Vampire Diaries: Lost Girls

“Tip for later: be careful who you invite in the house.”

Sure, this episode is about lost girls: confused Elena, compelled and compliant Vicki, and catty Katherine. But it’s also about our lost boys: Stefan and Damon, pulled apart and coerced by the very same Katherine. Does she count as a lost girl? Seems to me like she knows what she’s doing.

“Lost Girls” ran hot and cold for me. I should love the flashbacks: I think corsets and hoopskirts are fabulous, and Gone with the Wind was one of my favorite books as a kid. But VD isn’t quite comfortable with the flashback model yet. The little snippets of 1864-life were all tease, no pay-off. And the present-day stuff shifted from dull to silly to darn interesting.

Stefan and Elena are still working through their issues, but it’s pretty clear that they’re fated for each other, even if she has to get over the whole “your brother mind-raped my friend, caused her death, and now we have to lie about it.” The writers spread this out over the hour, perhaps because it’s not really compelling television to watch a couple talk things out.

Damon and Vicki dancing was silly, but the punchline was Damon snapping her neck—that wouldn’t have been quite as surprising if we hadn’t wasted all that time on them playing around. At first, I felt like it was a tease to end an act on her dead on the floor, only to have her be undead when we returned from the commercial break. But, on second thought, that scene doesn’t lose any of its force even when she revives: she’s dead for sure, whether as vampire or a corpse. Poor Vicki.

Just as Vicki was damaged by Damon (and, well, by life), so were Damon and Stefan damaged by Katherine. But the parallel ends there: Vicki succumbed to Damon’s overtures because of her lust for intoxication, and it’s that need that led to her accidentally becoming a vampire (“Oops.”). But the cause of Damon’s and Stefan’s infatuation with Katherine isn’t—yet—that clear. Plus, it’s hard to really feel Damon’s victimization when he’s running around, all caustic and scary. He has the emotional maturity of a two-year-old, doesn’t he? Take away his toy ring and he throws a tantrum. Give him the ring back, and he’s all sweetness and life-saving blood.

The anti-vampire council really pooched things this week: their hunt through the woods led to Logan’s death, Vicki becoming a vampire, and them losing the watch. By the way, what a weird coincidence that the vampire brothers would wind up in the woods, just where the council was looking for them. Wacky fate.

Bites:

• Stefan: “I’ve been 17 years old since 1864.” That does sound awful.

• Vicki: “He’s going to get a football scholarship and marry Elena, have a lawnmower and lots of babies.”

• Damon: “Don’t look at me with those judgy little eyes.”

And Pieces:

• Tip for all you moody vampires out there: saying “I would never hurt you” while holding your girlfriend pressed against the door she’s trying to escape through is sending mixed messages.

• Loved the look on Damon’s face when he let Vicki feed on him.

• Was that a Depeche Mode cover playing when Vicki was dancing in her undies? I like the DM version better.

• This episode didn’t begin or end with a bite. But it did deal, almost exclusively, with the repercussions of biting.

Two and a half out of four hoop skirts

[Programming note: Next week, the CW is skipping to “Fool Me Once,” the fourteenth episode. Because episodes 7-13 aren’t legally available yet, I’ll wait until the DVD comes out (on August 31st) to review them. I’ll try to get to them all before the fall premiere, but there’s no guarantee, since Season Two begins Thursday, September 9th. Hooray!]

(Season One, Episode Six)