The Vampire Diaries: The Sun Also Rises

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  May 9, 2011 @ 7:27pm

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

On the eve of Klaus's transformation into a new breed of evil, Elena's last moments of life are at hand. But with the plan to save her hinging on Elijah, will he honour his promise to kill his brother or will Elena suffer a tragic fate?

When we last saw Elena, she was trapped in a ring of fire by Greta, waiting to be executed in Klaus's ritual. To make matters worse, Jenna has been turned into a vampire as one third of the sacrifice needed for the transformation with the remaining piece being Jules, a werewolf. Luckily for Elena, she has an entire team of heroes with a plan to save her and if that doesn't work, Jeremy and John Gilbert may just have found a spell to rescue her from the clutches of death. Elsewhere, Caroline and Matt are trying to defend themselves from Tyler as a full blown werewolf. On top of everything else, Damon is slowly dying from Tyler's werewolf bite and may only have slightly more time to live than Elena. Back at the ritual site, Stefan offers his life in exchange for Jenna's but Klaus denies him only to make him watch her life end but while Stefan hopes Elijah will stay true to his word and destroy his brother.

Though it definitely had a strong start, "The Sun Also Rises" failed to live up to the hype from last week. I'm not saying that this was a bad episode but when characters constantly refer to Elijah's honour being the most crucial part of the plan to save Elena, it wasn't a shock when he sided with his brother. Another surprise that fell flat was Elena's impending death as several main characters have brushes with death on an almost daily basis.

While we are on the topic of deaths, Jules and Jenna both met their ends on this week. While it was clear that Jenna would die at the end "The Last Day", we barely got to see her as a vampire but I liked that becoming a vampire didn't turn Jenna into something that she wasn't. Jenna has always put Elena and Jeremy first and by doing so in her final moments, it stayed true to the character and further reinforced that Jenna saw Elena and Jeremy as her own children and never once as a burden. Lastly, John Gilbert's death to save Elena was a final act of redemption in a character's premature end. It was a fitting end but I think that John Gilbert could have had a bigger role in the series after Jenna's death.

I always expected Elijah to betray Stefan and the others but I was nevertheless was taken off guard by the decision to have Damon's illness be at the centre of the season finale. Personally, I believe it was the best possible decision to not kill Klaus as killing the first werevamp (I'm coining that term), would really limit the shows' future storylines in future seasons. Damon has become more and more unhinged as the season as progressed and Rose's death due to a werewolf bite hit him hard. A hallucinating Damon with only days to live is a danger not only to himself but everyone he holds dear.

While not the lead in to the season finale we were expecting, "The Sun Also Rises" was a fitting end for chapter of the Klaus storyline. Hopefully next week's "As I Lay Dying" will be the deserving finish for what has been an outstanding season.

Tags: The Vampire Diaries, Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, Elena Gilbert, Paul Wesley, Damon Salvatore, Nina Dobrev, Jenna , Sara Canning, John Gilbert

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Original Comments Posted (2)

Andrew Burns says...

With Damon being a key part of the series do you think his death will as short lived as Elena's? Also I don't think any of the younger characters have been able to go to any of their classes with everything that's been going on, do you think they will have to repeat a grade? lol. Great review

May 10, 2011 9:00pm

Kyle Tetarenko says...

Hey Andrew,

I honestly think Damon will be dead long enough for a sad song to play and for Elena to cry. I think Stefan might have to kill him to save Elena, but at most, he will be dead over the summer with the big "cliffhanger" ending.

As far as school is concerned, I completely agree with you. Maybe Matt is hardly in the show because he is the only character who remembers his English paper is due for fifth period the next day. It only seems like they go to school when another dance is coming up so they can be attacked in the gym/hallways at some point.

Thanks for the comment,

Kyle

May 11, 2011 8:23pm

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