The Vampire Diaries - Masquerade / Rose / Katerina

Caroline getting the upper hand on Katherine had to have been a bravura moment for many when she successfully draws her into the room where the Salvatores are waiting. This room in the Lockwood mansion where Bonnie has placed a magic seal holding her inside is the faceoff that would lead to Katherine’s fight with the Salvatores, disrupted by a “linking” spell where if she is harmed so is Elena. It is clever of Katherine to secure her welfare by gaining advantage through the help of her own witch…the favor owed to her. Caroline’s been through her share of grief thanks to being in Mystic Falls and Elena’s pal. But through her vampire turn it has given her a strength and confidence—just how she carries herself has changed—and although she can still be victimized by the likes of Katherine and Damon, this isn’t the same patsy we had been accustomed to in the first season. Still Katherine lifts her off her feet and against a wall, and Damon warning Caroline not to tell Tyler that she’s a vampire is stressed with an utmost threatening sincerity.

Her emerging subplot development with Tyler has been given some attention as he wants answers for what is happening to him (particularly after accidentally killing a girl when Katherine compelled her to accomplish what Matt could not…). Well how Caroline can subdue and throw him around with relative ease, it certainly has Tyler questioning just why she is capable of such feats. Caroline is asked to keep secret Elena’s visit to Katherine in Katerina, which includes occupying Stefan’s time so he wouldn’t interfere. This is where she admits to revealing her vampire secret to Tyler. If Damon knows, bad things could happen. And Caroline wants to help Tyler. It isn’t his fault what is happening to him. Katherine needed Tyler to have the werewolf curse so that he could be used as a “negotiation prize” for Klaus. Caroline is also part of the package deal…or was supposed to be. Katerina was all about Elena getting details that significantly torment her due to how being the doppelganger puts her friends in danger. Bonnie, Caroline, Tyler, and her all seem to face a certain peril once Klaus (or his minion, Elijah) arrives to Mystic Falls.

But Caroline still pining for Matt is that character arc not quite totally abandoned by VD Creative. Although Matt was more or less a device used by Katherine to stir up Tyler’s anger through her compelling him to pour beer all over the floor and smash a family picture. Matt scuffling with Tyler and Caroline’s involvement in dissolving this before it turned fatal did rankle Katherine’s Plan A only for another teenage Red Shirt to replace him as a victim specifically designed to bring the werewolf curse. But Matt is taken to the car and left at home to sleep it off while the girl’s death is set up as an accident. Aimee, the girl’s friend and Tyler’s crush previously, gets the adieu by Katherine through damage to her spine, dumped on Stefan as a warning to cooperate. So the masquerade in Masquerade gives these girls a rather unpleasant sendoff. At least Caroline preserves her Matty from suffering a similar fate…

I do wonder if the series is serious about a potential Caroline and Tyler coupling. I still think Caroline and Matt is the romance undergoing resistance from the soap opera blockade that signifies that they are the couple that seem right for each other yet circumstances continue to keep them apart. While Tyler is at odds with the werewolvery now thrust upon him while Caroline’s vampirism serves as another shock to the young man he wasn’t quite anticipating.
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With Masquerade, Katherine finally reveals that Elena’s alive because she’s a doppelganger. That is towards the end when Damon seals her up in a tomb and Katherine has no choice but to unveil her secret hoping he’d change his mind. Of course, Bonnie had also places an “isolation curse” on the tomb to make extra sure she can’t escape. Of course, that very night, Elena is whisked away by someone with a mask, later to be recognized as Trevor, working in concert with Rose in Rose. Elijah is mentioned by Rose and Trevor as some very bad dude while Elena is left in their rundown house in the middle of nowhere. So the second season is introducing new characters it seems in correlation with Katherine. The Originals is also a name drop The Vampire Diaries fanbase know all too well (but is new to me).

Rose fills in some gaps. Elena being sacrificed so that the “sun and moon” curse will be “lifted” is yet the next story arc for Stefan and Damon to somehow stop. Elijah arriving at the house, as a worried Trevor and Rose quiver, hoping they can be granted a pardon for earning the wrath of The Originals. I have to imagine once Damon stakes Elijah to the wall this might be considered the catalyst in something quite unwelcome. Mystic Falls might inherit further vampire danger.

While Masquerade focuses on Katherine’s plans to get her hands on the moonstone, Rose gives us a lot of the why it is important that Elena is so involved. And Katerina gives the viewer even more. Katherine is all involved in this introduced centuries-old “vengeance soon be mine” story arc with the “first vampire”, Klaus. It seems Klaus has a soldier serving his interests, Elijah, an Original. Elijah speaks for him often and has abilities other vampires don’t. That Damon and Stefan can wound him (or even delay him) at all in and of itself is quite an accomplishment. Considering Elijah compels a vampire (a very knowledgeable vampire, with lots of college education) to stake himself gives us a sense of just how dangerous the Originals are. That Elijah could survive a staking to a wall, walk during the day, and seem impervious to almost all the typical affective uses against vampires tells us the Originals are indeed unlike any adversary the Brothers Salvatore had ever encountered. This is really right in the beginnings of the second season. We get Elijah, this new force that seems to be an obstacle Stefan and Damon would be unable to vanquish. Elena is the object of desire along with the moonstone. Caroline, one of her dear friends, is a vampire to accompany Elena as a sacrifice. Tyler is the werewolf needed to accompany Elena as a sacrifice. But Elena is the lynchpin and her sorrow is awakened especially through a conversation with Katherine. Katherine considers herself fortunate that she’s been entombed because no vampire can pass through the witch’s seal. Katerina is indeed an important episode in this regard because it lays out Elena is this target, as are her friends. And this Klaus, whispered with dread, talked about as if the mere mention of his name brings about chills and terror, soon kicks up in the second season. Katherine is a threat because she doesn’t want to die, while her actions endanger innocent people in Mystic Falls due to this.

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I protest the obvious decision to put Bonnie and Jeremy into a romance. Ugh. Bonnie getting some attention, though, I certainly don’t protest. Whether Bonnie is adding a seal to a room to temporarily hold Katherine prisoner, summoning a tracking spell so Elena’s whereabouts (or the close proximity) can be located by Stefan and Damon, or sending a note to Elena to tell her help is on the way; it is nice that she was starting to get some well deserved attention. That said, Katerina seems to include another possible love interest, a young man named Luka, later revealing to her he’s a warlock (after his father asked Bonnie about her heritage, tipping her off that he knows she is a witch). Luka’s father associated with Elijah certainly would seem to indicate that troubles on the horizon for Bonnie. Or better asked: how would the writing team creatively provide escape to Bonnie. What I give The Vampire Diaries credit for is how used ingenuity to get their main stars out of sticky situations. Right when it appears as if the goose is cooked for a principle, an avenue of escape (some clever ace up their sleeve to be slid out at just the right time). Like the use of the moonstone in Masquerade, where it appears Katherine is on the verge of getting it from a witch she was owed a favor from. Bonnie felt she was a witch when mingling with Jeremy among those at the charity function at The Lockwoods estate/mansion. A confrontation between the two would seem to confirm that Bonnie had the moonstone and would lose it to her. That would mean that Katherine would get the moonstone, but the revelation that this witch was an ancestor of Bonnie’s—and the poison spell incapacitating Katherine, dropping her to the ground was because of this fact—is a twist that swerves the viewer yet again. Bonnie knew of another witch and that she was family. Bonnie has developed her magic even as it often weakens her (blood from the nose and a fainting spell after sending that paper message to Elena in Rose an example of this). Without her, the show’s cast would have met some serious degree of difficulty. Even when Damon was going through his temperamental, impulsive stage, Bonnie had to bring him down a notch a time or two. Those witches aren’t to be messed with. But Bonnie’s weakening at too much use of magic could very well be a detriment down the road.
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Damon compels Elena after telling her he loves her. Before this Damon avoids others telling him he is. Rose and Stefan confront him about it, but Damon brushes it off. It is obvious and Damon just wants to get it off his chest before a romp with Rose. Rose isn't too shabby a substitute for Elena I don't think. In fact I'd prefer Rose.

Lauren Cohan, notably Maggie of The Walking Dead, surprises me with her appearance. Anytime a familiar face pops up expectedly like that while also seeing them elsewhere can be quite interesting. Like when Somerhalder was on Lost as Boone, after seeing him as Damon on The Vampire Diaries.

She loses Trevor, is granted a reprieve from Elijah, and gets busy with Damon. She knows how dangerous both Elijah and leader Klaus are. Trevor's head is taken clean off right before her eyes by Elijah who doesn't blink. Her tenure, as short as it probably will be, is just starting but Katherine drug her into a mess to save her own hide. Trevor died thanks to Katherine's seduction. Mason fell for it, as did Damon. Katherine sure doesn't like that Elena gets the affection now. Especially when Stefan prefers to look Elena's direction and avoid Katherine altogether.

So Rose can be Damon's diversion for the time being, while Katherine remains concealed from Klaus as Elena and Stefan try to figure out how to have a decent relationship without facing constant trouble.

Masquerade ***/****
Rose ***
Katerina ***