The Vampire Diaries - The Sacrifice

*** / ****

I came away quite a bit surprised at Elijah, a feared Original who had only Damon standing in the way of Elena. He departs, leaving Elena and Damon unscathed. Elena was right there for the taking. He returns to his place of current occupation (perhaps the residence of his own personal warlock, Jonas (Randy J Goodwin)) considering Elena’s safety of the utmost importance. It did fascinate me, Elijah’s enigmatic strategy, not yet securing Elena, a prize for Klaus. There’s a lot of back story not yet revealed to us at this point in the second season, though. It does appear that Elijah is in no hurry, although he does seem to enjoy killing “weaker vampires”. Those that cower and acquiesce to his presence, hoping to be spared any “punishment”, are killed by Elijah as he gives them a false sense of security. Daniel Gilles, as Elijah, carries himself with that face not entirely translucent. He’s got a good poker face, often lulling those in his way (or perhaps just annoying him), preferably vampires, into their own demise. Elena recruits vampires located on the computer of a “vampire historian”—killed in the previous episode (and friend to Rose) by Elijah—with help from Rose (reluctantly). Rose can’t let Elena just sacrifice herself (hence the title, The Sacrifice) so she contacts Damon. Damon shows up to protect Elena while Rose flees at Elijah’s arrival. Rose wasn’t about to stick around considering she was granted a reprieve by Elijah..she’s not squandering her freedom, although just associating herself with Damon and Elena you’d think would land her in hot water.

Elena just wants for her friends and family to be okay. If she can just turn herself over, perhaps this would salvage the lives of everyone she loves. Rose just can’t allow this without at least calling up Damon. Elena’s welfare (and the welfare of those in her life she’s close to) will always be in jeopardy as long as she’s surrounded by vampires and werewolves.

It does seem as if as if the writing team  is shuffling up the cast romances, freshening up couplings. Bonnie and Jeremy I boo because I just think she deserves someone a bit older and more mature. Of course I admittedly think few deserve her but that's me crushing I guess.

I am honest in that the Jeremy character just annoys me. There are just those characters who irk you with just their presence. His face, I just want to smack him. He is always acting impulsively, not contemplating the repercussions. Using ash from a burnt picture cursed by Bonnie, Jeremy decides he’ll take it upon himself to proceed to the tomb sealed with witch magic to conceal Katherine and find the moonstone, equipped with a stake for extra potency. Katherine, of course, recovers quickly once shot with the stake and subdued by the ash. Taking Jeremy prisoner, when Stefan and Bonnie reach the tomb, Katherine has bait. Bonnie isn’t strong enough, even when “linked” to Jonas’ warlock son, Luka (Bryton James) after being introduced to this ability (when each has a possession of the other, in this case, items of dogtags and bracelet exchanged) by him, collapsing to the ground, leaving Stefan no choice but to rescue Jeremy and replace him in the tomb. Of course, this leaves Stefan trapped with Katherine! Damon agrees to keep Elena from entering the tomb (like her brother, Elena just goes on impulse instead of truly weighing out all options) stopping her during one attempt. Jeremy did toss the moonstone out of the tomb before being bitten and Stefan was able to toss him out before Katherine could interfere. So a new drama emerges: how does Stefan get out without Katherine escaping?

Jenna and Alaric spend most of their time during this part of the season romantically intertwined as all the vampire drama unfolds. Jenna did nearly die thanks to Katherine, but that doesn’t stop her from satisfying her sexual needs with Alaric. Elena encountering them outside her room is one of those amusingly awkward exchanges, but Jenna is happy so that is what matters. This is part of what motivates Elena. She wants happiness for those in her life.

Caroline and Tyler visit the dungeon where Mason was keeping himself away from innocents during his werewolf turns. Tyler sees his uncle’s agony during a turn, not at all wanting any part of this. With the Full Moon approaching, the dread is building. Caroline tries to comfort Tyler while he questions why she would care considering they have never been that close or all that friendly. NEW ROMANCE ALERT. I kind of felt this was a direction VD Creative was taking these characters. Matt apologizes to Tyler about his behavior (when it was Katherine’s influence over him responsible for it) and visits Caroline (with Tyler meeting him at the door). The tension already emerges between the three. Caroline has indicated her desire for Matt but she’s drawn close (and vice versa) to Tyler. So I guess this will yield a love triangle of some sort. Not particularly interested in where this will go, but I’m always interested in Caroline specifically. Too often the show stops and starts, starts and stops with Matt. He’s the male equivalent of Bonnie: often vanishing from the show then re-emerging when something new might be available to involving him or her. Bonnie is finally center of the vampire conflict much like Elena, given a lot more to do than in the past when she wasn’t even seen at all (or spoken of).