There’s a lot to talk about in tonight’s episodes, but
before we go any further, can I just say ELIJAH!!!!
“American Gothic” was a good episode prior to Daniel Gillies
arrival, but the moment he appeared as Elijah everything began clicking even
more. Part of this stems from the fact that Gillies is awesome as Elijah; he
seems to relish every scene he does and he also seems to bring out the best in
the other performers in the scenes he’s in. Whether it be Nina Dobrev as Elena
in an awesome (a word that tends to get thrown around frequently when Vampire Diaries is on its A-game) new
mode of emotionless outlook or a much welcome return from the always delightfully
devious Katherine or Claire Holt as a wonderfully vulnerable Rebekah, Gillies
sucks you into every single one of these scenes. He has an unmistakable
presence and it shows.
Elijah is back in the picture because of another character’s
lovely return, Katherine. Katherine has the cure and intends to use it to
bargain for her freedom from the ruthless Klaus who has been hunting her for
nearly 200 years. Of course, Katherine can’t make the deal directly and so has
struck up a relationship with Elijah. This leads to one of the funniest scenes
of the episode. “He can’t have much of an impeccable taste if he’s friends with
you,” Steffen quips. “When I say friend. I mean friends,” Katherine informs. Cue disgusted reactions from everyone.
Priceless.
Elijah’s smarter than this though, right? “She’s playing
you,” Elena is quick to inform him. Elijah still holds hope that “Katerina is
behind this Katherine façade”. In yet
another excellent scene, he draws parallels between his inability to escape his
feelings for Katherine to Damon and Steffen’s endless pining for her and their
ceaseless desire to turn her back into human Elena. Well, Elena is fed up with
Damon and Steffen trying to “fix” her.
The proof is the pudding by episode’s end. Damon and Steffen
try to give her another of the clichéd, repetitive talks to convince her she’s
lost her senses, and, well, Elena’s tired of this shit. She snaps the neck of
the waitress and admonishes that her death is on them: “Like I said:
consequences”.
As if this new version of Elena weren’t fantastic enough, Katherine
and newly devil-may-care Elena get to spend some quality time sniping at
eachother, and wouldn’t you know it, Elena and Katherine have excellent
chemistry (it’s almost as if they’re played by the same actress).
But there were so many pairings of characters that worked so
well this episode, including Damon and Steffen, who get some much overdue
brotherly bonding time. Steffen is fed up with Elena altogether; he intends to
get out of dodge the moment she’s cured. Meanwhile, Damon has a “lapse of judgment”
and purposefully allows Rebekah to take what appears to be the cure. He
immediately regrets it. Damon has changed to the point where there’s no satisfaction
to be gained from being with this new version of Elena. The old Elena
challenged him in a way that made being with her ws an exciting possibility.
Now she’s just a drain on him.
Putting together three of the best chess pieces the series
has had throughout its run on the board (Katherine, emotionless Elena, and
Elijah) turned “American Gothic” into one of the funnest episodes of the series
in a long time. Seriously, this was the type of pure fun The Vampire Diaries was pulling off at its peak when it was phenomenal and peerless. And yet
this was simultaneously one of its best episodes at delving into these
characters, and processing where they’re at this point in the show. In
combination that made for one of the best episodes in a long, long time.
Stray Observations:
-In the subplot, Silas tricks Klaus into believing he’s
Caroline. Candice Accola proves to be far more adept at shifting into this role
than David Alpay seemed to be. This is another very entertaining piece of
business, and it demonstrates the direction the series is taking Silas in, which
has oddly enough been in the background of much of the season in recent
episodes. Silas is a scary mother fucker, needless to say. He tricks Klaus into
thinking he has the white oak stake stuck in his back, and due to this he was
in endless agony.
-Katherine compelled the whole sleepy town to do her
bidding. Clever girl.
-A perfect piece of music playing when we first enter the
diner: Forget Me Not by The Civil Wars
-Rebekah’s jabs at Katherine were great: “Not quite slutty
enough”; “Just the right amount of contempt and hidden insecurity”
-Just the way Nina Dobrev carries herself you can detect a
difference between Elena and Katherine. The meet up between them could have
very quickly felt like writer’s wish-fulfillment, but Dobrev nails those
scenes, and there’s a noticeable, inexplicable difference between the two characters
even when they’re acting incredibly similar.
-Katherine has a point. Suddenly becoming mortal isn’t going
to fix all the massive baggage Rebekah has.
-Elijah immediately picks up on the change in Elena being
emotionless because Elijah is a badass.
-Vervaned fish tank. Pretty sweet.
-Katherine snapping Elena’s neck, actually took me by
surprise. Not because it was unexpected but because of where the conversation
was with Elijah and Elena. The twists really worked this episode in a way they
haven’t been a lot this season.
-Rebekah and Elijah’s scene was really touching. Whenever
Claire Holt is asked to show the more sensitive side to Rebekah, she captures
that tragic, child-like quality to Rebekah and it’s really incredibly sad and
well-acted.
Grade: A
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