Saturday, December 14, 2013

The Vampire Diaries, Season Five, Episode Ten: Fifty Shades of Grayson


Damon is still in his cell, punching the walls repeatedly.  He then gets down on the ground and grabs the bullet that Aaron dropped. He places the bullet in the rock and the puts it next to the lock. Damon creates a mini explosion and the finishes opening the door by kicking it.

Katherine wakes next to a sleeping Stephan and finds another lock of hair has fallen out and begins to panic. Katherine quickly wraps herself in a blanket and does the walk of shame.  As she approaches the door, Damon enters looking for Elena. Katherine proudly claims getting the dirty on with Stefan and Damon is clearly not impressed. 

Elena awakes and finds herself strapped to a bed.  When she looks around she finds herself surrounded by medical equipment.  When she sees Wes of course Elena wants to know where she is. Wes puts Elena out to begin blood dialysis.

Stefan wakes up to learn Elena is missing.  Damon explains about Wes and that they need leverage to find Elena.  Damon sits next to Aaron and suggests killing him for information.  Aaron tries to run but is confronted by Stefan.

Wes is continuing his experiment on Elena and commenting on the fact that even after a lot of blood loss she is still awake.  Elena assures him that her friends will find her.  Wes brings up Aaron and asks how what happened to his family can be justified. Elena counters by bringing up Wes's little medical experiments. Wes then shows Elena the medical findings of her father and informs her that he learned out to this from him.


Aaron says that he has no idea where Elena is. Damon takes the time to snark about Stefan and Katherine and Stefan accuses him of being jealous.  Damon suggests that they need to call Wes and make it clear that they have Aaron.

Elena realises that they are in her fathers clinic in Mystic Falls. Wes steps outside when he gets a call. Aaron informs him that Damon and Stefan are going to kill him unless Elena is handed over.  Wes promises to hand over Elena once he knows that Aaron is safe.  Wes heads downstairs and revives Enzo and injects him with something which will guarantee that Enzo will return.  Wes snipes that Enzo and Damon have some catching up to do.

Matt is helping Katherine work out and she reminds him that she is paying him to make her hot again. Katherine complains her entire body is falling apart while she has a panic attack.  Matt asks why Katherine doesn't have a vampire turn her and she reveals that every time she ingests vampire blood her body rejects it.  Nadia makes an appearance and reads a note from Katherine apologizing for killing her boyfriend.  Nadia bitch slaps Katherine for trying to kill herself without saying goodbye.

Damon explains to Stefan about the Augstines and Aaron snarks that Damon isn't telling the whole story.

Katherine explains to Nadia that she has a moment of weakness as she drinks a glass of raw Kale. Nadia asks what changed Katherine's mind about living. Katherine asks if after all of the horrible things she has done if she could be forgiven. Nadia reveals that she has an idea to keep Katherine alive for longer.

Elena remembers herself as a little girl making her way down to her father's lab.  Wes reveals that Elena's father wanted to turn vampire blood into a cure all to save the world. Elena says that she saw Enzo and asks where he is, so Wes reveals that Enzo is on a day trip to solve his issues with Damon.

Aaron, Stefan and Damon show up at Wes's class where the find Enzo waiting for them.  Enzo introduces himself to Stefan and Damon reveals that Enzo is an Augstine vampire.  Enzo tells them all to have a seat so he can tell his story.

Elena realises that Enzo killed his roommate and Wes saying that they are going to start phase two. Elena asks why Megan had a picture of her father on her cellphone and Enzo reveals that her parents funded her father's work. It seems Megan got suspicious and put her nose where it didn't belong.  Wes gets a call from Stefan asking where Elena is and Wes counters by saying that they will never see Elena again.

Enzo starts talking about what happened with him and Damon and their year long plan.  Stefan enters the room and announces that Wes is not sending Elena which shocks Aaron.  Enzo talks about the night of Damon's escape and how he was left behind.  Enzo was saved by one of the scientists and leaves the room.  Stefan and Damon bicker about what happened and talk about killing Aaron.  Aaron then says he has some of Wes's files and adds that he has to save himself.  Enzo returns and announces that Damon is staying where he is.  Damon tells Stefan to call if Aaron provides some useful information but instructs Stefan to kill him if he doesn't.

Nadia explains that Katherine is a traveller and simply needs someone to show her how to do the passenger spell.  Katherine says that her father banded them from doing taveller magic but Nadia argues that this is in her blood.  Nadia says that Katherine can live on by putting her essence in someone else's body.  Katherine argues back that Stefan actually likes her body causing Nadia to surmise that Katherine was only interested in Stefan's forgiveness.  Katherine simply doesn't want to die alone. Nadia tells Katherine to go and kill herself and see if anyone misses her.

Enzo and Damon are now alone. Damon says that he couldn't save Enzo.  Enzo reveals that Wes injected with something that will dessicate him to ensure he returns.  Damon suggests that they return together and finish this.  Enzo reveals that Wes told him not to return until Damon was dead before throwing him out the window.  Enzo follows and Damon declares that he is not going to fight him because he wants to find his girlfriend.  Enzo attacks again and poison over takes his body and tells Damon that it would be good for him to miss someone for the next sixty years. Enzo then collapses in Damon's arms.

Aaron shows Stefan the files of his family history and then pulls out a stake. Stefan tells Aaron not to test him and so to save himself Aaron tells Stefan about what Damon did to his family.  Aaron tells Stefan to kill him to deny Damon the satisfaction of slaughtering his family again. Stefan backs away saying that not all vampires are like his brother. Aaron then hands Stefan the files saying that it will help.

We get another flash of little Elena in her father's lab with screams in and chains rattling in the background.  Elena approaches a door but is stopped by her father.  He tells her that he is going to save a little girl's life and sends her on her way.

Wes reveals that his compound is finished and that it will cause her to want to feed on other vampires.  Wes says that Elena is about to become patient zero and she starts to beg.  Wes gets the injection ready and Elena starts to beg and struggle.  Wes injects Elena in the heart but stops when he hears Stefan call out her name.  Elena head buts Wes knocking him unconscious and Stefan frees her from her bonds.  Elena grabs her father's work and she and Stefan leave Wes on floor.

Nadia goes to find Matt and reminisces about the night they met.  Nadia then pulls out the traveller's knife and asks Matt to take care of it.  Nadia reveals her plan for Katherine and says that if she changes her mind she will need the knife. Matt argues that Katherine only cares about herself and Nadia talks about not wanting to lose her mother and being conflicted about it.  Matt sits and talks about his mother and her selfishness.  Matt promises that if Katherine changes her mind, the knife wil be ready.

Enzo awakes and finds himself in the lab with Damon, who injected him with the antidote. Damon says that Elena is safe and it would be bad if Enzo dessicated in vain.  Damon says that in order to save himself, he had to shut off his humanity.  Damon tells Enzo that they are even and Enzo tells Damon that he ruined him and that he will always be a monster before leaving.

Back at the Salvatore mansion, Elena is reading her father's journal when Damon enters the room.  Elena says that she remembers her father talking about Megan - Elena's former roommate and how the vampire blood saved her.  Elena points out that her father used his research to save people.  Damon reminds her that her father's work meant torturing vampires.  They talk about what Damon did to Aaron's family and Damon asks why she is still with him. Elena says that she loves him and Damon announces that he is choosing to let her go because he doesn't want her to have to defend him for everything he has ever done. Elena says that she is not going to judge him and Damon says that he cannot change who he is. He walks saying that he refuses to change her.   Elena sits and cries.

Katherine is looking herself over in the mirror when Stefan enters.  Katherine complains that she is getting wrinkles.  Stefan asks what Katherine is doing in his room and Katherine says that she wants to talk about last night.  Stefan says that it was a long day and that they got swept up in a moment.  Stefan asks her if he is supposed to forget everything that she put him through. Katherine says that she is dying and shows her greying hair.  Stefan says that 147 years is a long time to forgive in one night.  Katherine asks if Stefan would ever look at her the way he does Elena and when Stefan does not answer, Katherine moves to leave.  Stefan grabs Katherine's hand and says that he is sorry she is dying.  Katherine then leaves the room.

Aaron heads back to the lab and finds Wes on the ground.  Wes reveals that they are in one of the Augstines research lab.  Aaron picks up the syringe and leaves telling Wes that he never wants to see him again.

Elena stands before the fire holding her father's book crying.  Finally, she tosses the book into the fire.

Katherine gets on the phone with Nadia and says that they need to find a traveller who will teach her how to do the spell.  Katherine says that Stefan might believe that a part of her might still be redeemed.  Katherine drops the phone and falls down the stairs clutching her, heart as Nadia calls out her name.

That was the mid season finale of TVD and I don't know about you, but it was less than engaging.  Why oh why should I continue to care about Elena's relationship angst?  Damon saving Elena from his horrible past?  Really?  What Damon may have done is cold but they tortured him for five years. 

Then we have Katherine happily on the redemption train. Oh dear, she's suffering and dying.  Again, why should I care.  Katherine at least had some teeth and now she's boring and useless. 

I also take issue with their use of the travellers.  They are a highly marginalized group of people and TVD has just borrowed their identity to play with.  You can't just do that to people. You cannot just take bits of their culture, through in some woo and right a plot.  The more I watch the more disgusted I am by the TVD.

Another thing, they know exactly what Wes is and yet they left him on the ground.  He wasn't even really hurt.  I get that they want Wes to continue to cause trouble for the rest of the season but just leaving him on the floor was weak.