The Vampire Diaries: Pictures of You

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  April 18, 2013 @ 9:48pm

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Does your heart really refuse to remember?

As the girls are prepping for their senior prom, Stefan and Damon are busy trying to come up with ways to convince Elena to embrace her humanity. Since Elena threatened to kill someone if the two of them try anything, they need a plan A, or plan B and possibly a plan C. Elsewhere, Rebekah and Klaus both state their cases as to why either of them should get the cure; Rebekah wants a new start with her humanity while Klaus wants to prevent further torture from Silas and stop him from pulling the veil for the afterlife down. To Klaus's disappointment, Elijah sides with Rebekah on the condition that she spend an entire day as a human without her abilities. Now that she has recovered from his spell, Bonnie is reeling from Jeremy's death as she struggles to control her new power. Her pain is only amplified when Silas takes on Jeremy's form when he visits her in the hopes of securing her help. With Silas lurking about, Elena sees and opportunity to stop him: by killing Bonnie at the prom. Without Bonnie, Silas's plan would be ruined. Will Stefan and Damon be able to stop Elena or even worse, will they be able to stop Bonnie if she loses control?

Returning from the latest break, Pictures of You definitely had its share of ups and downs so let's dive right in. It's refreshing that this is the first time Stefan and Damon have actually made a plan to get Elena to want her humanity back. For the past several episodes, they have begged Elena to reconsider but the plans are more exciting, especially when they go wrong (Every.Time.). While all of that was happening, Silas has finally taken a more active role, even if it was only to talk with Bonnie. For too long Silas has remained in the background but his actions are still poorly thought out. If he plans on bringing every supernatural creature back from the dead, why doesn't he kill the ones that get in his way? Wouldn't that make things easier? If Silas is going to make his presence known, he doesn't need to sneak around either. While it works to give the audience a surprise near the end of the episode, Silas needs to be the intimidating factor because if he had no trouble with Klaus, what is stopping him? Whenever Stefan and Damon realize Elena's humanity isn't their only problem, it will be exciting to watch them take him on.

While Elena continues to resist her humanity, Rebekah seeks to embrace it. Rebekah's journey throughout the season has been one of the more interesting story arcs as her desire is to change her very nature. Rebekah wants humanity more than anything but simultaneously doesn't know what it is to be a good person. Whenever she exposes herself to others they almost certainly betray her and it's become second nature for her to be guarded and ruthless. Continuing to see Claire Holt's take on Rebekah's journey has been a treat and now that Silas has the cure, humanity seems further from her grasp than ever. Elijah's challenge to live a single day as a human was borderline nonsensical. Granted, they do seem to face life or death situations every day but who could possibly resist prom?

While some guest stars have had a lasting impact, Jeremy's sudden reappearance (in the form of Silas) fell flat. Steven R. McQueen was never one of the stronger actors in the series but his delivery was terribly awkward. In his first meeting with Bonnie, the dialogue was mechanical and even made Kat Graham look good. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum we have Matt Donovan (played by Zach Roerig) who continues to impress. Quite often we forget that Matt has been through everything that Elena is going through but continues on. He doesn't have the attractive vampires to save him and he's on his own. Roerig always brings the best for his character even when given so little screen time. Matt's moments with Rebekah continue to be a highlight each episode.

Pictures of You was rough around some of the edges but was a good episode of The Vampire Diaries. Next week's episode, The Originals, is actually the pilot for Klaus's potential spinoff. We'll see what impact it has on The Vampire Diaries next week.

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

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