Masquerade

Masquerade (R)

I complained a bit about Elena getting kidnapped, but predicted that the "why" of it would balance in the end. Which it did. The continuing reveal of Elijah and the curse and Klaus and so on is definitely worth a little snatch and grab.

On the other hand, we still don't have a real explanation as to why no one just killed Katherine when she was helpless. Right up to the moment Elena asks if Katherine is "gone" and shifts the language, people are saying "Kill kill kill." About ninety seconds before Katherine collapsed, Damon was still threatening to drive a stake into her heart. So somewhere in that missing time as Bonnie is talking to Lucy, someone suggested they dump Katherine in the tomb instead. Damon tells Katherine that "death is too kind," but I'd still rather know who made that decision and convinced everyone else it was worth the trouble. 'Cuz Katherine? Going to be lots of trouble.

[ Read the full episode review of Vampire Diaries - Masquerade ]

Rose (R)

Still not caring for Rose.

[ Read the full episode review of Vampire Diaries - Rose ]

Vampire Diaries - Masquerade

Teensy-weensy itsy-bitsy kind of complaint: if the whole thing was about killing Katherine, then the decision they made at the end came out of nowhere. Not that they couldn't have explained it - probably could have done a really great job of explaining it - just that they didn't. In fact, the ending felt like they had about ten minutes of story left to tell between the Lucy / Bonnie moment through the Damon / Katherine one.  But since everything that came up to that point was so awesome, I won't hold it against them.

Is it next week yet?

Nikita - The Recruit

Of course, all this is dependent on you caring about Sara and / or Robbie, which could go either way. Sara wasn't a fave, but Robbie's disappointment and desperation was really raw. Like last week, this is another shift in the episode structure: away from Missions of the Week and more towards character studies. I think the show will always be more successful when it's tying everything on the canvas back to the main characters, rather than going for the clever episodic.