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
I have to give both Rick Cosnett (Maxfield) and Shaun Sipos (Aaron) their due. Throughout the episode (and really, his run this season), Cosnett has delivered a deliciously creepy character, who is clearly bright, but also already ensconced in nearly giddy mad-scientist territory. It's not an easy part to play with a modern edge and he does well. Now that Sipos's Aaron is no longer perfecting his mournful pout, I'm paying more attention to his performance. He delivers an Aaron who is every bit as freaked out as he should be. Well played, gentlemen.
Down in the dungeon, Damon whispers at Elena to wake up. He explains Wes dosed her with vervain and tells her that Maxfield is part of the grand Augustine tradition of vampire torture. Elena asks if Maxfield told him that. Damon says, "He didn't have to. I've been here before." And that's when he stops being the Damon I thought I'd come to know. We flash back to...
1953. We're "treated" to a series of quick cuts, during which Dr. Whitmore tortures Damon with all manner of "medical experiments." This time, I don't miss him cutting out a piece of eyeball. Thanks, Show. Over the choppy montage, Damon narrates, but it's not worth transcribing.
Back in the present, Damon says that Dr. Whitmore, "...kept me in this very cell. And don't think I haven't appreciated the irony." As defined by Alanis? When Elena asks, Damon says he was held there for about five years. Elena says, "Damon, how did you not go crazy?" Elena, what makes you think he didn't? Damon ignores me and answers, "Believe it or not, I made a friend." We flash back to...
1953. Dungeon. Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" plays as Dr. Whitmore tosses Damon into his cell. In the next cell (which in the present day is occupied by Elena) is a handsome guy played by Michael Malarkey. "Welcome. Dr. Whitmore never gets tired of watching us vampires heal, but he gives us one glass of blood per day, just enough to keep us alive. Pick yourself up, soldier. My name is Enzo." Enzo reaches his hand through the small barred window between his cell and Damon's. We flash forward to the...
Present. Damon tells Elena that Enzo was a soldier in Europe, during WWII. Dr. Whitmore found Enzo in a battlefield hospital and discovered Enzo was a vampire. Whitmore drugged Enzo, locked him in a coffin and shipped him stateside. Now assuming Enzo was glad to see a doctor take an interest in him, having that same doctor drug him, trap him in a coffin and ship him off to Virginia to torture him -- that's ironic, Damon. Being in the same cell twice, not so much. Besides which, since when do vampires need hospitalization?