The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Part 5: The boys are back in town

Dear Diary,

For once, the death of someone in this town is actually haunting us.  Wait, no, ~*Elena*~’s death haunted us too.  I guess it’s only that the deaths of popular blondes means anything in this town.

Our Stand-In is keeping up the diary tradition and trying to avoid rest–which makes sense, because she’s all, you know, psychic and her dreams have been nightmareish lately.  But they’re also the only link the group has to ~*Elena*~, so it’s necessary that Bonnie get us to another trippy dream sequence.  She hops through “channels” on her Walkman (um, they’re called STATIONS, Ms. Smith), and ends up listening to an oldie, which puts us in an old-fashioned soda shop.

Cool.

Bonnie is having a strawberry ice cream soda and ~*Elena*~, who is wearing a poodle-free poodle skirt, is eating a hot fudge sundae.  Have I made the joke that she must be eating because it’s a dream?  I probably have already.  Bonnie is ready to mock the surroundings, but then her friend reminds her that it’s HER subconscious they’re in.  Good point.

~*Elena*~ and Bonnie are both a little clueless about why they’re there, but they’re both sure that something’s going on.  ~*Elena*~ says that she died “too young” (IT WAS YOUR CALL, DIMWIT) and that she’s relatively powerless at this point.  Bonnie’s thinking the soda’s a mite off.  She’s forgetting the mouse, poor thing.

~*Elena*~ goes on to babble semi-important things that are too vague to be really helpful, always saying “he” but not saying who “he” is.  HE’s getting in the way of communication.  HE thinks fear is the mindkiller, and loves it so.  HE shouldn’t be “let in.”

Cue vampire joke here.

~*Elena*~’s tooth falls out in the middle of speaking, thus reminding us that the most horrible thing that can happen is a beautiful person become less beautiful.  She keeps trying to get out something, but can’t.  Bonnie’s strawberry soda becomes blood.  ~*Elena*~’s teeth are gone, but she still manages her INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT MESSAGE: “Tell Stefan I love him!”

Oh well, heck.  How would he have figured it out without you?

*

On the high school front, things make more sense, in that Bonnie’s getting dissed for having death all around her.  Poor Bonnie, but it’s true that that’s a pretty true-to-life kind of comment to make.  I sort of wondered why people even TALKED to Nancy Drew or Veronica Mars after a while.  Well, Veronica Mars owned that stuff, so never mind.  (WATCH IT.)

She starts to skip class because of her trauma, and happens to run into some hot stud muffin in the hall.  It’s Stefan!  He’s back!  Bonnie’s hormones kick into high gear, but then sense kicks in and she hides him away.  By the way, him being there is described as “a zebra in a flock of sheep.”  I don’t know about that one.  He always seemed to be the fluffy one to me.

Matt is in auto shop and Meredith’s in economics class.  OMG, Matt *IS* going to end up selling cars, or fixing them, and also how much more of a trite YA short-cut of low-class can you get, really, than having someone in auto shop?  And to say in the same sentence that firmly middle-class Meredith’s in an economics class?  BLARGHHHHH.

They get Stefan out of the school as sneakily as they can, but Bonnie’s sure they must’ve been seen by someone, and if the rumor mill starts up… They’re trying to figure out where to confab when Damon pulls up in a Ferrari.

We then get Damon from Bonnie’s perspective: THANK GOD, she actually isn’t blinded by lust this time.  We’re reminded of him killing Mr. Tanner.  More animal similes–“like a mouse staring at a shining black snake.”  Bleh.  But Bonnie’s afraid of him, and that’s good.  You should all be afraid of him.  Even if he’s just a wounded little puppy who needs the love of a good blonde to heal his heart, HE’S STILL A MURDERER WITH DUBIOUS MORALS.  You don’t just toss that out the window cuz he’s a looker.

They decided to go to the barn by the boarding house where Stefan used to live.  On the way to the barn, Matt broods and Bonnie worries about him, but Meredith seems to get what’s going on and tells her to drop it.  I guess what’s going on is that Matt is brooding over ~*Elena*~ but COME ON MATT SHE DUMPED YOU AGES AGO.  Get the heck over it!  You’re a football player!  The ladies love you!  You could even pick another blonde!  GO FOR IT.  Once there, we get to hear YET AGAIN how Stefan’s eyes are like oak leaves.  I’m over it.  Meredith holds his hand and worries about him, and they hug.  It’s a big hugfest, except that Stefan and Matt just shake hands awkwardly.  Because they’re men.

Bonnie is RIGHTFULLY emotionally conflicted about Stefan’s presence.  It’s one thing to have nightmares; it’s another to hang out with a vampire.

A little sidebar: I introduced my daughter to Nick Knight and Forever Knight in the past two weeks–both pilots, the one with Rick Springfield and the one from the series.  At then end of the pilot—SPOILERS–we find that a character has been turned into a vampire after a brief bite, meaning that if the vampire does not drain the victim, the victim will turn.  This lends itself to a very different kind of vampire than the ones we typically see, like here, where the EXCHANGE of blood becomes the method of transmission, most importantly the drinking or mingling of the vampire’s enhanced blood with the human’s.  This makes for a far more interesting and dangerous world, I think, and sets up why Nick is so conflicted.  It also goes to show how whiny and pathetic “I have to bite people to live!” is when there’s no underlying issue for the victim except maybe some residual psychic issues which may or may not be eradicated at the vampire’s will.  In other words, yet again, Stefan seems utterly wishy-washy, even against a blond baby-faced Canadian.

Back in the barn, there’s a debate about whether Damon (who, hello, vampire hearing) should be there.  He sweeps in dramatically and lets them all know that the spell must’ve ended up with some of his hair and/or blood in it for he’s been summoned too.  Meanwhile, Matt’s all being protective of Bonnie, and Damon asks if she’s “yours” (SCREW YOUUUUUUU) and Matt says “No” but he doesn’t leave her side.

Hm.

The Damon debate at an end, the group then catches the brothers up on what’s been going on–the dreams, Sue’s death, Bonnie’s Tyler theory and Meredith’s negation of Bonnie’s Tyler theory.  Stefan asks Bonnie to go into a trance to channel ~*Elena*~, but Bonnie doesn’t want to open herself up to HIM.  Stefan then explains to everyone that Fell’s Church is on a Hellmouth or whatever–okay, that it was a place of violence in the Civil War and all that blood shed really attracts the baddies.  So really, it could be anyone or anything that feels draw.

Mrs. Flowers suddenly comes in and pulls her “I know more than you think but you’ll never know why” deal, offering snacks to the humans but not the vampires.  She also tells Stefan that she was sorry to hear about ~*Elena*~ (or Sue?) and that Stefan’s got his work cut out for him this time.  (An expression, by the way, that I never really got.  If it’s already CUT OUT for you, then someone’s done the beginning already and you just have to do the rest, yes?)  Stefan’s room is still available, by the way.

Oh, Mrs. Flowers.

The group speculates about her, and Matt teases Stefan about not drinking the grape juice (ew, grape), and then they decide that Vickie has to be their first step.  Unfortunately, Vickie’s parents are blocking access to her, but I’m sure two charismatic vampires can get around that.  Damon’s always happy to meet a new girl.

And with that, we end the chapter.

Next up: Vickie.