Yes! Another flashback episode! These are always the best. Can't go wrong with flaming torches and nifty vamp mouth gizmos. Wasn't expecting Past Stefan and Damon to both get shot to death. Nice cutting between Present Damon and Elena with Past Damon and Katherine (especially Elena/Katherine saying "I love you, Stefan."). The editing was really well done, showing the past and the present. Good on Damon for pointing out, when Elena was saying it was hard seeing Stefan locked up, that it was *she* who locked Stefan up (but then, good on Elena for pointing out Damon helped. His line about how he couldn't have Stefan "running around chewing on people" amused me).
How very Damon - the first thing he did, after being turned, was take his shirt off. I like Past Damon and how his overly emotional self contrasted nicely against snark-y/closed-off Present Damon.
Heh, I liked Damon and Alaric's "I'm not going with you, you tried to kill me."/"Yeah, well, you *did* kill me." exchange (and then the way Damon held the phone over his mouth, telling Alaric to hold on, as he answered his other call - from Elena - with "What?", was amusing as well). Not amusing? Damon saying Stefan's favourite type of blood was puppy blood (little Golden Retriever puppies). Elena was right to be disgusted.
Interesting that newly-vamped Damon would rather die than feed on people, and without Katherine, he wanted it "over".
Good call, Elena - when Damon said she was very trusting of Stefan, and she retorted with the fact that Damon is too (otherwise he wouldn't be leaving Elena alone with Stefan). This proves that Elena has accepted Damon cares about her safety.
Damon and Alaric are great as a duo. Their scene with Henry (one of the "Tomb Boys") was amusing. Despite how briefly he was on screen, Henry managed to be funny with his talk of learning the ropes from John.
Speaking of, John was really a jerk to Pearl in their scene. I cheered her on when she told him to rot in hell.
Damn. Stefan and Damon's dad was who shot them? I had an inkling when seeing them get shot, but I'm glad they confirmed it. Then Stefan said he was going to let himself die, but his dad couldn't wait that long and was going to stake Stefan, only for him to toss his father and accidentally impale him on his own stake (that's what you get for trying to stake your son!). Stefan practically looked like he was wearing lipstick after tasting his father's blood and fully turning into a vampire. Kinda freaky.
The mental picture Damon painted, when having a drink with Alaric, of what Alaric expected to find (Isobel with a cigar and slippers) amused me just as much as it apparently amused Alaric. I liked them bonding over their obsessions with the two women in their lives (Katherine and Isobel).
I also liked Damon joining Elena on the couch (lifting her feet to rest them on his lap was a nice touch).
Okay, talk about 'twist'. So Stefan was the one who really got into being a vampire right from the start, whereas Damon wasn't just appalled to hear Stefan fed on their father, but he also *didn't* want to feed on the girl who Stefan compelled and brought to Damon as food. Have to say...I hadn't expected this. Nice role reversal from what we're used to seeing. It definitely paints Past Vampire Stefan in a less than positive light (and lets us see that Damon was not always the blood-thirty 'bad' brother he is now). And thank you, Elena, for finally calling Damon on the fact that he keeps pretending he doesn't care about Stefan (when we know that he *does*).
Nice to see the scene (referenced in the very first episode) where Damon swore to make Stefan's life an eternity of misery. Glad to see the writers remembered this. Seeing Stefan freaking out/on the verge of breaking down, after being confronted by ghostly Kendra from Buffy, was some really good acting on Paul Wesley's part. Both Wesley and Dobrev were excellent in the TVD version of Angel's scene from the Buffy Season 3 episode 'Amends'. I was really glad to see him come to her (after putting on the ring/calling out her name) and kissing her. I also liked seeing her reaction to hearing him call her name.
NO! Pearl got staked! Damnit! Once again, this shows kills off another awesome character.
I was glad to hear Damon telling Stefan that his actions weren't Stefan's fault. Interesting that the reason Damon hates Stefan isn't because he "forced" Damon to turn, but because Katherine turned Stefan (and it was just supposed to be Damon who she turned).
I felt sorry for Anna, discovering her dead mother (after all she'd gone through to bring her back). Pearl, you were awesome. I'm sad you had to die, but we know now the life expectancy of awesome characters on this show is pretty short. Oh, and poor vamp man too.
John? You are SO dead meat for offing Pearl, you bastard!
Though her name being in the guest star credits kinda gave away any surprise there might have been to her appearing in the episode, that was still a great ending - with Isobel showing up at the bar. Alaric's reaction to her voice said it all. And, damn, Mia Kirshner is still stunning. It is SO good to see her on my screen again (although I'm guessing that, like Pearl, she'll meet the pointy end of a stake sooner or later).
I knew this episode would be good, and it didn't disappoint. More awesome episodes set in the past, please, show! This one explained quite a lot, and I enjoyed it immensely. I'm looking forward to the final episodes of the season.
13 out of 15 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
