A force to be reckoned with

Once Upon a Time

Season 1 episode 8 –   “Desperate Souls”    

Over the hills and far away, a man sat with his son spinning straw. It’s a menial task but one he does well. The man is trouble. His country is at war and his superiors are asking a terrible price. They are asking for their children, they are asking for his son. The man, a coward by choice and reputation, fears for the life of his young boy. The boy is brave, he’ll fight but the man won’t let that happen. The man has faced the terrors of war. He has felt the fire that burnt and scarred and twisted him into the mess of a man he was today. He will not let them take his son. Hard time makes desperate men of everyone, right?

With that, let’s discuss.

“Desperate Souls” I think was my favourite episode since the pilot.

Were the links between the two-worlds a little heavy handed in places? Yes. 

Did I not have a clue how the Sheriff race between two applicants with absolutely no police training between them was actually possible? You betcha.

But overall, if you suspend belief about some parts (seriously, no law enforcement experience) this episode worked for me and it’s mostly because of the one man. Well, one man, two characters.

So far in the life of Once Upon a Time (or OUAT for those of you playing along at home and don’t want to type the whole thing anymore,) Rumpelstiltskin, has been a magnificent, mischievous, manipulative and mysterious figure, who in has had his twisted fingers in everybody else’s stories since the beginning of the show. In this episode however, we got to look not only at the man behind the nymph but his Storybrooke counterpart Mr Gold as well.

In one world he was a broken down, sorry-excuse of a man manipulated into a cursed identity and in the other realm he was a powerful man, able to put in place a masterful plot in order to gain a better favour from a fair, now more influential maiden, who unfortunately couldn’t see it coming through all her hair extensions .

To breakdown this episode, let’s look at two of the most desperate souls this episode:

Emma Swan- Because they  have decided to stick with the whole “Graham’s dead” thing, Miss Swan’s mission in episode 8, to take Storybrooke’s police department back by force and what’s more powerful a force then someone really, really desperate. In one corner we have Emma Swan, deputy of two days and attempted good guy. In the other corner we have Sidney Glass, a reflection of Regina’s control of the town. There is no third corner.

Good luck Storybrooke.

Henry, currently playing the part of the littlest boy blue, is still devastated over Graham’s death (you and me both buddy) and has come to the conclusion that evil will always win because good plays fair. Emma, not sure how to proceed with this week’s foiling of whatever Regina wants to do, gets a surprise visit from the one and only Mr Gold, who is more than happy to lend a hand.

Some fairy dust, some hopes and wishes and a little loophole in the carter finding later and presto Emma is back in the Sheriff race. While we know that Emma is probably the best person for the job, the currently brainwashed townsfolk are not so sure. It’s not until a mysterious fire in Cruella de Vil’s Regina’s office and saves the ungrateful Mayor’s life does she generate some positive buzz.

 

But alas, a scheme is afoot. Because Emma is pretending to be a police officer she comes to the correct conclusion that Mr Gold, first name unknown, set the fire in order to make her Storybrooke’s newest hero. Emma, who is trying to show Henry that good can win without cheating, comes clean about the pawn shop owner’s treachery and by doing so convinces the amnesic fairytale characters to think “yeh, she’ll do.”  

Emma, all awash with half-felt joy is in for a major surprise. Mr Gold, predicting that she will take the hero’s path, orchestrated the whole thing. It wasn’t enough that should stood up or saved Regina, she needed to be seen standing up to someone more powerful and hated, Mr Gold himself. Why did he do this for her?

Remember years back when Emma promised him a favour in return for not taking Cinderella’s baby (this show!) well it’s not Emma Swan he needs the favour from, it’s Sheriff Swan. See what he did there?!

But how did he know that she would do everything he thought that she would? He knows how to recognise a desperate soul?

How did Mr Gold get so smart?

Rumpelstiltskin: Mirroring in some ways Emma’s tale, this episode we saw how Rumpelstiltskin got his groove. A runner away of war, all Rumpelstiltskin wants to do is save his son, Baelfire (Dylan Schmid) from conscription to fight the ogres (seriously this show!) and due to his panic and fear, he follows the advice of Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif: they call him the “old beggar,” but I know the truth) who gives him instructions on how to control the magical and evil magical mastermind, the Dark One, whose power is used to control the people.

It was a bad idea to trust Wormtongue, ask Theodoen. Instead of gaining control of the Dark One, the beggar in disguise, you become the Dark One. While his son and the general public are horrified, Rumpelstiltskin doesn’t seem to mind the upgrade. However, if you listen closely, on a quiet night, you can hear the cries of panic coming from the first borns of Fairytale land, past, present and future.

Now, how did the Dark One know that Rumpelstiltskin was the man for the job? He knew how to recognise a desperate soul. See what they did there?

Anyway, that was good. I enjoyed that. If they keep making episodes like that I might just forgive them for killing off Graham. Maybe, probably not, no. 

Keep calm, you’re rocking the boat.

Downton Abbey

Season 2 episode 6 

In April this year we remembered the 100^th anniversary of the RMS Titanic’s tragic first and final voyage. The sinking of the Titanic has meant many different things to many different people. It was the loss of loved ones, it was about surviving a catastrophic disaster, and for a fair majority during the 90’s it was the reason they had to hear Celine Dion confess that her heart would go on and on repeatedly.

For the residents of Downton Abbey, 100 years ago it meant that the foundation that they had built their future lives upon was shaken loose and changed forever. It also means that if they were real and alive now, they would be very old. Except for Lady Violet that it’s, who would probably look the same, maybe even younger (she is a wizard after all.)

The sixth episode of Downton was ultimately in a way about beginnings and endings. As the war came to an end, those who lives at the Abbey had been overturned over the last few years could reflect on what they had lost; William, Matthew’s legs, the majority of the house, Mr Moseley’s ambition, but also what they gained; Sybil and Branson’s forbidden romance, Robert’s mid-life crisis, Thomas. As the battle lines were tore down, our favourite English family and friends unfortunately had to brace themselves for another exiting new development, which for many characters could have been the beginning of the end of their time at Downton. What’s that saying, when one door closes, another ones waiting right there to open and have a long, thought lost relatives smack you in the face.

Patrick Crawley, fiancé of Mary b.m. (before Matthew, a sad time for everyone) and heir apparent to the Downton Abbey Empire, was thought to have perished when the Titanic sank in season 1. You can imagine then, that it was quite a surprise to all those involved when a mysterious relative put in a request to stay at Downton Hospital, claimed to be non-other than the presumed dead Brit.

This Patrick (Trevor White), was an officer in the Canadian Army with the world’s fastest absorbed accent, and had a face that was unrecognizable due to a war-time injury, in the shadow-iest of shadows decided to confess his real identity, to the woman who had actually truly loved Patrick before the boat trip, unlucky in love Edith. Canadian Patrick’s claim was that after the ships sinking he had been pulled out of the ocean and mistakenly identified as someone not English and sent overseas and mountains and plains, without any memories to keep him warm at night. Eventually he joined the Canadian light Infantry which shipped him back to the motherland and the rest is complicated back story.

 

As you can imagine everybody took this news extremely well.

Matthew summed up his emotions on the subject best: “First my legs and now this?” The beautifully blue eyed man could not catch a break.

While Edith was quick to believe the new/old Patrick, because of the love, while Mary and Violet were very much convinced that they were just pawns in some kind of elaborate scam. A suspicion, which might have very well been right?

It seems that Patrick Crawley had a friend called Peter Gordon with whom he may have shared his life story with. There is a lot of toing and froing over whether Patrick is Peter. Edith is pro-Patrick’s re-emergence, certain he is her former, sort-a beau. Mary is adamant that the scarred man is fraud and seemly crushes Edith’s hope pointing out how Patrick/Peter’s memories could come from any “I grew up in aristocratic England” playbook, while Matthew thinks that they will all soon be rejoicing about an heir that can produce spares. Robert is entirely confused on the matter, devastated for Matthew, but after viewing a hand gesture from Patrick/Peter is as confused as if he was trying to figure out who knows, what on Once Upon a Time? I will figure it out!

Unfortunately, the Crawley & Grantham they do not have the benefit of another 15 episodes, to ponder this development as Patrick/Peter either loses his nerve or is beginning to feel awful about misleading Edith or is just saddened that his family does not believe him, disappears into the shadowy shadows leaving behind just a note saying: “It was too difficult, I’m so sorry. P. Gordon”

Make of that what you will.

Other surprises, whether you like them or not: 

- Sir Richard took it upon himself to poach Mr Carson, an ally of Miss Mary’s, to run the new property he had poached very close to Downton. The man knows nothing about proper staff-stealing etiquette and the way he manhandled Mary this episode has put him on the list of people. Maybe we should tell Branson he did something rich people do and he’ll pour gross stuff all over him.

- Matthew is sad and that makes me sad.

- Never on a TV show should you make vague assumptions that you would like someone dead, it will always come back to bite you. With Vera visibly deceased at the end of the episode the question is whether Bates was pushed by his ex-wife to far or is she setting him up for some post-mortem revenge? I say the latter because there is no way may Bates would do that and yes it is possible I’m in denial. I can accept that.

-   The scene where they had a moment of silence in honour of the ceasefire was very well done. All our Downton people gathered together, quiet and still in remembrance of the tragedy that has passed but looking forward to the dawn of a new day. For some the future is not so bright, Sybil has lost her purpose, Mary has to marry Richard, Thomas is still around and for others, things seem to be looking up Cora has her house back and masterfully got Isobel interested in another worthy cause that doesn’t involve her living room and Matthew may be getting some motion back in his feet very soon.

 

Thank you for reading, until next episode where Robert better stay away from that maid.

Mama who bore me

The Vampire Diaries

Season 3 episode 12 – “The Ties that Bind”

Dear Diary,

Elijah is back and nothing else remotely important happened this episode.

Ok, maybe other stuff happened that was important and I’m just fixated on Elijah coming back, but people of the internet can you blame me? Find a picture and just look at his hair. You could write a sonnet about that, maybe I will... you want to hear about the other stuff huh? I understand.

“How do you solve a problem like a coffin? How do you let whatever’s inside it out? How do solve a problem like a coffin?”

 That is the question that has been on everyone’s minds for weeks in Mystic Falls. Well, I think its weeks, time moves weird there. Bonnie who has made it her own personal quest to rid the world of Klaus, has been tasked once again by dreamscape to find the woman who abandoned her years ago, her wayward mum.

 

Abby (Persia White), who must not have been married to Bonnie’s dad, if her surname is Bennet and Grams and Emily’s last names were also Bennet, run off in the imaginary years before the show aired, abandoning her post as Bonnie’s mother but taking the time to raise another person’s kid in the countryside, just to twist the knife in.

Is it weird we have met Bonnie’s mum before her dad, yes a little but parents never really have a good run of things in Mystic Falls, so for his own safety it’s probably best.     

 After another enlightening dream, Miss Bennett along with BFF Elena makes the trek out of the always peaceful Mystic Falls to the equally tranquil Bonnie’s mum’s house. There they are confronted by the son of an ex-boyfriend that Abby chose to raise, a lot of maternal excuses and a bunch of compelled relatives.

 

It seems that while the girls were away, the boys were going to play. The festivities at last week’s fundraising just weren’t enough for Klaus and Stefan, who are still as determined as ever to one up another. “I want my coffins” “I want you gone” “But we use to be friends” “You took everything from me and I’m not emotionally ready to take the credit for everything I did wrong afterwards” “But I’m English”

In the end Klaus, who always seems to be just that one step ahead had sent his minion (Daniel Newman) to compel Abby and Jamie (Robert Ri’chard), Bonnie’s not quite step-brother, and threatened them if Team Mystic Falls did not hand over the merchandise. You know, a typical day in the Original’s life.

In the end after a fair amount of violence and emotional anguish on everyone’s part, Klaus succeeded in getting all but the mystically sealed coffin which Damon had scurried away in time. The kicker is that with every prize you win, there might just be a surprise inside, and in Klaus’s case this prize looks mad (He ruined Elijah’s suit, what did he expect, a hug.)

 There were a lot of things I liked about this episode, but there were also many things I didn’t. I love the fact that we were getting some background and character development with Bonnie. For a main character she is usually just dragged out when an issue needs a magically solution and despite the way the character annoys me, Kat Graham does a really good job that doesn't seem to be ever built upon in way of story or character. Unfortunately, I found that I couldn’t sympathise with the character of Abby, which made it hard to care about what happened to her during the episode’s running time, and by having her be the one to give Bonnie the information and way to warn her friends, like she wouldn’t have thought of it, took moments away from Bonnie.

It wasn’t all bad though, I am definitely  intrigued  by the fact that Abby was the one to put Michael away back in the day and that Elena’s mother, knew about Elena’s evil twin-like counterpart and vampiric curse-breaking destiny.  That is a very interesting twist and leads you to wonder why Elena and Jeremy never knew about this before now. 

On the shipper front, this episode also had some nice moments. Tyler had called Caroline’s dad, who we hate because he hurt Caroline, to help him break free of his sire bond, by chaining him to the ground, shirtless and forcing him to  give into his wolfy side. Or at least that is what he told him.  In the end it all resulted in Tyler nearly ripping Mr Forbes to death, which I’m pretty sure if up there as one of the things you don’t want to do to your girlfriend’s dad. 

In other news, Damon struggling with the fact that Alaric may have someone new, possibly deadly in his life, investigated the lovely Dr Fell, to see what dark secret she could possibly be hiding (she’s considering Alaric as a legitimate romantic interest she has to have one.) After hearing that Damon, got owned and blood jacked by the good doctor, Alaric discovers that Meredith is using vampire blood to heal her human patients, which is so stupid that I don’t want to talk about it.  Moving on. Alaric decides that this makes her cool and he shows her his secret hidey hole of lethal weapons and gets Elena’s seal of approval that it is ok to move on from Jenna.

 Elena, in a surprising turn of events got to deal with family drama that wasn’t just her own. However, if she thought that meant she wouldn’t have to deal with her relationship drama, she must not know how these love triangle things work.

What I liked from Elena here, was that she own up to the fact that this is actually a love triangle. She told Stefan that she kissed Damon. Not that Damon kissed her, or that she let it happen, she owned the kiss. A fact that after what Stefan has put her through these last few episodes, he does not argue or get upset with her about. He did punch Damon though, which is called for, there’s a code, ask Barney.  

That’s it for “The Tides that Bind” it was, as I believe the technical term is, it was alright, in my opinion anyway.

 Because truthfully wasn’t the rest of the episode really just filler, making time before what was clearly the main point of episode 12-

ELIJAH’S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Xoxo

Hanniebee

Never give all the heart

Once Upon a Time

Season 1 episode 7 – “The heart is a lonely hunter”    

Once upon a time on a lonely road, the writers of Once Upon a Time decided to rip my heart out and stick it alongside all the other internal organs Regina has syphoned and stored in her creepy tomb vault for all millennia.

In episode 7 we lost a champion of Irish hipster Sheriffdomhood to a curse called “New show shockitis.” It’s an increasingly common ailment, in which a television program to prove that no character is safe, terminates a series regulars role in the show, early on in the series run. The most well known case I can think of, and possible ground zero given the show runners backgrounds here, is given the name “Item Boone” (Lost forever!)

Now this is usually not a problem for me. It’s cool and daring and a sign that a show is willing to take risks, move plot along and still can tug on your heartstrings (all symptoms present and accounted for here.) It’s just that I’m going to miss Graham so much. Sorry, I’ve just got something in my eye, allergies, I’m not crying, your crying.

“The heart is a lonely hunter” was a fantastic episode. For a show that has not even reached its tenth episode, to care about the fate of so many characters this early on is a feat in itself, but what this episode also did was that it answered some of the questions we, as the audience, had been questioning, scratching our heads over or ferociously attacking fan forums about since the pilot.

Regina knows. The moment she started pushing her way into her father’s crypt to make the decent into her vault of hearts, a set that mirrored her old one back in Fairytale world. Regina is still the same cold-hearted, evil witch who inflicted her wrath, as seen in flashback, on book, mythological and Disney characters alike. The only difference now is that she wears pant suits inside of corsets, converses with people with legs inside of floating, CGI heads stuck behind glass, and she crushes the hearts of poor, sweet Sheriffs who are just trying to figure out why they are suddenly remembering their life as a character from a Kristen Stewart movie (whose trailers during the ad breaks had you flipping from one version of the Snow white to the next.      

 If you guessed that Sheriff Graham was the Huntsman from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, congratulations! You were correct. 10 points and a year’s supply of fairy dust. If it looks like it hasn’t arrived yet, that’s just because it’s invisible.

We discovered, as well as being the wickedest witch that ever was (I don’t have statistics but she’s got to be up there) Regina was also Snow White’s evil step-mother, a follow-through from the original story. As we float through the flashback we discover that the Queen murdered Snow White’s father, the King and Snow White was next on her hit list. To complete the task, the Queen needed someone heartless, someone cold, someone with an accent. She needed a Huntsman. 

Despite the claim that he was the baddest of the bad, we saw that he cared deeply for the wolves that raised him (so that means his Mowgli from the Jungle Book as well, yes?) and that compassion followed through to his dealing with Snow White. He ended up softening towards her plight. Eventually choosing to let her go after reading a letter of forgiveness addressed to Regina and getting a good glimpse into her big doe eyes. 

As we see these flashbacks play out as usual, we are in for a treat. These aren’t your run of the mill story telling device, these are memories. The Sheriff following a smooch from Emma starts to remember his life as a fairytale character. As you expect, Graham is extremely confused and starts following bread crumbs trying to figure out what the flashes and a mysteriously docile wolf that begins to follow him around, mean.

After a long and bewildering journey, Graham with the help of a concerned Emma finds Regina outside what they are led to believe is Regina’s father’s tomb. Graham, who admits that he feels nothing when he is with Regina, still in a daze, takes off with Emma. Well, takes off after the girls get a few punches in. Not slaps or claws or hair pulling. Rock’em, Sock’em robot punches and it was excellent.

While Emma and Graham only see Regina’s father’s tomb, here’s the kicker, as the audience we see that underneath is the mythical vault where Regina stores what I imagine is the internal organs of numerous storybook creatures, including the Huntsman/Graham’s own glowing heart. A location that mirrors the one she has in Fairytale world. Imagine the suitcases she had to pack before crossing over.

Regina, who takes rejection like a pro, descends her secret staircase. At the same time, Emma in a rare moment of letting someone in (we got an overload of information throughout the episode about how caged she is) kisses Graham passionately, causing him to remember everything. Not just flashes, everything.

As this chapter came to close, while Graham chooses to kiss Emma again, instead of sharing his new found knowledge, the evil Queen in all her terribleness, crushed Graham’s heart, the one he chose to give to Emma, to dust. And I’m a wreck.

Before I forget:

-There had been lots of speculation and clues left lying around the place that the Sheriff was going to be the Huntsman, so it wasn’t much of a surprise. I’m personally looking forward to them revealing that Ruby is actually Tinkerbell and all the red clothing has been to throw us off. The ultimate red herring!

 

- What was Mr Gold doing in the woods with a shovel and should they do a headcount of all Storybrooke’s residents just in case? My recommendation, start with the first borns.

-The kiss from Emma worked because if the Huntsman had not spared Snow White and lied to the Queen, Emma would never have been born. It’s the circle of life.

- We got an interesting insight into how the former fairytale characters minds work this episode. Neither Graham nor Mary Margaret can remember how or when they met each other, let alone anyone else in town.

- I love the fact that the only person in town who legitimately understood what was happening was the ten year old.

- As I said earlier, it’s not a new thing for a show to kill a series regular off so early in the series, what do you think about losing a main character here? Devastated or happy to be moving forward? 

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed and it wasn’t to crushing of an experience as we farewelled Sheriff Graham. Hopefully we will see your original counterpart again in the future. Graham did seem to get along pretty well with Granny and Little Red in Storybrooke. Maybe Regina’s half-done heart transplant has removed his love for the big bad wolves? 

Keep calm and rest in peace

Downton Abbey

Season 2 episode 5 

The year is 1918. The Hundred Days Offensive, the push that ultimately won the allies the war is about to start. In Amiens, France soldiers walk through the trenches. Some are war weary, others eager to do their part for King and country. They all gather around an Earl in waiting, a man who only a few years ago shared the same station but now was expected to lead. With him, his trusted batman, once a loyal footman who spent a long time wishing and praying for his call to battle and now it was here.

The call is made, the men rush out, bayonets and pistols drawn, ready to fight the enemy that threatened all they hold dear. Shots ring out, soldiers fall. Matthew and William, two men born into different classes, now united and equal in courage and combat sharing the same goal, defeat the enemy and make it home. The battle rages on and in one swift blow, an explosion, terrible, loud and lethal ends the fight for these two warriors. William the brave lays still, his lungs crushed by the force of the blast. Matthew Crawley, sheltered by William, is also still, any feeling or hope slowly leaves the lower half of his broken body.

Both men helped defeat the enemy, both men are going home, but only one of them will get to stay.

With this episode the battle portion of the war ends for Downton Abbey in the most tragic way. From the moment war was declared at the end of the first season, as a viewer you knew that there would be at least one causality from the front, but it doesn’t make it any less shocking or terrible.

Poor, sweet, positive William’s last wish was to marry Daisy, his sweetheart, so that she would be cared for after he passed away.

Daisy who had never been comfortable with their engagement, following some gentle prodding, put her issues aside and married William in a small ceremony in one of Downton’s guest rooms (a room probably the size of the house he grew up in) surrounded by his friends and colleagues and those who had fought so hard to bring him home, moving passed their own grief to give William one final moment of happiness before he passed away (Carson cried, it doesn’t get much sadder than that.)

Despite the fact that we have seen changes in the social ladder since the start of the war, Lady Violet and Edith had to fight tooth and nail to get William back to Downton. Calling on familial favours and the fine act of blackmail Violet was able to give the former footman peace at the end.

For Matthew however, any sense of peace was gone for now. Not only had he lost the use of his legs, but he had also lost the chance of ever having a family (and supplying Downton with legion of heirs.)

The makeup department did a fanatic job this episode. From the moment Matthew was brought into the hospital on that stretcher he looked realistically broken. The contrast of William looking so perfectly healthy compared to Matthew but still knowing that his body was slowly failing him, that much more horrible. 

The entire cast was on fire tonight. From Mary’s grief, to Matthew’s anguish, to Robert’s fear, to Violet’s guilt, even the villains of the piece, Richard and Vera Bates, brought their A-game well done.

Other news from the front:

-Vera Bates, a pinnacle of wisdom and kind-heartedness, decided that now would be the best time to make good on her threat to destroy Bates and Anna, by exposing Mary’s death-inducing fling with the Turkish prince or Lord or Earl or whatever he was, season one was a very long time ago. Luckily for all involved, except for Mary it turns out, that Miss Crawley is now engaged to people in low places. May the real Sir Richard Carlisle stand up please? Yep, there you are.

- On another note, even though I am now completely scared for Mr Bates well-being I couldn’t help but be distracted by the live animal that  was clearly trying chew its way through Vera’s neck during her scene final scene with Richard.

- No good is going to come from Robert and maid blue-eyes. Stay away, Lord Grantham, stay away. Lock yourself in a room in some secret room that has a million and one doors until your mid-life crisis is over. Please and thank you.

- Major Bryant’s a keeper isn’t he?

- Exchange of the night courtesy of Lady Violet and a phone:  “Is this is an instrument of communication or torture? Hello, SHRIMPIE? Yes, this is Aunt Violet...I won’t beat about the bush, dear. Whom might we know on the board of the General Infirmary?”

(If she thinks the phone’s torture now, wait until she tries some of the new Angry Bird levels, those tiny green pigs will not beat me!)

Thank you for reading, until next episode goodbye dear William, hopefully the actor who plays you will find a new television show soon.  

A wake and a cake

The Vampire Diaries

Season 3 episode 11 – “Our Town” 

Dear Diary, here lies your Vampire Diaries recap of “Our Town” an outstanding episode in which our favourite Mystic Falls residents celebrate life with a funeral and throw a party that ends with an emotional bang. If last episode had been about holding on, this episode was definitely all about letting go. Caroline let go of her life as a human, Elena let go of the girl she was before she started making out with vampires, Bonnie let go of Jeremy, Stefan let go of his sanity, Tyler tried and failed to let go of Klaus, Klaus lets go an unexpected amount of charm and the Mayor didn’t really let go of anything except confirming what we already knew, that she is terrible at her job, so becoming BFF’s with a mass murderer and his legion is just another day at the office (The Mystic Falls tourist grab must be “Come to Mystic Falls, there’s a chance you’ll stay forever”)

Caroline while all gun-ho for Elena’s 18^th Birthday, was not so keen for her own, and it turns out she had a few dozen good reasons to have been wary.  Not only does Tyler show up outside the school to break up with her (apparently they hadn’t officially broken up following the Homecoming dance) but she also became the target of Klaus’s retaliation against Team Coffins, all while trying to cope with the reality of being stuck at 17 forever. As Caroline puts it, it’s a filler year, it’s the year you spend planning your 18^th birthday. It’s probably one of the reasons that Edward Cullen was always so cranky (that and the fact that he sparkled.)

It wasn’t all bad though. In between the break-up and the near death experience, Caroline’s friends throw a funeral for Miss Forbes, as a way to celebrate her past life as a human but also to let it go, plus there was magically lit candles, cake and tequila in a tomb. I’m sensing that ‘morbid and damp’ will be the next big trend sweeping through the birthday party scene.

While they are having a nice, if slightly passive aggressive time, in which I find myself agreeing with Bonnie (I know!) Caroline decided to drunk text her ex-boyfriend to come and join the wake. Unbeknownst to the birthday girl Klaus, while swearing black and blue that Tyler has all the free will in the world, had actually tricked Tyler into nibbling poor Caroline, and as we know from the “Damon’s in danger of dying and we’re desperate” subplot of the season 2 finale, this was not good for Caroline’s health at all.

But just when it looked like all host was lost, a handsome, English, original vampire swooped in to the rescue. No it wasn’t, Elijah (I swear those coffins are staying shut just to torment me) but Klaus. What? I know. After initiating the bite from Tyler, Klaus following the day’s exploits with Stefan, makes a pit stop on his way home to his villainous construction site of death, to cure Caroline bit the dust. What followed was a truly marvellous scene, that shouldn’t have worked, but was so charming and gentle and well-acted, that you could hear the shippers, writing “Klaus + Caroline 4eva” on their notebooks already. For Caroline who spent the episode afraid of losing her human life, was now presented a whole new world outside of Mystic Falls, something that may not have had happened before she turned. Plus did you see that bracelet.

Where Klaus is going with this I don’t know, but that’s probably because I’m easily distracted by shiny things.

In other news, Elena and Damon were both dealing with the emotional ramifications of their midnight make-out session differently (One of them was happy, the other one confused, I will give you three guesses which one was which.) While Damon believes that they are right together, just not right now, Elena was too busy dealing with Stefan has he fell right off the deep end.

While I understand that Klaus is the bad guy (most of the time, shiny things remember) Stefan’s crusade against Klaus is becoming unreasonable to a degree. Stefan claims that Klaus took everything from him, Elena, his brother, but what we watched during the first half of the season was those two characters fighting tooth and nail to get Stefan back, even after everything he had done.  His vendetta, did not call for the emotional torture he put Elena through, threatening to turn her on the same bridge her parents died at. He nearly torn Damon apart last season after he took away Elena’s choice to become a vampire or not, and here he was doing the exact same thing, but it an unbelievably horrible way. If he has lost Elena, it’s no longer anyone’s fault but his own (in related news Paul Wesley knocked it out of the part, not just this episode, but his entire journey from hero to ripper this season has been magnificent to watch.)

 “Our Town” worked all the way through, nearly every moment was fantastic. The only thing I think I could fault would be how anticlimactic Jeremy’s goodbye seemed, but I am taking that as a sign that Jeremy will be coming back; I think that is the only way I’m going to make it through.

Last Bites:

-  Matt Donovan is perfection.

- I’m intrigued by the direction that they are taking Meredith Fell. I liked the fact that she was straight up and down to business not even trying to hide the fact she knows about the Vampires, but there is a bit of mystery to whether she is evil or not, which would be an interesting change to the book series (based on Alaric’s interest in her and his track record with women, she’s most probably evil or she will be turned into a vampire by the series end)

 - Is there any authority group less threatening than the Founder’s Council, why was anybody concerned that they might do something. What do they even do at council meeting:

Council member 1: “Only thirty-six dead teenagers this month”

Council member 2 (a Fell): “That’s eight-four less that last month”

Council member 3: (most likely also a Fell): “We’re the best”

Until next episode diary, where I may need to write “he killed Jenna” on both my hands in case Klaus decides to break out the jewellery again.

 Con amore,

       Hanniebee

An Affair to Remember

Once Upon a Time

Season 1 episode 6 – “The Shepherd”  

Once upon a troll bridge, a handsome Prince married a beautiful princess/former highway bandit. Two seconds into their happily ever after, the step-mother in law from hell crashed the wedding and sent all their friends and family to a horrible world where they would be constantly subjected to the horrors the likes of reality television and where glitter and taffeta is reserved only for special occasions.

Now in the horrible not so far off land, the handsome Prince was trapped in a magical sleep and could only be woken by hearing a story about himself.

Once awake the Prince was all a daze, not able to remember his life with Snow but still not entirely certain on his new found life in Storybrooke. The only thing that did seem real to the Royal was the angelic Mary Margaret. The petite brunette, who despite her overwhelming attraction to the once coma bound David, fought the desire to start a tremulous affair with the man, who unbeknownst to her was actually her husband (probably, I don’t know how Fairytale law holds up in Maine.) I don’t know about you but the whole thing makes me grateful that the relationship statuses were not this complicated in the Disney version.

We open this week’s episode at a party and not just any party, one of the world’s most awkward Welcome Home party ever. Don’t you hate parties where you are meant to know everybody but can’t remember anyone’s names; at least David has the whole amnesia thing to cushion the pain.

It is in those moments that you cling to anybody that you can recognize and in this case the only people David happens to know at the party are his family, he just doesn’t know that yet either.

As explained by Henry to Emma to the audience, the curse is not working on David, as the amnesia is preventing the curse from putting fake memories in place of his real memories, but then on the flip side it is also holding back his memories of Fairytale world. 

This week’s cute instalment of Meet the Charmings does not last long though, because nearly as soon as he arrives he’s off to see Mary Margaret. She holds up well, that Mary Margaret, despite missing Snow White’s spunk, she stays true to her convictions, even when David looks at her like she is the only thing in the world.

We then cross to Fairytale land, where we see Prince Charming get butchered by an extra, left over from Lord of the Rings. What? What? WHAT? Hold it right there, I need to check something.

 

Ok, I watched past this bit in the episode and it turns out all right, we can proceed safely.

In a very cool twist the Once Upon a Time masterminds have spun the origin story of Prince Charming with two other mythical stories, the legend of King Midas (He’s got the Midas touch) and the tale of the Prince and the Pauper.

Rumplestiltskin has his fingers in all the pies doesn’t he? Solving the mystery of what he does with the baby he makes deals for, after the untimely death of his son, King George (Alan Dale aka Charles Widmore for those in the know) learns from Rumple that while magic can’t bring his son, who he nears to close a deal with King Midas (Alex Zahara) back from the dead (Did they learn nothing from Aladdin? The genie sang about it!) He can however give him the next best thing, the Prince’s twin brother. On that Rumplestiltskin, he’s always doing crazy things like separating newborn twins in deals so he can use one of them at a later date.

-Fairytale equivalent of a side bar- Rumplestiltskin in return for helping the King asks for the whereabouts of a fairy godmother who is a patron of the Charming family so he can lay claim to her magic wand. Is this Cinderella’s fairy godmother that he killed in episode 4? – The End of Sidebar-

While his hair is distractingly terrible before he meets the King, the future Prince is truly the fairytale Prince TV shows are made on. He rescues knights, slays dragons (yes, there was a dragon and yes it was awesome) and agrees to a loveless, arranged marriage to a women he will not love in any dimension to save his family and the kingdom. What a guy.  

In Storybrooke David is not prepared to spend his life, with a woman he doesn’t love where at this point Prince Charming is willing, if not happy about, marrying someone he is not in love with. We as the audience however, know that the road to true love is just around the corner. Literally, as he leaves King Midas palace we follow through to the carriage ride that brings the Prince to meeting the love of his life. This got me, this was clever and romantic and just plain combination of joyful viewing and storytelling.  

Unfortunately for Mary Margaret and David their path to happiness is not so sunny, as it is being blocked by this pesky little, life altering, soul crushing curse. With some “help” from Regina, David “remembers” his life with Katherine and decides he wants to try and make it work with her.

It is in that moment we see Mary Margaret gets some of her Snow White fire back. He should not have led her on, but is there really any good excuse for hanging out with Sark (Dr Whale aka David Anders.) No good will come from that. Stay away.

Let’s not forget:

-King Midas (from Greek mythology) mentions putting the golden Dragon’s head between the Chimera and Mapinguari back at his palace. The Chimera is also from Greek Mythology and the Mapinguari is part of Brazilian mythology, which confirms that the writers are definitely reaching outside the realm of just Fairytale and Disney movies.

-I don’t think I’m grown up enough to handle the thought of Snow White and Dr Whale.

-Does Regina do anything else but walk into a scene, threaten someone then leave? I didn’t think so.

-Emma, who up until now has never had a family, has parents coming out of her ears with Mary Margaret continually seeking her out for relationship advice.

-Apparently Emma, Regina and the Sheriff did not get the memo I sent, that the Regina and Sheriff hook up was not happening.

-Feathers aka Kathryn, seems to be a decent enough person, which means she is going to be evil, right?

-Did you catch all the fairytale and storybook objects scattered throughout Mr Gold’s shop. I saw a tea set, which could either be from Alice and Wonderland or Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin’s lamp; Emma’s mobile from Fairytale land, what could possibly be a canoe from Pocahontas hanging from the ceiling and of course the parent puppets. What other items did you see?

 Until next episode my magical friends, where it looks like the fairest of them all might just be starting to clue in on the evil curses workings, and I’m not talking about Snow White.

Old Fashioned Bargaining

The Vampire Diaries 

Season 3 episode 10 – "The New Deal" 

Dear Diary,

Three years ago we were introduced to two brothers and four eyebrows. One brother was good trying to shun his evil ways. The other embraced all that was dark and bloody about being a vampire, while setting about, causing all kinds of havoc to bring about his diabolical master plan for revenge. The only similarity it would seem is that they have incredibly similar taste in women.

Who would have thought, three seasons and countess life altering and soul crushing moments, later the role of good and bad vampire would switch hair colours. They both still have the same taste in women (or woman recently) but know our saintly Stefan, after being schooled in the Emily Thorne/Katherine Piece art of revenge, is making decisions that could end up killing everyone he cares about. While on the other side of the handsome vampire coin, Damon is now Elena’s hero, trying to figure out what Stefan’s end game and helping to keep the people (well the people at least Elena) cares about safe.

It’s hard to remember, because this show moves so fast, but up until this episode nobody but Stefan knew about the four coffins existence. Following the fun of Homecoming everyone is on edge, expecting Klaus to suddenly appear behind a door or open locker to exact his vengeance. Klaus it seems doesn’t want revenge but to set up a home in town (that sire bond is so strong that not only would they rip out their own hearts if asked but are willingly doing manual labour) and just wants everyone to work together to get his family back or he will start killing people they care about etc the usual Klaus threat. It turns out that Stefan is hiding out in the old witch house and does not want to play ball, no matter who it may hurt (I can be very forgiving when it come to television characters but I swear if Stefan touches one hair on Elijah’s head, no amount of smouldering looks will make me forgive him.) In the end by using Tyler, Klaus nearly gets Jeremy killed and Klaus’s hybrid in a hybrid actually kills Alaric whose ring it seems may be running out of juice. Oh and Elena and Damon may have kissed.

While Stefan and Damon became doppelgangers of each other’s past selves, every other character seemed to get a sucked into a season 1 reboot, sliding back into character traits and decisions we would have expected in the first 22 episodes of the show.

Season 1 – Elena:  Young women trying to cope with the loss of a loved one while navigating the confusing and scary world of the supernatural and making out with vampires, that sometimes led her to  make stupid decisions like compelling her brother.

Season 3 - Elena is not the same person she was at the beginning of the show. She is tougher and learning to fight back, as you could see by her opening jogging montage, but there are fundamental personality traits that still remain.

Elena has always put her family first. Despite the doppelgangers and love triangles and revolving door of parents, this is something that has always been true. It is also a fact that appears to be swaying her pull between the two brothers. The heart crushing moment of the episode, when Stefan says he doesn’t care what happens to Jeremy, from the look of horror and despair on Elena’s face (before the well-deserved slap to Stefan’s) could be put down as the moment, Stefan loses her and for the first time puts Damon in a real position as a contender. Nothing matters more to Elena than her family, and this episode Damon put that first.

At the end of the episode after finding out that once again Stefan risked everything to save him, Damon doesn’t actually need to confess that Stefan was doing a solid by them; he could have just taken the hero moment and swept her off her feet. Season 1 Damon would have taken advantage but the character has grown into someone who is decent and caring and deserves her attention. A lot of shows rush into the relationships between characters but this arc between Elena and Damon feels real and the moment and kiss feels timely and earned rather than rushed. 

While the brother may have changed, Elena seemed to replicate some stupid decisions from seasons long ago. While Damon may think compelled and away is better than dead, no good is going to come from this. Neither is making a deal to hand over Rebekah to Klaus in exchange for Jeremy’s safety (track record Elena, these vampires may not sparkle, but they most certainly lie.) She had very good intentions and in that position I may have made the same choices, but there is no way that either of these choices are not going to come back and bite her in the butt.

Season 1- Alaric: Was the town’s new history teacher. Starting with no apparent ties to the community, it was soon discovered that he was not only a day-drinker but a self-taught vampire hunter, with a magically life saving ring, who hated vampires especially Damon, who had murdered his wife, Elena’s birth mother which at one point, technically made him Elena’s step-father.

 Season 3- Alaric is the one who has most changed from season 1. Aside from the surprising fact that he is still actually employed by the Mystic Falls high school, he is he is best friends with the vampire he swore to destroy and the primary and beloved caregiver of two teenagers. Every moment between this abnormal family was really sweet, from the scenes between Elena and Alaric trying to figure out how to help Jeremy and the way Alaric talked with Jeremy after the hospital. It soon turned to heartbreak though, as Alaric sacrificed his own body to save Jeremy and then sacrifices Jeremy’s free will to get him out of harm’s way.

 

 Season 1 – Bonnie:  Was just discovering her witchy powers while being given creepy and oddly specific yet vague enough dreams.

 

Season 3 – Bonnie: learns nothing that is the lesson of this episode. Sorry, that’s not fair she does learn one thing, which I am so proud of I could cry but I’ll get to that. Despite having had prophetic dreams in the past, she chooses to live in a world of denial about her current Klaus related dreams but then she goes to the witch house where she was kicked out from last time and wanders around a bit. No magical amulet or sword of Gryffindor to protect her. Just wanders on through despite even the creepy music warning us something is going to be skulking round. That someone being Stefan. Stefan, who I’m not sure, but I think gave her the dreams about the coffins, wants her to coat the stolen coffins with magical pixie dust to stop Klaus from finding them.  Magic always works out in Mystic Falls so this will in no way blow up in their faces or be easily over ridden, so it’s cool, right?

The fact that I am most proud of, particularly after last episode is that Bonnie tells Elena and Damon nearly straight away about the coffins. Yes!!! That never happens, well done.That joy only lasted a second though as Damon and Stefan in another one of the evening’s deals agree not to tell Elena that they are trying to kill Klaus

Season 1- Tyler and Jeremy: Tyler was a jerk of a jock dealing with an overbearing authority figure who expected him to behave in a certain way and was dealing with a romantic complication, and Jeremy was choosing to deal with his a series of losses by spiralling into path of self-destruction by drinking, taking drugs and blowing off responsibilities, and at the same time facing the consequences of his sister’s involvement with vampires and the like.

 Season 3 –Jeremy once again spiralling down the “rebel without a clue path.” The difference is this time he kind of makes a fair point from his view. Why worry about the everyday stuff, when monsters are coming at them from all corners and from the way he took out the hybrid on the Gilbert porch, before his free will was compelled away looked like he was heading down the vampire hunting path.

 

He also presents the most logical plan in the history of the series- why not just get the hell out of town? 

Tyler, who had made such progress from season 1, is now on a backward side. After losing Caroline last episode because of his new found loyalty to Klaus (which he says because he freed him from the pain of transforming, but honestly I think he just can’t say no to that accent) is only now realising how far down the rabbit hole he may be sunk with his sire bond situation. When you say that you would rip out your own heart if Klaus asked you too, it may just be time to reconsider your ‘Team Klaus’ membership. 

Season 1 – Caroline and Matt: Not important to plot so were not in as many episodes.

 Season 3 – While Caroline and Matt are now the best, are not important to these plot points so are not in the episode.  

And now what to me was one of the single, most important character introductions this season (in my opinion at least)  

What was meant to happen in Season 1:

Meredith Sulez made it to the screen book fans. Well, sort of. 

 -THE BOOK LOWDOWN- Meredith Sulez in the book series is Elena’s rock and best friend. Strong, tough, brave, and all round awesome. While she was still in high school it is revealed that she is secret vampire hunter; she starts a relationship with Alaric, her teacher and throughout the series is the only human Damon admits to being legitimately scared of. – OK I’M DONE-

Meredith was one of my favourite characters from the book series so I am very excited to see her finally making it to the show, as promised from the pilot. There has been some creative license taken with some change to her character. She is older; and a doctor plus she is now  Meredith Fell (Torrey DeVitto) making her one of the towns’ founding members. 

I will have to reserve my judgement until she has more than one scene, but here’s hoping she remains the toughness and snark that made her so great in the books.  

 Ok that is my piece for this episode. We are heading towards the middle of Season 3, and while villains come and go, decisions are made and romances change, it’s nice to know that we can look back and know that these are all choices match what we expect from these characters, while at the same time they do continue to change and grow.

So much happened this episode that I feel like I have only scratched the surface, but that is what makes the Vampire Diaries one of the best shows on Television at the moment in my opinion. So Until next time diary, hopefully by then we will have found a way to slip Jeremy some vervain so he doesn’t have to leave.    

Yours always,

Hanniebee