Matt Donovan may be the most unlucky kid in a town full of unlucky kids, but all these years later, he's still our favorite
-- and this year, things might be looking up for the
quarterback-slash-busboy. That is, as long as he can get over the
overwhelming feelings of guilt he's experiencing after Elena sacrificed
her own life to save his.
In last week's season premiere, Matt
practically begged Stefan to let him die, and we can't really blame him.
For a kid who's just trying to make enough money to keep the lights on
in his house, his first love's transition into a vampire is beyond the
just-deal-with-it realm. Now, with the added burden of Elena's "death"
weighing on him, he's feeling particularly despondent and useless.
Hopefully,
though, the combination of last week's tough-love pep talk from Stefan
and a touching moment of unexpected heroism in tonight's episode,
"Memorial," will get Matt back on his feet. "Memorial" will allow Matt,
and the rest of the gang, a moment to grieve what they've lost, and it's
well-earned after a few hellish semesters. In the meantime, though,
Matt probably owes Stefan a thank-you.
"That's an interesting
question, how much does Matt owe Stefan," Zach says. "I don't know if
it's a question of whether he owes Stefan, or if he just owes Elena. I
think that's going to be Matt's biggest struggle, starting off the
season. Just the guilt, and why him, why would Stefan -- even if Elena
did want it -- ever listen to [her]."
Damon definitely held it
against Matt in the season premiere, but he eases up on the QB a bit by
episode two. That said, they're not about to embark on an epic bromance
any time soon. "Damon and Matt have never really seen eye-to-eye," Zach
says. "This just puts the cherry on it, although I think they'd make a
good little team."
Don't hold your breath for that one, kids.
Ever
since breaking up with Caroline (apparently, for Matt, fangs are a
turn-off) he's had a heck of a dry spell in the romance department...
but it's hard to ignore the undeniable sparks that flew between him and
Rebekah last season. You know, before she ran him off a bridge, destroyed his truck, and left him and one of his best friends to drown. Oops?
"Rebekah
and Matt have been a little bit ... hot and cold," Zach says. "I think
you can expect to see Rebekah trying to kind of clean things up with
Matt and get him to forgive her. 'I got upset. My bad, I tried to kill
you. But you survived! So now we can flirt again!' I feel like it's
going to continue to be the same dance, though, because at the end of
the day, in some weird way, Matt can wrap his head around why Rebekah
would do that."
While we were on set, we watched Zach filming
some sweet scenes with Grace Phipps, who plays Mystic Falls newbie April
Young. While April may have eyes for Matt, though, Zach tells us that
Matt views her more as a little sister than a potential love interest.
(We'll see about that!)
Of course, we had to ask Zach how things are going on set without his buddy Matt Davis
around -- since we've certainly been missing Alaric's incomparable
presence on screen. "I'm going to cry right now," he jokes. "I don't
really care... No, I miss him a lot. I miss you, buddy! Of course we
miss him, but I'm also super proud of him. He's kicking butt and taking
names up there. You know we talk all the time. He's doing exactly what
he's supposed to be doing."
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