The Vampire Diaries Review: Witches Fake It Best

Last week’s episode of The Vampire Diaries continued the series’ potent trend of throwing wild twists and unexpected character deaths at us left and right. This week though was a slightly more subdued and concentrated effort that put subplots to the side and focused almost exclusively on Klaus’s pursuit of Elena. Sure, we got a little more dish on Matt acting as Sheriff Forbes’ spy into all things supernatural, but this was basically the Klaus, Bonnie, and Elena show and I welcomed the change.

When the evil Klaus was able to take over Alaric’s body last week it became pretty obvious that this was not going to be a good thing for our heroes and this episode proved very quickly how true that observation was. After interrogating Katherine and getting her started on a little self-mutilation project, Klaus uses the Alaric suit to head to the local high school where he not only gets to check Elena out in class but also compel inept high school girls to pass messages to her. The main vessel of these messages was a chick named Dana (Anna Enger) whom I was convinced would die before the end of the episode. Alas, not all dreams come true.

One of the strategies developed by the good guys has been to turn the deed of the Salvatore house over to Elena so that only certain vampires can be invited in. This sounds like a brilliant idea. And then Alaric/Klaus strolls right in without blinking. FAIL. And on top of infiltrating their safe-house, he also gets to witness and learn that Bonnie now possesses the strength of 100 dead witches and plans to use that power to kill Klaus. EPIC FAIL.

Despite the inherent danger of a centuries old vampire in town trying to kill her, Elena decides that they should all still go to the high school’s 60s-themed dance. You could argue that she needs to keep up some semblance of a normal life by having a little fun but with everyone on edge, fun is virtually nonexistent. Jeremy in particular is a hot, moody mess stressing over the knowledge that if Bonnie uses all of her power to kill Klaus, it’ll likely kill her too. Stefan can tell something is bothering him so he asks and Jeremy quickly divulges the information that was previously only known between him, Bonnie, and Damon. Stefan then spreads the word to Elena who insists that another way to confront Klaus must be found.

There isn’t a whole lot of time for contingency planning though when Jeremy is attacked by a bunch of Klaus-compelled teenage thugs. Stefan and Damon race to save him but this leaves Elena and Bonnie all alone and ripe for “Alaric” to pop up and lead them to “safety”. It doesn’t take long for Klaus to reveal himself as the keeper of Alaric’s body and like clockwork, Bonnie begins using her powers to toss him around the school hallways like a rag doll. The Salvatores then show up to get Elena to safety and Damon asks Bonnie if she is ready to do whatever it takes to save Elena. Cue the dramatic fade to black for commercial!

It is all very ominous as Bonnie returns to the fight and locks everyone else out much like the scene at the end of X2: X-Men United when Jean Grey locks everyone in the jet so she can stop the flood. But instead of diverting a massive onslaught of water that could kill all of the X-Men in one swipe, Bonnie makes vending machines and flourescent lights explode whilst breaking some of Klaus’s bones. This is not enough to wipe Klaus out though and its takes far too much power so Bonnie gets a nose bleed and dies.

Its a touching moment and considering how often characters get killed off in this show, its not entirely unbelievable but I think all of us could sense something was up. Sure enough, Damon later reveals that Bonnie faked it real good so that Klaus would think Bonnie (their only defense) was dead. So until the real Klaus shows up in person, Bonnie is going to hang out in a creepy basement with Jeremy showcasing product placement bits for Verizon MiFi wireless internet. Cha-ching!

PS. Who is Bonnie’s legal guardian/parent now that Grams is dead??? Child services could have a field day with the cast of this show.

The real kicker of the episode comes at the very end when a desperate Elena goes to that damn cellar where they’re keeping Elijah’s body and removes the special dagger that will allow him to come back to life. Its unclear how she thinks this will play out or even be a little bit helpful but I know I’ll definitely be tuning in next week to find out!

The Vampire Diaries: Season 2, Episode 18: “The Last Dance” (originally aired April 14, 2011)

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW.

Images courtesy of Annette Brown and The CW.