The Vampire Diaries DADDY ISSUES Review: Playing Favorites

If only you were as lucky as me to be sick and pukey that you fell asleep after watching The Vampire Diaries “Daddy Issues” episode. You may be questioning why that would make you lucky, but everyone knows that it’s often what is most recently in your mind that makes it way into your dreams (unless you have serious issues that your subconscious plans to make you deal with – and I had that too…drats!) This much is true: “Daddy Issues” gave us some sweet and fluffy Stefan/Elena (Stelena) moments but it also gave us some “OMG Damon!” tense and urge-filled Damon/Elena (Dalena?) moments. The final scene with the bubbles and the tub? Oh man! Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Instead of our usual TVD Dialogue Panel Project update, today you’re getting a Vampire Diaries “Daddy Issue” review from moi. And, while I may be delirious because of my sickness, I’m okay in saying that “Daddy Issues” is one of my favorite Vampire Diaries episodes ever! It ranks high on the pedestal, yanno? And I’m curious to hear what you guys thought, so make sure to comment below.

The episode started off without any mucking about, and Tyler came to visit Caroline. He was waiting outside of her house for her. I found this to be an honorable confrontation, because he didn’t charge in, and then he left without beating her up. For her part, Caroline didn’t physically fight back when Tyler shoved her a bit. And before anyone starts saying “omg feminist issues, sexism rah rah!” if you realized that your friend knew that your uncle was murders and never told you, you’d be angry at them no matter the gender. Point to Caroline because we all know that vampires are stronger than werewolves (unless it’s a full moon) and she could have knocked him into the sewers with two kicks. She never wanted to keep that secret from him, but she did and she owns it. Talk about growth from the season 1 Caroline, eh?

So, when Elena made her appearance I was SO HAPPY. Why? Because girlfriend was done wearing clothes that made her look like a toddler. For the first time in uh, ever, she had her hair up in a ponytail! And she had on GASP makeup, and a RED shirt. The show has been keeping Elena dressing in the complete opposite from Katherine, which meant she’s had to dress from Baby Gap. It was nice to see a new look from Elena, and we all know teens mess with their hair/makeup often – so it’s REALISTIC. Yup, a realistic show about vampires and werewolves and witches, oh my.

When Jenna entered (with Alaric, to prove to us “hey, they’re still sleeping together and their relationship is fine, he’s not dead!) to see that John Gilbert had returned, she thought she’d entered an episode of Jerry Springer. John told her how he was Elena’s biological father, see? And that’s kind of nuts. But we didn’t see Jenna again so we have no idea how freaked she was, other than Elena mentioning to Stefan that she had a spinning head or something. Poor Jenna. She’s not interesting unless she’s being compelled to kill herself.

Damon and the Rose thing. What can I say? I was not a fan of Rose, and I know most of you weren’t. Stefan said he was sorry to Damon, and when Damon shrugged it off it came out that (sarcastically but with truth behind it) he’s becoming a better man and starting to care. We learn latter how true that is. We also got a gem of a quote about how, “I may just have to get a hero haircut of my own and steal your thunder.” And Elena.

Caroline went to Stefan and told him to fix the Tyler situation, since he’s so upset. Stefan is like the …werewolf whisperer? No. The diplomat. that should be his nickname. It’s kind of a cool nickname, admit it. ADMIT IT.

The actress playing Jules also played Lucas’ fiancee on One Tree Hill, which upset fans. And in “Daddy Issues” Jules tried to convince Tyler to leave Mystic Falls. Well, am I the only one who was thinking “this actress is going to get so much hate mail!”? We know it’s not her who wrote the parts, but the internet is full of tales of fans who cannot and will not separate actors from characters. That actress better be prepared to find a role to redeem her to fans.

Let’s talk about Elena and Damon. Mmmmhhm. Elena trusts Damon over Stefan in this episode, which was fun. She even goes to him for advice, asking “what are we gonna do?” Catch the WE part? And Stefan was excluded, because Elena didn’t like his choices. Damon and Elena agreed that John Gilbert is a dumb choice. They also seemed to have a very real unspoken romantic/sexual connection in all of their scenes. Especially in the bathroom moment where Elena is touching Damon’s arm and he tells her to stop this, and she assumes he meant the arm but he meant (mostly) meant something else. See, they’re both AWARE of it. Fun, fun, fun! Another fun moment? Damon saying he was going to go chat with Elena’s father. Ha! To ask for her hand in marriage, man. Or to threaten his life with bodily harm, whatever.

Damon later telling John to ground his daughter was equally amusing.

Also, Elena telling Damon to behave at The Grill when interacting with John gave Damion such a satisfied smile, I’d be surprised if someone didn’t make a .gif of that moment. C’mon people, do it!

So…Caroline got really, really, REALLY heavily tortured in this episode. I was not expecting that, and hey, neither was she. If she thought that being a vampire would make her life easier by having powers and being indestructible, girlfriend was wrong-oh-wrong. One of the werewolves tortured her in all sorts of inventive ways.

When Stefan and Damon took on a gathering circle of werewolves, it was an awesome fight scene where you really thought they might be outnumbered and lose. I love when you aren’t sure of the outcome of a fight. Damon proved he’s not just a heartbreaker, by being a heartripper, yet again.

Tyler arrived (with Stefan) and paused before letting Caroline out of her cage. To be sure, she was heartbroken about that pause.

I think this episode could cheesily be sub-titled “Caroline’s Triumph” becuase she handled everything with such maturity. She tells us how she’s not the girly little Caroline anymore, and how could you not believe it? Tyler redeemed himself a little by going to check on Caroline later on, but she isn’t having any of that and she tells him to get lost. I really like that Caroline has established she has feelings for Matt still, because this makes this dynamic all about their friendship and trust. Instead of a predictable romantic betrayal, this time it’s a friendship loyalty thing – and for once it’s not with a same sex friendship. It’s not often on TVD we’ve seen opposite sex friendships, but Caroline and Tyler have a strong one. I’d actually be okay if Tyler got over his feelings for her and they never got together. I like the idea of FRIENDS sometimes!

Unfortunately she didn’t have time to formulate a great alibi, and Matt knows she’s lying to him about hanging out with Bonnie. Telling him she was getting tortured by werewolves just didn’t seem like the best excuse.

Stefan proved to be a great big brother to Caroline by taking the initiative to have Elena and Bonnie visit her for a slumber party. Cue the adorable footage and amazing imagery of the three gals hugging.

The end scene had Damon with a lady lovah, in a fancy bubble bath. He used her like therapy, admitting his crimes and then compelling her not to be scared so he could keep talking about his feelings and problems. This just in: he still loves Elena. In the end, Damon bit the “distraction.” I am unsure if he was killing her, or if it was just a thirsty thing. If he did kill her, it seemed more like he didn’t like the idea of her knowing his secret, and he’s reckless so he doesn’t think to erase her memory instead of just killing her off. But I think maybe he’s keeping her around as a distraction, so she may not be dead at all. WHO KNOWS?

What did you guys think of this episode? Am I right to have it as one of my favorites episodes to date?

The Vampire Diaries airs on The CW on Thursday nights. Make sure you don’t miss anything in our always exciting Vampire Diaries news and updates.

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