THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: Haunted

I know it was only one week without The Vampire Diaries, but it was starting to feel like forever and I resorted to forcing my friend against her will to watch Lost Girls online with me, so needless to say, I was definitely ready for this episode. Plus, I love Halloween episodes of TV shows.

I’ve heard people describing this one as “the best one yet” and I liked it, but I’m not so sure I’d go that far. I think I got more sheer enjoyment and shock out of Lost Girls (even if it was disappointingly light on the Caroline, as was this one), but I had some issues with Haunted. For me, the best part of the show didn’t come until right at the end (that’s what she said), but we’ll get to that.

First of all, it cannot be said enough that Katerina Graham (Bonnie) seems like a lovely girl—she’s beautiful, and she is INCREDIBLE at interacting with fans on a level that is at minimum on par with how much The Office actors embraced fans in the early years. On a personal level, I think she’s bomb. However. Her storyline is boring the CRAP out of me. I’m going to need less talking, and more action. And hanging out with your grandma isn’t exactly what I’m picturing here, and similarly, lighting candles at a party with your mind does not constitute “action”. Lighting the mean girl’s car on fire? THAT is action—more of that, please. And there was that one good scene with Damon, although any scene with Damon is pretty okay by me. But I did love the shocked looks they gave each other, and I’m excited to see where that goes. I just hope the payoff is worth this very slow build with her.

Next up, I was kind of bummed that they killed Vicki so soon. I really liked her character, and I was excited to see her as a vampire, and even if they were going to go there eventually, I just wanted more, ya know? And I’m hoping that killing her now serves a greater purpose in the story, because I was really down with the idea of Damon pinning the vampire stuff on her, but I don’t know how they’re going to do that now, unless he gets super tricky. I just don’t want it to have been a waste—if we’re going to lose a character I like as much as Vicki, I want it to be for an awesome story reason.

And you know, I think I just realized something else—the pacing of this show is weird. Like some things go painfully slow, like Bonnie, but other things go at a breakneck speed, like Vicki (hilarious pun not intended, yet awesome!), or like Stefan and Elena’s relationship. So far, I think this show has managed to stay surprising, which is great because it’s treading in really familiar territory. But I worry that they can keep up this pace as time goes on (and let’s face it, TVD will TOTALLY get a second season, bare minimum). It’s okay to draw certain things out a little longer for the good of the overall narrative.

Uh oh. I just realized as I go on that I may have had more issues with this episode than things I liked. It’s SO weird, I have no idea how I can have so many gripes and yet walk away feeling like I enjoyed it. But I did.

Anyway, I’ve mentioned before some of my problems with Smallville re: Clark and kryptonite and that I hoped TVD wouldn’t fall into some of the same traps of inconsistent powers and weaknesses for plot convenience, but this week was really full of them and they were really hard to ignore. For starters, with all of Stefan’s concerns about Elena’s safety, would he REALLY leave the two of them alone together, what with Vicki’s human blood cravings? Doubt it. And don’t vampires have crazy super hearing? Vicki was just yelling last week about turning all the talking off. And WHEN did Stefan become the slowest freaking vampire in the history of the universe? All of this results in Vicki being able to choke and threaten Elena in Stefan’s house (really, he wasn’t listening in for any Vicki shadiness?) AND in Vicki being able to beat up on Elena, complete with Elena screaming, and Vicki still has time to go over and sink her teeth in? Are you kidding me? Stefan, with as slow as you were moving this episode, you couldn’t have been more than two school buses away, and for crying out loud, my grandma could’ve gotten there faster than that. And also, when Damon teaches Vicki how to be fast (Vicki Bobby? Anyone? “I wanna go fast!” Okay, I’ll stop.), it just doesn’t make any sense how the vamps can lose track of each other. I always thought that in vampire (and superhero, for that matter) world, when you could go as fast as the other person, you were able to track their movements, even if normal people couldn’t. I have tried every possible way to fanwank this one, and the best that I can come up with is that maybe Vicki is stronger than Stefan (a 145-year-old vampire) right now because she’s had some human blood. But that theory falls apart because then how would DAMON lose her? Unless he was faking it, in which case, that wasn’t really communicated so I don’t know.

Okay, last thing, I SWEAR, and then we’ll get on to the good stuff. I’m worried that having Damon wipe Jeremy’s memory was a bad creative choice and a really easy plot contrivance. I’m willing to reserve judgment until I see how it plays out, but … I don’t know. On the one hand, I’m kind of ready for something other than moody-broody Jeremy, but on the other hand, I really liked how True Blood handled Jason dealing with Amy’s murder, and I would argue that he was still going through that for the entire second season, or at least still feeling repercussions. Here, you get off easy on writing to grief, and I get that—it may be a little heavy for a teenage vampire drama, but you also miss some of the rich possibilities of the consequences. Although maybe those will get explored more with Matt. But I’ll be curious to see how where they take that.

Okay, so I promised we’d get on with the good and we’re so going to, because there was plenty of that too. I LOVE Halloween episodes—there’s something really fun about seeing your favorite characters in costume that I can’t really explain. I guess it’s fun like seeing your friends in costume, except that characters have better hair and makeup people, and TOTALLY better budgets. And did anyone else find themselves unexpectedly girly about Elena and Matt showing up in their couple costume from last year? I think it was mostly just that it’s been a couple episodes since Elena was really smiley, and I just prefer her that way.

Also, Jeremy telling Vicki that he was so worried about her was SO HOT. So hot. First of all, could this boy GET any cuter? And secondly, when he eventually has another love interest, he’s going to totally be able to pull it off.

You guys, I started to swing toward Team Damon this episode. Don’t worry, I’m totally fickle and could hop back to Team Stefan or Team 50/50 at any point, but Damon has been REALLY doing it for me. He’s just a great character, and he has so much intensity, which I love. And how cool he keeps it on the surface makes the moments when you see it really meaningful (and in that regard, he reminds me a lot of Eric on True Blood). When he started to get angry at Elena while they were standing over Vicki’s corpse, I really felt like there was a little unpredictability about what he might do, since we so rarely see him start to lose it.

Another thing I’m loving about Damon and Elena right now is that just as Stefan no longer hides who he is or what he can do from Elena, Damon really doesn’t either—it’s just that he doesn’t try to hide the scary side of that. I find it interesting that Damon never had the “don’t tell anyone” conversation with Elena—he just knows that she won’t, for various reasons. I think he either really understands her, or is just one of those people who has a really clear grasp on what motivates people. Also, I think Ian Somerhalder REALLY understands this character, and it shows in the way he plays it.

But the entire scene on the porch was amazing, really. I was loving Elena and Stefan’s conversation about how she wished it wasn’t that way and how she was tired of feeling bad, but that she also didn’t want to forget about Stefan and that she’d ever met him and how he made her feel. All of that rang very true, and I think it’s a feeling that almost everyone can relate to at some point or another in their lives. The look that Stefan was giving her too, as always, was just perfect (which is why I’m totally Team 50/50, and do you see why I said I’m fickle—I switched again before I even finished writing this). And I loved seeing him almost crack when he was talking about having to kill Vicki. I think that this episode made the point, clearer than any of the ones before, that Stefan is dangerous, and while he doesn’t like to kill, he has before and will if he needs to, and if Elena’s life is in danger, he needs to.

And I really liked Damon appearing out of the bushes, not only because it was a rare moment of sincerity and caring from him, but also because of the things that it implies—that he also is watching Elena, and I think in a benevolent way (an assumption I make based on him watching her sleep), and that he wants to be the person who comes in and saves the day, and gives her what she wants. I mean honestly … I’m back on Team Damon. FICKLE! But seriously—I know the attraction is there with Stefan and Elena and I even know that he’s the better guy. But Damon? THAT is passion. And I don’t mean just the lusty romance kind. I mean like, in general, just as a person, passionate. And I’ve always found that completely … well, compelling.

And there you go—I think that’s why I can walk away from this episode feeling like it was satisfying and I enjoyed it. The porch scene was just really well done.

How about everyone else? Like, love, or hate? What was your favorite part, or what did you have issues with? Were you happy or sad to see Vicki go? How are you feeling about Bonnie? And most importantly … Team Stefan or Team Damon? Chat it up in the comments!

SB loves recapping, vampires, hotness, and recapping vampire hotness. She can also be found writing for her own blog, www.offcolortv.com.