Yellow Ledbetter (The Vampire Diaries)

"Yellow Ledbetter"
The Vampire Diaries episode
Episode no. Season 6
Episode 2
Directed by Pascal Verschooris
Written by Julie Plec
Production code 2J7852
Original air date October 9, 2014
Guest actors

"Yellow Ledbetter" is the 2nd episode of the sixth season of the American series The Vampire Diaries and the series' 113th episode overall. "Yellow Ledbetter" was originally aired on October 9, 2014, on The CW. The episode was written by Julie Plec and directed by Pascal Verschooris.

Plot

Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Bonnie (Kat Graham), right after the collapse of the Other Side, are back in Mystic Falls but they cannot see anyone else being there. They wander around the streets and wonder where is everyone when they find a newspaper and they realize that they are back in 1994, the day a solar eclipse took place (May 10).

Elena (Nina Dobrev), after her decision to let Alaric (Matt Davis) erase Damon from her memory, puts away everything that reminds her of him. She tells everyone her plan and asks them not to tell her anything about her relationship with Damon after Alaric is done with the compulsion. Alaric and Elena start going through her memories and Alaric erases one by one till they find the moment where Elena knew she loved Damon. In the meantime, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) hangs out with Sarah (Gabrielle Walsh) at Matt's (Zach Roerig) house, something that Matt does not really like since Sarah was attacked by Elena, but Jeremy tells him that everything is fine since Caroline (Candice Accola) compelled Sarah to forget about the attack.

Damon and Bonnie are stuck in 1994 and they try to find a way to get back to present. Bonnie tells Damon that since magic brought them there, then magic can take them back, but Bonnie cannot practice magic anymore and she tries to get her powers back. Their second day, they discover that they live the same day as the day before (May 10) and they continue live the same day over and over again for the last four months.

Alaric informs Caroline that Stefan (Paul Wesley) stopped looking for a way to bring back Damon and Bonnie but Enzo (Michael Malarkey) does try to find a way to help Damon and Bonnie. She finds Enzo to see what he knows and what he has found till now. The two of them are headed to Stefan's place and Stefan is surprised seeing them there. The three of them have dinner with Stefan and his girlfriend, Ivy (Emily C. Chang).

During the dinner, Caroline and Enzo discover that Stefan lives there for over two months when everyone thought he was investigating Damon and Bonnie's case. Enzo causes a scene in front of Ivy and forces Caroline to compel her. Stefan and Enzo fight and Stefan snaps Enzo's neck while Caroline is on the phone with Alaric who asks her help on when exactly Elena fell in love with Damon. Caroline says that she did while she was still with Stefan, something that Stefan hears. Caroline apologizes and while they talk, she discovers that Stefan never heard any of her messages and she leaves. Enzo joins her in the car and he when sees that she cries, he goes back to the house where he kills Ivy in front of Stefan and promises him that he will make his life a living hell, just like Damon promised him in the past.

Alaric tells Elena that she is not honest that is why they cannot find the moment she fell in love with Damon. When she tells her that she did when she was still with Stefan, Elena is finally honest to herself and Alaric erases the memory from her head making her now believe that Damon was a monster.

Tripp (Colin Ferguson) tells Matt that Sarah stole the car she came with to Mystic Falls and he tries to tell Jeremy. Sarah tells them that she is in Mystic Falls to find her father and Jeremy takes her to the Salvatore house where no one lives and they will not find her. Matt calls Tripp to inform him that Sarah is looking for her father and during their conversation, it is revealed that Tripp is from a founding family, the Fells. That makes Matt suspicious to if Tripp knows about the supernatural things going on there. When they hang up, it is also revealed that Tripp knows about vampires, he is hunting them down and brings them to Mystic Falls where he kills them.

The episode ends with Damon and Bonnie discovering that they are not alone as they thought, since someone solved the crossword puzzle she was trying to solve for four months.

Feature music

In the episode "Yellow Ledbetter" we can hear the songs:[1]

Reception

Ratings

In its original American broadcast, "Yellow Ledbetter" was watched by 1.67 million; down by 0.14 from the previous episode.[2]

Reviews

"Yellow Ledbetter" received mixed reviews.

Stephanie Flasher from TV After Dark gave the episode a B rating saying that overall it was a nice follow up from the season premiere but the choice of the writer of the episode, Julie Plec, to remove Elena's memories was bold. "All and all this episode was a fairly good episode to follow up with the season six premiere. However, it seemed rather counter-productive to make Damon seen as a monster in Elena's mind, but definitely resets the show in a way."[3]

Leigh Raines from TV Fanatic rated the episode with 4/5,[4] same as Rebecca Serle of Vulture,[5] while Rebecca Jane Stokes from Den of Geek rated it with 3/5 stating that after this episode, Damon and Bonnie need their own spin-off.[6]

Ashley Dominique of Geeked Out Nation rated the episode with 6.9/10 saying that it was a downside for the audience to be dragged through Elena's experience of losing her memories for Damon and totally unnecessary. "Enzo's return to TVD isn't enough to make up for the borderline memory lane episode. Despite the interesting elements introduced, none of them was progressing at a speed to keep them entertaining."[7]

Lindsay Sperling from We Got This Covered gave the episode a good review saying that it didn't reveal all the answers but it pointed us in the right direction. "The Vampire Diaries gave fans a healthy dose of everything they could have wanted – flashbacks, messy bits, and the return of Enzo (who we love to hate!). Season six is off to a fantastic start."[8]

Caroline Preece of Den of Geek gave a good review to the episode saying that the show remembers how to be great again. "Yellow Ledbetter was a fantastic episode of a show that has had very few fantastic episodes in the last couple of years [...] Last week’s premiere may have felt a little more like business as usual, but Yellow Ledbetter proved that something significant has changed over the summer, and season six could potentially take the show back to the heights of seasons one and two."[9]

Stephanie Hall from K Site TV also gave a good review saying that the episode was impressive and praising the writing of Julie Plec, saying that it was "snarky and wonderful".[10]

References

  1. ↑ "The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Episode 2: "Yellow Ledbetter" Music". TV Fanatic. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  2. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (October 10, 2014). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Bones' & 'The Vampire Diaries' Adjusted Up + Final Football Ratings". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  3. ↑ Flasher, Stephanie (October 10, 2014). "The Vampire Diaries 6×02 "Yellow Ledbetter" Review". TV After Dark. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  4. ↑ Raines, Leigh (October 9, 2014). "The Vampire Diaries Season 6 Episode 2 Review: Yellow Ledbetter". TV Fanatic. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  5. ↑ Serle, Rebecca (October 10, 2014). "The Vampire Diaries Recap: When the Day Is Long — Hang On". Vulture. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  6. ↑ Stokes, Rebecca Jane (October 10, 2014). "The Vampire Diaries: Yellow Ledbetter Review". Den of Geek. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  7. ↑ Dominique, Ashley (October 10, 2014). "The Vampire Diaries: "Yellow Ledbetter" Review". Geeked Out Nation. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  8. ↑ Sperling, Lindsay (October 9, 2014). "The Vampire Diaries Review: "Yellow Ledbetter" (Season 6, Episode 2)". We Got This Covered. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  9. ↑ Preece, Caroline (October 13, 2014). "The Vampire Diaries season 6 episode 2 review: Yellow Ledbetter". Den of Geek. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  10. ↑ Hall, Stephanie (October 11, 2014). "The Vampire Diaries #6.2 "Yellow Ledbetter" Recap". K Site TV. Retrieved October 26, 2014.

External links