tvd review

November 8, 2018 — Leave a comment

Unnecessary Drama TVD 2×17 Review

I guess this could be the title of the show, but feel this is especially true with this episode because right from the jump things are dramatic and I don’t understand why starting with Jenna.  

Okay so since I haven’t been watching this consistently so I might have missed some context clues but rage and betrayal???? Rage and betrayal about what Jenna? Like, I understand being mad that they kept it from her but other than that am I missing something for this dramatic reaction to Isobel just saying hi. Have they been lying about something she knows about now to build up to this point, but even if so I don’t understand this dramatic reaction. Fundamentally I know why she’s being like this, the writers needed an excuse to send Jenna away. However with in the context of the plot it makes absolutely no sense and makes her seem childish in ways she’s not supposed to.   

And Elena, I guess I should be proud since she’s never seemed more like a teenager than now, but blaming John for this. What even logic? Does she remember the argument she had a few episodes ago with Stefan about getting Isobel and they ended up with John TO GET TO ISOBEL. Looks like you’re boyfriend’s plan worked. Now I’m not advocating that she be mad at Stefan but you want to be irrationally mad why not direct it at the right person. All John has done since getting to town is protect his daughter which frustrated me whenever she’d tell him “not after everything you’ve done” WHAT HAS HE DONE? Someone sincerely answer that question because I’m drawing a blank. It’s crap like this that fuels the mentality this fandom has of “you’re mean to my favorite character so your a bad person” because if Elena, the character the writers are so keen on me caring about, does this why would the fandom be better. So he tried to kill Stefan and Damon, his logic of protecting Elena still stands since they haven’t really done anything worthy of “I’m different” in terms of vampires. 

Also, you know the more I rewatch this the more and more sympathetic I am towards John, and he seems more and more sincere. While I didn’t hate him in my first watch I was always suspicious of him and that’s because the characters of the show build this suspicion around him. Now knowing his endgame as a character I don’t buy into this suspicion anymore because he has always been honest and sincere about his motives as character and they never involve harming other people. He spent his who existence on making sure his daughter had a good life, he wasn’t about to let two vampires she “loved” ruin that. Granted not all teenagers are clueless and not all adults are always right, but in this instance teenage girl is clueless and needs to listen to the actual adults. 

I’ve never really realized how little I care about Alaric and Jenna as a couple until episodes like these. He really never seems like he cares about her that much until he’s about to lose her which is a red flag in my book. And I guess that makes sense since there was really nothing to hold the ship together, it was just “you’re attractive” and “you’re attractive” and nothing went beyond that. They never had a deep connection and it shows in moments like these where he doesn’t care about her unless he’s about to lose her. 

Ford product placement. I know I sound like the CinemaSins guy but they are really not subtle about this. It doesn’t actually surprise me much since when I used to watch it weekly back in the day I remember them doing this often especially with songs but it was always with the car. Before it was Bonnie’s Prius other than that I don’t remember what the car was I just remember “hey this is a great song” and then the network notified you what the song was playing. Product Placement! With this episode in particular it really bothered me with how they shot it because it pans to the rear of the car, shows the license plate, then like shows her in the car, and they make it seem really eerie like she’s about to get run into, or someone is watching her but neither are happening it’s just Ford product placement. It was like, thank you for this unnecessary scene and this unnecessary shot to please your sponsors.  

For all of Carol Lockwood’s failings I’ll give her this: she notices when her kid is it’s missing which is more than I can say for most of the adult characters here. Did Jenna really even notice when they sent Jeremy away? I don’t recall the Sheriff being all that interested in where Caroline was for those days she was with Damon? I guess she wasn’t gone because they hid out at her place but seriously how didn’t she notice anything going on with her daughter then? And Jenna literally ups and leaves when she feels like it.  It’s what made her death actually sad—her love for her son which I’m glad for since TVD does such a bad job with familial bonds, but she is the only character besides John to seem like an actual parent. 

I still don’t understand why Jeremy is there. Like I always knew he was third wheeling it on their plans every time I guess it was nice it was always about Bonnie but other than that I was like, dude you have no function, what are you doing here? I mean I guess Damon doesn’t really need to be there, actually no, scratch that, he was needed to find the place and then after that he leaves which is what Jeremy should have of done.  

Which idiot hid the moonstone? I bet it was Damon, but I don’t understand why he has it when Lucy gave it to Bonnie. Like I said I haven’t been watching consistent enough, the episode this occurs I watched over a year ago but I don’t remember Bonnie giving Damon or any Salvatore the moonstone. And can we talk about how lame the name is “moonstone” it gets more and more ridiculous the more everyone says it. It sounds like something written by a child. But serious I get he was going for “in plain sight” but the bathroom which is frequented by many people including one you let in who you don’t trust. Y’all shoulda left that with Bonnie who could at least seal it in a place with magic.   

Why are Bonnie and the Bennett’s the only one to be put through pain, like they’re the only ones to have horrific deaths, and even worse, why do her ancestors insist on putting her through more pain?  

I thought it couldn’t get more cringe worthy than when Damon was essentially reciting his lines earlier about trying to save Emily, but dear lord Matt. He doe not do anger well, he looks like someone told him, now, be mad, and gave the director the best he could muster up which isn’t great. But he did better with the deception, even though I knew where it was going I doubted myself for a moment and thought maybe he was sincere. And his conversation about Caroiline with her mother saying “I think she died” while was actually very touching also just reminded me of the many times Bonnie died and it’s never confronted but Caroline, who I’ve noted on many occasions is barely relevant to the plot, has this confronted multiple times and she only died once. Just saying–this blatant favoritism toward Caroline that tends to always result in Bonnie being treated less than human gets on my nerves so much I can’t even enjoy what would otherwise be a great scene.    

I’ve seen a weird amount of hate for Isobel which I find weird. Not because she’s a good character or anything, but because of how much of a blimp she is on anyone’s radar. Even her actions compared to the others are so small. There could have been a nuance to her character and to a degree it’s there because her motives were clearly protect Elena, but beyond that she was always kind of lackluster. Also added with Nina’s acting, or lack there of, when she dies in front of her just makes me even more confused as to why anyone cared enough to hate her. Even when Elena is saying she’s sad I can barely believe it because well Nina doesn’t sound sad when she’s saying those line, she just sounds like she always does which is why always found it hard to empathize with her in the beginning of the show. The only reason I knew she was sad about her parent death was because she said it, there was nothing that really emoted this feeling. If she can barely muster up feelings of grief how am I supposed to even sympathize about it. That just distanced me from feeling like they were real people that were in her life, and just made them random fictional characters to add a tragic backstory. It’s really no wonder why I never really cared about Elena from the start.

“If you use to much power you die,” how doesn’t anyone else already know this? That’s literally what killed her Grams which brings me to Bonnie, she always knew this, saw it happen, but why is she so keen repeating history. If she truly believes her powers are meant for more then she should probably know that they were meant for more than saving Elena’s life. But of course this is The Elena Diaries so that’s never going to happen. Instead we’re going to have Bonnie’s mother risk her life and leave her daughter all to protect Elena, because that makes a lick of sense. 

Bonnie their secret weapon, nothing has ever been more cringe worthy. Seriously watching Damon and Stefan discuss Bonnie like she’s an object they possess has never sat well with me. This is again one of those moments where I can’t get on board with Stefan as a character because he isn’t better, he’s just better than Damon and in this moment he’s proving to be the exact same as Damon if not worse because he’s the first to note this–he was the one to look back at the situation and point her out as their object leading the conversation there.

Klaus in Alaric’s body, you know I always felt he did possession bad especially in season 3, he just seemed like a creep and not in the way he was supposed to, but here he did an exceptional job. I almost wish Joseph Morgan had taken more cues from his portrayal because he managed to get the “ancient being” in his voice and mannerisms better. It’s like with JM they just told him “be British and use Shakespearean English” and called it a day. I’m not saying I didn’t like JM version of Klaus, but it’s clear where they started going wrong with this character. With the way Alaric is portraying him he is the most intimidating he’s ever been and that’s because everything built around him is actually living up to the hype. The show later just paints him as a whiny man with daddy issues and no real goals because trust me his plans get ridiculous after that and they dropped pretty much everything about Klaus from season 2. I probably would have enjoyed Klaus more if he had stayed this version, or at the very least did something worth while because I think we can all agree that the hybrid subplot was just a complete mess and pretty much marks when Plec took over as show runner because she has never been able to see the full picture. She just writes as she goes and hopes they connect at some point. psss, they never do.

Overall the episode was frustrating, but every episode is which is why I have to have at least two drinks before watching. Which I honestly don’t know why I do. I got drunk for the finale and that didn’t make anything seem even the slightest bet better, so why would it now. However in my defense, the finale is a complete incomprehensible mess so nothing was going to make it better in the first place.

October 11, 2018 — Leave a comment

I’m only on 2×16 😭😭😭 I thought I was farther. Why am I enduring this show why don’t I quit while I’m ahead

So, the episode is off to a great start with the very tedious “is it Katherine or Elena?” scene that’s taking more time than I felt like watching because by this point it’s gotten old. I will note that Damon was better at spotting which was the real Katherine which while most would say is a point in Delena’s favor, I think speaks more to the fact that Katherine fucks with Damon the most, and while he is really dumb a lot he is finally catching on and by the end of the episode he’s definitely caught on.

With Elijah’s compulsion on Katherine being erased, this episode made me think about Stefan in season 8 and the whole compulsion erasing when they turned human and all of the discourse around it and a) it actually makes sense given that compulsion goes away when they die and the cure “kills” them for a bit before bringing them back, b) they should have done this with Katherine, it would have been epic, and c) I’m tired of this “Stefan is the only one to face consequences” mentality because unlike some characters (i.e Bonnie and Tyler) he’s facing the consequences of HIS OWN ACTIONS. The issue isn’t that Stefan should have the same consequences as Damon (i.e none), but rather Damon and everyone should have to face THEIR OWN CONSEQUENCES. This is what’s always annoyed me about this fandom, Damon’s free pass doesn’t equate everyone’s free pass, but rather Damon’s free pass equates TAKING AWAY HIS FREE PASS along with everyone else’s because there needs to be consequences to everyone’s actions and they shouldn’t be paid for by the POC’s of the show.

It’s only the first 2 minutes of the episode and I’m already so annoyed with everyone especially the world’s most boring protagonist, Elena Gilbert. Yes sweetie, telling Katherine to leave worked the first time so it’ll definitely work this *insert sarcasm*. God, she’s a whiny bitch. Now I’m not really going to condemn her for wanting Katherine gone, if I were her I would want her gone too, what’s pissing me off is the level of entitlement she has ordering Stefan or Damon to get rid of her and the whiny voice isn’t helping.If you want her gone you should probably do more than whine about it. But of course she Elena, so what can she do about it other than whine which makes the “I can take care of myself” mentality she had this season all the more annoying because she can’t–she can do absolutely fuck all so where is this confidence coming from. I honestly thnk sometimes she suffers from delusions of grandeur. 

And another annoying thng this episode and now I’m at leats 7 minutes in. Katherine’s around so we must get Bonnie’s powers asap to stop Katherine, not because they’re apart of her or her identity and she needs them for her 🙄. Although I was happy when she got her powers back, but didn’t tell anyone. Why didn’t it stay that way? She could have died 0 times had she done that, and I mean that because 2 episodes later is when she first dies for Elena.

Oh and then after that scene, secret Beremy, what a way to turn down the heat which wasn’t that high to begin with, but seriously, they have like no chemistry. And oh the cringe while Bonnie asks permission to date Jeremy. I sometimes think she hid it for so long because she felt the cringe from their relationship–giving herself an out. 

I feel so so bad for the Martin family that they’re related to Greta, someone who not only left voluntarily but didn’t even bat an eyelash when her whole family was killed. It’s almost as bad as being related to Elena, at least Greta didn’t fuck the guy who murdered her family. “You can trust us,” the phrase that gets every outsider who helps them killed, brutally, and in the same episode. RIP Doctor and Luka Martin. Although I guess this episode is a bit of an exception since not trusting is what got them killed but that’s equally as bad in TVD land because if you’re against the MFG you obviously deserve to be killed, and Jeremy even states that in the episode.  “I know you feel bad but I don’t,” the main staple of The Vampire Diaries where killing someone has no meaning, and neither does their death, and if you care about their death you’re whiny and judgey (reference every phrase directed at Bonnie and even Tyler when someone gets killed because of them).

It was really weird when Elena was talking to Jenna about her relationship with Alaric. Why wasn’t she more alarmed that her adult boyfriend was talking to her teenage niece about their relationship problems. No red flags there??? Not a one???

So, Kat has a career singing, and has never once sang on the show. Candice has brief period of time singing professionally, as backup, and has sang twice, two more than anyone on a teenage vampire show should have. Also added with the fact that it’s always the cheesiest songs and her voice reminds me why she never made it that far past backup singer–this show amazes me with it’s logical leaps.

Finale note as I’m watching Elena’s last scene, Nina Dobrev isn’t that great of an actress, the only difference in the way she plays Katherine opposed to Elena is the hair. Otherwise she saunters the same, speaks the same, does everything else the same which would mean something if Katherine was pretending to be Elena, but most of this episode she isn’t. I also reminds me of season 5 when she was outraged that no one caught on to it not being Katherine. 1) Katherine has never had issue impersonating her believably, 2) Elena does a lot of the same shit Katherine does (especially that season) just under the guise of being the “nice” doppelganger so of course people let a lot of the shit she did while in her body slide–she was Elena after all, and 3) given how neglectful Elena had been since season 1 she wouldn’t have fared any better so I don’t understand that high horse she always be on–it ain’t cute.

Now off to 2×17 to figure out the logical leap from here to Bonnie sacrificing herself again for Elena after what happened with her Grams.  

August 14, 2018 — Leave a comment

TVD 2×13 Review: Getting annoyed again

I’m not going to quit just yet but it’s getting annoying. If I were to rename this episode I would call it “So Naive”. First with Caroline, then with Stefan, then with Elena, and then back to Caroline again. But before I get to that I would like to say I like that killing Mason is starting to blow up in their faces the icing on the cake would be that it gets brought to Damon which it never does because we know what show this is. I did like the confrontation between Tyler and Caroline and I like the development Tyler was showing by walking away when he was angry instead of hitting someone.

So back to the naivety of Caroline, she asks Stefan to talk to Tyler which I get the motivation, what I don’t get is a) why send Stefan, and b) what the fuck does she expect him to say that’ll convince him not to be angry about his uncle being murdered and everyone covering it up. That’s just stupid but the end of the episode kinda gives me the answer with her line, “you help your friends,” which I will get into why this annoys me later, but it all basically amounts to what I said in the 2×12 review which is that they don’t do family relationships well because they don’t find value in it which is a glaring issue.

Then there’s Stefan’s naivety. I get that he’s Stefan and willing to always help what I dont get is his approach which was a) very threatening and b) not empathetic at all which was both Caroline and Stefan’s issue from the jump when it came to Tyler. Caroline at least apologized but then immediately went to covering her ass more. All Stefan did was cover his, or more importantly, Damon’s ass, but what bothered me the most about it was he was quite apathetic throughout his whole encounter not to mention he basically trapped Tyler in a room with him.

Stefan is easily the better brother, but what this episode was showing me is that he wasn’t better by that much because he’s the one who is supposed to have more emotional maturity which he does in comparison to Damon, but there was no Damon for him contrast, so he seemed mostly self-centered and disinterested. All he did was tell Tyler to stay quiet while not answering a simgle one of Tyler’s questions which is almost a Damon move except he didn’t threaten or kill anyone. In any case I don’t understand what Stefan thought he could say to make it right especially with that approach. I also don’t understand how with Caroline or Stefan expected Tyler to listen to them when they haven’t explained shit to him and just keep telling him what to do, but I digress.

Then there’s Elena’s naivety which while annoyed me, annoyed me less because if there’s one thing she’s showed time and time again it’s that she doesn’t know any better, or better yet doesn’t want to know any better which is weirdly an argument for DE because he often suffers from the same syndrome.

I get that she’s wary of John, what’s annoying and naive about it is that she’s wary for all the wrong reasons which is basically an Elena trait. She’s mad at him for trying to kill Stefan and Damon in the season 1 finale which I get to a point but at the same time how does she not understand why he doesn’t give 2 flying fucks about Stefan and Damon, or why he thinks their dangerous and need to be killed. All they did in season 1 was get people killed or kill people, you’re the teenage girl who’s in love with them, so why would he take your opinion about them seriously in any sense when you ignore so much already. But again that’s Elena in a nutshell.

What she should be angry with him about is lying about being her father and that’s what the focus of their tension should be which it does come back around to by the end of the episode which I’m proud of them for BUT I know it goes mostly nowhere until the season finale when he dies for her (who is honestly the only person I have ever understood dying for her).

And on the John Gilbert note I don’t understand why no one trusts John to help save Elena, he’s the one with the most vested interest in her survival due to being her father which circles back to TVD and their lack if value in family relationships including the ones the emphasize so much like Defan, and Klaus and [insert sibling].

There’s this friends first mentality that doesn’t make sense because they don’t build up the friendships enough for such devotion. They try to build this “choose your family” dynamic that never hits home because they don’t seem like that good of friends. They make sure there’s absent parents and family, but don’t replace it with anything sufficient for a friendship bond so strong they’re like family. Also they continue to call each other friends which just brings home the fact that they friends not friends that are like family. The best you get is Bonnie saying she and Elena are like sisters which makes sense from Bonnie’s end as she treats her like a sister but not Elena because it’s never reciprocal. Bonnie’s always there for Elena, but Elena continues to always be absent when Bonnie’s going through something (or more like Bonnie is because that’s when she’s shoved off screen) or she make it about her problems and that’s something that’s been going on since the beginning.

This entire episode is a glaring example of this tone deaf approach with their “friends first” mentality. It was so bad that when Caroline is yelling at Tyler at the end of the episode I couldn’t muster up much sympathy because she said the wrong things and Caroline went through something that was worth sympathizing. It kinda reminded me of 4×06 when she’s just as tone deaf when she gets Chris killed. In her mind your supposed to help your friends no matter what, she doesn’t realize that there are more important things like trust–something she broke, in both instances, and didn’t bother to repair, in both instances, so she’s baffled as to why he’s wary of her. I think this episode made me realize that not only was Elena the exact same season 4-6, but so was Caroline–there is no character assassination they were always this dense. (It’s also making me wish there was Tonnie this season because Bonnie is a way more empathetic character.)

Anyway Bonnie comes back for exactly one scene that honestly could have been a deleted scene. It added nothing to the episode or Bonnie’s development. Seriously, this is her most deus ex machina season because she goes missing and then can do a whole slew of advanced spells and this episode is part of the reason why–because they don’t bother to show her magic improving she’s either missing or having meaningless interactions. It was probably there just to build Beremy which makes sense since that’s the only way characters have value in this show. At the same time they suck at developing romantic relationships especially this one. Also when she and Elena come to Caroline’s to cheer her up I couldn’t help but think where was this for Bonnie when Damon bit her, when Ben kidnapped her, or better yet, when her Grams died. This is the season where Caroline’s character gets more prominent but also for no reason when Bonnie–the one who actually saves the day gets shoved more into the background.

Although weird sidenote: I did not realize how skinny Kat used to be back then, it almost made me worried about her health like get some food into you.

I’m not really going to talk about Damon other than he annoyed me most of the episode. Also, not a great episode acting wise for Ian, it’s almost as though he knew that he was speaking complete bullshit so he decided his emotions were going to look like complete bullshit. Honestly I didn’t realize until now that the only time I find his acting genuine is when he was on screen with Kat meaning it’s going to be a long time before his acting gets even remotely good because he doesn’t have many scenes with Bonnie.

I don’t know if I’ll continue to review every episode it’s just that they annoy me so much I have to talk about it. Also I’m really worried, this is the good season of TVD, the one where Kevin Williamson was still a show runner and yet I find it almost as awful as the later seasons where it’s just Julie Plec. Has this show just always been bad and I just didn’t notice? I’ll keep you posted.