The Vampire Diaries: Growing Fangs

By Cassie Belek and Emily Latka

If you missed The Vampire Diaries as much as we here at The Demo missed The Vampire Diaries, then last night’s episode, “Growing Pains,”  was sacred to you. Thank God our favorite CW drama aired before the vice presidential debate because…well…who are we kidding? We would have chosen The Vampire Diaries in a heartbeat. Elena is a VAMPIRE. Joe Biden’s dazzling smile is no match for that bombshell of a storyline.

Check back with us each week as we share our thoughts on the episodes. And before we proceed, repeat after us: Bonnie…is…the…worst. Very good.

BEST STORYLINE

Cassie: Elena’s transition. Was it handled the way I wanted it to be? Not exactly. I was hoping for more focus on Elena in this episode. After all, she is the primary protagonist of the series, and this is the biggest thing that has ever happened to her character. But I’m sure we’ll get plenty of Elena adjusting to being a vampire in future episodes. Even though this is going to open up so many storylines, I can’t help but still be so incredibly sad that Elena is no longer a human. I guess I always pictured her time with the Salvatore brothers coming to a bittersweet end someday, at which point she would reunite with Matt and they would raise a happy family together and live long vampire-free lives. But it’s probably for the best that the Petrova bloodline is now extinguished. No more doppelgangers for Klaus to hunt.

Emily: I think the initial set-up to Elena being a vampire was a little anti-climactic. At least it was to me. I wanted to see more of her vamping out the first episode, instead of just the scene towards the end when she saved Matt from Damon. The only highlight of this was Stelena goodness! I am Team Stefan 150% so to see them have all the feelings and say all the words was amazing. Sure, the roof scene was a little too cutesy (and way too easy) and the daylight ring line was cheesy… I still ate it up. I just think Stefan is so well-written and him saying, “I’m smiling” was the most perfect line ever.

WORST STORYLINE

Cassie: Klaus switching back into his body after five seconds. I mean, what was the deal with that? I know The Vampire Diaries resolves big things quickly all the time, but I really thought Klaus would possess Tyler’s body for at least a few episodes. Seems like a waste of a storyline. At least Klaus didn’t sleep with Caroline while in Tyler’s body. That would have made him irredeemable.

Emily: The non-shenanigans of the Founders Council. Julie Plec has said that the entire council was in that house. I should say this, though: I am VERY excited to see where they go from here regarding the council because I think it opens up so much storytelling. (If there’s no council, what happens to all the parties?! What if the current members of the council knew a bunch of secrets and now we’ll never know?! Will they form a new council?! Is it dead forever?!) But I hoped we’d see more than an episode’s worth of them getting in the way or messing up our favorite vamps’ plans.

MATT OF THE WEEK

Cassie: The man himself. Poor Matt. Elena saves him, and now everyone hates him. All Matt has ever wanted was a normal life, but that’s impossible now that he’s surrounded by vampires and hybrids. I remember not caring about Matt for a long time. During the first season, I just assumed he would be killed off at any moment. I didn’t realize how much I loved Matt until May’s season finale when I thought he was actually going to die. But then Elena did something beautiful by sacrificing herself for her friend. All she’s ever wanted is to protect her friends. And now, not only will Matt never forgive himself for Elena becoming a vampire, but neither will Damon. Not the best enemy to have, Matt. Poor, poor Matt.

Emily: I’m actually going to go with Rebekah here. The poor girl just can’t catch a break. At the end of the day, all she really wants is to wear a pretty dress, look cute and have a boy like her. And sure, she may want to have a functional, adult relationship with her brother and family. She can be a bitch and she totally caused Elena to die, but she did help Stefan kill that random guy for Elena to feed on. That’s someone you want to be around in sticky situations, right? I just feel bad for her.

BONNIE OF THE WEEK

Cassie: Bonnie’s grandmother. I guess being a Bonnie runs in the family. Seriously, Grams. Bonnie was *thisclose* to saving her friend from a life of death, and then you just had to pop up and Bonnie everything. But I do feel bad that you paid the price for Bonnie’s foray into dark magic. It seems as though Grams’ spirit was destroyed as a punishment for Bonnie upsetting the balance of nature. That’s something Bonnie is going to have to live with for the rest of her life. At what point does she stop trying to save everyone else and just save herself?

Emily: Bonnie! She Bonnied herself! Back when the episode description was released and it said Bonnie was going to try to save Elena, the fandom was like, “LOL Bonnie. Nice try.” We all knew it wouldn’t work. Her grandmother knew it wouldn’t work. But Bonnie still went all black-veins-in-the-face and tried anyway. Now look what she did. This is why we can’t have nice things!

WTF? MOMENT OF THE WEEK

Cassie: Obviously the pastor blowing up the council in his cabin. He said that this was only the beginning. No way this is the last we’ve seen of him or the council members. Otherwise, that’s just too easy of a way to get rid of the gang’s enemies. I just wonder what form they would all come back in since they are all, you know, dead. I wonder if the vervain they were clutching had anything to do with anything. I’m serious, though. WTF was that?!

Emily: Yeah the council getting blown up was crazy. Did one of our vampires compel him to do it? But the pastor said, “We are the beginning.” Does that mean they’re coming back as ghosts or something?

SWOONWORTHY MOMENT OF THE WEEK

Cassie: This answer really depends on whether you’re Team Stefan or Team Damon. I consider myself Team Damon (even though I do love Stefan), so obviously I swooned when Elena’s memories that Damon compelled her to forget came flooding back to her. Even though Elena chose Stefan in the season finale, the love triangle has essentially been rebooted now that Elena has all of her memories. But there is still so much keeping these two apart beyond the obvious hurdle of Elena being in love with Stefan. Damon won’t forget anytime soon that Elena chose Stefan over him. And Elena won’t forget that Damon would have gone against her wishes and saved her over Matt. I have very little hope that these two crazy kids will ever make it work, so I live for moments like these.

Emily: I do not like Klaus or his decisions so I definitely don’t like Klaroline. But every moment between Caroline and “Tyler” was so great. I love them together. She really thought he was dead so when he comes smashing into that van, saving the day, and she cries with joy, I couldn’t wait for Tyler to be back in his real body. So yes, I agree with Cassie that it was surprisingly soon for Klaus to get his body back. But I’m so down for more Tyler and Caroline, HE BETTER NOT BE DEAD.

LINE OF THE WEEK

Cassie: “And now the world has one more quarterback. Bravo, brother.” – Damon

Emily: “Stop calling, you incessant woman… Hi, mom!” – FauxTyler

LINGERING QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Cassie: Is Tyler dead?! Why won’t anyone say whether Tyler is dead?!

Emily: If Grams is already dead, what happened to her? Bonnie was freaking out when their hands were touching, so some sort of pain went into Bonnie too, right? Maybe her witch sisters on the other side are going to torture her soul every time Bonnie attempts magic? Poor Grams.

EPISODE GRADE 

Cassie: On a scale of Season One Jeremy to Uncle Mason’s Bare Chest, I give this episode a Damon’s Dancing Skills. It was a good premiere with a lot of heart-pounding moments, but it left me confused about where the season was going beyond “Elena is a vampire now.”

Emily: And on my scale from Momma’s-Boy-Finn to Katherine’s Rockin’ Wardrobe, I give it a solid Elijah’s Accent. Let’s be real: this season opener didn’t have nearly the punch as Season 2, but I’m still very intrigued for the season. WHAT ABOUT ALL THE PARTIES?!

[Cassie and Emily both love to tweet about The Vampire Diaries. Follow them on Twitter @CassieBelek and @EmilyLatka.]