Episode 2.11 – “By the Light of the Moon”

The episode opens with Tyler getting some supplies together, mostly chains, into a duffel bag while the video of Mason writhing in agony is running on his computer.  He calls Mason’s home number, leaving a voicemail about how it’s the full moon tonight and how he’s freaking out.  Cut to a girl in Mason’s apartment listening in to the message, and I’m thinking… werewolf girlfriend? 

Just as Tyler is leaving the house, the mystery girl shows up at the Lockwood mansion introducing herself as Jules, a friend of Mason’s.  She lets them know that he never returned to Florida and Tyler’s mom calls the sheriff to report him missing.   Jules seems awfully interested in Tyler and calls someone to report that not only is Mason missing but there’s another werewolf; his nephew.   (I’m thinking Elijah, what do you guys think?)

Jeremy, Elena and Bonnie are talking about how to try and de-spell the moonstone now that they’ve got it.  Elena flunks the test they’ve set out for her by stealing the moonstone to try and sneak out with it the first chance she gets.  But Bonnie’s already anticipated that she would try this and spelled the house; Elena can’t leave, just like the vamps in the tomb. 

Damon brings Stefan a care package with candles, lanterns and blood but Stefan refuses the blood, not wanting to have to share it with Katherine.  Once again Stefan says not to worry about trying to get him out of the tomb; just worry about keeping Elena safe and the moonstone.  I have to think – he sure is calm about being trapped in the tomb with Katherine!  Maybe the promo will really be about a steamy moment between them?

At the Mystic Grill, Jenna and Alaric are having a nice, quiet lunch together and Jenna mentions casually that she’s been roped into some duty with the historical society to help a writer who’s researching small towns in Virginia.  Just as Jenna leaves, Tyler arrives to meet with Caroline.  He tells her that Mason’s missing but before she has time to do more than trade looks with Alaric, they leave to go get him ready for the full moon. Tyler takes her out to the woods to the old slave quarters where Mason tried to chain himself up a while ago. 

They start setting up the chains for Tyler and I’m thinking… you’re only as strong as that carabiner… shouldn’t you have something more solid?  Caroline’s brought some wolfsbane for him to drink and try to diminish his strength, and it burns him to the touch, so that’s not gonna be much fun to drink.  Caroline turns a surprising prude when Tyler takes his shirt off, suddenly worried that he’s gonna strip down completely (anyone else remember when she was kinda slutty the first season?) but he keeps his pants on. 

Tyler and Caroline are sitting around with him in chains, waiting for the moon to reach its apex.  He drinks some of the wolfsbane water, but doesn’t get much of it down and it looks painful as hell.  Caroline rushes over to comfort him, but there’s not a whole lot she can do to take away the pain.  Tyler starts freaking out when the pain kicks up a notch and asks Caroline to leave but she refuses.  She keeps trying to get him to look at her and breathe through the pain (why haven’t they thought of tranquilizers!)  Even when the bones start crunching and shifting, she refuses to leave, getting a lot closer to a transforming wolf than I would have the guts to do.  When he starts to really lose it, she retreats behind not one but two barred doors, understandably upset at hearing him go through the agonizing changes inside.  We got to see some interesting changes, and I like how they shot it without showing too much.  The next thing we know Tyler’s busted through the first barred door and almost through the second one but Caroline snaps another bar in place to keep him in before running out of there into the forest. 

Damon stops by to see Elena, teasing her about being trapped in the house.  Elena is very pouty and annoyed at being stuck in the house.  “Do you think this is funny?” she demands.  “Yes Elena, I find hilarity in the lengths that I have to go to to repeatedly save your life.”  He quips.  It seems he’s on Elena patrol, Bonnie’s on moonstone duty, Vampire Barbie’s seeing to Tyler, so all of the bases are covered.  Elena seems surprised to learn that it’s a full moon out that night but Damon reminds her that she would have known if she wasn’t so absorbed in her suicidal tendencies.  Ouch. 

But Alaric calls to tell them that Mason’s been declared a missing person and there’s a strange new girl in town asking questions about his disappearance, so Damon goes down to the Grill, leaving Jeremy to babysit Elena.   Jules shows up at the Grill asking questions about Mason and Tyler.  Damon’s plan is to slip some wolfsbane into her drink to see if she’s a werewolf.  Alaric approaches Jules, pretending to be tipsy and buying her a drink.  Damon then swoops in like the hero to chase off the drunk and chat her up.  Man it was good to see these two in action again, even if their attempts to get the wolfsbane into her drink did seem a little clumsy.  All the secretive looks they were exchanging… I kept waiting for her to call them out on it, but she played oblivious pretty well. 

Jules doesn’t fall for it, telling Damon that she sniffed him out the moment he entered the bar.  Damon threatens her to leave town.  “You’re threatening me on the night of the full moon?  How stupid are you?”  She wonders aloud and I have to agree.  The gloves are off now and Jules says Damon’s been marked.  Uh oh.  I hope Damon has the good sense to take her threat seriously!  But nope, he just looks pissed off.  “You’ve been marked, what the hell kind of wolf throwdown crap is that supposed to be anyway?”  He demands.  Alaric manages to calm him down a little, urging him to go home and just lay low for the night, pick things up in the morning when it’s safe.  For once Damon listens, going home and actually locking his door. 

Rose is there, apologizing for her role in leading Elena to Slater’s place and admits she has no other place to go.  Damon tries to tell her there’s nothing left in Mystic Falls for her, but just then the werewolf attacks through a window.  Damon grabs a sword but Rose shoves him out of the way getting a nasty bite on the shoulder.  The wolf runs away after Damon stabs it with the sword and Rose weeps with relief when the bite starts to heal while Damon comforts her.�
Bonnie goes to see Luka, who’s upset that she almost killed him in drawing him into the spell at the tomb last episode.  Only she doesn’t even get halfway through her apology when he forgives her and invites her into his apartment.  He shows her a room filled with Grimoires that his father collects.  He says that all witches are bonded together as family by a code of honor, to help each other out.  Uh huh, sure they are.  “So that’s why you’ve been so nice to me.”  Bonnie smiles.   “That’s one reason.”  He replies, hinting that it’s cause she’s a hot witch but I’m just thinking… because your dad told you to get close to her, you jerk.  Bonnie asks him if he knows how to break the spell binding the moonstone without coming right out and telling him anything specific about it. 

Luka takes her to a rooftop and lights a bunch of candles.  Bonnie hands over the moonstone and they work a spell together that culminates with a shower of pretty fireworks.  Impressive looking; but was it really that simple?  Luka goes home and hands over the moonstone to his father “She fell for the whole show and didn’t suspect a thing.”  He reports.  But before he goes to bed, his father says there’s one more thing Elijah needs them to do before they lose the full moon. 

In the tomb, Katherine asks Stefan just how long he’s gone without blood.  He does a pretty good job not letting her get to him for a while, even after she strips out of her clothes to a sexy black bra and panty set.  She comes on pretty strong, telling him that since Damon is likely putting the moves on Elena he’s within his rights to fool around with her and nobody would ever know.  Stefan pulls away when she kisses him for about a heartbeat but then he’s kissing her back, stripping his shirt off and pressing her up against the tomb wall. (here’s where we got that promo from last week!)  But no, the tricksy minds behind TVD have messed with our heads yet again and Stefan wakes up panting from the dream he’s been having; Katherine’s satisfied smile reminding us that she has the ability to get into his dreams.  “Maybe I can do eternity in here after all.”  She smirks.

At Elena’s house, Jenna is bringing cartons of old archives out of the closet for the writer she’s helping out.  Elena comes down the stairs, stunned to come face to face with Elijah, the “writer” that Jenna has invited into the house.  Elijah leaves peacefully but reappears upstairs just moments later demanding a little private talk with Elena.  He offers her a deal.  His goal is not to break the curse.  Klaus doesn’t trust him any more and he needs her to lure him out.  He will keep her loved ones safe with the power of his witches if she’ll agree to lay low and do nothing until the time comes that he wants to present her to Klaus – in an effort to kill him.  Elena’s not quite sure if she can trust him, but it’s the best deal she’s heard so far, so she agrees on one condition… that we don’t get to hear just yet. 

The last ten minutes of the show. 

Stefan asks Katherine to give him some sign that there’s a part of her worth trusting inside.  Katherine suspects that he’s playing her but tells Stefan that if they want to find Klaus, they should start with Isobel.  She was a research expert and she can help them.  Elijah shows up at the tomb with the best line “Hello Katerina, thank you for having the good sense to be frightened.”  He informs them that the spell has been lifted from the tomb and Stefan is free to go. (Aha, must be what the witches needed the full moon for) Katherine however, he compels to remain in the tomb until he says so.  Stefan leaves, confused at hearing that Elena has bargained for his release.   Katherine pleads for Stefan not to leave her there but he just tells her Goodbye. 

Now here’s where Caroline loses me.  Acting like the dumb heroine in nearly every slasher film, Caroline goes back down there to check on Tyler.  What is she thinking?  But it seems that Tyler never completely breached the 2nd door and is apparently over the transition already.  At hearing him speak she rushes in and holds him, telling him he’s okay.  “No I’m not.”  He replies, still in tears over the ordeal.

At Elena’s house, Stefan shows and all of a sudden things are back on between them.  They start making out, all smiles and rainbows. 

Damon apologizes to Rose for putting her in harms way since he picked a fight with Jules.   She offers to stay and help him save Elena, protect Elena, pretty much all things Elena because she likes him and she believes in friendship.  She has a vacancy in that department and he can use all the friends he can get.  Damon wonders aloud if they’ll be just friends, his hands already starting to roam, but she tells him she doesn’t love men who love other women, but it doesn’t mean she can’t be his ‘special’ friend.  They start to kiss but her shoulder wound starts to pain her.  Damon pulls back her robe to reveal the shoulder that the werewolf bit is now all infected and gross looking.  Dun, dun, dun… looks like the legends were true after all!

Random thoughts I had:

Elena is the worst liar ever.  That’s probably a good thing about her, but boy she sucks at keeping the fact that she stole the moonstone a secret. 

I think it’s interesting how easily Jeremy interacts with and accepts Damon, given that he tried to kill him.  Don’t get me wrong, I like it; but interesting just the same when Elena can’t let it go.

Is it weird that werewolves can sniff vampires out right away but vamps can’t tell if someone’s a Were?  Maybe not, I guess their sense of smell would be stronger. 

How funny was drunk Alaric?  Holy crap I was giggling so hard!

Oh those sneaky bastards, making the Stefan/Katherine make-out session all a dream!  Why don’t I know better by now?  Will I ever learn?  *stomps off to get a cup of cocoa and chill out*

Okay all better now.  It was cute to see our cocky Damon a little concerned about being attacked by a werewolf, locking his front door as if that would keep her out! 

Didn’t that seem like a short transformation for Tyler?  I thought Mason said the first one lasted for hours and hours?  The moon’s still up and he’s back to normal?

Um… did anyone else think that Elena and Stefan ended up all kissyface pretty quickly?  There wasn’t even any dramatic “I was so worried about you” speech, it was just “Hi” and then on with the kiss-olympics.

Call me crazy… but I think the introduction of the idea that it takes a while for the werewolf bite to kill a vampire will come into play with Damon at some point, so that they have time to save him.  What do you guys think?

Good God, no new episode until January 27th?

How will we live?