THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: ‘Masquerade’

Hi guys!  Kath is away, so I’ll be covering THE VAMPIRE DIARIES for her this week, which I’m very excited about.  I have to admit I avoided this show when it started, thinking it would be TWILIGHT TV, but I’m so glad I listened to everyone who was praising it, because it really is one of the most consistently entertaining hours on television every week, and last night kept the streak alive.

In “Masquerade,” there were three major developments: Tyler triggered his curse (but luckily Matt was spared), Katherine got what was coming to her when Damon locked her up in the tomb, and Jeremy looked INSANELY hot (oh, and started up a little flirtation with Bonnie).  Let’s break it down:

First of all, we’ve always known that Katherine is evil, but damn if she didn’t shock me, shock me, shock me with her deviant behavior last night.  Even though she and Elena are both played by the same person, it still amazes me how much I’ve separated them in my mind.  The Dobrev is absolutely killing this dual role thing.

Katherine wanted the moonstone, and would stop at nothing to get it.  When she killed Amy on the dance floor, my jaw dropped.  And that was just the tip of the evil.

She also took out a little insurance policy for herself by having Elena physically linked to her by a spell – she really is an evil slut vampire, as Damon hilariously pointed out.  It really was ingenious though, given the affections of both brothers for her good twin.  Plus, I totally didn’t see it coming.

I loved watching Katherine squirm and crumble as soon as she got hold of that moonstone.  Damon threw her into the tomb where she should have been all along and patiently waited for her to wake up so he could tell her what he thought of her before sealing her in.

As a last resort Katherine told him that Elena, as The Doppelganger, was in danger and they needed her help to protect Elena.  You can’t blame Damon for not believing her and sealing her in anyway, but the very next scene proved that Katherine was telling the truth for once.

Elena was walking to her car, on the phone with Jeremy, telling him to drive Bonnie home and that she was going straight to bed.  Well, nobody has a conversation like that on this show without something horrible happening, and it did.  A man with a completely freaky mask grabbed her and ran.  The way his face was completely obscured, it made me wonder if it’s someone we’ve seen before, and they didn’t want us to recognize him.  I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.

One of my favorite things about last night’s episode is that the show now has an official Scooby Gang, which is just all kinds of fantastic.  Now that Caroline, Bonnie and Jeremy are on board, things can only get more interesting, and it’s already more fun.  It’s nice to be able to like Bonnie again.  I’d say her little talk with Lucy the Witch did her a lot of good and we won’t have to worry so much about her turning on her friends in the future.  As we saw last night, having Bonnie on your side is a MAJOR asset.  Lucy was a nice addition too – here’s hoping we’ll be seeing more of her.

It’s also fantastic having Caroline involved in the vampire-witch-wolf world, because that girl is the most adorable, hilarious, ass-kicking vampire around.  Her pride at fooling Katherine was the cutest thing ever.  Caroline is great because she’ll have you laughing or cheering one minute, and breaking your heart the next.

It was so, so sad to see her and Matt, so clearly still in love with each other, but so far apart due to her wanting to keep him out of the supernatural world.  At this point though, literally everyone he’s friends with is involved, so it can’t be long before he’s dragged into it somehow.  Hopefully their hiatus won’t last too much longer – I miss them together.

So Tyler is now officially a werewolf.  Katherine may be evil incarnate, but she’s no dummy.  She took out yet another insurance policy by having Amy’s friend compelled to act in case Matt failed in his plan to get Tyler to kill him.  Another random girl bites the dust, and Tyler’s fate is now sealed.

Of course, we’ve known this was coming ever since Mason (RIP) told his nephew, “whatever you do, don’t kill anybody”.  Because then OF COURSE he was going to kill someone.  It’s like when someone says not to think of a purple elephant; you just can’t help yourself.  I’m sad for the girl, but really, we knew Tyler would turn at some point and at least we didn’t lose Matt in the process.

So…Jeremy Gilbert.  WOW.  As my friends can attest, I’ve always been a Jeremy fan, and I’ve taken a lot of crap for it because he’s “supposed to be 16” and “it’s creepy”.  Well, if everyone still feels that way after last night, you’re just wrong.  I’m usually a fan of casual wear over formal, but he should really suit up more often.  On top of all of that, he was completely adorable, yet confident, while flirting with his sister’s best friend.  I think we can say goodbye to sad, weak emo Jeremy once and for all.

The two of them definitely had great chemistry, and I loved Bonnie asking him when he got his driver’s license and him telling her “I’m not a kid anymore”.  I think it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing a romance between them pretty soon.  Last week, I would have never imagined this pairing, and after tonight, I’m 100% behind it.  Bonnie has proven herself to be awesome again (and she actually smiled a few times!) and the two of them together are really, really cute.

So that’s pretty much it, but I did have a few stray observations/questions:

• Elena’s “I need to feel safe” speech seemed genuine and heartfelt, but it would have had more impact if we hadn’t heard the same thing from her dozens of times last season.  Will this be the time it sticks?

• The way the cast was dropping d-bombs, it seemed like the writers had recently received network clearance to use the word “dick” on the show.  It reminded me of Supernatural and the Winchester boys’ habit of obsessively using certain curse words in each episode, which made me giggle.

• So, they called the sheriff and Amy’s friend’s parents when the girl died, but aren’t Amy’s parents going to notice that their daughter didn’t return from the party either?  You’d think that would seem awfully suspicious given that her best friend died the same night.  Will that be forgotten, or will it come up later?

• Why did Damon leave the stone in the tomb with Katherine?  That seemed like a boneheaded move.  A certain friend of theirs could really use it right about now…

• We absolutely need a flashback scene of Stefan and Lexi rocking out at a Bon Jovi concert circa 1987.  That’s just a given.  I’ve been dying for flashbacks to more contemporary times, and I think this would be an excellent place to start, don’t you?

So what did you think of the episode?  How do you feel about a potential Jeremy/Bonnie hookup?  Any idea what the hell Katherine wants with that moonstone?  What is “The Doppelganger”? And who was the man in the creepy mask?  Head to the comments to discuss!

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