Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A- | 398 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT They Say That Cracking Up Is Hard to Do
By Cindy McLennan | Season 4 | Episode 6 | Aired on 2011.11.15
Klaus Haus. Hallucination-Katherine is still haunting Elena, and to ensure she remains a fan favorite, she pretty much dishes out every criticism the Elena haters have spewed over the last couple of seasons. Normally, I'd defend my girl, but I'm so tired of everyone telling me how compassionate she is that I find this scene rather cathartic. Here's a sample of Kat's snark: "Don't you ever stop crying? Poor Elena, always the victim. Except now you're a killer." She points out that the girl Stefan fell in love with is gone. "You're like me, now. Maybe worse." Well, hardly. Elena cries some more. Katherine browbeats her and reminds her that once Stefan knew the real Katherine, he hated her. "Oh well, at least you still have Damon." At that, Elena charges at Katherine, and face plants on the bed because these hallucinations are only incarnate when they want you to knife your brother in the neck. The rest of the time, they're just free psychotherapy for the damned.
Bonnie and Shane find Damon waiting in Alaric's classroom. I love how the writers keep revisiting the fact that Damon is mourning one of the few people he actually loves. Shane is intrigued that Damon is a bit of a monster buff. Oh Shane, if you only knew, but perhaps you already do. Damon pulls out Jeremy's incomplete sketch of Connor's Hunter's Mark. Shane identifies it, and demands to know where Damon got it, so our Evil Pixie Monster lies that it came to him in a dream, and then asks about the Hunter's Curse. Shane's voice rises. "Why? You got a dead hunter in the trunk of your car, or something?" Don't worry, Shane. He's out in the woods. Here's the skinny: the legend says that if you kill a hunter, you are cursed to walk the earth in torment until a new hunter is awakened, and the legacy is passed on. In another shout-out to Buffy, Shane says, "They're called potentials." I know you'd expect me to enjoy these shout-outs, but they're working less for me, I think because none of the characters has hung a lantern on the references. Like, if Damon said, "Oh no. It's the curse of Season Seven," I'd be jumping for joy. But no. Anyhow, Shane offers to grab his research on the curse and leaves to get it. Okay, so he's doing a Silas exhibit in Mystic Falls, but he just happens to have his other research in the car, or something? Nuh uh.