My Review of The Vampire Diaries 6.10- Christmas Through Your Eyes

Caroline finds out some shocking news, Matt obsesses, Liv shows her true colors, Kai continues to be a psychopath, and Elena makes a decision…

Poor Caroline.  Her mother has a glioblastoma that has potentially metastized to her spine.  In case you are wondering, that is really bad.  Glioblastomas are highly aggressive tumors that have a relatively low survival rate.  I am not sure about tumors, but when cancer metastizes, there is not a whole lot that can be done.  I think the only thing that might save her mom is to turn her into a vampire and I don’t really see that happening.

I have to say that as much as I want to hate Liv for helping Kai, I find it hard to fault her.  While I definitely think Jo did the right thing to protect Liv and Luke, I get why Liv decided to help Kai.  Was it the wrong thing to do?  Absolutely, but she was protecting herself and Luke from one of them dying.  The issue is that in doing so, she was potentially empowering Kai, who is insane and would not do any good with the power he might get.  Balancing the amount of harm he could do versus her potential loss would make an objective person choose to have her do the merge.  Basically, the whole situation was a no-win scenario.  Doesn’t make me like her, but it does make her choice understandable.

I was glad when Jeremy told Matt that he needed to stop what he was doing before he destroyed himself.  While Jeremy is all for protecting people, what Matt wanted was revenge and when it is a human versus a vampire, that revenge is rarely going to work out, as Matt found out.  Granted, he couldn’t have predicted that Kai would absorb the magic from the anti-magic spell the Travelers cast, so his plan was not that bad, but it was still dangerous.  As I said last week, he let Tripp and Enzo get into his head and now he is paying the piper.

Now that Kai has absorbed the magic from the anti-magic shield, he has got to be powerful.  I honestly don’t know if Jo stands a chance when they go to merge.  I actually don’t think she stood a chance before he absorbed the magic.  Since Kai can absorb magic, I don’t see how she could have beat him, which sucks because I like her.  Hopefully the gang will figure out something to do about Kai.

You had to feel for Bonnie.  She was stuck in Kai’s hell during Christmas.  It was nice to see that she was doing her best to keep traditions up.  It was also fun seeing the flashbacks to the early days of the show when Bonnie, Elena, and Caroline were basically carefree and didn’t have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Elena (apparently) finally decides to be with Damon and she is kidnapped by Kai.  Talk about bad timing.  I wonder why he kidnapped her because it’s not like Damon has anything that Kai needs anymore.  Maybe he just wants to hurt Damon by taking her.

See you when we return in January!

My Review of The Originals 2.09- The Map of Moments

There’s revenge galore, a family reunited, passion consummated, wishes granted, and motivations revealed…

Well, Rebekah got the one thing that she’s wanted for a long time.  Only problem?  Her wish was granted as revenge by her brother Kol.  Rebekah has always wanted to live a normal human life.  Well, now she has the chance to do so except for the fact that she is trapped in a witch’s body in a house that cannot be escaped from.  Yeah, talk about being careful what you wish for.  That, my friends, is what you call a double edged sword.  She betrayed Kol’s plot to make a dagger that could hurt Klaus 100 years ago, so Kol betrayed her by trapping her in the house.  Lovely family here…

It was interesting to finally see how Kol views his place in the Mikaelson family.  Finn is a mama’s boy who hates everything that he and his siblings are; his father is out to kill them all; Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah are a singular unit; and his mother is a twisted witch.  Given all that, it is not hard to see why he came out all twisted.  He has been mostly cut out of his own family and Klaus has systematically done what he can to keep his siblings under his thumb.  Kol seems to have honestly loved being a witch and his mother took that way from him.  So he is on his own in the world.  To make it even worse, Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah have taken Marcel into their circle while excluding him.  Yeah, there is definitely some bitterness there.

Klaus’ revenge of Esther was absolutely delicious and completely fitting.  He used Davina to block Rebekah’s being moved into Cami and then forced his mother into a position that is beyond untenable.  Since he killed her after she had unwittingly ingested Rebekah’s blood, she is in transition.  So she either becomes that which she despises above all else or she dies.  And with no Other Side, she will be gone forever.  That revenge was absolutely perfect and a wonderful thing of absolute beauty.   While you may hate Klaus for what he does, he does revenge like no one’s business.

Unfortunately, Esther managed to team up with Mikael before she died and he freed Finn.  Finn revealed to Cami tonight that he sees his siblings as irredeemable, which makes him more dangerous than Esther.  Finn will not be content with merely moving his siblings into new bodies, he will want to destroy them, particularly after what they did to Esther.  Putting him together with Mikael is going to be dangerous.  Both of them are exceedingly unbalanced and powerful.  Fortunately, Klaus does have a protector in the form of Davina because he has sired her friends.  And I suspect that she can drag Kol along with her.  Between the two of them, I suspect that they can handle Finn.  Mikael may be a different story.  And if Dalia and/or Freya come back, hands will be full.

Hayley and Elijah have consummated their passion for each other right after he told her to marry Jackson in order to help her people and bring peace to New Orleans.  Can’t say I’m surprised at either development.  Things have been building to a head between those two for a while now and Elijah is noble enough to urge Hayley to do what is best for her people even if it hurts him.  As for that scene…YOWZA!

We’ll be back with new episodes on January 19th, so I’ll see you then!

My Review of Vampire Diaries 6.09- I Alone

Damon and Elena secure help (both witting and unwitting) to get Bonnie back, a truth is revealed, Matt and Jeremy leap to conclusions, and Tyler meets the devil...

Somehow I can't bring myself to be mad at Damon for compelling Alaric to help him.  He is obviously feeling guilty about Bonnie still being stuck in the hell dimension and he desperately wants to help everyone out by bringing her back.  Compelling Alaric was not the best option, but I do think it was the only viable option.  In spite of how much he has changed, Damon is ruled by expediency and will take all sorts of shortcuts in order to do the right thing.  And that is part of the reason I love him.  I don't always like or agree with him, but he does have a moral compass (of sorts) and he does follow it.  Granted, part of the reason he did what he did was to help Elena, but that is always part of the reason he does what he does now.  Her happiness and love are two of the most important things to him and he will do what he must to ensure that she is happy.

I'm not sure telling Jeremy what they were going to do was smart on Elena's part.  He has just gotten to the point where he is able to function without Bonnie and then Elena drags him right back into the pit.  What she should have done was gone through with the plan and then present Bonnie to Jeremy once she was back.  That way she wouldn't risk Jeremy slipping back into the funk he just got out of.  Also, he wouldn't have assumed that she left Bonnie behind to save Damon instead of finding out that Live pulled them out of the dimension because of Kai's return. 

At least Matt has something constructive for Jeremy to do: kill Enzo.  Despite his protestations, Enzo couldn't be more different from Stefan.  I always get annoyed when people look at the surface similarities between an hero and a villain and then assume that they are the same.  Enzo relishes killing and will do it without a second's hesitation.  Stefan, on the other hand, will only kill if needed or, like tonight, allow a death in the name of a greater good- in this case protecting the real Sarah Salvatore from Enzo.  Enzo is a master at coming up with rationalizations for why he does what he does, but the real reason is that he is a sociopathic vampire and needs to be put down.  He babbles on about looking for the truth, but he is really just looking for an excuse to kill people.  And the fact that Matt bought into Enzo and Tripp's lies is just sad.  He should know Stefan better than that.

You have to feel for Bonnie.  She was *THIS* close to returning home, but Kai ruined it again, this time by finding Liv and attacking her and then destroying the Ascendent.  The one thing I did not get is that he didn't seem to recognize Liv at first (basing this on his "Isn't this ironic?" line) but he figured it out somehow.  That was more than a little jarring and should have been explained better. And Tyler gets home and discovers Kai in his house.  That is not good...

Until next week!

My Review of The Originals 2.08- The Brothers That Care Forgot

Klaus and Marcel try to persuade Finn and Kol to join them against Esther, Hayley and Jackson work on getting the wolves, Elijah leaves to protect Rebekah and Hope, Davina has her own plans, and Rebekah and Cami each discover an unpleasant truth…

Marcel and Kol *REALLY* do not like each other.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Marcel seem to take such joy in torturing someone as he did when he was trying to “persuade” Kol to join him and Klaus.  Honestly, I don’t know if Marcel was the best person to turn loose on Kol, but he was the only real choice.  With Elijah and Hayley both gone elsewhere and Klaus taking care of Finn, there wasn’t another option.  Fortunately for Kol, he let slip his feelings about Klaus and Marcel which gave Klaus his opening to confess how he tried to get revenge for Kol’s death at Jeremy Gilbert’s hands but couldn’t and to reaffirm that they are brothers “always and forever.”  Kol was already inclined to betray Esther and that seemed to tip him decisively into Klaus’ camp.

Unfortunately, Finn was not nearly as tractable.  This personification of a mama’s boy wouldn’t turn against Esther and even told Klaus the truth about Freya and Dalia’s curse.  His reward for being a faithful lap dog for his mother?  He got himself locked into a coffin which Klaus assured him had air holes in it.  Is it wrong that I find that an almost amusing punishment?

Davina and Klaus are going to make for *VERY* uneasy allies.  She hates him and he isn’t too terribly fond of her.  Unfortunately, they need each other in order to take down Esther.  And with Kol, Marcel, and Cami as buffers between the two of them, I think the fireworks will remain at a minimum.  Davina’s magical powers are nothing to sneeze at, look at how easily she took down both Marcel and Klaus.  I am honestly not sure if she can take down Esther, but if she manages to work with Klaus, there is a definite chance.

Now that Hayley and Jackson have peeled the wolves away from Esther, that is one less group to stand in Klaus’ way.  I can’t believe that the wolves are still trying to insist that they rule the city.  Their bites don’t do anything to Klaus and he has shown that he can take them apart with astonishing speed and ferocity.  And by joining their two bloodlines, Hayley and Jackson will help empower the wolves without their needing to depend on witches.

Rebekah had an unpleasant surprise when she realized that Esther had found her and was watching her.  Or was it actually Dalia?  If Dalia is really that much more powerful than Esther and she has been promised the firstborn of every generation, it is entirely possible that she is looking for Rebekah and Hope.  Then there was Rebekah’s discovery that Elijah had slaughtered all of those people in the restaurant.  That was not pleasant.  We know Elijah is no saint, but that slaughter and his loss of control around Finn shows that he is clearly damaged from his time spent with Esther.

And poor Cami discovered that she has been prepared to serve as a vessel for Rebekah’s consciousness.  Yeah, that is exactly what I would want to learn from someone I might have had feeling for at one point.

There is no Originals next week, so I’ll see y’all in two weeks!

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 6.08- Fade Into You

Damon reveals the truth about Bonnie, Elena makes a decision about her love life, Stefan talks with Caroline, and we have a new contender for most screwed up family ever…

Well, everyone now knows that Bonnie is still alive in Kai’s hell.  Astonishingly, no one seemed particularly upset that Damon didn’t mention that he was with Bonnie, but we haven’t seen Jeremy react yet, so that could change.  Everyone seemed to appreciate that Damon actually thought she was dead and that is why he didn’t reveal that she was there with him.  That is a sign of progress for everyone, so that is good.

Speaking of Bonnie, that poor girl had a rotten day.  Not only did she have to eat dinner with a psychopath, but she then got herself stabbed in the gut because he got his hands on his sister’s magic (more on that in a moment) and only needed her blood.  And then he took the car he promised her, leaving her stranded in Portland (presumably Oregon, but they never actually said).  Yeah, her life pretty much sucks at the moment.

Jo is (as I predicted last week) Kai’s sister.  What I didn’t expect was the revelation that they are twins and that Liv and Luke are their siblings.  Turns out the Gemini coven is led by a twin.  When the twins up for the leadership reach their 22nd birthday, they merge their powers and the stronger one survives with both of their powers while the weaker one dies.  Kai wanted to be the leader and he wasn’t eligible, so he went to kill Luke and Liv, but failed because Jo protected them.  She then put her magic into a knife and hid it.  That is the magic Kai got and the reason he went to Portland.  Oh, and when Jo’s dad found out that Damon wanted to bring Bonnie back, he decided to do a spell to kill Jo so that Kai couldn’t merge with her.  And Jo used Kai’s desire to merge with her to lure him into the woods so that their dad could send him to the hell.  Definitely contenders for the most screwed up family tree.

You had to feel for Elena.  She has a good thing going with Liam, but he is getting too inquisitive and doesn’t seem to be handling the whole supernatural thing very well, so Elena decided to compel him to forget all about her.  In his defense, she didn’t exactly give him time to adjust before compelling him.  Regardless, I do think it was the right move because, while nice, he just didn’t seem to fit in well.  Elena also made the decision that she wants to get Bonnie back and is starting to reconnect with Damon as a friend, particularly after seeing that he does truly miss Bonnie himself.

Stefan and Caroline also seem to be on a good path.  He acknowledged why he pushed her away and seemed to hold out hope that there might be something in their future.  Not everything Caroline was hoping for, but it is definitely better than nothing, so there is a faint light at the end of the tunnel for Steroline.

Not quite sure what to make of Tyler and Liv.  She is making him almost tolerable to me, which is a miracle given how much I dislike him.  He definitely cares about her and will help her if he can, so maybe he is redeemable.

I’ll see y’all in two weeks.  Have a great Thanksgiving!

My Review of The Originals 2.07- Chasing the Devil's Tail

Klaus sets out to free Elijah from Esther’s spell, Cami proves her worth, Hayley takes a page out of Esther’s book, and Davina and Kol have some serious chemistry…

I have to admit that I was very surprised when Kol mentioned that he was a witch before being turned.  It does make sense given that magic runs in families, but you would have thought it would have been mentioned before now.  That would explain why he seems to get so much sheer joy out of magic.  Well, that and the fact that he is a sadist.  All that being said, I am impressed that he seems to be as close to Davina as he is.  I never really saw him being that close to anyone.  You know that he is using Davina, but there is definitely something else there.  I do have to agree with him, her resistance to his charms is somewhat baffling (particularly with the open shirt on display!).

So it was Kol who go the witches to create the dark objects that Cami got from Kieran.  That would explain the almost sadistic edge that some of them have (remember the star of 1,000 cuts from last season?).  It also gave him the opportunity to use magic again without having magic of his own.  Davina does need to be careful with him because he seems to be playing a very deep game.  It may not rebound on her, but you never know.

These past few weeks have not been good for Esther.  In the past few weeks, she has discovered that Mikael is back, Klaus refused her “offer”, and Kol lied to her about Mikael.  Then this week Finn and Kol are kidnapped, Ansel is killed by Klaus, and Elijah is brought out of his coma by Klaus.  Yeah, things are not looking great for her at the moment.  I have to admit to a certain perverse pleasure that Hayley is using the playbook of taking what means the most to your enemy on Esther.  She richly deserves it.

I ws very impressed with Cami and her willingness to play bait for Finn.  I think the best line of the night was hers.  You know the one, "I always thought having a woman's mouth on my neck would be more erotic."  When she clapped those magical handcuffs on Finn and let him know that she knew who he was, he looked almost completely shattered.  He honestly thought he had her and she disabused him of that particular notion in a spectacular fashion.  I just wonder how Klaus will feel about Cami putting herself in danger that way.

I am not sure who to feel sorrier for, Klaus or Ansel.  Klaus could have reconnected with his biological father, but his parental and trust issues run too deep.  Well, those and the fact that Ansel figured out that Hope is still alive.  Say what you will about Klaus, but if he counts you as a part of his family, he will protect you.  Right now that family includes Elijah, Hope, Hayley, and Cami.  I suspect that he’ll extend his protection to others who are particularly important to his family, but that will happen slowly.  Ansel is brought back for another life and loses it at the hands of his own son.  That has to seriously suck.

Josh and Aiden continue to flirt and be seriously cute together.  Please don’t kill either of them because they are the one semi-normal (if star-crossed) couple on this show…

Until next week!

My Review of The Vampire Diaries 6.07- Do You Remember the First Time

Damon tries to help Elena remember what they had, Enzo clues Stefan into Caroline’s feelings, Jo and Alaric have a good date, Kai and Bonnie have a confrontation, and Matt is shaken…

Wow, life really does suck for Damon right now.  The love of his life cannot remember what they had and is dating someone else.  In the good news category, she is trying to remember what they had and is even willing to risk death in order to force the memories to come to the surface.  I think the most frustrating thing for him is that he would not have erased the memories if their situations had been reversed.  Honestly, I do believe him.  That being said, I do think he would have turned off his emotions or done something else to dull the pain, so I don’t think he was being totally honest.  Leaving Elena at the end of the episode must have been one of the hardest things he has ever done, particularly since she was starting to have vague memories of their time together.  In the other good news category, he does know that Bonnie is alive and he is in possession of her bear which contains her magic.  I am curious as to how that is going to change things.

I feel almost as bad for Elena.  She likes Liam a lot, but she has the huge hole in her memories of something that she knows should be there but isn’t.  That has to be immensely frustrating for her.  I shouldn’t be surprised that she went over the border in an attempt to break Alaric’s compulsion, but I was.  She can be so focused on what she wants that she will harm herself in order to accomplish it.  Then you have her advice from Caroline, which is nowhere near unbiased.  Caroline (for good reason) has never approved of Damon and Elena together, so I am not expecting much from her right now.

Speaking of Caroline, I would have felt bad about the embarrassment she underwent at the hands of Enzo if it hadn’t been for the fact that the embarrassment was an honest attempt to help her.  A little mean spirited, but still an attempt to help.  Stefan has been so clueless about Caroline’s feelings that someone needed to give him that good solid smack upside the head with a 2x4 to get him to see what has been the elephant in the room.  I do think she was being a little unfair to Stefan when she said that if he felt the way she did he would never have left.  He did think he had lost his brother and his hometown, so he wanted to get away.  I don’t think he feels quite the same way about her that she feels about him, but I suspect that he has also never really thought about it because (until recently) he has been in the middle of Salvatore-Elena drama and hasn’t thought about *ANYONE* that way.  They do say that hate and love are two sides of the same coin, so the fact that she hates him is not necessarily a bad thing…

Bonnie was really smart.  Since Kai can drain magic to use on his own, she put her magic into her bear and sent it back to the real world.  Presumably, that should trap her and Kai in the hell they are in, but I am betting that Jo is somehow going to be instrumental in bringing Bonnie back.  I just hope that she can do it without bringing Kai back or somehow prepares herself to bring him back because, unless I am very mistaken, he is the brother who tried to kill her.  That is going to be incredibly awkward.

Then there is Liam.  Meeting a supposedly dead ex is very awkward.  And then said ex compels him and leaves with Elena.  Yeah, that is definitely going to be awkward.  Compound that with his knowledge that the girl Elena helped has undergone some seriously radical healing and that Elena knows something and the awkwardness gets ratcheted up another level.

Matt has been caught is a really bad situation.  He wants Mystic Falls to stay safe, but at the same time he wants his friends to be safe too.  Tripp, unfortunately, is not helping with the second and that is why Matt turned on him.  But when Enzo turned Tripp into a vampire so he would die when he stepped over the border, Matt was definitely upset and shocked.  I hope this doesn't portend some kind of revenge story for Matt, because that would end badly.  Also, when the heck did Enzo have time to turn Tripp?  The process normally takes a while, and wouldn't Tripp notice that his throat had been cut?  The other thing that gets me is that most new vampires feel different, so why didn't Tripp?  Sorry, but as much as I enjoyed Tripp getting his comeuppance, it felt like *REALLY* lazy and shoddy writing.

Until next week!