It has indeed shaped up to be another emotional, mystical, and death-ridden day in the never-peaceful town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Last week had us lying on the floor, curled up into the fetal position, screaming profanities as the glow of the television slowly turned from a warm welcome to cold, unfeeling light. This week we’re forced to experience the emotions of nearly every major character as the fight between vampires and werewolves finally breaks out and our dear friends dance a little too closely to death.
The episode opens on a rather sour note; Tyler comes to Caroline’s door and while we’re thinking oh shit, Caroline remains completely oblivious as to the real reason he’s there until he slams her into her car with exceptional violence. This, in a split second, turns my steady, easy lean into Forwood full throttle back to Team Matt. Seriously, Tyler, that’s some uncalled for manhandling! It is very reminiscent of season one Tyler and I’m really disappointed to see him regress back to his old self so quickly. I know learning how Mason really died is more than upsetting, but don’t take it out on poor Caroline! She helped you, Tyler, even though you could have easily killed her. I guess what I’m saying is – everyone needs to calm down and take a breather! Alas, this is The Vampire Diaries, so exactly the opposite happens!
With that out of the way, “Daddy Issues” starts out on a good note – an exceptionally good note, a naked good note, actually. As in, Damon showers and he is naked. Watching The Vampire Diaries every week should prepare me for potential heart palpitations, but nothing can prepare me for a naked, dripping wet Damon Salvatore who oh-so-casually strolls out of the shower, grabs a towel to wrap around his waist (COMPLETELY UNECESSARY) to watch the news. And I should elaborate on the news because it is so important but damn it, NAKED DAMON COULD DISTRACT ME FROM THE APOCOLYPSE.
Phew. Okay, for the sake of the rest of you, I will move on, because I could probably spend the rest of this recap telling you how great the scene is and how it could be 41 minutes of just that every week and people would still tune in. Anyway, it just so happens that the news is about Damon’s victim from the end of the last episode – Jessica is reported missing and well, I have news: she’s not going to be found because she had her throat ripped out by a very emotional vampire. Even Damon seems to acknowledge this fact as he stares remorsefully, regretfully and the television screen and then finally tears himself away. Sigh. Things are looking, once again, very depressing for our favourite bad-boy-with-issues.
Meanwhile, back at the Gilbert household, Elena menacingly confronts Daddy John because in Mystic Falls, that’s how people like to start their mornings. Unfortunately for Elena, Aunt Jenna and Alaric Saltzman come down (remember, they’re dating! You would never know that because the poor dears have not been given any plot lately, but I digress). Aunt Jenna exclaims, “What the hell?” and it’s actually pretty awesome. John and Alaric exchange a meaningful glance (um, since when are they on those kinds of terms) and Jenna continues to curse John. I would, too. John forces Elena to confess to Jenna that he is her biological father and let me just say – no one is happy after that. Apparently the bio-dad-bomb is much too touchy a subject. “It’s okay I’m confused, right? Because we weren’t expecting you...like ever.”
Back at the Salvatore boarding house, Damon and Stefan have a confrontation, too, as has become the norm per episode. Sometimes I swear that Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley were hired based on the sole fact that they can carry on deep, meaningful conversations with their eyebrows. I love the Salvatore brother-eyebrow-offs. “We’re not that desperate, Stefan. The guy tried to barbeque me!” Damon tells him with some exceptional facial expressions. Stefan retorts with a snappy remarks about Originals and how they “apparently can’t die.” Damon then tells Stefan that “he’s the good guy now” and that it means he’s “changing and evolving into a man capable of greatness.” Um, Damon. That’s lovely. But I’m pretty sure you ripped out some girl’s throat in the last episode. But just to make him love anyway, as he’s leaving, he snaps at Stefan, “Better watch your back. Because I might need to get a hero hairdo of my own and steal your thunder.” So many good one-liners, Damon. Hah.
Stefan comes to Caroline when she calls him; she tells him about her earlier confrontation with Tyler. Stefan, of course, is not pleased, but he’s going to help her out.
We see Jules having a conversation with Tyler, trying to corrupt and persuade him to the wolf-y side of things and honestly, even though she claims she’s his friend, she is just a bitch. Calm down, Jules, and let the boy decide for himself before you go spewing town secrets! That’s just not cool. But it’s Mystic Falls, so this would happen. Jules claims it her “duty and honour” to help him, but hmm, I wonder why we can’t so easily by that? Oh, could it be because last week she remorselessly ripped apart a camp of people with as much casualness as me ordering my early morning Double Double? That’s what I thought.
Damon and Elena have a meaningful moment concerning Uncle John at the grill, and Damon asks if she’s okay, genuinely concerned for her well-being. We know this because he doesn’t add any sarcastic one-liners onto the end of it. “I’m the good guy now, remember. I’m gonna have a civil conversation with your father.”
Stefan decides to take immediate control of the situation by confronting Tyler himself, and just as an aside, confrontational Stefan is freakin’ hot. Oh, my God, can we please see more of this guy? Because he is amazing! Hah – in short, he manhandles Tyler and asks him politely (and then not so politely) to shut up and listen to what he has to say.
We go back to Brady and Jules; Jules tells him she “wants the boy more than she wants vengeance.” Is it just me or is this line really freakin’ creepy? What the hell do you want Tyler for, Jules? It makes me wonder if perhaps the Lockwoods possess something more powerful in their wolf genes than the other werewolves.
Uncle John confronts Jeremy; Jeremy basically declines any semblance of a relationship with him, clearly not wanting to be taken for an idiot. Good move, Jer! We’re not completely sure if we can trust John yet. Meanwhile, Bonnie (YAY!) is approached by Creepy Witch Dad AKA Jonas. He tries to tell her that he can be trusted, but like Jeremy, Bonnie is not quick to trust this man who is practically a stranger; “Spare me the witch loyalty crap!” By the way, am I the only one who missed where everyone suddenly knew that the moonstone was not actually destroyed? I don’t remember this being covered in last week’s episode (but then again, I was little bit of emotional wreck). Anyway, moving on...
Jenna and Alaric talk at the grill; “So Elena is my sister’s husband’s brother’s daughter and her mother is my boyfriend’s deceased wife. You can’t make that stuff up.” Touché, Jenna. Uncle John shows up and asks if he can join the pair – that’s awkward – what do you think the answer’s gonna be, John? Not ones to miss out on all the excitement, Damon and Elena show up to talk to John – “John, buddy, how ya been?” Remember the part in season one when Damon broke Uncle John’s neck and then threw him off a bridge, and then a few episodes later, Uncle John left Damon in a burning building? Yeah. These two love each other.
“When push comes to shove, you’re gonna want that girl by your side,” Stefan, in reference to Caroline, tells Tyler before his cell phone goes off and he yells for help to the caller. That caller happens to be Jules, and she relays to Brady that they “have a problem.”
Back at the grill (which, by the way, is hosting a memorial for Jessica), Damon reveals to John that he and Stefan have been drinking vervain. Then he gets intimately close (he has no concept of personal space) and whispers in John’s ear, “If you know something about Klaus you better start talking.”
Caroline is confronted by Jules outside, after having a sweet conversation with Matt. At first it looks like Vampire Barbie is totally gonna take her, but Jules plays dirty and vervains her. Not cool, Jules. And then, once again, it looks like Caroline is not only going to escape but also rip Jules limb from limb, but she gets shot point blank in the head with a wooden stake gun by the new werewolf in town, Brady. Um, wow. Unnecessary violence, much? I legit burst into tears when Caroline got shot; I so did not see that coming! Jules and Brady take Caroline to some shady remote location near Wickery Falls, and Brady proceeds to torture her brutally. Vervain, wooden stakes...it’s not pretty and it’s really depressing. I start crying because Caroline is in so much pain and she doesn’t deserve this.
Caroline wakes up in a cage, and pulls the wooden bullet out of her head. Brady remarks, “That was...nasty.” He then tells her that “it’s gonna be a long night, sweet pea.” Seriously. I think I hate this guy more than Jules. Flashing between scenes from the Lockwood mansion and the grill, he relentlessly tortures Caroline and it’s honestly just so heartbreaking. Candice Accola really gives a stand-out performance in this one.
Back at the Lockwood Mansion, Stefan is still confronting Tyler (they seem to have been at this for a while) and it seems that Stefan has almost convinced Tyler to just think about things, but then Tyler pisses Stefan off by trying to take a call from Jules. It all comes to head, though, because Jules then thinks that Stefan has kidnapped Tyler (which I guess...he is sort of being held against his will) so they proceed to torture Caroline more and force them to come to the woods to meet them for an exchange.
At the grill, Jenna introduces her friend, Andie Star, to Damon. The vampire has no sense of grace whatsoever and when she offers to buy him a drink, he blows her off with, “My glass is all full again...” Nice, Damon, you idiot. Elena and Damon have another meaningful discussion (oh, my GOD, the writers are torturing us with all this build up) in which Elena tries, once again, to comfort Damon by reaching out and touching his arm – Damon does not take kindly to this and tells her that she needs to “stop doing that” because he’s only being human for her, it would seem. But the audience knows better. Elena is suddenly holding Damon up on this pedestal and he does not want to live up to those expectations: “Stop assuming I’ll play the good guy because it’s you who’s asking.” Ouch.
An epic confrontation goes down in the woods between Stefan, Damon and the wolf pack. It is fast paced and exciting and little bit hard to describe here. I would just recommend watching it for the full effect. Basically, Stefan and Damon decide that they can probably take Jules and Brady, but that’s before Jules does some freakin’ dog whistle to call in the rest of the pack. Seriously, what is that? It all the more confirms what we already know: Jules is an epic bitch. Anyway, things become a bit complicated as Damon and Stefan let Tyler go and they’re forced to fight the others who join them (who have brought flame throwers and other instruments of vampire torture). Stefan gets shot, Damon is about to get staked, and suddenly the wolves are all falling to their knees in agony and we’re thinking BONNIE IS OUR HERO! But guess what, dear readers? It’s not Bonnie, it’s Creepy Witch Dad, and even though he’s not in our trust books yet, we’re happy he’s saved Team Salvatore!
Tyler seems to have a hard time deciding if he should free Caroline (he eventually does) but that’s not after we become extremely angry at him for just leaving her in there for an unnecessary amount of time. Stefan brings Caroline home after the agony and he knows she’s not okay, and she knows she’s not okay, but she closes the door, proceeds to go up to her room, and sobs. She talks to Matt on the phone (who still doesn’t have a clue what’s going on and did I mention that he’s now being lied to because Caroline told him that she missed their date because she was with Bonnie – Bonnie is at the grill, where Matt is calling from, with Jeremy).
John goes to the Salvatore boarding house and tells Damon how to kill an Original – with a dagger dipped in white wood ash (for those of you who didn’t know, THIS IS A BOOK REFERENCE - SQUEE)! Damon and John have a discussion about how they both want the same thing – to protect Elena. John goes back to talk to Elena and she does not take kindly to his words, but honestly, the speech tears me up and Elena crying doesn’t make it any better. John gives her something that belonged to Miranda (Elena’s adoptive mother) and walks away. I find this interesting because jewellery on this show is pretty significant – I wonder what it symbolizes? Stefan shows up and the two hug and oh my god, it is legit just one of the sweetest moment. I’m definitely batting for the Damon and Elena team, but it’s moments like this between Stefan and Elena that melt my heart.
After Caroline talks to Matt, Tyler comes to the door and Tyler insists that he had no idea they would come for her. Caroline stares him down and replies with “Do you know what they did to me?” and all Tyler can do is look away ashamedly. “I lied to protect my friends; I lied to protect you. You that that back to your little werewolf pack and you get the hell out of my house.” She then slams the door on his stunned face and it is epic. He deserved to have his ass beat by her, in my opinion, but at least Caroline can show restraint.
Stefan takes Elena to Caroline’s house (right after she has a confrontation with Tyler) and Caroline answers the door and it turns out Elena and Bonnie are with him and there’s this huge emotional moment and I burst into tears again. The hug between Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie really symbolizes their friendship and how they’re still all together even though they’ve all had their doubts. The fact that Stefan is so sweet and caring makes me cry, too – it is really just a lovely moment between the three girls and Stefan.
The episode ends with another Damon crisis moment, and honestly, these moments are turning out to be some of the best parts of season two – they are so beautiful and poignant, yet so devastating, heart breaking and sad. Suffice to say, Damon ends up sleeping with the reporter he turned down earlier and the two share a very existential wine bubble bath. Once again, naked Damon! This time, though, even though he’s naked and with a girl, I’m actually concentrating on his crisis, because it is continuing to play a significant role. He compels the reporter, Andie Star, to not be afraid of him, and he uses this moment to continue to reveal his feelings concerning Elena. He explains that he kills "because I like it. It's in my nature. It's who I am. But then I have to stay together to protect her, and she wants me to be the better man, which means I can't be who I am." Once again, great performance by Ian Somerhalder. I cry – again – it’s just too heartbreaking. He ends up biting her, but not in the I’M GOING TO KILL YOU kind of way, but the erotic, ‘you’re gonna be my lunch for a few weeks’ kinda way.
The episode ends with – FINALLY – Katherine in the tomb. Good to know she’s still holding out in there – we’ve missed our favourite safest psychotic bitch in town. But, oh wait – this is The Vampire Diaries, remember, and they’re not just gonna pan a shot of Katherine and leave it be. Oh, no. Guess who shows up for a chat? Uncle John. BECAUSE HE’S APPARENTLY TRYING TO GET HER OUT! “This is between you, me, and Isobel.”
Oy. Next week is gonna be another hell of a ride, I suspect. Stay tuned for “Crying Wolf,” airing next Thursday on the CW at 8/7 c. And if you’ve seen the extended preview, you’ll know things don’t stay very romantic at that lake house for long; as a matter of fact, looks like things get a little ‘torture-y.’
Sources - I did the screen caps myself, but obviously all images are (C) the CW.
Sources - I did the screen caps myself, but obviously all images are (C) the CW.
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