I actually enjoy her as a character foil for Neal, less so as a romantic interest. I don't think she's actively bad as girlfriend material - certainly not Kate level - but I don't see them as True Love Forever or anything. Just a relationship to knock a few corners off of each of them.

I didn't think the tape had been spliced so much as recorded over (and it was already an old tape, hence the distortion). But I may be wrong.

The problem is, I pretty much hated Dark Willow. And I'm very close to hating Bonnie at this point just for her sheer uselessness, combined with judginess (also a Willow failing). So I can't see any way that that would end well for me. But… if any show can make it work, it's this one.

I also think the "I didn't expect you to be so…symmetrical" line was the best reference they've ever made to it. Heh.

Oh, of course! I was reminded of their 'scavenger hunt' the other day, and smiled. They're good together.

I need to quibble with one point in the review, much as I am in general agreement with most of it: Mama Original showing up is not Damon's plan backfiring and ruining Stefan's coffin-off with Klaus. It is, in fact, Stefan's plan backfiring, since he's the one who was pushing Bonnie to open it. Now, Damon's plan did…

Yeah, start from the start but try to turn off the judgy part of your brain until at least episode 6. Though if I remember correctly, the first pleasant shock of 'oh, this show actually progresses things' is in the otherwise terrible episode 3…

This confused me as well, because surely the whole point of the doppelgangers is that they exist to give a way to undo the curse that was put on Klaus. Not the general 'becoming a vampire' spell that was done on all the kids, but the 'stop him being a hybrid' one that was used on Klaus. So okay, I can accept her blood…

My mother loves The Mentalist, and I will admit to being able to stay in the room while it's on. It's one of the procedurals I don't actively hate.

Yeah, it makes her worse for me too. More because I'm not at all convinced they did have that ending written for her from the start - she's just too snobbish at the beginning for it to make much sense. And why on earth she'd try to destroy Veronica if she's the girl we see at the end… well.

oh but ye gods, that moment when Lamb is investigating the s3 rapes and throws some comment towards Veronica that just reminds her and us of his reaction when she tried to report hers… that made it all worthwhile, for me.

Yup, and also it promptly made me learn all about Michelangelo's 'Pieta,' which I later saw in Rome with another VM-loving friend and we had a bit of a geeky moment amongst all the tourists.

Wouldn't Buffy technically have been graduated anyway for, like, 3 seconds before being eaten by a giant demon?

That was exactly what I thought: that he switched to the dismissive and hurtful side we'd seen him use before on her. I never assumed rape.

Your defence of season 2 - and in particular the reasons you defend it - actually gives me hope that you'll appreciate what there is to be appreciated in season 3, too. Although I do think season 1 is overall the best, I don't hold with the 'sharp decline' argument and I think a lot of very telling moments for…

Oh! That's where I knew him from. Thanks. :)

I'm not sure they were ever quite as independent as you're suggesting - perhaps they wanted to be, but pretty much their first exchange was Neal thanking Moz for coming and Moz saying "what was I going to do, not come?" That seems pretty much in line with their relationship now - they might be safer off without each…

Meh, not my favourite episode ever. Nothing so egregiously wrong as a U-Boat or that really stupid early episode about Fashion Week, but it was just all a bit… stupid. I love the silly side of the show, the asides and the eye-rolls, but I really don't like it when it aims straight for ridiculous. The first half of the…

I did like the one nod that Peter had tried to find out Moz's name, and couldn't. (Can't remember which episode, but I do know it came up and satisfied me that at least he wasn't blind enough not to look.) I think Moz has to exist in that not-really-taken-seriously zone for the show to work, though I think they've…

Yeah, I always forget that his story isn't all told at once, and as a result in my head it all happens when it ends. So I have the same thing going 'hey, Ben's in season 1?'