Excuse me? Did I just fall asleep and dream that up? No, I don’t think my mind is twisted enough to have produced that series of events. This was the internal conversation I had after the ending of the season finale of The Vampire Diaries which was everything a season finale ought to be. It was the perfect combination of concluded problems and last minute suspense to earn a place on my calendar for the start of season two.
In Mystic Falls, it’s finally the Founder’s Day celebration and pandemonium ensues. To kick off the day, Stefan once again does everything to mark his territory, Elena, to Damon short of peeing on her. Anna, Jeremy’s vampire love, offers him immortality in the form of a vial of her blood. The vampires who have been released from a tomb seek revenge toward the families of the people who locked them away years ago otherwise known as the founding families. However, the members of the secret council, those trying to eliminate the vampires, have their own weapon, an old device designed to incapacitate the nearby vampires for five minutes. This would be enough time to have them injected with vervain. All of this is transpiring when the fireworks go off at the celebration.
The Vampire Diaries is a dark show; I mean literally I-can’t-see-what’s-going-on dark. This adds to the intensity of some of the scenes, but I’ve grown tired of watching shadows dance around the screen for the majority of the show. However, the slack left by the darkness is picked up by the music choices for the show. In the end of this episode during an unexpected kiss “Bloodstream” by Stateless sets the mood with lines like, “you’ve gotten into my bloodstream.” Some other of my favorite songs from The Vampire Diaries includes “Slow Poison” “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” “Gravity” and “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” The pacing of the show also makes up for the shows faults. Problems arise and are resolved so quickly the viewers will never be bored. Only half of the show could have passed, and I feel like I’ve watched a full length movie. It leaves the audience satisfied but still anxious for the next episode.
The “who’s better for Elena Damon or Stefan?” question is very tricky. On one hand Stefan already has Elena and they love each other; however, Damon is finding his humanity because he is starting to care for Elena. Damon needs Elena because he is beginning to show signs of becoming a better person, and she is the only one willing to give him a chance. Stefan is showing signs of jealousy of their bond. It doesn’t help that Elena is Katherine’s look-a-like, the cause of the first Salvatore brother battle for love. Just as Stefan tells Damon Elena is not Katherine, she enters dressed in an old-fashioned gown for the Founder’s Day parade and curtsies.
Damon has remained my favorite character in the series. While still retaining his snarky comments he manages to convey a man undergoing changes and shedding some of his rough layers that were shutting out emotions. In this episode, Damon apologized and showed gratitude where it was due. I was stunned into silence when he asked for Alaric’s help, a human he loathed, when he suspected trouble at the celebration. Fortunately, with his transformation he doesn’t lose his witty remarks that initially drew in the fans. When captured by the town’s protectors powerless to the injected vervain he spots the mayor who he knows isn’t a vampire in the cellar with the rest of the tomb vampires. After the mayor, hysterical, questions what he’s doing there with flames started to kill them all drawing closer and licking at his heels he manages to crack out, “I’m a vampire. What’s your excuse?” Of course Stefan then runs in and rescues him with the help of Bonnie’s witchcraft.
What makes this show work is its intricate plot and how even the supporting characters who play a big role in the storyline. Tyler and his father both heard the device, but they aren’t vampires. Are they some other type of supernatural being? Also, ever since Bonnie’s grandmother died she hasn’t been showing much emotion. Will she start to be herself again after helping Elena and Stefan save Damon? Uncle John Gilbert who actually turns out to be Elena’s biological father is the ringleader of the committee to exterminate all the vampires. He is violent and manipulative, but I have to respect his passion to get what he wants. He caused Anna’s final death with a stake through her heart. The audience has to question if it was mercy, better staking than burning, or was he making sure she didn’t escape and head straight back to his nephew, Jeremy.
My favorite tortured soul in this show would have to be Jeremy. Elena’s troubled little brother whose previous girl became a vampire, tried to kill him, and was then killed. His memory was erased but he found out what really happens eventually. Now he holds a grudge against his sister for convincing Damon to take away his memories of Vicky. Jeremy ends the season by shooting down a vial of Anna’s blood and following it with a bottle of pills. Will someone save him into or will he transform into a vampire?
At the end of the episode we find Damon expressing his emotions to Elena. He longs to be good but says that Stefan is the good brother. He was so sincere and honest that he seemed like a child wishing to be a superhero. After telling Elena, “Somewhere along the way, you decided I was worth saving,” he leans in for a kiss… on her cheek, but she doesn’t pull away, so he goes in for a real kiss that Aunt Jenna interrupts. She goes inside to find John who tries to explain his actions to her. (Fair warning: spoilers ahead.) She says she understands, and then… bam! She slices his fingers with the life-protecting ring. Hello, Katherine. Cue: real Elena walking up to her house.
How are the innocents of Mystic Falls oblivious to all these occurrences? Will Katherine stick around to see Elena? How did Damon not realize he wasn’t talking to Elena, maybe he did? What seemed like a fairly mellow ending within the last few minutes became a shocking and suspenseful cliffhanger to keep the audience restless.