100 Reviews: 11
Jun. 28th, 2012 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthOkay, I so this episode seems to depend on what kind of mood I’m in, fair warning. Also warning that I ramble a lot for...reasons.
TVD: 2x11: By the Light of the Moon
Because apparently I wasn’t in a mood to get that let me get into this one tonight. I remember back when I first watched it I was kind of meh on it, then later I started to like it, but tonight I’m back to meh.
The Tyler and Caroline scenes just drag. When I’m feeling generous towards the ep I can appreciate the character bits, but they always take too long. And the scenes are dragged down further by the fact that they go to all this trouble to establish how awful turning into a werewolf is, but from here on it’s never that complicated. It’s important to the immediate next episodes to establish why Tyler will make some of the choices he makes, but even then I think it could have been done in less time.
The Bonnie and Luka stuff just feels like it’s missing pieces. We know from upcoming episodes that Bonnie wasn’t fooled but we’re never shown how she realized Luka was lying. Their arc through the episode feels really rushed and we’re not shown the ultimate conclusion. Actually watching it at one point it even LOOKS like something between them was cut out, as there’s an establishing shot of where they were doing spell casting but it cuts to Damon and Ric out on the street. Yes this episode is big on its establishing shots involving the moon, but it jumped out at me.
And again I’m back to saying they had ideas for Bonnie’s character this season, as this episode could be seen as furthering her learning of witch history/society/customs but it’s not actually presented that way. It’s presented as plot device management and shoring up one side of the love triangle rather than letting either of these characters actually be characters with feelings and arcs that matter. So yeah, I’m not saying it isn’t a problem, just that I think the writers thought they were doing better/more than they actually were.
The Stefan and Katherine stuff...didn’t really go anywhere. That’s always been my problem with the plot of Stefan getting himself locked in the tomb, it didn’t amount to anything. Both inside the cave or outside it, except showing Elena impressing Elijah with her negotiation skills (which, granted, is important if that’s the relationship you care about...). It’s set up as being this huge game changing thing, at least in the relationship dynamics of the show but it didn’t...well I think it did indirectly spawn the first round of Elena/Elijah shippers.
But before we get back to the scenes that really matter I should probably say something about the other plot thread. As has been pointed out by others more sly than I, a good chunk of this episode involves two of our male leads (or something like that in Ric’s case) trying to spike the drink of a girl at a bar And they’re really scenes that also feel like they go on longer than they need too
However I do love Rose in her couple scenes. But I’m dreading the next episode for her sake (and Damon’s manpire confessional, because that scene...I’ll discuss it next time when my feelings are fresher), because I love Rose and I don’t like watching her die.
But is only the second best thing about the episode, Elijah’s scenes kind of steal the show from anyone else. I guess first I should discuss this whole locking Elena in her house thing, which is not cool guys but like I said of the last episode I get it to a point when Elena seems to have a death wish. Not she actually does, but since no one on this show ever talks to each other no one is coming up with any actual plans; when Elena does try and discuss things Bonnie brushes it off as something to do later when Elena actually wants to have a plan. This, aside from wanting to make a deal with Elijah, is part of why it appeals to her: he has a plan. When she asks him how he plans to keep people safe, he has an answer. He has a goal, he has a plan, he has the means to go through with it. Since he also promises exactly what she wants to achieve she’s all over that like white on rice.
I’m pretty sure someone told Nina that Elena knew exactly what was going on in the subtext of Elijah’s deal, because she played it just right as if Elena’s waiting to hear him say he’s going to save her life, and there’s a moment when she realizes he’s not going to. And she decides she can live (and die) with that if it saves everyone else, but she’s going to ask for a little bit more.
Now Elijah this episode is playing to all fields. You’ve got the guy that could out-troll Klaus if he wanted to (showing up and acting all normal with Jenna to score and invite and able to subtly rub that in with Elena); scary ninja Elijah apparently coming in through the window to stop Elena from alerting Jeremy; Elijah basically in the course of a scene going from thinking Elena’s almost more trouble than she’s worth to thinking she’s kind of cool (even if he’s still planning on getting her killed); Elijah totally eyesexing Elena while they’re negotiating; and morally ambiguous, uncomfortable ally Elijah in his final scene with Katherine...and Stefan was there too (where he’s completely terrifying in truly awesome ways, it also involves the first appearance of Elijah’s favorite pet name for the ‘lovely Elena”).
In fact as great as the scenes between Elena and Elijah are, the interplay between Elijah and Kat may be even more interesting, but then I always love watching things where characters clearly have a history, and watching now we know (some portion) of that history. I’m not even sure Kat ever seems this terrified of Klaus and technically he’s the one she’s been running from for so long; probably because she, like we now do, knows Elijah’s the truly scary one (although one could blame the fact that she was hungry and tired at this point, but I like my version better). And he’s practically daring her to do something so he can start on her, but he does it in a classy way.
One last note, then a real last note. Knowing Elena’s deal with Elijah, her reunion with Stefan is rather bittersweet. Because they hadn’t really gotten back together since the Katherine stuff went down, and now all the things Elena did want to figure out before getting back together with him aren’t on the table anymore because she knows she’s going to die so she’s not going to worry about it at this point, she just wants to be happy for whatever time she had left. I never really had a problem with it before I considered that, but any issues I might have entertained get taken over by sadness at the reality of what’s going on with her at this point.
Now, the real last note. Since I was kind of meh about the episode this time it gave me a chance to think of something I hadn’t considered since I raced through the episodes the first time. I think this was the episode where I went from appreciating Elijah’s presence in the story to appreciating Elijah. Part of that’s in the text of the story, it’s the first time since his first appearance that they’ve had him as an actual character rather than just a mysterious presence in the story (and even his first episode there were just hints at the greater character beneath what he represented). And part of it is just how much his scenes stand out in this not so great episode. He’s in the episode for less than five minutes and he completely steals the show.
And, though I’m not saying I even retroactively ship them at this stage, a lot of that is probably because ND (as Elena and Kat) and DG (who plays it very differently off each of her characters, but with lots of intensity for both) just play off each other wonderfully. Those two are in the process of creating what will be a standout relationship on this show, even at this early stage. The characters aren’t there yet, but the...spark that will light the fire that fuels this ship is building.
(Have I mentioned I suck at metaphors?)
Next time:
I think I’ll go back to DW, or maybe RH, I have writing ideas for both that could use a brush up on character voices.
Got a more specific suggestion?
TVD: 2x11: By the Light of the Moon
Because apparently I wasn’t in a mood to get that let me get into this one tonight. I remember back when I first watched it I was kind of meh on it, then later I started to like it, but tonight I’m back to meh.
The Tyler and Caroline scenes just drag. When I’m feeling generous towards the ep I can appreciate the character bits, but they always take too long. And the scenes are dragged down further by the fact that they go to all this trouble to establish how awful turning into a werewolf is, but from here on it’s never that complicated. It’s important to the immediate next episodes to establish why Tyler will make some of the choices he makes, but even then I think it could have been done in less time.
The Bonnie and Luka stuff just feels like it’s missing pieces. We know from upcoming episodes that Bonnie wasn’t fooled but we’re never shown how she realized Luka was lying. Their arc through the episode feels really rushed and we’re not shown the ultimate conclusion. Actually watching it at one point it even LOOKS like something between them was cut out, as there’s an establishing shot of where they were doing spell casting but it cuts to Damon and Ric out on the street. Yes this episode is big on its establishing shots involving the moon, but it jumped out at me.
And again I’m back to saying they had ideas for Bonnie’s character this season, as this episode could be seen as furthering her learning of witch history/society/customs but it’s not actually presented that way. It’s presented as plot device management and shoring up one side of the love triangle rather than letting either of these characters actually be characters with feelings and arcs that matter. So yeah, I’m not saying it isn’t a problem, just that I think the writers thought they were doing better/more than they actually were.
The Stefan and Katherine stuff...didn’t really go anywhere. That’s always been my problem with the plot of Stefan getting himself locked in the tomb, it didn’t amount to anything. Both inside the cave or outside it, except showing Elena impressing Elijah with her negotiation skills (which, granted, is important if that’s the relationship you care about...). It’s set up as being this huge game changing thing, at least in the relationship dynamics of the show but it didn’t...well I think it did indirectly spawn the first round of Elena/Elijah shippers.
But before we get back to the scenes that really matter I should probably say something about the other plot thread. As has been pointed out by others more sly than I, a good chunk of this episode involves two of our male leads (or something like that in Ric’s case) trying to spike the drink of a girl at a bar And they’re really scenes that also feel like they go on longer than they need too
However I do love Rose in her couple scenes. But I’m dreading the next episode for her sake (and Damon’s manpire confessional, because that scene...I’ll discuss it next time when my feelings are fresher), because I love Rose and I don’t like watching her die.
But is only the second best thing about the episode, Elijah’s scenes kind of steal the show from anyone else. I guess first I should discuss this whole locking Elena in her house thing, which is not cool guys but like I said of the last episode I get it to a point when Elena seems to have a death wish. Not she actually does, but since no one on this show ever talks to each other no one is coming up with any actual plans; when Elena does try and discuss things Bonnie brushes it off as something to do later when Elena actually wants to have a plan. This, aside from wanting to make a deal with Elijah, is part of why it appeals to her: he has a plan. When she asks him how he plans to keep people safe, he has an answer. He has a goal, he has a plan, he has the means to go through with it. Since he also promises exactly what she wants to achieve she’s all over that like white on rice.
I’m pretty sure someone told Nina that Elena knew exactly what was going on in the subtext of Elijah’s deal, because she played it just right as if Elena’s waiting to hear him say he’s going to save her life, and there’s a moment when she realizes he’s not going to. And she decides she can live (and die) with that if it saves everyone else, but she’s going to ask for a little bit more.
Now Elijah this episode is playing to all fields. You’ve got the guy that could out-troll Klaus if he wanted to (showing up and acting all normal with Jenna to score and invite and able to subtly rub that in with Elena); scary ninja Elijah apparently coming in through the window to stop Elena from alerting Jeremy; Elijah basically in the course of a scene going from thinking Elena’s almost more trouble than she’s worth to thinking she’s kind of cool (even if he’s still planning on getting her killed); Elijah totally eyesexing Elena while they’re negotiating; and morally ambiguous, uncomfortable ally Elijah in his final scene with Katherine...and Stefan was there too (where he’s completely terrifying in truly awesome ways, it also involves the first appearance of Elijah’s favorite pet name for the ‘lovely Elena”).
In fact as great as the scenes between Elena and Elijah are, the interplay between Elijah and Kat may be even more interesting, but then I always love watching things where characters clearly have a history, and watching now we know (some portion) of that history. I’m not even sure Kat ever seems this terrified of Klaus and technically he’s the one she’s been running from for so long; probably because she, like we now do, knows Elijah’s the truly scary one (although one could blame the fact that she was hungry and tired at this point, but I like my version better). And he’s practically daring her to do something so he can start on her, but he does it in a classy way.
One last note, then a real last note. Knowing Elena’s deal with Elijah, her reunion with Stefan is rather bittersweet. Because they hadn’t really gotten back together since the Katherine stuff went down, and now all the things Elena did want to figure out before getting back together with him aren’t on the table anymore because she knows she’s going to die so she’s not going to worry about it at this point, she just wants to be happy for whatever time she had left. I never really had a problem with it before I considered that, but any issues I might have entertained get taken over by sadness at the reality of what’s going on with her at this point.
Now, the real last note. Since I was kind of meh about the episode this time it gave me a chance to think of something I hadn’t considered since I raced through the episodes the first time. I think this was the episode where I went from appreciating Elijah’s presence in the story to appreciating Elijah. Part of that’s in the text of the story, it’s the first time since his first appearance that they’ve had him as an actual character rather than just a mysterious presence in the story (and even his first episode there were just hints at the greater character beneath what he represented). And part of it is just how much his scenes stand out in this not so great episode. He’s in the episode for less than five minutes and he completely steals the show.
And, though I’m not saying I even retroactively ship them at this stage, a lot of that is probably because ND (as Elena and Kat) and DG (who plays it very differently off each of her characters, but with lots of intensity for both) just play off each other wonderfully. Those two are in the process of creating what will be a standout relationship on this show, even at this early stage. The characters aren’t there yet, but the...spark that will light the fire that fuels this ship is building.
(Have I mentioned I suck at metaphors?)
Next time:
I think I’ll go back to DW, or maybe RH, I have writing ideas for both that could use a brush up on character voices.
Got a more specific suggestion?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-06-29 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-29 07:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-30 04:40 pm (UTC)Those two are in the process of creating what will be a standout relationship on this show, even at this early stage. The characters aren’t there yet, but the...spark that will light the fire that fuels this ship is building.
LOL YES.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-30 08:34 pm (UTC)