Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Know What You're Doing There?
By Cindy McLennan | Season 3 | Episode 2 | Aired on 09.22.2011
Grill: A shirtless Matt (thank you, Show) is changing into his work t-shirt by his locker when Jeremy walks in. Matt mocks the Germ for coming in on his day off, but Jeremy is there to clarify their conversation from the night before. He's not just "seeing" Vicki because he "wants" to. He's seeing apparitions of her, and he thinks they should look into it. Matt is skittish about this and suggests Jeremy talk to his witch-girlfriend, Bonnie, about this. Jeremy declines, because he wisely suspects his current girlfriend would not be real happy about helping him contact the spirit of his dead girlfriend. Besides, Jeremy's been researching this. "We don't need a witch, okay. There's examples all over the Internet." Go ahead and laugh with me and then I'll continue. You ready? Okay. "We need..." Jeremy takes a packet out of backpack and glances at it. "...personal items, and it works best when a family member tries to make contact." Matt has no desire to do this so Jeremy ups the stakes. "She said help me." Matt's beautiful baby blues fill with tears as Jeremy lowers his voice as he leans over the table at which Matt is sitting. "I saw her. She asked for help." He takes a seat. "You're the one she loved the most. If anyone's going to be able to help me connect to her, it's you." Matt picks up the packet and nods.
Out in the restaurant's dining room, Tyler is giving Elena a crash course in the full moon habits of werewolves. Some are solitary and chain themselves up at sunset, like him, but some like to gather where they don't have to do that, and can enjoy it -- places like mountains, deserts and state parks. When Elena asks if there's anywhere like that in Tennessee, Tyler takes her phone and pulls up a map. Jules must have given him quite the tour, huh? Elena says, "Thanks for this. I know it's asking a lot." Looking up a map on the Internet is a lot? Tyler: "As Caroline likes to remind me, Stefan's in this mess because I bit Damon. I figure I owe you one." A beat. "Have you...talked to her today?" Elena: "No, why?" Tyler: "Just curious." He hands back her phone loaded with a map of her best bet for finding a Tennessee werewolf pack.
Elena approaches Alaric, at the (say it with me now)...bar. You know we could make up a drinking game where we drink whenever Alaric drinks, but we'd never be sober again, and that's no good. (Are you getting my point, Alaric? And no, I'm still not calling you "Ric" because...just no.) Oh, I know he's drinking from a coffee cup, but he can't fool me. Elena wants Alaric to come with her for a little hike through the Smoky Mountains. Alaric has not killed so many of his brain cells that he wants to go looking for werewolves on the full moon. Elena shrugs this off and says she'll go it alone, because she knows how he'll react. When he glares at her, Elena says, "What? You're the one who told me I could handle things on my own, now." Alaric: "Yeah. I meant like... frozen dinners and S.A.T.s." He finally agrees. "But uh, you're driving." Good choice.