Contributor: John Keegan
Written by Caroline Dries
Directed by Chris Grismer
The writers left themselves quite a difficult task at the end of the third season. Not only was Elena coming back from the dead, with that vital 24 hour transitional period on the horizon, but Alaric’s mad decision to inform the town leaders about the vampires in their midst was going to be a big problem. And sure enough, both issues and front and center in the fourth season premiere.
I’ll give the writers a lot of credit: they had me very worried that Bonnie would find a way, however dark and self-destructive, to stave off the deadline for Elena and leave her, at worst, in that limbo state for a while longer. After what happened with Bonnie’s mother, it made sense for her to push this hard to save Elena. But holding back on the implications of the third season finale, even for just an episode or two, would have undermined the integrity of the story.
Having Elena fight the inevitable, however, was just as important, and her psychological journey in this episode was grueling, to say the least. Knowing that she had been given vampire blood against her will is one thing, but I hadn’t really thought about the option for her to wait out the transitional period and choose to die rather than become a vampire. Considering that she had been committing suicide, for all intent purposes, due to her terminal medical condition, the character would need to consider letting herself die to be consistent.
Which is why the immediate backlash against the vampires and their allies was so important. Maybe the cancellation of Damon’s erasure of her memory and her love for Stefan might have been enough to sway her in the end, but having Stefan in direct peril, with her choice being the deciding factor, was a great way to push Elena into making the choice. Her decision to drink the blood, with tears streaming down her face, was one of the most powerful moments of the series.
One of the other big revelations in the third season finale was Klaus and his possession of Tyler. The scene between Caroline and “Tyler” was something every Caroline fan could have asked for, and while the Originals weren’t the most exciting aspect of the third season, the machinations between Klaus and Rebekah added a lot of tension to an already packed episode.
I feel like I’m barely scratching the surface with my commentary, but that’s a good thing. The density of any given episode of “The Vampire Diaries” has always been its strength, and this season premiere gets things off to a very good start!
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Score: 8/10
