The Vampire Diaries "Brave New World" Review

Who doesn't love an awesome carnival in a television episode? The carnival storyline that dominated Heroes in their last season was intriguing. In true Heroes fashion, of course, the storyline barely developed and, when it did, it was revealed the writers barely thought out the motivations of the villain. Kring and his staff must've watched Carnivale and thought "wow that's a cool premise...let's steal that." Essentially, the carnival plot crashed and burned; however, the Fall Thaw carnival-esque festival was delightful on Everwood. Carnivals are awesome.

Last night's episode of The Vampire Diaries, titled "Brave New World," spent the bulk of its time in a carnival. The carnival had nothing to do with the story outside of Elena's desire to feel like a normal teenager for once (echoes of Buffy Summers); meanwhile, Caroline woke up a vampire after Katherine killed her. The werewolf story continues to progress at a snail's pace. Maybe Kevin Williamson is reluctant to dive into the world of werewolves after his own werewolf movie bombed with critics and audiences.

The A story of the episode was Caroline's new un-life as a vampire. I have one word to describe the development: awesome. The previews were awesome and the story was awesome. Candice Accola played Caroline's transformation in a unique way, unlike most actors with a character who becomes a vampire. It was a mixture of confusion, bewilderment, primal/vampire behavior with emotional confusion because of the emotional turbulence the transformation creates. She knocked it out of the park, and she's a wild card. Damon wanted her dead immediately, citing the unpleasant way the Vicki Donovan thing went down. Stefan sort of agreed with his brother but took Elena's side. Caroline killed her first human in the episode. She learned how to compel. Her memories of what Damon did to her returned. Caroline might be a dangerous, awesome vampire if anyone crosses her; however, she might be a vampire who behaves like Stefan. The writers transformed Bonnie from a character who did very little in the first season into a completely engaging character. Williamson promised every character would have a worthwhile arc. The man and his staff have kept their words.

Once Bonnie discovered her friend is a vampire, she nearly killed Damon. TVD doesn't play games. The pacing of this show is insane. Bonnie promised she'd kill Damon if bad things happened. She kept her word. The only reason she didn't was because Elena asked her to stop.

Meanwhile, Jeremy almost went through with his plan to kill Damon for revenge. Jeremy changed his mind because he doesn't want to be like his father and uncle. Damon and Jeremy even bonded yet again. Those two have gone back and forth. Sometimes they hate one another because Damon does something evil, then Damon acts like a big brother and helps Jeremy.

The other significant story was the werewolf story with Tyler and his cousin. I'll reiterate the story is progressing at a snail's pace but should finally make significant progress next week. I just didn't care though. The True Blood werewolves story destroyed my tolerance for werewolf storylines.

In other news, Damon became the leader of the council, Katherine has disappeared but remains a threat. Alaric is still MIA despite his prominent role in the finale.

Overall, the episode was awesome. It was fun and entertaining. I loved the A story.

Some other thoughts:

-The last scene was cheesy. Stefan brought Elena to the top of the ferris wheel because she wanted to feel like a normal teenager. The CW-ness of the series shined through there. Not a fan.

-The scene between Caroline and Damon after she killed her first human and when he told her he would kill her was great. The way it was shot, written, acted. The makeup department did a great job with Candice Accola.

-Brian Young wrote the episode. John Dahl directed "Brave New World."

SCREENPLAY OF THE DAY

"Our Mrs Reynolds" Written By Joss Whedon http://www.fireflywiki.org/105.html

This a Firefly episode. It's one of the funniest scripts Joss has penned. Joss is one of the best writers in the business so, go ahead and read a Whedon penned script. A potential reader doesn't need to know anything about Firefly to enjoy reading this script.