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ever_neutral
so i was thinking of not doing this, but then i was like -
nope. can't pass up the shade. can't do it.
so:
note: just a head's up that i'm pretty much disdain!watching this season. so, unless an episode particularly wows me in some way, i'm finished with long "meta"-like analyses of whatever nonsense is on my screen. in it now basically for the few things i can still muster up some caring for, i.e. the narratives that aren't complete pieces of shit. so, letting that be known --
starting with bile first because that's the way i roll:
WHY:
- if Klaroline weren't intolerable to me before, they certainly are now. i recognise that the framing explicitly acknowledged how reprehensible and disgusting Klaus' actions were. but. i don't care. i don't. in what world was this setup even necessary? in what world is it a remotely tolerable narrative choice to subject Caroline to yet ANOTHER gratuitous instance of sexual assault that, in the end, does absolutely nothing for her narrative. it turns the stomach.
- "i need my sister, not another one of them." Jeremy, i want to stan you ths season, so let's stay away from bizarre OOC lines such as this.
- "you respect my choices, like you always do." show: shut. the. fuck. up. you need to shut the fuck up with flagrantly misusing "social justice" and "female empowerment" to make what is a textually abusive relationship supposedly plausible. it is sickening.
- the 20-minute long montage of ~memories being regained~. dudes, we all saw it the first time. been there, done that, nobody gives a fuck. i almost passed out from boredom!
- Sheila being brutally killed off EVEN AFTER BEING DEAD. that's an impressive new low even for you, show!
- Stelena. basically
reader, i quit. i thought after the bleakness of the finale that their narrative might be back on track, but - i got to Paul's unintentionally hilarious delivery of "i love you so much" -- and started full-blown cackling. and by the time we got to "i can be with you forever", i was on the floor. folks, this narrative is a farce. it is a farce. i can't pretend to feel rage, or irritation, or disappointment, or anything at all about it because -- it is a complete joke. and death to both characters' individual narratives. sorry about your ship, bros. i'm out.
(that being said - it struck me during the last rooftop scene that the framing was noticeably ott and tonally off. i don't say this out of ~hope for the narrative because - as established - i am now completely switched off. actually, it's something that struck me even during my cackling. i think it's pretty obvious that the fairytale rosiness of "let's be together 5ever!!11!!" is something that's being set up to crash and burn. at which point, good riddance.)
ACCEPTABLE THINGS:
- Rebekah.
- Klaus/Rebekah. best scene of the night.
- Damon's general disgust with everyone's narratives, which speaks to my (lack of) soul.
- Elena's transition, esp. the moment where she finally tastes blood.
- SHOCK: Stefan's characterisation. the fact that even while Elena was pissing herself trying to assuage his guilt, he still didn't really buy it. and his going along with the romantic reunion just like that -- even with his guilt issues -- just says to me that he's doing all of one thing: fulfilling his debt to her.
- in which i am a terrible person: i have very little problem with the Salvadicks being as terrible as they were to Matt. yes, indefensible. but at this point, it makes nothing but sense to me that the both of them would project their own grief/guilt/anger up the wazoo on to the easiest target. it's ugly and intolerable behaviour, but - not here for nice people being nice, tbh.
also, i would feel more judgmental towards Damon and Stefan being like "why are you even still alive" about Matt if i weren't also like "why are you even still alive". dude, what is your purpose on this show. - Klaus being an effective villain again.
- Caroline.
- Bonnie. undecided about where this is going, but Bonnie herself was fantastical and heartwrenching.
- "Elena is not your problem to fix." good.
- "i am that selfish". good.
- and can we take a moment to appreciate that the first thing Elena did after turning was assault Damon. i teared up, tbh.
hm. so, relatively short post (EVERYONE IS GLAD). in conc.: it wasn't the most terrible of episodes? i think? idk.
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no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 08:03 am (UTC)I've been craving all your shade the way Elena now craves blood, so thank you for posting <3
I couldn't even do anything but sputter during the Stelena scenes and YOU RESPECT ME FOREVERMORE odes. I had special rage for Stefan saying that Elena craving blood would be the worst thing she'd ever experience. STOP PROJECTING, STEFAN. Is there ever a point where Stefan doesn't try to rewrite Elena's trauma in his own shadow? Cannot even.
(remember how I was asking you to explain your S3 Stefan arc feels? Well clearly that was because I hadn't gotten to the back third of the season and by that point I REMEMBERED ALL. I'm frighteningly good at repressing things that upset me. o_O)
and can we take a moment to appreciate that the first thing Elena did after turning was assault Damon. i teared up, tbh.
excellent point.
I'm wondering... does the invite cover barns? I know, it's pointless for me to ponder plot mechanics, but I was wondering whether Damon couldn't just go into the barn... Idk. Whatever, as if Damon would do it any other way besides being a public dick then playing dead to ~lure in his prey.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 08:58 am (UTC)Um.
I do hope the show improves because I never want you to stop sharing your thoughts about it. They're my favourite thoughts!
Really like your construction of Stefan as fulfilling his debt to Elena. i think that works really well. I want to punch Stelena in the face, but I can still appreciate that Stefan was completely in character tonight.
I still think Joseph and Candice have wicked chemistry but Klaroline might be a bit dead to me too. I just don't see how it can ever be anything other than him having the hots for her in an amusing and creepy sort of way and her being repulsed but tolerating. And just, yeah. Enough with the kidnapping, enough with the sexual assault. Caroline has had ENOUGH.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 09:09 am (UTC)Give it an episode or two.
lol
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 09:29 am (UTC)lol ok fair enough. i guess my thing here is that it just makes it hard to invest in him, full stop. like, i have sympathy for him right now in a distant way, and i do appreciate how much he's been through, but i don't CONNECT because the writers aren't interested in developing him. they're not interested in his story. so, i'm not interested either? /o\ and i think that dramatic subplots involving him (see: him v.s. Salvatores) would have more impact if he were a fully-realised character of his own. which... may be asking too much of the show. but idk, maybe this latest trauma will spur more character growth.
of course, 100% word on the treatment of Bonnie.
I do hope the show improves because I never want you to stop sharing your thoughts about it. They're my favourite thoughts!
YOU TOO ARE MY FAVOURITE. ♥ and i actually did think this episode was decent enough. i guess i'm just keeping my distance atm after the disappointment of last season. /o\
I just don't see how it can ever be anything other than him having the hots for her in an amusing and creepy sort of way and her being repulsed but tolerating.
i guess if the writers want to put Caroline on a darker journey it could become plausible? but right now i just don't comprehend why the ship exists, what it does for either character. /o\
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 09:51 am (UTC)lol you are too much. /strokes
Is there ever a point where Stefan doesn't try to rewrite Elena's trauma in his own shadow?
ha. i actually didn't mind it here? firstly because i was totally prepared for it, but also because it's just painfully in-character for him to project all over her. i'd actually be annoyed if he were written as any less than that.
Well clearly that was because I hadn't gotten to the back third of the season and by that point I REMEMBERED ALL.
OY. i feel your pain. THE WORST.
Whatever, as if Damon would do it any other way besides being a public dick then playing dead to ~lure in his prey.
you know it, yo. (also: lol, plot schmot.)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 09:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 10:36 am (UTC)ngl I had a moment of "man why is another actor making Klaus was scarier to me than Jomo has in a while?"
though to give credit where credit is due, the Klaus/Rebekah scene I think may have ruined a part of me so. there's that. (also like for me this proves why Klaroline could never be what fandom wants it to be? Like if he treats his sister who has loved him through EVERYTHING he's done like that you think he is really going to be prince charming for Caroline. get real. )
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 10:42 am (UTC)EVERYTHING YOU SAY OMG EVERYTHING. SO SICKENED. WHOLE SCENES I LEGIT WATCHED WITH A HAND OVER MY SCENE BUT MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE BLOCKED OUT THE SOUND ALSO? The actual worst.
The only thing that annoyed me more than Stelena (just die plz) and Klaroline (wtf, what the actual fuck - he ~saved her? I thought I was going to retch and I wasn't even opposed to the ship until now) was Bonnie's full-blown abuse (but maybe that's her storyline? might as well be as it's the only constant for her... /hate). I can't deal with this storyline anymore it's makes me sick. The moment where everybody guilts/threats/forces her to go to her potential death, because that's what sh's supposed to do? Fucking revolting. I really don't want to watch things like that anymore :(
i got to Paul's unintentionally hilarious delivery of "i love you so much" -- and started full-blown cackling. and by the time we got to "i can be with you forever", i was on the floor. folks, this narrative is a farce. it is a farce. i can't pretend to feel rage, or irritation, or disappointment, or anything at all about it because -- it is a complete joke. and death to both characters' individual narratives. sorry about your ship, bros. i'm out.
Basically? Only that I feel rage @ the Salvadicks distracting me from Elena's pain? I could not start laughing during that absurd (and absurdly predictable) first scene and I really didn't want to. Stop it, show. This is just bad.
it wasn't the most terrible of episodes? i think? idk.
LOL. IDK INDEED.
Never leave me.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 11:04 am (UTC)Rebekah was basically my favorite thing about this episode. I actually went to upload a Rebekah icon because I deleted mine over the summer and forgot how much I loved her /o\
- your Klaroine feelings are mine; I'm glad show framed Klaus's behavior as disgusting and terrible (that's more than I expected, tbh), BUT WHY DO WE KEEP SEXUALLY ASSAULTING CAROLINE? WHAT WAS EVEN THE POINT OF THAT? CAN WE STOP NOW, SHOW???
"i need my sister, not another one of them." <-- I'm glad you thought that was OOC, I wanted to burn that line to the ground, it's just so not how I characterize Jeremy (what happened to the cute "have your fangs come in yet?" bit from the trailer?). Though Jeremy was mostly a plot device during this ep, I felt like the scene where he says said offending line he was mostly info-dumping for the audience; idk, it was not delivered well.
YOUR STELENA REACTION, LMAO. I had this weird cognitive dissonance where I generally enjoyed most of their scenes and was all "CUTIE FACES" at them, and also at the same time wanted to yell "YOU CANNOT LAUGH ABOUT BRIDGES WHEN YOU JUST TRIED TO DRIVE ELENA OFF ONE A FEW WEEKS AGO, STEFAN" and felt like their scenes were so dishonest and wondering if the writers were pretending S3 never happened (understandable, I want to forget that season too), because seriously, the way they're writing Stefan, I feel like S3 may as well not have happened. I was vaguely appalled that "I can be with you forever" was played so straight, THAT SHOULD NOT BE A GOOD THING, RUN ELENA RUN (I suppose they're being SET up for a fall? but lol I trust nothing o this show).
LOL, the way Damon & Stefan treated Matt was terrible, but do we expect anything better from them? Damon would be OOC if he was all mature about it. Also, the Stefan & Matt scene was honestly one of my favorites.
I WAS BOTH TORN AT HATING WHAT THEY DID TO SHELIA BUT LOVING MOST THINGS ABOUT BONNIE IN THIS EP? "ELENA IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM TO FIX" \o/
Eh, it wasn't a terrible episode (it didn't make me as ragey as I thought it would, tbh), but I was kinda underwhelmed, tbh? Call me when Elena eats people.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 11:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 11:29 am (UTC)also like for me this proves why Klaroline could never be what fandom wants it to be? Like if he treats his sister who has loved him through EVERYTHING he's done like that you think he is really going to be prince charming for Caroline.
totally. Klaus is an abusive fuck, period. though tbf i do know some Klaroline shippers who like it for the dark creepy factor? that's pretty much the only version of the ship i could buy.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 11:33 am (UTC)ALWAYS, BROSKI
I can't deal with this storyline anymore it's makes me sick. The moment where everybody guilts/threats/forces her to go to her potential death, because that's what sh's supposed to do? Fucking revolting.
oy. i completely understand you. i have so many mixed feelings and i really don't know what to say about it anymore. /o\ /o\ /o\
Only that I feel rage @ the Salvadicks distracting me from Elena's pain? I could not start laughing during that absurd (and absurdly predictable) first scene and I really didn't want to.
haha, that was the Elena/Stefan scene i actually liked the most? because it was about Elena first and foremost. though ita that it was predictable. ugh, Stefan needs to get out of Elena's narrative so i can actually enjoy it unreservedly.
Never leave me.
i promise you, i will never leave you.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 11:39 am (UTC)ugh, Stefan needs to get out of Elena's narrative so i can actually enjoy it unreservedly.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE. WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO TO MAKE IT HAPPEN, SHOW? NAME YOUR PRICE.
Good, good. <3
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 11:47 am (UTC)(what happened to the cute "have your fangs come in yet?" bit from the trailer?)
OMG THIS. and yes, i can't really hold that (ooc) line against Jeremy himself because it felt so inorganic?
i seem to hold the unpopular opinion that Stefan's characterisation was good this episode, lol? it might just be Paul's considerable talent, but i thought it showed clearly in Stefan's reactions that he certainly had not forgotten that s3 happened, but was choosing to accommodate Elena since she's in such a rocky place. and yeah, i'm pretty appalled that ELENA is unironically saying "i can be with you forever" (since that's not at all how i read her emotional response to Stefan at the end of last season, i.e. she didn't even seem to particularly WANT to be with him again); but still i really got the impression even through my inability to take anything seriously that the saccharine stuff was classic narrative misdirection. i mean, we know for a fact that it's not gonna last.
Call me when Elena eats people.
soon, friend.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 11:48 am (UTC)Yeah, I could too, but the problem is that's not what the show is trying to sell. Like if they presented it as a dark ship, I could maybe at least appreciate it. But as it is now? nope.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 11:53 am (UTC)have some E in return:
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 11:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 12:27 pm (UTC)That said, I quite enjoyed the episode? I was mostly there for Elena's transition, and it pleased me, so I'm happy. #priorities, I has them
There needs to be more assaulting *leers*
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 12:42 pm (UTC)What is a Stelena? A mystical rodent? Galactical fungus? Most noxious thing currently on the show (and on this show, that's a legit feat)? I can't. I'm not here for it. I will not be here for it until the writers do something tolerable. Every time Stefan opens his mouth these days, I have to spit into a shot glass to cleanse my palate. WOE.
As for the rest, d'accord.
I was just really irritated with everyone in one way or another. Like, I love that the Salvatwits were shitting on Matt (because I do so in my head all the time) but they are, themselves, so annoying that it was just like - can't you all just go away for a long time out and leave me with Elena, Bonnie and Caroline. And Rebekah? Thanks, bye.
Scared about this Bonnie narrative. But it has potential. And many of the feelings as expected. Because Bonnie. (Elena is not your problem to fix. Besides the fact that I was laughing when Grams just appeared and bellowed, "No," - this had me holding up my gospel hand. Thank you, show. Please can we start indoctrinating Bonnie with such messages.)
What is a Klaroline? I believe it's in the same class as a Stelena for me, just a different flavour. No time for it. Whatever. Give Caroline a storyline about her and I'll come back.
Elena's blood-licking scene was the best.
Klaus being an abusive ass was also the best. Because that's what he is. I do feel that it's telling that the only times he's been truly effective as a villain to me are when he's abusing his family. I can't help but believe that that's the point.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 01:07 pm (UTC)the 20-minute long montage of ~memories being regained~
Yeah, I think I drifted off during that scene.
Sheila being brutally killed off EVEN AFTER BEING DEAD.
I KNOW. Did they bring this dead character back to torture/kill her again? Wow.
Klaus/Rebekah. best scene of the night.
YES. I am glad that my f-list seems to be in agreement about this. It amazes me that they could write a beautiful heart-wrenching scene like that, and immediately follow it with whatever was going on in that Stefan/Elena cheese-fest.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 01:13 pm (UTC)your hate is pure and beautiful 2 me.
Like, I love that the Salvatwits were shitting on Matt (because I do so in my head all the time)
TROLOLOL word. but yeah, sit the fuck down, nincompoops.
same feelings about the Bonnie of it. parts of the episode made me punch the air! yet, also some distressing stuff. we'll see.
What is a Klaroline? I believe it's in the same class as a Stelena for me, just a different flavour.
they're both vying for "literally the worst ship ever to exist" for me atm, tbh. WHY MUST IT BE THIS WAY.
I do feel that it's telling that the only times he's been truly effective as a villain to me are when he's abusing his family. I can't help but believe that that's the point.
most def. horrible horrible. but: rare things the show gets right.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 01:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-13 01:19 pm (UTC)OHO. well, it wasn't as bad of an episode as it could have been.
It amazes me that they could write a beautiful heart-wrenching scene like that, and immediately follow it with whatever was going on in that Stefan/Elena cheese-fest.
this show works in mysterious and inscrutable ways lbh.