The Vampire Diaries – Episode 2-2 Review

Shows

Geez, remind me to never work at a high school carnival.

So the second episode of the series’ sophomore season had Elena attempting to live the life of an ordinary teenage girl, while the lives of those around her transformed into anything but that.  Caroline woke up to discover she is a vampire, Tyler was slowly discovering that there’s something unnatural about him, Jeremy learned the ins and outs on how to kill a vampire, and Bonnie visited her vengeful side when confronted with a difficult realization.

In a lot of ways, that pretty much sums up the episode.  This is by no means a criticism, but for the most part not a whole lot happened.  This was clearly an episode intended to set us up for what’s to come throughout the season.  Yes, Caroline being turned into a vampire is a pretty big deal, and I’m very curious to see how they’ll handle it.  Will Bonnie conjure up a magical ring so that she can walk around in daylight?  Will Stefan feel guilty and offer his ring?  If neither of those scenarios transpire, how long will she be able to continue this charade?

If nothing else, I really enjoyed the scene between her and Stefan in the bathroom.  Actually, I thought Stefan was pretty likable throughout, and it made me realize that while his dark turn at the end of last season was a lot of fun, overall he’s a far better character as the perennial good guy.  And am I mistaken, but does this leave Matt as the only regular character who isn’t supernatural and doesn’t know about the existence of vampires (that is, if you don’t count Jenna as a regular)?

Another thing I found interesting:  The fact that Stefan and Damon aren’t aware of the existence of werewolves.  You’d think after being alive so long, and being fully aware of witches, they’d have heard about werewolves.  Or at least seen True Blood.  Or….sigh…..Twilight.  Hell, even Buffy!  I mean, I would’ve been surprised if werewolves didn’t exist.

If I had one complaint about this show, it’s that Elena is far too forgiving when it comes to Damon.  I understand that they’re supposed to have a love/hate relationship, and that there’s supposed to be suppressed sexual tension between them, but Damon essentially brutally murdered Elena’s innocent little brother with pure malice, and Elena is treating it like he read her diary.

Other than that minor quibble, I really did enjoy this episode.  The characters continue to grow and I’m interested in seeing where the various stories are going.  This may have been a “filler” in many ways, but it was a fun hour nonetheless.

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into various popular television shows. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.