The Vampire Diaries – Episode 3-13 Review – “Bringing Out the Dead”

Reviews, Top Story

Alaric is slowly but surely becoming the Kenny of The Vampire Diaries.  How many times is this guy murdered?  This season alone, I think I’ve counted three.

 

So we finally found out what was in the fourth coffin.  I suppose it’s no surprise that it was the matriarch of the family, but it was still a cool reveal.  For a moment I actually considered the possibility that Klaus’ family would kill him (first I thought it would be his siblings collectively, then I thought it would be his mother swiftly), but I wondered if they would really give the “kill” to somebody other than a main character.  I mean, Klaus’ demise has been built up for the past two seasons – it would be a bit of a disappointment if somebody else swooped in and did the deed.  Especially seemingly villainous characters.

 

While we’re on the topic of characters dying, this episode did result in a loss (even if it wasn’t necessarily a major one), as Caroline’s father died.  This was actually a clever situation, where he was murdered but was resurrected because he still had vampire blood in his system.  However, he opted not to feed in order to complete the transition, thus ending his life.  So he had the rare opportunity to come back to life after his murder before dying again.  It was certainly a unique situation, and it allowed for some touching moments where Caroline and her father got to clear the air and express their love.  He was hardly a character we had the opportunity to truly care for, but his death still had an impact.

 

As matters with Klaus continues to progress, the writers have wisely introduced another mystery as members of the Founders Council are getting attacked and murdered.  The obvious suspect was Dr. Fell, who had a motive.  Another possibility is Tyler, which was proposed but quickly written off.  The originals, as well as Stefan and Damon, were all together during Alaric’s attack, so any of their involvement seems unlikely as well.

 

I honestly don’t know who it might be, but the scenes did provide some great moments (in addition to the one I mentioned above).  The first was Stefan’s pained reaction to Elena’s accusation if he had murdered the medical examiner, and his realization that she wouldn’t accuse Damon of the same crime.  The next scene was when Elena discovered Alaric’s body and was forced to murder him in order to save his life.  It was great because (a) Matt was there to sell the disturbing nature of the entire scene, and (b) Elena finally acknowledged the fact that she’s lost everybody in her family and that Alaric is all she has left (I also found it strangely sweet how she asked Matt to stay with her until Alaric wakes up).  Speaking of Matt, I wonder if all these heart to heart moments between him and Elena are leading to something.  They’ve had a few of these moments over the past couple of episodes, after being kept apart for most of the series.

 

Aside from the brief interaction between Stefan and Elena, this is one of the first episodes I recall of the season where both Damon and Stefan were kept away from Elena.  And it provided an interesting look at how much things have progressed and changed over the past season.  It’s been mentioned before, but Stefan and Damon have really switched roles within their little Scooby Gang.  Now, Damon is the one everybody turns to (both Elena and Bonnie called him when something transpired), and Stefan is the one they reluctantly turn to when they don’t have any other choice.  This is, of course, the reverse of what had always been true – and now that Stefan is no longer “turned off” and realizes how much he’s lost and how much more he could lose, you can see how much this bothers him.  He seemed hurt that Elena would accuse him and not Damon of the attacks, and you could tell that he was bothered that Elena called Damon, and not him, at the end of the night.  It’s easy to blame Stefan for all that has happened, but you do have to remember that he’s in this situation because of the sacrifices he made for Elena and Damon.  And those sacrifices only brought them back together.

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.