I’ve avoided spoilers, thankfully, but from what I’ve read this season’s finale actually deals with the fallout from the events of the second to last episode, which means, in many ways, this was the penultimate episode that planted the seeds for the season’s climax. As such, I didn’t particularly mind that nothing monumental happened, aside from the closing moments.
Earlier this season I criticized the show for not having the characters react to the fact that Caroline was now a vampire. They treated it as if she was diagnosed with diabetes – it was just an unfortunate ailment that she now had to deal with and work around. They remedied this episode, when Elena responded to her disappointment over inevitably becoming a vampire herself. She wouldn’t be able to have kids or a family. She would never be able to live a normal life. And while I highly doubt Elena does become a vampire by season’s end, her reaction helped the viewer understand Jenna’s plight (provided she survives, and I hope she does). Jenna is now in that same boat – gone is the possibility of getting married, having kids of her own, and growing old. That, in and of itself, is a pretty tragic situation, and I’m glad they finally brought attention to it.
And in many ways, what happened to Jenna (and Caroline earlier this season) is actually even more heartbreaking than Elena’s current turmoil. Elena, while innocent, is at least the target in all of this. Characters like Jenna and Caroline are just a means to get to that end. So in the final moments of the episode, when we discovered that Jenna had been turned into a vampire so that she could be used as a sacrifice during the ritual, I was actually a bit disheartened. After all the time they had spent trying to protect her from the truth, she ends up paying one of the gravest prices possible. Like I said, I really do hope they find a way to save her (and by the way, so far my prediction that Katherine does something selfless is proving to be very, very wrong).
Last week I argued that, since Jenna was the last central character to find out the truth about vampires and the supernatural, we should have seen the scene in its entirety – not just the build up and fall out. In the same vein, I think we should have seen a bit more of Jenna’s reaction. It just felt like she was suddenly part of the group, and now understood Alaric’s behavior. I would have preferred to see her actually discuss the whole Isobel thing with him. One could easily argue that it wouldn’t be worth the time spent on a more-or-less secondary character, but I disagree. Understanding Jenna only would have made her transformation into a vampire all the more tragic.
This episode also saw the return of Tyler, as well as the renewed passion between him and Caroline. For his part, though, Matt was pretty f’n badass. Having said that, I thought it was a bit of a stretch to have him shoot and kill a guy, without knowing anything about him or the situation. Sure, it turned out that the guy he killed WAS a villainous witch holding his girlfriend hostage, but he didn’t know that. Actually, all he knew was that Damon was a nasty vampire. Yet he killed the guy attacking him. Just seemed slightly out of character.
Actually, though, I did enjoy Klaus and his whole backup plan. The emotional investment was in Damon rescuing Caroline and Tyler, and in turn preventing Klaus from sacrificing Elena, but in the end all he did was deprive Elena of her aunt. This episode actually accentuated Damon’s selfish behavior. Much like with Katherine last year, Damon does stubborn, reckless things all in the name of love. Yet he’s not doing it for the person he claims to love, he’s doing it for himself.
Speaking of Damon, for whatever reason, I really enjoy the unusual friendship that has developed between him and Alaric. Hard to believe they were trying to kill each other just a year ago. Then again, we may be there again if Damon’s actions lead to Jenna’s (permanent) death.
