An Original Tale

The Vampire Diaries

Season 3 episode 8 – “Ordinary People” 

Dear Diary,

Come with me gentle readers of my diary you be, as I tell you a tale of the original vampires three.

Now I’m trying something new, it’s kind of bold, as I repeat the complicated tale of the first vampires of old.

In a dimly lit cave does their eternal tale lie, its location only revealed once poor Mason did die.

Our friends did they stride into the cave taking care, only one amongst them knowing that dreamy Damon was already there.

Elena, the Queen for which two Princes fight had trouble walking without that much light, and was very afraid that some bats were about to take flight.

As our soldiers made way to the tomb where vampires dare not tread, Elena the poor thing probably wished she’d stayed safe in bed.

Alaric, the history teacher and speaker of tongues, magically knew at once that this was a land where people and werewolves came from.

As pictures they took and Foster the People did play, Alaric and co. called it a day.

Back to his study pad, watcher Alaric did fly, where Damon “taught” Elena to try and not die.

The pictures and painting on the walls of the caves seemed to point out half the story of the hottest family ever made.

There wasn’t enough info to completely save the day; for the most part they just looked like some circles drawn with clay.

Elena, in a move quite smart made a play for the brains of Rebekah, not just threatening to put a stake through her heart.

The young blonde at that very moment was cart wheeling away, happy to be a real girl so early in the day.

As a spoiler of sports did Elena appear, announcing she’d release Mikael, something Rebekah did fear.

Rebekah now sad in the present, imagined her families past and tried to not shed a tear. It suddenly turns into flashback, as the screen colour makes clear.

Now flashbacks in the Vampire Diaries are always much fun, here we see Klaus and Elijah unburnt by the sun.

Oh Elijah, we’ve missed you did the world say at large.

Just look at your hair and you arms and your, sorry I’ve just lost the rhyme, let’s just stare then move on.

Now back in the day Klaus was not so bad, it was just that his “dad” Mikael was always so mad.

It turns out that in times even further past, mum Esther and Mikael suffered through a plague so bad.

Now despite not being discovered for another century or two, a witch in the old world knew just what to do.

So the Mikaelsons did pack up and move to the newest of worlds, where they were happy and well fed until their youngest son by the werewolves be dead.

Now the original witch in spite of clues the writers did send, turned out to be so much more than a friend.

Oh, Mother witch, how could your own family you’d slain, turned into the original vampires, I’m sure Buffy is going to have to complain.

Now blessed with speed and strength but crisped under the sun, as promised there was strengths and weaknesses, some good others not that much fun.

While they were the predatory race like Rebekah did boast, they could all be taken down by a while oak tree if whittled into a post.

So they burnt that tree down and looked fantastic in the light, they found that the newly acquired blood lust was much harder to fight.

Life was not so great for the original vamps; particularly Klaus as it turned out mum was a bit of a tramp.

Werewolf and vampire apparently just weren’t meant to mix, so the original mum went for a quick fix.

Daddy Vamp, no angel without Castiel in his sight, got really mad, took out her heart then took flight.

The three lonely vampires the rest of their family torn apart, swore always and forever that they never would part.

That obviously hasn’t always been the case, as a daggered Elijah would attest, but Rebekah still loved her brother, because Rebekah’s the best.

So sad and so old and again having no fun, she thought Elena’d understand having since shared a similar life run.

Still Mike did he wake, cause the Salvatore’s to shake and us to scream “get your hands off our Damon you flake.”

See the younger and older had been at a bar, drinking floozies and beers, somewhere Elena couldn’t get to fast enough by car.

The wise Damon finally had the brother he’d wanted for years, then Mikael came and ruined it announcing some Klaus killing plans that Joseph Morgan fans always fear.

Mikael wanted his eternally living “son” to pay, but Stefan announced half-heartily that he just couldn’t play.

Klaus was his bro, so his answer was no, until his real brother was threatened and love won over all.

Now back at the cave, where the language skills were spreading, as suddenly Elena knew to where all the pictures were heading.

Back to Rebekah she went like a flash, as it turns out Klaus and Mamma witch were actually the ones to clash.

Despair and heartache over took as Rebekah did crumple not knowing where to look.

Centuries of lies had taken there toll, and rightly enough it was time to curl up in a ball.

With neither a real victory in sight, Elena and Damon turned in for the night.

Too tired to care that he was taking up space in her bed, the night after this episode Delena shippers went to sleep with sweet dreams in their head.

I loved this episode very much, it was really the best. Thank you for reading; I hope it wasn’t too much of a test.

A flashback this awesome just seemed to call out to be written like a minstrel’s quest.

I might write another, if I found some more rhymes, but I think I’m running on empty, oh look is that the time.

As you've now done reading and will finish your tea,

I will now forever and always remain,

Your,  Hanniebee

A Charming Meet

Once Upon a Time

Season 1 episode 3 – “Snow Falls”

Somewhere over the rainbow Emma Swan moved to a town in Maine and started up time again. If you had never seen this show before that opening sentence must be pretty weird. Don’t fret; it all revolves around fairy tale characters so it’s cool.

We open this episode in Fairy Tale world,  galloping full steam ahead through the Enchanted Forest. They don’t call it that but it totally is. The Prince is travelling by carriage, enjoying the view with his lovely bride to be who is TOTALLY NOT SNOW WHITE!!! Excuse me I have to make some calls. Ok, I’ve been assured that it gets better so we can move on. On this peaceful yet bumpy journey, the Prince and Not-Snow-White or Feathers (Anastasia Griffith) as I shall now call her due to her attire (it must be seen to be believed) are suddenly stopped by a giant fighting tree who has decided to take a nap in the middle of the road. Something seems fishy though. As the Prince catches on, Feathers screams as a hooded assailant breaks into the carriage. The valiant Prince is off, like a mightily handsome man on a horse. Now who could this masked figure be? That’s the prince’s question as well, but instead of typing it the dude jumps straight on top of them. Now if you guessed Snow White you are correct, one thousand points. You know who else gets a thousand points, Snow White, because she takes the Prince out like a Boss. Because isn’t this how all good fairy tales start. Prince is travelling with fiancée, Princess sets up ambush, Princess robs Prince, Prince tackles Princess off horse, and Princess takes out Prince with rock. Ah love.

In “reality” Mary Margaret has nowhere near the confidence or taste in men as Snow White. Instead of meeting her soul mate, she is suffering through an awful first date with Dr Whale (David Anders.) Checking out the little ruby waitress while on a date, way to keep it classy Stark. If the Queen wanted Snow White to suffer becoming half the person you were, while separating you from your true love is a pretty sure fire way to do it. Who else is suffering at that moment, Snow’s grow up daughter Emma (really if you have never seen this show you must be so confused and you should also watch the show.) After the Evil Mayor-Queens attempts to get her out of town last episode, she has been reduced to living in her very small, very yellow, VW Bug (who I am hoping is not a fairytale character.) Being the caring mother, whether she knows it or not Mary Margaret offers Emma an extra room at her place.

The next day at the Hospital, Miss M&M is showing her primary schooled aged students around the Hospital wards where they keep comatose patients, because you know, we all do that excursion. Henry, the young keeper of books and knower of secret identities, while exploring the ward happens to comes across his sleeping grandfather, a sleeping Prince Charming or a Mr John Doe, as he is known around those parts.

The brilliant minds of Emma and M&M, following Henry’s discovery come up with an epic plan, to do exactly what Henry wants them to do. Parenting 101: Letting your kids hopes get raised up and then standing back and letting it all fail on them is much less traumatic than calling them crazy. What the mother and daughter tag team didn’t count on is, that when Mary Margaret reads to John Doe (who why wouldn’t you believe is Prince Charming even if he is unconscious, look at him) the story of how they met, he wakes up. Mary Margaret now a believer works with Henry to find the missing Prince as he, under the watchful eye of this world’s version of Grumpy and Sleepy, has walked into the woods. This all take place, much to the disgust of the caring do-gooder who found him by the side of the road, the Mayor/Queen Regina herself. Evil curses not as easy to control as you thought, huh?

In Fairy Tale land Snow White and the Prince’s quest to get back his mother’s ring is beautiful and amazing and just downright charming. He traps her; she tries to get a way, he saves her, she saves him, he knows she’s a wanted fugitive, she gives him a nickname and he’ll always find her. Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas have incredible chemistry on screen and it plays so well whenever they are together.

By the time Mary Margaret finds John Doe drowning near the Toll Bridge (Troll bridge, get it) your heart if it could scream, would be screaming “He can’t die, you just found him, don’t let him die” Despite the fact that it’s only episode 3 and he is one of the main character. The two twists they have in this scene works really well, due to what we know from the original fairy tale and the back story developed here for the two characters. Mary Margaret is the one who finds the Prince, like his was always finding her and then is the one who has to give him the kiss of life.

And he’s married, of course. With amnesia. Sure, why not. We discover that David (formally John Doe) is married to Feathers aka Kathryn in the Storybrooke realm. A fact that Regina only just “discovered” once he came around. So evil.

At least a few positives came out of it. David/Prince Charming is awake so they have all that tension to explore in future episodes and Mary Margaret and Emma are now roommates. All Henry has to do now is put them on one of those talk shows with the segment “What if my mother and grandmother don’t know there’re fairy tale characters?” and they’ll all be good to go.

I love the pairing of Snow White and the Prince, and while they are apart in Storybrooke currently hopefully we will get to flashback to their other meetings in Fairytale, as they try to find each again. A lot has to happen between here and waking her up in a glass coffin surrounded by specifically named dwarves right.

Extra Fables: 

-Could Dr Whale actually be the whale from Pinocchio? It may be too obvious, but he was big and annoying and looked like he could eat Ruby the waitress up. Sorry, I even creeped myself out there a bit.

-Did your little sister also scream out “of course” when Charming revealed that his name was actually James?  

-I love that so far the animation at the bottom of the title card changes to reflect the episode. This week it’s a hooded Snow White in her battle stance. 

Thank you for reading again. On other royal occasions you like Prince Charming can find me here on Twitter at Hanniebee852. Just keep Dr Whale away, I don’t need that drama. 

Keep Calm and Soldier On

Downton Abbey

Season 2 Episode 1

The year is 1917. The month is April. The show is Downton Abbey. There is a war. It’s big. Really big and there is always a problem with really big things, like large animals or spills, they touch everything. You probably don’t know this about me since I communicate with you via a computer but I am an extremely clumsy person sometimes and know for a fact that if you drop something it has the ability to reach into places you didn’t even know existed. In the same way the war has been dropped on Downton and now it is currently reaching into the unknown places in the psyches of every single resident.

Last episode the Crawley family, friends and staff dealt with the initial blowback, the changes to lifestyle and the initial enthusiasm to help but now they have to deal with the continual consequences of ongoing warfare, both physical and mental. In Downton Manor, physically it has remained untouched until now, but psychologically everybody is mess.

 

Grand old Mr Carson, the spokesperson and model for proper civilised behaviour and customs is working himself to death. Two new arrivals are dealing with the very serious repercussions of war. Lord Grantham is this close to buying a shiny red carriage and running off with a maid and Mary is considering the ultimate horror, marrying the bad guy from the first Lara Croft film (or the whole “he’s new money thing”, your choice.)

The issues the men folk had this episode all resolved around the fears they didn't have before the war and are not ready to address or handle once it worked its way in.

There is the fear of war, fear of being redundant, fear of change, fear of losing your place and fear of your past.

Carson is not able to handle the fact that he may not be able to do things as he always has done or as he deems the correct way.

Mrs Hughes: “The world does not turn on the style of a dinner.”

Mr Carson: “My world does.”

With some many other bigger things going on in the world, the other staff is having trouble understanding why Carson is making such a fuss to keep up appearances, but this is what he does.

Robert Crawley is travelling on a one way ticket, destination mid-life crisis. He is no longer an active soldier but he is still wearing the uniform. He says early on in the episode that he envies the solders self-respect and ability to sleep at night. He feels useless and embarrassed and no good is going to come from this.

We also see examples of those who have been or are going into warfare. Mr Lang (Cal Macaninch) Mr Bate’s replacement (everyone at Downton misses Bates, I do too) is dealing with a serve case of nerves or ‘shell shock’ but today is probably what we’d call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD) As demonstrated during the episode he is struggling to come to terms with what he has been through (something the others can’t deal with or understand or know how to help) but can’t not work, he needs to keep working,  it’s how he defines himself through working and how he survives. This is the case to with Thomas’s patient Lieutenant Edward Courtenay (Lachlan Nieboer) at the Downton Hospital. He is severely depressed after losing his sight, losing his identity along with it as his family moves on. There wasn't the help for the poor to recover or the expertise they needed to work still to support their families or just because they didn’t know what else to do, that was who they were, their purpose without that they did not know who they were plus there was not the understanding of PSTD or depression that we have today. Like Lang the seriousness of the issue is not cannot be helped or understood due to the time or lack of resources. Something that looks like it will be remedied as the soldiers march on Downton Abbey in the coming weeks. 

Alas we get to the ongoing romantic entanglements of the evening. Poor Miss Mary, it’s always awkward when the new mister meets the ex-mister and the ex-mister’s new fiancée who also clearly has some uncomfortable and seedy history with the new mister. Sir Richard Carlisle (Iain Glen) has had the unfortunate life experience of earning all his position, money and title by his own efforts and not an inheritance so clearly he is not a good match for Mary. There is a very interesting dynamic between Mary and Sir Richard, there isn’t romance or “talks of June and Moon” as he puts it but instead he views her as a partner, someone he could build a life with together. Unlike her other suitors he thinks highly of her and views her for strength of character rather than as a way to climb the social ladder. I enjoyed all their discussions and frankness with each other over how they view new money verses Downton’s old customs but I have a feeling any possible engagement may end before it even begins if his heated discussion with Lavinia, Matthew’s new fiancée is anything to go by. Plus he’s not Matthew so he has to go.

Other News from the trenches in an episode set nowhere near the trenches:

-“I’m not saying I’m important but I believe in this war” - William received his marching orders from the army and was very excited. His excitement played well against Robert’s frustration of not being involved and Lang’s struggles follow battle. 

-Poor, poor Mr Molesley (Kevin Doyle) - Can’t get the job, can’t get Anna.

-Edith really has the most tragic love life. First Mary’s fiancée part 1 then flirting and kissing the married farmer who showed her some attention -

Farmer: You’re pretty. 

Edith: Kiss me you fool.

-My heart breaks over and over again for Anna this episode, so I don’t think I can talk about it anymore.

- Mr Carson and Mary’s relationship is very sweet in how he cares for her and she breaks social conventions to go make sure he is alright. She listens to his advice more than anyone and tries to go tell Matthew how she feels.

- Sybil is taking her job very seriously but is still learning that she now has to take orders from others.

-The overwhelming amount of injured at Downton Hospital even took Matthew’s breath away after all the horrors he has already seen.

-Did anyone else notice the sort of Torchwood crossover? For the whole episode I thought Lieutenant Edward Courtenay looked so similar to Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) from the Dr Who universe and it turns out that the actor who played him was actually cast as Jack’s brother in a few episodes of Torchwood. Does that mean we will get to see Captain Jack in all his glory at Downton during World War 2?

So that is it for this week boys and girls. What did you think? Is the battle between Cora and Violet over who runs Downton going to end in an all out cage match? What do you think the mystery is between Richard and Lavinia and does it involve a time travelling triangle?

The war is spreading its long fingers into Downton as the wounded ascend. Lord Grantham summed it up best “It’s a brave new world we’re heading for,” and I’m sure it is going to be very, very interesting.    

They didn't have Twitter back in the 1900’s but if they did I’m sure the Crawley’s would have followed me here at Hanniebee852.