Bad Moon Rising

The Vampire Diaries

Season 2, Episode 3 (25)

Air date

September 23, 2010

Written by

Directed by

Episode Guide
(Transcript)
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“	Elena: I need to know the truth. When you broke Jeremy's neck, did you know that he was wearing the ring? Damon: No. No, I didn't. Katherine really pissed me off and I snapped and...I got lucky with the ring. I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't wearing it. Elena, I'm sorry. Elena: Thank you for being honest with me and the answer to your question, about our friendship is yes. You have lost me forever.	”
	— Elena to Damon

Bad Moon Rising is the third episode of the second season of Template:The Vampire Diaries and the twenty-fifth episode of the series overall.

Summary

STEFAN FACES A NEW DANGER — Elena, Damon and Alaric take a road trip to Duke University and search through Isobel's research on folklore and paranormal phenomena to see if they can uncover any clues to the mystery surrounding the Lockwood family. Isobel's former student, Vanessa, offers to guide them through the research and ends up getting quite an education herself. Stefan comes face to face with a terrifying new danger in the woods, and Tyler makes a shocking discovery about Mason.

Plot

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Cast

Trivia

Antagonist: Mason Lockwood.
The Day this episode originally aired, September 23, 2010, really did have a Full Moon.
This is the first episode of Season Two that features Matt Davis as Alaric Saltzman.
This episode features Damon and Elena's second road trip.
It is revealed in this episode that Katherine's real name is Katerina Petrova, and that she is originally from Europe.
- It is later revealed that Katherine was born and raised in Bulgaria prior to her being disowned and exiled by her family in 1490.
The Petrova family's book is seen for the first time when Damon finds it in Isobel's Office and hands it to Elena.
Elena is the second character in the series to mention Doppelgängers when she asks Vanessa Monroe what she knows about doppelgangers as she wants to know why she looks like Katherine.
Werewolves are introduced into the TVD/TO universe in this episode at the revelation that Mason is one.
- It is also revealed that a werewolf bite is fatal to vampires.
The Sun and Moon Curse is mentioned for the first time in this episode. It will later be revealed to be a lie created by Klaus and Elijah.
Caroline almost kills Matt in this episode after succumbing to her bloodlust, but is stopped by Stefan before she can.
- This scene will be mirrored in The Rager in Season Four, when the newly-turned Elena almost kills Matt, but this time Damon is the one to stop her.
This is the second episode to have Caroline and Katherine together in the final scene. The previous occurrence was in The Return.
Since Katherine appears in Caroline's bedroom at the end of this episode, it implies that Katherine got herself invited into her house by posing as Elena.
Elena seems to be hurt by Damon's words to her that she and Katherine not only have their looks in common after he finds out she used him to get information.

Locations

Mystic Falls, Virginia
Durham, North Carolina
- Duke University

Production Notes

Filming for this episode began on Wednesday, August 4, 2010^[1] and ended Saturday, August 14, 2010.^[2]

Cultural References

Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor from the silent film era known as "The Man with a Thousand Faces."
Lon Chaney, Jr., American actor known for his leading role in The Wolf Man films.
Bela Lugosi, Hungarian actor known for his role as Count Dracula on stage and film version Dracula.
Seemingly by coincidence, the penultimate episode of the first season of The Gates (originally airing on September 20, 2010 on ABC) is also called Bad Moon Rising (S01E12).
- The Gates is a horror-themed program that includes vampires and other supernatural beings. The plot of that particular episode also involved werewolves.
Bad Moon Rising is the name of a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and it was used in the 1981 film, An American Werewolf in London.
Bad Moon Rising is also the title of the second episode of the second season of Grimm.

Behind the Scenes

This episode had about 3.57 million viewers in the USA, which was 0.53 million more than the previous episode.

Quotes

Damon: "If this Wolf Man thing is true, I've seen enough movies to know it's not good. It means Mason Lockwood is a real-life Lon Chaney and that little Tyler punk may just very well be Lon Chaney, Jr. which means Bela Lugosi-- meaning me-- is totally screwed."

Caroline: "I haven't been in the sun for days, and everyone's at the swimming hole having fun, and Matt is there, and he finally told me that he loved me, but I've been blowing him off, and now you want me to eat bunnies, and I'm kind of freaking out, okay?"

Damon: "If you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask."

Damon: "You and Katherine have a lot more in common than just your looks."

Caroline: "Why are you looking at him with your serious-vampire look?"

Stefan: "My what? My serious-vampire look?"

Caroline: "I mean, it's different from your worried-vampire look, neither of which stray too far from your Hey-it's-Tuesday look."

Damon: "No. No, I didn't. Katherine really pissed me off and I snapped. I got lucky with the ring. I don't know what I would've done if he wasn't wearing it. Elena, I'm sorry."

Vanessa: "I can tell you that doppelgängers usually torment the people they look like, trying to undo their lives. It's not exactly uplifting."

Caroline: "So you're saying that now I'm basically an insecure, neurotic control freak on crack?"

Caroline: "Isn't killing cute, defenseless animals the first step in becoming a serial killer?"

Caroline: "Elena?"

Katherine: "Nope, try again."

Caroline: "Katherine."

Katherine: "Don't be frightened. We're going to have so much fun together."

Damon: "Pull it out, I can't reach it, Elena. Just pull the damn thing out, it hurts." (Elena removes the crossbow bolt and Damon makes an amusing sound.) "That bitch is dead."