Previously, “The Vampire Diaries” Knocked Me Off My Couch…

16 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment

by marisacarpico in Previously, on Television... Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola) Declaring Her Love

Like the stellar Glee episode I recapped last time, The Vampire Diaries’ “The House Guest” was the final episode for February sweeps and also like that episode, it is likely one of its series’ best. I’ve talked about TVD quite a bit lately and if you’re sick of hearing about how great this show is, take comfort in the fact that it’s on hiatus until April 7. Truth be told, I need a break myself.

I sat in front of my television expecting a standard edition of The Vampire Diaries, which usually includes a bit of yelling at the screen, but this was no ordinary episode. By the end I had pretty much run the emotional gamut. I cooed at Caroline and Matt’s romantic reunion, watched in horror as young warlock Luka burned alive, ached for Caroline when Matt accused her of hurting his sister and, I kid you not, fell off my couch screaming when I thought Matt died. I was utterly spent after that hour-long emotional roller coaster and I need the hiatus to recuperate.

Though “The House Guest” offered many reasons to make me talk to my television as if I could affect the outcome, the most compelling developments dealt with Caroline Forbes (the continually surprising Candice Accola). Caroline has only had eyes for new werewolf Tyler (Michael Trevino) for the last few weeks, but after his betrayal and her kidnapping and torture, it was nice to see her just be a young girl in love.

Caroline has been on a roller coaster ride this season and I previously mentioned that her development from vapid teenager to confident, caring vampire is my favorite aspect of Season 2. When the season began, sweet human Matt and Caroline were deeply in love, but after Caroline accidentally attacked him, she decided he was safer without her and they broke up. Since then, Caroline has quietly pined for Matt, hoping they could somehow fix their relationship. However, there was a big obstacle: Tyler. Since Caroline and Tyler were both newly supernatural and struggling to control their monstrous sides, they clung to each other and the inevitable first sparks of romance appeared. All hope for Matt seemed lost until Tyler made one stupid mistake after another first allowing his new werewolf friends to kidnap and torture Caroline, then not immediately coming to his friends’ aid or acknowledging his mistakes. By the time Tyler left Mystic Falls and bid farewell to Caroline by looking at her one last time through her window rather than explain himself, it seemed Matt was back in the picture.

However, just because Tyler is gone does not mean the problems that divided Matt and Caroline in the first place no longer exist. Matt was still one of the few characters left who did not know about the supernatural dangers surrounding him and Caroline’s biggest conflict in this episode was whether or not to bring him into that world. Critics have questioned the wisdom of keeping characters in the dark for weeks and many have argued that they might be safer knowing. Tyler’s unfortunate reactions to discovering Caroline’s deception certainly argued for honesty and when Elena (Nina Dobrev) suggested that keeping secrets for others safety just leads to hurting them anyway, Caroline declared her love by interrupting the band playing at the local restaurant and and the Bangles’ “Eternal Flame”. Though the scene initially felt a little like One Tree Hill, Accola played the moment with a genuine sweetness and shyness that even my cynicism couldn’t dampen the feeling. Matt reacted by jumping onstage and dipping Caroline into a kiss. Sure the moment had significant cheese, but after weeks of pain for Caroline I couldn’t help but swoon at the unbridled romanticism of it all. Take a look:

That happiness, however, was short-lived. Upset at his son’s death at the hands of the vampires, powerful warlock Jonas attacks the restaurant and when Matt tries to stop him from hurting Caroline, Jonas breaks a bottle and stabs him in the neck. And that, dear readers, was the moment that literally knocked me off my couch screaming. In the subsequent commercial break I literally stood in front of my television willing the show to return, struggling to decide if I wanted Matt to live. On the one hand, his death would shatter Caroline and I absolutely did not want that guilt for her. On the other hand, with Matt out of the way Caroline would be able to further cultivate a relationship with Tyler, if he ever comes back that is. For me the choice was simple: I want a vampire-werewolf love story and I’m tired of Matt’s belittling superiority. Matt has never missed an opportunity to call Caroline neurotic and petty and he always seems to operate on the idea that Caroline is not as emotionally evolved as him. Most importantly, Matt is ill prepared to deal with the hardships Caroline’s vampire life entails—something the pair’s final scene made abundantly clear.

When Matt awakens in Caroline’s room confused, she happily explains that her vampire blood healed him and now they can finally be together because she can tell him everything. The look on Caroline’s face and the hope and joy in her voice make Matt’s reaction all the more heartbreaking. His first thought is his dead sister Vicki whom he thought died of an overdose, but really died because she couldn’t control her bloodlust as a new vampire. Matt immediately accuses Caroline of hurting his sister and when she stops him from leaving he angrily shakes her asking what she did. The scene left me both heartbroken and excited.

While I don’t want to see Caroline in more pain, the dynamic Matt’s anger over Vicki will create will undoubtedly be fascinating. Will he forgive Caroline, and all of his friends for that matter, for keeping secrets because of his love or will he take revenge and make everybody’s lives more difficult? If Matt turns on Caroline will the guilt of knowing that she destroyed his life destroy her? The possibilities are endless and I cannot wait to see how their story progresses in the rest of the season—with one reservation.

The writers’ decision to let Tyler leave town to figure out his new life initially annoyed and saddened me, but I trusted in their vision. Now seeing that Matt may reject Caroline’s love after so much deception once again ignites my annoyance. Caroline is going to need a friend as she copes with Matt’s anger and who better than Tyler? The dynamic of Matt being the nice guy who cannot relate to Caroline’s vampirism and Tyler as the possible lover dealing with the same problems would only be deepened if he were still around. Those relationships would develop into a very compelling love triangle and I fear that The Vampire Diaries may have made its first ever plot mistake in letting Tyler go. Tyler’s presence would have created some gripping stories and it’s a shame they won’t have the chance to be explored. As of now, I can’t see the whole picture and maybe the direction the writers are headed is ultimately better. So I will hold my judgment until the season finale, but if Tyler does not return by then or the Matt storyline does not end in a truly spectacular fashion, I’ll be one angry TVD fan.

Previously, Glee Blamed It on the Alcohol…

09 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment

by marisacarpico in Previously, on Television... Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brittany S. Pierce (Heather Morris) Killing Ke$ha's "TiK ToK"


So I’m a dirty rotten liar. Post-Oscar week was unexpectedly busy and once again I neglected my weekly recap obligations. Since February is what is known as a “sweeps” month—basically when the Nielsen ratings system sends out surveys about television viewing and the returned data provides the basis for how networks handle future scheduling and advertising—shows often air some of their best episode during that time. Thanks to sweeps, some of my favorite shows aired their best all time episodes and rather than jam my commentary on those shows into one huge post, I’m going to change the format for a few weeks. Since many shows will air reruns for a good portion of March, I’m going to choose individual standout episodes and recap everything I liked about them.

I’ve been hard on Glee for numerous reasons over its limited run, but the February 22 episode “Blame It on the Alcohol” literally seemed written to address everything I dislike about the show. At the root of my occasional disappointment with Glee is the fact that it seems unable to live up to its potential. Despite having talented actors like Lea Michele (Rachel) or Heather Morris (Brittany) and a seeming blessing from the network to make the show’s pop culture observations as racy and biting as the writers wish, the show lacks focus. Is it an old fashioned musical that focuses more on numbers than plot? Is it a pop culture satire that doesn’t really deal in realism? Is it an afterschool special that wants to make its young viewers into better people? The show never really seems to know what it is and instead of trying to have a singular direction, it tries to do everything. Usually Glee’s inability to know itself leads to episodes with wildly varying tones and meaningless, contrived plots, but “Blame It on the Alcohol” didn’t suffer the same weaknesses.

Though the episode once again expressed creator Ryan Murphy’s desire to give the show a slight afterschool special feel the message wasn’t delivered in a heavy-handed, preachy fashion as in the past. McKinley High was in the grips of an underage drinking epidemic and not even New Directions remained unaffected. Previous “afterschool special” episodes have been an uneasy mix of lightness and dark. In “Grilled Cheesus” Kurt almost seemed punished for his atheism when his father had a heart attack, so I half expected to see one of the New Directions kids end up in an alcohol related car accident or die of alcohol poisoning. However, rather than create a warning against alcohol that used overly dramatic consequences or made unrealistic demands about alcohol safety, the episode treated the subject with a light touch that was both amusing and memorable.

The episode set the tone with a mordantly funny party at Rachel’s house where the whole glee club gave themselves over to inhibition-less drunkenness. As Far East Movement’s party anthem “Like a G6” played in the background, the camera showed the characters acting just as their personalities would dictate. A hysterical Santana accusing her boyfriend of still loving his ex one minute and begging him to kiss her the next. Brittany tearing off her clothes and dancing like a stripper and Rachel becoming needy and overly loving. The scene not only parodied pop culture archetypes of female drunkenness, but flawlessly grafted them onto the characters in a way that was believable and utterly hilarious. The scene was pure fun and though it noted the risks of alcohol consumption—namely bad decision-making skills and an exaggeration of personality to the point of becoming abnoxious—it did so in a playful way.

Just as enjoyable was the final number of the night, Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK.” Ke$ha’s basically made a career on songs about sloppy, mad partying and it was the perfect song for New Directions to sing at the height of their alcoholism. Taking a swig of perhaps the worst jungle juice ever conceived (ingredients included cough syrup, ground up Oreos and wine) the club embodied the constant state of inebriation/hangover the song glorifies and seemed to hold it together, that is until Brittany projectile vomited on Rachel’s face. The performance was already great with trained dancer Heather Morris recreating Ke$ha’s brash performance style to perfection, but to suddenly mock the very life the artist’s song glorifies by showing how it can devolve into sloppy hangovers and displays that make even friends embarrassed was inspired. The scene showed not only the fun that can accompany a life of partying, but the often pathetic and shameful results and served as a fitting warning against alcohol abuse. The show rarely manages to both deliver a message and stay lighthearted and I hope future afterschool special episodes manage to strike the same balance.

Just as admirable was the episode’s character development. I mentioned previously, that I am continually disappointed with Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Rachel’s (Lea Michele) development. By involving both characters in the same storyline, the show finally made them multi-dimensional again. During a game of spin the bottle, Rachel kisses Kurt’s love interest Blaine (the wonderful Darren Criss) and they feel some unexpected sparks. Kurt, driven largely by his naked jealousy, attacks both Blaine and Rachel for their subsequent decision to explore their relationship and becomes pretty unlikable in the process. When he cruelly tells Rachel that Blaine is just the first of many of her boyfriends who will turn out to be gay, his words stop being funny and becomes viciously unwarranted. Glee often makes the mistake of glorifying Kurt’s struggle to live as an open gay man and in previous episodes that has meant making other characters’ emotions seem less important than his own. At his core, Kurt is still a fundamentally selfish character and exploring that aspect of his personality doesn’t make him a villain, it makes him real and believable.

Just as remarkable was Rachel’s return to believability. For most of the second season, Rachel has been little more than a needy girlfriend and I missed the strong, confident Rachel of the past. She finally returned in this episode when she repeatedly chose not to become the victim. She first avoided a pity party when Finn was a needless buzz kill and called her the “needy, overly-affectionate” drunk. Rather than dwell on his rudeness, she initiated spin the bottle and decided to have fun rather than let Finn’s thoughtlessness spoil the party. She again refused to be the victim when Kurt insulted her. Rather than dwell on his bitchy jealousy, she took it as a challenge and decided to kiss Blaine to see if the sparks remained without alcohol. And when that kiss inevitably ended without sparks, rather than pity herself and whine that no man wanted her, she realized her brief romance with a gay man was perfect songwriting grist. Rachel’s drive to succeed and overwhelming belief in her talent are what make her so interesting and to see her return to that confidence by believing in her worth despite disappointments was a surprise after so many months watching her exist simply as Finn’s girlfriend.

“Blame It on the Alcohol” is unquestionably one of my favorite Glee episodes to date. It mixed excellent musical numbers that were relevant to the plot with believable character development. The show may actually start living up to its potential and I could not be happier.

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