Grimm "The Grimm Identity" Review

Nick watched Trubel shoot Juliette three times (or was it two?), and he watched masked men take Trubel from his house. The masked men drugged him. Nick dreamed in black-and-white of Juliette’s funeral, of returning to the empty house, of the coffin and his mother’s head occupying the house with him. The audience watched it at the end of last season, even the part when Agent Chavez orders her men inside, and we watched it in the previouslies, and again during the teaser. It happened, yes? Yes, it happened. Grimm’s the oddest of network TV shows. The structure of episodes and of seasons does not fit with other weekly procedural television. For example, the first act ended with Chavez warning Renard that Nick would spend time in jail if his behavior persisted (behavior that included hounding Chavez at her office). Renard promised he’d stop Nick from behaving rashly. The episode suddenly cut to black as if that would leave fans gasping for air.

Nick frantically searches for Trubel, Chavez, and, basically, answers for a stretch early in the episode. Hank, Wu, Renard, Rosalee, and Monroe learned about Juliette’s death, about Trubel shooting the arrows, and about Chavez taking her; however, everyone thinks Nick’s acting crazy. No one believes him. Eventually, I started to doubt what I saw. Maybe, I thought, Juliette left with the Royals and Diana, and then Nick returned home, the masked men drugged him, took Trubel, and he hallucinated Juliette’s death. No, that’s crazy, I told myself. What happened, happened. Kouf and Greenwalt decided to milk it for a specific narrative reason. Whatever the reason for the belabored post-Juliette and post-Trubel thing I missed. Finally, after 20 minutes, Nick brought Chavez to Rosalee’s shop where the gang learned to trust and believe Nick.

Chavez clarified nothing about what Nick wanted. Juliette’s body disappeared along with Trubel. No way Juliette actually died, even though David Greenwalt announced she was during press stuff in the summer. Trubel’s somewhere, but no one knows where. New scary wesen have started murdering Chavez’s secret group. The new bad guys left claw marks for their scary sign. Chavez brought Nick to a place for a meeting. Those who would meet with Nick were murdered. The villains show, fight Nick and Chavez, Chavez died, and she handed Nick a chess piece (?!) or a key (?), told him nothing of narrative worth besides, “it’s war.” Well, then.

“The Grimm Identity” featured much telling and not enough showing. Everyone tells everyone about Juliette. Nick repeatedly tells everyone Chavez took Trubel. Chavez tells Renard to do stuff, and then Renard tells Nick to do stuff, and on and on, but all the while the show slyly reboots itself. Is rebooting the right term? Maybe not. How about refocus? David Greenwalt commented about moving the show in a different direction. He promised fast plot developments early on. The premiere moved fast past Juliette in a move that guarantees she’s alive somewhere. Refocusing the show to inject greater narrative action, less sloggy, plodding plotting will benefit Grimm. For whatever reason, be it casting, budget, the writers hesitated to commit to the Royals, the uprising, the Keys, and pretty much any of Grimm’s mythology. NBC may’ve asked for less serialization and more episodic stand-alones. Perhaps because Grimm reached syndication NBC executives don’t care if Greenwalt and Kouf make Grimm more serialized, or perhaps because Grimm is what it is the direction of the show won’t affect it.

I thought it was a sloppy and labored episode. Grimm premieres have rocked; Grimm’s really good when it’s hitting the serialized beats at the end of and beginning of seasons. Monroe, Hank, and Wu stood for much of the episode, inactive, dependent on Nick’s actions to make them active. Rosalee, so mad and dismissive about Juliette after Juliette nearly killed Monroe, argues for her, places blame on herself and the guys for Juliette, but then all Juliette discussion stopped. Rosalee and Nick went to hospital for Adalind’s birth halfway through the episode. It was a busy episode. Busy doesn’t mean bad. Busy within this episode meant hitting plot points earlier seasons would’ve taken months to reach e.g. Adalind and baby (I loved the Meisner/Adalind arc in season three).

“The Grimm Identity” established. It established the villains (vaguely), the war, and Nick’s fatherhood. The end looked tacky. Claw marks tore through the still shoot of Portland to connote war’s coming for the entire city, as well as our beloved gang.

Other Thoughts:

-Bitsie Tulloch received main cast billing. Oh boy oh boy.

-The gentleman with Chavez during the scene involving the unidentified person/wesen/hexenbiest in the box looked familiar. Hm. Familiar as in he appeared previously in the show and represents a clue to the nonsense ahead. Oh, it was Meisner.

-Adalind named her baby Kelly. I suppose she’s now fully rehabilitated.

-Jim Kouf & David Greenwalt wrote the episode. Eric Lanueville directed.

-Happy Halloween, everyone!

-And welcome to season five of Grimm. I will review every episode this season, I think, unless I decide to stop, in which case I will not write about every episode this season. This is season five of my reviews. Invite me to set, Greenwalt and Kouf.

Notes to Dawson's Creek's Fourth Season (Part 2, Episodes 5-10)

#405-“A Family Way”

Big time sexuality in Capeside, friends and well-wishers. Joey thought about having sex with Pacey. Mrs. Leery decided what she wanted after learning she’s pregnant. Gretchen told Dawson what happened to her that made her decide to take time off from college. Big time emotions in Capeside. Jack and Andie are off in their own story in which parents take their kids off the soccer squadron the McPhee kids coach because of his sexuality.

Greg Berlanti ran the room in season four. His next show, Everwood, had an abortion episode in its first season. TheWB may’ve ruled against an abortion. The executives barely wanted a same-sex kiss during the holy 8PM hour. The episode’s an interesting sex education episode. 7^th Heaven had scene after scene of characters droning about the seriousness of sex. They’d belabor the potential consequences. “A Family Way” approaches sex education through action and characterization. None of the Capesiders are reduced to PSAs about what happens if you’re not prepared for sex.

Joey’s the immature high school student—she wants to prepare and feel ready, but she’s not, and she tries. Joey considered the consequences, but not totally because she’s thinking about pleasing her man. Bessie freaked over dinner in a scene that’s typical of late 90s/early 2000s sex episodes. She doesn’t think her sister’s ready, and she assumes she’s already ruined her future by doing it. Bodie, afterwards, contextualizes the fight scene: Bessie’s terrified Joey will stay in Capeside because she had sex, didn’t prepare, and gets pregnant. She didn’t. The sisters reconcile. Joey scolded Pacey for sort of manipulating her into thinking about it. They made up, and he tickled her.

Gretchen told Dawson about her boyfriend impregnating her during final weeks, during a wayward period in her life anyway, how the pregnancy forced her to consider terminating, and how she couldn’t believe she put herself in a spot where she had to make that choice after she miscarried a week later. Yes, it’s a preachy monologue, but it’s in response to Dawson’s troubles dealing with his mother’s pregnancy. Sasha Alexander played the scene really nicely. She was great throughout the episode. The melancholia Dawson captured on photograph is played throughout their sweet bridge-side conversation. She’s more mature than Joey, but still immature. College students don’t know what they’re doing. College makes students think they have an idea about life, but they don’t.

Mitch and Gale are the mature pair in the big time sexuality episode. They had Dawson. Dawson learned his parents tried for three years to have him and then tried for another two to have another one. Gale decided she wanted to terminate the pregnancy because of her age, their financial instability, in addition to the responsibilities of sending Dawson to college, as well as how hard it is to raise a child well. Dawson delivered a touching affirmation of his parents’ innate ability to raise and love their child and give that child whatever they need. I’ll confess I teared up during the scene. I teared up re-watching ANGEL’s “Home” on Wednesday (that ending, folks, that ending gets me every time). I teared up during the last scene in ANGEL’s “Origin” as well.

I hadn’t seen “A Family Way” in a long time. I remembered the Gretchen stuff. Re-watching the episode was pleasant. Dawson’s Creek really doesn’t implode until the college years. Season four has misguided creative choices, sure, but its not the sustained collective terrible ideas of season five and six. This episode also sets up Dawson and Gretchen as well as Dawson’s future creative endeavor with the great A.I. Brooks. Mr. Brooks saw in Dawson’s photograph of Gretchen artistry.

#406-“Great Xpectations”

Andie got everything she wanted, but she wasn’t happy. Jen, at the mercy of a writing staff intent to assassinate her character, let Andie look at her ecstasy tablets. Andie got high. Things went bad. Jen became the villain of Capeside. None of it’s great. Paul Stupin, during the writers’ reunion at ATX in early June, said they tried different things with Andie because they loved Meredith Monroe and wanted her on the show. None of their ‘experiments’ for the character succeeded. Monroe’s last episode is #407. The writers were hellbent on exploring Jen’s New York past. Again, none of it’s great.

The gang went to a rave. Besides Andie’s collapse, nothing happens at the rave. Dawson and Gretchen did a little “Will they or won’t they?” while Pacey mourned the loss of his boat. Joey repressed her jealousy regarding Dawson and Gretchen.  Dawson celebrated the news about his parents’ choice to have the baby, the future Lily. Dawson and Joey ended the episode together with nostalgia and passive-aggression. Joey told Dawson, “I see you in my life always” (that’s a paraphrase). Dawson shot back: “You did pretty well for three months.”

Pacey waiting at the hospital to see Andie was sweet and a nice nod to their time together in season two. High Andie scolded Pacey and Joey for their relationship. Andie accused Joey of dumping Dawson for Pacey, which becomes the quasi-revisionist history of the series for the triangle. I like how alcohol or drugs always means, in Dawson’s Creek, a character will reveal their true feelings. All of the Capeside kids hate each other, but they’re rarely drunk and/or high and never say it. Next season, Dawson blames Joey for Mitch’s death. Remarkable.

One final note: I think this episode began the “Jack loves partying” aspect of his character. Partying and partying alone defines him in season five.

#407-“You Had Me at Goodbye”

The dinner scene in the last act essentially dissolves the filler of the previous three. It’s a great scene. Andie gathered her friends in attempt to bring everyone closer together before she leaves. She pointed out Jen’s the perfect girl to fill Jack’s sisterly need in his life. Her emotional speech to Dawson, Joey, and Pacey doesn’t land with them, though Dawson took a picture of the group. Dawson and Pacey stood next to each other. Underlining the Pacey/Dawson thing is Dawson’s work with Mr. Brooks, which he’s forced to do after using Brooks’ boat to save Pacey and Jen. Dawson is, essentially, Capeside’s greatest martyr.

Joey needed someone to write her “Who Knows You Best?” peer recommendation for a college application. Dawson or Pacey? It’s gosh darn Dawson. Joey should’ve picked Bessie, but that’s a creative choice without dramatic fallout. Joey gave away her choice in the series finale by telling Pacey, “You’re my future; Dawson’s my past.” Unfortunately, it’s not really true until the last episode of the series. Until then, Dawson’s front and center in Joey’s life. The Pop Network nears the shambolic pregnancy episode with each passing day.

#408-“The Unusual Suspects”

This episode, in which karma bites Drue Valentine, is terrible. Greg Berlanti and his writers at Everwood did a mystery episode late in Everwood’s first season, which was also terrible. Dawson, Pacey, and Jack schemed together to frame Drue for the senior prank as his comeuppance for contributing to Andie’s near drug related death. It’s framed by three interrogations conducted by Harry Shearer’s Principal Peskin and Mitch Leery: guidance counselor. The legendary prank sucks. A boat in the pool with the principal’s pet on top? Terrible. Dawson and Pacey work as friends during the episode, as part of their ruse to throw off suspicion, despite the history of their senior pact made in freshman year, but by the end when Pacey suggests being friends again Dawson’s back to his prickly passive-aggressive self.

Dawson learned Mr. Brooks used to make movies, which kicks off Dawson’s return to filmmaking arc. So, there’s that. Pacey learned more about his brother’s work as an officer. Jack’s soccer coach story ended because he started Molly in net. I think the writers wanted to mellow down after the intense last two episodes full of ecstasy and one character leaving the show, and they thought of this rubbish.

#409-“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”

Joey wanted to impress Worthington administration and her potential classmates, but she’s poor Joey Potter from the wrong side of the creek, who works to help support her family, because the writers loved exploring class issues in fictional Capeside. What the heck? I know Boiler Room inspired Pacey’s stockbroker story in season six, but what inspired these constant stories about class division? Was it the failed Young Americans show? Joey’s night with the Worthington elite is the worst part of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” The writers botched all college-related stories through nine episodes. Every character, besides Pacey, had a college application essay plot. Dawson couldn’t put into words why he wanted to make movies, forgetting he hadn’t for nearly a year. But he’ll make a documentary about Brooks’ life and soon he’ll be on his way to dream school USC.

Jen’s story mixed college essay anxiety, parental anxiety, and sadness about Grams’ not talking to her after the ecstasy fun. Jen won’t have her doomed NYC trip for another 9 episodes, I think. Jen, Jack, and Grams group hug to finally resolve the lingering ecstasy storyline fallout.

Gretchen threw the Leery Christmas party because she loved it so much growing up. The writers needed Gretchen and Dawson to kiss by the end, under the mistletoe. The kiss is set up earlier when Dawson helps Gretchen hang it. He wondered why they hung it, and Gretchen said, “Tradition.” So, it’s tradition for them to kiss when Mr. Brooks gruffly orders them to kiss. Their kiss looks more romantic than any kiss between Dawson and Joey. Sasha Alexander and James Van Der Beek worked great together. Pacey and Joey didn’t like seeing it. Joey, in an earlier scene, looked ready to vomit after hearing Gretchen tell her about watching movies with Dawson in his room. So, all of Joey’s words about Pacey as her future? Meaningless.

#410-“Self Reliance”

The New Yorker recently published an article about Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, which concerned the general misreading of the text. The writer assaulted Thoreau for much of the piece. This melodramatic teen soap beat The New Yorker’s thesis by fifteen years. Joey’s English teacher, Mr. Kasden, who’s another character named after a staff writer, asked Joey to point out the most important word in the sentence he highlighted. Joey didn’t know. Mr. Kasden told her it’s “borrowed” because Thoreau’s self-reliance relied on neighbors, family, and friends. Joey spent this episode trying to do things by herself, but she couldn’t. It earned her a C-minus. All things work out for Joey, though. Her teacher allowed her a makeup.

The Dawson-Gretchen kiss hovers over the theme of the episode. Joey’s frantic because the kiss bothered her. Pacey asked Joey to talk to Dawson before it spirals into a harmful thing. Her conversation with Dawson highlighted the strides he’s made since the end of season three. He gifted Joey a photograph of her and Pacey from the party. The gesture surprised Joey so that she couldn’t help crying. Not more than 7-8 months ago Dawson tried to murder Pacey with a boat during the Regatta.

Dawson’s full of good-will due to things going his way. He’s making a movie. He’s kissing a pretty girl. Gretchen swears the kiss was a kiss. Dawson told Jack not every kiss is an epic, life-changing event. Of course, Dawson delivers a monologue at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony to Gretchen about his regard for her. The monologue works for Dawson, because this show’s a fantasy and teenage me would’ve loved to recognize that prior to delivering his OWN confessional monologues to girls he thought fondly of. Ah…youth. Gretchen feels the same way. She doesn’t say it. Christmas lights interrupt her. Dawson’s Creek took a month-long holiday hiatus after this episode, so Gretchen/Dawson serves as the cliff-hanger.

Also of note: Mr. Brooks mixed up his stories while making the documentary. In the next scene Dawson learns Mr. Brooks will die sooner than later. Man, this show operated in extremes. Elsewhere, Jack met, and sparred with, Toby over who had the tougher time coming out. They’ll be in love before long.

UP NEXT: I’ll cover the next four or five episodes in the next post. Pacey’s birthday party goes miserably for him, but him and Joey will take the next step in their relationship. We’re closer and closer to more Dawson Leery nonsense.

The Vampire Diaries "I Carry Your Heart with Me" Review

“I Carry Your Heart with Me” was a busy episode. Halloween ball. Stefan and Caroline tried to prevent Nora and Mary Louise from murdering the student body. Nora and Mary Louise fought. The audience learning more about each character besides ‘they’re English, hot, and lesbian. Bonnie had to raise the dead twice. Enzo asked Valerine to work with him to stop Julian from returning. Damon opened a bottle of old wine.

Obviously, the most important part of the flash forwards is not the Heretics running Mystic Falls or Valerie pining for Stefan or Matt Donovan’s heroic daily duties as the only officer in Mystic Falls, it’s the damn phoenix stone and everything that’s going to happen because Bonnie and Alaric used it to bring Jo back from the dead. The flash forward in this episode showed a happy Alaric Saltzman failing to fix a baby doll toy. Damon showed at his door step and engaged in frosty discourse with his best friend (probably former at this point) and threatened to murder him and his family if he didn’t invite him into the house. Damon derisively noted Alaric got everything he wanted. As usual the narrative returned to present day Mystic Falls with the dramatically flat Heretic story. What’s the gist of this week’s episode? Save Elena. Sigh.

Stefan and Damon argued about Damon making stupid choices for Elena. Stefan’s point is that Damon puts her in danger because he doesn’t know what to do without her, so he’s doing something for her. I don’t know. The scene was confused. The brothers also sort of turned against each other after one day apart. I think Stefan expressed frustration because Damon’s plans to get Elena’s coffin back, of course, put her in danger; however, Stefan’s so in love with Caroline that Elena and him don’t exist as a past relationship (and hasn’t for a few seasons, besides a small scene in the season six finale). Damon thought Stefan sympathized with their mom. Stefan said he didn’t. Most of the episode Stefan spent arguing that he doesn’t feel anything for Valerie and that he doesn’t sympathize with their mom.

The mother issue drops. Stefan and Caroline move onto distracting Nora and Mary Louise. I learned Nora’s the free and friendly one while Mary Louise is the conservative murderous one. Mary struggled to adapt to 21^st century. Nora hasn’t. Mary feels vulnerable about losing the only girl she loved, the girl she endured nearly two hundred years of love with during a year when society didn’t tolerate lesbians—much less vampire-witch hybrid lesbians. Mary Louise killed some folk out of jealousy, but Nora and her reconciled. Neither character became two dimensional during the story. The other Heretic, Bo or Beaux, disappeared.

Stefan faux-bonded with Mary Louise after he showed her a picture of an alive Oscar. Mary Louise showed nearly as much emotion for alive Oscar as she did for anything Nora. Enzo, Valerie, and the mute Heretic, plus Lily will feud with Nora, Mary Louise, and Oscar later? Stefan threatened to kill Mary Louise so Nora would break Caroline’s vervaine spell. So many spells.

Damon trying to resurrect Oscar meant way too little Oscar, unfortunately. Apparently, Damon’s been in a downward spiral since Elena entered magic fairy sleep. He returned Oscar, got Elena’s coffin back, and had Tyler bring her coffin to where he’ll eventually go to wait, until Stefan wakes him up in 2016. Sipping wine, sitting on a log, Damon wrote Elena a journal entry about carrying her heart with him, sipping old wine, the oldest wine, the wine he let age as he waited for Katherine to return to him, which is why he began drinking bourbon, and seemingly he associates the aging wine he sips with the sweetness of Elena’s return in another sixty years. So far, his downward spiral includes drinking aged wine. It’s not the stuff of season one.

Alaric’s another dude who’s carried Jo’s heart with him since her death. Valerie has carried Stefan with her. Lily carried Julian with her. Oh, so much metaphorical longing for someone by someone. Bonnie surprised herself by the ease with which she magically restored Oscar to life. Jo, too, was restored quietly. It’s but only the calm before the supernatural storm of nonsense ahead, which, if it doesn’t involve the Heretics, would be welcomed.

Other Thoughts:

-Holy hell the exposition in the second scene of the first act. TV writers have said exposition’s the hardest thing to write because it needs to sound natural, flow, and matter for the characters. I don’t think exposition works particularly well on TV. In “I Carry Your Heart With Me” it was egregious. Executives want it for the sake of new viewers. I don’t know.

-This episode marked the first ball/dance of season seven.

-Damon’s invested in Matt’s mortality now. Matt partially motivated Damon’s return to Mystic Falls. Could Matt be Damon’s best friend in 2016?

-Neil Reynolds wrote the episode. Jeffrey Hunt directed it.

The Vampire Diaries "Age of Innocence" Review

Most of “Age of Innocence” concerned the back-story of Valerie, Lily, Damon, Stefan, and Oscar—the sixth Heretic, and the lost Heretic (and Damon’s leverage to get Elena’s coffin back). The other parts of the episode concerned Caroline’s dismay over the revelations about Stefan’s first love, the flash-forward to Stefan burning his precious car after reaching out to Tyler, and Alaric’s consistent goal to bring Jo back via necromancy. Obviously, the attempt will prove disastrous.

The third episode of every Vampire Diaries season involves flashbacks to define the villains of the first act of the season and to reveal hidden depths to defined characters. TVD flashbacks never hit for me. They’re good fun for the writers, the crew, and the cast. Everyone dresses up. The production crew dresses up shooting locations in Atlanta. The flashback revealed two essential things: Lily loved a bad dude named Julian, who terrorized Valerie, used her feelings for Stefan to control her, and who Valerie hates so much she killed her Heretic brother to prevent him from using Julian to leverage his, Oscar’s, freedom; and Stefan and Valerie shared a romance because Lily asked her to check on Stefan.

The essential story revelations come about because of the Salvatore brothers’ plans to feign a fracture. Of course the plan blows up by the end of the episode. Nostalgia softens the souls of Lily, Valerie, and Stefan. Lily’s so touched by Stefan’s honesty during the day as well as his journal entries about her after he thought she died that she freed Caroline. Valerie, who in 1863 used her amulet to hide from Julian as she walked with Stefan through the Mystic Fall fairgrounds, used the same amulet for an apology to Stefan while he sat on the bench he sat on 150 years earlier while he waited her to return—as her telegraph promised. Stefan’s pensive and reflective by the end of “Age of Innocence,” evidently reconsidering his feelings for Valerie because what he thought wasn’t true, and because his mother loved him enough to keep him close, even if she couldn’t come close to him.

Unfortunately, the progression to those softened souls, the tearful expressions from the remotest parts of Heretic souls, is a drag. I particularly disliked Caroline’s horrified reactions to each turn of the Valerie-Stefan romance, as if the idea Stefan loved someone prior jeopardized her connection with him. Caroline dismissed it, citing Katherine earlier, though curiously omitting Elena (the girl that Stefan loved more than anyone else in his life), until Valerie revealed Stefan lost his virginity to her. What? I know. It’s The CW melodramatic way. Young girls that watch the show probably already took to Twitter to demonize Valerie. The Stefan-Valerie connection aims for heartbreaking passion, but every story turn is banal, trite, clichéd, and a thousand times a trope, made worse by the Julian of it all. He’s a cardboard monster. Is Valerie more sympathetic, more relatable because of this episode? Well, to some, because individuals have different perspectives of the episode, but I think the writers want a complex character that fans like, relate to, sympathize with, while keeping her edge as a volatile Heretic, a threat to what the fans really want: Stefan and Caroline.

The Heretics, except for Oscar, are bland villains. Oscar’s by far the most lively character while the other characters are variations of each other. Julian’s one of those blandly attractive Lifetime villains. Stefan predicted he’d be a bad person because his father murdered him and Damon. Lily said no. She said she loved Julian, and then added he’s the type no woman should fall for. What? A lot of the villains in The Vampire Diaries come from the 19^th century. They’re all written with stuffy Victorian characteristics. In other plainer words, they’re all uninteresting, especially the Heretics.

Oscar’s introduction involves the Phoenix stone—that nasty magic stone which will doom the future for the Mystic Falls crew. Three years from now, Stefan’s scar will open, to which Tyler will tell him something along the lines of “You know what’s coming” though Tyler seems amazingly undisturbed. Anyway, the best part of the Damon-led road trip to Myrtle Beach is his backstory with Oscar. Oscar told him to follow his heart by leaving the South. Damon listened, and listening saved his life. The story turns toward the Phoenix stone. Oscar freaked about it. Bonnie scolded Alaric for keeping it. The two then decided to work together to bring Jo back to life. And Damon gave his mom his turns for handing Oscar to her. Valerie ripping Oscar’s heart out will complicate things between Damon and Lily. Stefan may, because of the demands of the plot, begin siding with his mother. It’s season seven, episode three of a twenty-two or twenty-three episode season, so, yeah, this kind of contrivance is expected.

Julie Plec told an interview during the summer that she had enough stories for an eighth season of the series, but I don’t know after these three episodes. The absence of Nina Dobrev doesn’t hurt the show. The Heretics would not improve with or without Elena. Kai revitalized TVD last season, but only a part of it. That season had slog. Season seven’s primarily slog. Now that the info dump is done for another season, the season may improve. I don’t know, though.

Other Thoughts:

-Edith Wharton’s early 20^th century novel most likely inspired the episode title. Wharton’s Age of Innocence tells the story of a forthcoming society wedding and the threat of an “exotic and beautiful” femme fatale. TVD has a history of naming episodes after early 20^th century novels. I paralleled a late season two episode with Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises because I’m insane.

-I’m into Alaric’s slightly Victorianish gothic necromancy plot. Arrow resurrected a character this week. I don’t know how many resurrections the network allows per season.

-Michael A. Allowitz directed the episode. Melinda Hsu Taylor co-wrote the episode with someone. I missed that someone’s name. My apologies. I know TVD’s writers love reading my reviews. (I jest; they don’t.)

-During the love scene undressing, I laughed because I only thought about the Another Period love scene undressing.