The Vampire Diaries 6×11 “Woke Up With a Monster” REVIEW

The Kai-ventures Continue in Mystic Falls and the Undying Love of Family

We left Mystic Falls last episode in the most unbearable way. Elena (Nina Dobrev) on her way to see Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and possibly rekindle their love, but she gets Kai-ed just as Damon stands under the mistletoe waiting in the doorway. Luckily, after what seemed like the longest winter hiatus ever, The Vampire Diaries returned this week with its winter premiere titled, “Woke Up With a Monster,” which is exactly what poor Elena discovers. In desperate need of rescue, Elena is trapped with Kai (Chris Wood), who is now supercharged with magic and determined to gain control by using her to practice. While at the Salvatore House, Liv (Penelope Mitchell) helps Jo (Jodi Lyn O’ Keefe) practice her magic in preparation to merge with her brother, Kai. However, once discovering Elena‘s predicament, Liv and Damon set out to help her, but Jo must step in to help when Luke (Chris Brochu) interferes and stops Liv claiming they must return home to their coven. Meanwhile, Liz (Marguerite MacIntyre) returns home from the hospital and Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice Accola) both head to Duke. Looking for a second opinion on her mom’s illness, Caroline conducts a little medical experiment of her own and Stefan drops by to check up on the real Sarah Salvatore (Tristin Mays), but also discovers Enzo (Michael Malarkey) is doing a little research of his own. A lot went down this week on TVD. Its so good to be talking TVD again, so let’s not waste anymore time and start discussing.

Kai-napped and Tortured

Chris Wood does it again this week with his portrayal of Kai in this week’s episode! Just when the audience thinks they’ve seen him at his best or worst depending on how you look at it, Chris dials it up another notch. Even as Kai does the most awful things, he does them with a charm that earns the viewers love more and more each week. As Kai informs Elena of her current situation he captures the audience’s attention in such a way viewers cannot take their eyes off him. He has a flare about him, a gleam in his eyes and a sly smirk on his face while he confesses and practically gloats about killing the manager of the Mystic Grill while practicing control of his newly acquired super-charged magic. He eats and continues to ramble as if nothing has happened, maintaining a charming yet unbalanced demeanor that reinforces to the audience how unpredictable and slightly unhinged he really is. Then his choice to reveal the manager’s charred body laying in the middle of the table as he eats unaffected shows the audience that Kai really is void of any real emotion or sense of human life.

“You don’t have to waste your time trying to change me. If Ricki Lake taught me anything, it’s that liking yourself is the most important thing and I like me.” – Kai.

Viewers can see the joy Kai gets out of torturing Elena as he tries to gain control of his super-charged magic by practicing on her. His twisted mentality is really conveyed as he melts Elena’s daylight ring, attempts to turn her blood into acid and torture her. He taunts her and even quasi-hits on her in the process with an expression of pure amusement and satisfaction. And when Elena attempts to find some, any semblance of an emotion, his reaction is to mock her and joke about Ricki Lake. He digs the knife in a little deeper when he acts as if he cares when gently caressing the ‘K’ off her cheek he just carved with his magic. Again this week Chris does such a fantastic job as Kai, a power hungry, family murdering, will stop at nothing to get what he wants, sociopath viewers can’t help but love or love to hate.

Welcome Back Warrior Princess

Most of this season viewers have seen an Elena, who is mourning and overcome with sadness from loss of her boyfriend and best friend or a compelled and confused Elena, who is unsure of her real feelings. In this week’s episode the audience gets a glimpse of the strong and powerful heroine who knows what she wants and fights back. While, she does call Damon and of course he comes to her rescue, she doesn’t wait around to be rescued, playing the damsel in distress. Kidnapped by a sociopath, who has gained access to a shit ton of magic, Elena fights back. The audience sees her inner strength when Kai is practicing control of his magic and attempting to melt her daylight ring. Elena finds the courage to fight back and uses her vamp-strength to break the chains holding her captive. Viewers really see her in full ‘Warrior Princess’ mode in the science lab with Kai. Knowing her hand will catch on fire, she puts her hand into the sunlight and then uses the gas burner to light Kai on fire and buy herself some more time until her friends come to save her and subdue Kai.

Elena not only fights back again this week, she jokes about being kidnapped. She pretends there is still had a piece of wood stuck in her heart and shows viewers she can make light of a possibly tragic situation, but laugh about the experiences she has gone through. And the audience sees a new side Elena this week when she takes the initiative and asks Damon out to dinner. She has a new found confidence about her that is a pleasant change from the Elena who wavered back and forth on what she wanted, but instead goes after it.

A Mother and Daughter’s Undying Love

It is extremely sad to think that after six and half seasons Mystic Falls’ fearless, badass, Sheriff Forbes might be taken out by cancer. While the relationship between Caroline and her mother might not have started out in the best place, it certainly has evolved over the years. The Caroline viewers met in season one was a bratty, self-centered, teenager, who would act out for attention from her mom. She not only has come to appreciate and respect her mother and her position in the community, but has also learned to trust and look to her for support. While Liz, a single, working mom, who is over-committed to the job and a reformed member of the Founder’s Council, not only now accepts her daughter as a vampire, but also embraces the supernatural community.

“Look, I am immortal and you’re not. I always knew one day I would lose you, but I am not ready to lose you now. You’re supposed to be here for my college graduation. We’re supposed to argue about flower arrangements for my wedding. We’re supposed to have those years and years worth of birthday dinners and Christmases and whitewater rafting trips. I want all of it.” – Caroline.

Both Candice and Marguerite do an exceptional job this week illustrating the mother and daughter bond between Caroline and Liz for the audience. The pain of receiving a stage four cancer diagnosis is too commonly relatable. The audience sees the feeling of helplessness Caroline is experiencing as she scrambles around her mom’s hospital room to do something anything to make it a little bit better. While Liz puts on a brave face from her hospital bed as she assures her daughter she’s okay, but viewers can see the pain she is hiding; her eyes saddened and half-hearted smile. After Caroline returns from Duke and she’s sharing the results of her trip with her mom is heartbreaking. With an expression that conveys her fear of losing her mother, Caroline pleas for her to try vampire blood. She has a sad, pleading tone to her voice that shows the desperation and need to have her mother live. And Liz’s face as she hears her daughter’s plea says it all. She has a sadness in her eyes and viewers sense how much it pains her to see her daughter so heartbroken and not able to fix it. Even when she does agree to drink Caroline’s blood, her face tells viewers she doesn’t think its the best idea, but is doing so in hopes it might work. Candice and Marguerite are fantastic this week and do a wonderful job telling the story of a parent diagnosed with cancer.

FINAL VERDICT:

The winter premiere of The Vampire Diaries, “Woke Up With a Monster,” was a delicious blend of danger, suspense, love, family and heartbreak  reminiscent of earlier episodes in the series. Whether it be the suspense of the sociopath Kai kidnapping and torturing Elena, the heartbreaking story of a mother and daughter faced with an unexpected stage four cancer diagnosis or Luke standing up to his coven and father’s outlandish traditions to protect his sister, Melinda Hsu Taylor penned an episode that truly had a little something for everyone. It is a welcome change of pace for viewers to see an Elena, who fights back again. She stands up to her captor, challenging Kai by putting up a fight by breaking out of the chains and then setting him on fire. Chris Wood is a delight portraying Kai as deliciously evil yet charming at the same time that the audience can’t help but love him. Coupled with director, Paul Wesley’s focus on Kai’s facial expressions at just the right moments of Kai’s dialogue adds to the audience’s experience and perception of the scene. Wesley’s focus of the glowing fire in the background of the scene at the Mystic Grille when Elena wakes up to realize she’s been kidnapped really illuminates the unbalanced mentality of Kai’s character and the twisted-ness of the scene.

Throughout the episode, Wesley does a great job using just the right camera angles to capture the emotion of each scene. Viewers see the love between Tyler (Michael Trevino) and Liv as he confronts her about the decision to give up to her coven’s unconventional traditions. Choosing to have the camera zooms in on Tyler’s hand as he grabs hers to keep her from walking away emphasizes his care and concern Liv. Focusing on both of their loving expressions and longing eyes while zooming in as their foreheads slowly come together and are just about to share a kiss adds to the scene’s emotion. Viewers can feel the love and bond of family by the focus on Luke’s facial expression, holding back tears in his eyes and the caring tone in his voice when he comes to assure Liv he is on her side.

“Not if my destiny equals killing my sister. I told you I could think for myself.” – Luke.

The living room scene with Caroline and Liz is done beautifully from all aspects. Not only were Candice and Marguerite were both great in this scene, the dialogue was heartfelt and all too relatable to the audience. Wesley alternates close up shots of both Caroline and Liz’s heartbroken and sullen facial expressions to illustrate the pain and emphasize the raw emotion of each a mother and daughter experience being in such an awful situation. While panning out to show the entire room allows viewers to see the loving body language between the two especially as Caroline leans in to make her case on why their only answer is vampire blood. The dim lighting with “Don’t Go Now” by Phillip Selway playing in the background chosen by music supervisor, Chris Mollere, completes the scene and adds to the somber tone. Much like most songs featured on TVD, the lyrics fit the situation perfectly and tug at our heart strings even more. The entire episode is filled with a blend of scene appropriate songs to add that little extra to the audience’s viewing experience. While, it is definitely nice having the gang together and back on our TV screens. It may seem to Caroline that she has found the answer to save her mother from dying, or that Kai is going to remain subdued so Jo can get stronger to beat him in a merge or that Damon and Elena will be able to go on a normal date, it is never as it seems in Mystic Falls and surely there will be lots to discuss next week.

Comments, Questions, Concerns:

• While Michael Malarkey is a delight as Enzo, can we please give him a purpose besides annoying Stefan?
• It is going to be interesting to learn why Stefan is protecting Sarah Salvatore and what her presence brings.
• Tyler and Liv are adorable, that is all.
• Luke became slightly less irritating this week choosing to stand up to his coven.
• Caroline’s porch as become the new Gilbert porch for romantic potential.
• How cute is it that Damon spent the night at Liz’s hospital room?
• Spoiler alert (in case you live under a rock): Shirtless Steven R. McQueen is definitely going to be missed when Jeremy leaves for art school.
• Nice to have the Dalaric bromance back on track and what better way then a successful rescue mission celebrated by a bourbon toast.

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES 6×12 airs THURSDAY, JAN. 29 at 8|9c on the CW