1.14 A Few Good Men
From Vampire Diaries Wiki
| A Few Good Men | |||||
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 15 | ||||
| Written by | Brian Young | ||||
| Directed by | Joshua Butler | ||||
| Production no. | 114 | ||||
| Original airdate | March 25, 2010 | ||||
| "Previously on" | Nina Dobrev | ||||
| Other cast | |||||
| Melinda Clarke as Kelly Donovan Mia Kirshner as Isobel Flemming Sterling Sulieman as Harper Michael Showers as The Man Amanda Detmer as Trudie Peterson Malese Jow as Anna Kelly Hu as Pearl Dax Griffin as Bachelor #3 Maia Osman as Wasted Sorority Girl Mike Kalinowski as Hiker | |||||
| Episode chronology | |||||
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Official Synopsis: Matt and Caroline are surprised by the sudden reappearance of Matt’s mother Kelly. Stefan and Elena are worried about Damon’s new attitude. Damon is asked by Sheriff Forbes to take part in a fund-raising bachelor auction. Alaric discovers shocking secrets from his own past. With help from Jenna and Stefan, Elena is determined to find out everything she can about her birth mother, but the truth may be more than she can handle.
Contents |
Synopsis
Warning: This synopsis contains detailed spoilers about the plot.
Harper, confused and hungry after escaping from the tomb, feeds on a young man who is hiking in the woods and takes his clothes. Elena leaves Bonnie a message, checking in on her. Jenna tells Elena that her birth mother's name is Isobel Flemming, that she may have been Alaric’s wife, and that her friend from high school, Trudie Peterson, still lives near Mystic Falls. Stefan offers to accompany Elena if she decides to visit Trudie in Grove Hill but he opts not to tell her that Alaric thinks Damon killed Isobel. Relieved of his master plan to rescue Katherine, Damon resorts to booze and a quartet of sorority girls for entertainment. Stefan asks Damon if he remembers anything about Isobel. Caroline is embarrassed when Matt's mother, Kelly, interrupts an intimate moment between the couple. Just after Alaric kisses her, Jenna tells him that Elena’s birth mother's name is Isobel; he is stunned to see his wife in a photograph that she shows him. Isobel never told him about the baby. Elena goes to see Trudie Peterson.
After discussing Isobel, Trudie excuses herself from the conversation and uses her phone to text, “She’s here.” Matt is wary about his mother's return and defends his relationship with Caroline when Kelly expresses her distaste for her. Alaric presses Stefan to get information from his brother about Isobel. Stefan accepts a photograph of her in the hopes of jarring Damon’s memory. In a flashback, Alaric asks Isobel to stop working and come to bed. She tells him that she believes that vampires are responsible for "animal attacks" that have happened in a small town in Virginia, near where she grew up. After looking at her high school yearbook, Elena confronts Trudie, saying that she must know about vampires because she served her vervain-spiked tea. Trudie insists that she leave immediately, and a strange man watches Elena drive away. Alaric leaves the Mystic Grill bar after a brief but tense conversation with Damon. When Sheriff Forbes asks Damon to participate in the bachelor auction, he agrees but asks that she look into Alaric Saltzman for him. The strange man, who watched Elena drive away, forces his way into Trudie’s home and impassively throws her down the stairs to her death.
Harper recognizes a woman in the town square as he observes modern life in Mystic Falls. Elena encounters a drunk Damon in Stefan's bedroom and helps him button his shirt. She tells Stefan that she went to see Trudie and, in return, Stefan acknowledges that Alaric believes Isobel was killed by a vampire, though he doesn't mention it may have been Damon. At the Grill, Alaric apologizes for leaving Jenna earlier that day but refuses to talk with Elena about Isobel. When Stefan shows Isobel's photograph to Damon, he plays coy and heads to the bachelor auction. Kelly is rude to Caroline and friendly with Elena as she arrives at the auction. While Damon waits for the auction to get underway, he flirts with Mrs. Lockwood. Sheriff Forbes then tells him that Alaric’s wife went missing in North Carolina a few years ago.
As Mrs. Lockwood interviews each of the bachelors on stage, Damon reveals that he knew Alaric’s wife and that “she was delicious,” causing Elena to leave the Grill upset. Stefan tells Elena that Damon doesn't know about her connection to Isobel. She recognizes the strange man from Trudie’s house standing behind him. Kelly tells Caroline that she is a fake just like her mother. Damon is shocked when Elena reveals that Isobel is her birth mother. Outside, Elena is confronted by the strange man who tells her to “stop looking,” and Elena asks if that means Isobel's still alive; Stefan warns her that the man is under compulsion just before the man steps into the way of an oncoming truck.
Elena finds a cell phone next to the man. Jenna wins the date with Alaric; Mrs. Lockwood rigs the contest so she wins the date with Damon. But Damon's gone and Alaric leaves too. In a flashback, Isobel tells Alaric that she “wants more” when he pleads with her to stop her obsession with vampires. Matt assists his drunken mother who asks Matt to never leave her. Damon reveals that Isobel wanted to be turned and stakes Alaric after he attacks him.
Stefan arrives home to find Alaric dead. Damon says it cannot be a coincidence that Isobel sought him out, thinking Katherine must have sent her to him. He leaves Stefan to take care of Alaric's body. Stefan is astonished to see Alaric suddenly come back to life. Alaric realizes that his ring, a gift from Isobel, must have protected him. In flashback, she makes him promise to wear it. Elena dials the only number in the compelled man’s cell phone and Isobel picks up. Harper arrives at a farmhouse where Pearl compels Miss Gibbons, the owner, to welcome him into her home.
Quotes
Damon: "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? I've spent the last hundred and forty-five years with one goal: get in that tomb! I succeeded. Granted, Katherine wasn't in there to be rescued, but why dwell? You know, it's so liberating not having a master plan because I can do whatever the hell I want."
Stefan: "That's kinda what I'm worried about."
Damon (to Stefan): "I have to go and exploit some women in the name of grief, which I'm sure you understand."
Alaric (to Isobel): "I'm in a threeway here with you and your computer. The least you can do is let me know what you're up to."
Alaric: "You're like Mulder only hotter ... and a girl."
Isobel: "And Mulder was right in the end."
Elena: "I found out who my birth mother is."
Damon: "Who cares? She left you. She sucks."
Elena (referring to Damon): "Maybe this heartache will be good for him. It'll remind him that he has one, even if it doesn't beat."
Stefan: "I won't hold my breath."
Jenna: "That's a good look for you."
Alaric: "What? Embarrassed and uncomfortable?"
Jenna: "Yep. That's ... that's the one."
Mrs. Lockwood: "We don't have much on you."
Damon: "Well, I'm tough to fit on a card."
Damon: "Am I missing something here?"
Elena: "Did I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about my birth mother, the one that gave me up? Her name was Isobel. Go ahead. Reminisce about how you killed her."
Damon: "She came to me, all pathetic, looking for vampires. There was something about her that I liked. Something special."
Alaric: "You turned her because you liked her?"
Damon: "No. I slept with her because I liked her. I turned her because she begged me to. But you knew that too, didn't you? I guess she wasn't happy at home. Wasn't happy with life in general. Wasn't happy with you. Now this is a shame. We're kindred spirits. Abandoned by the women we love. Unrequited love sucks."
Isobel: "I am selfish and I'm obsessed and I'm a horrible wife. But you love me anyway."
Body count
- Hiker, killed by Harper after he emerged from the tomb.
- Trudie Peterson, killed by the unknown man under Isobel's compulsion.
- Unknown man, kills himself by stepping in front of a truck after completing the task he was compelled to do.
- Alaric Saltzman, stabbed in the lung by Damon with his own stake. He is mysteriously resurrected later on by the power of a mysterious ring given to him by Isobel.
Music
Listed in order of appearance:
- Jet - "Black Hearts (On Fire)"
[Plays as Damon parties with the Tri-Delts at the Boarding House]
- The Alternate Routes - "Time Is A Runaway"
- Sound Team - "Your Eyes Are Liars"
[Plays as Carol Lockwood talks about the raffle for the Bachelor Auction]
- Above The Golden State - "Real You"
- Sweet Thing - "Winter Night"
- Free Energy - "Something In Common"
[Plays as the Bachelor Auction gets under way]
- Sounds Under Radio - "Portrait Of A Summer Thief"
Book references
Other references
- A Few Good Men, a play by Aaron Sorkin, first produced on Broadway by David Brown in 1989. Sorkin adapted his work into a screenplay for a 1992 film directed by Rob Reiner, produced by Brown and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore.
- Duke University, a private university located in Durham, North Carolina.
- Fox Mulder, a protagonist from The X-Files (a paranormal TV show that aired from 1993-2002) who believed in extra-terrestrial life.
- The Real Housewives of...
Trivia
- The number Elena calls at the end of the episode is real. Phoning (919) 399-2507 treats fans to messages from Stefan and Damon.
- Episode director Joshua Butler has been the editor for many previous episodes.
- This episode was screened at the Vampire Diaries' PaleyFest panel at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, March 6th, 2010.
- Tyler Lockwood, Jeremy Gilbert, and Bonnie Bennett do not appear once in this episode.
DVD Features
The season one DVD features a deleted scene in which Kelly Donovan makes out with bachelor #3 in an alley. Towards the end of the scene things become more intense, with Kelly sucking the life out of her partner, revealing herself to be a succubus. With a look of remorse on her face, Kelly exits, leaving bachelor #3 dead on the floor. As it was cut from the episode, it is not yet known if this is something that will be explored at a later date, or if the entire concept has been scrapped leaving Kelly as entirely human.
Production
Promotion
Images
Episode Stills in Vampire-Diaries.net Media Gallery
Clips and Trailers
Ratings
U.S.: 3.3 million viewers.[1]
References
| Episodes | |
| Season 1: | Pilot • Night of the Comet • Friday Night Bites • Family Ties • You're Undead to Me • Lost Girls • Haunted • 162 Candles • History Repeating • The Turning Point • Bloodlines • Unpleasantville • Children of the Damned • Fool Me Once • A Few Good Men • There Goes the Neighborhood • Let the Right One In • Under Control • Miss Mystic Falls • Blood Brothers • Isobel • Founder's Day |
| Season 2: | The Return • Brave New World • Bad Moon Rising • Memory Lane • 2.05 • 2.06 • 2.07 • 2.08 • 2.09 • 2.10 • 2.11 • 2.12 • 2.13 • 2.14 • 2.15 • 2.16 • 2.17 • 2.18 • 2.19 • 2.20 • 2.21 • 2.22 |
