Discussing Ep. 3.5 - Soooo....I don't know what to make of this episode. Some good, some bad, some of it was jut really, really weird!
While I like a good homage to classic slasher flicks from the 80's, especially Friday the 13th, I don't understand why they did it like this in the first place. This was supposed to be Hope's mind. Why did she recreate Friday the 13th? Why was her psychological environment made to resemble an 80's slasher flick? She's never claimed to be a fan of the genre. Neither has Landon. So I don't understand the context at all! It felt so arbitrary other than the writers deciding to have a little fun and get everyone dressed up in bad 80's fashion. But it would have made more sense if, in her mind, she were back in NOLA for example, or maybe wherever it was that she and Hayley went to when Hope was a kid and the Mikaelsons were asleep from having absorbed the Hollow. Or make it resemble LoTR or Star Wars since that was what Landon was into. Much like the Salvatore musical, it seemed like it was done more for getting some laughs and less because it really had anything to do with Hope's character or the plot of the episode.
I'll be fair though. I LOVED the fact that they finally addressed the elephant-in-the-room...that being Hope's devotion to Landon at the cost of everything else. Now, it wasn't expressed to the extent that I would have liked (they made it seem like she was sacrificing her friends for Landon rather than her own independence and agency, but I'll take what I can get at this point). And I LOVED that they created a seemingly unsolvable issue between the two: Hope is literally toxic to Landon! Now, while that does make a lot of sense, what doesn't make sense is that they never figured this out before. I don't know if it's because Landon was possessed and restored by Malivore and therefore carried a piece of him or if Hope was always toxic to Landon because he is Malivore's son. Either way, I would have thought that the moment Hope kissed Landon, that he would have suffered some kind of allergic reaction (much like vampires immediately recoil when they touch vervain). But that never happened. There was never any indication that Hope sleeping with Landon would essentially kill him.
It's funny that I mentioned Buffy in my last review because this was somewhat Buffy-esque in the way they brought this rift between Landon and Hope, though it is nowhere near as tragic or as gut-wrenching as it was between Angel and Buffy. I'm supposed to believe that Hope had to full on sleep with Landon in order for her toxicity to kill him? Why? I thought it was only her blood that could kill Malivore? I didn't know that her toxicity was similar to that of a STD! Either way, it seems as though Hope and Landon cannot be together and I like this wrinkle in their relationship. It's a viable obstacle to keep them apart and I'm all for it.
Though I don't understand how or why Hope had to do that therapy box in the first place. And what I didn't like was how quickly everyone remembered Hope and Landon. Granted, they had the spell to bring everyone's memories back but I recall that last season, it was a whole story arc where Josie had to do a spell to get everyone to remember who Hope was. She even met Freya to get tips on how to do the spell. Similar to what I said about them taking the 'specialness' out of things, much like prison worlds and healing werewolf bites on vampires, they can restore people's memories rather easily now! I mean, they spent at least five episodes last season having everyone forget Hope, including Freya, and it was a big deal when they all remembered! Now, they all remember her again without any fanfare? I don't understand how any of this works anymore. I wish I could be optimistic about Hope continuing her journey without being obsessed with Landon but I remember Elena and Damon trying to do the same thing and think that perhaps this will go down the same path. I hope I'm wrong.
Now I get to a major gripe I had in this episode and I seriously wonder if the writers are mandated to do this to the Alaric character at the behest of Plague, because the pattern continues! I mean, why not just cut his dick off right now and get it over with? Why not just stab him in the heart so he doesn't have to feel anything anymore? In the last episode, he had just slept with Sheriff Mac, or at least that is what they implied....which I didn't like because he had just basically asked her out for the first time in the episode prior by giving her flowers and all that...and yet they seemingly wasted no time in getting it on? Is chivalry and courtship truly dead? Are they also caught up in the 'hook up culture' of today? Did Sheriff Mac have no self control and ask to take things slow? I thought Alaric would be the one to keep those old traditions alive. I guess not! Anyway, so he had just slept with her and they seemed to be off to the races as a couple when a whole episode later...she's gone?!? She just up and left Mystic Falls without so much as a goodbye because she couldn't hack living in a town with supernatural creatures. That's it?!? She barely makes an appearance since last season and...POOF!...she's gone again? Fucking hell!
Like, really! Just castrate the guy now! Why do they waste this character's time with potential love interests that will go absolutely nowhere? I mean, I don't care how resilient Alaric is....this guy should have ZERO hope of ever having a long-term relationship with a woman at this point! I mean, NONE! He shouldn't even fucking try! Let's go over his romantic history, just to prove my point, shall we?
Isobel - dead (left him to be with Damon, turned vampire then killed herself)
Jenna - dead (turned vampire then killed by Klaus)
Meredith - departed (left after Alaric died)
Jo - dead (killed at their wedding)
Caroline - departed (dumped him when Stefan came back into her life and essentially left him to raise two daughters on his own)
Emma - departed (chose to go with Dorian)
Sheriff Mac - departed (left Mystic Falls after learning the truth about the supernatural)
Why should this guy have any hope at all at this point?
I am completely baffled as to why they even bother. Why bother giving this fucker any kind of romantic interest if all you're going to do is either kill her or have her leave him? I suppose Sheriff Mac got off easy seeing as how she didn't die! But that sounds so fucking pathetic! I mean, I don't get it. I just don't get it. What has this character done to deserve this kind of fate with women? Is this a 'nice guy' syndrome that he's going through? Is it his beard? Does he smell? What is it about this character that he is resigned to this fate?
Sigh! Anyway, speaking of lack of courtship and moving things too fast....we have this chick who seriously needs to take a cold shower!
What the fuck was this all about? I swear, if it were a guy who was acting the way Josie was acting with that tour guide from the high school, he'd have been ripped apart by society and rightfully so. I mean, Josie was practically drooling and that girl called her out on it, saying how Josie basically wasted the whole trip looking at her rather than listening to anything about the school. And to boot, the tour guide was down with it all! I swear, I thought they were going to go into some empty janitor room and go at it then and there the way they were eyeing each other! For crying out loud, people....have some fucking class! I'm sure to some people, Josie's behaviour was "cute" but I just found it annoying if not highly inappropriate. Like I said, put a guy in that spot and the optics of it come out VERY different, if not creepy! Sure, be excited, be giddy, but don't act like you're ready to rip each other's clothes off then and there! Fuck's sakes!
And finally, we have MG and Alyssa. I can't help but give them credit for having Alyssa cheat on MG because they at least didn't do a complete 180 on her character and suddenly make her a saint. She's a fucked up individual and her stepping out on MG is rather consistent with someone of her calibre of narcissism. But it begs the question: why do this ping-pong act with her character? Why have her go evil and then good and then evil again? I don't know if we're supposed to be rooting for this character or not. I'm fine with a character riding the edge, like Rebekah did when she was first on TVD. But at least with that character, you could tell that she was going a particular way but she still had her own failings to overcome. With Alyssa, you really don't know what side of the fence she stands on and why. She was so enamoured with MG and gushed to him about her love for him and allowed him to influence her attitude, only to abandon all that to sleep with Jed?
I will say that I am somewhat curious as to what they do with Landon. Though they are hinting that Malivore and NecroTed are still around, there really isn't any big bad to threaten the lot of them. I would be totally fine if the next big bad were to be Landon himself! Yes, it would follow the Buffy playbook, where Angel turned into Angelus and became the main antagonist, but I'd be fine with that at this point. If Hope and Ethan do get together in record time and Landon witnesses this, I could see that setting off a hurt inside him that causes him to go down a dark path. So despite my previously stated misgivings about Hope and Ethan having sex too soon (which I would still abhor), if it were to be used as a catalyst to bring Landon to a point where he becomes the big bad, then I could accept it. My only concern would be that they would end the storyline too soon. I loved Dark Josie. She was a fun character to watch! But that arc ended way too soon. I think Dark Landon could be a fun one too, perhaps even more sinister though, but I worry that they won't ride it out for the long term. He's such a "good guy" character that turning him evil would be an intriguing thing to watch. Hell, I could even see it being Raf who comes to the rescue from the prison world and restores his good buddy Landon much like Xander did with Dark Willow. If they do it right, it could work.
There may be hope yet (no pun intended)!
