Episode 2.2 – “Brave New World”

As we start the second episode of the season, Caroline wakes up in the hospital, trying to figure out what the heck is going on.  Her memory seems a little fuzzy but one thing seems clear; she’s craving blood big time!  I can’t help but think the poor girl must be confused as hell considering she has no idea about the existence of vampires at all.  (Until her memories start coming back of course)  A little sneaky sleight of the hand and she’s sipping on blood like there’s no tomorrow and officially making the transition to vampire.  Is it just me or is Caroline really hungry in this episode?  Maybe it’s just the transition thing?

Cut to the next day as Elena and Bonnie are feverishly trying to put together the school carnival.  (How come my high school never did anything as cool as that?  Oh right, because I didn’t go to high school on TV…)  Elena is bound and determined to do “human stuff or else I’m gonna go crazy”. 

Stefan gives Jeremy a crash course on Vampire 101; how to kill vampires and repel them… dangerous information for a teen who was almost killed by one to have.  But it’s nice to hear the cocky laugh from Stefan as he lets Jeremy know in no uncertain terms that he’s not the least bit afraid of Jeremy having that knowledge.  I have to say, I’m liking this new Stefan… Grr, keep it coming baby!

Elena is firmly in denial, not wanting to discuss Damon at all.  But this is not quite the rage I imagined after Damon almost killed her brother… in fact, is it just me or is everyone pretty accepting of Damon’s little temper tantrum the night before?  Even Jeremy?

The mayor’s widow has Damon over for tea.  She asks him to spearhead the council and Damon accepts, stating that “he would be honored to help keep this town safe from vampires”.  (Love it!)  This places Damon in a good position to use his super vampire hearing to eavesdrop on a conversation between Tyler and the mysterious Uncle Mason who is giving Tyler the third degree about his rage issues.  “You black out?  Is there a pattern?  Like once a month, only at night?”  Hmmm, let me think what this could possibly mean?  (duh!)

Caroline is still in the hospital and has figured out that sunlight = horrible sizzling pain.  Matt comes to visit her and gets all kinds of mixed signals when she freaks out, demanding that he close the drapes.  He bails and she starts to have a melt down.

Damon is filling a glass with blood back at the Salvatore mansion and Stefan walks in.  See the clip here!
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It’s kind of nice to see the brothers still so mellow with each other.  Stefan is just glad that Damon’s eating from blood bags instead of sorority girls.  Damon is getting a kick out of being unpredictable again, imagining that he’s keeping them on their toes.  When Stefan refuses to rise to that bait, Damon presents his theory that something strange is afoot at Casa de Lockwood.  Stefan keeps coming back to Katherine, saying they need to deal with that but Damon isn’t having any.  He has more important things to do like “explode”.  Poor Damon, working so hard to come off like he’s over what Katherine said to him!

Back to Caroline who’s having an “I feel pretty moment” and putting on her jewelry.  Ouch, the vervain necklace Elena gave her burns at the touch and she yanks it off immediately.  She’s on her second blood pack of the day now, and freaking out when her eyes start to get all veiny and gross and she drops fang.  Snotty nurse comes in, wondering what’s going on and Caroline pins her to the wall by the throat, compelling her not to tell anyone.  Who knew compelling was so easy to pick up?  Caroline seems to be adapting to being a vampire pretty well so far, I have to say.  She attacks the nurse for her next snack because she’s “starving”. 

At the carnival, everyone seems to be having a great time.  “You mean I can do more than just wreak vampire havoc?”  Elena quips.  Bonnie seems to be in a lighter mood in this episode, even flirting with a cute carnival worker (more on him later).

Uncle Mason is rummaging through the mayor’s study, obviously looking for something.  A moonstone the size of a hockey puck.  Minimal monetary value?  Sounds pretty cool to me, and something tells me Tyler knows exactly where this is. 

Damon approaches Jeremy at the carnival, who is just stupid enough to actually threaten Damon with exposure, thinking the magic ring will protect him.   Damon very quickly shows him his error in judgment, snatching the ring away just to prove that he can before tossing it back at him negligently.

Caroline springs herself from the hospital, thanks to those handy dandy powers of compulsion.  I love the exchange that follows:
Caroline – looking at the nurse’s bandaged throat:  I am so sorry about that. Okay, now what’s the story?
Snotty Nurse:  My husband likes to get kinky.
Caroline – cheerfully:  Yes, good!
She’s just so damn perky and resilient over all of this.  I’m hoping they keep her around for a while. 

Damon and Stefan are watching Tyler and generic jock arm wrestle.  Tyler easily beats everyone until he comes up against Uncle Mason.  Suspecting that there’s more than meets the eye to these guys, Damon volunteers Stefan to arm wrestle him next.  Stefan throws the match of course but the brothers are surprised to find that Mason has more than human strength.
 Damon: What is up with that family?  If they’re not vampires, then what the hell are they?
Stefan: Ooh um, maybe they’re um ninja turtles  (LMAO!)
Damon:  You’re not funny
Stefan:  Or no, zombies… werewolves?
Damon:  No comedic timing at all.  (stops and looks at the cute carnival worker)
Stefan:  What, what are you up to?
Damon:  Since this is reality and there’s no such thing as werewolves or combat turtles
Stefan – trailing after him:  That’s ninja turtles…
Damon compels cute carnival worker into picking a fight with Tyler, just to see what will happen.  But then promptly leaves to go off by himself where Caroline confronts him, letting him know that she remembers everything about what he did to her.  She delivers Katherine’s message of “Game On” and shoves Damon across the room.  I can only assume she caught him off guard since he should be waaaay stronger than she is. 

Meanwhile, Stefan is watching the fight between cute carnival worker and Tyler.  As predicted, Uncle mason comes to break things up but not before showing some overly athletic skills and some freaky contacts.

Caroline shows up at the carnival, claiming to be “all better”, but she almost immediately starts having problems craving Matt’s blood.  She tells the confused boyfriend to leave her alone.  So much for “all better”.

Damon approaches Elena asking her to come with him and surprisingly, she does.  They meet with Stefan in one of the empty classrooms.  (Shouldn’t these be locked during the carnival?)  Damon’s solution?  Kill Caroline, reminding them of Vicki Donovan and the fact that her own mother is a vampire hunter.  We can see that Stefan is tempted to go along with this plan, but he goes along with Elena’s plea to spare her friend. 

Unfortunately for cute carnival worker, Caroline has stumbled upon him in the least populated parking lot ever.  (seriously, no one has noticed a fight, vampire feeding, later a fire… dead body…  There is no sense of urgency to hide anything as long as they’re standing in the magic parking lot.)  Caroline eats him, and seems only vaguely remorseful over it, which is kind of a nice change.  She’s more concerned over what’s wrong with her.  Damon finds an opportune carnival stake and goes off in search of her.  He says he’s going to help her… by doing the only thing he can do… kill her.

Tyler and Mason… blah, blah, blah… I’m bored with this dancing around them being werewolves.  Call me when they do the first transformation.  (oh except for yeah, Tyler does know where that stone is, pulling it out of a safe built into the floorboards and it’s pretty, I want one!)

Damon gives Caroline a comforting hug, the stake goes up in the air… and then Saint Stefan to the rescue.  Elena protects Caroline bodily when Damon attempts again, reminding him that she’s her friend.  Damon relents but tells Elena, “Whatever happens, it’s on you.”  Bonnie shows up to find out that Caroline’s a vamp now and blows a gasket.  The final straw is finding cute carnival worker who she flirted with earlier, dead by Caroline’s fang. 

Now I wish I had a clip of the bathroom scene between Stefan and Caroline, because I think there was some definite chemistry between the two of them.  Or was that just me?  Stefan talks her down pretty well, telling her how to fight it off.  He’s doing that thing where he holds people’s faces again, but this time it seems appropriate.  He promises her he won’t let anything happen to her then gives her a hug.

Bonnie incapacitates Damon at the same time she sets the hose on him and then sets that water on fire!  Wow she’s getting powerful!  She reasons that everything that happens is his fault.  Elena pleads with her to stop it, having to physically shake her, all the while Damon is burning.  Poor Damon, he gets knocked around a lot by teenage girls in this episode. 

And poor Elena.  She was hoping to have a normal day, but nothing every turns out normal when your best friend is a witch, your boyfriend is a vampire and  you have a doppelganger hell bent on your destruction.  But she maintains a healthy attitude over it, “it is what it is”, She says to Stefan before going home.

Back at the Salvatore Boarding house, Jeremy has come to poison and stake Damon, but oddly enough tips Damon off before going through any of it.  There is an oddly bonding moment between them that was nice to see.  I hope they develop this more.

Matt sneaks into Caroline’s room (makes me wish I had a single story house as a teenager!) and tells her that he’s pretty sure he’s in love with her.  They share this tender moment and in a snappy and fun twist of fate, Caroline does NOT lose it and eat him at the first sign of temptation.  Huh.  Maybe there’s hope for her yet?

Stefan shows up to wake up Elena in her bedroom before dawn (seriously, does anyone sleep alone in this show?) and sneaks her off to kiss at the top of the ferris wheel.  A quick hop skip and a jump (quite a jump at that!) and they’re making out on top of the world.

Random thoughts:

It looks like Damon did NOT flip the switch, and after his crazy outburst of emotion in snapping Jeremy’s neck; he’s been almost back to normal now.  Is it just me or was that forgotten by people just a little too easily?  Except for Bonnie…  Can someone give me a good reason why Damon wouldn’t kill Bonnie after she just tried to burn him to a crisp?  Seems like that tentative truce is over.

It was good to see Elena worried about saving Damon’s life when Bonnie started burning him alive.  Looks like our Delena isn’t quite as dead as we might have thought after the last ep. 

No Katherine in this episode, and I was kinda glad for that.  I hope they don’t over use her as a threat this season. 

Where the hell is Alaric in this episode?  This is twice he’s been conspicuously absent, and it’s set at the school for crying out loud!  I am really missing the repartee between him and Damon.  How cool would it have been for him and Damon to have to get rid of the body together? 

What did you guys think?  Did the second episode deliver after the powerful punch of the premiere?