The Vampire Diaries - The Last Dance

*** / ****
 Klaus got clever possessing Alaric, receiving first hand through his inclusion in the Elena inner circle their plans to use Bonnie's acquisition of dead witches' power to kill him. So he gets his warlock to apply a protection spell to diffuse Bonnie. Damon has a trick up his sleeve as well. Bonnie is a witch with considerable power, becoming more and more formidable. Inside Alaric, Klaus provides us with quite a jovially wisecracking tool. Clearly enjoying the life as an Original, with all the luxuries and experiences that come with it, Klaus isn't above basking in the glow of being bad. Matt Davis gets to try on a new persona as Klaus, temporarily given the chance to heel it up.

Katherine gets to repeatedly stab herself at Klaus' compelling, while he's out playing teach in the disguise of Alaric. He also enjoys teasing Elena by compelling students to inform her he's near. He's a dick. Damon is similar yet loves Elena so that is his driving positive force, but she wants him to quit acting on impulse. She sure slaps him real proper, that's for sure! Still Damon makes it really clear, even after her apology, that when it comes to her no one else matters as she does.

In the second season, Elena’s endangerment has swallowed up a significant chunk of The Vampire Diaries. Stefan and Damon, Bonnie and even Original Elijah have emerged to protect her under certain duress. Despite being jeopardized by her own mother and especially Katherine (although Katherine even helps her which certainly was a shock), always avoiding the fangs of vampires and being the attention of werewolves, and even potentially the very first vampire, Elena somehow has escaped peril time and again. I told my family that I admire the cleverness through how the writing team finds passage for Elena, but I often imagine in my mind the braintrust staring at screens, eyeballing the script, wondering how many white rabbits have puffy long ears poking out black hats. Just the same, I keep watching the show and the rabbits are there. The rabbits are there.

The episode sets the stage for Klaus and Elena meeting face to face…sort of. Within the body of Alaric, Klaus makes his intentions clear. He can afford to do that, it seems. He sure doesn’t want Elijah awakened. And Katherine is his prisoner for the interim. And he does prove to Bonnie, thanks to help from his warlock, that he’s been around for a long time for a reason. Bonnie, bleeding from the nose, as she shuts the doors of the room in the school to keep Elena and Stefan out, as she does battle with Klaus is my favorite scene in the episode. It is sure-fire melodramatic, as Elena thinking she was watching her friend die and not being able to stop it with Klaus mockingly defiant despite all the exploding lights and glass gives the audience all the pomp and circumstance of a season-finale fight. But it is only a mid-season twist that places Bonnie in hiding while Elena plucks the dagger from Elijah’s chest to await his awakening because that is what she does. Elena is always going about taking matters in her own hands when it could be a detriment to her health. Elena can be a headache for Stefan and Damon but what drives her is the safety and welfare of those she loves. So now Elijah is once again freed and Klaus still occupies Alaric, and Elena is right in the middle. How does Bonnie emerge once again to help…if she can without sacrificing herself.

Elena holding the deed to the Salvatore property produces a funny scene where Damon must await her permission to enter. I just thought that was amusing. Her staying there as a “safehouse” and then going to the school dance (60s theme) once again has Damon and Stefan frustrated. But Elena just will not be a prisoner, even if going out could be harmful. The dance puts Matt, trying to disguise his disgust with Caroline’s vampirism, into a bind but Sheriff Forbes needs him to be strong and carry on the façade for the time being. Caroline is oblivious to his still retaining all of the facts told to him by her, while he reports to her mother. This is actually a subplot I very much like due to its difficulty for the characters involved. This time it is Matt and her mother holding the secrets while Caroline is unaware that they know of her current status as a vampire. Matt trying to be genuine while Caroline is still crazy about him, as her mother urges him to continue, is a development certain to increasingly become more difficult due to the deception. Caroline was keeping secrets from her mother and Matt (out of a sense of protection for them), but their current allegiance behind her back is something that could produce quite a bit of dramatic tension and eventual heartbreak. Whatever the case, Matt is already struggling to keep secrets and continue to fake affection for Caroline. You can literally see him holding back his repulsion while she’s all smiles and romance.

Ugh.

@BtScarecrow88