The Vampire Diaries: American Gothic

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  March 28, 2013 @ 11:11pm

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

As the pursuit of the cure continues, Katherine isn`t the only familiar face that Rebekah and Elena will need to worry about.

After searching three towns with no luck, Elena has had enough. She gets out of the car in a small town in Pennsylvania to take a break but Rebekah won`t have it. She demands that they get back in the car and continue their search. Things seem to be going nowhere so Elena decides to have a snack but just when she is about to feed, her victim calls her Katherine. Katherine has apparently compelled quite a few people in town to speak with her directly not retain memory of her; something that Elena can use to her advantage. The two of them manage to find Katherine quite quickly but Katherine has an important meeting right away that Elena plans on attending. Stefan and Damon have also managed to catch up to the two of them and they want the cure for Elena. Damon is holding some anger since Rebekah and Elena betrayed him last week in New York and now sees that Stefan was right to want to give her the cure. Back in Mystic Falls, Klaus is busy trying to fish the chunk of white oak stake out his back that Silas left there as a memento. He calls Caroline for help only to find that Silas has taken her form to torment him further until he retrieves the cure. As Elena discovers, Katherine`s meeting is with Elijah and things don`t go according to plan when he realizes she isn't Katherine. Never one to be taken out of the game, Katherine escapes from Damon and Rebekah, leaving them without the cure or a clue of what to do next.

American Gothic was a huge improvement from last week but also didn't do a lot to push the plot forward. The strength of this episode was that so many characters, including guest stars, were brought into the story in such a cohesive way. This brought a lot of focus and I'm glad that Bonnie and Matt were completely left out of the story this week. Bonnie may be reeling from Jeremy's death but her role in the series is so minor that it really doesn't matter. Now that Elena has cut off her emotions, there is no reason to have any more girls nights and fewer reasons to have Bonnie around.

While we all knew that Katherine would be returning this week, no one saw Elijah coming. Elijah has always been one of the coolest characters in the series; he's ripped apart buildings with spare change and killed vampires and werewolves like he was brushing lint off his clothes. This time we got to see a different side of him and his longstanding affection for Katherine. Even though he didn't know that Katherine had killed Jeremy, did he know that Jeremy had killed Kol? His brother was dead and his girlfriend avenged him (for selfish reasons, but still). Katherine may not have been honest but at least she was unapologetic about Killing Jeremy. Speaking of Katherine, it felt like we got Katherine lite this week. Though she was just as resourceful as ever and even better when she is trapped in a corner, I can't take her seriously when she tries to be honest and heartfelt with Elijah. It doesn't feel like the Katherine we know and I prefer her to have an air of mystery where is can never be fully trusted. Katherine's best moment of the show was when she snapped Elena's neck but unfortunately, Katherine can't kill every Gilbert.

Though she is the central character of The Vampire Diaries, logic gets tossed out the window when it comes to Elena. She have finally become the person that she was meant to be but in the final moments she told Stefan and Damon that there would be consequences if they kept trying to cure her. Then she killed a woman in the diner, while Stefan and Damon just sat there and watched it happen. It makes sense that they both have feelings for her but the two of them seem utterly powerless to stop her and for no apparent reason. Wasn't there a woman that looked just like her magically trapped in a cave for months a few seasons ago? Elena is the youngest vampire on the show but that doesn't matter because...she is Elena, I guess. It's great that she's become strong and independent but the writers have made Stefan and Damon weaker by never having them resist her. It's not a conflict if one person wins every time; it's a joke.

American Gothic had a great focus but the plot didn't advance enough to make it memorable. The Vampire Diaries is on the tail end of the season and now that Elijah and Rebekah have the cure, we'll see what twist awaits us in next week's Pictures of You.

Tags: The Vampire Diaries, Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, Elena Gilbert, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev

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