'The Killer' - The Vampire Diaries, Season Four

The Vampire Diaries

Season Four

Episode Five

'The Killer' - 4.0

I think 'The Killer' was the worst thing to Google image search for since 'Two Girls, One Cup'

Tyler, Damon, Jeremy, April, Hayley, Matt, Elena, Stefan, Klaus and now even Caroline. With every passing episode, more and more characters stop being interesting or likeable, and after almost no development in so long it's getting tiresome. I wouldn't bat an eyelid if they died. So much could be done better, there could be some real movement, instead of these constant circles.

I'll admit that Elena's arc so far this season has been pretty enjoyable, but she's still the loathsome, moral creature she's always been, and this new vampirism is doing little to change her. 'The Killer' that this episode refers to is actually our female protagonist, as she ends up being the one who finally takes down Connor, the vampire slayer. The moment when she snaps his neck in the cave was quite epic, and there is this degree of wonderful irony and tragedy that underpins the move. I hope that she finds out. It's great that the writers gave Damon and Stefan enough tact to not just blurt out her dumb-girl-play when they come across her digging a grave for her first victim, but she does have to find out sometime. They will no doubt give her some unrealistic, over-the-top 'OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?' realisation, because her sombre reflection and regret period was pretty fucking cliché. This is The Vampire Diaries though. I can't expect anything groundbreaking.

There is a lot of pretentious and cynical musings coming from me right now, but I get like that when I am really, really tired of the shit. Bonnie's meeting with the college professor for example; utter bullshit. Boring, over-long, badly written and badly edited. We never once see Bonnie actually hypnotised, it is all just '(talking,talking,talking) by the way you've just done something and forgotten about it TA-FUCKING-DAH'. It didn't help that I had mostly forgotten (or blocked out) that she was having ANOTHER magical crisis and couldn't do spells. Maybe one day she can stop putting a cork in her power every time she could be of some level of usefulness. We're all sick of it Bonnie, just learn to be a bloody witch for once.

I had issues with Damon, as normal. He just proves to be a difficult ass when it comes to rescuing Jeremy, Matt and April from the Mystic Grill. Why does Stefan wanting to send hybrids in show he's working with Klaus? All it shows is that Stefan has enough brains to know that something part-werewolf can't be killed by the werewolf venom Connor may or may not have, and the fact that he had to vervain Damon just shows that he can remember all the times that his brother has fucked things up in the past. Remember when he fed Elena his blood? Or when he killed coach Tanner? Or when he killed Jeremy? Or all the times he egged the Originals on? Yeah, I think we can all agree that everyone in Mystic Falls would live a lot longer if he wasn't around. 

In regards to the Mystic Grill hostage situation: what the fuck was that? Admittedly the violent end for so-far-unseen hybrid lackey No.76 was wonderful, but the capture and rescue of the three main humans was unremarkable. They came so close to killing off Jeremy but wussed out at the last second. COME ON!!! You could have had an amazing goodbye, with poor Elena saying farewell to her beloved brother as the glass and nails stick out of him like a porcupine's quills. Also, is anyone going to point out that it was Elena's fault that Connor shot Jeremy? She pumped the hunter and made him miss Stefan, so why did Elena barely even flinch? Similarly, where was Elena when the pressure switch went off? Why wasn't she hit? So many questions, so little motivation to rewatch the episode and figure out the answers. 

Did anyone else hope that at least ONE of the goddamn humans would die? Matt seemed entirely unphased by the events once they were over, while Jeremy was more concerned about the fact he was compelled than the fact he was kidnapped and shot. April had the entire thing compelled away, meaning that the ordeal ended up having almost no bearing on the characters or the plot, other than indirectly causing Connor's death. Whatever, I don't see the point if it isn't going to have repercussions.

Jeremy becoming the new hunter? Called it. Predicted it. Feel somewhat patronised that it played out exactly as I expected, even if it was all a little faster than I thought it would be.

I had issues with Nina Dobrev throughout the episode, but her graveside breakdown was pretty well done. The wait for her to become a more interesting character is getting horrid, but I am pretty sure she's moving towards something better. Her outburst at Damon when he tries to prevent her from helping out was a good omen. In a perfect world she'll kill him eventually, then Jeremy. God I hate them so much. 

OK, 'The Killer' was stupid and pointless. I like that Elena FINALLY killed someone, even though she's killed vampires and stuff. It was an important moment for the series and for the character nonetheless, so I can only hope that the writers will actually do something with this development and not just have her mull over the guilt for a few episodes. Preferably, I'd like to see her switch off her humanity.