The Vampire Diaries: The Sacrifice

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

While Stefan and Damon desperately try to put an end to the schemes of Claus and The Originals, Elena doubts whether or not the risk is worth the reward.

After a brief meeting with Katherine, Stefan and Damon hatch a plan in hopes of destroying the curse The Originals want lifted. Unfortunately, Katherine won't play nice and Elena has plans of her own as she has grown tired of standing by while everyone close to her risk their lives to save her on a weekly basis. Elsewhere in Mystic Falls, Bonnie becomes closer to Luker, leaving Jeremy to play third wheel while Caroline tries to comfort Tyler on the verge of a full moon. Never content to sit out on the side lines, Jeremy puts himself in harm's way for Bonnie's sake but the result is Stefan being trapped in the cave with Katherine while Damon is left on the outside to protect Elena.

After a brief hiatus, The Vampire Diaries returns with an episode that leaves me with mixed feelings. Since the past few episodes had been setting up a number of events, I was expecting something big to happen but unfortunately that was not in the cards this week. Though Stefan is now trapped in the cave with Katherine I was hoping to see more of Elijah and The Originals. Are there more of them and are they just as dangerous as Elijah? I know these questions will eventually be answered yet there just wasn't enough happening this week. With the surprising actions and revelation in the closing moments of "The Sacrifice", The Vampire Diaries seems to be picking up speed for the second half of the season.

Although the focus of the episode was clearly on Elena, the other storylines fell flat. Most notably is the developing story between Bonnie, Luker and Jeremy which is devoid of all interest. While Bonnie is arguably the least interesting witch on television, Katerina Graham is not doing her any favours by playing her with such camp. Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley and Michael Trevino each play their characters with more realism yet Bonnie comes across as melodramatic in every scene. Graham drags down each scene by playing her character like a day time soap star while others deliver strong performances. Despite the fact that Steven R. McQueen has far more talent than Katerina Graham, his character Jeremy is just as out of place on the show as he feels. Jeremy has been little more than the damsel in distress for most of the season and though he has helped in a few plans, he has been little more than bait or distraction. Hopefully Jeremy is given a better role to see the character in a different light.

Though it must be a sign that The Vampire Diaries is doing quite well, wasn't there a lot of commercials? Just when the story was about to getting good the mood was ruined by short segments with long commercial breaks. It's a small gripe but the episode was quite short to accommodate the extra advertising time which means less Vampire Diaries for everyone.

Even with the obvious rough patches in the episode, "The Sacrifice" is clearly beginning to form a bigger picture for the rest of the season. With any luck, the show will pay less attention to Bonnie and Luker and continue to shed more light of this season's story.

Tags: The Vampire Diaries, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev, Michael Trevino, Katerina Graham, Steven R. McQueen

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