The Vampire Diaries Season 2, Episode 3 Review

Posted by Jules in TV Talk | 2 comments

The Vampire Diaries Season Two  “Bad Moon Rising” Review

by Chelsea

I mentioned in my last review about there being more than just team Damon and team Stefan, and I think this episode may have brought out enough hot guys to make any girl jump the Salvatore brother ship!

 Plenty of spoilers ahead, so be prepared!

This week’s episode starts off Elena, Stefan, and Damon calling on Alaric to help them get some information on the Lockwood family. They still believe they are something supernatural, but they are not sure what. They ask Alaric to take them to look into Isabelle’s research to see if they can find some answers. Alaric tells them some of her research was on Lykens. Damon does not believe werewolves exist. They explain to Alaric their reasoning behind why they believe the Lockwood’s are something supernatural.

At the Lockwood house, Mason goes out for a jog and Tyler follows him, still curios on what is going on with him. Mason finds an old underground cellar and Tyler watches him as he inspects it. Tyler goes down into the underground room, using his phone for a light, and finds the chains on the wall and the fingernail scratches on the bricks.

Matt shows up at Caroline’s house, but she cannot go through the sunlight to answer the door. He gets frustrated and leaves, but not without calling her and leaving her a message, again.

Damon, Elena, and Alaric decide to go to Duke to go through Isabelle’s research to try to find more information. Stefan has to stay back and watch out for Caroline and make sure she doesn’t kill anyone. Elena is not looking forward to the trip at all.

Alaric waits downstairs for Elena and has a conversation with Jenna about where their relationship stands. He apologizes to her for being distant and she tells him to do what he needs to do, but not to apologize and hope for the future.

Damon teases Stefan that it is too bad he can’t go, and to show her love for Stefan Elena very passionately kisses him right in front of Damon, making him very irritated. Then, they descend on their road trip to Duke.

Tyler asks his mom about the ruins and she very quickly tells him the original house burned to the ground and that they don’t talk about it because it was from slave days. Tyler does not believe this. Mason interrupts them, and wants to know what they are talking about. Tyler says he wants to invite some friends over to the swim hole and Tyler’s mom and Mason both tell him to be careful because if anyone gets hurt there they are on their property.

Stefan asks Bonnie to make a day walker ring from Caroline. She doesn’t want to make the ring because she doesn’t want to make it easier for Caroline to kill anyone else. She also does not believe she can make the ring, but Stefan believes she can. He tells Bonnie that a day walker ring that can help her get back to her real life is the only way she will survive.

Damon tells Elena he knew Jeremy was wearing the ring when he killed him and that she should stop pretending to be mad at him

Caroline does not like the ring that has been picked out for her and she gives Bonnie attitude about it. The ring is silver, with a black stone, but much more feminine then the guy’s rings. Stefan convinces Bonnie to cast the spell. Bonnie tells Caroline that if she cast the spell she can take it back at anytime and that if she thinks Caroline will hurt anyone, she will. Caroline places the ring on the bed and Bonnie moves the curtains so it is in sunlight and she cast a spell on it. Caroline puts the ring on and does not believe it worked, so Bonnie throws the curtains open covering Caroline in sunlight. Bonnie is obviously not happy with Caroline and wants her to prove herself to be Bonnie’s friend again. Bonnie leaves Caroline in Stefan’s care.

Once they arrive at Duke, Elena, Damon, and Alaric go to the anthropology department to meet up with Isabelle’s assistant, Vanessa Monroe. Who at first glance, definitely has eyes for Damon. She leaves to get Isabelle’s keys. She seems genuinely worried about there not being any new news on Isabelle’s disappearance. She shows them into Isabelle’s office and immediately aims a bow and arrow at Elena; and Damon runs in front of it, taking the arrow through his back. Alaric puts Vanessa in a choke hold, as Damon collapses to the ground. Elena pulls the arrow out of Damon, after some coaxing from him. His reply to what just happened. “That bitch is dead!” And he says this, while almost laughing. Elena immediately tells him he is not going to kill her. She tells Damon she will never speak to him again. He tries to lay on the charm with Elena, something I think Damon is quite good at. She calls him a “psychotic mind.” Vanessa does not believe who she is seeing. She thought Elena was Katherine. Elena tells her they need to see all of Isabelle’s research.

Stefan takes Caroline out to the woods to teach her how to chase and feed from rabbits. She explains to Stefan that she is glad to be learning this, but that she would rather be at the swimming hole with everyone else, especially Matt. Stefan laughs at her, and explains that her natural behaviors have become amplified since she became a vampire.  She now thinks she is an “insecure, neurotic, control freak on crack.” He tries to calm her down by taking her hunting, and then he promises they can go to Matt.

Back at Duke, they continue to look through Isabelle’s things. Elena gives Vanessa vervain to protect her. She questions Damon’s abilities and Elena calls him a jackass.

At the swim hole, Matt tells Tyler he hasn’t seen Caroline and doesn’t know what the deal is. Mason shows up and tells Tyler that he needs to have all of the kids off the property by nightfall, blaming it on drunken people falling into the water and drowning, but Tyler doesn’t buy it. He tells them to take the party elsewhere at dark. While driving off he has a stare down with Stefan, who is just arriving with Caroline at the party. Caroline tells Stefan he has different serious looks and that he is to serious. While Caroline walks up to join Matt she sees Amy, one of the girls at school, is flirting with him and she gets jealous. Caroline compels Amy into leaving Matt alone. Matt takes what Caroline is saying to Amy as rude and he tells Caroline he has had enough of her insecurities. Stefan tells her she can’t compel people. She tells him her entire personality since she became a vampire isn’t good and that she should have just stayed dead.

Elena cannot find anything more about Katherine and Damon tries to manipulate Elena into being his friend because he knows something she doesn’t. Alaric and Vanessa find evidence in Isabelle’s findings that the Aztecs had a legend about werewolves. They have a legend about a vampire and werewolf curse, which is why vampires can only come out at night and why werewolves only change by full moons. They figure out that vampires are the pray of choice to werewolves, and that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires.

Back in Mystic Falls, Mason drives to the old ruins and goes down to the cellar and starts to chains himself up shirtless to the wall. He also begins to shake some liquid into bottles that are places around him.

As the sun sets people start to leave the party and Stefan tells Caroline to talk to Matt and that he will wait. She apologizes to Matt and he finally accepts and they decide to go for a walk in the woods. While we see the full moon appear.

Elena tells Stefan over the phone about the werewolves, and the bite. He looks over and cannot find Caroline. He takes off to find her in the woods.

Mason struggles to get all of the chains on before the moon is fully in the sky, only to hear people entering the cellar, so he takes off to his truck to get away.

Tyler brings Amy down to the cellar and tries to kiss her. She begins to lose her compelling spell and tells him that she really wasn’t into him, that she was into Matt, and then she leaves him down there alone.

Mason makes it to his truck, and begins to phase. He looks up at the moon in pure pain as his body begins to transform. He crawls into his truck and shuts the door and we hear his screams and see the truck shaking as he phases inside. We see the full moon, and then hear a wolf growl.

At Duke, Elena asks Vanessa about doppelgangers. She says Isabelle didn’t have any research on them, but that she knows they torment the people that look like them, and try to ruin their lives. Damon teases Elena about knowing something and she tells him that “friends don’t manipulate friends, they help each other.”

Stefan hears the wolf and finds Mason’s truck abandoned. He sees the chains and then a wolf with yellow eyes jumps out of the back window at him and takes off.

As they are leaving Vanessa flirts with Alaric and he tries to tell her she doesn’t want to be a part of any of this. He tells her Isabelle became a vampire to try to change her mind. He says it feels good to have Isabelle in his past.

Damon shows Elena what he found, a book entitled Petrova, which was Katherine’s original last name. He tells Elena she can’t hate him forever and that he doesn’t want to lose her as a friend. Elena doesn’t answer him; she just thanks him for the book.

Caroline and Matt are making out in the woods when her vampire side takes over and because of it he scratches his arm and starts bleeding. She can’t help herself and she attacks him. Stefan has to pull her off of him. He tells her there is a werewolf after them and that they need to chase it away from Matt. They take off running as fast as they can.  Tyler sees them in the woods together and asks what is going on, just then a wolf jumps Caroline and pins her to the ground. Stefan pushes it off of her and Tyler yells no to it. The wolf hears Tyler and actually stops the attack and runs away. Caroline compels Matt into thinking an animal attacked him in the woods and they leave him by his truck. Stefan tells Caroline he will put Matt on vervain so she won’t be able to drink his blood and hurt him, but that she will have to work hard. She realizes she shouldn’t be with Matt to protect him.

Tyler finds Mason’s truck in the woods with the chains and Mason’s shorts. Just as Tyler starts snooping around a naked Mason shows up covered in dirt behind him. Mason tells Tyler what he already knows, that he is a werewolf.

Caroline shows up at a restaurant to see Amy sitting at a table with Matt, she decides she does the best thing for Matt. She walks over to the table and acts all jealous about Amy. Matt finally having enough breaks up with Caroline and this is exactly what she knew needed to happen in order to protect Matt.

When Alaric drops Elena off he walks in and kisses Jenna and tells her he should have done that this morning.

Damon tries to tell Elena that things are getting better between them. Elena tells him she needs to know the truth about if Damon knew Jeremy was wearing the ring. He is honest with her and tells her no, and she responds that there is no way they can be friends again. He pours his heart out to her and she tells him that yes she used him today. He tells her that she and Katherine have a lot more in common than just their looks.

Caroline wakes up to Katherine standing over her in her bed and Katherine says that they are going to have loads of fun together.

Okay, now for my take on this episode.

All I can say is the wolves have come out to play! I am glad to see this is finally happening. I also think very soon there will be Team Salvatore Team Lockwood going on. Remember, I told you there are plenty of hot guys to go around in this show and it seems the writers have figured out every way to show that. Damon gets the comedic lines, Stefan gets the shirt that shows off the guns, Mason gets naked and dirty, Tyler and Matt both get to make out, and Alaric gets hit on by one lady and lands another. The only guy that wasn’t shown off this episode was Jeremy, and he wasn’t seen at all.

Jeremy not being seen in this episode brings up something that has been bothering me though. I know that this show is “loosely” based off of the book series, and that they have taken many artistic licenses, otherwise Jeremy wouldn’t even exist, but I don’t like the fact that Elena and Matt barely even speak now. In the book and in the beginning of this show the two of them were best friends, and more, and I don’t think they said anything to each other at all this episode, and I am not sure they did last episode either. I like the Elena, Stefan, Damon triangle just as much as the next person, but I don’t think Matt should be pushed back in the mix so far. He was Elena’s rock for so long and I just wish they would remind Elena of that from time to time.

My favorite lines of the show were when Damon says “If this wolf man thing is true I have seen enough movies to know it’s not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney junior; which means, Bela Lugosi, meaning me, is totally screwed.” Damon is definitely the comedic relief in this show, but let’s not forget he also gets his heart broken weekly.

I also like how many references to other vampire folklore are done. Be it with a saying, or a look, or the way a scene is laid out they pay homage to the vampires that helped pave the way for them.

I really liked how much better the makeup in general looks this season, but especially Caroline’s. Since she turned into a vampire I like that they have taken a few more liberties with her look, its working.

A thing that bothered me a little is we haven’t seen Stefan or Damon drink much of anything so far. There have been a few times Damon has been seen drinking blood out of a glass, which makes me question is he still out there killing people? Or has Elena really melted so much of his heart that he is only drinking donated blood.

I can’t wait for next week’s episode and to see where the vampire werewolf relationship is going to go. Either way, I think it will be exciting! What are your opinions on the episode? How do you think they will have the wolves and the vamps interact?