Posted by Lucia Heroine TV | December 22, 2011, 12:00 (EST) | 29 Comments
Category: TV Series

If you’re anything like us, you live for the frenzy of Vampire Diaries recaps that emerges every Thursday night/Friday after the show airs. We decided it would be fun to ask some of our favorite Vampire Diaries recappers to share their top three moments of Season 3 so far – oh, and we were right! It is fun.

We’re nearing the end of our Top 3 Moments series, but that’s good news because it means the return of new episodes is just around the corner! To help get us over the final hump, Lucia of Heroine TV has a lot of fun enthusing over the under-appreciated awesome of Matt, Caroline, and Alaric. (And she’s on to you, Carol Lockwood!) You can check out her Vampire Diaries recaps at Heroine TV.

Check out previous Top 3 Moments: Thomas C. Galvin, Dianne Sylvan, Erin Frazee, Jessica Rae, the ThinkHero team, Emma Fraser, and Tina & Kara of TV Goodness.

And don’t forget to vote in the Mid-Season Finale Poll: Your 3 Favorite Episodes of Season 3 (So Far)?

What are my three favorite moments of The Vampire Diaries this season? I invite you on a quick journey through my decision making process. It went something like this: “Um, does the continued existence of Caroline, Katherine, and Alaaaaaric count? BOOM! Done. Buuuut I bet they’re looking for something more specific … as in actual moments. Hair! All the hair! (No, not Damon’s hair. Down with mullets!) More hair! Pink shirt! Hmmm … I suspect that possibly none of these things actually count as moments. Keep trying, Lucia. Everything Caroline ever does EVER! Too vague? But that list would be too long. Caroline Forbes Fan Club 4eva! How about Alaric translating stuff? Alaric joining the Council! Alaric training Elena! Katherine in a flapper dress! With a cute bob! Wolfsbane grenades! KA-BOOM. Ha, this was all Katherine’s plan. Of course it was! Alphabet Plan, Part Deux. Good, good. I’m getting somewhere. But maybe I should branch out? Who else is on this show? Rebekah! Rebekah’s tears! Oh, and Matt! Killing himself! Then giving up his sister! This show. Sigh. And Pearl and Anna’s hug! All the tears. Klaus just wants a friend! Sassy Stefan! A beer for every bromance! How can I possibly choose? I give up.” You can see why this might be a problem. I just have a lot of favorites, okay. Is that so wrong?

After a lot of careful thought, however, I have done the impossible and narrowed it down. And I only sort of cheated. Just a tiny bit. Okay, just a medium-sized bit. Okay, a lot. That entire first paragraph was cheating. You figured it out. Fine! But still, I did pick three in the end, so I think there should at least be a statue erected in my honor in the Mystic Falls Town Square. Or perhaps on a small muddy planet where people might sing songs in my honor? Whatever you prefer, people. I’m not picky. So, without further ado, here is my list of favorite moments (that are second best to Katherine’s hair, obviously):

Matt’s Sacrifice (EP305 – The Reckoning)

If you are practically an orphan, and you kill yourself in order to see your dead sister again, and also in order to save people’s lives from a scary Hybrid, and then get brought back to life due to a witch’s lifeguard training …. well, then you really deserve a place on my list. I hope that no one will be offended that I’m somehow implying (okay, more than implying) that a television character killing himself is one of my favorite things. I mean … that looks really bad in black and white. Let me explain.

First, I will set the scene. In The Reckoning, Klaus is on the Mystic Falls High campus, and he has a clock running on Tyler and Elena’s lives. Things are bad. When Matt finds out that his ex-girlfriend and his estranged best friend are in trouble, he does not hesitate to help. He doesn’t have any supernatural powers, and his job skills include serving food to vamps, werewolves, and teenagers who don’t tip well … and yet! And yet he figures out an actual plan to help. With Jeremy MIA, Matt realizes that it’s up to him to communicate with the Other Side. He explains to Bonnie, “Jeremy can see ghosts because you brought him back from the dead. I need you to do that for me.” Bonnie tries to tell him that he’s crazy, but Matt insists that she doesn’t even need magic for this one. She just needs to be a good lifeguard. And with that, he chains some weights to his body and jumps into the pool, determined to drown.

Now, I don’t know if this is a result of what this show has done to me, but I actually thought that Matt’s plan was a pretty solid one when I watched this episode–at least as far as plans go in the Mystic Falls universe. I mean, he did notify a certified lifeguard first. It’s not like he was being reckless! So … Matt drowns. And it was beautiful, dramatic, sad, and extremely stressful. It felt more like an eternity than a moment, as we were waiting for Bonnie to jump in and save him. But she did. And he lived. And Matt got to see Vicki again, and get the message that was necessary to save Tyler’s life.

What I loved about this moment of Matt’s sacrifice was the emotional depth and complexity. This was certainly not the suicide attempt of a depressed person (if it were, I probably wouldn’t have put it on a “favorite” list due to all the blinding tears), but there was an element of real tragedy in the desperation that led to Matt’s action, and the joy at finally connecting with his dead sister on the Other Side. Such a bittersweet reunion. On the other hand, this had the trappings of a real heroic act—Matt sacrificing himself to save another. So, it just worked on these multiple levels of pathetic, tragic, selfless, and brave. And it made me cry. I’m not made of stone. Even more tragical? This would not be the last horrific sacrifice that Matt would have to make in order to save a life, as in a future episode he was forced to say goodbye to Vicki forever. And Matt does not exactly have family members to spare. Way to suffer for the greater good, Matt Donovan.
 

Caroline To The rescue! (EP304 – Disturbing Behavior)

It is no secret that Caroline Forbes is the sun, the moon, and the stars for me. So, picking a favorite moment from her this season was hard. As the sole member of the Mystic Falls Honesty Police, she has my eternal devotion. Also, our Caroline’s control freak ways make her the best vampire ever. She should give lessons in Vampire 101: How Not to Suck, Literally and Figuratively. But possibly the biggest “Hell yeah!” moment this season was when she saved her father and beat up Damon. Go, Caroline! Go go go!

I’m no fan of Bill Forbes. I mean, I wouldn’t exactly mind seeing him torn apart by wolves. But that would make Caroline sad, and no one wants that. Besides, Damon can’t just go killing Caroline’s dad without her permission. How rude! When Damon seemed poised to kill Papa Forbes, Caroline sped in to rescue him, even though her parental unit very recently TORTURED her in a basement. That’s just the kind of daughter that Caroline is. He is her father after all. If only she were born to parents who better appreciated her perfection. Sigh. Anyway, when she then offered her injured dad her vamp blood to heal him, he refused. But Caroline further proved her awesomeness by rolling her eyes and asserting, “Grow up!” She is the most mature person on this show, after all (which is possibly a scary thought).

Of course, Damon was on a self-destructive kick that week, so he was spoiling for a fight and he refused to back down when Caroline told him to leave. He asked, “Or what?” and then Caroline answered his question very clearly by punching him. That’s what you get for asking a stupid question, Damon. Go, Caroline! But then, Damon threw her back and seemed to get the best of her. “I’m stronger than you, little girl,” he crowed. Caroline: “Well, I’m angrier!” And with that, she awesomely head butted him and sped off with her dad. Caroline head butting Damon for the win! Now don’t you think that the gal who can get the better of Damon in a scuffle deserves to be invited to fights? And be part of all the doomed-to-fail plans? Plus, if there’s one thing Caroline Forbes knows how to do, it’s plan things. Hint, hint.
 

Alaric Joining The Council (EP304 – Disturbing Behavior)

Oh, Alaaaaric. Our “boy scout slash vampire slayer slash whiskey drinking all around lost cause” has been having quite the season. After floundering in a drunken stupor all summer, he finally had to face reality. He got his ring back, moved into the Gilbert home in a non-couch capacity, and started telling Damon to “take a beat.” That’s right, Alaric started taking a closer look at his best vamp pal’s actions, and more importantly, finally got angry. Yeah, it took Damon killing him (AGAIN) to make Mr. Saltzman get good and mad, but he did it. Happily, he decided to something constructive with his anger. For most people, getting temporarily murdered by one’s bestie (for the second time) might inspire revenge, but for Alaric, it was just the reality check that he needed, leading to the best scene ever.

What did our scruffy alcoholic history teacher do after his latest resurrection? He plopped himself down on Carol Lockwood’s couch and proceeded to tell her and Sheriff Forbes HOW THINGS ARE. Excuse me. I just need to compose myself for a minute. Breathe iiiiiiiiin, breathe ouuuuuut. Okay, okay. So, Alaric-in-Charge wants a seat on the Council, and then Carol is all like, “That’s not the way it works, Mr. Saltzman.” And I’m all like, “Put down your tea cup, Carol, and realize that the way it works is NOT working. Down with the Founders! Up with the people! And Carol, we know what it is really in that tea cup. You are fooling no one.” But then Alaric says it better, schooling Liz and Carol: “Oh, really? Then tell me how it does. The Council’s job is to protect the families of this town. Now, your daughter’s a vampire and your son’s a werewolf. So who’s looking out for the actual people? Some of them may be family or friends, but they are still supernatural. They don’t follow our rules or our laws. They look after themselves. And that’s what we need to do. I’ll see you at the next meeting.” Yeah, he did say, “I’ll see you at the next meeting,” and then just casually stroll out of the room. BAM! Yes, that really happened.

Now, perhaps the significance of this scene is somewhat undercut by the fact that we have yet to see any follow-through on this. When was the next meeting? Were there snacks? Did Alaric hand out Wolfsbane grenades as an icebreaker? Or perhaps a retractable-stake gift bag? But this moment is still a sign of good things to come. For one thing, someone finally cared about the cannon fodder on this show. People are people too! Also, it heralded a new age in which Alaric is serving as Elena’s vampire slaying coach, and giving delightful pep talks about how strong a person she is. You guys, our scruffy alcoholic history teacher is threatening to actually become a good pseudo-father figure. Plus, he’s kind of a feminist. I know, right?! I quote: “I think you can do pretty much anything.” Oh, Alaaaaaric. It’s nice to have a “boy scout slash vampire slayer slash whiskey drinking all around lost cause” in Team Human’s corner.
 
 
Lucia is a Ph.D. Candidate in History, living in southern California. When she’s not reading about imperial women in ancient Rome, she’s probably watching television. Or writing about television on her blog, Heroine TV, where she recaps The Vampire Diaries. She regularly takes part in the The Televixen’s TVD Podcast, and also hosts a Heroine TV podcast covering various TV and pop culture topics. You can follow her on Twitter, where she is currently engulfed in a Buffy rewatch. But be careful, it’s contagious.
 
 
Thanks to Vampire Diaries Web for the HQ screen captures!

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