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Damon wasn't playing nice with himself. Taking off his ring, what seemed like a nice moment for him to bask in the sun became a "I'll just burn myself alive" moment. Luckily, Stefan swooped in and saved Damon from himself. People have to keep doing that… Anyway, Stefan made use of the cage downstairs and locked Damon up. It seems a little counter intuitive, but at least it keeps Damon safe. Although, would you want to be slowly dying and locked away without any comforts? That sucks. Remember how Rose had the big, comfy bed?
We picked back up with Damon as he was beginning his hallucinations. Proving to us what is his true north (or, bitchy, two-faced north) he was thinking about Katherine back during the Civil War. Interestingly, Damon then brought Elena into his vision and she told him to stop letting Katherine toy with him. There's a lot of meat to that moment. Damon see's Elena as the only person in a bazillion or so years that can teach him to respect himself.
Alaric showed up to visit Damon at his sick pen (it's not a sick bed!) and Damon accused him of being there for suicide watch. The pain was intensifying, and Damon's guilt was coming out in spades. He told Alaric to hate him for turning his wife into a vampire and for getting Jenna killed. The answer to these problems was alcohol. Damon got a chance to get a chokehold on Alaric and insist that Alaric kill him. But Alaric comes prepared, and fought back.
Sheriff Forbes was leading an Ambush to capture Damon, and she walked into the cage with a gun. Damon was waiting, and knocked the Sheriff too the ground – SWOOSHBOOM.
Damon wandered around the Gone with the Wind festival, seeing Katherine yet again. Jeremy found him, but Damon was dead set on seeing Elena. The pair made it to TheGrill, and Sheriff Forbes took a shot at Damon – whose self-survival instincts kicked in and he swooshed away again, leaving Jeremy the gunshot victim. Oops. Another reason to find Elena and apologize!
Damon found Elena, hallucinating that she was Katherine. To be fair, they do look like the same person.He went in to bite Katherine who was really Elena. But he realized it was Elena before any major damage was done.
Finally in a bed, Elena snuggled Damon to her bosom and held him. "No one forced me to love her. It was my choice," Damon said to Elena, saying he always makes the wrong choice. "Tell Stefan I'm sorry," he asked of Elena. Brother Stefan was out getting trashed, yo (on human blood.)
Katherine was "compelled" to bring the cure, Klaus' blood, to Damon. Unfortunately, Katherine is on vervain now.
Damon was in his shame spiral, saying he deserved to die and how he was so glad to have met Elena. Once again, he was so sorry – especially for doing so many things to hurt her. "I love you. You should know that," Damon said as fangirls squealed everywhere. "You shoulda met me in 1864. I think you woulda liked me." Elena countered, "I like you now. Just the way you are." As Damon's eyes closed, she went in for a kiss (more platonic than sensual.)
Just on time, Katherine arrived with the cure. "I owed you one," she said to Damon.
Stefan had sacrificed everything to save Damon, making Damon ready to feel all the more guilty for The Vampire Diaries season 3! (I can just see Damon now, "Yay, now I get to be responsible for tons more deaths.") We also know that Klaus and Stefan will be hunting down Katherine, so we'll see Katherine in season 3. Yaaay.
Considering the degree to which both my heart and brain have been sufficiently blown by The Vampire Diaries season finale, I can't believe I'm even able to write this review. Every scene was heart-stopping, every plot twist unspeakably brilliant. "Delena" shippers got the one thing we've all been waiting for, while "Stelena" shippers will likely spend their summer anxiously wondering if their favorite couple stands a chance of lasting next season.
Let's begin with a moment of silence of the late, very great Elijah (Daniel Gillies.) As could be expected, the promise Klaus (Joseph Morgan) made to him last week came with a catch — reuniting Elijah with his family members meant killing him. And that's exactly what Klaus did. I have a sneaking suspicion, however, that this was not the last we'll see of Elijah. After all, even dead Vampire Diaries characters have a way of popping back up. (But more on that later.)
Klaus also set his sights on Stefan (Paul Wesley) this week. In exchange for giving Stefan his blood — hello, werewolf bite cure — Klaus forced him to hunt and feed on an innocent human, then drink a ton of non-bunny blood. He's now totally Team Klaus, whether he likes it or not. And judging by how much he enjoyed falling off the blood wagon, I'd say a part of him is definitely liking it.
As for the other Salvatore brother, Damon's (Ian Somerhalder) gradual deterioration — physically, mentally and definitely emotionally — took its toll on almost everyone in Mystic Falls. First, he dodged a bullet fired by Sheriff Forbes and it ended up going straight into Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen!) For a solid minute, I really did think he was going to die for reals, but then Bonnie (Kat Graham) called on the spirits of her witchy ancestors to bring him back to life.
Even with blood dripping down her damn face, Kat Graham looked amazing and the scene was somehow still the couple's most epic scene yet. When she screamed out, "Please! I love him!" my heart grew 10 sizes. Just like in The Grinch.
And yes, I really did save the juiciest part for last: Damon and Elena (Nina Dobrev) finally kissed! Like, actually kissed. For real. On the mouth! They were laying in bed together, Damon literally experiencing his final moments of life, and he apologized for not being the one she loved. She told him she liked him "just the way you are" and then planted one right on his kisser.
Of course, that's exactly when Katherine showed up with the cure in hand and saved Damon's life. Needless to say, things are going to get awkward last season. It's like on the last episode of Seinfeld, when Elaine thought she was going to die in the plane crash so she started to tell Jerry she loved him, and then they didn't end up dying. Yup, The Vampire Diaries is exactly like Seinfeld. But with more vampires.
And now… how about that ending? I figured something was going to be different about Jeremy after he was brought back to life, but I didn't expect him to go all Haley Joel Osment on us! In the final moments of the episode, Jeremy realized he can see dead people — more specifically Anna (Malese Jow) and Vicki (Kayla Ewell)!
This brilliant development gives me several thoughts:
1. Jeremy is awesome now.
2. It's super creepy that Jeremy's ex-girlfriends have been hanging out in his house this whole time. Seriously, don't they have anywhere else to go? And do Anna and Vicki hang out together in the afterlife, like bestie ghosts?
3. Now that Jeremy can talk to spirits, we'll probably get to see Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning) soon!
So many changes. So many new developments. So many trending topics on Twitter (well done, by the way.) Head to the comments section to tell me how you really feel about the finale: Do you think Damon and Elena will try to make it work? Do you think Stefan will be a full-on villain next season?
It was all about choice on the season finale of The Vampire Diaries.
While Damon's fate was never really a question this week - yes, this shows kills off more characters than any other on TV, but the odds of Damon dying are lower than Lindsay Lohan turning down a drink - we were left to wonder just how the brooding, sarcastic Salvatore would be saved.
And the answer was an exchange I never saw coming, just one of many choices that highlighted "As I Lay Dying." Let's review them all, along with their consequences...
Stefan trades a sibling for a soul. Might as well start with the biggest of them all, right? The series gave us a glimpse into Stefan's dark past on "The Dinner Party," but I never dreamed we'd see that side to him again. Remember his conversation with Elena on that episode?
Elena: He described you as a monster.
Stefan: That's what I was.
And that's what he now is again. It was shocking to see Paul Wesley with blood tricking down his mouth this week, a sight only made more disturbing by the faint smile on Stefan's lips as he embraced the beast that had been bottled up for so long.
A noble act to save his brother? Perhaps. But Katherine pointed out the other side to that seemingly benevolent coin upon delivering the cure to Damon: didn't Stefan also abandon Elena by doing so? And how many innocent lives, starting with that girl Klaus served up, will now die as a result of Stefan's decision?
No matter how much you love Damon, you have to wonder: is his life really worth all that?
Damon chooses to accept his fate. Oh, the cruel irony. Just as Stefan was paying the ultimate price for what he deemed to be his ultimate mistake - turning his brother - Damon was realizing that he has no one to blame but himself for the events in 1864.
He was manipulated by Katherine back then, he made the decision to love her anyway and it was that triangle which sealed his and Stefan's future. An amazing job, as always, by Ian Somerhalder, bringing every painful emotion to the forefront as Damon lay dying.
Elena plants one on Damon. Because he was literally on his death bed? Out of pity? True feelings? Only she knows for sure. Actually, she probably doesn't.
Bonnie decides to save Jeremy. My biggest problem with the show is how it has occasionally used Bonnie's powers as a crutch. There seems to be a spell for every scenario, as we witnessed last week when she suddenly discovered a way to save Elena.
But, wow, it's hard to complain too much when the spell results in such a What-the-Hell-just-happened-and-what-could-it-possibly-mean development as we saw to conclude this finale. Jeremy sees dead people?!? Are Anna and Vicki actually alive again? Are they merely visions? Will they be joined by others?
Caroline's mother accepts her daughter, fangs and all. A nice family moment here, and one that also leaves the door open to storylines on season three. Will Liz now use the power of her position to defend the supernatural brings in Mystic Falls?
A few more observations from an incredible final episode:
So, the only piece of good news following such a riveting finale? We have plenty of time to discuss it before a new episode airs. Do so now in the Comments section and/or our Vampire Diaries forum!
Vampire Diaries exec producer Julie Plec told fans that by the end of the season 2 finale, they'd know this show has no shortage of directions it can go in — and she wasn't lying. EW caught up with her after tonight's East Coast airing to talk about the hour's big twists and where we're headed come fall. If you haven't yet watched the finale, come back to us when you're ready. We cover it all.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So I guessed that Klaus' blood would be the cure for Damon's werewolf bite, because I knew Damon couldn't die. But it never occurred to me that Stefan would end up becoming Klaus' wingman in exchange. How long have you known the season would end with Klaus and Stefan teaming up?
JULIE PLEC: Quite a long time. Look, in the same way that the last two seasons have been a very thick Damon journey as he's come to terms with his humanity and the things that he hates most about himself, now Stefan, who has been struggling against the thing he hates most about himself from his past, is confronted with that. He's sort of bitch-slapped by his own addiction, so to speak. And now he sacrificed the thing that he needed the most, which was his sense of strength and free will and will power over this problem that he has.
He had been drinking Elena's blood to build up a tolerance to human blood, but clearly not enough.
There is moderation, and then there is sustained abuse. I think we just watched the beginnings of Stefan crossing over into that.
I loved that scene of him on the floor. It was like he was a bad dog who'd just devoured five entire bags of treats.
Probably Paul Wesley's happiest day on set was getting to dive back into that side of Stefan and know that it is the beginning of a big journey for him and for that character to start really returning to the road that has caused him the most grief in his heart and in his mind for 145 years.
I was going to ask you what Paul's reaction was to that twist.
It's so funny. He sat down with me [earlier this season] and said, "I need to have a really serious conversation with you." And I was like, "Uh huh." And he said, "Stefan's great as the hero, and he's so admirable and he's so honorable, and I love that about him. But as an actor, I feel like it would be great if we could dirty him up a little." And I was like, "Uh huh." And he looked at me, and he's like, "You're already doing this, aren't you?" And I said, "Uh huh." [Laughs] It was so great. Just as he was starting to feel like Stefan can do no wrong, we had been creating this almost heightened sense of heroism for Stefan for months knowing where we were going with it.
Katherine was trying to make Elena feel bad there at the end, like Stefan had given up his life with her to save Damon. But Elena can't be angry, right, because she'd spent all season trying to sacrifice herself — and her future with Stefan — to save her family and friends?
Katherine was just being a little naughty bitch and stirring the pot. I love the look on Katherine's face when she's like, "Are you sure you care?" It's so deliciously amused by the predicament, like the cat that ate the canary. She's loving this. Elena, my god, if anything it won't be anger — it will be guilt.
Katherine delivering the cure to Damon — we're supposed to believe she did love him, on some level, as she said?
I think on whatever level Katherine is capable of caring about anyone other than herself. In her own way — more overtly and deeply with Stefan, but quietly with Damon — she let both of those boys into her heart just a tiny bit. One more than the other, obviously. Giving Damon his chance at life, that's a very unKatherine-like thing to do. I love that she did it. While by no means is she a good girl now — she's still looking out for No. 1 — she took a detour off her escape route to give him back what she took from him at the beginning of the season when she said to him, "It's always been Stefan, I never loved you." She was fixing that wound a little bit, which I think is pretty great.
So we know Katherine is a runner, and that Klaus told Stefan he's going to help him catch her. Does that mean some of season 3 will take place outside of Mystic Falls?
I have no idea. That is a question to be discussed ad nauseam once we get back into [the writers room]. But definitely, she's got her freedom, which she's wanted for awhile, and we'll see how long it lasts.
Moving on to the Damon deathbed scene — that was beautiful not only because it harkened back to Damon holding Rose in his bed as she lay dying, but also because, at least in my mind, you let Elena and Damon have a real moment without her going as far as saying "I love you, too."
Elena, as we know, is one of the most compassionate people on the show — if not the most compassionate. It's her own Achilles' heel, how much she cares about others. So the extent to which she cares about certain people is always going to be a struggle for her. In that moment, Damon needed her forgiveness and her love, and she needed to give it to him. It was very pure for her. There's a lot that happened in that moment, and season 3 is gonna be about exploring what it means to her, what it means to Damon, and certainly what it means to the Damon-Elena-Stefan relationship.
Will Joseph Morgan (Klaus) and Daniel Gillies (Elijah) be upgraded to regular cast members next season?
All I can say to you is, as I've said before, these two actors are extraordinary, and the story of the Originals is probably longer than the Bible and we can't wait to dig into it.
I'm thinking that Damon and Elena will have to try to find Elijah so he can help them get to Klaus and Stefan. It is safe to say, at least, that we'll see Elijah again?
I personally think that the world would be a very sad place if The Vampire Diaries never saw Daniel Gillies as Elijah again. I love him. He's amazing. Until we start talking creatively about season 3, that's the best I can do.
On to Jeremy… So he can see dead people now? Or is it just his past girlfriends because Bonnie told the witch spirits she loved him so they'd help resurrect him?
All I can say about that is: As Bonnie was told when she was tapping into that kind of magic to do something that goes against the laws of nature, there will be consequences. We're just getting a slight tease of what those consequences are. For her, the unimagined consequences were worth it. Now if Vicki and Anna end up sticking around and remaining in Jeremy's world in whatever way it is that they're appearing, then in addition to supernatural consequences, obviously, there's gonna be some romantic consequences as well. We're taking the love triangle to a whole 'nother level. Without a doubt, this is a story that is teeing up for our audience a whole new element of what we're going to be doing on this show.
I know how upset you and Kevin Williamson were to lose Anna in last year's finale. I love that you found a way to bring both those characters back that was totally unexpected. Was that an idea that just came to someone as you were breaking the story for this episode?
No, we had that in our back pocket pretty much the whole year long.
Will Alaric move in with Jeremy and Elena now? That's what I'm hoping.
I think that what we were saying at the end of the episode is, we're teeing up a new dynamic that is a family dynamic between Alaric and Jeremy and Elena. I don't know that he himself is ready for that as a character. He might say yes out of obligation, or yes out of an emotional attachment, or he might run for the hills. Who knows? But definitely it is a question that will be asked when we come back, which is, "Are you our new daddy?" [Laughs]
How long ago did you come up with that idea? Because we all thought when Alaric's body was taken over by Klaus that it was Matt Davis' great exit. It's awesome that he survived that, of all things, and now he is, theoretically, hopefully, becoming a more integral part of the story.
In our heads, we wanted to start building that dynamic at the beginning of this season. As Alaric and Jenna's relationship got stronger, we wanted to see a friendship brew between Alaric and Jeremy at least, if not the whole family. And then it was just one of the story lines that, unfortunately, each time we had to add a werewolf or a hybrid into the mix got shoved aside. We didn't get to do it the way we wanted to. So this is like a new beginning for Alaric and a launching platform for his character going forward that will finally make use of the character in as many ways as we can — not just this one — because Matt Davis is so important to us and his portrayal of Alaric is so great. We really want to try to give him what he deserves, which is the character's strong point of view and great journey, however it plays itself out.
Since Klaus' blood can cure a werewolf bite on a vampire, I'm wondering what it can do for a werewolf. Is that something we'll find out in season 3? Is there more to Klaus' blood?
There's got to be, I'm sure. The rules of the hybrid and all that comes with being the hybrid, we've just scratched the surface.
When did the idea for the hybrid come up?
Before we wrote a single page of season 2.
[EW laughs in amazement.]
Yeah. That was always the plan.
I'm assuming we'll see Tyler next season.
Absolutely. The series regular family is returning in full effect. Hopefully, we'll be able to really dig deeply into Tyler's friendship and blossoming romantic interest in Caroline and her potential interest in him — and also the conflict maybe between the sheriff and the mayor once the mayor comes into the loop, and the lengths they'll each go to protect their children and possibly try to keep their children away from each other.
Final question: Is there anything more you can tease about where Stefan and Klaus are headed?
The direct road to awesomeness. [Laughs] That's all I can say. We all couldn't be more excited — Joseph and Paul Wesley included — to tell those stories. It is exciting to us as writers. It's exciting to them as actors. We're very energized about Stefan's new journey and how Klaus plays into that and how that's all gonna turn out.
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