Where Were You, Damon?

It's that time of the year again.  Leaves begin turning brilliant shades of orange, red, and yellow (except, of course, in Texas - where we're just pleased that the temperature is under 100).  Kids begin planning their Halloween costumes.  And posts on this blog turn to discussions about The Vampire Diaries.

I can't help it.  As much as the show frustrates (and, lately, has a tendency to disappoint me with unfulfilled character arcs), it is just so addicting.  Even when I don't really want it to, thoughts about various plots and scenes just kind of sneak into my mind and I feel I must share them...mainly so I don't feel like I'm completely batty.

Today's random musings - the three times Damon "left."

I'll admit it.  I was scrolling through Tumblr this morning, and I saw a gif set with the "where were you, Damon" scene....and I realized something both awesome and frightening.  When Damon leaves, bad stuff happens.

Let's start with the first (and least obvious) time Damon left.  At the end of Masquerade, all the characters have gone their separate ways.  Jeremy's giving Bonnie a ride home.  Caroline and Tyler are dealing with the mess in the former mayor's office.  Stefan and Elena are having a discussion out by the pond (and no, I don't think Stefan's choice here to let Elena go home alone without checking on her later will ever be ok with me), and Damon's off dealing with Katherine.  Damon is separated from the group because someone has to lock Katherine in the tomb.  He's aware that Elena's been hurt, but the whole rest of the "Keep Elena Breathing" task force is still there.  Surely someone's watching her....right?

By the end of the night, she's been kidnapped and on her way to Rose.

In The Reckoning, Damon and Katherine (and Jeremy, but since he's in the trunk, I'm not sure if he counts) are road-tripping.  Damon and Elena have fought - he can't be who she wants him to be...Stefan.  She's not looking for Stefan - she just wants Damon to be the man she knows him to be.  So, Damon needs some time to cool off, and Katherine just happens to have just the trip in mind.  Damon leaves and before the night's over, Tyler's become a hybrid, Stefan's emotions are switched to "I'm a jerk," Klaus has discovered the methods of keeping a hybrid alive, and Stefan has fed on Elena.

By the end of the night, Damon promises to never leave her again.

But he does.  The brothers aren't getting along as well.  They're both aware of the feelings Elena has for the other - even if she's choosing to ignore them.  They've been down this road before with Katherine.  They've developed a fragile relationship over the past year, so they agree that it's time for Elena to make a choice....and the other brother will leave for the remainder of Elena's human life.  But, before they really have the chance to get her to make her decision, the whole "we need to hide Klaus' body" issue pops up.  The brothers look at each other - one needs to drive while the other goes back to Mystic Falls.  Of course it would be Damon who ended up having to deal with Klaus.  Stefan couldn't leave...then how else could he put those pouty eyes and "just in case" kiss to use making sure that Elena picks him?  (Sorry, that's a whole different blog post.)  Well, you watch the show.  You know the end of the story.  Matt drives Elena back to town both to her friends and the brother she's "chosen."  (I still stand firmly behind the theory that Elena had no idea that her choice would theoretically result in one brother leaving town.)  Matt crashes the car.  Elena and Matt are trapped.  At Elena's urging, Stefan saves Matt first - leaving Elena to drown.

I'll never leave you again - Damon said it at the end of The Reckoning.  In a small but significant way, he didn't leave her.  His blood coursing through her veins has kept her .... undead.  But he knows what he would have done at the bottom of the river.  He would have saved her, even if she hated him for it, because she'd still be breathing.

After watching the web clip, I can't help but wonder if he's thinking back to those words.  He's always chosen the more difficult tasks - allowing Stefan to be the hero in Elena's eyes.  This time, just like the earlier times, when he left, bad things happened.  The snark and barely-concealed anger in that scene is there for a reason.  He knows the choice he would have made.

SCBWI - First Impressions

Well, I'd really intended to live-blog...or at least do some type of end of day wrap-up, but that's before I realized that my laptop and the hotel's wi-fi didn't really play well together.

So....I'm going to be doing a SCBWI in review of sorts.  I'll hit the high points, the iffy points, and I'll do a brief (yes, I read the note about not posting too much of any author's presentation) summary of a few of my favorite classes.

First, I'm amazed I made it at all.

I arrived in LA less than 24 hours after my dad's funeral.  I knew I wasn't totally "with it" in regard to preparing to go, and I'd soon be proven correct.  I forgot:
- my jacket (totally necessary in LA for this Texan).
- socks (kind of important when a Disney trip is planned).
- any type of spiral or paper for taking notes (totally unlike me.  I have a spiral for every event).

But as we walked along the Santa Monica beach, I knew what I forgot wasn't what mattered.  I was there.  I made it. I'd kept my commitment to myself and that's what was important.

So, About that Finale...

This is the first of two posts I'll likely make about the finale. I've been asked to explain how I could have enjoyed the last half, and for that...I'm going to need far more than 140 characters. First, and this is the personal reason for me - I'm just too emotionally exhausted to properly summon rage for the lack of proper closure between Elena and Damon. I have quite a few "real life" issues going right now - not the least of which is the coming loss of two immediate family members. No matter how much I love the show, at the end of the day, it is a SHOW, and real life for me is taking priority. Second, and this is the part that is most difficult to admit. I saw this coming. Totally.

The moment Caroline uttered the phrase, "It's Stefan's turn," I realized that this whole season of friendship, loyalty, and trust between Damon and Elena was simply there to fill time - and keep the fans happy...some of them anyway. Stefan had his "turn" for two years. Damon had one night. As that episode came to a close, I realized I was going to have to say goodbye to any hope I had for a relationship (more than friendship) between Damon and Elena.

I may have signed on to watch a triangle show, but I'm not certain if the writers are prepared to write one. Now, we're looking at a whole new "book" in front of us. Elena's going to remember some things she didn't know she'd even forgotten. She's going to have to examine her choices. (If she'd gone to say goodbye to Damon, she'd still be alive right now - no bridge to cross.)

All that being said, I did enjoy the end of the episode. I've long made the point that I ship the show as a whole - probably more than I do a relationship on it. I was also a fan of the books before the show aired. I LOVED the vampire-Elena phase of the story. While the first half of the episode felt really, really slow and drawn out - MOST of the interaction in the last half seemed very authentic (except for one part...but we'll get to that). I enjoyed watching Matt and Jeremy finally taking action to protect Elena from a very real threat. I enjoyed Bonnie disappearing (I'd really been afraid we were going to see a lot of her). Lately, I've been hard on Stefan, but listening to him say that he was sorry there wasn't time to get Damon back to Mystic Falls to say goodbye to Elena just broke my heart. There have been a lot of times when I doubted if Stefan cared for Damon, and that still proves true, but he does understand his brother - and he knew what would be on his mind. Elena choosing to go back to Mystic Falls - not just to say goodbye to Stefan - but to see Caroline and Tyler again felt very genuine given the reflective theme of the night. And, poor Elena, finally had a chance to offer her life in exchange for someone else's. She would never have forgiven herself if Matt had died, given that he drowned because he'd been trying to protect her.

Damon's scenes in the last few moments of the show warrant a paragraph all of their own. As angry as we as viewers are about Elena's choice of words, I think he understands her...or he loves her enough it doesn't matter. Watching him cradling Alaric as he died...seeing the comprehension dawn on his face that what that meant for Elena. Really, I think that'll go down as one of the most powerful moments I've ever seen on this show. Then, when he arrives at the hospital. She's dead, but it doesn't matter. He NEEDS to see her one last time. He'd been prepared for his own death - but not for hers. His level of panic and agony was palpable, and it was clear that his love for her hasn't wavered.

And then there's that one pesky detail. Elena's conversation with Damon. Really, writers? We've watched the two of them build such a genuine relationship this season, having Elena say "no matter what I feel about you" wasn't what Damon deserved to hear as he was dying. Elena had confessed her conflict to Matt just and hour or so before - she knows she loves Damon. Even if she's going to be choosing Stefan simply because he was with her first, Damon deserved to hear those words come from her ... just once.

So, overall, I liked the end of the episode - even if it had one major flaw. It'll be interesting to see where they elect to go from here. Both Damon and Stefan know that Elena's now on a path that she never wanted; and they both likely know that if her decisions on that night had been different, she'd still be breathing right now. This finale sets up the possibility of a VERY different show next season, and I think that's what I'm looking forward to most of all. So much of season three has been muddled with writing that backtracks and too many characters - a large part, I think, to just delay the inevitable conclusion of the finale's episode.

 I hope this clears up a few things. I'm still working in pre-coffee mode. Hope that all makes sense. Thanks for reading.

Random Musings

Ok....so somewhere along the way of my recap...I hit a plot bunny. Although, since I’m not writing fanfic, I think you’d call this a recap bunny. Blame the jogging club annoying me and making my train of thought veer off somewhere around the next state, but I couldn’t keep concentrating on the episode - and my mind went to my favorite scene.

Which isn’t what you think.

I still love my hospital scenes...or even just Damon carrying Elena scenes . I started thinking about this week’s episode and what I hope to see coming out of the Stefan and Elena confrontation - and I wondered if there would be any reason for Damon to scoop Elena into his arms - and then I stopped.

Hey, I have a thing for Damon carrying Elena. But so do the writers.

We’ve seen Damon pick her up in Bloodlines, The Sun Also Rises, and The Reckoning. Each time, Damon’s getting Elena out of harm’s way.

How about Stefan?

Crickets.

I couldn’t think of any, so I went to the most reliable source of TVD information I could think of....Twitter. I wanted to know if Stefan has ever carried Elena if he wasn’t making out with her. So I asked for help. I’m followed by quite a few fans of all ships - no dice. Stefan has never been the one to pull Elena from danger - or at least not where she’s been out cold. He tried to trade places with Jenna, but that’s about all I can come up with.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Stefan has saved Damon at least three times - Founder’s Day, As I Lay Dying, Homecoming.

I thought about that. And then I thought about Blood Brothers (I think). I started thinking about the brothers’ reactions on their awakening as vampires.

Damon wanted to die rather than be separated from Katherine.

Stefan couldn’t face the loss of his brother.

The two brothers are driven by very different kinds of love.

Stefan found his humanity when faced with the potential loss of his brother.

Damon found his as his love for Elena has grown.

I’m not certain if this has any foreshadowing as far as endgame or if my random musings have any validity at all, but I don’t think the writers do anything without a plan. The fact that Stefan has saved Damon time and time again has to mean something - so does the fact that Damon is always the one to be Elena’s true knight in shining armor.