THE VAMPIRE DIARIES 3.5 Review, ‘The Reckoning’

The Vampire Diaries continued this week with another brilliant episode.

rating: 5

The Vampire Diaries continued this week with another brilliant episode. The episode began with some light hearted high jinks in the form of senior prank night. Wow, sometimes I forget these characters are still in high school, for a start they€™re hardly ever there and not once have I ever seen them with a piece of home work. Anyway it€™s not long before Klaus, who is back in Mystic falls, crashes the party and realise Elena is still alive (we all knew this coming) and is probably reason he can€™t create any more hybrids. Klaus needs Bonnie€™s magical assistance to fix his hybrid problem. In order to persuade her he makes Tyler a hybrid and gives her an ultimatum, fix the hybrids or Tyler dies. In order to do that Bonnie needs to contact the original witch, but Jeremy her ghost whispering boyfriend is no where to be found (he€™s been kidnapped by Katherine, but we€™ll get to that). Matt who has been getting mysterious signs from his ghost sister Vicki decides he€™ll contact her for help. And the only sure fire way he knows to see dead vampire ghosts, die himself. So he proceeds to drown himself in the swimming pool. Clearly being the only one with out a supernatural power is getting to Matt so much he€™s lost his mind. Not to fear Bonnie is around to save him with her nifty CPR skills (that€™s why her and Matt were reminiscing about their life guard days). While dead Matt speaks to Vicki, who tells him that in order for the hybrids to live the doppelganger must die. Well we already knew that, it seems Matt died for nothing. Maybe not, now he can also see dead people, or at least Vicki. I€™m not sure I like this development; he was the only regular character left. Plus he never seemed completely comfortable with the whole supernatural thing, how is he going to cope being part of the supernatural world himself. This is obviously heading towards some sort of showdown, Jeremy and Ann versus Matt and Vicki. On a different note apparently it€™s only been a year since the Salvatore brothers returned to Mystic falls. Seriously only one year, so much has happened, surely these characters could not cope with everything happening in one year. For a start Elena€™s lost every parental figure both adopted and biological she€™s ever had, shouldn€™t she be crushed with grief? Everyone seems far to well adjusted. While everyone was off trying to contact the dead Klaus was torturing Stefan for betraying him by compelling him to feed from Elena. But some how Stefan manages to resist, which does not please Klaus at all. Klaus decides to ensure Stefan€™s loyalty once and for all by compelling that pesky humanity out of him. Good bye tortured soul, hello Ripper. (This does remind me of when Angel lost his soul in Buffy). With Stefan under control it€™s back to the hybrid problem asTyleris waking up. It seems the original witch was trying to trick Klaus by working a clause into breaking the curse and Elena€™s blood is actually the key to making hybrids. I did wonder how the writers would get around Klaus having to kill Elena. Tyler has a couple of sips of good ole doppelganger blood and is good as new, well for now anyway. I can€™t see things ending well for hybrid Tyler and just when I was starting to like him.

Meanwhile while all this has been going on Damon and Katherine are on an adventure of their own. Katherine has kidnapped Jeremy to contact Anna who has information on mysterious vampire hunter Michael. Anna tells them where to find Michael but warns them not to wake him. A warning they ignore as by the end of the episode Katherine and Jeremy are standing over his tomb poised to wake him. I can€™t see this being a good idea, they may find out he€™s more trouble than Klaus. It€™s great to see Katherine back at her scheming best again, in the last episode she felt more like a plot device rather than a character. Damon realises he€™s needed back in Mystic Falls and heads back to save Elena, who is hooked up to a hospital machine having her blood drained from her. Damon and Klaus scuffle before Damon tells him they€™re on to Michael, which scares Klaus enough to make him flee, not with out a bag of Elena€™s blood. But with outTylerhis first ever successful hybrid, why? Do we think he€™s leaving him inMysticFallsso he can use him later? I€™m sure it won€™t be long till Klaus is back with his hybrid army. Damon carries Elena home where the two share a moment, with Damon vowing to never leave her alone again. And at the precise moment when she seems to be finally admitting Stefan is gone and that she is €˜switching Salvatore€™s€™ Stefan interrupts announcing he€™s back to keep an eye on her for Klaus. This role reversal between Damon and Stefan has been coming for a while now and while I€™m certainly looking forward to full on Ripper Stefan, I hope we don€™t lose too much of classic, bad boy, sarcastic, crazy eyed Damon. So what does this mean for the future? The first four episodes of this season spent time establishing and exploring the changing character dynamics caused by Stefan€™s departure but this episode confirmed that things are set to be very different for everyone this season. Favourite line:

Katherine (to Damon): €œMy advice: If you want to make an omelette you have to break a few legs.€ Katherine: €œWhat if I told you there was a way to kill Klaus. And not dagger dead. Dead-dead. €œ Damon: €œI€™d say you were desperate and lying. Or drunk. Or desperate, lying, and drunk.€

Favourite Scene: When Stefan interrupts Elena and Damon€™s moment at the end of the episode. It€™s great seeing evil Stefan for a change, that whole tortured soul thing was getting boring. So what did everyone think? Do we think waking Michael is a good or bad idea? What about Matt seeing ghosts? Are you looking forward to full on Ripper Stefan? Do you like the role reversal that€™s happening? Your thoughts always welcome.

Contributor

Fay Brennan hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.