The Vampire Diaries: The Descent

With the brilliance of the last several episodes of this show you’d think I’d have been more excited for it’s return. Instead of excitement, I am apathetic. Yes, that is confusing considering The Vampire Diaries is on my short list of shows I regularly watch.

I’m 100% certain that my indifference has nothing to do with the show itself, therefore on with the show. It’s a good show this week; most of it, centered on Damon and boy does Ian Somerhaler do a  fantastic job with his tortured bad boy routine. Men on the CW are the prettiest criers in television.

We get a nice little “previously on” to remind us of what we’ve missed since December and then start right in with Jules the werewolf (yes she’s a wolf, I wasn’t sure last time)

If you recall, she was gunning for Damon but ended up snacking on Rose instead. Compound the fact that she’s mauled an entire campsite and Jules is one mean wolf.

As she tries to clean up her mess, the police show up. Being quick on her feet she blames it on the big bad wolf (you know, her) then she kills him. Seriously. Bad doggie. I don’t like her. But then, I don’t think we are meant to like her. Good job with that then.

Stefan sans shirt makes out with Elena and then they expote about all the things that the previously on told us. No, I still don’t care for these two, I don’t think I’ll ever care about these two. At least I can tolerate Elena for part of this episode and Stefan is all but MIA.

Rose is looking pretty horrible. Which isn’t a testament to her age or her beauty, but more to the fact the that wolf bite is toxic and poor Rose is fading fast.

The side story of Tyler and Caroline begins. These two, along with Matt, are not the comic relief, but a nice pause in the drama of the rest of the episode. There’s more rehash and several flirting looks. They provide more previous exposition until Matt, the useless hottie, shows up and kisses her like their boat is going down. She lets him until remembering why she dumped him in the first place, before running away.

Alaric informs Damon that Jules is in the bar, and then he and Stefan chat. Stefan wants to get in touch with Isobel so he can pump her for information about Klaus. Alaric is useless, almost as much so as absent Jenna, but at least his presence he helps move the plot along. Getting Damon to the bar and giving Stefan a number so that the youngest Salvatore can get a hold of Isobel in an effort to help protect Elena.

Damon shows up ready to lay the smack down on Jules, but Stefan stops him. I was really hoping that Damon would pull her spleen out of her back just like he threatened, because she has it coming and it would be pretty neat to watch.

He’s looking for the cure, because no matter what he says, he likes Rose. But Jules, doesn’t play nice and there is no cure. Rose is a goner, it’s just a matter of how much damage is she going to cause…and to who?

Rose isn’t getting any better and it seems that a wolf bite does more than just kill you slowly. It causes you to hallucinate and poor Elena, once again, is regretting having the same face and Katherine. As we all know, Rose isn’t a fan.  Rose doesn’t do any damage yet. But her deterioration is sad to watch.

Rose, once again, is chasing Elena once again, thinking she’s Katherine. I’m beginning to think having the doppelganger babysit a rabid vampire wasn’t a good idea. A little sun, a well place grab to the wound, and Elena escapes again.

Matt hunts down Caroline and she tells him that she loves him. He doesn’t get what the problem is, and for most people love isn’t a problem. In in Mystic Falls? Yeah.Bad things Matt. Run from the vampire and all the crap she’s into.

Night has fallen on the Salvatore abode and Elena sits in a dark locked room, stake in hand, hoping that Rose isn’t still homicidal. Bad movie horror style, she unlocks the room and goes in search of danger. Seriously? Who does that? People who die! That’s who.

The front door is wide open and Damon is home. Rose, however, is at the high school, hacking up a lung and psychotic enough to start eating everyone in sight.

The police show up at school and so does Damon. Elena can’t find Stefan. Before Rose can do too much damage, Damon stops her. The poor woman has a breakdown. I feel really horrible for her. I really do. I also know that when she dies, Damon is going to go postal. If he has to kill her, it’s going to be even worse.

We head back over to Caroline who runs into Tyler as he waits for her at her house. He’s giving her the puppy eyes because he wuvs her. Then he kisses her. Is anyone else just a bit jealous of Caroline today? For her loving Matt, she sure lets Tyler kiss her again before she makes a break for it.

In the saddest and sweetest moment I’ve seen on this show, Damon is cuddling Rose while they lay in bed together. He gives her dreams of a lovely fall day, full of bright sun pretty horses. Damn is there too, and they  talk of choices and their respective importance and then just exist together in a pain-free dream where Rose misses her family and her humanity. She’s ready to die. It’s very sad and as they play happily in the dream, he stake her in reality.

Pretty tears on his pretty face and I find myself misty eyed for him. Apathy is officially gone. I’m full of pathy now. Empathy, Sympathy, …

My mist gets worse when he plays uncaring and shows the sheriff Rose’s corpse to cover for all the people she killed.

In the set up for next week’s episode, Jules meets Tyler and tells him that Mason is dead, and that there are other vampires around, and that Caroline knew all of the above. I wonder if he’ll still loves her.

Damon heads back to casa Salvatore. Elena is waiting up to make sure he’s okay. He talks a big game, but we all see right through it. He plays it off and then freaks out because he wasn’t supposed to be the one to be dead. Jules was after him. He insults her and then kicks her out.

But before she goes, she hugs him because lord knows he needs a hug. He doesn’t cry, but he’s close. This man just can’t get a break.

Stefan is at Elena’s house. Only he’s not toting Isobel with him, but John Salvatore. Yeah, that’s not ominous or anything.

On to our typical Vampire Diaries shocking ending.

A woman drives, alone, down the road stopping when she come upon a man, laying still, in her path. She gets out to check on him (does no one watch horror movies anymore) and it’s Damon. He’s drunk and mourning and as crazy as we’ve seen him. He compels her to stay put and then he seriously creeps her out. He’s not human but he wants to be and it’s killing him. He can’t be good, so he’s going to be bad, because that’s what’s always been easier.  So he kills the poor girl.

My heart is now, completely, broken for him, even though I knew that Rose’s death was going to push him over the edge, he was already teetering knowing he couldn’t have Elena.

There’s the show I haven’t watched in over a month. See, I knew it wasn’t the shows fault at my lack of excitement. I’m certainly looking forward to next week.

Dawn Del Sontro lives in Virginia with her husband and three children. She’s been working on her best selling novel for so long that when it does come out, it’s going to end the world as we know it. In her spare time, she plays video games to wrack up her headshot count and prepares her family for the inevitable Zombie Apocalypse. As she likes to tell her friends and family, “Zombieland and World War Z aren’t just entertainment, they are guides for survival. Resident Evil is a prophecy of the future.”

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