The Vampire Diaries Review: “The Rager” (Season 4, Episode 3)

A sheriff stationed outside the hospital room of your average teenage patient might think they're in for an easy shift, but not on The Vampire Diaries. Especially, if that patient is a vampire/hybrid in Mystic Falls who's just been publicly shot at by the latest vampire hunter to stroll into town. Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino) puts on an altogether unimpressive show at protecting himself from the unwanted visitor. For being the ultimate combination of supernatural prowess, he sure doesn't appear all that threatening.

Vampire Diaries

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“You keep alcohol in your underwear drawer?”

A sheriff stationed outside the hospital room of your average teenage patient  might think they’re in for an easy shift, but not on The Vampire Diaries. Especially, if that patient is a vampire/hybrid in Mystic Falls who’s just been publicly shot at by the latest vampire hunter to stroll into town.

Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino) puts on an altogether unimpressive show at protecting himself from the unwanted visitor who leaves with a vile full of werewolf venom – taken by force. For being the ultimate combination of supernatural prowess, Tyler sure doesn’t appear all that threatening.

Good thing Klaus (Joseph Morgan) is back in town. The doting hybrid creator has managed to leave Mystic Falls in his rear view mirror for all of a day or two before returning to head a protection detail. He calls in reinforcements to put Tyler on house arrest in order to protect him from his own poor judgement.

Luckily, he’s not the only one exhibiting bad choices. Rebekah (Claire Holt) has not been derailed from her plan to be utterly annoying. After her attempt to run Matt (Zach Roerig) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) off the road went terribly wrong, and Klaus has officially thrown her to the wolves (almost literally), she still manages to make it to first period. Even though I can’t imagine why she would want to torture herself with the likes of high school drama, she can’t get enough of it.

In order to earn some brownie points with her classmates, she decides to throw an epic party at her new pad complete with loads of free beer – spiked with werewolf venom. Obviously spiteful Original isn’t exactly the warm and fuzzy hostess type. Rebekah alienates the only vampires in attendance the same way she alienates everyone she meets. The werewolf venom might not have been able to do much more than give her a wicked hangover, but knowing that she didn’t get to enjoy her own party was so worth it.

Unfortunately, Rebekah wasn’t the only one drinking the punch. Elena may have gotten to ride into the sunset with Stefan (Paul Wesley), but she doesn’t get to end the night with a bang either.  Another good reason to have Klaus back in town – walking antidote.

Although the mystery behind the new hunter is still unfolding it’s now taken a turn for the intense. Connor (Todd Williams) is rocking a very intricate, and invisible, tattoo on his right arm that only Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) has been lucky enough to see. Alaric (Matt Davis) didn’t have one of these nifty markers, so best guess is that this means he’s supernaturally backed in some way. This is starting to look a little like an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, if a watcher shows up in Mystic Falls, I won’t be too surprised at this point.

Apparently Jeremy can only see the tattoo because he’s meant to be a vampire hunter. I always pictured him more of like Alaric, a lone ranger, than an errand boy like Connor – but it might be too soon to tell. When Jeremy used this sudden interest in him to his advantage and lures Connor to the hospital under the impression that he’s there to deal with Dr. Meredith Fell (Torrey DeVitto). Instead of Meredith, he finds himself face to face with Damon (Ian Somerhalder) “the germaphobe,” and Klaus who take a page out of the hunter’s own book and have rigged explosives for the occasion.

Before Damon can have his hunter barbeque, Klaus is intrigued by the invisible tattoo and the carving in Connor’s stake – enough so to save him from Damon’s rage. Damon might think that he’s tied up this loose end, but Klaus is running more than one protection detail now. Who are “the Five” that Klaus mentioned? And, more importantly, why does he now need the hunter alive – and how does Elena fit into this new scenario?

Continue reading on the next page…


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Author
Lindsay Sperling
Lindsay Sperling has A.D.D. and her tastes reflect it. Her movie collection boasts everything from Casablanca to John Tucker Must Die to every season of Sons of Anarchy to-date. She adamantly supported a Veronica Mars Movie (yes, she did make a donation to see it happen..and also possibly for the t-shirt), hopes that the Fast & Furious franchise continues far into the future, and has read every popular YA book series turned film in recent years (except Harry Potter..). When she's not on an indie film set or educating the youth of America, she uses her time arguably productive as a freelance writer.