Vampire Diaries – What’s in the locked coffin?

The CW’s hiatus always gets to me. How long have we been waiting for new episodes? At least six weeks! I’ll admit, as the weeks crept closer to the return of The Vampire Diaries, I’ve had figurative ants in my pants. As nice as a break can be, especially during a busy social season like the winter holidays, I was really missing new episodes of my favorite non-procedural.

The Vampire Diaries came back with a few changes, on the surface, that is. Because the more this show changes, the more it stays the same. Which is a good thing, because everything that works is still in place. Here’s what I mean:

The characters are consistent
Take Tyler, for example: he’s still a cocky hybrid d-bag, for better or for worse. But what I like about this is that we know Tyler swings that way, and it was only Caroline’s friendship that tamed him a bit. Now that he’s a hybrid, Tyler’s staying true to his true self, but the writers are also staying true to the way they conceived of vampirism: everything is amplified about one’s personality when they are a vamp. So if Tyler was a d-bag before, well … yeah. But it works.

Jeremy’s personality is another that jumped out at me during this episode. We’re revisiting the Jeremy of season one, the moody, depressed Jeremy who can’t handle being dumped. In season one, it was Vicki. Now that Bonnie has dumped him, he’s back to brooding and behaving badly. We already know this fits for Jeremy, so again, it works.

The relationship between Stefan and Damon, though subtly changing, has remained consistent as well. The scenes between the two of them, though I thought they were getting weaker at one point, were certainly back on track during “The New Deal.” When Stefan admits to Damon that he sabotaged the plan to save Damon’s life, Damon’s reaction was perfectly played (“Well stop saving me!”). The give-and-take between the brothers was angsty and real and emanated everything complicated about their relationship.

I even like the dichotomy that is Damon. We know he was the good brother before he was turned, and watching him try to fight it, try to be the evil vampire that doesn’t care, is a fascinating struggle to watch. It’s not that Damon’s character keeps changing; watch closely and you’ll see his internal struggle in every action he chooses, whether it’s trying to get through to Stefan, being loyal to Stefan or kissing Elena when he knows he shouldn’t, so guilt. It all — you guessed it — works.

Twists and surprises are par for the course
You’d think I’d stop getting surprised — dare I say tricked — by these happenings, but they are so well done that I am always the fool. I thought I was so smart during the opening sequence, when Elena was seemingly being chased by the handsome runner. I thought to myself, “He is far too good looking to be a walk-on role. That guy’s going to be a new cast member.” Feeling pretty good about my powers of deduction when Hybrid Runner Babe walked into the bar with Klaus, I was pretty sure I had it all figured out. However, I was laughing out loud at my folly when he turned out to be the episode’s Red Shirt — who would have thought? Well done, Vampire Diaries, well done.

Probably one of the best surprises of the episode was lost on me, seeing as I haven’t read the books. Looks like the book fans are in for a treat — Meredith will be a recurring character. It doesn’t seem as though she’ll be playing the same role as she had in the books (from what I understand she was a good friend of Elena’s, almost like the part that Caroline has become), and she doesn’t have the same last name, but Meredith Fells may satisfy the fan craving (and Plec’s and Williamson’s promise) for Meredith’s presence in Mystic Falls. Perhaps a new love interest for Alaric?

This and that:

• Klaus looks like The Grinch when he smirks — but then he calls someone “Mate” and he’s got me all over again.
• Will there be more fall out to Tyler being invited in to Elena’s house? You know, other than the de-vervaining and subsequent attempted suicide of the compelled Jeremy.
• So what’s in the locked coffin? I’m guessing a Golden Ticket. … If it’s going to make Klaus suffer, is there some way it could be Mikael? I always felt his stay was too short and there was more goodness to be mined there. I’m also thinking it could be his mother, that he didn’t really kill her and she’s just “in storage” somehow. Especially because Bonnie said the witches lead her there and the mom was Queen Witch.
• Wow, Klaus is a sucky brother, keeping the dagger in Rebekah. Murderous, controlling … sucky.
• You got a little worried, thinking I was getting to the end of the post without swooning over the kiss, I know you did. I don’t have a lot to say about it, really. It was bound to happen, and it was perfectly executed (not a stretch for the real-life couple Somerhalder and Dobrev) and done with class. It wasn’t over the top, or even a squeeish moment; it just fit.
• So I wasn’t disappointed in the kiss, but I was missing Caroline terribly and wish that she made an appearance. She’d better have a big role next week!

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jan 05, 2012 @ 21:00 EST5EDT