Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • All The Rage: Hamster Rage

      Shawn Hill
      January 28, 2007
      All the Rage
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • Leading Questions: Superheroes Ain't Violent, Superheroes Can't Fight

      Shawn Hill
      February 4, 2016
      Big Two, Columns, Leading Question, Marvel Comics
    Recent
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • Collecting Profile: Jack O’ Lantern

      nguyen ly
      October 31, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • 4.3

      Review: Turok #1 is a Welcoming First Issue

      Shawn Hill
      January 10, 2019
      Dynamite, Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 3.0

      Review: Harker: The Book of Solomon

      Shawn Hill
      September 19, 2012
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Tim Seeley: Hacking and Slashing through the World of Comics

      Shawn Hill
      September 30, 2009
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Classic Interview: Nick Cardy Pt. I - "'Honey, there’s a girl that poses for Picasso'"

      Shawn Hill
      May 20, 2016
      Classic Interviews
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Edinburgh International Book Festival Part Four

      Shawn Hill
      August 26, 2013
      News
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • You Gotta Read This: 'Her Eternal Moonlight Sailor Moon's Female Fans In North America'

      Shawn Hill
      October 5, 2016
      Books
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  • Collecting Profile: Transformers
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Reviews

The Vampire Diaries 3.19 “Heart of Darkness”

Shawn Hill
April 25, 2012
Reviews
The Vampire Diaries 3.19 "Heart of Darkness"
4.0Overall Score
Reader Rating: (0 Votes)

Elena and Damon travel to Denver to check in on Jeremy and to see if his special abilities can help them track down the information they need about the ancient vampire bloodlines. When they arrive, they quickly realize that Jeremy has been hanging around a bad crowd. Meanwhile, Stefan and Klaus both go to extreme measures as they try to find the missing weapon. Caroline is ecstatic when Tyler returns to Mystic Falls, but he quickly starts to suspect that something has been going on between Caroline and Klaus. Matt stays busy trying to keep Rebecca focused on organizing the school’s upcoming 1920s Decade Dance.

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday nights at 8:00 on the CW.

Is there any point in comparing this fun episode to Joseph Conrad’s canonical novella? More than you might think, maybe, in the sense that classic story was in part about the evils of European colonialism (on the big scale) and the similar potential for evil in men’s souls (on the personal level). And this season, with all the Originals and their near mythological, divine powers and whims, has been about the first vampire family rising and falling on their own sense of power, entitlement, privilege, forgiveness, generosity and love, leaving many innocents in their wake. And they did it as early Viking colonists to our native shores, where Mystic Falls, Virginia has always seemed much more like an original colony than a true exemplar of the modern world.

So far we’ve got maniacal control freak Klaus, the misfit outsider turned fascist; casually cruel Koll; brooding suicidal Finn; elegant and organized Elijah; and needy, vindictive Rebekah. Not to mention Archetypal Earth Mother (and vagina dentata) Esther, and Worst All-Father of All Mikael, both happily shuffled off this mortal coil along with Finn at this point. Would that the one-note Koll would join them.

Not that you can keep a perennial witch like Esther down, as she pops in to see her daughter one last time before dying (finally?) in Rebekah’s arms. But not before she insists that 1000 years is too long for anyone to live, to which Rebekah quite reasonably counters that she’s never had a chance to live at all. Yeah, it’s all Oedipus and Elektra up in here, even moreso when sneaky Ghost Esther literally possesses her daughter in order to screw with Klaus’ peskily persistent survival instinct. Tricky, those uber-witches.

There’s also a quest in this story, in the form a road trip (which starts on a plane but ends up in a rental car, both means of traversing our country from one coast to another taking about equal time, apparently). Elena and Damon decide to go get Jeremy, to save him from Koll, revealed in sadly yet another attempt by Jeremy to have a bromance that turns out to be all about ulterior motives. Stick with Tyler, Jer, he’s probably free of Klaus’ influence now, mostly. Or Matt, he’s really not as boring as everyone says, I swear!

The air-miles (we never actually see a plane) slash SUV-trip is all about getting Damon and Elena alone together, where she proves pretty hot for his moves, which he isn’t even making, so she’s doubly into him after all. In fact, far from trying to seduce her, he promises to try and not piss her off on purpose, a pretty big offer from our bitchiest of Southern dandy vamps (Stefan’s the strong, silent type by contrast).

Also, everyone’s trying to get Alaric’s serial killer alter-ego to come out and play, including Alaric, which means Stefan has to torture him nearly to death … and praise goes to Matt Davis, who makes the switch to psycho-vamp-hater as palpable as a sudden chill sucking all the air out of the room. He taunts poised, calm Stefan (as has been happening a lot lately), but Stefan is back to taking things in stride.

Wouldn’t the brutal beatdown would have been so much easier if Stefan had just tried to drink him to death? And a lot sexier than just beating on him with vampire strength, which, given how strong that is, should have shattered every bone in his body, come on show! Since we know every man on the show who isn’t her relative has the hots for Elena (unless Caroline has one of her good days), we’re not going to worry over a little homo-social subtext, are we? I thought you were better than that!

Speaking of Caroline, she and Tyler get freaky in their favorite underground dungeon, but then he really doesn’t appreciate the Klaus illustration of Caroline and her horsey. Just calm down, art lover, it’s actually pretty decent. More on that next week, but this week the last remaining White Oak Stake is found, only the “vamp” who does so is all too willing to cooperate with Alaric the Ripper. Oh, and I totally left out Jeremy’s useful seeing dead people power (hi Rose!), but really, they packed so much into this episode it’s definitely worth a re-watch or two and the frenetic pace bodes very well for the remaining three episodes to come!


Shawn Hill knows two things: comics and art history. Find his art at http://cornekopia.net.

 

Shawn HillThe Vampire Diaries

Share On:
Tweet
Wonder Woman #8
ADVANCE REVIEW: Conan Phoenix on the Sword #4 (of 4)

About The Author

Shawn Hill
Shawn Hill

Shawn loves Star Wars and Star Trek. But not Dr. Who, just Torchwood. Love is illogical!

Related Posts

  • Fantastic Four (Fant4stic?) (2015) Review Round-up

    Dave Hearn, Eric Muller, Jamil Scalese, Shawn Hill
    August 12, 2015
  • 4.0

    What We Said Then: Sunday Slugfest – Infinite Crisis #1

    Keith Dallas
    April 5, 2015

Latest Reviews

  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

    Daniel Gehen
    December 14, 2020
  • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

    Daniel Gehen
    December 3, 2020
  • 4.5

    TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

    Daniel Gehen
    October 29, 2020
  • 4.5

    Micro Review: Commanders in Crisis #1

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    October 12, 2020
  • 3.0

    Review: GHOST WRITER Fights the Spectre of Unevenness

    Daniel Gehen
    September 3, 2020
  • 3.5

    Review: Strange Skies Over East Berlin

    Yavi Mohan
    August 11, 2020
  • DRAWING BLOOD: A Hyper-Stylized, Fictional Autobiography

    Ben Bishop, Brittany Peer, David Avallone, Drawing Blood, Kevin Eastman, Tomi Varga
    August 9, 2020
  • 3.0

    Alien: The Original Script #1 – This One’s For The Fans

    Jason Jeffords Jr.
    August 7, 2020
  • Singles Going Steady: Why? Lettering!

    Daniel Gehen
    July 28, 2020
  • 4.5

    X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #4 is a Finale of Moral Questions

    Daniel Gehen
    July 22, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders