VAMPIRE DIARIES: 2.08 “Rose”
Week to week, Ian Somerhalder just shows his level of acting just soars over that of Paul Wesley. Honestly, after Thursday’s episode, I’m not entirely sure how anyone is not a Damon/Elena shipper. We’ve got Stefan, who says the same thing week to week with the same expression, and then Damon, who’s torn by not having Elena’s heart, constantly showing another side of himself. Stefan is a bit of a piece of wood, while Damon’s actually complex.
Now, as for the reasoning behind the penultimate scene of the episode, well, that was entirely to make the shippers swoon. Honestly, there was no point in hearing Damon confess his love for Elena, only to have her forget. The moment was put in reset, as if it didn’t happen. The only thing it did for us, the viewer, is to prove that, yes, Damon does love Elena, but I think we already knew that, especially if you saw his expression when Elena looked like he was going to run into his arms, only to run into Stefan’s instead.
But let’s go to the new twist in the storyline. Now we know that Elena is basically the Key in the Vampire Diaries story. She breaks the vampire curse, and the “Originals” want her. As for why the Originals want to break the curse, I’m not sure. After all, it looks like very little can stop them, and Elijah showed up in the middle of the day–in sunlight–and seemed pretty powerful.
What makes me angry about this episode? We’ve seen quite a few vampires staked at this point. And every time, we’ve seen them immediately mummify. Immediately, as Elijah was stuck in that door with a plank of wood in his chest, I noticed that he didn’t mummify in a grotesque old corpse. Nope, he retained his original figure.
How would Stefan and Damon not immediately notice this?! Wouldn’t they at least look at him and go, gee, that’s strange, or at least notice and then claim that the reason he didn’t mummify was that he did have so much power? Or some other excuse?
Either way, it didn’t surprise me that he came back to life at the end. No corpse, no death.
In other news, I’m liking the relationship forming between Caroline and Tyler. For two characters that didn’t thrill me last year (Caroline wasn’t that bad, but she didn’t really have a point), they’ve certainly become an interesting element of the series now.
On the other hand, let’s say another massive EW to Bonnie and Jeremy. Can we please get away from that potential relationship? As for Bonnie’s nosebleeds, well, it should be interesting to see where that goes. Can she stop using the power? I doubt it, but I also doubt that will kill her, too. It will fix itself or she’ll stop or something. I love her being a witch, though.
I think that about covers it. Oh, as for the kidnapping vamps, I did notice they looked a little too Twilight. I wonder if that was purposeful, almost mocking. Seriously, the one survivor has Alice’s hairstyle (or something close to it).
Raked 
I totally agree about Ian Somerhalder! He has been amazing. I’ve been a Damon/Elena supporter for a while now and this episode made me want it even more! I felt so bad for Damon when Elena hugged Stefan instead of him.
I didn’t pick up on Elijah not mummifying (is that word?) immediately. I was surprised he was alive at the end, which I’m kind of glad about. He is definitely a scary vampire so I’m glad they didn’t kill him off just yet.
And yes, another EW to Bonnie and Jeremy. They need to stop this now!
Hmmm, perhaps I pay too much attention to the mummified corpses. When Vicki was killed last season, I was so horrified by how grotesque it was, I guess it’s just stayed in my mind–but I guess that doesn’t mean all the viewers remembered!
If Vampire Diaries was real life, though, Stefan and Damon should have totally remembered. 😉
That’s a good point! They shouldn’t have been so careless. Instead they both just went to see how Elena was.
And I forgot to mention that I am enjoying Tyler and Caroline as well. I don’t think I’d like to see them as a couple – not sure if that’s the direction it is going in – because I like Matt too much.
Actually, you raise a good point. Maybe they were careless BECAUSE they just were focusing on how Elena was doing! That’s some good reasoning!
As for Caroline and Tyler, I wonder if that’s the direction they’re going in, too, or whether this will become a drama-filled love triangle.