Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | 309 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Friends Don't Let Friends Kill Matt
By Cindy McLennan | Season 4 | Episode 3 | Aired on 2012.10.25
Mossy Manse. Stefan and Elena are making out on Stefan's bed, clearly about to have vampire sex. It's rough and would probably be sexy, except I'm totally taken out of the moment, by Alex Clare's "Too Close" (you know the song; it's in that ubiquitous car commercial). This is the second time I can remember the show choosing a song that's prominently featured in an ad. Please stop that. Anyhow, as things heat up, Elena pictures Damon on top of her, rather than Stefan. She cries, "No," and throws off Stefan, who between this and the puking, is going to get a sexual inferiority complex. Elena shakes off the hallucination, but she doesn't feel well. She pulls up her sleeves, to see the same veiny mess Rebekah had all over her face -- the same ick that surrounded Rose's werewolf bite. Stefan puts two and two together. The hunter has venom. Elena must have been poisoned with it. Now, I'll just stop here, because it's the last point in this episode, during which I can breathe at a normal rate, and note that I think it strains credulity, that Connor could spike kegs -- and the right kegs -- the kegs going to Becky's party, and leave it at that.
Rebekah's Room. Being a mostly unkillable Original, Rebekah isn't dying from the werewolf venom. She's just suffering from it, and apparently we must suffer with her. She is sitting in front of her vanity, head bobbling, eyes heavy, when Matt walks in and says she doesn't look so hot. She exposits about how whatever it is won't kill her, then says she's surprised Matt showed up. He says that since she explained why she ran him off the bridge (to kill Alaric and save the lives of her and her siblings), he ought to explain how he feels. "The truth is, Rebekah. I think you're amazing." She's smitten, so she smiles at this, but she really shouldn't. Matt: "You've had a thousand years to learn -- to grow, and start fresh. And somehow you've managed to throw it all away. Now you're alone. Your brother hates you. You whine about not finding love. The reason you don't find love is because you don't deserve it." Rebekah, whose eyes are filled with tears, winces at that last bit, gasps and then rips out Matt's heart. Yes, I die a thousand deaths. You can read my play-by-play reaction in the recaplet. After seeing all the real horror, in our very real world, I'm over it. This isn't the show's fault. It's just how it is. Matt falls to the floor, dead. Rebekah stares at his heart -- still in her hand, then she snaps out of it. Matt's not on the floor. Her hands are empty and clean. I breathe, again. She looks around and we cut to...