Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A- | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT How I Met Your Mother
By Cindy McLennan | Season 1 | Episode 21 | Aired on 05.06.2010
Mystic Grill; Interior: Stefan stands watch over by the pool table, while his best girl sits alone at a table for two. By the way she jumps when the waitress serves her coffee, I'm pretty sure the meeting is on. Elena kills time by taking advantage of Stefan's vamponic hearing for a stealthy chit-chat. Thanks for coming... I'm nervous, but I'm happy that you're here... I love you. Stefan (who has just been smiling and nodding up until now) mouths: I love you back at her, but then his sightline is obscured by DUN DUN DUN Isobel. As she joins her flesh and blood at the table, her voice and smile are as sweet as saccharine. "Hello, Elena." Commercial. Izzy needs a doobie break.
Mommy's next words to the child she hasn't seen since birth? "You look just like her. It's eerie." Do none of these people know about IMDB.com? I've said it before, but one of these days, I want Elena to throw a five-star hissy fit upon hearing that comparison. Now would be a great time, but Miranda and Grayson dragged the child up right, so Elena plays nice instead. "You mean Katherine?" Izzy explains that Katherine found her after she turned. "Genetic curiosity, I suppose." Or she's keeping tabs on her descendants both human and vampyric -- particularly when they interact. Isobel adds, "She would be fascinated by you." Elena hates this topic of conversation so she takes note of Izzy's necklace -- not the Christmas tinsel garland from hell necklace -- an antique lapis lazuli pendant. "Is that how you can walk in the day?" Isobel grabs it, unconsciously. "Katherine helped me obtain it." Elena then wants to know who her bio dad is. Isobel: "He was a teenage waste of space." Oh, so it is Uncle Snark, then. Good to know. During the conversation, Izzy makes a point of declaring that human life means nothing to her. "It's just part of being what I am." Elena says that's not true. She knows other vampires. Isobel bats her overly long false eyelashes. "You mean your boyfriend over there by the pool table -- Stefan Salvatore? Why Stefan? Why didn't you go for Damon, or do you enjoy them both -- like Katherine did?" Poor Elena is shocked and hurt to have her mother-the-stranger talking to her like that. Across the bar, Stefan lowers his eyes at the mention of Katherine's name.
Town Square; 6:15PM: Damon and Alaric wait across the street. Oh, goody. I love these two, together. Damon says they should be in the Grill, but Alaric says Isobel made it clear they weren't to step foot inside. Damon: "I'm not going to kill her in a crowded restaurant." Alaric: "You're not going to kill her, period." Damon doesn't understand Alaric's urge to protect the woman who ruined his life. Let's see if he singing the same tune when he runs into Katherine someday. Alaric: "She's my wife." When Damon gives him the eye, Alaric corrects himself. "Was. Was my wife. I looked for the woman I married, but she wasn't there. Whoever that is -- is cold and detached." And tripping! Damon scoffs as he reminds Alaric that Izzy has given up her humanity. Alaric doesn't get that. "Stefan has his humanity. He's a good guy. Hell, you're a dick and you kill people, but I still see something human in you..." Hee. "...But with her there was -- there was nothing." Damon says, "You can turn it off. It's like a button you can press. I mean Stefan's different. He -- he wants the whole human experience. He wants to feel every episode of How I Met Your Mother." He must not have watched this season yet, then. Blergh. Oh sorry, Damon. You were saying? "So, he shuts his feelings out. The problem is, as a vampire, your instinct is not to feel. Isobel chose the easier road. No guilt. No shame. No regret. I mean, come on, if you could turn it off, wouldn't you?" Alaric says, "You haven't." Damon laughs, "Of course I have, Ric. That's why I'm so fun to be around." Pshaw, Damon. Alaric might not know about your habit of squatting on a magical toadstool for a good cry, but we do.