Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A- | 3 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Damon And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
By Cindy McLennan | Season 1 | Episode 19 | Aired on 04.22.2010
It will be interesting to see how this resolves itself. If Stefan goes cold turkey (or squirrel, as the case may be), he'll lose his powers and strength. Is Damon's way the right way? For a vampire, blood can't be like crack, or heroin. I guess it can be likened to booze for the alcoholic (because there are other things to drink), but really, it's closer to food for an over-eater. Humans cannot stop eating, or we die. These vampires can't forsake human blood without giving up their strength. I hope the writers continue to handle this arc as deftly as they have up until now. I was more worried, until Damon's speech about vampires having to learn control. Now I recognize that this seed was planted during Vicki's story, and it's flowering in unexpected ways. Again I say Bravo.
I can't close without getting into the ethics of OMGEYESEX with your vampire boyfriend's vampire brother. Some fans have been a little disappointed in Elena and Damon (more morally speaking, than anything else), but not me. Overall, I understand that Stefan and Elena are the anchor-couple and I usually root for them. Once they got off that break-up/make-up carousel they were on at the beginning, they really grew on me. And yet? During that dance, all I could think about was Damon and Elena. I've probably rooted for both sides of a triangle before, but never at the same time -- and not like this.
I think what's different here is that neither Elena nor (even) Damon meant to burn up the dance floor. They were both preoccupied with Stefan, and were just going through the pageant to keep appearances up and suspicions down. And then BOOM! Spontaneous combustion. It's real and right that they would only feel the heat, only let themselves feel the heat, when Damon wasn't leering at, flirting with, or otherwise pursuing Elena. She'd never fall for that crap, and if she did fall for that crap, he wouldn't respect her. He's easy to turn off when he's being a drama queen, or setting her up to button his shirt and what have you. But determined, understated, serious, considerate, concerned Damon? In a tux? Elena isn't made of stone, and neither am I. Whatever. I'm finishing up now, so I can go watch that scene, again. Lord have mercy.
See you Friday morning with my recaplet/review of "Blood Brothers," in which we (and Elena) learn more about the Brothers Salvatore. I cannot wait. In the meantime, hop on over to the forums, where everyone's a Prozac poster child.
Cindy McLennan is wasting away in front of the TV. Try to break its thrall by e-mailing her at CynthiaMcLennan[at]gmail.com, or following her on Twitter. Speaking of Twitter, check out her "TVD Cast and Crew" reading list, in the righthand sidebar of her Twitter page, to follow the good people who bring us our vampire crack, week after week.