Unpleasantville

The Vampire Diaries

Season 1, Episode 12 (12)

Air date

January 28, 2010

Written by

Directed by

Episode Guide
(Transcript)
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Unpleasantville is the twelfth episode of the first season of Template:The Vampire Diaries and the twelfth episode of the series overall.

Summary

50's DANCE THAT WILL LEAVE YOU BREATHLESS —- As Stefan and Damon try to figure out the identity of the new vampire in town, Stefan gives Elena jewelry filled with vervain to protect her family and friends. Hurting for money, Matt takes a job at Mystic Grill, where former a high school football-star, Ben, works as a bartender. Ben comes to Bonnie's aid when he notices Damon is bothering her. Stefan and Damon accompany Elena to a school dance with a 1950s theme, where Alaric introduces himself to Damon.

Plot

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Cast

Trivia

Antagonist: Noah.
Elena drives Jenna's red Mini-Cooper in this episode since her car was totaled in the previous episode.
It is mentioned that Elena's dad, Grayson Gilbert, was a doctor.
- It was revealed in the Season Five episodes The Cell and Fifty Shades of Grayson that he used his medical expertise to experiment on vampires for the Augustine Society, a revelation that makes her feel conflicted now that she is a vampire.
Elena learns that her biological mother's name was Isobel.
Jenna learns that Isobel was Alaric's wife.
Stefan tells Elena that pictures of him in his past were burned/buried after she asks him what he looked like in the 1950s.
Stefan drives a stake through Noah's heart in this episode; making this the first time Stefan is seen staking a Vampire.
After Damon and Stefan learn that Noah, the vampire who had attacked Elena, had been unknowingly invited into her house, the brothers make a plan to find and kill him.
- Stefan is unhappy that Elena quickly agrees to Damon's plan to use her as bait at the '50s Decade Dance.
Matt is shown to drive an old, blue truck.
Matt kisses Caroline in this episode.
Elena displays some knowledge of self-defense when fighting off Noah. She also stabs him multiple times with a pencil, confirming that vampires can be wounded and weakened by any wooden weapon.
- Elena will not successfully kill a vampire until Season Two's episodeThe Dinner Party.
Dillon Casey, who played Noah, also starred alongside Nina Dobrev in the Lifetime movie Too Young To Marry, in which the two played teen lovers who got married after high school graduation.
Though Damon and Stefan don't remember him, Noah says he remembers them. He finds it funny they thought Katherine had only been interested in (and turned) the two of them back in 1864, and suggests that he, and possibly other men, had also been seduced by her.
- This is further suggested by Pearl in Fool Me Once, when she tells Damon that one of the guards of the tomb was enamored by Katherine and freed her before the church was set on fire.
Noah tells Stefan, Damon and Elena the reason he wanted to kill Elena was because it would be fun, because she looked like Katherine.
This is the last time we see the Gilbert compass in the series present day. It would return in a 1864 flashback in Season 2 that would be it's last appearance in the series.
One of the songs in from the '50s dance, "My Boyfriend's Back," was actually released in 1963.

Episode Title:

The title, Unpleasantville, is a reference to the movie Pleasantville, in which two teens were transported into a 1950's sitcom. Turning the title of that movie on its head juxtaposes an outwardly carefree, 1950s-themed school dance with Elena's decidedly unpleasant encounter with a vampire named Noah.

Locations

Mystic Falls

Body Count

Noah - staked, killed by Stefan Salvatore.

Cultural References

Pleasantville, a 1998 motion picture.

Behind the Scenes

This episode had about 3.71 million viewers in the USA, which was 0.03 million more than the previous episode.

Quotes

Damon: "You're pathetic when you're fishing."

Stefan: "And you're transparent when you're deflecting."

Damon: "Don't you have school?"

Noah: "Hello, Elena."

Elena: "Hey, who's this?"

Noah: (spying on Elena from nearby) "You hit me with your car, is that a new one? You got away from me... you won't next time."

Caroline: "Since when are you a busboy?"

Matt: "It's a job. You know, some of us have to work, Caroline. With my mom in and out, things are tight. So..."

Jenna: "Your dad was about to leave the office one night, when this girl showed up. She was sixteen, a runaway, and about to give birth. He delivered her baby and gave her a place to stay, but a few days later she disappeared... and there you were. Your parents were trying so hard to have a baby... it just wasn't happening. All Miranda ever wanted was to be a mom."

Stefan: (talking about Damon) "I'm really sorry that it won't be of any help with your diabolical plan: the sequel."

Jenna: "Okay, I'm a sucker for the decade dance. I went to school here, you know. They do the 60's and 70's too, FYI."

Alaric: "Oh, can't wait. Can I get you a drink? I hear the punch is real boss."

Caroline: "So, what, is this like a threesome now? You and the Salvatore brothers?"

Elena: "No, but if I'm going to be with Stefan, then I have to learn to tolerate Damon. It's not like I can kill him."

Bonnie: "There's a thought."

Caroline: "Mmm, I'll help."

Anna: "She's not Katherine, okay? Katherine is in the tomb."

Noah: "I know. But until we open that tomb, I have her to play with."

Anna: "Don't be stupid, that girl is with the Salvatore brothers."

Noah: "They don't scare me. They never have."

Noah: "Hello, Elena. Here's what your going to do, there's a exit door behind you. You have 5 seconds."

Elena: "No."

Noah: "Or your brother dies. I can snap his neck so fast, I bet there's not even a witness."

Damon: (attempting to compel Alaric) "Why are you in Mystic Falls?"

Alaric: "I got a job as a teacher."

Damon: "Do you know what I am?"

Alaric: "You're my student's brother."

Damon: "Is everything you're telling me the truth?"

Alaric: "Yes."

Damon: "Then forget we had this conversation."

Multimedia

Soundtrack

"There's This There's That" – We Barbarians
"Pacer" – Systems Officer
"This Magic Moment" – The Misfits
"Everyday" – Rogue Wave
"Dreams Are For The Lucky" – Jef Scott
"Keep It Cool (Bo Flex Remix)" – U.S. Royalty
"Runaway" – The Misfits

"Everybody" – Autovaughn
"Slow Dance" – Jacko Marcellino
"Great Balls of Fire" – The Misfits
"My Boyfriends' Back" – The Raveonettes
"Now That We've Grown" – St. Leonards
"Mr. Sandman" – Oranger