Vampire Diaries: Family Ties

"Family Ties" is the fourth episode of season one of the supernatural teen drama series The Vampire Diaries. It was directed by Guy Ferland and written by Andrew Kreisberg and Brian Young. It first aired on the WB Network on Thursday, October 1st, 2009. In this episode, the townspeople of Mystic Falls celebrate their annual Founders' Day event at the mansion home of Mayor Lockwood. Members of the founding families are expected to donate a personal item to be put on display. Carol Lockwood wants an antique pocket watch that belongs to the Gilbert family. Zach Salvatore tells Stefan Damon is a loose cannon and needs to be stopped. He provides Stefan with an herb called vervain, which is harmful to vampires. Stefan attends the Founders' Day party with Elena and tricks Damon into injesting some vervain-tainted blood.

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode has been made available on The Vampire Diaries: The Complete First Season DVD and Blu-ray collections.


 * Production code number: 2J5003.


 * First episode directed by Guy Ferland.


 * First episode co-written by story editor Brian Young. His next writing credit is on episode 1x08, "History Repeating".


 * Actors Niki Collier, Ashley Harvin, Jennifer Rose Locke, David Smith, Jeanette Stout and Kirk Thompson are all uncredited for their participation in this episode.


 * First appearance of Logan Fell. He appears next in "You're Undead to Me"


 * First appearance of Mayor Richard Lockwood. He appears next in "Lost Girls".


 * First appearance of the vervain plant.


 * Zach Salvatore appears next in "You're Undead to Me".


 * Ashley Harvin, who is an extra playing a student in this episode, also works as a stand-in for Kayla Ewell.

Allusions

 * The title of this episode, "Family Ties", was also the name of a popular 1980s sitcom series starring Michael J. Fox. See Family Ties.


 * Damon Salvatore is reading a copy of the novel Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Twilight was also adapted into a series of extremely popular films, and is largely responsible for sparking interest into adapting L.J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries into a TV series.


 * Damon Salvatore also makes reference to Anne Rice - a novelist who created "The Vampire Chonicles" series of novels in the 1970s beginning with Interview With the Vampire. The works of Anne Rice inspired many modern interpretations of vampire fiction as seen in shows such as The Vampire Diaries and True Blood.

Quotes

 * Stefan Salvatore: The real animal is still out there. Waiting for me. Challenging me to fight back, to stop him. But how do I stop him without becoming a monster myself.

....
 * Damon Salvatore: Some girls just can't resist my good looks...my style and my charm... and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift.

....
 * Stefan Salvatore: The real animal is still out there, waiting for me, challenging me to fight back, to stop him. But how do I stop the monster without becoming one myself?

....
 * Damon Salvatore: It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud.
 * Stefan Salvatore: Yes, being a one hundred and fifty year-old teenager has been the height of my happiness.

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 * Damon Salvatore: I admire your effort Stefan, pouring yourself a drink, then spiking the bottle with vervain. I'm not some drunk sorority chick, you can't roofie me. But I can't help but feel a little used, I thought we were having a moment. I have to go to the party angry...who knows what I'll do.

....
 * Stefan Salvatore: I did what I had to do. To protect Elena. To protect everyone. Yes Damon, the headline reads "Deadly beast captured". All is well in Mystic Falls.