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The Vampire Diaries Review: “Pictures Of You” (Season 4, Episode 19)

There's something both appropriate and ominous about an episode of The Vampire Diaries that starts off in a cemetery. Given that season 4 has accumulated the highest body count of any season thus far, the Mystic Falls cemetery must be seeing a huge boom in business. Although many of this season's victims will never make it to a marked grave, there have been plenty of human casualties as well. And, the fact that the prom episode started off in this grim location doesn't bode well for the events that follow.

The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries

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There’s something both appropriate and ominous about an episode of The Vampire Diaries that starts off in a cemetery. Given that season 4 has accumulated the highest body count of any season thus far, the Mystic Falls cemetery must be seeing a huge boom in business. Although many of this season’s victims will never make it to a marked grave, there have been plenty of human casualties as well. And, the fact that the prom episode started off in this grim location doesn’t bode well for the events that follow.

The season started off with a mass murder of 12 council members, and with two additional sets of murders, has at least tripled. And, that number doesn’t account for any of the casualties of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or recurring characters that have been put to rest e.g. Mayor Lockwood. Needless to say, this season has been a blood bath in a lot of ways.

Unfortunately for Bonnie (Kat Graham), she has been forced to relive losing Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) for a second time. She also may be the only person still attempting to mourn him. Everyone else has been so focused on dealing with Elena (Nina Dobrev) since Damon (Ian Somerhalder) convinced her to flip off her humanity switch, that Jeremy has become just another name on the endless list of victims. This isn’t to say that his death hasn’t effected other characters on the show – Matt (Zach Roerig) especially – but they are far more concerned with containing the threat that is Elena.

Elena took her angst to a new level in this episode of The Vampire Diaries, and coated it in a thick layer of sheer pettiness. Since The CW had already released stills of Elena in her prom dress and showcased it prominently in the promos for this episode, when the scene of Caroline (Candice Accola) wearing the same dress hit the screen, it wasn’t hard to make the leap. My first theory, however,  was not that Elena was going to steal the dress, but that we were about to relive a crucial piece of TV history.

Many years before The Vampire Diaries was even a thought in L.J. Smith’s pretty little head, there was an episode of 90210 in which both Kelly (Jennie Garth) and Brenda (Shannon Doherty) wore the same dress to winter formal. If you were around for the original 90210 you will remember that this was the catalyst that resulted in the first time ‘bitch’ was used on network television. A moment that if you saw it, you probably weren’t likely to forget.

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