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
Sidebar: Caroline hasn't seen Elena with Damon, lately. Seriously? She was too busy being tortured. She didn't witness the flirty chili cooking. She wasn't on the road trip to Tennessee. She wasn't in the bedroom when Damon made Elena admit she called off the Stefan-hunt because she was afraid for Damon's life. And if Elena's on-screen actions can be taken as any sort of indication of her off-screen actions, then Elena is in serious denial about her feelings for Damon. She doesn't even want to let herself think about him like that, so I am having a hard time imagining that she's having revealing conversations with Caroline, who has been a little busy being tortured by her own father. In our forum for The Vampire Diaries, there are plenty of people opposed to exploring the Damon/Elena side of the love triangle. There are also plenty of people opposed to the triangle's existence. To my way of thinking (and I say this gently and not unkindly) both groups might be watching the wrong show, since the triangle is the show's premise: Two beautiful vampire brothers are in love with this girl. Wackiness ensues. I'm down with the triangle. I'm down with exploring this side of the triangle. I am neither invested in, nor rooting against any particular outcome where the triangle is concerned. Just tell me a story, and tell it well. But as with the whole "potluck" aspect of a potluck for hundreds at the Mayoral Mansion, Caroline's line of questioning seems shoved in here. I understand we need a catalyst to prompt Elena to think about her growing attraction and attachment to Damon, and her lingering feelings for Stefan, despite what he has become. I just expected that catalyst would feel more organic. Had Caroline been present for the flirty-wirty chili cooking, or any other recent sexually charged scene between Damon and Elena, I would have no complaint. There. I feel better for having gotten that off my chest. I'll try to let it go, accept that it is so, even if it doesn't feel true, and get back to the show.
So, Caroline oh-so-clunkily (is too a word) asks Elena what the deal is with her and Damon. Someone needs to do it, but I wish it was someone who had witnessed ANYTHING between Damon and Elena, lately. Sorry. I said I'd stop. Anyhow... Elena says there is no deal. "He's been just as focused on finding Stefan as I have." Caroline: "Yeah, but that doesn't make him any less Damon." True enough. Caroline continues: "If my own father, who I love dearly, can't change me? No one's changing Damon. Not even you." Elena says, "Why are we even talking about this?" -- which is exactly what I want to know! Ahem. This line of conversation is dropped when the necklace starts levitating right off the pages of Bonnie's grimoire. Bonnie says she's not doing anything. As the girls watch the necklace rise in the air, Bonnie adds, "It has its own magic." Gee, ya think?