The Vampire Diaries – “The Turning Point” – review

To me this episode was much more of a typical teenage drama than many of the installments so far have been.  It had “are/they aren’t they” speculation and teasing, it had a scumbag ex-boyfriend return, it had an almost-fight between two rivals, it had hot sex.  So what happened?

We picked up right where last episode left off, with Jenna being importuned by vampire Logan to let him in.  She sent him packing, and good riddance.  Jeremy picks up drawing again, just in time for Career Night at the school.  Damon gets tipped off to the appearance of yet another vampire (Logan) by the sheriff, and gets Caroline to hold the vampire finder so he can seek out his lair.  Logan is waiting with more wooden bullets in his gun, and he demands Damon tell him how to walk in the day; Damon demands who turned him, and it’s a standoff.

At Career Night, Logan harasses Jenna again, and Stefan tips off Elena to his new status so she pulls Jenna away.  Alaric also sees the incident.  The sheriff confronts Logan and tells him to get the hell out of town, while he is affronted that the Council would dump him like that.  He lures Caroline into his car, but Stefan and Damon follow to save her.  After Stefan carries Caroline home, Logan tells Damon he’s part of a group trying to get into the tomb.  They arrange to meet later, and Damon has Logan throw him down when the sheriff pulls up.  Back at the school, Jeremy has gotten into a fight with Tyler, whose father takes them outside—not to make up but to fight it out once and for all.  Alaric puts a stop to it, and Jeremy finds unexpected sympathy for Tyler, who snaps at him all over again under the bright full moon.  Logan returns to the parking lot, and Alaric confronts him as well.  Logan taunts him, believing he has the upper hand, only to have Alaric stake him. 

Elena tells Stefan he doesn’t get to choose her path—i.e., stay away from her for her own good—and she chooses him…she loves him.  Stefan finally caves and they have sex.  But in the glowing aftermath Elena is poking around his room and sees a picture of Katherine.  She leaves in a panic, and hits a man on the two-lane road back to town.  Her SUV flips, blood is running, and worse than all of that the figure she hit gets up and starts to walk toward her car….

First of all, Alaric has outed himself (at least to the viewing audience) as the same vampire-hunter he was in the book.  Well, maybe not quite the same, since he staked Logan like a champ and in the book he had never actually found a vampire before.  But still, a hunter and not one of them, as last episode maybe tried to imply with that ring and his politeness at the Gilbert house.  We still don’t know if that ring he wears is a trophy or a disguise (for fooling vampires in the know about lapis lazuli), but obviously it will come back later as a significant point.  I loved how manly he is, in a non-Alpha d-bag way (and how hilarious was it that he called the freaking MAYOR that to his face?!).  He’s strong and assertive without being egotistical about it.  He would be good for Jenna; she needs someone stable.  And he’d be good for Jeremy, too, since he has already stood up for him twice—once to Tanner’s view of Jeremy and then to Mayor Lockwood who was urging Tyler to beat Jeremy up. 

The Matt and Caroline hanging out and making everybody talk was also funny.  Tyler accuses Matt of liking Caroline, and it is still unclear if Matt likes her likes her, or likes her because she’s fun and as lonely as he is and someone he wants to be friends with.  I find them adorable together, personally, in part because I always thought Matt ended up with the shit stick in the books.  He is a stand-up guy, and he does deserve better than 15 years of being whipped by Elena only to get dropped like rock for Stefan.  And Caroline is much more sympathetic than she ever was in the books—more of a friend and less of a frenemy. 

In part, I guess, because there is no Meredith in the series to be Elena’s other friend.  I haven’t read anything official that she is going to come into the series at a later point, although there have been at least rumors to that effect.  My personal theory is that she gets brought in as a victim of a vampire attack (in the books it was her grandfather).  Maybe she’s been institutionalized for several years and finally comes back to finish high school or something?  Or someone they go visit when the time comes that they need a victim of a particular vampire for insight into weaknesses?

Speaking of this hypothetical other vampire, I am SO curious to know who is hanging around turning Logan into a vampire and trying to resurrect Katherine.  How the hell many vampires of the old Mystic Falls coven escaped the attempted massacre, know about Emily’s spell, and want to bring them all back? 

Regarding Stefan and Elena finally hook up—hot.  And sweet.  And hot.  And talk about a way to kill the afterglow…Elena seeing that picture and wondering if Stefan really loves her or if he’s just imagining that he’s got Katherine back….

Oh, and back to the other vampire—was that Damon she hit on the road, or this other one?  My money’s on Damon, since he had just gotten the call from the sheriff thanking him for staking Logan and had all of his dreams crash down around his ears yet again.  Almost I pity him…except that he wants to bring 27 blood-starved and presumably ruthless vampires back from their eternal sleep.  I can sympathize with wanting Katherine back, but not at that price.

As far as the car wreck goes, I am not sure what to think.  In the book it is a very, very different context, and I wonder if it is an incident that will either be repeated later, or if the same effect will happen by the rules of these vampires based on her injuries and the presence of one at the scene. 

So, basically, just another intense and awesome episode in a string of them.