ag-worthiness, but with each and every episode, The Vampire Diaries raises the bar and proves to me just how wrong I was. This show may look like some craptastic teen love story (with vampires!), but it's oh-so-much more than that.As with the last dozen episodes, last night's outing was superb and delightfully emblematic of all the reasons I have grown to absolutely adore this show.
**SPOILER ALERT**
It's hard to even know where to begin when describing the many ways in which this show gets things right. Even when I think that certain storylines are inconsequential or that something isn't quite working, I'm quickly proven wrong (and usually in the most awesome of ways).
Last night's A-plot was stellar from beginning to end (no matter how pissed Alaric may be at the situation, I'm with Damon on this one--badass, indeed!). With an A-plot as involved as Stefan getting kidnapped and tortured, you'd think there wouldn't be
much time or effort put into anything else, but leave it to this show to bang out a nail-biter A-plot and completely engaging and important B and C plots (more on that later). So yeah, the fact that Stefan is, shall we say, indisposed for much of the episode had the delightful side effect of a largely Damon-centric episode. As is no shock whatsoever (given my reviews of this show), Damon is the major draw for me. Even those of you on Team Stefan have to admit that Damon's devilish ways and snarky one-liners are unduly entertaining ("...his love lifts you up where you belong. I get it"). Beyond that, much beyond that in fact, is that Damon is surprisingly layered. Last night's episode showed even more depth and range for his character than ever and I'm absolutely loving it.Damon may have started out as the amoral jackass hell-bent on torturing those around him for kicks, but now he's all that and more. Although Damon showed some cracks in his facade and a break in his bravado (the scene in Alaric's classroom where Damon expl
ains to Elena why she can't come was bloody brilliant), he's still manages to retain his edge. I really enjoyed seeing Damon show some genuine concern for his brother (you could see where some old allegiances had been rekindled in that "Only I'm allowed to torture my brother!" kind of way--nice) and also rather appreciated his protectiveness of Elena. Clearly he cares about her, but he did his damnedest to make his insistences that she stay out of it seem more practical than anything. In spite of his deep-seeded affection for these people, I absolutely love the fact that he's still evil and unapologetic about it. This show doesn't pull any punches and much to the writers credit, they are willing to have their main characters do things that 
aren't likeable. Damon is a vampire and a killer and a bastard and if that means he does things that makes audiences uncomfortable, then they're fine with that. And so am I. I hate it when shows are too concerned with characters having qualities that might turn people off. It causes them to play things safe and stop short of authenticity. The Vampire Diaries does no such thing and after years of seeing lesser shows fall into that trap, it surprises me every time Damon and company (although it's usually Damon) do something that really crosses the line.I was pretty flabbergasted a couple of episodes ago when Damon basically admitted to murder during a bachelor auction and more than a little thrown when he killed Alaric (it's to the show's credit that I honestly thought to myself, "Well, most shows wouldn't kill this character off, but here? Who knows?"). Granted Alaric managed to survive the encounter, but
the total lack of empathy as Damon sat there watching him gasp for his last breaths was, well, breath-taking. He's an uncompromising bastard at his core, so when he actually does bend on an issue, it gives it all the more gravity and impact. As holy-shit! as those moments were, I think last night's foray into murder was somehow more shocking. One of the best aspects of this show is that it keeps you guessing and constantly plays against standard, narrative conventions (most of which would have made Damon more moral--you know, because you can't have a good guy who's actually a bad guy, or whatever). I fully expected Alaric to shove that woman who owned the house out onto the porch, Damon would compel (or glamour) her, and gain entrance to the home. Yeah, not so much. Instead, he very casually confirms that she is the sole human who 
lives on the property and then SNAPS HER NECK! Just as casually! The coolness and quickness with which he did this was shocking and caught me totally off guard. It was done with no more thought or effort than opening a cupboard door. Every time I think I know what this character is going to do, I'm thrown off balance. For any other character, on any other show, snapping an innocent old lady's neck would have fallen into unforgiveable territory. With Damon, though? Somehow it's just another layer. You wouldn't fault a bear from attacking a camper and it's hard to condemn a vampire for doing genuinely vampiric things. Plus, if you're into moralizing, that woman wasn't going to make it out of that house alive anyways. She would have been exploited and drained by her captors until her usefulness (or blood) ran out and then they'd have killed her. I'm not saying that Damon needed a reason here, but I do think that's part of it. For Damon, killing her was just one more step in saving his brother. As horrifying as it was, I love that the writers were willing to go there.
(By quick contrast, think of how appalling it was when Angelus snapped Jenny Calendar's neck. I realize that carried a different kind of weight because of Jenny's relationship with the audience and with Giles, but of all the evil, horrible, awful things Angelus did, that was the most shocking and in its own way, the most horrible. He didn't even bite her. She was so insignificant that she didn't even qualify as a snack. Whoa.) (On an unrelated note of surprise, I also liked the twist on the whole "car won't start" conceit. One would expect Elena to turn the key again and again, but no, Frederick had already taken the keys. Nice.)Damon isn't the only way in which the show keeps viewers or his fellow characters on their toes ("That stuff you said about my wife. That was a lie, wasn't it." "Yup.") Geez, even the seemingly irrelevant C-plot kept me guessing and usually guessing wrong. Dead wro
ng, as it turns out. It doesn't even matter if I read spoilers for this show because I'm still surprised when things come to a head. Once again, hats off to the writers for tying everything together so well and yet so sneakily that I don't know exactly where it's going till we're there. Take for example, Caroline's ostensibly meaningless attempt at driving home. Her car gets predictably stuck, but after that? All bets are off. I had an inkling she would play into the A and B plots somehow (because this show almost never has a throwaway plotline), but I was never quite sure how. At first, I assumed her car had gotten stuck by the farmhouse where Stefan was being held and that she'd get herself into trouble there. I thought maybe she would go to the house asking to use the phone, but no, the show turns that assumption on its ear and instead, that's how Alaric gains access to the home later on. Then, as Caroline is trying to get cell reception, she starts walking toward a bit the bank of a rushing river, swelled by the pouring rain. I thought it was a safe assumption th
at she would slide down the bank (which she did) and get swept away, right? Wrong. She slides down the hill, but stays out of the river. Instead, she saves herself from the rapids by grabbing onto some tree roots and a decaying corpse! Holy shit! Way to take my lazily straight-forward predictions and slap me in the face! I knew instantly that the body was Vicki's (I had heard that her body would resurface, but never dreamed it would happen like this), but that in no way undercut the surprise. Nicely done, show. Very nicely done.As so, seemingly useless C plot combines with seemingly disparate B plot (the whole Jeremy and Anna affair) and that all affects everyone and everything happening in the A plot (finding Vicki's body is a problem for the whole town, including the brothers Salvatore and v
amps in general). It's not easy to intertwine this many characters and this many things going on, but the show does a hell of a job. The fact that Caroline found the body is in itself important. It could have been just about anyone, really, but playing Caroline's insecurity about her relationship with Matt off a family tragedy was brilliant. It makes the jealousy she feels toward Elena all the more palpable (the look on her face as Matt tells her he needs to be alone, only to embrace Elena seconds later was pretty heartbreaking).Finding Vicki's body managed to impact every aspect of the show. I don't know if the town elders in Mystic Falls (or if anyone) can tell that a dead body had been a vampire, but this could be potentially catastrophic for the brothers, Pearl and company (and you know, if Damon thinks someone is scary, she's scary), and everyone else. From a more emotional standpoint, Vicki's impact on the B plot is potentially the most important. As it turns out (and as I had kind of suspected, but didn't really embrace the notion of), Jeremy's entire reason for wanting Anna to turn him was that he wanted to find Vicki. I figured that might have been part of it, but
genuinely thought there was a lot more to it. Again, it's to the writers credit that seemingly straight-forward Jeremy was totally using Anna the whole time. I think he did like her, but his ulterior motives are a lot more compelling. Mere minutes away from being turned (and again, with a show like this, I totally believed she might turn him--hell, they turned and killed Vicki, why not everyone else?), the discovery of Vicki's body not only saves Jeremy from a life of vampirism, but also places another wedge between the Gilberts and the vampires. Whatever affection Anna once had for Jeremy has been kicked in the shins and as we all know, vampires don't handle rejection well... Jeremy had long been one of the secondary characters that didn't really have me at the edge of my seat, but his relationship with Anna managed to make him into a character I actually care about.In short, I love a show that is willing to push the envelope and can keep me on my toes. There are sadly very few out there that fit the bill. I can't wait to see the next few ep
isodes where apparently Stefan finally proves he has fangs. I think adding a little edge and a little evil to his goodie goodie facade will add a lot of layers, and for me, a lot more investment. I don't anticipate I'll be ditching Team Damon anytime soon, but I'd like it to at least be a contest. And again, kudos to the show for their willingness to take a character and play against expectations. I don't know where Stefan's new bloodlust will lead, but I can't wait to find out.
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