VD: Episode 212: The Descent

The Vampire Diaries

It’s been far too long since we have been blessed with a new episode of one of the best shows on television.  After five weeks of waiting, I was very eager to sit down and watch The Vampire Diaries on Thursday night, only to find out, much to my dismay that Access decided to air American Idol instead.  Fortunately, I was able to find a copy and watch it Friday night instead.  Episode 12 of season two brought me an hour of new twists, plot turns, and action.  Though it was void of witches, originals, Jeremy, and our favourite entombed-vampire, it provided plenty of other things to keep my mind buzzing. 

The episode starts out actually quite terrifying and disturbing.  Jules proves herself to be quite a dark character.  Not only does she kill while a werewolf, but she also kills in human-form when trying to cover up the illicit consequences of the full moon.  It’s possible this is one of the most graphic scenes to date for the show.  Sure we’ve seen dead bodies, throats being torn out, heads knocked off, and hearts ripped out, but never this many mutilated corpses at once.  I think it’s safe to say that Jules will be bringing a lot of trouble to our friends in Mystic Falls.

Next we receive a complete contrast in the form of a sweet interaction between Stefan and Elena.  Elena of season two proves she has grown completely comfortable with her vampire boyfriend and his supernatural tricks by being one step ahead of Stefan and his pick-a-boo game.  We get to enjoy a half-naked Stefan while the two of them share some affection.  It’s been so long since these two have gotten to enjoy anything normal as a couple, and this scene felt very real.  This is how a real couple would actually act, especially after just getting back together.  We’ll have to wait and see how long it will last this time.   Regardless, Stefan is not comfortable with the Elijah arrangement and has plans of finding more information about Klaus.  He admits that he really doesn’t know what an original really means or what it implies.  He is going to listen to Katherine’s advice (always a risky move), ignore Elena’s pleas, and try to find Isobel.  She was most definitely an interesting character; I would not mind seeing her come back.  I have to admit I am more than grateful for her release of Alaric’s heart back in season one.  We’re not sure at this point if Isobel will be gracing our screens anytime soon, but Uncle John will be.  This will sure provoke some interesting reactions from Elena, Jenna, and Damon.  I personally am glad to see him.  He is one of those characters you just love to hate.

We should focus on the real question of the episode: Does a wolf bite kill a vampire? As Rose points out, she has had more than her fair share of time on earth.  Damon is trying to say all the right things and provide what little comfort and comic relief he can for Rose.  He also, as per his nature, needs to wreak some havoc on the wolf visitor.  He quickly passes off nurse-duties to Elena as he claims she is a “do-gooder”.  We lucky viewers get a peek at the show’s new set: Damon’s bedroom.  It stays within the style of the Salvatore home, but still manages to provide a contrast to Stefan’s room.  Everything in the room feels a bit oversized; the custom-made bed seems to have enough space for an entire sorority.  Elena has a point; I would have expected silk sheets too. 
                Rose points out that Elena is giving up by taking this deal with Elijah.  She compares it to her own situation by claiming running was a better option.  I’m not sure Elena has much choice if she wants to keep everyone else she cares about safe.  Rose said herself she just spent her time existing, not living.  Elena should take advantage of this time and live her life.  She only has a couple of years left to be a teenager.  She has lost enough of her youth already with her parents dying. 
                Things get very terrifying for poor Elena when Rose’s dementia kicks in.  Elena is very lucky Rose didn’t break her spine when she threw her into the wall, thinking she was Katherine.  I’m not sure if Elena calls Damon or Stefan to come home, but she should have kept making phone calls.  She could have even called Alaric, Caroline, or Bonnie.  We know Alaric has a few tricks up his sleeve, which it’s been way to long since we’ve seen him use any of them; even though Caroline is much younger than Rose, she still could have proven to be useful; or Bonnie could have used her brain aneurism trick if necessary.  Unfortunately, Elena is too brave or too optimistic or both and she decides to go search for Rose on her own, finding her gorging on blood and in a state.  Kudos to Elena for her fast thinking by opening the curtains and clawing Rose’s infected wolf bite.  The courageous Elena waits until nightfall to go on another search for the rabid Rose.  Damon chooses this moment to come home.  I have no idea how Elena keeps it together.  She’s obviously terrified, but I personally would be bawling at this point.  At least it is nice to see Elena is over hating Damon and their friendship is back on.  I don’t want them to hate each other again.
                The two of them manage to collect Rose after she’s caused quite a bit of damage at yet another school festival.  Damon manages to calm her down and take a nap, where he slips into her dream.  Rose looks beautiful as a fresh faced human back home in England, five hundred years ago.  Here lies the tragic ending for Rose.  It was a nice to see Rose go this way, as opposed to being staked during an attack on Elena or Damon.  It was hard to watch the pain and guilt Damon felt for having to end things for her.  He has taken large strides since dealing with Caroline being turned.  He wasn’t even going to blink an eye when he was going to stake Caroline, but he felt true pain in having to end Rose’s life. 

Focusing on the side storyline, we get to enjoy another love triangle that includes Caroline, Matt, and Tyler.  The writers of the show have done an exemplary job with Caroline’s character this season.  She is quickly becoming my favourite character on the show.  I was a little shocked to find out this was the day after the full moon.  Tyler looks great considering what he endured the night before.  The support from Caroline must have really provided him with some inner strength.  The first scene between these two this episode was absolutely adorable.  The sparks are just flying between the two of them, and this is the first time I’ve felt this from them in a flirty manner.  This is the first time I think either of them has had a thought beyond friendship too.  Caroline is most definitely enjoying that kiss from Tyler even though she stops it.  The question is whether Tyler knows what he wants at this point.  He may just be turning to her because he has nobody else in the world he can be honest with right now.

The sparks also fly, as they always have, between Caroline and Matt.  I bet he is royally confused by Caroline’s actions.  I don’t know how she’s going to be able to explain this one to him.  I’m sure she won’t be able to avoid him forever.  Maybe the writer’s will see it fit to include him in the supernatural world.  I bet he would not respond too well to finding out his ex-girlfriend is a vampire who has fed on him in the past, his best friend is a werewolf and his actions helped trigger the curse, his other ex-girlfriend is a doppelganger who may or may not become a human sacrifice, and his sister was also a vampire that was turned and killed by two other local vampires.  That would be a lot for anyone to take in.    It would probably be best to keep him in the dark. 
                It is a very difficult choice between Tyler and Matt; any girl would be lucky to have the opportunity.  We know that Matt and Caroline work together.  Matt is an absolute beautiful person inside and out.  He has also taken more than his fair share of downs and deserves someone good, solid, and consistent in his life.  As wonderful as Caroline is, she may not be that person for Matt.  She could never really be honest with him, and she also may be too consistent (she’ll never age!).  A werewolf and a vampire on the other hand could be a very exciting match.  They could rely on each other and live their double lives together.  There is that one little problem that Tyler could kill Caroline with one single bite.  Tyler may not want anything to do with her after his conversation with Jules.  She has definitely opened a can of worms for these two.  He most likely won’t just brush off the fact that Caroline has been withholding a great deal of information and may have been involved in Mason’s murder.  It looks like Tyler will be having a lot of involvement in the goings on in Mystic Falls.  Things should get interesting for the neighbourhood vamps when an entire pack of wolves come to town.  Is it wrong to hope they are as good looking as Mason?

Finally, we are left off with a most disturbing scene involving a very on-edge Damon.  I’m not even sure what to think of this.  It did feel a little bit out of place.  It took me awhile to be sure it was actually him.  I suppose he usually turns to drinking when he is really upset, and right now he is riddled with guilt.  He also admits the one thing that has been eating him from the inside out: he misses being human.  Being Damon, he also does something really stupid when he’s upset.  We’ll have to wait until next episode to find out if Jessica is dead or not and whether Damon is going down another path of self-destruction. 

Most Touching Scene:

Damon helps Rose not to be afraid anymore before he has to do the inevitable: end her life.

Cutest Moment:

Caroline tells everybody they need to stop kissing her.

Points to Ponder:

·         How did Damon spend the rest of his day?  He left Rose and Elena probably around early afternoon, arranged with Alaric to scout out Jules, had maybe a five minute conversation with her, and some how did not manage to get back to the Salvatore house until after dark. 

·         When Jules mentioned the dementia, I’m surprised Damon did not rush back or at least call Elena to make sure she was okay.  Generally, she is the number one priority.

·         Stefan is working on building a vervain tolerance, but is he still drinking human blood? Does he still makes use of his forest friends or if he is completely dependent on human blood?  Is it Elena’s blood?

·         When Elena and Damon have a quick exchange around the corner regarding Rose’s impending doom, should we assume either Rose heard the entire conversation or the bite is having an affect on her super vampire hearing?

·         Does Elena know that Bonnie’s witch friends are working for Elijah?  Does she know that the moonstone’s powers have not been destroyed?

·         Vampires don’t seem to suck blood for long from their prey.  Does that mean they use their super speedy vampire sucking power to suck the victim dry, or are they just wasteful?

·         I wonder what Sheriff Forbes thinks happened to her previous deputies, and how she managed to train up new ones so fast.

·         What is Elijah waiting for regarding his deal with Elena?  What is he trying to accomplish before he lures Klaus out?

Until next Thursday!

  

Off the Map: Pilot

Saved by the Great White Hope

The new series Off the Map brings an exciting cast to the small screen.  We have our three young doctors who have moved to South America to practice medicine: the emergency doctor, Dr. Lily Brenner, played by Caroline Dhavernas (Wonderfalls, Passchendale); our infectious disease expert, Dr. Mina Minard, portrayed by Mamie Gummer (The Good Wife, Meryl Streep’s daughter and spitting image); and Dr. Tommy Fuller, who is keen on plastics and played by Zach Gilford (Friday Night Lights).  Then there are the doctors who seem to run the place: the tall, dark and handsome Dr. Otis Cole, depicted by Jason George (Grey’s Anatomy, Sunset Beach); Cole’s potential beau, Dr. Zee (Zitajalehrena Alvarez), portrayed by Valerie Cruz (Dexter, Nip/Tuck, True Blood); and finally the one who founded the clinic, Dr. Ben Keeton, played by Martin Henderson (The Ring, Little Fish).  We know little about her at this point, but Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight) graced us with a few minutes of airtime as Dr. Ryan Clark. 

Source:areyouscreening.com

While the opening scene started the series with a little bit of cheese, it served the purposes of providing a beautiful ocean view, a glimpse into the potential excitement of the cases, and showed how fine Otis and Ben look without their shirts.  One has to wonder when the two of them find the time to keep in such good shape.  Next we get to see our team of doctors yank a sting ray out of a man’s foot.  I’m assuming the patient is the man that Otis and Ben cliff jumped to rescue in the scene prior.  Though the scene was exciting and cringe-worthy, it seemed questionable that only little Lily held the man down on the one side, and Otis, Mina, and Tommy held down his other.  It was no wonder he was able to knock her away.  Maybe some strategic planning in this situation would have prevented the need for punching the patient in the face.

The three newbie doctors get to branch into their own separate storylines:

Tommy, who seems like a bit of an idiot, goes on a house call for a family suffering from TB, and they are refusing treatment.  Here we are introduced to the character, Charlie (played by John Castellanos), who is the clinic’s 13-year-old translator.  He apparently has a lot more sense than the doctor he is translating for on this particular mission.  I have a feeling Charlie could turn into one of my favourites of the show.  Tommy makes a speech (why does there always has to be a speech?) about why he is the way he is, which only bumped a couple points in my ranking from negative 10.  This is how he convinces the family to make take the medication.  I was very relieved, but it’s really too bad it was already too late for the wife.  

Unfortunately for her, Mina gets to hang around at the clinic since she neglected to pack her trauma kit.  She is fairly entertaining when she over-examines the patient with tennis elbow, alas; it causes her to under-examine her asthma patient.  Later we discover that she overlooked a child’s symptoms back home, and the mistake turned out to be fatal.  This must contribute to the past she is trying to escape from.  Mina also seems to spend a little time with Otis, and at first I thought I could sense some chemistry.  Then I remembered he was supposed to be hooking up with Zee; could there be a triangle in the future?  I really like Zee though, so I hope it doesn’t get too out of hand if they do choose to go that route.  As for Mina pulling out Little Miss Attitude in telling Otis to “go to hell”, I could not imagine telling any co-worker/supervisor (not exactly sure of Otis’ rank) that on my first day of work!  I was also surprised to see him laugh it off.  Both of these characters seem like they have the capability of stirring the old pot of drama for the series.  

Finally, we followed Lily on her adventure with Ben.  They had to rescue the entangled man from the zip line.  First off, how could that even happen?  Actually wait, I don’t want to know.  Lily showed lots of courage being able to stay calm and do what needs to be done however many feet in the air with a horrified man.  Later we learn he was travelling to spread his wife’s ashes.  Lily insists on allowing this man his closure, which Ben decides to allow even though the man needs to be transported.  Now, I think the gesture was very kind and touching for the man, I can’t help but think of all of those patients awaiting doctors back at the clinic while these guys row this man out.  Speaking of this lake, I will officially dub it as the most romantic destination on this earth.  Guys, if you ever want to impress a girl, take her there!  We also learn that the person Lily lost was her fiancé.  I think revealing this so early was a mistake on the writer’s part.  Allowing some time for speculation could have really added to the story.  

Thoughts for future episodes:

I apologize in advance for my Grey’s Anatomy comparisons.
I hope to see some strong friendships develop, comparable to Meredith and Christina of Greys.  We’ll probably see some of this from Lily and Mina.  Throwing Dr. Ryan Clark in this mix could be interesting too. 
I hope Tommy is eventually redeemed (but not too fast) like Alex of Greys.  Perhaps Tommy and Lily could have a similar relationship as Meredith and Alex: they understand each other and support each other, but never anything sexual. 
There is obviously something brewing between Ben and Lily, but it seems there may already be something with Ben and Ryan.  We’ll have to see where this goes.  Is Ben the McDreamy of the jungle?  If so, I can’t wait to see who is cast later as McSteamy; he’s always been my favourite.
Every show seems to need a triangle of some kind, so my current choice would be Mina, Otis, and Zee.  I could be way off though.  We’ll have to see what happens!