MISSING: ONE ALL IMPORTANT LOVE TRIANGLE!
HAS NOT BEEN SEEN SINCE 2X10!
THOUSANDS OF FANS AWAIT ITS SAFE RETURN TO THEIR SCREENS, AND DESPERATELY SEEK WRITERS HELP.
REWARD IF FOUND.
"I hate love triangles," one Stelena shipper who responded to my comment on a 2x17 promo via YouTube announced. "DE really annoy me and I prefer Stefan anyway."
I thought it was pretty ironic given that the love triangle hadn't featured in the show for months. "How can DE annoy you when they haven't had any scenes since 2x13?" I typed back.
When Kevin Williamson announced that the Season 2 Premiere was their 'underhanded way of saying that this is the year we have to deal with the relationship between Damon and Elena', I wanted to stand up and cheer. It certainly looked like they were promising to deliver the goods. Although 'The Return' seemed to crush DE shippers everywhere, I felt confident that Season 2 would be great. Not only did the writers drop us in the deep end concerning the love triangle, but it was one of the rare episodes when SE's relationship took a backseat and actually had fewer scenes than Delena.
While I knew that it would take a while for DE to recover, I was quite prepared to wait for it. However, episodes 4 to 7 proved to be quite the waiting game. DE scenes were few and far between, and although it showed how much Damon cared for Elena, nothing much seemed to be happening either. It was like they had reached some kind of stalemate when they weren't really the friends they once were, but they didn't hate each other either. A few DE fans were left scratching their heads, or shifting impatiently in their seats, wondering what was going on. (Their unease wasn't helped by the fact that during this time, the show went off on a 2 week break.)
Then came one character-defining, life-altering moment at the very end of 2x08. The 'I love you Elena' scene changed everything, became one of the most talked about episodes on-line, and practically made up for the fact that we'd had so few DE scenes lately.
So it was a major let-down when 'Katerina' aired. It also seemed a bit strange that Elena never asked Stefan or anyone else how she got her necklace back. Damon only took her memory of his confession away from her. I'm assuming she still remembers Elijah ripping her necklace from her, or at the very least, remembers she wasn't wearing it on the journey home. However, we weren't given much time to ponder this, because 2x10 'The Sacrifice' was DE at their angst-ridden best. It also finally seemed to promise that the love triangle was being given a push in the right direction. Stefan was trapped in the tomb with Katherine, Damon was left promising Stefan he would protect Elena and that he wouldn't let Elena near the tomb. So far so good, we thought. Katherine would try to seduce Stefan and DE would spend their time alone together renewing their friendship. Any episodes when they've been left alone together have usually been great for us; (think 'Bloodlines', 'Miss Mystic Falls', 'Bad Moon Rising'). What happened? Absolutely nothing. It was maddening, pointless, and rather bizarre, to be honest. If the next episode was spent tracking down a werewolf, then why did the writers make such a big deal of the situation the 'Core 3' found themselves in at the end of 2x10? Why did the writers deliberately create a potentially tantalising set-up and then do nothing with it? To get Damon out the way so Elena could make a deal with Elijah? To free Stefan? Well, maybe. But as we all know, Elena is going to do what she wants anyway, regardless of what Damon, Stefan or anyone else thinks. There's no reason why Damon couldn't have been there with her, even if it was for only some of the time. Even if Elena couldn't physically leave the house, it doesn't stop Elijah from coming to find her. You would think that Damon was smart enough to have thought of that. There's no other way to put it: 2x11 was an awful episode for DE. Thinking about it still makes me wince.
The second half of the season was a lot more DE-friendly (think 2x12 and 2x13). And then what happened? SE went to the lakehouse for a romantic break, (I can't imagine most teenagers' parents/family being OK with this.) Jules ambushed the Salvatore mansion with her merry band of werewolves. Damon plotted to kill Elijah. Katherine got out of the tomb and up to her old tricks. There was a fire in The Grill. All these things made for entertaining viewing and were fine in their time and place, but there was something missing. There was no DE (unless you count the scenes in 'The Dinner Party' and 'The House Guest'), and it looked as though any sign which showed that the triangle was alive and kicking had all but crawled into the nearest drain and died. Normally, the writers manage to juggle the action part of the show with the romantic side, so the mysterious absence of any story involving the triangle was uncharacteristic of them.
I think that if you examine Season 2 as a whole, you'll find that the writers haven't been as consistent at building the love triangle as they should have been. Maybe they've been trying to tell too many different things at once, and as a result, the love triangle has been neglected. I think they're probably saving the best til last, but with a few exceptions, Season 2 has NOT been the year which dealt with Damon's feelings for Elena. I mean, the writers have dealt with them up to a point, but then they took the equivalent of 400 mega-steps backwards. While I think this is quite clever in some respects, it also poses a lot of challenges.
It's OK for SE to remain a devoted, solid, completly boring couple, but DE have quite a journey ahead of them. The writers have made no bones about how much Damon loves Elena; they have not, however, shown us what she feels for him in return. Or have they? Is it not strange that they seem to have re-edited scenes/episodes which could give us a hint into what Elena feels for Damon? First, they cut what could have been a significant scene in 'The Descent', of Rose telling Elena that it's OK to love both brothers, and judging from a still of an unaired scene from the same episode, it's likely they have cut a scene of Elena comforting Damon too. One theory I have about this is that they want to make it even more of a shock when we discover how she feels about him later on.
I suspect that there will be a lot of DE in the upcoming episodes. Because the writers have side-lined the triangle so much in favour of more action-based themes, they have a lot of ground they have to gain. They cannot possibly end Season 2 without something dramatic happening to shake the triangle up.
I know a lot of fans don't think we'll get any scenes in the next episode but we should never judge an episode by its promotional pictures. It would be a waste if the writers didn't make the most of Isobel's return to town and use her to stir up trouble among the Core 3 + Katherine. One 'little spoiler' that was tweeted over the weekend and caused immense excitement among DE fans seems to indicate that the love triangle is being revived in upcoming episodes.
Our quest for the missing triangle might just be coming to an end...
HAS NOT BEEN SEEN SINCE 2X10!
THOUSANDS OF FANS AWAIT ITS SAFE RETURN TO THEIR SCREENS, AND DESPERATELY SEEK WRITERS HELP.
REWARD IF FOUND.
"I hate love triangles," one Stelena shipper who responded to my comment on a 2x17 promo via YouTube announced. "DE really annoy me and I prefer Stefan anyway."
I thought it was pretty ironic given that the love triangle hadn't featured in the show for months. "How can DE annoy you when they haven't had any scenes since 2x13?" I typed back.
When Kevin Williamson announced that the Season 2 Premiere was their 'underhanded way of saying that this is the year we have to deal with the relationship between Damon and Elena', I wanted to stand up and cheer. It certainly looked like they were promising to deliver the goods. Although 'The Return' seemed to crush DE shippers everywhere, I felt confident that Season 2 would be great. Not only did the writers drop us in the deep end concerning the love triangle, but it was one of the rare episodes when SE's relationship took a backseat and actually had fewer scenes than Delena.
While I knew that it would take a while for DE to recover, I was quite prepared to wait for it. However, episodes 4 to 7 proved to be quite the waiting game. DE scenes were few and far between, and although it showed how much Damon cared for Elena, nothing much seemed to be happening either. It was like they had reached some kind of stalemate when they weren't really the friends they once were, but they didn't hate each other either. A few DE fans were left scratching their heads, or shifting impatiently in their seats, wondering what was going on. (Their unease wasn't helped by the fact that during this time, the show went off on a 2 week break.)
Then came one character-defining, life-altering moment at the very end of 2x08. The 'I love you Elena' scene changed everything, became one of the most talked about episodes on-line, and practically made up for the fact that we'd had so few DE scenes lately.
So it was a major let-down when 'Katerina' aired. It also seemed a bit strange that Elena never asked Stefan or anyone else how she got her necklace back. Damon only took her memory of his confession away from her. I'm assuming she still remembers Elijah ripping her necklace from her, or at the very least, remembers she wasn't wearing it on the journey home. However, we weren't given much time to ponder this, because 2x10 'The Sacrifice' was DE at their angst-ridden best. It also finally seemed to promise that the love triangle was being given a push in the right direction. Stefan was trapped in the tomb with Katherine, Damon was left promising Stefan he would protect Elena and that he wouldn't let Elena near the tomb. So far so good, we thought. Katherine would try to seduce Stefan and DE would spend their time alone together renewing their friendship. Any episodes when they've been left alone together have usually been great for us; (think 'Bloodlines', 'Miss Mystic Falls', 'Bad Moon Rising'). What happened? Absolutely nothing. It was maddening, pointless, and rather bizarre, to be honest. If the next episode was spent tracking down a werewolf, then why did the writers make such a big deal of the situation the 'Core 3' found themselves in at the end of 2x10? Why did the writers deliberately create a potentially tantalising set-up and then do nothing with it? To get Damon out the way so Elena could make a deal with Elijah? To free Stefan? Well, maybe. But as we all know, Elena is going to do what she wants anyway, regardless of what Damon, Stefan or anyone else thinks. There's no reason why Damon couldn't have been there with her, even if it was for only some of the time. Even if Elena couldn't physically leave the house, it doesn't stop Elijah from coming to find her. You would think that Damon was smart enough to have thought of that. There's no other way to put it: 2x11 was an awful episode for DE. Thinking about it still makes me wince.
The second half of the season was a lot more DE-friendly (think 2x12 and 2x13). And then what happened? SE went to the lakehouse for a romantic break, (I can't imagine most teenagers' parents/family being OK with this.) Jules ambushed the Salvatore mansion with her merry band of werewolves. Damon plotted to kill Elijah. Katherine got out of the tomb and up to her old tricks. There was a fire in The Grill. All these things made for entertaining viewing and were fine in their time and place, but there was something missing. There was no DE (unless you count the scenes in 'The Dinner Party' and 'The House Guest'), and it looked as though any sign which showed that the triangle was alive and kicking had all but crawled into the nearest drain and died. Normally, the writers manage to juggle the action part of the show with the romantic side, so the mysterious absence of any story involving the triangle was uncharacteristic of them.
I think that if you examine Season 2 as a whole, you'll find that the writers haven't been as consistent at building the love triangle as they should have been. Maybe they've been trying to tell too many different things at once, and as a result, the love triangle has been neglected. I think they're probably saving the best til last, but with a few exceptions, Season 2 has NOT been the year which dealt with Damon's feelings for Elena. I mean, the writers have dealt with them up to a point, but then they took the equivalent of 400 mega-steps backwards. While I think this is quite clever in some respects, it also poses a lot of challenges.
It's OK for SE to remain a devoted, solid, completly boring couple, but DE have quite a journey ahead of them. The writers have made no bones about how much Damon loves Elena; they have not, however, shown us what she feels for him in return. Or have they? Is it not strange that they seem to have re-edited scenes/episodes which could give us a hint into what Elena feels for Damon? First, they cut what could have been a significant scene in 'The Descent', of Rose telling Elena that it's OK to love both brothers, and judging from a still of an unaired scene from the same episode, it's likely they have cut a scene of Elena comforting Damon too. One theory I have about this is that they want to make it even more of a shock when we discover how she feels about him later on.
I suspect that there will be a lot of DE in the upcoming episodes. Because the writers have side-lined the triangle so much in favour of more action-based themes, they have a lot of ground they have to gain. They cannot possibly end Season 2 without something dramatic happening to shake the triangle up.
I know a lot of fans don't think we'll get any scenes in the next episode but we should never judge an episode by its promotional pictures. It would be a waste if the writers didn't make the most of Isobel's return to town and use her to stir up trouble among the Core 3 + Katherine. One 'little spoiler' that was tweeted over the weekend and caused immense excitement among DE fans seems to indicate that the love triangle is being revived in upcoming episodes.
Our quest for the missing triangle might just be coming to an end...
Damon
