The Vampire Diaries – Recap & Review – A Few Good Men

photo: cw

The Vampire Diaries
A Few Good Men

Original Air Date: Mar 25, 2010

Zeba – TwoCents Reviewer
zeba@thetwocenstcorp.com

Guess what, guys? You can stop crying yourselves to sleep every Thursday night. “The Vampire Diaries” are FINALLY back after a century long hiatus, and last night’s episode was AWESOME…Ish? Hm. Remember the final image of that sketchy Civil War vamp escaping the tomb from the last episode?

What about the shocking revelation that Katherine is alive and kickin’, or that Alaric Saltzman’s wife could possibly be Elena’s birth mother? Well, some even juicer stuff went down last night, so gather ‘round kiddies and I’ll tell you all the drama.

The episode returns to true “Vampire Diaries” form with its default opening of a Random Guy You Just Know Is Gonna Die getting confronted in the middle of the woods (as you do) by the escaped vampire from last time. We learn the vampire’s name is Harper, and all we know about Harper so far is that he’s fairly polite (as vampires go – he apologizes before killing Random Guy You Just Know Is Gonna Die), he doesn’t like cell phones, and he looks pretty dapper in a GAP cardigan.

Elsewhere, Elena is on the hunt for info about her birth mother, Isobel, and learns through Aunt Jenna that Isobel had a friend named Trudy, not far from Mystic Falls, who might know something. She also drops the bombshell on Elena that Alaric’s dead wife (who we know, of course, was killed by Damon) may or may not be her mother.

It turns out Aunt Jenna’s hunch is right, when she later tells Alaric about Elena and shows him a picture of Isobel (right after he kisses her – talk about awkward). But there’s got to be something deeper, right? I mean – what about the resemblance between Elena and Katherine? What does it all mean?

Elena tracks down Trudy, who seems all nice and welcoming. She learns that her mother went to Duke, was a cheerleader, and never mentioned who the father was. But, rather predictably, when Elena’s back is turned Trudy goes all shifty eyed and excuses herself to write a text message saying “She’s here.” Well, dun-freaking-dun-dun. Later, Trudy slips vervain into Elena’s drink, which Elena notices and comments on, sending Trudy into a frenzy of arm-waving and angry yelling to “Leave! Get out!”

Naturally, Elena books it and zooms off in her car, but not before noticing a sketchy man who watches her drive off (I use the word sketchy a lot, but in this case it’s totally valid because aforementioned sketchy man promptly kills Trudy on behalf of an unknown party – presumably Isobel).

In Mystic Falls, Alaric and Stefan meet in the square. An epic Battle of the Jawlines ensues. No but really, Alaric confronts Stefan about Elena’s connection to his wife, and asks Stefan to help him “get” Damon. As usual, Stefan is all “chill out, gimme some time, blah blah blah” about it. In this scene we also get an Alaric flashback and learn that, around the time of her death, Isobel was working on a dissertation about vampires, primarily those in Mystic Falls…

Now, meanwhile, Damon has pretty much lost the plot. The pain of learning that Katherine was not in the tomb but living her life while he pined for 140 years has sent him into a bit of a frenzy. Blood, alcohol, witty one-liners. Business as usual, eh? Stefan tries to get through to him and ask about Isobel, with no luck. Damon runs into Alaric later at the Mystic Grill, and his he starts to suspect something is up. Sheriff Forbes (Caroline’s mom) shows up asking for a favor, and he agrees to take part in the Mystic Falls fundraiser (they’re auctioning off bachelors) in exchange for background info on Alaric. Quick question: on a scale of one to ten how hard does Caroline’s mom fail at being a Sheriff?

(Speaking of Caroline and moms here’s the cute little subplot that I’ll regulate to one line because frankly it bored me: Matt’s mom comes back, she’s a hot mess, hates Caroline, is needy. The end.)

At the fundraiser, secrets come to light. Stefan divulges to Elena that a vampire killed her mother, but he urges her not to approach Alaric just yet. At the same moment, Damon learns from Sheriff Forbes that Alaric’s wife was named Isobel, puts two and two together and…Oh, boy. During the auction, in a way to dig at Alaric, he talks about meeting Isobel at Duke, describing her as “Delicious.”

Elena figures out what he’s implying. Any pity she might have felt for Damon is out the window, she tells him that Isobel was her mother (he actually looks…kind of sorry?), then runs outside in despair. Stefan goes after her, and that’s when they run into the creepy guy who killed Trudy earlier. Under vampire compulsion, he tells Elena that Isobel doesn’t want Elena to contact her. And then he purposely steps into the street and gets hit by a truck. Yikes. Of course, Elena manages to grab his cell phone before Stefan whisks her away from the gory scene.

The episode ends with Alaric confronting Damon after the fundraiser is over. We learn via flashback that Isobel had talked about wanting more out of life than the “normalcy” that was her marriage to Alaric. Damon confirms this, telling Alaric (between punches in the gut and the like) that Isobel sought him out, asking to be turned. Then Damon kills Alaric, and leaves. Whoa. Stefan shows up to clean up the “mess” and…ALARIC COMES BACK TO LIFE. Somehow, the ring he’s wearing (given to him by Isobel) saved his life.

But how?

After that, we just get juicy little shots of Elena calling Isobel (who promptly hangs up on her), and Harper linking up with Pearl and Annabelle. Clearly, something is afoot. Cue the dramatic music!

Also, it occurred to me that there needs to be some sort of drinking game to make my Thursday nights (that much) more enjoyable. Take a shot every time:
– The episode opens with Some Random Person Getting Killed.
– Elena is indignant about something.
– Stefan smolders.
– Damon is shirtless.
– A character is absent for an entire episode without explanation.
– Cool Aunt Jenna says/does something “cool.” (Like, “So, I Binged it.”)
– Old-timey flashback!

Can you come up with any others? And what did you think of this episode? Is Damon just an A-hole or is there a heart of gold somewhere in there? And what’s going on with Elena’s mom? Give me your TwoCents!

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