The Vampire Diaries:Masquerade

By Dawn Del Sontro

I started out my experience with The Vampire Diaries at the series premiere. That lasted about a third of the year before I lost interest and wandered away on to better things. Like washing my hair or reading the back of a shampoo bottle. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; love between a teenager and a vampire just doesn’t work for me unless we are talking Buffy and Angel. Even those two knew when it end it before it got stupid.

The only thing that brought me back to TVD was so that I could do this review.

So I’m back. Initially? Meh. The episodes I watched were more of the same. Then I watched the finale and the new season premiere so I could catch up on what I missed. Both of those rocked which only makes me dislike the next episodes all the more.

Then? Then it did something unexpected. It got good and it’s stayed mostly good. It made me look forward to Thursdays (even without Supernatural as a follow up). Admittedly, I go into the show each week not expecting much because this isn’t my favorite thing. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy it when it’s good.

This week? This week wasn’t great, but it most certainly was good. Now that’s not saying that there weren’t issues. It had some things that didn’t work for me. It had some things that made me go “Really? Come on!” But that didn’t take away from the moments of pure freaking fantastic-ness.

After the events of last week, Katherine is still after the moonstone. Still have no clue why. But the Salvatore brothers have it and Katherine wants it and I’m hoping for a battle with so bloody that there is a body count. If you couldn’t tell, I like my vampires evil and out for blood.

Which is where Katherine comes in. Everyone group of heroes is looking to stake her after her awesome evilness of last week. And by everyone, I mean everyone not Jenna, Alaric or Elena. Good. Because those three are weakest of the ensemble and I’m happier when they aren’t around.

Nina Dobrev must be having a blast in this role, and she’s so good as Katherine. She’s flattening her hair so she can storm the Lockwood Masquerade. Oh look, she also has her own witch on retainer. Everyone has plans within plans making following the show this week almost as confusing as Inception. I loved that movie, if that means anything to how I liked this episode.

Matt works hard at his assigned task from Katherine and for a moment I want Tyler to kill him, because Blondie is being just a jerk. Good job, Matt.

Bonnie is in the house and with the power of her witchy mind she senses the other witch. I believe her name is Lucy, but I don’t really care because the point of her being here is meaningless aside from making the show work correctly. I also find myself wondering why it couldn’t have been of our well-established heroes that ended this and not so new, poorly explained character.

Katherine makes her presence known to Stefan and makes him dance with her by threatening the normal people. She wants the stone. He refuses. She makes threats. He refuses still. Then, in a moment that made my husband and I both shout “Damn!”, Katherine grabs the nearest random girl, snaps her spine and then kills her. Yes people, this is how a vampire is meant to act.

I LOVE this evil woman. She’s all, “Paralyzed from the waist down. Dead. Where’s my damn moonstone!” That should teach Stefan.

And it does for about five seconds until Damon talks some sense into him. So they set the plan in motion, which is a bunch of misdirects on both sides so that Caroline can lead Katherine into the room of doom where she is now trapped with Stefan and Damon.

Epic vampire fight ensues with Stefan and Damon both dealing out the pain with stakes of wood. Katherine, no slouch herself, beats some of the pretty even after being wounded. Our boys have the upper hand and it looks like Katherine’s reign of terror is about to come to an end.

At least, until Bonnie and Jeremy realize that whatever happens to Katherine happens to Elena. Yup. That convenient witch put a spell on the look a likes. Which means, Katherine gets a reprieve, because despite my protests, no one wants Elena dead.

Bonnie, who I am starting to like since she’s less judgy and more badass, finds the other witch and again with the convenience, they happen to be related and Bonnie trusts her. Yeah, cause that makes sense. Whatever, show.

The vampires in lockdown talk some more and hang out like they are all BFFs. That’s going no where quick, at least until Lucy the witch arrives with the moonstone. The entrapment spell on the room is down, the moonstone is Katherine’s. But wait. What’s this?

Katherine is writhing on the floor in pain because after all the plotting by our cast, it’s the new witch that takes out the baddie. This same witch has released the spell binding Elena’s pain with Katherine. Lucy is the deus ex machina and I call party foul. I would have preferred anyone else, and by anyone, I mean even Jenna, being the one to take out the awesome Katherine. Or at least Bonnie having to go all dark side to make this new witch bend to her will. They’d better bring Lucy back later and make her important for this bit of plot manipulation to sit well with me.

Somewhere in the midst of all this Matt is trying to get Tyler to kill him. That plan would have worked were it not for Super-Caroline who steps in right at the nick of time and brains Matt with her mighty vampire elbow. Only, Katherine has a contingency plan in the form of Random girl #2. She stabs Tyler who shoves her and, oops, she’s dead and he’s a werewolf. Wow. Could they have spared any LESS time with that subplot?

With Katherine incapacitated, Stefan runs straight to Elena. But Elena is all, Nah. I guess the writers figured that they had to keep this break up for longer than one episode. She pulls the-I need-to-find-myself card or something and then hobbles away. Getting almost killed by proxy probably hurt. And no, I still don’t care about her.

Katherine isn’t dead. Which makes me happy because I love her so. She’s just locked away in another magic room of doom. She has the moonstone, but Damon isn’t falling for her pleading and begging. Even as she tells him that they must protect Elena, he vows he’ll do it, and locks her away. For a moment I thought it was going to cave and let her out, for her or Elena. He keeps his wits and my respect and locks her in.

Side note: I wonder if someone will realize that they might be able to break the spell on Tyler with that stone they so stupidly locked inside with the rabid vampire.

On to the cliffhanger ending. We pan to Elena, who of course ends up in the paws of a masked creep. Our new baddie picks up our dull heroine, clamps a hand over her mouth and steals her away into next week. Hey, at least Stefan isn’t the damsel this go round.

This episode wasn’t without its issues. New characters doing what our cast should do. Moments that should be epic, happening way too quickly. I’ll let it off the hook if the show continues improve each week.

Caroline holds true to her new character. Tyler could make a good ally. Damon isn’t at Katherine’s beck and call. Now, if they could only make Elena just a little bit interesting.

Dawn Del Sontro lives in Virginia with her husband and three children. She’s been working on her best selling novel for so long that when it does come out, it’s going to end the world as we know it. In her spare time, she plays video games to wrack up her headshot count and prepares her family for the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse. As she likes to tell her friends and family, “Zombieland and World War Z aren’t just entertainment, they are guides for survival. Resident Evil is a prophecy of the future.”

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