless Davina is willing to make the weapon against Dahlia, the Mikaelsons can't fight Dahlia without Freya.

Anyone else looking forward to next week?

Friday, May 1, 2015

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 6.20- I'd Leave My Happy Home For You

Elena and Damon talk about their future, Lily continues her Ripper ways, Jo and Alaric get parties thrown for them, Matt wallows, and someone returns in the last few seconds....

Well, Elena has taken the cure.  Honestly, I figured that she would take it in the season finale, but I guess taking it now makes a certain amount of sense.  Now they have the next couple of episodes torturing us about whether or not Damon will drink her blood to be cured.  Honestly, I am glad that she is forcing him to stop and think about it.  Damon's impulsivity is one of his defining traits as is his complete and utter fear of being alone or left behind.  Now that Elena is human, he had no way of knowing for sure that she wouldn't leave, so he decided that he had to take the cure.  By making him take the time to actually think about it (rather than just do it reflexively), Elena is doing the right thing.  Can he make it as a human?  Somehow I doubt it.  He enjoys being a vampire too much to just give it up, although Elena would be the one reason he would probably be able to give humanity a go.

I have to say that I loved the opening.  Knowing that this week was going to be the bachelor/bachelorette parties, it was pretty obvious that Alaric was in no danger and that the "cop" was really a stripper.  The look on Jo's face when she realized what was going on was truly priceless.  She was so embarrassed at first, but then just got into it.  And Alaric just had a look of resignation on his face that was equally priceless.  He was obviously accepting that the party was going to take place, but he wasn't terribly enthusiastic about the whole thing.  I wonder who thought it would be a great idea to have a ton of co-eds at the bachelor party.

Matt was a big downer.  All he did was drink and mope about how horrible his life is.  I get that he is not happy about the direction his life is headed at the moment, but trying to provoke Tyler into a fight and then trying to talk Alaric into leaving was just downright depressing.  If I thought he was actually trying to help Tyler, than I could have accepted his attempted provocation.  But it was so much more about his lashing out at what was going on in his life than helping Tyler.

Then there is Enzo.  Telling Stefan about Damon's having the cure was completely predictable.  All he does is try and hurt Stefan and Damon.  He can wrap himself in the rhetoric of truthfulness all he wants, all he is trying to do is cause drama.  Yawn.

I was enjoying watching Lily.  She has been trying so hard to stay on the straight and narrow, but her sons haven't exactly helped her.  Ironically enough, Damon had planned on actually helping her until Jo told him about the Heretics.  Now that Lily is being a Ripper again and going after Elena, the Salvatore finally took steps and imprisoned her.  Watching her threaten Stefan at the end was interesting, especially when we saw that Kai apparently has discovered a new way back to our world.  I do wonder how exactly he plans on getting back without an Ascendant or Bennet blood.  It is possible that as the leader of the Gemini Coven, he could have the power to cross between worlds on his own.  If he does, I will love the next couple of episode because Kai is an awesome villain.

Jo has twins in the oven.  That cannot be a good thing.  Between Kai coming back, Lily on the loose, and her Coven looking to displace Kai, her kids are in for a rough time.  Will she and Alaric run?  In a way, I hope so, but somehow I don't see it happening.

Next week, I will be gone on vacation, so my review will be out on Sunday or Monday.  Until then!