The Vampire Diaries - Ghost World

*½ / ****

Out of the three seasons, The Vampire Diaries can often make me squirm with its soap opera shenanigans and emphasis on love triangles and such, but I never felt the show has ever outright been so ridiculous I could barely watch it without laughing. The witchcraft used to return Jeremy back to life and to send a dangerous Vicki away before she could kill Elena (in order to remain mortal) unleashes the ghosts of many dead characters from the past. Ana is very real to Jeremy and as long as he keeps her on his mind she remains by his side, to the point they can touch and kiss. Of course that isn’t exactly cool with Bonnie! If I get any real satisfaction from this episode it is that Bonnie ended the romance with Jeremy because he just couldn’t send Ana away. Matt, obviously, is still languishing over having to bid goodbye to his sister, in a lot of pain due to his loneliness and lack of real connections with anyone. That’s a different story for a different episode. Eventually  ghosts that emerge include Frederick and tomb vampires aiming to target human ancestors of Mystic Falls, Mason getting some licks in on Damon (who deserved it) before leading him to a supposed weapon that might can kill Klaus (doing this for Tyler), Lexi returning to “dry out” the “ripper" (Stefan) as Elena painfully watches, and even Grams showing up to assist Bonnie in conjuring a spell that will send all of the ghosts to the other side where they belong. Ana must give up the necklace and Jeremy in order for the other more dangerous ghosts to be thwarted of their plot to kill a lot of Mystic Falls’ locals…the necklace will be the tool that will help Bonnie complete the spell successfully. Lexi was responsible for “healing” the ripper in the past, but Klaus’ hold over Stefan appears to be too strong, despite her efforts to cause hallucinations and repeatedly stab him (adding extra effect to his body). I don’t know what it is about the writer’s room and torture on this show! It seems like every other episode has some character strapped/chained to a chair or imprisoned in a cell…it has become a running joke, really. Damon having to [disingenuously] apologize to Mason for torturing and killing him, later actually meaning it to Alaric (Damon has few friends, so Alaric deserves an apology if anybody does) provides some amusement, but their trip into another cavernous lair to find paintings on the walls leaves us with a possible resolution to Klaus’ reign of terror. I won’t hold my breath. Elena not giving up on Stefan despite his harsh directed words towards her during his drying out and weakening desire for blood is the expected route…she leaves him yet again convinced he just needs to fight through the control Klaus has over him. Sweating, weary, and starving, Stefan nonetheless remains as Klaus left him…Elena, leaving him chained to the chair, decides to let him remain there for a bit while she returns to her friends to comfort them after the ghosts are sent back to where they belong. All these ghosts loose in Mystic Falls just was a bit much for me personally. I couldn’t take this at all seriously despite the straight-face approach. This allowed for proper goodbyes, and Ana gets to go away with her mother, at least, but with vampires and werewolves and witches (Oh, my!) already in Mystic Falls, ghosts added to the mix (ghosts of vampires and a werewolf, no less) to stir up trouble perhaps jumped the shark. I don’t know, maybe some VD fans enjoyed the ghost angle if just because it allowed returning characters to once again infiltrate Mystic Falls, furthering current stories involving the show’s roster. Bonnie had the chance to work alongside Grams in order to send away the ghosts, Lexi tried and failed to push the ripper out and draw the sensitive Stefan out, Mason led Damon and Alaric to a hidden cave with paintings certain to factor in their mission to stop Klaus, and Jeremy was forced to let go of Ana (and vice versa). So the ghosts had purpose, but within about a three-episode arc I was already excited that it was coming to an end…there just wasn’t much shelf life in mortal-vampire-ghost relations.