The Vampire Diaries
Season 4 episode 1 – "Growing Pains"
Dear Diary,
You would not believe the week I’ve had. Seriously, if you made a list of the worst possible things that could happen to you, put them in secession, times it by ten thousand and then made it dance in public you would have my week. I dare you to find someone who could have possibly had a worst time than I have... what happened to Elena?
Hit her head. Drank funny tea and was kidnapped. Thought every vampire she cared about was going to die. Elijah only came back for a second. All of this other horrible but extremely well written and acted stuff here. Accidently ate something funny and possibly life changing at the hospital.
What happened to Matt’s Truck!!!
Maybe, we should just talk about what took place after all that went down instead. Yes, let’s do that.
Season 4!!
And we’re back. Welcome. Did you survive the wait? Too soon, sorry. I guess, we all handle grief in our own ways. Some people use humour or go into denial, other people may self-destruct, some could find that the sadness consumes them, other’s mourn but eventually find peace and some take their anger out on perfectly innocent Quarterbacks who did absolutely nothing wrong and don’t deserve that kind of treatment. I am talking to you Damon, you are on the list.
After last season’s fantastic closing act, "Growing Pains" had a lot of ground to cover and it did it very, very well. Was it perfect, is anything (maybe Jeremy or Matt or Elijah or Dean Winchester I’m off topic,) but it was able to hit and tie up most of last season’s cliff hangers, throw in a few gut retching emotional moments, blow up a few cars and council members and oh yeah Elena Gilbert completed the transition and became a vampire.
Typical day in Mystic Falls really.
We open to a white screen which either means an island has disappeared in the south pacific or it was time for Elena to wake up. After a series of random noises picked up by her transition vampire (bat) ears, the recently deceased Miss Gilbert awoke to find that vampires in love really do watch over you while you sleep.
Elena as expected, was devastated to learn that she was in phase one of her possible afterlife. The tragedy of what was happening to Elena was incredibly well done in this scene, not only was it heartbreaking to see Elena learn that the one thing she had never wanted was happening to her, after she had knowingly sacrificed herself for her friend but on top of that to hear an eighteen year old girl scream that she was ready to die is very distressing.
Unfortunately it is after this that the issue of Elena not wanting to join the un-dead goes from being an issue of "if" to "when." As an audience we know that Elena is not going to die, she’s on the DVD cover I just bought (Season 3, good times, better wigs) but instead of spending time coming to terms with Elena’s loss we are thrust into a life or death battle where Elena isn’t really given an opportunity to grieve for all the human things that she is about to lose forever.
Elena's first entrance as a vampire was very epic and totally necessary (seriously stop the attacks on Matt, I don't think I could take a whole season of this) but instead of Damon acknowledging or grieving the fact that Elena is now a vampire, it turns into a discussion about the state of their love triangle.
It's like we missed the scene we're Elena decided that she was ok about going through with the transition. The episode was very focused on showing how horrible the physical process of becoming a vampire was but lost track on the emotional side of it. Maybe if there was a line of dialogue before she reached the point of nearly dying or was cut off from a human blood source, that said she would go through with it if Bonnie's spell hadn't worked. The fact that she had to fight so hard to get to the yummy guards blood kind of did that, but maybe if she had paused before she put her fingers to her lips, in a sort of silent acknowledgment and farewell to her humanity, showing that while this was not what she had wanted for herself, she wasn't just scared but that she was choosing to survive.
Death becomes her and everyone else
Now, before you fire up the torches and sharpen those pitchforks, remember I did love the episode, the physical side of the transition was extremely well done and showed how disturbing and traumatic it is in a way we didn't get to see with Vicki or Caroline. Plus having Elena literally walk into the moments that Damon had compel her to forget was brilliant. That scene, wow. Forehead kisses and returned cursed jewellery for everyone.
Other stuff that happened this episode:
- After a thousand years Klaus has finally learnt why you never let younger siblings near your stuff. They are always breaking something.
- Bonnie went to the dark side again and instead of a T-shirt-shirt and an alive friend, she got her ghostly Grandmother re-killed. RIP Grams, you'll always be awesome, no matter how many times they murder you.
- How awesome was Michael Trevino portraying Klaus. Very, that's how awesome. I know some people had a problem with the fact he didn't use an English accent, but when Klaus was controlling the late and great Alaric, accents never changed, so I didn't have a problem with it here. It's the walk not the talk.
- I'm also glad the Klaus/Tyler hybrid never got past many bases with Caroline. That would have had too many shades of season 1 Caroline-Damon ickness to it.
- Stefan and Elena in the cattle pens. I was smiling and crying too.
- The last five minutes. Woah! Way to go out with a bang (sorry, too soon, that was too soon) Goodbye weird council who despite years of random "animal attacks" only got their act together for one episode and sorry to all those actors who thought that they were going to be this years main villains, maybe they need some more adults on Teen Wolf (Teen Wolf is awesome!)
Well, that's it for the first episode of Season 4. Wasn't bad, I might just stick around and obsess over the next twenty-one as well. Next time funny enough is episode 2. Entitled "Memorial" we may be getting a chance to mourn Elena humanity along with a cast of a thousand council members as well.
So some questions to finish:
Who will be the seasons big bad now the council and earth have parted ways?
Is it lamps?
All this and more on the Vampire Diaries.
Enjoy your week, I'm off to make "Leave Matt alone" T-shirts. I hope that you will be doing the same,
x0x0
Hanniebee
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