Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | 3 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Kill Bill: Vol. 1
By Cindy McLennan | Season 3 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.06.2011
Downstairs, Elena answers the door to find Caroline holding a bowl and saying, "I come bearing gifts!" She's not Greek, is she? Elena sighs. "Please say that's not chili." Before Caroline can answer, Bonnie pops her head around the corner. Elena smiles and yells, "Bonnie!" Bonnie hugs her and then takes a step back to get a good look at her friends. "I leave town for the summer and everything goes to hell -- for the both of you?" As the girls nod, Jeremy comes downstairs. "Bonnie!" She runs to him, hugs him, jumps up on him, and they kiss. When Jeremy puts her down, he can see Anna in the mirror behind Bonnie's back.
Town: Liz is crossing the street with Damon, who sums up the situation in his own Evil Pixie Monster way. "So Mayor Lockwood called your gay ex-husband to torture your vampire daughter?" Liz has been holding Bill captive -- I mean keeping him "detained" in the torture emporium, until all the vervain is out of his system. Assuming it has worn off, she wants Damon can compel Bill to forget what happened and that Caroline is a vampire. Damon: "Can't we just kill him?" Liz says no, because he's Caroline's father. Our She's-the-Sheriff is wise to follow her head, because you know her heart has to be screaming, "YES. YES. BITEY BITEY KILL KILL." I mean forget about lying to her for years -- this bastard tortured her daughter. Damon is an Evil Pixie Monster with the emphasis on Pixie in these scenes with Liz, so he says, "Sounds like a douche-bag to me." Liz: "Just because you and I are on okay terms doesn't mean I'm suddenly a big advocate for your...lifestyle." Tongue literally in cheek, Damon says: "Is that what you told him, when you two got divorced?" Wheeee!
From the camera work, it seems the torture emporium is right in the dungeon of the Mystic Falls City Jail, which a plaque informs us was built in 1860. From seasons past we know the big vampire round up took place in 1864. I wonder how long the human ancestors were onto the fact that the town was a vampire and witch haven? When they enter the torture emporium, Liz tells Damon to make sure the vervain is out of Bill's system before he compels him. Damon strolls over and rips the duct tape off the prisoner's mouth. Bill looks at his ex-wife. "You brought another vampire into this?" Liz says, "It's the best thing for all of us, Bill."
Damon hasn't gotten any attention in like... seconds, so interrupts. "Bill, I hear you're into the whole Daddy/Daughter Vampire Torture thing." Bill says, "I was trying to help her," which I find interesting. I mean, I know he's telling the truth from his perspective. I want to say he should follow his heart rather than his head, but then I ponder where prejudices really live. In Bill's case, I think they live in his heart. I'm not saying he doesn't love Caroline. I'm just saying he doesn't love her as much as he hates vampires. Hate is visceral, not cerebral. If Bill had used his head for a second -- if he had just stopped, listened to Caroline when she explained she didn't hurt people, and asked, oh I don't know, let's say more than one frickin' question of her (i.e. how she walks in daylight), would she (and we) have had to endure that torture porn last week? And even now, if he would allow himself to consider that Liz, who was raised with the same beliefs, has been able to accept Caroline, shouldn't he want to take a moment and figure things out? If he was using his head, he would be asking questions.