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The Vampire Diaries - I'll Remember - Review

Oct 4, 2014

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In addition to sharing a title with one of my favorite Madonna songs, this episode was also a very promising beginning to season six.  After season five's sometimes extreme highs and lows and the often ineffective big bad, the Travelers, the new season has an appealing "reset" quality to it, and those pesky chanters actually did leave behind some big and fascinating problems for our characters.  Stressing the setting of Mystic Falls as a symbol of home, which some characters yearn for and others run from, "I'll Remember" posed some intriguing questions about the journey ahead and what it will entail.

There is only forever: Elena as a dark border stalker was amazing.  I loved seeing her descend into her dark side while also portraying a near-hyper cheerfulness in her interactions with others, a crazy blend of off-kilterness that was primed to explode.  Her decision to become a medical major seemed to hinge more on her desire for blood access than anything else...even super-restrained Elena at her most self-governed would surely have a hard time pulling off a doctor gig what with her vampiric nature.  It should be interesting to see where her new major leads and how the writers actually make the "college" plotline a little tiny bit relevant to the show as a whole (that's all that can seriously be expected).  For one thing, Elena's recommitment to school presented an interesting thematic contrast to Caroline, who has dropped out to focus on breaking the spell that is keeping supernatural beings out of Mystic Falls.  While Caroline considers this even more important than her college life, which she was so excited for last season, Elena seems to be running from her problems and depending on Stefan to find solutions while she struggles with the same grief Stefan seems to be blocking out.  In other words, everyone has their issues.
Elena's interactions with Luke showed how she was cleverly playing on his guilt over being responsible for Damon and Bonnie's demise by getting what she wants (I feel for the guy, but really, Luke...could you have waited a couple more minutes?!).  In addition to day-walking help for Alaric, Luke also provided some trippy witch herbs to allow Elena to see visions of Damon.  These hallucinations revealed the ways in which Elena is fighting to see an end to the misery she sees stretching before her eternally in the wake of Damon's demise. I have to hand it to her, though, for not just switching off her emotions.  As Elena's inner dialogue with herself via an imagined conversation with Damon made clear, she knows that she needs to let go, but she feels incapable of doing so.  But is she capable of going through with her request to Alaric that he wipes Damon from her memory?  At this point of desperation, it seems likely, though whether Alaric would do so remains to be seen. It's hard to see Elena go through yet another heartbreaking ordeal, and Nina Dobrev's portrayal of her all-over-the-board behavior was fantastic.

Let's not forget Elena's speech to her vision of Damon, which eloquently and emotionally reflected the real Damon's farewell words in the season 5 finale:

 "I wanna say thank you for giving me everything I always wanted. A love to consume me, and passion, and adventure. There's nothing more I could ever want than for it to last forever, but it can't. This is the last time I'm gonna see you. This is goodbye, Damon."

Sob!  Wherever Damon and Bonnie are, there is surely a way to get them back, and it can't happen soon enough.
Not giving up: Caroline gets my "most awesome" award for this episode, due to her reassuringly intact perseverance.  Determined to find a way to make Mystic Falls accessible once more for herself and other supernaturals, she's poring over massive tomes and phone stalking an evasive Stefan, with whom she's growing increasingly frustrated...yet still, Caroline manages to put an optimism into everything she does that is inspiring.  Her reaction to Elena sucking some poor girl's blood on the roadside was pure hilarity, as well.  If anyone can keep the motley crew of disconnected and confused characters somewhat on task, it's sure to be Caroline.

"I'm a vampire": Stefan's best moment in the episode was probably his dry delivery of this line to his new lady friend after she asked him for some personal details about himself.  Recasting himself as a mysterious, emotionally closed off drifter working as a mechanic and having entirely given up hope on getting Damon and Bonnie back, I'm not sure how much longer Stefan's going to be able to buy what he's trying to sell himself.  His curt words to Elena in the face of her begging him for hope were uncharacteristically insensitive, while his later act of smashing his phone after Caroline called again seemed more indicative of frustration and an inability to interact with his loved ones after their ordeal than a successful resolve to cut them out of his life.  

Not much of anything: I loved Matt's right-on-target diss to Jeremy, who's been exhibiting typically adolescent behavior such as constant video game playing and making out with random girls.  Matt may be relatively content in his role of town and friend caretaker, as reflected by his continued presence and concern for Jeremy and his new gig with the Mystic Falls civilian security squad, but that doesn't mean he turns a blind eye to Jer's nonsense.  I wonder where Matt's whole story with the security gang and their leader is going, as it's a bit left field and unpredictable.
"Douchebag stereotype" - I admit that last season I never cared for Liv and even found her distinctly annoying.  However, the character seems to have a fun new lease on life through her sassy interactions with Tyler.  Somehow, this relationship is making two relatively uninteresting characters lively and enjoyable to watch.  Plus, her labeling of him as a douchebag stereotype was hilariously apt to his persona and some of his past behavior.  As Tyler fights to keep his constant rage at bay, will Liv be a port in the storm?  While we have probably gotten a bit unused to seeing Tyler have his own little plotline, this seems like it will be an engaging one.

Alaric's return is full of so much win that it's purely overwhelming.  I don't know what was more awesome, watching him squirm at Elena's ridiculous blood slurpy in class, seeing his awkward flirtation with his new love interest and hearing him quip "when I lost my human nature, I also lost my game," having him put the smack down on OTT Tyler, or him gently counseling Elena towards the end of the hour.  It's so wonderful to have Ric back in the land of the living, and I can't wait to see what adventures he's going to get up to this season.

Damon and Bonnie and flannel and pancakes.  So, let's talk.  I'm really interested to hear what the theories are among my fellow fans.  Personally, I still think these two are in some version of the afterlife, perhaps the peaceful, heaven-esque existence that supernaturals are supposedly able to achieve if they aren't sent to whatever awful place Katherine went to.  But why specifically the 90s music and Damon's very uncharacteristic plaid?  The vamp pancakes were legitimately adorable, by the way, and the idea of a begrudging friendship between Bonnie and Damon is pretty delightful.  Out of everything in the episode and all the mysteries that season 6 has set up so far, the question of where these two are and what's going on with them is probably the most exciting.

What did you think of the season premiere?  Share your thoughts in the comments!  And don't forget to catch an all new The Vampire Diaries next Thursday at 8/7c on the CW!


About the Author - Virginia Mae Fontana
Virginia is happy to be reviewing The Vampire Diaries, Beauty and the Beast, and Witches of East End for Spoiler TV. She enjoys obsessing over films and pop music - in addition to tv shows, of course! You can find her blog, SugarRushed, at http://virginiamaeblog.blogspot.com/ and her Twitter handle is @SugarRushedBlog
Recent Reviews (All Reviews)


15 comments:

  1. 1st start with the very obvious mystery at hand-bonnie & damon's whereabouts.As we all know by now from next episode promos that they are living in an alternate reality in the era of 90's and reliving one day over and over again in a deserted mystic falls.That sounds like real fun!Can't wait to see them team up together to figure out a way from that endless loop sooner than later! Next to elena-her desperation was kinda tragic but i'm happy we will get past all that whining & moping as early as episode 2.Whether alaric compels her to forget all of damon's memories or will he alter all the memories involving damon to wipe him out of the pic-that's the interesting bit.Tyler-i'm sensing a hookup between him & liv within 2-3 episodes inevitably.As for jeremy-since he's going to be making out with the girl sarah who was bit by elena on the side of the road previously only to be compelled to forget by caroline later surely would open a whole lot of complex circumstances later on,i'm sure.I am almost sure tripp will turn out to be matt's father or at least paternal relative,maybe uncle.Caroline's dropping out of college bugged me a bit,after all she was one most excited to join it in the first place.Ivy would be turned into a vampire by enzo next episode if spoilers are any indication.That creates a problem with stefan bubble-wrapped reality.Overall,i enjoyed the episode a lot despite the lack of any nail-biting moments or insane cliffhangers!Lovely review.Looking forward to next week's episode-my man enzo is back in action and apparently he's more badass than ever!!

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  2. It was a solid premier, but as I said in the what do you think off, it was far to Elena-centric. Just as you I really enjoyed Caroline, she was quite awesome.

    After last night I'm a fan of Lyler as well. Liv was always appealing to me while Tyler was lost since the middle of season 3.

    I think Bamon could be in doppelganger version of MF. To balance it out, just as the doppelgangers with no possibility of using magic in MF an other version was created. But that is a long shott and I don't get the timeline issue. Why 1994? Eventually this is maybe the year when Abby disabled Mikael after he came for Elena. But not sure if it was mentioned in which zear that happened.

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  3. Very interesting news about Bonnie and Damon; I haven't seen all those promos. What a cool premise. I also cannot *wait* to see Enzo again and see what he gets up to!

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  4. I'm also very curious to know about this whole 90's setting. You have some cool theories, and I also like that "Lyler" has their own nickname already :)

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  5. They are reliving may 10,1994 all over again.The reason will revealed in episode 4 via flashbacks.

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  6. Great review again Virginia, thanks for doing these. Love reading other peoples thoughts on the episode and seeing if I missed anything!

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  7. Thank you so much :) I always learn a lot from the comments too, because other viewers are seeing things and developing different viewpoints and theories I might not have thought of!

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  8. Btw, did you guys also notice that the 2nd and 3rd episode title, Yellow Ledbetter and welcome to paradise are all 90s song titles? Cool catch right!

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  9. That's awesome!

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  10. I always love reading your reviews, they really add to the experience of watching the show for me. Thanks!

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  11. sooo Alaric will probably erase Damon from Elena's memories and she will be in love with Stefan AGAIN - WTF i hope they are actually kidding i mean the show is bad enough now and i thought they are trying to fix it - meaning to stop this love triangle but i see they will continue with it - and i wanted to actually watch this season :(
    loved Caroline and her mom
    but i find Mat and Jeremy very boring not to mention Tyler :(
    I'm sorry i know that there are people who liked this episode but i didn't -even Caroline and Stefan can't save this show for me!!

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  12. I agree on not wanting Elena to go back to Stefan, or having the triangle back. I hope they don't take it there. Matt, Jeremy, and Tyler are all boring as you said. I can't stand Jeremy, but Matt has a shooting presence. Tyler can go either way, sometimes I dislike him but I do like his new plotline with Liv :)

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  13. Thanks so much :)

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  14. yep there is promise out there but it depends how the writers handle the story for each character - i just don't have high hopes!

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  15. Bringing back one person from death is a nice surprise or twist, but when you keep on doing it, not only does it make future character's deaths cheaper, but it also makes the first instances of bringing someone back from the dead less impactful, too.

    Anyway I was hoping more from a season opener and maybe think this show is going to limp to the finish. This episode felt like they didn't really now where to take things after last season's finale and they're trying to be too heavy handed with the almost schizophrenic nature of everything. I purposely delayed watching this for a month so I could binge out, but after watching the first episode i was way less enthused to do so.

    At the very least, there was some great music in this one. I loved how they used “From The Wreckage Build A Home” by the Wind and The Wave when Elena walks to the crypt and narrates that she has chosen to be a doctor, and also it was cool to hear Alt-J's "Hunger of the Pine" when Caroline calls Stefan and tells him she’s not giving up and wants everyone together again...but it's kinda lame how just the music and the last scene are the only two things that really stood out to me, I used to love how action-packed this show was.

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