Episode 2.13 – “Daddy Issues”

This episode was jam packed with goodies!  Soooo much better than last week in my opinion.

Tyler pays Caroline a visit, looking very intense when he tells her they need to talk.  Oblivious, Caroline tells him that they can’t “go there” meaning the kiss they shared.  He’s a little more concerned with the fact that she’s been lying to him about there being no other vampires in town and that she’s known all along that they killed his uncle Mason.  She tries to explain, but he flips out, pressing her against her car.  “I trusted you!” He yells before stalking off.

Cut to Damon in the shower, never a bad place to begin! (thanks TVD for answering my request for a shirtless Damon!)  It seems like everyone in town is watching the news which is covering the slew of murders, thanks to Rose, Jules and Damon’s recent activities.  The Mayor announces they will be holding a memorial service at the town square.  John is watching as well at the Gilbert household but turns it off when Elena emerges looking cute in a ponytail.  But that’s the only thing cute and cuddly about Elena today as she comes out swinging, demanding to know what John’s doing in town.  He insists that he’s there to protect her.  Elena gets some great lines in this episode, basically getting to tell John off at every opportunity, all those things that I shout out to my TV on her behalf in the past.  He has no right to be in her life, she neither wants nor needs him there, etc.; it’s glorious.  Jenna and Alaric come down and she demands to know what John’s doing there too.  Oops, guess they forgot to tell her about his arrival the night before.  She demands that he leaves, but John points out that it’s not up to her because despite her being Elena’s legal guardian, he is her biological father.  She looks suitably stunned. 

Stefan seems to be the only one who is happy about John’s return to Mystic Falls.  Not so for Damon who wonders if Stefan has blown a mental gasket for trusting him.  Stefan defends his decision, listing out all the ways they’re currently screwed, they can use all the help they can get.  He believes that John knows how to keep Elena safe – even though he refuses to divulge how to any of them.  Damon is less trusting, more ticked off about the new development than anything else.  “As if I didn’t have enough problems.” He grumbles, heading straight to Elena’s house.

Damon and Elena bond over mistrusting John, regardless of what Stefan says.  When Elena asks what they’re going to do, Damon responds by saying they’re going to kill him – but that he’s not serious – well, okay a little serious.  He promises not to hurt him because he’s a good guy now.  Elena comes with him just to be sure all he does is talk to her father. 

Episode 2.12 – “The Descent”

And we’re back!

Thank goodness for the recap at the beginning of the episode as I’d forgotten just where we left off!

We begin with Jules waking up naked in the woods; her mouth artfully smeared with dirt and dried blood.  How lucky that she stumbles upon some campers… well, what’s left of them after she tore them apart the night before.  Is it just me or wouldn’t there be less parts if they’d been savaged by wolves?  Why would a wolf need to chop them into so many pieces anyway?  But there are body parts galore as she piles them onto the campfire.  Jules whips up some fast crocodile tears when the law shows up, and before he can call it in, she beats him to death with a handy piece of wood. 

Elena comes to see Stefan and we’re treated to a gratuitous shot of his bare torso.  (psst, where’s our shot of Damon with his shirt off?  It’s been a long hiatus!)  The couple seems just as lovey dovey as usual.  She doesn’t want them to be apart anymore, ever.  (where is this girl’s parental supervision?  Doesn’t Jenna care that she’s out all hours of the night?)  Stefan feels like he should talk to Isobel to ask her about Klaus, but Elena isn’t sure it’s a good idea.  Next on the bad idea list is Stefan chugging back some vervain dosed water to try and build up a tolerance to it.  It looks painful, but he seems to recover pretty quickly after all.  It’s nice to see Elena take a sip as well, hopefully affording her a small modicum of protection herself. 

Rose looks like crap.  They did a great job making her look like she’s weak and dying.  Damon has no sympathy for her depressing talk, telling her in typical fashion, “You know if you’re going to be maudlin, I might as well just kill you myself, to put me out of your misery.”  He tries to lift her spirits, intimating that she might not be dying after all, but as he takes a look at her wound, it’s obviously much, much worse.  Damon lies and tells her it’s definitely looking better, enlisting Elena to reassure her as well.  He asks Elena to play nursemaid to Rose for a while so he can go out and run some errands, knowing that she won’t say no.  Elena asks if Rose is going to die.  Damon replies that she probably will, explaining about the infection that seems to be spreading from the werewolf bite.  “The sooner she dies the better, it’s gloomy as hell in here.”  He adds.  We all know that just means he’s repressing his emotions as he tends to do when he’s being that glib, which also means that he actually cares about Rose on some level.  Interesting.