The Vampire Diaries – Episode 2-22 Review

Reviews, Shows

I initially read that the season finale of The Vampire Diaries would deal with the fall out of the episode before, and while it wasn’t quite as much of a bloodbath as the prior week, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of excitement and development that had occurred.

I was pleased that somebody, even though it was Damon, brought up the fact that Damon was at least indirectly responsible for Jenna’s death. Thankfully for Damon, Alaric revealed that he doesn’t blame him. I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I sorta love the strange friendship that has developed between these two. Believe it or not, just a season ago, they were trying to kill each other (and Damon DID successfully kill Alaric, if I remember correctly).

Speaking of Alaric, I’m also a little disappointed that something wasn’t brought up. Namely, what becomes of Elena and Jeremy now that everybody in their family is dead. Parents? Dead. Aunt? Dead. Biological father/adoptive uncle? Dead. For that matter, Elena’s vampire mother is dead as well. As far as we know, that’s their entire bloodline. Elena might be 18, but Jeremy isn’t. Who gets custody of these two? I’m glad Alaric had the sense, even in his drunken stupor, to realize they need some companionship and stability, and opted to stay the night. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing him become their guardian. It wouldn’t be too out of the realm of possibility (he did have a relationship with their prior guardian, and like I said, everyone else is dead) and he’s a fun character.

One thing that did surprise me, though, was the lack of development/resolution to the Caroline/Matt/Tyler love triangle. This is one story where the finale seemed to take a step back to let the more significant arcs tell their tale. I did like the way things played out with Caroline and her mother, though. Caroline was able to get through to her mother by allowing her to see how far her blind hatred towards vampires had taken her. For all intents and purposes, she murdered Jeremy – an innocent teenager, in an ill fated attempt to bring down Damon. Her actions were rash and tragic were the repercussions. Had she behaved more rationally, this entire thing would have been avoided. That’s why I appreciated the fact that Caroline corrected her when she said that she almost killed Jeremy. She DID kill Jeremy – supernatural forces just brought him back.

For that matter, I really enjoyed Jeremy’s “death” because, at this point, I honestly believed there was a possibility that he could die. When the show kills off a main character, the ones without supernatural abilities are usually the first to go. And if you’re somebody Elena cares about, then there’s an extra big target on your back. My inclination was that they’d bring him back somehow, but it certainly wasn’t a given. I also like the idea of Jeremy seeing some of the loved ones he’s lost over the past couple of years – and he’s lost A LOT. What are they? Are they ghosts? Visions? And is he only going to see people that died by supernatural means? If not, perhaps we’ll see his parents. If so, will he only see people he’s been in love with? If not, perhaps we’ll see Jenna and John pop up as well. There are a lot of options here. Plus, there’s finally a reason to bring back Vickie. I always found it strange that she died within the first few episodes, yet the actress continued appearing at events well into the second season.

While Katherine didn’t do anything monstrously selfless like I had originally predicted, I was pleased that she showed some compassion and loyalty by giving Damon the cure to his deadly werewolf bite when she didn’t have to. For much of this season, we’ve been forced to wonder whether or not Katherine ever truly cared for Damon. At several points it seemed like she just strung him along for her own enjoyment. After all, she repeatedly and explicitly stated her preference for Stefan. Yet other times, you were forced to wonder if her abusive treatment of him was actually just her manner of toying with him. She cared about him, she just wasn’t particularly nice. As we approached the finale, I got the sense that Damon held a place in Katherine’s heart. She seemed to respond to his presence, and there were a few occasions that she seemed to come to her aid. In the final moments of the episode, after giving Damon Klaus’ blood, she finally confessed to Elena that she does love Damon (and Stefan as well).

It’s odd, I’ve always been pro Stefan/Elena, yet I really wanted to see Damon and Katherine – in their current incarnations – happen. Maybe next season.

Speaking of which, that’s it for me this season. Have a great summer, see you in September!

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into various popular television shows. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.