I’ve got three words for you: Horn. Rimmed. Glasses.
That’s right, the absolutely awesome Jack Coleman (of Heroes fame) made a surprise (for me, anyway) appearance in the season’s second episode, where he revealed as some sort of vampire handler (amongst other things, but more on that later).
I initially viewed this episode as a set up for things to come. I don’t want to refer to it as “filler” because of the negative connotation associated with that word, but the purpose of the episode was to advance the story of the season. However, upon reflection, there was an ongoing theme of family throughout the hour. We had Elena reaching out to Alaric, attempting to get him to join her family. We had the ongoing struggle between Stefan and Damon – two brothers unable to let each other go. We had Tyler revealing to his mother that he (as well as his father and uncle) is a werewolf. We had Matt recollecting his memories of Vickie. And, finally, we discovered that HRG is Caroline’s father (that’s sorta his M.O. – the discovery that he’s the father of the people he’s seemingly against). Did anything earth shattering happen? No, not really. It’s still the episode that gives you the necessary information and puts the characters where they need to be for a later point, but it was still fun and entertaining.
Last week I noted my disappointment with Alaric moving out of the Gilbert household and that I hoped it didn’t mean his role was being downsized. Thankfully, they picked things up right where they left off and quickly resolved that issue. Elena finally got through to Alaric, telling him that both of them have essentially lost their entire families and that they need each other. In the end, Alaric decided to stick around and even moved into their house. Hooray!
I’ve also continued to enjoy the interaction between Jeremy and Matt. While Vickie was the first semi-major character to get killed, in a lot of ways her death was glossed over. The memory was erased from Jeremy’s head, and everyone else just assumed she went missing. This episode did a great job of delving into the emotional impact of her death, and the feeling of loss from those who were left behind – particularly Matt. And I’m now extremely intrigued by the dueling messages. Vickie claims she can come back, while Anna urges Jeremy not to trust her. Who does he believe? Both have lied and manipulated to him in the past. Who is the lesser of two evils here?
It seems like Klaus may soon be putting the pieces together that Elena isn’t really dead. He knows he killed a vampire and he knows he killed a werewolf. At some point he may realize that Elena’s death was the most inconclusive of the three. I also liked Stefan’s attempts to protect Elena, Damon, and Alaric in the midst of trying to act like a heartless badass.
Before closing this up I have to confess that being a big fan of both True Blood and The Vampire Diaries can often be confusing. One show says “Glamour” while the other says “Compel.” In one series, the vampires are susceptible to silver, while in the other their weakness is vervain. And to be honest, a lot of the times I forget which one is which (example – when Caroline grabbed her purse and burned her hand, my first thought was that it was a silver purse). But there’s one thing both shows love – having their vampires rip people’s hearts out with their bare hands.
