Nina Dobrev’s
playing three characters, Paul Wesley is playing two, for a second it seemed
Ian Somerhalder would play two, and the carousel of Silas/Tessa/Amara continues
to turn. Nina Dobrev’s consistently excellent playing the very different Elena
and Katherine. Amara’s a different type of girl than the others. She’s out of
her mind, yells a lot, and sees phantoms (or ghosts). The title of the
episode’s a fun play on the package Damon opens at the end of the episode.
Amara’s the anchor, or she’s not anymore because she took the cure. Some
threads I can’t untangle. Damon wants to protect Amara. Silas is off somewhere,
probably sitting in the rain, staring into a puddle, and listening to Sunny Day
Real Estate’s “Every Shining Time You Arrive.”
The goals for
the characters were as follows: kill Silas; bring Bonnie back. The characters
failed. In between the exposition heavy opening and the dramatic conclusion,
which wasn’t that dramatic if you want to know the truth, there was drama
involving the triangles: Stefan, Elena, and Damon/Tessa/Silas/Amara. The
episode started to work for me once the endless exposition about the mythology
concluded and it shifted to the characters. Characters always resonate more
than convoluted mythology, no matter how intricate the convoluted mythology is.
The Stefan without memories knows and feels one thing his other self would not
want to know or feel: Elena and Damon together sucks. Elena’s drawn to the
cabin with Stefan and Tessa because Tessa implies she and Stefan had sex. Elena’s
a little self-involved and also vulnerable whenever Stefan’s involved. She goes
to check on him and then is trapped, thanks to Silas’ spell.
The story in the
cabin establishes the essence of Stefan. Absolutely indifferent Stefan was a
nice change for the character in the fifth season of a show. Stefan dealt with
situations honestly and without remorse. The essence of Stefan loves Elena
forever regardless of who she’s with. Stefan loves his brother, too. The little
things bother Elena in the cabin. It’s not a Dawson’s Creek story where Joey’s
painting a mural on a wall bought by Pacey while Dawson seethes and plans a
murder-by-boat for young Pacey Witter. Little things bother people more than
the big things. Okay, the big things suck. Little things gnaw at a person,
especially when there’s feelings. Stefan’s most hurtful act is really minor: he
makes dinner for Tessa (and Elena). Elena sits alone, crying. She’s sad Bonnie
can’t come back, that Silas sucks, and that Stefan’s flirting with a rather unpleasant
and vengeful witch. I think the little details resonate. I felt for Elena.
Stefan made
dinner for Tessa as a way to lull her into a sense of pleasant ease. Looking
like her eternal lover has its perks. Stefan would not let Tessa kill Elena
(that was Tessa’s plan if Damon didn’t kill Silas). Tessa’s vengeful and finds
Stefan in his bedroom after the betrayal in the cabin. Tessa’s act of vengeance
is restoring Stefan’s memories. From the flash cuts to the past it seems Stefan
remembers the most painful parts of his life: murdering his father, losing
Elena, getting thrown down to the bottom of the creek, and Damon and Elena’s
choice to be together. The episode cuts to black directly after Tessa tells him
to remember that part. So, I expect anguish from Stefan, staggering anguish, in
next week’s episode. Stefan needed to know he could still care for Elena, I
suppose, and Elena needed to know Stefan didn’t hate her.
Damon’s actions
since last week have been motivated by Elena’s best interests. She wants Bonnie
back. Damon snapped his brother’s neck for the sake of the goal. Damon then
goes on a road trip with Silas and Jeremy to find the anchor and destroy, where
then Silas brings Bonnie back and Silas dies. The actions of Damon come off as
less noble than Stefan almost always. Ian Somerhalder’s eye movement in every
scene’s responsible for this. He’ll do everything for her, but he doesn’t know
she longs for a dinner made by Stefan. No, that’s not the central issue, though
it kind of is. Tessa points out the hurdles of Damon’s relationship with her.
Indeed, Elena’s sadness over Stefan throughout the episode suggests he won’t
compare to his brother. Damon kills two Travelers. The Travelers want Silas
alive for his blood, if I recall Tessa’s explanation correctly. Anyway, Stefan
and Elena are eternal, whereas Damon’s never good enough. He failed and then
got a bigger problem to deal with: Amara.
Elsewhere, a bit
of progress is made in the Professor/Secret Society mystery. The secret society
has a name reminiscent of 1980s WWF tag team wrestling. Plus, it has a vampire,
but the society doesn’t like vampires. I don’t know, everyone. Last season’s
professor storyline sucked. This professor is nothing more than The CW’s best
Mark Long imitator with a chiseled jaw line. It was fun to pair Caroline and
Katherine up. Less fun is the impending “Save Katherine” storyline. I quite
like Katherine, but entering into deals with evil professors won’t entertain
anyone, writers.
The episode’s
mostly entertaining and worthwhile though it’s just a transitional episode.
Plot-wise, nothing’s accomplished. I stopped expecting the characters to
succeed early in the season four years ago when a coin-wielding Elijah arrived
in Mystic Falls. The circular structure didn’t annoy me, i.e. that the
characters were back to where they started without making any progress. At
least Amara’s not an unstoppable vampire. The sense that the show’s going off
the rails and won’t recover persists, but the character work tonight was
terrific, except for the Bonnie/Jeremy scenes.
Other Thoughts:
-Wardrobe
department, find a larger sized shirt for McQueen to wear. He’s bursting out of
it like The Hulk.
-What accent did
Nina adopt for Amara? I don’t remember where Amara’s from. Oh well.
-Amara coming to
life from stone reminded me of Hermoine’s “resurrection” in William Shakespeare’s
Winter’s Tale. Shakespeare’s play stresses the importance and the essentiality
of forgiveness whereas TVD’s central action is driven by characters that don’t
forgive.
-Caroline Dries
& Holly Hicks wrote the episode. Jeffrey Hunt directed it.
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