Even though I know, intellectually, that “The Turning Point” refers to the characters being pushed to an abstract sticking point where they must choose whether to reaffirm to the past or commit to a future, my brain never actually remembers that. Whenever I hear “The Turning Point” my brain always remembers the car accident scene, like Elena missed a wrong turn in the road and that’s why she crashed and it’s named for that (this is an episode I love, but that sequence has always stayed especially vivid in my mind). But of course, my brain is wrong. Elena didn’t hit a turn badly, she crashed because some man in black was in the road with the intention of causing an accident. And yet my brain remembers the title the way that it wants to (as seen in the picture I’ve chosen above); so much plot happens in this episode and yet to me, the most vivid part of all is Elena crashed inside her car, surrounded by shards of glass, suspended in mid-air upside down….and then an unfairly long hiatus.
This was the first episode of The Vampire Diaries to air before a very long break. Two whole freaking months, in fact. I don’t know if the writers were told ahead of time that the show’s scheduling break would come at this point, or if it was a happy coincidence, but it paid off big time. For two months we had to worry about Elena in the car. It’s very infrequent for these episodes to end on cliffhangers (life-or-death cliffhangers anyway), and they did here, and we had to anxiously wait. Not that I think anyone who has ever seen a television show before was actually uncertain whether the main character of the show would live past the tenth episode, but there was still a chance she could get hurt and, much more importantly, we worried about what would hurt her. Because what the frick was that thing?!
It withstood being hit by her very solid…truck? (I’m crap with car models). In just a few seconds, it got to its feet and, in perhaps the creepiest sound effects I’ve ever heard, you hear the creaking as all of its bones snap back into place. And then it’s back to full power, speedily, confidently stalking toward her pinned-in form. [I’m just going to start calling it ‘he’ since it looks like a dude and there really aren’t any female candidates.]
And anyway…this stalled-breath anxiety I felt…this anticipation, this mystery, it confirmed and still confirms for me just how much this show pulls off. Because there are so many people this guy could be.
THE CANDIDATES:
- Mayor Lockwood. We get the feeling he’s something supernatural (all clues point to werewolf). The current full moon was set up early on. We know he’s pissed off. We know he’s ready to fight.
- Tyler Lockwood. Same reasons as his dead. He was acting like he was on the brink of some kind of angsty change. Maybe it’s his werewolf puberty night?
- The vampires Logan referred to. Logan said there were other vamps in town who wanted in the tomb. We don’t know if he’s telling the truth, but he could be (and really, how else would he have gotten vampire blood?). This could be one of those vamps, maybe another admirer of Katherine’s who saw Elena’s face and wondered.
- Alaric. Very possible. All clues from the last episode scream vampire (his ring, his being overtly held back by lack of an invitation). He clearly knows much more about the town and about vampires than he’s letting on. He has an agenda no one knows. And we just saw him kill Logan. So did he kill Logan for the straightforward reason of being a nice guy who’s protecting Jenna? Or the alternative…could he be one of the unknown vamps Logan was referring to, and he took Logan out before Logan could spill his secret to Damon?
- Damon. We saw in the pilot that standing in the road and waiting to be hit is Damon’s classic move. We last saw him at loose ends because for the second time in as many episodes he lost his last chance, forever, of rescuing Katherine from the tomb. Could he want Elena to eat or play with or kill in consolation?
- Stefan. Less likely…but still possible. He’s the only one who knows that Elena’s on that road. He has a motivation to get to her to try to explain everything. The writers could be playing a fast one on us by making us think she’s in danger but really, it’s Stefan with very misguided intervention.
- Somebody else we don’t know. Because it’s freaking Mystic Falls, and it could be anyone.
So there are seven reasonable candidates, and the show built all of them up without seeming like it was building any of them up. So kudos Show on a job well done. And after hooking me for that first hiatus I was hooked over all and haven’t looked back, accustomed as I am to being hooked. Continue Reading