The Sun Also Rises

Vampire Diaries Episode Review

In which people die. Some surprises. Some twists. Some things that happened just as you expected. Some more evidence of just how good The Vampire Diaries is compared to other stuff on television.

What Happened

Finishing her preparations for the ritual, Greta completes Jenna's transition and retrieves Jules. Klaus wanders in to get things started by ripping Jules' heart out in front of Jenna and Elena. As Greta continues to chant, Elena tells Jenna to run if she gets the chance.

Trapped in the Lockwood cellar, Matt shoots Tyler then Caroline gets them past the wounded werewolf. As they hide in the house, Matt tells Caroline about his deal with Sheriff Forbes. Tyler eventually regains his human form and staggers home. Watching Caroline help him, Matt decides that he's not ready to handle the craziness that is their life.

Stefan decides to trade himself for Jenna and leaves Bonnie, Jeremy and John to search Emily Bennett's spellbook for a way to save Elena. They find a spell that can use a parent's life force to resurrect a child and John insists that Bonnie use it. Elijah tells Stefan that Klaus took their family from him - killing the other Originals and dropping their bodies into the sea so that they couldn't be found and brought back. He assure Stefan that he'll go through with the plan.

Stefan offers the trade, but Klaus refuses. He has other plans for Stefan and leaves him staked to the ground beside Elena. Jenna makes a break for it and tries to kill Greta. Klaus saves the witch's life, then kills Jenna. He drains Elena completely and begins to transform into a werewolf - which is Bonnie's opportunity. She uses her magic to hold Klaus, while Elijah moves in for the kill. Klaus stops him, however, with an offer to show Elijah where their missing family has been hidden. Elijah chooses to save his brother's life and they vanish.

Damon takes Elena back to Jeremy and John. As she wakes up, Emily's spell exacts its price and John dies. After the funeral, Damon tells Stefan about the werewolf bite, but asks him not to tell Elena.

The Good

• Jenna going after Greta. One last brave intelligent act.
• Twist! That keeps both Elijah and Klaus. They really are too good to lose this early.
• Caroline and Tyler. So sweet.

The Bad

• Killing Greta. What a waste.

The Cliche

• Always got time for the drama. (Elena and Jenna.)
• Your life is too crazy. We can't be together. (Matt and Caroline. Granted I understand his emotions, but still...)
• The people they spent the last six episodes saying would die? Not dead. (Klaus, Elena, and Bonnie. Well, I guess technically Elena died but not really.)

What Did I Think?

Called it on Jules and Jenna. John was a surprise. I thought that they would leave at least one parental figure in Elena and Jeremy's life. This leaves them completely detached from adult supervision. (You'd think the state would step in.) But it worked to keep Elena alive and not turned into a vampire and the cost - like Bonnie and the hundred witches - is high enough that they can't always be pulling it out.

This episode wraps up the doppelganger story (minus the answer of who Elena is the doppelganger of) in a surprising way - by allowing Klaus to "win" and become a hybrid. Of course, they also manage to move along to the next level by teasing the possibility of all the Originals showing up. There's also still the questions like how and why the Originals were created in the first place. And I love that both Klaus and Elijah survived because now we get the lovely parallel between them and Salvatore brothers.

Jenna went out well. It surprised me that she went for Greta, but it was clever. She didn't have much chance against Klaus, but Greta was vulnerable. A smart move on her part. A slightly less smart move to use all the Martin witches as cannon fodder. They deserved better than that.

Of course, now I'm wondering what Klaus' plan was for Stefan. Was it connected to why he didn't kill Katherine? Did he intend to make them hybrids? How would that work? Maybe he just wanted something to eat later. Test out his hybrid werewolf bite?

The Matt / Caroline / Tyler business was sweet, but a bit distracting. It was pitched at a completely different level as the rest of things. As an ongoing plotline, however, Caroline's conflict with her mother is moving and I hope we see that followed up on next week. Tyler's come a long way since the one-note bully of the pilot. Like Caroline, this season has really deepened his character. I can see why Matt pulled away - he's suddenly lying to his friends, running around in the night and shooting people - but the specific dialogue was cliched and banal. I wish they had gotten past the "it's my life" level and touched on how torn Matt was about about the deception and violence.

They are so not killing Damon. I can think of at least three ways they could get out of this. (One involving Tyler, one involving Katherine, and one involving Bonnie.) It's not really about curing the bite that matters at this point. It's about him taking more steps away from psychopath territory. Which - despite the whole Team Stefan thing - I'm totally in favor of. The story and performances on this have been stellar throughout and I want to know what happens next, dammit.