As much as I really enjoyed “Before Sunset” and couldn’t believe it was over, I know I missed something. How could Klaus be dead and yet Tyler and whoever else Klaus turned into a vampire be alive? How did that technicality work again? Why were the brothers rejoicing over the fact he was dead and they were going to dump his body in the Atlantic? Don’t they realize he’s only mostly dead and these things with the originals never stick? Why do I think this is not the end of Klaus? Why do I think the end for Alaric is very near?
“Before Sunset”, the final episode before “The Vampire Diaries” season finale, airs tonight and man does it seem like there’s a lot to resolve (or even leave us hanging) with in two episodes.
There was no Producer’s Preview released this week, but the preview clip and trailer for this episode certainly give us some hints. Klaus plays a friendly (cough) visit to the Gilbert household. Seems he needs a few items for his trip out of town. Spare tire, flashlight, doppleganger. Needless to say, Stefan, Damon, and Jeremy didn’t accommodate. I didn’t like the way Stefan sent Jeremy away in this clip. After all, he is the man of the house now!
I have to admit, I’ve been putting off my Vampire Diaries review this week. This show has always known how to hit us hard with the big, sweeping, emotional scenes but considering Alaric is one of my favorites (and at risk since he’s not a lead that we know won’t die), I pretty much lost it. Of course knowing that Matt Davis just filmed the pilot for “Cult” and it might get picked up by The CW doesn’t help either.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the latest twists. Alaric, who’s evil side is first present, decides to go along with Esther’s diabolical plot. She’s the one that’s been contacting him on the other side every time he died, trying to get him to embrace his inner ruthless vampire hunter. He helps Esther go back to her own body and the fun begins.
I always smile whenever “The Vampire Diaries” does their themed school dance nights. Geez, have they ever gone well? I say they’re just gluttons for punishment.
Executive Producer Julie Plec echos that sentiment in her weekly Producer’s Preview. “Do Not Go Gentle” in her words, “There’s a lot of crazy stuff in this episode that’s really, really, really bad.” I hope she means a good bad. She usually does!
From what is shown here and in the previews, Elena takes Stefan to the dance, which I’m sure will be a very sore spot for Damon, Tyler and Caroline are still on the jealously kick but this time Klaus shows up to make it interesting, and Bonnie shows up with Jamie to the dance and sees that Jeremy is back. Love triangles galore! Plus Not!Rebekah is working with Not!Alaric to wipe out all the vampires. Oh yes, the dance is the perfect setting for that kind of mayhem.
Yes, I’m breathing again. I’m not going to start with Damon and Elena, because honestly if I did, I wouldn’t get through this review. I’ve already got my shower set on the coldest setting for when I’m done with this.
I’m not sure about all of you, but in the contest of most dysfunctional family, I don’t think I’ve seen any family in TV more deserving of the prize than the Mikaelson family. I’m sure that’s par for the course considering they’re the original vampires, but wow. Talk about mommy and daddy issues.
Nothing like a game changer to take us into a mini hiatus! Since last season, killing originals, especially Klaus, has been a relentless mantra. It finally took until this episode to learn why that is not a good idea.
“The Murder of One” ends up being just that. An original dies. The motivation is to kill them all by just killing one, thanks to the originals being bound by a spell by their witch mother. Turns out it’s a darn good thing that Klaus kidnapped Bonnie against her will and threatened Jeremy (who’s being watched by brother Kol) if she didn’t reverse the spell.
I pegged eldest brother Finn to be a goner the second he was ambushed by his younger brother and sister and forced to come back to Mystic Falls. They needed his blood so they could do the unbinding spell. Finn gave his blood and stuck around though, thanks to Klaus reuniting him with his long lost love, Sage. They had a whirlwind afternoon of catching up before team Stefan, consisting of Elena, Matt, and Caroline, ambushed Finn in the alley. Matt killed him with one of their white oak stakes and he burst into flames.
“Break On Through” did what any episode is supposed to do, move the plot bunnies along. I can’t say anything extraordinary happened, but what played out is still relevant to the overall scheme. The episode did have it’s moments.
There were three stories going on, and the three didn’t flow together all that well. Individually they were acceptable though. First up was Alaric, who’s getting a CAT scan at the hospital under the supervision of saintly Dr. Meredith. In what’s supposed to be creepy, but turned out more awkward than anything, Alaric sees something different and slightly more sinister in his reflection in the mirror during the scan. It’s too subtle though to tell us much, intentionally I presume to continue doubt.
Alaric is fine medically, so he goes off with Damon and Meredith to some dedication at the Wickery Bridge to kick off story #2. Isn’t that the bridge where Elena’s and Jeremy’s parents died? I guess no one is remembering that. Low and behold, there’s a long lost friend of Damon’s there. It’s none other than Sage, who we saw in the flashback last week. She’s apparently there to get back at Rebekah for something, even though she should be looking for Rebekah’s brother Finn. She didn’t seem to be too hellbent on that despite the fact he’s the love of her life. More on that coming.
For the third story, it’s off to Abby’s house with Bonnie and Caroline. Abby isn’t adjusting to the whole vampire thing very well. Tell me, has anyone transitioned into a vampire well? The story did need to play out and it’s good to see Bonnie and Caroline with some screen time, but not a lot happens in this plot. Abby is unstable, Caroline and Bonnie try to help, Abby leaves anyway. More heartbreak for Bonnie, I get it. It’s nice seeing Jamie again though. He isn’t given much to do other than act stupid about Abby being a vampire, but I didn’t mind since he gives the eyes some very fine entertainment.
Alaric, even though he surrendered the ring, spends most of his time on lockdown with Meredith at casa de Gilbert. They talk about various things. She’s drugging him to prevent him from going apeshit, but that doesn’t work for long. Elena in the meantime is over at Stefan’s doing some research on Samantha Gilbert, only to find that when she committed one of her murders she wasn’t wearing the ring. Yes, that sets off some red flags.
Another red flag is when they search Alaric’s apartment. Seems that since the Bennett witches created the no death ring, there’s a spell that might reverse the madness Alaric is experiencing. All they need is something he touched before he put the ring on. Why his wedding ring of course. They go looking for the ring, and instead find a whole bunch of evidence that not only is Alaric killing founders, but he’s going to contact Jeremy, the other ring bearer, to help him with the task as well. Ruh roh.
Sure enough, in a strangely predictable twist (rare for this show), evil Alaric disposes of the medicine Meredith is giving him and goes after her with a kitchen knife. He wounds her badly, but she’s able to run and lock herself in the bathroom upstairs, which has three doors? Yikes, that is not the room to run to for safety. She stabs Alaric in the hand while locking the third door and falls on the floor to bleed to death. In another predictable twist, Elena and Stefan show up in time for Stefan smell her blood, easily disable a knife wielding Alaric and heal Meredith with his blood. Oh, but in the process of doing all this he overcomes his obsessive craving for human blood (which is everywhere), so it’s a win for everybody!
Alaric wakes up to see Damon keeping watch. Bonnie performed the spell, but they need to be cautious. Alaric also has to take herbs twice a day for, probably forever. This means this plot is probably not over yet and something will go wrong. After all, I watch this show. In a mega, mega bonus, Elena calls Jeremy to check in on him and they show him!!! Yay, Jeremy! Alaric hasn’t been in touch with him, so Elena doesn’t let on about the ring. Oh yeah, this is so going to backfire on her.
In the meantime, Sage and Rebekah pretend to hate each other, but Rebekah comes to Damon’s party anyway even though the only other guest is Sage. Okay. Damon sleeps with Rebekah, Sage reads her thoughts after she sleeps off all that torrid sex, and shares with Damon her thoughts by making out in the shower with him. Rebekah’s looking for the white oak tree. Wearing nothing but a strategically placed white towel (yes, I was too distracted wishing for the darned thing to fall off), Damon finds the family journal of the old logging business. That makes me curious, since I thought Stefan was the family librarian. Anyway, seems that the white oak tree was used to make the Wickery Bridge! Will wonders never cease.
Sage takes this info and tells Rebekah, so I guess they were in cahoots? That makes sense, since if Rebekah dies all the originals die, including Sage’s beloved Finn. Rebekah burns the bridge. Damon pretends to be all pissed off at them both, but then he tells Stefan later it was all part of his plan, or something like that. He uncovers something he lifted before the fire, the original Wickery bridge sign, made of the same white oak tree. The next plan, time to kill some originals. Oh, how these vampires love to double cross one another all the time.
Next episode, the brothers try to kill originals. Good luck with that! Until next week.
Well, I didn’t see that coming.
What am I saying, this is the freaking Vampire Diaries! I never see it coming. Most episodes though end with their “mini” cliffhangers and me going “that’s a new twist.” This week my reaction was a more intense, “WHAT??????”
We have a serial killer folks. Apparently this isn’t the first time council members in Mystic Falls have been murdered. It happened in 1912. To Zachariah Salvatore. He was Damon and Stefan’s nephew, although the cover at the funeral was “Uncle.” The appearance of the black crow in the graveyard was a nice callback. Damon must be in town.
Addressing the cliffhanger from the last episode, Alaric awakes in jail with blood and a bullet hole on his shirt but a healed wound. Meredith was nice enough to heal him with vampire blood after she shot him, but not nice enough to keep his ass from being thrown in jail for murder of founders members. She even claims that Alaric’s knife attack was self inflicted. No, I’m not buying it either.
Elena and Matt certainly aren’t buying her story and break into Meredith’s place. They find an old Gilbert family journal, which Matt easily hides when they’re caught by Meredith. His explanation for getting away with theft is so perfect Matt. “Sometimes it pays to be the only normal one in a town of vampires. You’re practically invisible.”
Matt becomes this week’s fourth wheel, or fifth wheel, oh heck perhaps the eighth wheel in this whole Elena/Damon/Stefan love triangle. Elena tells an inquisitive Matt why she fell for Stefan. He felt safe after her parents died, because he can’t die. Matt doesn’t understand why she fell for Damon then. “Damon just sort of snuck up on me,” Elena confesses. “No matter what I do I can’t shake him.” I do wonder if that’s exactly why Katherine fell for him too. In the “let’s add insult to injury” part, Matt tells Elena once you fall in love with someone, he doesn’t know if you can ever shake them. Cue massive Elena guilt. Poor Matt. He just can’t seem to love the right girl, can he?
Among all this, something extraordinary happened in the Salvatore camp. The brothers both decided to care for each other! Damon was livid over Alaric’s imprisonment and went to Stefan for help since Stefan has journaled everything since the 1800’s. He got Stefan’s journal from 1912 and man, this brotherly relationship was more screwed up then.
Back to 1912, the brothers reunited for the first time in 50 years. Damon snacked on any woman that moved while Stefan was avoiding human blood. Enter the sultry Sage, who showed Damon that women can be more than food, they can be pleasure. She showed him the type of woman to target and a pattern was born. One that exists to this day (womanizer anyone?). The problem was, Damon wanted to get Stefan in on the action but Stefan had that ripper thing going. The same problem that exists today. Stefan fed on the girl Damon picked but also proceeded to rip her head off. He ran away to be a serial killer and Damon let him. Ah, dysfunctional families.
Present day and it’s obvious Damon carries that guilt. Stefan hasn’t been withdrawing from human blood well, so Damon’s determined to show him moderation. The victim du jour is picked, and Stefan almost goes overboard. Unlike 1912, Damon steps in and saves the girl, stopping Stefan from something he’ll regret. Later Damon vows that he will pull Stefan back every day until he doesn’t need him anymore. Why? “Cause right now, you’re all I’ve got.” I was blown away by how both brothers emotionally sold this scene. Salvatores in it now only for each other. It gave me goosebumps.
All of this drama has to lead to something, right? Now for the shocker. When Alaric talked with Liz in jail early in the episode, it’s revealed he’s been having memory lapses. He’s released from jail after Meredith comes up with some falsified evidence clearing him. Yeah, letting a killer loose doesn’t make sense to me either. Elena reads the journal and finds it belonged to Samantha Gilbert, who we saw in the flashbacks. She went a little nutty. Actually, a lot. Stefan found in one of his books she confessed to the murders ten years later and was sent to an asylum. This was after Damon supposedly killed her.
Once Stefan and Damon figure out Samantha cannot be alive killing people now, they realize what Meredith already has figured out. Samantha was wearing the Gilbert anti-death ring. Meredith visits Alaric to reveal the ring has a side effect. Total out of your flipping mind insanity. “You wear a ring that lets you cheat death Ric. How many times can you die before it changes you?” All the victims were killed with Alaric’s weapons. Then Elena shows up with the diary. Meredith speaks the truth. Alaric is our killer.
But, but, but…oh wow! Really??? So what’s going to happen to Alaric now? Does this mean they’re gonna get Jeremy back to make sure he hasn’t been absentmindedly killing people in Colorado? I really hope this means we’re getting Jeremy back. But first, the preview addresses the current problem. Alaric is bonkers.
Also in this very packed hour, Rebekah bugs the Salvatores about their family’s logging past and gets nowhere, and Bonnie’s mom decides being a vampire is better than death. Which still means Bonnie is still blaming Elena. There also wasn’t a lot of time spent on Sage, but she’s in the previews for next week. Damon, Rebekah, and Sage in a bedroom having fun. Time to fill in the blanks!
What a great way to come back from a long break. Can’t wait for next week!
If you asked me this time last season if Damon and Elena should be together, I would have given you a big fat “eww” and scratched that repulsive thought from my mind. It’s funny how things change. Sexual tension is a very well know tactic in television, but I’ve never seen sexual tension like this. There’s far more than tension going on here. It’s two people with remarkable chemistry that are burning up the screen in every way imaginable all because they’re defying the natural order. In other words, this one goes to eleven.
Other than I feel myself needing an ice bath every time Damon and Elena are together on screen, I found five reasons why they should be caving into their desires, guilt over Stefan be damned. And it’s not just because I’m enjoying the soft porn I’m getting every week from watching these two. Come on, admit it, watching Stefan and Elena every week was like watching a fairy tale compared to her and his brother.
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