TVD and Beauty and the Beast

I almost didn't watch TVD this week since I knew there would be no Tyler or Caroline and also I haven't been enjoying it, but oh my god I'm so glad I did. Last season, one of my favorite episodes was 3x03 because it showed Stefan and Klaus and Rebekah LIVING AS VAMPIRES. They weren't trying to be morally good according to human standards or anything. It reminded me of all the old vampire stories I used to love. TVD is hard to watch sometimes because of the way the show pretends the vampires are good people even while they are doing truly terrible things. But...if they'd let that go and just let them be awful, they are so much more fun. So friends, I loved tonight because Stefan and Rebekah were SO MUCH FUN. I love snarky Stefan and I love snarky Rebekah and I ship it so much! Look, I know this show. Somehow Stefan will have to come back around to Elena and they'll talk about how they are epic, and he'll probably be a jerk to Rebekah again, etc. But at least I got tonight! I never imagined I'd get that much. So I'm just enjoying it.

I also really liked Bonnie, like finallllly. I am excited to see where it goes. Everything else was, quite frankly, kind of boring verging on nonsensical, but Stefan/Rebekah!!!!! Oh and oddly, I felt like the show was just really honest about what it is tonight, and again that will probably go away, but it made the episode enjoyable overall.

Anyway, I feel like all I've done is complain about the show lately, so I wanted to post my !!! feelings about tonight. :)

So I was sort of on this Stefan/Rebekah high after watching and went to watch Beauty and the Beast which might have been the best episode yet and set up so many interesting things! I am just really loving the show in a "want to blog about it immediately" way which makes me happy.

*Big points in this episode's favor was the almost...lack of a case. Sadly, that also meant a lack of Tess, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. I mean, as usual, that was the weak point...this guy just wanted his nurse to marry him and when she didn't he was going to kill her? Um, no. But who cares because I loved everything else.

*This show does such a great job of giving me characters I feel genuine affection for, like I realized tonight I just like everyone so much and I also already like Alex. And that could have been disastrous, but not on this show! Alex isn't some evil witch, she's just a genuinely nice girl who lost the man she loves. And yes she did lose Vincent and even though I'm not normally a fan of "they've still loved each other after all this time" storylines, I think in this case it's somewhat believable because they grew up together. He's not only her first love, but someone she had always known. I thought her reaction to seeing him again was touching. I think it's a little bit surprising that she has little anger at him for his lies or...that she doesn't demand more of an explanation, but I understand why they aren't dwelling on that. I also think that it would be possible to have romanticized someone after all that time, which is why she hasn't been able to move on. But mostly I understand she is serving as something symbolic to Vincent.

*Catherine is my girl, I just love her. I love how fierce she is and also that she doesn't let Vincent tell her things she knows aren't true, i.e. when he said she was misreading Alex, and she was like no I didn't. So matter of fact, she just shut that down. And at the end, I feel like Vincent was trying to alleviate some of his own guilt over his residual feelings for Alex with all of that stuff about how Cat goes for bad boys to keep her emotional distance and she was willing to accept there might be some truth in that, but she forced him to realize he also might still love Alex. I don't know, it's all just so mature? Like it feels like real genuine relationship conflict without a lot of manufactured drama.

*I just feel for them so much and this in particular is a really great thing to explore in their relationship. Like, it's completely understandable that Catherine would have a lot of feelings about Alex showing up and representing a time when Vincent wasn't a Beast, he hadn't been abused by his government, a lighter, youthful, more innocent time, something Catherine will never be able to share in his life. This is the kind of sadness/angst I really love to watch in relationships, so it's probably part of why this show works so well for me! But of course I think it's not coincidence that Cat tells Vincent she accepts all of who he is at the beginning of the episode, because I think maybe that will be an issue for Alex? Also, with the light/dark talk I think maybe they will realize even if they've had some dark times together, it's the person who walks through those times with you that you'll eventually want to be with.

*I also really liked Evan! I think it's awesome that he went to JT, I think it's interesting that he has a secret past, etc. He was just kind of adorable in the episode.

I don't know the show just charms me, I really enjoy it and I'm looking forward to what happens next!