The Vampire Diaries: Bringing Out the Dead

Posted by: Kyle Tetarenko  •  February 4, 2012 @ 1:22am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

When Klaus was moments away from getting his family back, Damon only had time to choose one coffin to take. Luckily for him, that coffin may hold the secret to destroying Klaus forever.

After Damon brings Elijah back into the world of the living, he is quick to confront his brother but the mood changes quickly when Klaus reveals Michael is dead. Meanwhile, Sheriff Forbes tells Elena that that the finger prints on the stake that killed the medical examiner belong to her. Of course the Sheriff knows that Elena had nothing to do with the murder but everything becomes more complicated when Caroline's father and Alaric are the next victims. All of this is going on while Stefan brings Bonnie and her mother to the open the final coffin in the hopes that it will unlock the secret to killing Klaus. Later on, Damon convinces Stefan to strike a truce with Klaus to end their feud but only to buy some time for Bonnie and her mother to open the final coffin. With so much on the line and a second original with Klaus, will Damon's plan succeed or is the risk too great?

After a short break, The Vampire Diaries has returned with one of the most lacklustre episodes of the season. Where Bringing Out the Dead ultimately fell short was its complete sense of focus in every one of its stories coupled with the insecurity that the scene between Stefan, Damon, Klaus and Elijah couldn't carry the episode. Each time an aspect of the story became interesting, it immediately cut to another character which gave the show poor pacing and a broken feeling.

Another aspect The Vampire Diaries has made poor use of this season has been its guest stars. Jack Coleman returned this week as Caroline's father, Bill Forbes, but he was just as quickly dispatched as Mikael (played by Sebastian Roché). Bill Forbes brought an entirely unique perspective to vampirism and his training of Tyler to break Klaus's sire hold over him had just begun and instead we were left with another heartbreaking cliché moment in Caroline's life. Just like Mikael, Bill Forbes was another character that should not have been killed off so quickly or should not have been there at all. Why bring interesting characters into the show to throw them away without any regard?

With the final coffin finally opening I was expecting quite a bit more. I will give the credit to my girlfriend because she called it as being Klaus's mother – more than a month ago. For that whole time I sincerely hoped The Vampire Diaries could do something better but I was wrong. What new direction their mother takes the show, I highly doubt she has forgiven Klaus for killing her so long ago. With her resurrection it would have been much better to still have Mikael alive as the family reunion could have been truly memorable.

Bringing Out the Dead turned out to be a mess. If the episode had been a flashback with Elijah and Klaus and the parallel to Stefan and Damon's love for Elena mixed in with the sarcastic banter it could have been great. Instead we got the soft version mixed in with an undeveloped character's death and poor writing. Hopefully the show will return strong in next week's Dangerous Liaisons.

Tags: The Vampire Diaries, Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, Elena Gilbert, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev

Related Posts

• The Vampire Diaries: Graduation
• The Vampire Diaries: The Walking Dead
• The Vampire Diaries: She`s Come Undone
• The Vampire Diaries: The Originals
• The Vampire Diaries: Pictures of You

Comments Posted ()