US Television: Vampire Diaries, Episode 2.3 "Bad Moon Rising"

Vampire Diaries
Season Two, Episode 2.3, Bad Moon Rising
Original Air Date:  September 23, 2010

Damon, Alaric and Elena travel to Duke University to look through Isobel's research.  Stefan consults with Bonnie about making a day-walking ring for Caroline.  Mason Lockwood transforms into a werewolf and Tyler learns the full truth of the Lockwood secret.   Caroline makes a big sacrifice for love.  Katherine is back.

Alaric attends a meeting with Damon, Stefan and Elena about the Lockwoods.  He reveals Isobel had "lycanthrope" in her research and that the information should still be at Duke University.  Damon isn't happy at all with the possibility that there could be werewolves in Mystic Falls.

As Damon, Alaric and Elena are getting ready to leave for Duke, Damon taunts Stefan that he'll take really good care of Elena for him since Stefan is staying behind to care for Caroline.  Elena makes a point of kissing Stefan in front of Damon.  Poor Damon, he just can't catch a break, can he?  He and Elena argue in the car about why she hates him so much. 

Once at Duke, they meet Vanessa Monroe, a research assistant of Comparative Folklore and one of Isobel's former students.  As the three look around Isobel's old office, Vanessa disappears.  She returns a few moments later and shoots Damon in the back with an arrow as he jumps in front of Elena to protect her.  Elena pulls the arrow from his back and he vows to kill Vanessa.  Elena refuses to let him, however, threatening him that she'll never speak to him again if he touches her.

Elena introduces herself and Damon to Vanessa and tells her they want to see all of Isobel's research relating to Mystic Falls.  When the boxes come out, there is one tracking Katherine's arrival in Mystic Falls in 1864.  They also find some old Aztec legends relating to vampires and werewolves.  Vanessa explains how vampires became a slave to the sun and werewolves a slave to the moon.  She goes on to explain that werewolves will attack humans but they have a prey of choice:  vampires.  A werewolf bite is fatal to vampires.  Elena calls Stefan and fills him in on what they've learned at Duke. 

When they are getting ready to leave Duke, Damon extends an olive branch to Elena by giving her a book with "Petrova" written on the spine.  He tells her that Katherine originally came from Europe and her name was Katerina Petrova.  He agrees that she has every right to hate him but she hated him once and they got past that.  He tells her it would suck if what they had before was gone forever.  She refuses to answer him when he asks her if he's lost her forever.

When Tyler follows his uncle Mason on his morning run he ends up at the ruins of the old Lockwood estate.  He questions his mother about it and about the underground cellar.  She tells him there are some things they don't talk about since it is the South and the days of the "Old South" aren't talked about much.

Matt goes to Caroline's home to visit her but she cannot open the door for him because there is a patch of sunlight between her and the door. 

Stefan wants Bonnie to witch up a day-walking ring for Caroline but she isn't sure she can even do the spell.  Added to that, she doesn't want to "make it any easier" for Caroline to kill anyone since she's already killed one.  Stefan insists that the longer Caroline is cut off from the people she loves the harder it will be for her to manage her condition.  Bonnie doesn't know if she can trust Caroline so Stefan asks her to trust him.  Bonnie agrees and they take a ring to Caroline for the spell.

Bonnie explains the rules of the ring to Caroline.  The witch who spells the ring can also de-spell it.  If Caroline hurts anyone, Bonnie will take the spell off the ring.  Bonnie does the spell and it worked.  Caroline now has a ring that allows her to walk around during the day.

Stefan takes Caroline out into the woods to teach her how to hunt animals for survival.  She would much rather prefer being out with Matt than learning how to "eat bunnies".  He chuckles at her reaction then explains how when someone becomes a vampire their natural behaviors get amplified.  Caroline realizes that she's now "basically an insecure, neurotic control freak on crack".  They make a deal:  hunt then go to the swimming hole to see Matt.

Tyler has a bunch of friends together for a party at the swimming hole near the old Lockwood estate and Mason shows up.  Mason orders Tyler to have everyone out of the area by dark to which Tyler reluctantly agrees.  Caroline compels a girl she feels is flirting with Matt to leave, angering Matt and drawing a reprimand from Stefan.  When night falls, the party is still going on at the swimming hole.

Mason heads deep into the underground cellar of the old Lockwood estate and rigs a section of it up with heavy chains and shackles.  He chains himself into them and waits.  Tyler brings Amy, the girl earlier compelled by Caroline, down to the old cellar where Mason is chained.  Hearing them, Mason unchains himself and runs into the woods to secure himself to a tree instead.  As the full moon approaches, his transformation begins. 

Amy ends up leaving Tyler and Stefan comes across Mason's truck which Mason is in having fully transformed.  Stefan goes closer and Mason leaps from the truck, disappearing into the woods.  Matt and Caroline, alone in the woods, hear a growl.  Caroline, ignoring it, pushes Matt against a tree to kiss him where he cuts his arm.  She ends up feeding from his wound then biting his neck.  Luckily, Stefan sweeps in and pulls her from him.  As the growling intensifies, Stefan orders Matt to stay down on the ground and Caroline to run as fast as she can to lead the beast away from Matt. 

Stefan and Caroline run then stop a few seconds later.  When they do, they encounter Tyler.  As Stefan and Tyler are speaking, Mason grabs Caroline, knocking her to the ground.  Stefan pushes the wolf from her and as it is ready to attack, Tyler yells to it.  The wolf stops then runs away. 

Once the danger has passed, Caroline compels Matt to not remember what she did.  Not wanting to hurt him again, Caroline intentionally starts her jealousy with Amy again, knowing Matt will break up with her because he doesn't want to deal with the drama.

Damon admits to Elena that he really didn't know Jeremy was wearing the ring that saved his life.  Elena thanks him for his honesty and tells him that he really has lost her friendship forever.

As usual, Damon had some great lines that brought humor into the show.  The writers really do a brilliant job with making him evil yet incredibly charming and funny.  I was hoping that, at some point, there would be a softening in how Elena feels towards Damon because I can't see him holding onto the little bit of humanity he displayed at the end of season one very long without having her in his life.  I'll adore Damon whether he's all bad or if he's got a glimmer of good in him but I admit I do love the complexity his character has.  Watching him struggle with being a non-feeling vampire and actually caring for Elena is great and Ian Somerhalder does a brilliant job bouncing back and forth between the two extremes.

The whole werewolf thing was well done.  Mason didn't look like some freaky half-man, half-dog once he had transformed.  Instead of going the route of bad makeup and some crazy costume, they simply used a wolf.  I'd much rather see that than something that looks cheesy and hastily thrown together or overdone for shock value.  I confess I've never been a massive werewolf fan but I'm excited to see how the writers will be handling the Lockwood's.  Tyler has a lot to digest right now and it will be interesting to see how things play out with him and Mason.

Poor Caroline.  I really felt for her in this episode.  She loves Matt dearly and I think it took a lot of courage for her to give him up because she couldn't trust herself around him.  I think this is probably the first unselfish thing Caroline has ever done.  She's working hard to control her vampire urges.  Hanging around Stefan is going to be a good thing for her, I think.  Now, let's just hope Katherine doesn't ruin everything he's trying to do!

This season is shaping up beautifully thus far!

For more information:
Official Site:  http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-vampire-diaries
The Internet Movie Database:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/
TV Rage:  http://www.tvrage.com/The_Vampire_Diaries