Starting off where season one ended, season two opens at the Gilbert house with Uncle John mistaking Katherine for Elena. Now if, you'll remember, John is actually Elena's father, the brother of her adoptive father, who is descended from the founding Gilbert family who tried to round up the town's vampires back in the 1800s. Katherine is the one who turned Damon and Stefan into vampires way back when, a fact that Stefan would like to forget, while Damon has been searching and pining for her for these hundreds of years. Damon turned Isobel, Elena's mother, who was married to Elena's history teacher, Alaric, who came to Mystic Falls to kill Damon, who has seemingly moved on from Katherine to Elena. Problem is, Elena's in love with Stefan.
No matter how hard he tries, Damon is a Salvatore brother that just can’t catch a break. He tried being the bad seed, the one who doesn’t care, the snarky adult who doesn’t mind being hated. But behind all his antics, Damon craves acceptance and love more than human blood.
As alone as he feels, Damon isn't the only Mystic Falls male whose life sucks (pun intended - this is a vampire show, after all). In fact, season two appears to belong to these easy-on-the-eyes brooders who push away everyone around them when all they really want and need is to hug them.
Exhibit A: Daddy/Uncle John
A fairly new character, it's too early to tell what this guy's deal is. As a descendant of one of the founding families, he takes his legacy quite seriously and is on a mission to rid Mystic Falls of its blood-sucking invaders. He knows a lot, but reveals little - as strong as his distaste is for vampires, he’s also willing to work with them to accomplish his ultimate, yet-to-be-revealed goal.
One of those vampires is Katherine. Unbeknownst to everyone, she's back and mistaken for Elena everywhere she goes, getting invited into all sorts of houses (how convenient). So when she saunters into the Gilbert kitchen, John thinks nothing of engaging her in conversation and letting his guard down. "How’s Jeremy?" Katherine takes a moment to think (or use her super-hearing vampire powers?) before informing him that he’s "holed up in his room." Next thing you know, Katherine takes a knife and chops off his fingers to detach his magical life-saving ring before driving the knife into his abdomen with a playful, "Hello, John. Goodbye, John."
Since this cannot be the end of dear new daddy, Elena is at that very moment walking up to the house to check on Jeremy. And since Elena is a good, sweet person, she attends to the uncle she doesn't like/father she doesn’t know, putting pressure on his wounds while shakingly calling 911. She doesn't even think to look around for the assailant, which of course means that Katherine is standing in the background, watching with curious delight. It takes a couple "Behind you" warnings for Elena to figure out they’re not alone, but it doesn't matter – humans are no match for that vampire speed, so every time she turns around with knife in hand, no one is there.
Of course, it would've been more informative if John just said, "It's Katherine," but as previously mentioned, he's not the most doting or helpful of men. Near death experience or not, John is as stubborn and close-minded as they get. Sure, Elena saved his life, but that doesn't mean he's gonna help her and her vampire boyfriend find Katherine. Oh, no. That would imply a level of gratitude. In his eyes, any daughter of his would've staked Stefan a long time ago. As experienced as he appears to be with vampires, John sure doesn't seem to remember not to piss them off. As Elena walks out disgusted at her father's hatred, Stefan lingers behind, tears open his wrist and forces John to drink his blood. If John isn't going to help them, he's going to turn him into what he hates more than himself. To avoid it, John has 24 hours to leave town and hope he doesn't get killed in the process. Goodbye, John, is right.
Exhibit B: Brother/Cousin Jeremy
Jeremy has the habit of falling for unavailable women. First there was Matt's sister Vicki, who was screwing Tyler and running to drugs, alcohol, and Jeremy for comfort when Tyler wasn't in a trailer trash mood. This was often, and so was her inebriation, which soon found her in Damon’s bored and mischievous path. Next thing you know, Vicki's an out of control vampire who meets an untimely death when she bum rushes Elena in Stefan’s presence. Having already suffered the loss of his parents, Elena doesn't want Jeremy to suffer even more and has Damon erase Jeremy’s memories surrounding Vicki’s disappearance.
While his mind may have forgotten, his heart hasn't and soon Jeremy finds himself in the company of Anna, a teenage vampire from the founding family days whose mother was friends with Katherine and locked up in a tomb. At first, Anna is using Jeremy to get to his ancestor's journal (which could hold the secret to freeing momma Pearl) and Jeremy is using Anna because he finds out what really happened to Vicki and wants to be turned so he can find her. But when you’re as hot and lonely as these two, feelings soon follow, as does a vial of Anna's blood and instructions on how Jeremy can live the life immortal: die with vampire blood in your system and once you wake up, drink human blood to make the transformation complete.
With life on an upswing, Jeremy is starting to sport a smile more than once a day. That is, until the founding families use a device that renders all the town's vampires defenseless and round them all up to burn, burn, burn. While Damon and Stefan make it out OK, Damon breaks the news that he couldn't save Anna and offers to make Jeremy forget (again). If anyone understands Jeremy's loss, it's Damon - he's just lucky that as a vampire, he can choose to shut off his feelings.
This is a much more viable option to Jeremy. After all, he wanted to become a vampire anyway. So he after bidding Damon adieu, he chugs Anna’s blood, pops a bunch of pills, and passes out. Much to Jeremy's disappointment, Elena is able to wake him up from his attempt to take his own (after)life and finds himself unchanged - he feels exactly the same (in constant teen angst). Stefan, checks Jeremy's eyes to determine he's still mortal and tells him that Anna's blood is leaving his system so if he tries to kill himself again, he will actually die. Little brother didn't take enough pills so Anna's blood healed him.
Exhibit C: Anger-Issues Tyler
Tyler hasn't done much so far, other than Vicki. Their relationship alone illustrates what a d-bag he is. That, and the fact that he made out with Vicki's (and Matt's) mom. In public. When he’s not busy bullying everyone else, he’s getting bullied by his father, the Mystic Falls mayor. It's not hard to figure out the root of his issues.
Or is it? The vampire-detecting device that went off last season also had an effect on Tyler and his dad. Tyler ended up crashing his car, while daddy met a popular political end and died. Everyone aware of the device and its intended targets is trying to unravel the mystery since the Lockwoods are certainly not vampires.
Enter Uncle Mason, who arrives in town for the funeral. Tall, handsome, and blue-eyed, he epitomizes the inner peace and calm that Tyler struggles to find. After lashing out at his mother as he grieves his dad's death, Tyler is tackled by his uncle who reminds him he needs to stay calm. Tyler wants to, but doesn't know how. Everyone in Mystic Falls seems to have a secret, and Mason has obviously come to town to share his with Tyler. Too bad no one else will see it coming...
Exhibit D: Dastardly Damon
The Salvatores became vampires in 1864, so they've had quite some time to deal with their issues (and acquire more). Damon used to be a bright, vivacious lad, full of hope, generosity, and love - Katherine really did bring out the best in him. His brother Stefan was another story.
As much as Damon loved Katherine and willingly consumed her blood, she also wanted Stefan with her for eternity and compelled him to drink from her as well. Damon never has been the sharing type and once Katherine fell into the hands of the founding families, Damon no longer had a reason or the will to become a vampire. Stefan had other ideas after he was accidentally exposed to and drank their father's blood - if he was fated to walk the earth forever, he wanted his brother with him. Though content to die, Damon couldn't resist Stefan's promises of strength (including the strength to forget about his love for Katherine) nor the bloody neck of the woman Stefan held in his arms. Both Salvatore brothers were now transformed, but much like Jeremy, Damon heart was exactly the same - consumed and broken by his love for Katherine and his brother's betrayal.
146 years later, Damon's black wardrobe signifies a now dark, foreboding nature: he strikes first (physically and emotionally) so he's the one inflicting, and not receiving, pain. But the more this boy tries not to have a heart, the more he does. He hides it well, always ready with a witty one-liner or an obnoxious, dangerous act, but all this Salvatore needs is validation that he is worthy and not destined to wander the earth alone forever. Except, every attempt only ends in rejection.
Sure, he pissed off Bonnie, who blames him for her grandmother's death, but it doesn’t stop him from trying to earn her trust or forgiveness. So when Bonnie can't think of a spell to save Caroline after the car accident, he offers to give her his blood as a peace offering. Bonnie realizes that she played a role in Caroline's injury because she didn't disable the vampire-catching device, the device affected Tyler who was driving Caroline home, the car crashed. Guilt can be a terrible thing, so she’s in for saving Caroline, but not Damon's truce. Rejection #1.
Elena is wary of this plan, but even more cautious about Damon's state of mind now that Katherine is back in town. He insists that he's fine and will just ignore her, but Elena doesn't buy it. She knows as undead as he is, he still has a heart and it must be hurting. But he's more interested in Elena's heart and whether it pines for him. Even though it turns out he was physically kissing Katherine, the sparks he felt were for Elena. While Elena’s not surprised that Damon would kiss her, she’s surprised that he thinks she would kiss him back. Rejection #2.
Even though Damon can't seem to win anyone over, he deserves kudos for putting himself out there. And he does so big time when Katherine finally pays him a visit. She's willing to banter, challenging him to kiss or kill her. When he decides to go the kissing route, she's willing to take it all the way until he stops to ask about her feelings. He's been searching and pining her for all these years and wants to start fresh and live forever with her. Despite their chemistry, he has never had her heart. "It has always been Stefan." Rejection #3.
So what's Damon left to do? Go to Elena's for sympathy and one last attempt at encouragement for the hope he's been carrying around all these years. As she reminds him, she does care, but not in the way he's hoping because "it will always be Stefan." And with that, he snaps Jeremy’s neck, breaking Elena's trust in the process. Whatever love he hoped to get turns into hate, even after Elena discovers that Daddy/Uncle John gave Jeremy his healing ring on his way out of town. Stefan is sure Damon saw the ring before attacking Jeremy, but to Elena the damage is done and so is her concern for Damon.
And on her way out, Katherine stops by the hospital to pay Caroline a visit and ask her to pass on a message. "Game on," she declares before snapping Caroline’s neck.
It certainly is. Let's hope Damon's game finally gets him some action - and genuine love.
No comments:
Post a Comment