The Vampire Diaries 2.01
Sep. 13th, 2010 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bennet_7There is a quote from Terry Pratchett's Men At Arms that perfectly explains why Stefan is ten times more dangerous than Damon, despite by the good guy.
We saw a bit of that in the season two premiere which was, by the by, completely freaking awesome.
Who could have seen Caroline being turned? Nobody. The past few months there has been speculation over whether Jeremy would become a vampire and whether Caroline would live. As I said in a comment to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spadada, I was actually a bit annoyed when, half-way through the episode, it looked like none of those expected losses occurred because it seemed liked the writers chickened out of really changing the game. But this way they got to have their cake (suspense over the break) and eat it to (have a really shocking development, which, lets face it, if Jeremy had been vamped or Caroline had died, it wouldn't have been).
Very well played, writers. Very well played.
To get back to Stefan and his badassness, this isn't the first time we've seen him be as cool as a cucumber when it comes to shutting down threats. During the 50s dance, he staked that other vamp with no qualms in order to protect Elena and threatened John in the same direct manner for that reason as well. I think that, at the moment, he is prepared and capable of killing Katherine if she threatens the lives of others, but we'll see how stands in a couple of episodes.
But the reason why I think Stefan is "good" and Damon is bad/evil, is that any killing that Damon does is motivated out of self-interest and selfishness. He felt powerless and unwanted so he killed Jeremy (he got better). With Stefan its about protection, with Damon its about power.
(Of course there were a few instances were Damon killed out of protection towards the end of the last season. But it's not his first instinct and he hasn't stuck with it.)
Other thoughts:
- Somerhalder needs to be less campy in his performance, because juxtaposed with Wesley's more quiet menace he's going to look ridiculous. Also, the show itself is just getting darker.
- Yay for Bonnie threatening to kill people with her mind! Strong women with strong powers FTW. I know that part of the fandom, even some of my flisters, wouldn't be opposed to Bonnie and Damon hooking up but I'd be really disappointed if that happened. Just because he's hot, doesn't mean you should give up your values, kids! Especially if one of your values is 'Abuse is bad' and he abused your friend.
- Dobrev was really good playing both roles. Really, I think this is one of the few teen-aimed shows where there isn't an acting weak link (see Barton, Mischa and Dunn, Teddy).
- I think Katherine as Elena is going to cause trouble with Matt. Eek! NOT MATT! HE'S THE SARACEN ON THIS SHOW!
- Jenna has to be told about the vamps. Really. She just has to be. There is an evil doppelganger of her niece walking around town.
- I didn't mention this in my previous post but I meant to: having watched David Anders on Alias back in the day and heard his nearly perfect English accent, I now find it weird to hear him speak with an American one, despite him actually being American.
Damn. I miss Sark.
If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat. They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar.
So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word.
We saw a bit of that in the season two premiere which was, by the by, completely freaking awesome.
Who could have seen Caroline being turned? Nobody. The past few months there has been speculation over whether Jeremy would become a vampire and whether Caroline would live. As I said in a comment to
spadada, I was actually a bit annoyed when, half-way through the episode, it looked like none of those expected losses occurred because it seemed liked the writers chickened out of really changing the game. But this way they got to have their cake (suspense over the break) and eat it to (have a really shocking development, which, lets face it, if Jeremy had been vamped or Caroline had died, it wouldn't have been). Very well played, writers. Very well played.
To get back to Stefan and his badassness, this isn't the first time we've seen him be as cool as a cucumber when it comes to shutting down threats. During the 50s dance, he staked that other vamp with no qualms in order to protect Elena and threatened John in the same direct manner for that reason as well. I think that, at the moment, he is prepared and capable of killing Katherine if she threatens the lives of others, but we'll see how stands in a couple of episodes.
But the reason why I think Stefan is "good" and Damon is bad/evil, is that any killing that Damon does is motivated out of self-interest and selfishness. He felt powerless and unwanted so he killed Jeremy (he got better). With Stefan its about protection, with Damon its about power.
(Of course there were a few instances were Damon killed out of protection towards the end of the last season. But it's not his first instinct and he hasn't stuck with it.)
Other thoughts:
- Somerhalder needs to be less campy in his performance, because juxtaposed with Wesley's more quiet menace he's going to look ridiculous. Also, the show itself is just getting darker.
- Yay for Bonnie threatening to kill people with her mind! Strong women with strong powers FTW. I know that part of the fandom, even some of my flisters, wouldn't be opposed to Bonnie and Damon hooking up but I'd be really disappointed if that happened. Just because he's hot, doesn't mean you should give up your values, kids! Especially if one of your values is 'Abuse is bad' and he abused your friend.
- Dobrev was really good playing both roles. Really, I think this is one of the few teen-aimed shows where there isn't an acting weak link (see Barton, Mischa and Dunn, Teddy).
- I think Katherine as Elena is going to cause trouble with Matt. Eek! NOT MATT! HE'S THE SARACEN ON THIS SHOW!
- Jenna has to be told about the vamps. Really. She just has to be. There is an evil doppelganger of her niece walking around town.
- I didn't mention this in my previous post but I meant to: having watched David Anders on Alias back in the day and heard his nearly perfect English accent, I now find it weird to hear him speak with an American one, despite him actually being American.
Damn. I miss Sark.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-13 10:17 pm (UTC)I WILL BE V DISAPPOINTED IF SHE DOESN'T. :) More generally, it's a lot of fun watching Katherine fool other characters now that the viewers know what's going on. I mean, I can see that it wouldn't really be practical for Stefan, Damon and Elena to stay in the dark, but I was still a little bit disappointed every time another character found out about the doppelganger in this episode.
The past few months there has been speculation over whether Jeremy would become a vampire and whether Caroline would live.
Okay, I never even noticed this switcheroo. That is really neat.
Yay for Bonnie threatening to kill people with her mind! Strong women with strong powers FTW.
Yes! I had a quick look at the TWoP forum for this show and there seemed to be a lot of people complaining about Bonnie after this episode, but she is my fave. I hope she gets a good storyline this season. And while I completely understand your objections to a Bonnie/Damon hook-up, I would love to see it. I'm not expecting to see it, because he's already serious about Elena and Katherine, so any other hook-ups will likely be casual flings, and it's difficult to imagine Bonnie having a casual fling with him, you know?! Given her opinion of Damon, she'd have to hate herself or something, and I'd rather they didn't send her in that direction. I'll be pleased if they just get lots of scenes together.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-14 09:03 am (UTC)Then again, if he did properly redeem himself then I'd be more open to Bonnie/Damon than Elena/Damon. But redemption is key! None of this killing family members of girls you like, Damon! That is not the 21st version of pulling their hair and calling them "carrots"!
I hate how many people on TWoP are calling Bonnie "smug". Women just aren't allowed to be confident and powerful it seems.