The Vampire Diaries, Season Two, Episode 21 “The Sun Also Rises” Recap and Review
The Vampire Diaries Season Two, Episode 21 “The Sun Also Rises” Recap & Review
by Saluki
Another new week means a new episode of TVD. I write this as I watch the show, so I apologize if this review jumps around. The end of last week’s episode left me completely stunned. Not only is Elena going to become a vampire, so is Aunt Jenna! Klaus is no fool – he suspected his plans would be sabotaged, so he made sure he had a back up vampire and werewolf in case Caroline and Tyler were to be rescued. Elena went to the quarry with Klaus willingly, thinking that the secret of her impending change would be enough to doom Klaus’s plan. While that still may be true, absolutely nothing is going as planned. Elena and Jenna weren’t supposed to become vampires, and Damon wasn’t supposed to be bitten by a werewolf.
The show opens up with Damon and Katherine discussing how she always seems to get out of every situation scot-free. She could have sacrified herself instead of calling Jenna, although we all know that is a very unlikely situation. So, she sent Aunt Jenna to her undeath and will emerge from her captivity unharmed and free to wreak all the havoc she wants. Damon, knowing he is going to die, decides to try and exchange himself for Jenna. However, Katherine reminds him that his blood is impure. Somehow, I don’t think that little fact is going to stop Damon from trying something. He knows he needs to put himself out there and at least try to help Elena if he wants to die without her completely hating him. I don’t know if saving Jenna will absolve Damon of what he’s done, but I imagine Elena would be grateful nontheless.
Speaking of Elena and Jenna, they are at the quarry for the ceremony. Jenna wakes up, but doesn’t have much of a chance to process the news that she is now a vampire before Greta shows up. She is another of Klaus’s witches, and all too happy to do his bidding. She is also one mean bitch. She slits her wrist in front of Aunt Jenna, who latches on to her wrist like a fat kid to cake.
Jeremy and Bonnie have been informed of Elena’s fate, and decide to try and find a way to save her from it. At the same time, Elijah is breaking down the ceremony for Stefan. He assures Stefan that as long as Bonnie can bring Klaus to the bring of death, he will finish the killing, thereby saving Bonnie’s life. It seems like Elijah has this all thought out, which I totally don’t trust. I have no doubt that he wants Klaus dead, but I have a hard time believing he gives a rat’s ass who gets hurt in the process. Something tells me that more than one character is going to be killed off in tonight’s episode.
Caroline and Matt are able to escape the cellar under the Lockwood property and outrun a wounded Tyler to get to Caroline’s house. She asks Matt how he knows that she’s a vampire since she compelled him to forget. He tells her that he was on vervain so he could spy for her mom. I feel so bad for Caroline. She finds out that her mother and the guy she thought was her boyfriend were both playing her. Now, if I were her, I would just eat Matt and get it over with. Caroline is immortal, so losing boyfriends is something she’s going to get used to over the centuries. But finding out that your own mother hates you? Now that is something that will sting for eternity.
John makes a reappearance, confronting Damon about why Elena hadn’t been returning his calls. He is not happy when Damon informs him what he did. Ironic that Damon turned both father and daughter, giving them even more of a reason to bond. Jeremy and Bonnie are still trying to find a spell that will keep Elena from becoming a vampire when Stefan and Elijah show up to tell them about Jenna. Of course, Bonnie wants to save Jenna, even if it means sacrificing her own life. Instead, Stefan announces that he is going to offer himself to Klaus in exchange for Jenna.
Jules, the werewolf sacrifice, makes things easy for Klaus by trying to attack him. She was put under a spell to slow her transformation, making her weaker than normal. Even full strength, she was probably no match for Klaus. But, she tries to attack him and becomes the first death of the night. Jeremy and Bonnie find a spell they think will save Elena, and of course John is on board. He has spent his whole life trying to protect Elena from vampires. Even though he failed, he is determined to do everything he can to prevent her from becoming one. As much as I don’t like John, I do give him props for finally stepping up to the plate and defending the plan to Damon. Not only that, but John is part of the plan. If the spell works, his lifeforce is going to flow into Elena, protecting her from changing. And, he will die in the process.
Matt tells Caroline that even though is life sucks, he wants to live it without the craziness of vampires and werewolves. Like I said before, Caroline – have a snack. Since Tyler is now back, I hope he and Caroline continue to explore their relationship. Tyler understands Caroline in a way Matt never could, and I think Caroline can give Tyler the kind of love and support he’s never gotten, and needs now more than ever. I used to think Tyler was a jerk, but I’m totally on his team now!
Stefan shows up to exchange himself for Jenna, but things don’t go quite as planned. Klaus announces that he has other plans for him, plans that require Sefan to be alive. So, to keep him from interfering with the ceremony, Klaus hurts Stefan. Jenna tries to escape when the ceremony starts, but Klaus is faster. Sadly, there is no escape for Jenna. Klaus kills her right in front of Elena, resulting in the second death of the night. With the vampire and werwolf sacrificed, Elena ‘s part of the ceremony is up. Stefan can only watch helplessly as Klaus drains her bood. With all three parts of the ceremony complete, the curse is broken and Klaus starts to change just in time for Bonnie to throw all of her witchy power straight into him. Stefan has Damon take Elena away to keep her safe, while he stays to make sure Klaus is killed. Just as promised, when Klaus is at his weakest, Elijah steps in to kill him. That is, until he tells Elijah that the bodies of his family are safe, and if Klaus dies, their location will be lost forever. Bonnie threatens to kill them both, but Elijah scoops up Klaus and disappears before she can even think about unleashing her power. Great, now a super power vamp/werewolf and his brother are on the loose. I knew Elijah’s good guy routine was too good to be true. I do find it just a tad bit disappointing that he decided to spare Klaus over the knowledge of his family’s final resting place. That was a bit of a let down – I would rather have discovered Elijah was double crossing them this whole time.
Damon brings Elena back to the safe house and has to tell Alaric and Jeremy about Jenna. They don’thave time to process the news before Elena starts to wake up. Damon asks her how she feels, and Elena responds that she feels fine, indicating that she is still human. As this is happening, John walks outside and we see him fall to the ground, dying to protect his daughter from becoming the one thing he spent the majority of his life hating. John is the third, and finaly, death of the night. Tonight Elena has lost her biological father and aunt, and jeremy his aunt and uncle. The tragedy in this show was just heartbreaking. Elena had only begun to really get to know John, the father she never knew, and he traded his life for hers. And, she and Jeremy both lost Jenna, who took them in and helped them heal from their parents death. I just can’t imagine how you go on from something like that. I’ll be interested to see how the writers deal with the implications of John and Jenna’s deaths. Will Jeremy become angry and withdrawn again? Will Elena blame Stefan and Damon for all that has happened, or will she continue to blame herself?
As the show closes, family and friends prepare to bury John and Jenna. Jeremy gives Elena a letter and ring that John had asked him to pass on. In the letter, John apologizes for failing Elena and tells her how much he loved her. He doesn’t ask for her forgiveness or her gratitude. He knows he failed too many times to deserve either, yet he wants her to know that despite the fact he didn’t often show it, he deeply loved her. At the graveyard, Elena, Stefan, Damon, Jeremy, Bonnie, Alaric and Caroline say goodbye. I think this whole scene was so well done. I don’t know what the song was they used, but it was perfect. The scene was haunting, and Nina Dobrev did an amazing job showcasing Elena’s grief without even saying a word. As the mourners start to dispurse, Damon finally confesses that he was bitten by Tyler and asks Stefan not to tell Elena. After all she has been through, Damon doesn’t want her to to go through any more grief.
As I sit here watching this I’m stunned by tonight’s episode. Ian and Nina absolutely nailed their parts. The whole ensemble of this show is great, but these two actors continually up their game each and every episode. And once again, the writers did an outstanding job. All of the pieces we thought were going to come together and result in Klaus’s death were smashed to bits. Now, not only are Klaus and Elijah alive and on the run, Damon is dying and apparently about to come unglued, and Elena and Jeremy have essentially lost their entire family. I have no idea what they are going to come up for the season finale next week, but I can’t wait to find out!
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