The Sacrifice

Vampire Diaries Episode Review

In which everyone has a plan. And when you think about it? None of them worked. The Vampire Diaries seems to have gotten to the hair-spin loop portion of the story track. Here's hoping it doesn't fly off the rails.

What Happened

Stefan and Damon have a plan to get into the tomb long enough to grab the moonstone, but Elena isn't interested. She doesn't want them destroying the moonstone - something that is guaranteed to upset Klaus and put her loved ones in danger. Bonnie helps by producing some magic dust that will knock Katherine out, but Jeremy is worried that she's still not strong enough to open the tomb spell, so he steals some of the dust and sneaks out on his own.

Elena asks Rose to take her to see Slater, hoping to get more information on Klaus. They find Slater's body, but then his tearful girlfriend pops out of the other room. Rose says that all the girl wanted was to be turned, so Elena tricks her into accessing Slater's email by offering to have Rose make her a vampire. Elena has a message sent to Klaus' minions: the doppelganger is willing to turn herself over.

Realizing what she is up to, Rose summons Damon to talk Elena out of the suicidal thing. Down in the tomb, Stefan and Bonnie discover that Jeremy got the moonstone, but was caught by Katherine in the attempt. When Bonnie is unable to open the tomb spell, Katherine threatens Jeremy. Stefan rushes into the tomb and tosses Jeremy out, but is now trapped himself.

Damon gets to Slater's place before Klaus' minions, but Elijah has also figured out where Elena is. (Rose decides this is a good time to be somewhere else.) When he ascertains that Klaus has no idea what his minions are up to, Elijah rips their hearts out. Then... he turns and walks out, leaving a very surprised Damon and Elena behind.

The Good

• Collar flip on the way out the door. Damn, you're cool Jonas.
• Rose's eager expression when Elena offers her a daywalker ring.
• Sneaky Elena. Manipulating Rose and Slater's girlfriend.
• Sneaky Jeremy. Going off on his own and he almost pulls it off.
• Sneaky Bonnie. Her unapologetic use of Luka kind of impresses me. It backs up her tough talk with action.
• Mason's tape and Tyler's reaction. Intense.
• Tyler and Caroline. And Matt. Poor Matt.
• Elijah is up to something besides what we thought he was.
• Jeremy and Bonnie. Just kiss him already.

The Bad

• I've lost track of what time of year it is supposed to be on the show. We had Halloween in season one and then some time and then at least a month of Founder's Day stuff, so that's what? Early spring?
• Seriously. Damon. Five seconds to go, "Uh, Stefan, your girlfriend is trying to get herself killed again." That's all it would have taken.

The Cliche

• I know it's next week, but the promo? Sex in a tomb? Really? (I need to stop fixating. I'm starting to sound weird and creepy.)

What Did I Think?

Using anger to mask unresolved sexual tension is massively cliche, but Elena and Damon are so good at it. It helps that they are arguing about real issues instead of just sniping at each other. I just wish it didn't take Stefan getting stuck in a tomb to move things forward because I suspect that he's about to do something stupid. Which will result in Elena doing something stupid. Which will result in listening to them talk about the stupid for months when the whole thing could have been avoided by the writers not. being. stupid.

On the other hand, I seem to recall throwing a similar snit fit over the whole Connor-Cordelia thing on Angel and I actually think that turned out well. Or at least I can say that I found Jasmine interesting enough to make up for the necessity of some stupid to kick things off. So, we'll pause and wait to see what happens.

And then throw the snit fit.