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- TV Series: The Vampire Diaries
- Episode: The Night of the Comet
- Starring: Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Jennifer Rose Locke, Michael Trevino, Kayla Ewell, Candice Accola, Sara Canning, Katerina Graham
- Written By: Julie Plec, Kevin Williamson
- Directed By: Marcos Siega
- Network: CW
- Series:
The Vampire Diaries: The Night of the Comet Review
CW Keeps the Fang Bangers Watching. By
Liana Aghajanian
September 18, 2009
The Vampire Diaries Review(2009).
© CW/Bob Trate
After surviving a season premiere that brought in 4.8 million viewers, Vampire Diaries literally took off running the second time around, and despite a dull first half, managed to bounce back with plot points that are slowly establishing it as its own enterprise.
After Damon’s antics land pill popper Vicki in the hospital, threatening Stefan Salvatore’s attempt to keep a low profile, our brooding vampire must clean up his brother’s mess by glamoring Vicki – a no frills process that doesn’t hold a candle to Vampire Bill Compton’s influencing ways.
Elena and Stefan, on the other hand, are completely enamored by each other after spending the night pouring their hearts out, ala “The Truth About Cats and Dogs.” Her clique, surprised that Elena and town token Stephan didn’t even get to first base, urge her to take charge and make the first move after their initial rendezvous – a move which leads to her first encounter to pot stirring Damon before Stefan arrives. Queue the awkward brooding brother dialogue, intense starring contest and matching all black outfits from Armani Exchange. Damon taunts Stefan, making sure to let him know that his little game of playing “high school human” is the closest he will get to humanity.
Meanwhile, at a comet watching party, an activity that’s a far cry away from your typical high school fan fare, Stefan and Elena meet again, and when she quickly realizes that her troubles (brother issues, self-loathing issues) mirror his – she decides it’s all too much for her to handle.
This exchange easily lends itself to become not only boring, but entirely unnecessary – Elena and Stefan share turmoil, yes – so it’s hard to imagine why she would want to walk away from someone she has found to share her grief with, especially with her declaring that her last relationship was lacking passion. Frankly, the Elena and Stefan dynamic is what is lacking passion at this point, but that’s not to say it’s not interesting. What is interesting is the sibling relationships on both sides, Stephan with his menacing brother hell bent on destroying whatever semblance of a normal life he could have in present day Mystic Falls, in an effort to get to him to remember who he is at his core, which is in essence a cold-blooded monster or Elena’s struggle to keep her drug dealing, wayward brother out of harm’s way.
Set to the sounds of Neko Case and Sara Bareilles, Vampire Diaries has managed to intertwine the dark world of the undead with the dreary realities of being human, giving viewers the chance to connect to subject matter beyond fangs and fighting.
Line delivery and character interaction is a notch up from the unintentional funny dialogue of Twilight so far, yet Ian Somerhalder’s Damon steals the show with his cocky attitude and intentions to ruin Stefan’s high school fantasy and budding relationship with Elena. Though the appeal of this romance is great enough to keep viewers, at least those of the teenage female persuasion from changing the channel, its themes go hand in hand with others in its genre – a conflicted vampire struggles to keep his flame of humanity burning and reunite with his soul mate in the process, a teenager tries to protect herself from getting hurt again, and as usual, someone is there to ruin their union. Oh, she also has a psychic best friend. We’ve seen it all before and from the looks of it, millions of viewers don’t mind seeing it again.
With the season finale of True Blood wrapping up last week, and Twilight a few months away, much to the chagrin of pubescent fanatics around the world, Vampire Diaries will keep the majority of fang bangers satisfied, especially while it steers towards steamier waters.
fang bangers? is this another urban dictionary thing?
this episode could've better in my opinion....the first was good, not great, but it certainly had promise in it....
this one....well not so much but they are slowly (very slowly) building up what might becoming the overreaching thriller aspects of the show....but I'm already weary of the one dude's drug abuse, and Stefan's inability to interest me as a character in general....
Damon is the only thing keeping this afloat for me....even if he did say "have you been eating bunnies?" in reference to Stefan leaping up on the building
this one lacks the promise of the first one....not a good sign....the buildup is there, the foreshadowing is there....it just gets lost in the average everyday CW drama material that fills pretty much every other show on the entire network
and I keep seeing promos for Supernatural -- I'm avoiding this show, simply because I want to watch it from the beginning....