The Vampire Diaries 4x3 Rager and Beauty and the Beast 1x02 & 1x03

Okay TVD!

I thought this episode was pretty ridiculous but I don't know I kind of liked it. I was chatting a bit about it with Iris and dumped like a thousand complaints on her about the show, but I wasn't bored and I still want to watch, so.

I don't have a lot of deep thoughts about it, but how funny was Elena on that motorcycle? And like...how ridiculously Stefan that that is what he would come up with. Ugh Stefan. The show is so confusing about his characterization. I wish they had never done the ripper storyline last year because they had no idea how to handle it honestly. But when he's going around saying things like, "let's leave the murdering to Damon" I just...like I get that Stefan wants to see himself as good but the fact that he doesn't see himself honestly and that in order to continue to see himself as good he has to put Damon into a box where he himself could easily dwell is just..I don't know it's frustrating to me. And it doubles the frustration of how he deals with Elena and what I'm guessing will be the demise of their relationship because Stefan can't handle that Elena might go about being a vampire differently?

Anyway, the vampire hunter stuff continues to be pretty whatever to me, though it's interesting the hunter doesn't know the full extent of what he is and also that he has no problem beating up humans. Oh and also that this is apparently something Jeremy inherited. And lol OF COURSE Elena is going to be some super special vampire that needs to stay alive.

I kind of liked the Rebekah/Elena mean girl stuff because it's a good reminder that this is a teen soap. Plus, seeing Elena murderous was fab until Stefan reminded her that if she killed Rebekah she'd also be killing plenty of other murderous vampires. Oh no! Lol this show needs to embrace what it is...a show about how vampires are at the top of the food pyramid and more powerful than everyone else. (and some vampires are more "royalty" than others) I mean look how casually they were compelling people for stupid reasons (beer) in this episode!

I'm curious what you guys think of how easily and casually they compelled Matt at the end? It has really icky implications to me. First of all, Matt staying alive as a human blood bag for Elena is gross. Also, altering his memory is such unfair play in their relationship. It once again places a premium on Elena's life over Matt's. He doesn't get a chance to have any feelings about it or decide if he wants to risk letting her feed from him again. And lastly, like, I'm not a huge Matt fan or anything, but he is the lone representative of the 99% on the show so it's particularly disgusting that he's been reduced to being fed on by the vampires like this. Since this show already has major race issues, it's just unfortunate.

Hayley's best contribution was informing Klaus that he is repulsive, lol. I don't think that Tyler cheated on Caroline because A) let's be real it's out of character for Tyler not to have already told Caroline and B) I've read spoilery interviews, lol. C) Klaus is the one who came up with it and he sucks.

Basically all my thoughts boil down to wishing this show would just go all out vampire and stop trying to bring any human morality into it. But even within vampire morality, I still think Caroline and Tyler are the best. So I don't know what to think or feel about the triangle. They annoy me.

Oh one last thing. I did think it was super interesting that last week Elena saw herself in April and this week Rebekah did. It makes me think April will serve some great purpose in the story line eventually, besides being the representative of humanity.

Beauty and the Beast

So...I do like this show more than I thought I would. I definitely like it better than Arrow which I tried to watch. The procedural part still feels ridiculous...very much like what you would expect a procedural on the CW to look and feel like. But I like Catherine and I think her sister is cute and I like her relationship with her partner and I think they are doing the best they can to keep this from being a ridiculous story about a woman's love changing a man.

Like, I was thinking about how it might get annoying to me that Vincent (the beast) is always saving her. But he is a "super soldier" so he IS more powerful than a normal man. And Catherine is pretty fierce, it's not like she's in any way helpless. She can fight, she carries a gun, she's smart. And she's driven by a need for answers, she can be a workaholic, she can be single minded. I guess what I mean to say is that she's a pretty full and interesting character on her own right. And ugh, I do like their fledgling relationship. It's not dripping in angst, it's just more...the frustrations of trying to figure out how they can be friends. I mean the Beast is kind of angsty but he's not horrible. And sure there are still elements of her calming influence...when he's angry, she calms him down, etc. but it could be so much worse. (I never watched the original show by the way, so I have no idea how it compares) So I think they've done a decent job with that aspect of it.

All the other stuff falls a little flat for me, like the conspiracy at the heart of the show, and the cases, but whatever! Oh and I was laughing in 1x02 when they made the joke about love triangles never ending well because obviously they are setting one up. (but maybe it won't be terrible on this show?)

As always, I'd love to know what you think!