Vampire Diaries--Season 2, Episode 2: "Brave New World"

We are two episodes into Vampire Diaries and it has started with a bang and has continued for me and my friends to swoon over Damon and scream, laugh, and even sometimes argue through the episodes. I have been a bad VD fan and waited for almost a week to finally post the second episode's recap but I will not let that get away from me all the time! Because I'm running behind on all of my blogging, I will do something I would never do but have to so I can get up on my blogging. Here is a recap of the recent episode from a section at the Wall Street Journal's site called Speak Easy:

"Watch out, Mystic Falls: there’s a new vampire in town. Tonight on “The Vampire Diaries,” we learned that Caroline Forbes is officially undead, that there’s something seriously freaky going on in the Lockwood clan, and that you really, really don’t want to piss off Bonnie Bennett—unless you like the idea of being set on fire.


After apparently being suffocated by Katherine, Caroline wakes up, gasping, in her hospital bed. At first, she’s confused. But then Caroline starts putting the pieces together: she’s got a craving for a bag of O+, her hand smokes when she puts it in sunlight, and she’s no longer capable of wearing her favorite cross without burning her chest. All signs point to vampire.

The next day, after feeding on a nurse and using her new vamp powers to erase her memory, Caroline escapes the hospital and goes looking for her friends at the school carnival they’re helping to run. Elena had hoped that the event would be an oasis of normalcy in her otherwise ridiculous life. All she wants is to have some fun and get a kiss from Stefan at the top of the Ferris Wheel.

Life, of course, has other plans. Caroline runs into Damon inside the empty high school and tells him that she remembers everything he did to her before she died: “You manipulated me, you pushed me around, abused me, erased my memories, fed on me.” He says in response that remembering those things would be impossible, unless… but before he can finish his thought, she pushes him to the ground with her new strength. Then, after conveying Katherine’s message—“Game on”— Caroline sashays away.

The brothers Salvatore and Elena huddle in an empty classroom and try to figure out what to do next. Damon wants to stake Caroline, though Stefan and Elena won’t hear of it. They disperse before deciding on a definitive course of action, but Damon’s mind is made up. He grabs a piece of wood from the carnival grounds and goes in search of Caroline.

Damon finds the newborn vampire covered in blood and sitting next to a freshly killed body. The hunger was too much for her—though at least she didn’t kill poor, sweet Matt, who’s totally clueless about what’s going on with her. Damon says that he can help her… then, stupidly, tells her that he’s going to kill her instead of just doing it.

Before Damon makes a fatal move, though, Stefan and Elena intervene. “Whatever happens, it’s on you,” D warns Elena before stepping away. Then Caroline sees that someone else was watching the whole thing: Bonnie, who is horrified to see her friend all vamp’d out.

“I’m a m-m-murderer. I’m a monster!” Caroline wails as Stefan tries to clean her up. He tells her that her emotions are heightened because of the transition, and that she has to calm down. Stefan also imparts another important piece of vampire-to-vampire wisdom: she has to fight the urge to kill. It’s the only way she’ll survive. Caroline stops sobbing, and Stefan promises that he won’t let anything happen to her.

Damon, though, might not be so lucky. He comes back to the carnival grounds, having buried the body of the guy Caroline drank. Then Bonnie releases some Grade-A witchery on him, saying, “I told you what would happen if anyone else got hurt.” She paralyzes him with pain, then conjures up a fire and starts to burn him alive. Er, undead. Whatever.

But before Damon can be engulfed in flames, Elena rushes over and breaks Bonnie’s concentration. She hugs her and convinces her to walk away. D almost has another near-death experience when he gets home—Jeremy is waiting for him, having laced his liquor and whittled himself a stake—but ultimately, Elena’s little brother decides that killing the vampire wouldn’t do him any good. Also, that would probably mean the end of this show.

As Caroline realizes the extent of her new abilities, Tyler is subsequently realizing that there’s something extraordinary about his Uncle Mason. Mason is extremely interested in his nephew’s anger and aggression issues. He quizzes Tyler on what happens when he goes into a rage—Tyler answers that he blacks out, and that they make him feel like he’s “becoming something else.” Damon, who happens to be in the other room, overhears the Lockwood men’s curious conversation.

At the carnival, Damon convinces Stefan to go up against Mason in an arm wrestling match. Mason wins, which surprises Stefan—he had actually put some muscle into it. Still, he’s not convinced that there’s anything to his brother’s theory about the Lockwoods being special. “Maybe they’re ninja turtles,” deadpans Stefan. “Or zombies. Werewolves.” Damon doesn’t appreciate his brother’s sarcasm—and besides, he says, “This is reality, and there’s no such thing as werewolves.” Duh.

Then Damon brings out the big guns. He uses vampire mind control to convince a random carnival-goer to pick a fight with Tyler. When they start brawling, Uncle Mason steps in to end it. Tyler sees his uncle’s eyes glow weirdly—and then he starts hopping and flipping like a kung-fu frog. Later, Mason claims that he was just using Brazilian martial arts during the fight, but Tyler knows something else is up.

That’s probably why he plays dumb when Mason asks him if he’s seen an heirloom moonstone lying around the mansion. In reality, though, Tyler knows exactly where the stone is hidden: in a safe deposit box under the floorboards. He secretly pockets the stone.

It’s been a long, complicated day. Elena’s night of normalcy was a total bust. But all’s not lost: In the wee hours of the morning, Stefan appears in her bedroom and whisks her off to the carnival grounds. There, he starts the Ferris Wheel up and carries her to the topmost car, where they share the kiss she wanted all along.

After their smooch, things turn serious. “It’s not going to get any easier, is it?” she asks him. “No. it’s not,” he replies. Especially because we see that in the scenes from next week, Damon’s saying something about a “Wolf Man.” So much for lycanthropy being imaginary!"

Peace and Fangs,

Alisha