Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: C | 106 USERS: C+ YOU GRADE IT The Human Diary
By Cindy McLennan | Season 5 | Episode 9 | Aired on 12.05.2013
Similarly, the Damon I thought I'd come to know over 4+ seasons would have been a little bit more on the ball regarding the college at which the (second) love of his life was planning to matriculate, particularly since he was held and abused as a lab rat for five years at the very same school.
Some argue if perhaps Damon had put 1953 to 1958 out of his mind, he mightn't have worried quite so much about Whitmore. I can't buy that. Even if only Bonnie or Caroline attended Whitmore, I can't buy that (for Elena's sake) he wouldn't have warned them of his past there. When I say "he" I'm speaking of the Damon I thought I had come to know.
The Damon I thought I had come to know certainly would have warned Caroline or Bonnie -- never mind his beloved Elena -- about Whitmore's dark past once Megan was murdered by a vampire, and campus security covered up her murder and labeled it a suicide. The Damon I thought I had come to know would have moved heaven and earth to warn Elena (or even just Caroline or Bonnie, for Elena's sake) once he learned there was a secret vampire society at Whitmore and especially once Dr. Wes Maxfield warned Elena that the society knew about her and her fang gang, and that she'd better high-tail it out of town.
The only way the Damon I thought I had come to know would not have warned Elena (or even her friends, who hardly matter to him except that they matter to her) about Whitmore's dark past with vampire experiments, is if the Damon I had come to know had been compelled (or otherwise forced) to forget all that happened to him at Whitmore between 1953 and 1958. The problem is, if the Damon I had come to know was compelled to forget his past at Whitmore, what was behind his continued revenge against the Whitmore family?
I suppose there could be answers. Perhaps Enzo isn't as much of a prisoner as he appears to be. Perhaps Enzo has some power to compel other vampires, like Damon, to forget their horrible pasts while still exacting revenge against everyone related to his original tormentor. Maybe Enzo has nothing to do with that part of it. Hell, maybe there's a microchip in this Damon's head. And maybe there are certain things that trigger Damon's sudden memory of a hypothetically forgotten past. Maybe the First Evil is in league with the Initiative of which the Augustine Society is a secret offshoot. Why not? It's not like this show hasn't been derivative of Whedon's vampire tales for quite some time now.