Know Thy Enemy, Part 1 of 3 - The Women in Purple

Episode Synopsis: Isobel returns with multiple double-crosses that end in her turning Katherine over to Klaus. Bonnie, Jeremy and Damon go on a field trip to the burial site of all the witches, where Bonnie is given more magic. If her first use of it is any indication, she now has the power of a very strong leaf blower. Caroline tells Matt the truth about Vicky, and he promptly tells Caroline’s mother everything – including that Caroline is a vampire.. Isobel takes Elena to the graveyard where Isobel’s parents had an empty grave for Isobel, and after much dramatic vampire speechifying, Klaus’s henchman releases Isobel. She promptly rips off her necklace and bursts into flames in front of Elena, making Isobel parent #3 to die in front of Elena and adding at least another five years to her therapy bills.

The A-plot was all about Elena, Katherine, and Isobel this week. To drive this point home, all three were wearing purple with black coats through the last act.

I love that wardrobe dresses Elena like a normal teenager when she’s at home. Jeans, a ridiculously comfy looking sweater, Converse. This is definitely what Elena would be wearing after a night spent trying to talk to her very mature guardian through a door.

It’s also yet another wine color for Elena, which seems to be her big color at the moment. I can’t complain – the color works for her. It’s a good thing Nina Dobrev’s complexion works well with dark reds; if she were a pale blonde, the bright reds would be far too obvious a connection to blood and vampireness.

Elena in the outfit Katherine picked out for her. You have to give Katherine credit - she does manage to nail Elena’s style. Then again, it’s not hard: henley + tank + jeans + straight hair = Elena Gilbert. Alternately, my wardrobe on any particular day, but I don’t have a fabulous undead doppelganger hell-bent on creating chaos while maintaining perfect curls and spectacular cleavage. I love that Katherine styled the outfit a little for Elena: Elena would probably have worn knee high flat boots with this outfit, but Katherine made sure to leave her with stiletto booties. I’d love to watch an episode where Katherine goes through Elena’s closet and gives her a makeover. Oh man, how awesome would a makeover reality show hosted by Katherine be?

Just a normal morning for Katherine: cute tank top, perfect hair and makeup. I’d love to find out that she’s secretly compelled a hairstylist to live in her closet and fix her up every day, mostly because curling your hair takes time out of an otherwise busy day of scheming and backstabbing.

This was an episode full of long shots that let us see the whole outfit. What I took from this scene was that Nina Dobrev might have the longest legs ever, in the history of the universe. Also, Katherine loves stiletto ankle booties, and I need to own that jacket. The feed I watch when I livetweeted this episode cut out most of this act, so I completely missed what was clearly the winning Leather Jacket of the Week.

Another angle on the awesome cropped motorcycle jacket with the flared back was big among vampires this week – both Katherine and Caroline wore jackets with that cut. It works way better on the leather jacket than on Caroline’s denim one.

Because the Sweet Valley twins wore the same dress this episode (spoiler alert: in the next episode, they switch places to go on each other’s dates!) , I thought it was worth comparing and contrasting how they looked – because, although the differences were small, they were very telling.

This purple dress is gorgeous, but not something I would have picked for Elena. It’s a little lower-cut than we usually see from her – she’s been more of a sweetheart neckline girl in the past, unless I’m forgetting something. I love the little pyramid stud cuff she’s wearing, it’s very unlike her.

Getting this full shot of the dress was great, because it’s really easy to compare and contrast the differences between Elena wearing it and Katherine wearing it. The dress is low-cut, but Elena’s kept it fairly modest with only a little cleavage and a longer hemline. It looks great on her, although I’m not loving the black heel (you’ll see them in Katherine’s section). It makes sense, though. She’s never been one for dressing up, so it makes sense that she’d only have a few pairs of heels. Even still, when you have a badass doppelganger running around, at least raid her closet once or twice. Isn’t that the perk of having an evil twin?

Speaking of perks … in case you can’t tell from the livetweets, one of my favorite things about Katherine is her unrelenting devotion to push-up bras. Even when she’s pretending to be Elena, she can’t help but rock some major cleavage. The first time she saw a WonderBra, she must have thought, “Finally, my time has arrived.”

I really liked this coat. It has a pea coat feel, but having only two buttons keeps the jacket from feeling too casual. Like I said at the top of this post, all three women in the A-plot spend the last act wearing purple dresses with black jackets, a point that’s prominently on display here.

It wasn’t until I was screencapping for this post that I noticed the most striking difference between Elena and Katherine in this dress: the hemline is several inches shorter. Is Katherine taller than Elena, or do vampires have magic hemming powers?

Another thing I didn’t notice until I was screencapping for this post: the moment when Stefan realizes that Elena is actually Katherine. Watch his eyes:

A quick glance down, then up – Katherine, when will you learn that your cleavage will betray you every time?

Despite packing heavily for this trip, Isobel spent the entire episode in one outfit.

This is the problem with dresses that have pockets: you are going to put your hands in the pockets, and it’s going to totally screw up the lines of the dress. I’m not loving the fit for Isobel to begin with, and the pockets don’t help. It’s all just a little too comfortable for a vampire – maybe I’ve been spoiled by Katherine, but vampires shouldn’t be wearing dresses that I would pick to conceal a food baby.

Isobel’s huge hoops were terribly distracting to me through her entire scene in the Gilbert kitchen. They’re gigantic. The earrings kept poking through her hair because they were hitting her neck and her shoulders. I was hoping that Elena would try to pitch lemons through them.

I don’t think Isobel changed her dress through the episode, but she did wear two different coats. The first was a drapey jacket that I couldn’t get any good shots of, but I think it had a leather back. The second was a peacoat style that she wore through the last act – a look I loved because it felt so young and innocent.

And finally, answering that eternal question: what kind of luggage does a vampire use when she doesn’t have to carry her own bags? Louis Vuitton, of course.

The House Guest - Part 1 of 1 - All in a row

Episode Synopsis: Anyone else think Katherine and Elena could revive the "Sweet Valley High" series? While Damon does research, Stefan reaches out to The Martins, which can only end in disaster. Jenna and Caroline are having boy troubles, Bonnie is powerless, and Elena ... well she's always in peril so there is only one cure: Girls' Night! Everything goes swimmingly after Caroline hijacks the band for an excruciatingly saccharine rendition of "Eternal Flame" - until Daddy Warlock busts up the party with some head melting tricks. Why? Damon might have killed Luka. Oops! We see our last glimpse of The Martins as the vampires dole out some justice via the ole switcheroo, and just when you think everything is finally settled down, who shows up? Yeah, Elena's crazy mom, Isobel.

I love an episode that packs a punch and "The House Guest" definitely delivered. However, the real action was all about Katherine's wardrobe this week. Out of the gate she is rocking this olive green pea coat that is more "Fashionable Mystic Falls Citizen" and less "Eternal Manipulative Killing Machine". My only complaint? Where's the colour? Girl, seriously, you spent how long in an dark, dank and desolate tomb in a black cocktail dress and upon your release you run for - olive green? I'm just sayin', maybe you want to step up your game. Love the military inspired style by the way.

Just one more shot of the coat because I love it so much. Bonus: Katherine's angry "You have to trust me!" face. I would trust her with two things, and they are: having great hair, and making Mystic Falls a little more sexy.

 

"Caroliiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnneeeee..." - anyone else hear Outkast when they say her name? No? Just me? At any rate, Caroline always knows how to stand out from the crowd at school. She's also working a military inspired coat like Katherine, but wearing that eye-popping pink top with the polka dot-ish pattern takes your focus off the losers in the background. You're a star, Caroline! A STAR! You're the Elle Woods of vampires and we love you for it. Matt's canvas jacket is a nice change of pace as well. I realize that an outer covering like a jacket is de rigeur in Mystic Falls but this episode makes me feel like there is some sort of secret police enforcing this dress code. Do I smell a sub plot?

 

Case in point: yet another leather jacket from Stefan. Last week at the lake house he wore that amazing brown leather jacket that I would sell a kidney for. This week, Stefan is all subdued and stoic in this pale grey/green jacket. My boy's got style, what else can I say? Other than the aforementioned selling of vital organs on the black market.

Elena and Stefan have a never say die attitude when it comes to surviving attacks by The Originals and wearing leather jackets.

Elena: "Stefan, I'm going to talk in a hushed tone about saving the people I love while simultaneously playing heroine and damsel in distress. Oh, and I'm doing it in this leather jacket."

Stefan: "I am also going to wear one of my numerous leather jackets and be totally comforting while slyly suggesting that we shack up later."

 

This cap is to help make distinguishing Katherine from Elena easier. Katherine equals cleavage. Done.

 

Who doesn't want to trade places with Katherine right now. Am I right? While Damon is wearing his requisite black shirt with dark denim combination that only he could make fresh every week, I am kind of transfixed on his boots. They're so tough. And nice. And leathery. And there's a little buckle that says, "I take care of myself and could rip your heart out". I like Damon.

 

Girls' Night!!! Woo!!! Again we're back to the jacket coven - sans Elena. I love that the ladies debated on whether to get pizza or Chinese food because the answer is always both. This shot is great because I think it helps capture each character's style. Elena is practical, Caroline is cute and Bonnie is buried under more layers than necessary in the Gilberts' well heated home. Witches are so mysterious. Every week I think, "Maybe I'll see Bonnie's whole outfit" only to be blocked by either poor lighting or the layers. Her saving grace this week was her facial expressions as seen here. Laugh with me.

Aunt Jenna never fails to rock my world and she looks like she's ready to party tonight. Notice she is without a jacket. Not only is she oblivious to every supernatural event in Mystic Falls, Jenna has also escaped the need to don her outerwear inside the home. Bravo, Jenna! Nice bag, too. I know it's probably filled with mundane items but I like to imagine that she always carries around a little bottle of whiskey.

 

"Aunt Jenna! We can't stand in a club being smothered by the heat from the gyrating teenage bodies without wearing our jackets!"

"Well, if you say so..."

 

Don't worry, Jenna, Senor Tequila will make it all better (for the next two hours or so). In addition to Damon, I also like Jenna.

Girls' Night would not be complete without a sickeningly sweet public display of affection via song. Caroline decides on an obvious choice, "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles, to woo Matt and her grand gesture leads to them making out in the ladies' bathroom. Who says romance is dead?

Want to know how you can tell that the band is from out of town? They're males wearing colour. Though I have to say, red pants are never really a good idea. Kudos to the band.

 

I couldn't talk about this episode without a final shout out to The Martin boys. You had a good run, provided some integral plot points and generally stirred up a whole mess of trouble. Again, I could have used more colour but whatever, y'all are dead to me now.

It's the end of the night and I just can't help but feel sympathy for Jenna. Her man is a potential murderer, Girls' Night was ruined by an angry warlock and an arson attempt, her hair is mussed and everyone is keeping secrets from her. I'm not exactly sure how I can relate to all of those experiences but I have definitely ended a night or two face deep in some ice cream.

  

While the entire episode was riddled with action and fashion, it was the last two minutes of this episode that made me say quietly to myself, "Oh yeah!" and I would like to thank Katherine for that. Remember the cleavage distinction between her and Elena? Well, get an eyeful of this. The loose curls are making Katherine look incredibly sexy which is a nice change from the pin straight hair adorned with leaves and twigs from her days in the tomb. Damon, of course, is playing it cool but deep down you know he's all flustered for this 500 year old vixen.

But THIS is where things really got crazy. Loco, if I may. Hell, even Four Loko crazy. While Jenna and Elena are catching up over the ice cream, who comes knocking on the door? None other than "I want to be a vampire, wait, never mind" Isobel. Will Jenna finally become privy to the supernatural hijinks Mystic Falls is subject to? Will Alaric get back together with Jenna? Do you think there might be a scene where Elena and Isobel discuss what exactly makes their hair so straight and lustrous? I can't say for sure what will happen other than a swath of leather jackets being tossed our way.

Nice hoops, Isobel.