Category: The Vampire Diaries
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The Vampire Diaries, “The House Guest”
As the last episode of The Vampire Diaries until APRIL MOTHER-FREAKING 7TH, “The House Guest” should probably semi-wrap up some of the threads the series has been dealing with here in the first episodes of 2011 while obviously also set up things for the final six episodes in the spring. Thankfully, The Vampire Diaries is…
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The Vampire Diaries, “The Dinner Party”
Sometimes, like I’ve done with the last few episodes, it’s interesting to talk about some of the emotional states of characters, trust and all that nonsense. But when The Vampire Diaries gives us an episode like “The Dinner Party” it’s hard not to just pump my fist with adrenaline-boosted excitement. This episode is jam-packed full of…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Crying Wolf”
Trust is hardly earned in The Vampire Diaries universe. Deals are constantly being struck and destroyed and even the person closest to you probably isn’t telling the whole truth. It’s not always intentional, sometimes the lies for someone else’s one good. Other times, a lack of information flow is fully purposeful and ultimately, dangerous. “Crying…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Daddy Issues”
It sucks being Tyler Lockwood. Not only did he not ask to be born into the werewolf gene pool, but he did his damnedest to avoid actually triggering the curse that would turn him into a monster. And when that didn’t work, he thought he’d found a friend, confidant and lover in Caroline who could protect him…
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The Vampire Diaries, “The Descent”
When most people talk about The Vampire Diaries, the first thing they mention is Ian Somerhalder, and for good reason. Somerhalder isn’t the greatest pure actor, but he’s an electric performer who just happens to be fantastic at the kind of scenery chewing this program asks of him. He is most certainly the best part…
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The Vampire Diaries, “By The Light of The Moon”
As the final episode of 2010, “By The Light of The Moon” isn’t the most exciting effort of The Vampire Diaries‘ second season. In fact, it’s fairly timid compared to some of the crazy episodes we’ve seen this season. However, Mike Daniels’ script does a really smart thing by building the entire episode around what…
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The Vampire Diaries, “The Sacrifice”
Figured it was time to update the title card image! Though I really enjoy episodes where the big ensembles come together for one important task like “Masquerade,” (which is still probably my favorite episode of the season) The Vampire Diaries is ridiculously good at pairing off its ever-expanding group of characters without losing any sense…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Katerina”
Wow, and I thought last week’s episode was a major exposition dump. “Rose” featured a whole lot of information disseminated to Elena and company, but at least it came amid a series of set-pieces and character action. “Katerina,” while mostly enjoyable, was a purely expositional episode that is surely setting the stage for all sorts…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Rose”
Last week’s “Masquerade” was the high-point of a solid second season for The Vampire Diaries, but it was also something of a mini-finale for the swell of stories told in the first seven episodes. Tyler finally became a werewolf, Katherine was sort-of dealt with, Jeremy became a real character, etc. Therefore, this week’s effort, “Rose,”…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Masquerade”
Sci-fi or fantasy series with big ensembles always have one big trick in their back pocket to pull out as a way to intensify the drama or weight of certain activities: bringing the band back together. Any time there is some big event that’s about to go down, rounding up all the characters under some…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Plan B”
Though I think this season is off to a slightly rocky start, I have to admit, I totally missed not having The Vampire Diaries in my life last week, and that’s probably a bigger sign of its quality than anything else, especially on a jam-packed Thursday night. Thankfully, tonight’s episode, “Plan B,” is probably the…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Killed or Be Killed”
Apologies for not writing up last week’s Vampire Diaries (again, at Flow), but I found “Memory Lane” to be a really great episode, perhaps the best of the season. It was only a matter of time before Katherine was humanized a little bit and frankly, I’m glad it happened sooner rather than later. I also…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Bad Moon Rising”
I’ve had trouble all day with this post. I’ve started and stopped twice now because I don’t feel like I have a whole lot to say about “Bad Moon Rising,” even if the episode itself is a nice character-focused effort. Maybe it’s the by-product of watching all of the first season all at once, but…
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The Vampire Diaries, “Brave New World”
The action-packed Vampire Diaries premiere reminded us of how great the series can be when a lot of crazy things are happening. The second the episode, “Brave New World,” suggests that the series can also do more low-key, character-centric episodes as well. “Brave New World” is all about the aftermath of Katherine’s rampage in the…
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Season Premiere — The Vampire Diaries, “The Return”
After my whirlwind, 2.5-day screening of The Vampire Diaries‘ first season, I have been chomping at the bit for more. So I can only imagine how those of you waiting since May felt. No matter when we watched first or how long we waited, I think it’s safe to say that the season two premiere,…
CB, PhD 