Back in Season One, this was the smartest show about. Oh, I could overlook the flaw with the casting of Paul didn't they take a hint from seeing him in CLOUD 9 Wesley, but everything else (more or less) was just exceptional. I ranked it as one of my all-time favorite shows, movirs included. The euphoria of that was already gone by the start of the Second Season. But let me just say, of course I'm not knocking it I never will. It's just, when something's been oh-so-close to perfection and then it comes tumbling down... Even if it's still better than most others, there is still that feeling...
The violence were at first incidental, it was definitely for the sake of the story. With the decapitation here, I thought about that episode "Rose" where her partner got brutally slain, it was of course hideous but it was suitably well filmed. Here I got the impression, "all right then, we created ourselves a rep, our gore fans want more, let's give 'em a gratuitous bloody scene..."
And if I have to see one more heart being ripped out... One more bloody hand holding a curiously dripping but not spurting heart... Aw, come on, that was corny from the start, and is being ridden hackneyed, feels like it happens in every episode, well, doesn't it... and does that stuff raise the ratings?
The winners: Nina Dobrev (yeah, take that haters, take it and sputter) and Candice Accola. Ian Somerhalder is still, well, I could never dis him, he's just not as striking as he used to be. But the one who plays the plum part, I'm sorry, it really bugs me while watching, Paul is not the one for the part. He comes across as just like his character in CLOUD 9, thicker than two very short planks, and Stefan is not supposed to be that.
But with everything transpiring in this episode, a thrilling car racing to bridge scene and, well, so much else, no spoilers from me, I cannot do anything else but award a high score because even if the flaws are more prevalent than ever, it's still one of the best shows I've ever seen.
The violence were at first incidental, it was definitely for the sake of the story. With the decapitation here, I thought about that episode "Rose" where her partner got brutally slain, it was of course hideous but it was suitably well filmed. Here I got the impression, "all right then, we created ourselves a rep, our gore fans want more, let's give 'em a gratuitous bloody scene..."
And if I have to see one more heart being ripped out... One more bloody hand holding a curiously dripping but not spurting heart... Aw, come on, that was corny from the start, and is being ridden hackneyed, feels like it happens in every episode, well, doesn't it... and does that stuff raise the ratings?
The winners: Nina Dobrev (yeah, take that haters, take it and sputter) and Candice Accola. Ian Somerhalder is still, well, I could never dis him, he's just not as striking as he used to be. But the one who plays the plum part, I'm sorry, it really bugs me while watching, Paul is not the one for the part. He comes across as just like his character in CLOUD 9, thicker than two very short planks, and Stefan is not supposed to be that.
But with everything transpiring in this episode, a thrilling car racing to bridge scene and, well, so much else, no spoilers from me, I cannot do anything else but award a high score because even if the flaws are more prevalent than ever, it's still one of the best shows I've ever seen.