Memory Lane

Vampire Diaries Episode Review

In which flashback hair is never a good idea. The Vampire Diaries treats us to more history, courtesy of Katherine, while present-day Damon and his much better hair almost gets Mason to take his shirt off.

What Happened

Stefan wakes up from an Elena-Damon-Katherine dream to find Katherine snuggling up in bed with him. Putting a stop to that, Stefan again demands to know why Katherine's in town and she again says that it's because she loves him. Still not buying it, he knocks her out with vervain and chains up her up in the basement until she feels like telling the truth. Which she finally does - kind of sort of from a certain point of view.

Katherine tells Stefan that way back when George Lockwood moved to Mystic Falls, she guessed pretty quick that he was a werewolf. He wanted to control the town and she had developed this sudden need to fake her own death and vanish, so they cut a deal. He helped her escape the Great Vamp Round-up and Barbecue of 1864 and she left friends, relations, and boy-toys behind without looking back.

While this is going on, Damon is making his own fun by picking fights with Mason Lockwood. Mason realizes that Damon knows he's a werewolf and suggests that they skip the Alpha Male routine and just call a truce. Damon totally agrees to that for about ten minutes, then tries to gut Mason with one of Jenna's grandmother's silver cake knives. It doesn't work. Because nothing in Damon's life is ever easy, Mason is more annoyed by the stabbing than anything else and tells Damon that he's made an enemy. Mason returns home to find Tyler waiting, still full of questions about the whole werewolf thing, until Mason finally admits that the way to become a werewolf is to kill someone and the "curse" will be activated.

Katherine breaks free of her chains and orders Stefan to stop seeing Elena or Katherine will kill just about everyone in retaliation. When Elena comes over to check on Stefan, she finds Katherine waiting for her. Katherine doesn't do more than give Elena a bit of a scare, but she and Stefan later conclude that it would be too dangerous to be together. Or at least that's the show they put on for an eavesdropping Caroline - who they strongly suspect has fallen into an alliance with Katherine.

After harrassing Caroline for not keeping Elena away longer, Katherine remembers a few crucial details that she left out of her story to Stefan. Like the fact that part of her deal with George Lockwood included handing over the moonstone that Mason is so keen to find - and that Tyler is keeping hidden.

The Good

• Elena notices that Caroline is acting oddly desperate and connects that to Katherine. Basic intelligence. We approve.
• I almost believe Katherine was in love with Stefan - or at least thought she was. That's not to say that she's not also up to something else. I'm sure Katherine can multi-task.
• Damon and Mason. Gives Damon something to do besides hang around Katherine/Elena's orbit. Also, it's about then I started to think Damon may be somehow allergic to the concept of "subtle."

The Bad

• What did Civil War Damon do to his hair? Wrong.So.Many.Levels. That hair almost justifies a murder spree.

The Cliche

• Doubles and split screens - Katharine and Elena - and doing that move where they walk around each other so that the audience can see them crossing and pretend that it's not the same actress shot twice. This version could have been done a little better.
• Faking the break up. (Thankful they didn't go with Breaking Up With You For Your Own Good. I might have had to stab myself with a cake knife.) Stefan and Elena's argument was well done. However, I gotta say I think they'll regret the decision to leave Damon out of the loop. That's not ending well.

What Did I Think?

Got some crucial information out there. Fun with Mason and Damon. Pulled the werewolves into the larger Mystic Falls mythology, which - quite frankly - makes them more interesting to me. I was getting a bit bored with the quest to discover the obvious.