100 Reviews: 7
Jun. 10th, 2012 10:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthOkay, let’s do this thing. This will probably be the longest of these things I’ve done so far (though not nearly as long as my TVD ep reviews can get during the season since I’m not going play by play).
TVD 2x08: Rose
First the small stuff, or everything not related to the Elena-Elijah-Rose-Trevor scenes because apparently there are other people on this show besides elder vampires and doppelgangers. The Caroline/Tyler stuff is sweet; the Stefan-Damon stuff is bromancey; the Jeremy and Bonnie stuff is perfectly fine (I would like to note how far the show has fallen since at this point Elena was perfectly happy to get away from the Triangle boys and go be with her brother and BFF when she’d just been through an awful experience).
Now onto the main point of the episode: Elijah and everything he represents.
Basically the first time I watched this episode my thoughts were basically:
1) Woot, elder vampires with their own underground society and rules and customs and ancient grudges. The show can only benefit from this.
2) Wow, elder vampires are hot.
3) Terrifying, but hot
4) And thankfully not so easily killed as it would appear because I want more of this guy.
To take these points in order
1) At this point it’s the 30th episode of the show, and so far most of the threats have been tied into the characters’ personal history or at least that of Mystic Falls. Which was fine, and a really good way to structure the first season of the show, but Katherine was basically the pinnacle of that, being *so* personally connected with the Salvatores’ backstory. And while at the time I definitely had reservations about how quickly she was dealt with, the show really needed to open the world a little. There needed to be vampires who weren’t connected to this little pocket of the world. The show had been kind of hinting that direction to this point in s2, through the Sun and the Moon curse and the implications for vampire society as a whole rather than just those we knew, but we needed to see that there was a larger vampire society for that to have any meaning.
First we meet Rose and Trevor (and can I just say that I find Trevor on oddly interesting minor character, but mostly for his connections to Rose and Elijah, and I guess Katherine. I wish we had a way to learn more about him) and they’re complete unknowns to us and the characters. Sure they’re connected with Kat, but in a way that speaks to the age of vampires, not all around the small time frame we had previously gotten. And then in the same episode the vampire world is opened up even further all the way back to the Originals who appear to have some kind of overarching authority in the world of vampires (whether or not this makes sense now is debatable, but it was a logical conclusion at the time). All of this spelled good things in my book.
2) At this point in the series my views of the men of this show fell into the categories; Jedi’s inner high school self is attracted to (Matt, Jeremy), people I wouldn’t argue with others calling them attractive but did nothing for me (Stefan, Damon), Tyler who I disliked so much as a character I had no opinion on appearance-wise, and Alaric who I usually forgot to consider to this point even though he was probably the one who did the most for me. And then enter Elijah and HOT DAMN I finally could get into the eye candy aspect of the show (you may recall that I often relate this show to my Robin Hood obsession but RH had a much higher quotient of eye candy (and even more willingness to put the eye candy in bondage)).
3) It’s weird, because Gillies doesn’t really make for an imposing figure, but as Elijah he can be absolutely terrifying. I suppose a lot of props are due to the director because the camera work/lighting/music all work to make this not particularly scary looking man into one bad ass seeming mofo. I never even questioned that this guy was infinitely more powerful than Katherine as a villain, and we’d just come off seeing how unprepared are heroes were even to deal with Kat as a big bad.
4) Right from the start Elijah showed fascinating promise as a character. His carefully worded deal with Rose, his complete confidence in his abilities, and well of course the shallow aspect. So I was really happy when he wasn’t dead in the end, and I’m even more happy now that he wasn’t dead at the end of this episode.
This is where we go more into comparing initial-Elijah with later-Elijah and now-Elijah, because surviving this was how we over time got to know Elijah as a character rather than the nigh-untouchable presence he is here (you know, outside of the daggers we haven’t really seen Elijah hurt since this episode, funny that). He showed fascinating promise as a character from the beginning, but I would never have guessed the character he would develop into as we peeled back the layers we could barely even guess at here.
I seem to be about the only Elena/Elijah shipper out there who finds their initial meeting not the least bit romantic or even sexy. I find it creepy and disturbing...mostly. There’s just a moment, when Elijah is amused by her moxy to try and negotiate with him when he’s already proven he can just compel her that shows the faintest flicker of the dynamic they will eventually have. That she’s not cowed by him and in spite of himself he’s impressed by that fact (if you asked him at this point he’d say he just found it funny and maybe even annoying, but it sets things in motion for him to go and make deals with her in a couple episodes).
I keep trying to explore Elijah thinking back on his behavior here from later points in the series, I did a little in WSC, but I didn’t really touch on what he actually felt during those scenes, much less that he rips his mother/sister’s necklace off her. I haven’t managed to write anything but that part of WSC to my satisfaction though, because it’s a complicated ball of Elijah feelings. Because reflective-Elijah is going to be more focused on the Elena factor that Elijah was in the moment when he was thinking about Klaus (with undertones of the rest of his family, and Katherine and Tatia) and it seems hard to convey both. Anyway, writing diversion over...
So yeah, this episode is great, even I pretty much forget anything else that happened besides the introduction of Rose and Elijah. The rest of it’s okay but what matters is that it moved the show into a whole new area that would ultimately make me finally fall in love with the show in a way that took a long time for me to manage.
Next time:
I’m really not sure, maybe more Doctor Who, maybe some Game of Thrones, maybe something else.
Suggestions for reviews?
TVD 2x08: Rose
First the small stuff, or everything not related to the Elena-Elijah-Rose-Trevor scenes because apparently there are other people on this show besides elder vampires and doppelgangers. The Caroline/Tyler stuff is sweet; the Stefan-Damon stuff is bromancey; the Jeremy and Bonnie stuff is perfectly fine (I would like to note how far the show has fallen since at this point Elena was perfectly happy to get away from the Triangle boys and go be with her brother and BFF when she’d just been through an awful experience).
Now onto the main point of the episode: Elijah and everything he represents.
Basically the first time I watched this episode my thoughts were basically:
1) Woot, elder vampires with their own underground society and rules and customs and ancient grudges. The show can only benefit from this.
2) Wow, elder vampires are hot.
3) Terrifying, but hot
4) And thankfully not so easily killed as it would appear because I want more of this guy.
To take these points in order
1) At this point it’s the 30th episode of the show, and so far most of the threats have been tied into the characters’ personal history or at least that of Mystic Falls. Which was fine, and a really good way to structure the first season of the show, but Katherine was basically the pinnacle of that, being *so* personally connected with the Salvatores’ backstory. And while at the time I definitely had reservations about how quickly she was dealt with, the show really needed to open the world a little. There needed to be vampires who weren’t connected to this little pocket of the world. The show had been kind of hinting that direction to this point in s2, through the Sun and the Moon curse and the implications for vampire society as a whole rather than just those we knew, but we needed to see that there was a larger vampire society for that to have any meaning.
First we meet Rose and Trevor (and can I just say that I find Trevor on oddly interesting minor character, but mostly for his connections to Rose and Elijah, and I guess Katherine. I wish we had a way to learn more about him) and they’re complete unknowns to us and the characters. Sure they’re connected with Kat, but in a way that speaks to the age of vampires, not all around the small time frame we had previously gotten. And then in the same episode the vampire world is opened up even further all the way back to the Originals who appear to have some kind of overarching authority in the world of vampires (whether or not this makes sense now is debatable, but it was a logical conclusion at the time). All of this spelled good things in my book.
2) At this point in the series my views of the men of this show fell into the categories; Jedi’s inner high school self is attracted to (Matt, Jeremy), people I wouldn’t argue with others calling them attractive but did nothing for me (Stefan, Damon), Tyler who I disliked so much as a character I had no opinion on appearance-wise, and Alaric who I usually forgot to consider to this point even though he was probably the one who did the most for me. And then enter Elijah and HOT DAMN I finally could get into the eye candy aspect of the show (you may recall that I often relate this show to my Robin Hood obsession but RH had a much higher quotient of eye candy (and even more willingness to put the eye candy in bondage)).
3) It’s weird, because Gillies doesn’t really make for an imposing figure, but as Elijah he can be absolutely terrifying. I suppose a lot of props are due to the director because the camera work/lighting/music all work to make this not particularly scary looking man into one bad ass seeming mofo. I never even questioned that this guy was infinitely more powerful than Katherine as a villain, and we’d just come off seeing how unprepared are heroes were even to deal with Kat as a big bad.
4) Right from the start Elijah showed fascinating promise as a character. His carefully worded deal with Rose, his complete confidence in his abilities, and well of course the shallow aspect. So I was really happy when he wasn’t dead in the end, and I’m even more happy now that he wasn’t dead at the end of this episode.
This is where we go more into comparing initial-Elijah with later-Elijah and now-Elijah, because surviving this was how we over time got to know Elijah as a character rather than the nigh-untouchable presence he is here (you know, outside of the daggers we haven’t really seen Elijah hurt since this episode, funny that). He showed fascinating promise as a character from the beginning, but I would never have guessed the character he would develop into as we peeled back the layers we could barely even guess at here.
I seem to be about the only Elena/Elijah shipper out there who finds their initial meeting not the least bit romantic or even sexy. I find it creepy and disturbing...mostly. There’s just a moment, when Elijah is amused by her moxy to try and negotiate with him when he’s already proven he can just compel her that shows the faintest flicker of the dynamic they will eventually have. That she’s not cowed by him and in spite of himself he’s impressed by that fact (if you asked him at this point he’d say he just found it funny and maybe even annoying, but it sets things in motion for him to go and make deals with her in a couple episodes).
I keep trying to explore Elijah thinking back on his behavior here from later points in the series, I did a little in WSC, but I didn’t really touch on what he actually felt during those scenes, much less that he rips his mother/sister’s necklace off her. I haven’t managed to write anything but that part of WSC to my satisfaction though, because it’s a complicated ball of Elijah feelings. Because reflective-Elijah is going to be more focused on the Elena factor that Elijah was in the moment when he was thinking about Klaus (with undertones of the rest of his family, and Katherine and Tatia) and it seems hard to convey both. Anyway, writing diversion over...
So yeah, this episode is great, even I pretty much forget anything else that happened besides the introduction of Rose and Elijah. The rest of it’s okay but what matters is that it moved the show into a whole new area that would ultimately make me finally fall in love with the show in a way that took a long time for me to manage.
Next time:
I’m really not sure, maybe more Doctor Who, maybe some Game of Thrones, maybe something else.
Suggestions for reviews?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-06-11 04:19 pm (UTC)/guilty look
much less that he rips his mother/sister’s necklace off her.
Yeah, that was a retcon. I don't think there's any way to make sense of that.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-11 04:46 pm (UTC)The necklace thing...I mostly just assume he's not made a big deal out of family jewelry especially since as far as he know they're all dead but Klaus (and Mikael, I think he knew Mikael was around, not that anyone really cared). In order to make it all hang together I figure he was at most like "That looks a little like a necklace Rebekah used to wear but whatever; more immediate concerns like decapitating Trevor," because really what were the odds of that happening? Yeah it's a retcon, but I don't think it's impossible to make it work together.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-11 04:53 pm (UTC)Actually, I think you've pointed out why he should have made a big deal of it. What are the chances that his sister's necklace would turn up on the doppelgänger's neck? It's a fairly distinctive necklace but he doesn't recognise it at all, since at that time there wasn't any reason to.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-11 07:55 pm (UTC)(shrug) I don't really have a problem thinking that in the moment he missed the necklace. Now the fact that he has several more chances to notice over the next few episodes and didn't even mention it when we got around to 2x19 does make the retcon aspect rather glaring.