The Vampire Diaries – Family above all

The theme running throughout tonight’s episode of The Vampire Diaries was “family above all” — how interesting that it was the wicked, conniving, backstabbing family that stated this. At least some of them are a united front; and now that we know mommy’s back, they’ll all have to pretend they are one big loving family. It’s not much of a surprise that Esther was in the locked coffin, but I didn’t expect her to forgive Klaus. Something tells me that we haven’t seen the end of the sibling rivalry among that bunch.

But it’s the other families — some of them unconventional — I want to write about tonight. Elena, who has been through so much and lost so many people in her life, just about broke my heart when she begged Matt to stay with her until Alaric woke up, that she just couldn’t bear to lose more family. Since she killed Alaric (a very clever solution), I’m pretty glad he woke up; that would have devastated her, to make a gross understatement.

That Matt, I tell ya — it melted me when he showed up for Caroline (clearly juxtaposed to the fact that Tyler did not), and equally so when he stayed with Elena. Are there any romantic vibes there, or has he become the human mascot, or big brother type, for all of the supernatural ladies in Mystic Falls? Carla‘s got some ideas about this in her hottest Vampire Diaries couples post and polls.

Huge, huge props to Candice Accola for her amazing performance tonight. When she begged Bill, “Please don’t leave me, Daddy,” I cried a little. I’ll admit it. That was such a beautiful moment, and really, so bittersweet. For all of the crap Bill put Caroline through, he was right — his beliefs were what made him strong and this is the way this storyline should have ended; he should not have become a vampire. He stood for humanity, and I just loved his quote: “Parents aren’t supposed to outlive their kids, Caroline … this is life, this is what it means to be human.” Well done on all accounts.

More family: the originator of the Petrova line, the one from whom all doppelgangers were made: Tatia Petrova. How interesting that she was to Klaus and Elijah what Elena is to Stefan and Damon. The more things change … yeah. I’m glad we finally got some backstory about who started it all, and I wonder how important it will be to future storylines.

One more family: Bonnie and her mother. We knew that they were going to have to work together to open the coffin, but it seemed that Abby was hiding something. Did she ever really lose all of her magic? This is the one family story tonight that didn’t really touch me. I’m not yet sure what Abby’s presence brings to the table.

This and that:

• The murder mystery turns out to be supernatural after all — someone is systematically attacking members of the founder’s council. A serial killer in Mystic Falls! Who will be next? Who’s behind the attacks? Klaus was awfully busy in this episode to be orchestrating these attacks as well. Sounds like Meredith is off the hook, though.
• Why, oh why, were Klaus, Elijah, Stefan and Damon eating a real meal at their uncomfortable little dinner meeting? That was so surreal for me. Just the Vanna White chick would have worked.
• As Bill was dying, Caroline asked him if he wanted her to call Steven? Am I missing something? Should I know who Steven is? I’m assuming a brother or uncle of Caroline’s, but I really don’t remember him mentioned before … a new character coming?
• I’ve got to mention Caroline and Elena’s heart-to-heart about losing their dads. There, I mentioned it. What, you want me to gush on about what a sweet little scene that was? OK, I did that too.
• Is this whole family thing somehow going to tie into Meredith and her motives? Is there a reason she wants toe founder’s council dead, and she wasn’t really alibied out after all?
• What did you think about Klaus’s proposal to the Salvatore boys? Do you think they are really the worst thing for Elena? Both of them love her (Stefan finally admitted it tonight) — will they be her downfall? Will one of them turn her? Klaus had a lot of valid points.

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Feb 02, 2012 @ 22:53 EST5EDT