The Vampire Diaries “162 Candles” – review

This was a very episodic episode of The Vampire Diaries.  Possibly the most episodic so far.  What I mean by that is that the events were almost entirely self-contained; very little happened to advance big-picture plotlines.  Yet, strangely, in terms of emotional pull it was one of the saddest episodes yet. 

It opens with a montage of “let’s be realistic now” scenes in the sheriff’s office as Matt, Jeremy, Stefan, and Elena are all questioned about Vicki’s sudden decision to “skip town.”  Elena changes her mind about Stefan yet again and tells him yet again that she wants him to stay away from her.  Stefan gets a suprise visit from Lexi (Arielle Kebbel), his oldest vampire friend, who is in town to celebrate his 162nd birthday and make him lighten up for at least one night of the year.  Damon further ingratiates himself with the Council’s vampire-hunting circle when he brings the sheriff vervain “from Zach,” and Bonnie shows Elena she is a witch.  “You’re my best friend,” Bonnie says, “I couldn’t keep something like this a secret from you.”  Which basically makes Elena feel even more terrible about keeping Stefan’s secrets. 

Damon wants his pendant back, so he has Caroline throw a party so that she can retrieve it from Bonnie.  Lexi and Stefan go, as do Damon, Elena, Bonnie, and Matt.  Bonnie won’t give Caroline back the necklace–which her grandmother has told her is an amulet for her and must never leave her presence–so Damon calls Caroline shallow and useless.  Then he sets up Lexi by biting a kid outside and implanting a different memory in his girlfriend’s mind.  When the sheriff comes in and hauls Lexi out, Damon follows and stakes her when she finally resists the officers.  She dies, in the same gruesome manner as Vicki (which proves that in this version the old vampires–Lexi was 350–die the same way the younger ones do; in the books they don’t, and that’s a big plot point.  Or perhaps this is trying to say that 350 is still a “young” vampire).  Stefan and Elena witness her execution, and Stefan swears he is going to kill his brother for it.  Elena begs him to think about it, for his own sake, not Damon’s, and he tells her she is right to tell him to stay away.  He follows Damon home and puts a stake in him.  “You missed,” Damon chokes; “You saved my life, so now we’re even, and now we’re done,” Stefan replies.  Caroline gets too drunk, and Matt carries her home (and in another bit of semi-realism the sheriff arrests the bartender for serving minors), where they share a moment of understanding about being so lonely, and she begs him not to leave.  The end goes full creepy with Bonnie having a crazy dream about running through the woods, meeting her ancestor (from the flashback episode) who gives the vague and ominous warning ”It’s coming,” and then waking up in her pajamas outside the old church….

So in terms of stuff that will come back later, what happened?  Elena knows Bonnie is a witch, Damon now has the trust of the Council, the Council thinks they caught the only vampire in town, Matt and Caroline may eventually hook up, and Stefan and Damon have gone from brotherly rivalry to blood enemies…maybe. 

Interestingly, I thought Damon played sympathetically despite his destructive behaviors.  Last week was kind of a turning point for him, where his actions to help Jeremy prove that he’s an asshole, yeah, but not one devoid of any compassion–and certainly not completely evil.  This was carried forward to this episode as Jeremy has started studying again; as Damon tells Elena, “I did what you asked.  I took the suffering away.”  That was perhaps a bit more than Elena had asked since she meant the suffering over Vicki, but it was Damon’s way of doing right by the kid.  He clearly has an agenda for self-preservation (but also preservation of Stefan, since he didn’t give the girl Stefan’s face to remember), what with his diabolically brilliant infiltration of the Council and clever way to dismantle their vampire hunt.  Cruel as his murder of Lexi might have been, at its core was protection of himself and his brother, and I couldn’t hate him for it. 

I thought Arielle Kebbel played a great Lexi, basically a merry widow whose “true love” had been human, is obviously long dead, and who is now strolling through the world enjoying herself.  Stefan had influenced her enough that she has enthralled a doctor to supply her with blood rather than feeding directly from people.  When she meets Elena (at Stefan’s house, while Lexi is in a towel), Elena dislikes her out of jealousy.  But later at the party Lexi really does Stefan a solid by telling Elena about her human love and how he went through exactly the same emotional quagmire.  But, Lexi tells her, if it’s true love it will be irresistable.  Which sets up a litmus test for what Elena and Stefan have rather nicely.

Interesting vampire facts we learn from Lexi:  they can get drunk (and in fact drink because alcohol numbs the craving), and they can have sex (which so far Stefan hasn’t addressed and Damon hasn’t really proved since the only things we saw him do with Caroline were kiss her and bite her).  If you’re keeping track, by the way, neither of these things are mentioned in the books so this isn’t necessarily a violation of the book-canon. 

Oh, and while I’m on the subject of general stuff, can I take a moment to point out that the “vampire effects” of fast movement, black veins pulsing behind the eyes, and gray-skinned sudden-corpsification when they die are all better than the effects used in the first Twilight movie?  (And the second, from what I’ve seen in the previews).  From a show on the CW.  What?  How?  I don’t know, but Vampire Diaries production team, I tip my hat to you.  Well done.

The only part of the Lexi thing I didn’t like (obviously aside from her getting killed, which was tragic and another emotional blow we all felt with Stefan) was how stiff Stefan was the whole time.  I mean, I know that’s his character, but he’s supposed to be relaxed around her–to the point where Elena notices.  But he still seemed as grave and uptight as ever.  Not so well played, Wesley.  But Kebbel’s pretty damn cute so maybe you were just nervous around her.  At least you handled the murderous rage toward Damon well.

I really liked the Matt and Caroline thing.  I doubt they will hook up any time soon, or if they do then Damon will cause problems because he can still control Caroline so easily.  But I liked Matt getting to play the hero and save someone who wanted to be saved, which neither his sister nor Elena seemed to want from him.  And Caroline showed that her bitch-face is more to hide her insecurities–”do you ever feel like no one loves you?”–and vulnerability than it is because she is a mean or spiteful person.  So it was a nice consolation prize for both of them, and it lays the groundwork for maybe something more to happen in the future.

I think Bonnie showing Elena her powers laid the groundwork for Elena to eventually tell her the truth, or for her to discover it.  And I like that her waking powers are starting to spin out of her control, to a frightening point.  It’s not a game anymore.  It’s not accidentally setting a car on fire.  It’s her having premonitions, her having ancestors contact her in her dreams, it’s her getting scared.  And if the dark thing that’s coming is anything like it is in the books…so should all of us.

About Elena Nola

Elena Nola reads things, watches things, and edits things. She writes her BSC Review column, Elena's World, to tell you all about it all.