Season 2 of The Vampire Diaries concludes tonight and with so a number of characters biting the proverbial (wooden or silver) bullet this season, especially in the last episode, could another main character meet his end?

With Elijah and Klaus nowhere to be found, Elena in mourning and Damon's wound getting worse, how will the season 2 finale of The Vampire Diaries conclude its story arcs? Read our review and join in on the discussion to find out!

Last week's episode, 'The Sun Also Rises,' saw Klaus' master plan play out, although not the way anyone expected. After succeeding in saving Caroline (Klaus' sacrificial vampire) and Tyler (Klaus' sacrificial werewolf), and attempting to convert Elena into a vampire against her will so she could resurrect after the ritual, Damon paid the price for playing hero.

Even with Caroline and Tyler out of the Klaus' reach, Caroline - with the help of hesitant boyfriend Matt - had to deal with Tyler's dangerous transformation which ultimately led to Damon being bitten in the arm, a fatal wound to vampires.

Vampire Diaries Damon Werewolf Bite

Klaus' ritual continued with his back-up victims Jenna (now a vampire) and Tyler's would-be mentor who both were killed off the show at the hands of the evil "original," while Bonnie, Stefan and Elijah set off to slay Klaus once and for all. During the confrontation, Elijah switched sides when an opportunity to save his family arose and helped Klaus escape.

The end of the episode brought viewers the most emotional scenes of The Vampires Diaries to date, as Elena copes with the loss of her birth father, John, and her loving cousin and caretaker, Jenna. Things are only made worse when Damon, now accepting of his impending doom, reveals to brother Stefan the werewolf bite, making him promise not to tell Elena.

Review

The episode opens with Damon offering a heartfelt apology for the one he loves, which would normally be out of character for him. Elena throws him off, naive to the fact that he's about to leave her life for good. This was the beginning to what appeared to be a very promising and heartfelt finale. Seeing the non-villainous side of Damon, where he's not afraid of his feelings and admitting to his mistakes, is the most interesting part of the episode but it is sadly short lived as the finale attempts to throw in story arcs for almost every living character who will return as a regular in season 3.

Klaus, now a powerful hybrid who can change into werewolf form at will, unsurprisingly fails to live up to his word and at first chance, turns on brother Elijah with the only weapon that can "kill" an original. Bonnie's use of her collective witch powers provides hope for a cure to Damon's wolf bite, but as any fan of the series would expect, it of course involves bad boy Klaus. Heroic Stefan comes to the rescue, willing to do anything for the season's antagonist in order to save his brother. This part of the episode, while interspersed with Damon wandering around, confusing past and present, was the good half.

The not so good half stems in large part from a throwaway scene involving Carol Lockwood approaching Sheriff Forbes and demanding results to the growing vampire problem in Mystic falls. This sets of a chain of events that arguably didn't belong in the finale, taking away from the important characters that deserved progression and forcing another cliffhanger character story arc to the episode's final act. The Sheriff nonsensically attacks the Salvatore house, setting free a sick and delusional Damon, and when hunting him in town, the Sheriff mistakenly shoots and kills Jeremy. Because she is human, Jeremy's ring fails to protect him and Bonnie is forced to summon help from the witches of the past yet again, who are growing weary of her demands and becoming borderline unhelpful, warning of consequences of her actions. In the end, Jeremy is saved and the situation allows Caroline and her mom, the Sheriff, to finally accept each other for who they are, a vampire and a vampire hunter.

Meanwhile, Klaus reveals his blood to be the cure, demonstrating on Katherine. In exchange for giving the cure to Damon, he wants Stefan to work for him, the catch being that he wants the old school, violent and bloodthirsty version of Stefan, the true "ripper" as he eloquently puts it. He forces Stefan to drink a countless number of blood bags and later, to feed on an innocent. The always self-sacrificial Stefan fulfills his duty again, and will now have to leave Mystic falls and act as Klaus' newfound apprentice all to save his brother.

Elena finds the near-death Damon and they spend his last minutes together, being very open on their feelings for each other and sharing a goodbye kiss. The moment is broken by Katherine catching them in the act while delivering the cure on behalf of Klaus.

While the episode could have ended with the love triangle taking another step towards awkwardness and Stefan heading out of town with his new boss, the final scene of The Vampire Diaries season 2 finale instead involves Jeremy waking in the middle of the night to find two characters of the past, two dead vampires very close to him to be specific, no doubt a result of his resurrection from the dead and the "consequence" Bonnie was forewarned of.

Alaric (Matthew Davis) in The Vampire Diaries season 2 finale

Matt and Tyler are nowhere to be found in the episode, but Alaric does get his fair share of screentime, becoming one of the highlights of the finale. Starting out by drinking away his sadness over Jenna's death, he jumps at the chance to help Damon - despite their past problems - when Stefan calls upon him and later steps into the role of the father figure for Jeremy. He's certainly one of the show's best characters and with Jenna gone, I only hope they find away to keep Alaric intimately involved with the stories of season 3.

In traditional Vampire Diaries fashion, the finale of season 2 offers plenty of twists and turns, topped with a few cliff hangers for fans to dwell on until next season, the most intriguing of which will be the role reversal of Damon and Stefan.

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The Vampire Diaries returns for season 3 on The CW this fall.

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