Episode 'The Vampire Diaries' Season 2 Finale, Episode 22 - 'As I Lay Dying' Recap

WOW, Show I really did not see that one coming.  Nice work!

So, we’re living in the aftermath of Klaus’ ritual success, the death of Uncle Jon and the short, unhappy life of Aunt Vamp Jenna.

Elena, Bonnie and Caroline are all coping reasonably well while pretty much all the boys are drinking whiskey for breakfast and losing their shit.  Alaric, because he is heartbroken by Jenna’s unfair death and Damon, because he has been bitten by a werewolf and is consequently dying.

Damon apologizes to Elena for the whole rapey blood force-feeding he imposed on her pre-ritual, and while she seems affected by his sincerity, she’s not really having it.

Damon tells her to take all the time she needs and then promptly heads back to his mansion to swill some more booze and attempt suicide by ditching his daywalker bling, dramatically throwing open the drapes and letting the sun shine right on him. Drama queen.

Meanwhile, Mystic Falls is having yet ANOTHER all community event at which our main characters can process their feelings.  This one is some kind of Civil War Days thing where people are dressed in antebellum finery and gathering in the town square to watch an outdoor screening of Gone With the Wind.  For a show that has consistently killed off any and all characters of color that aren’t Bonnie, I’m not sure how wise of a choice this particular party theme is.  Just sayin’.

Stefan locks Damon in the basement to prevent further suicide attempts and then gets Bonnie to use her powers and dial up her dead witch sisterhood on the ghost phone.  They find out there is a cure for Damon’s werewolf bite and it’s Klaus.

Sheriff Forbes decides now is the time to take care of business as far as Damon is concerned and when she and her anti-vamp henchmen storm Chez Salvatore to take him prisoner, things go very much awry.  She takes a shot at Damon and when he manages to vamp off, the bullet hits Jeremy right in the heart.

He’s really truly dead but Bonnie manages a mystical resuscitation, ignoring potential consequences for the sake of love.

Speaking of ignoring red flags, Stefan has caught up with Klaus who reveals that his magical hybrid blood is in fact a cure for the previously incurable werewolf bite.  Stefan tells Klaus he’ll give him anything he wants in order to get the blood that will save Damon.  Not a good plan, buddy.

What Klaus wants is for Stefan to return to his ultra-violent unreformed stone-cold killer vampire ways of yesteryear and be his wingman for the next decade or so.

He forces previously sober Stefan to gorge himself on human blood and then they seal the deal by murdering a random girl and making plans to leave town.

Damon gets the cure before he dies but after he has declared his love for Elena right to her face and she kisses him in response.  So, that’s gonna be awkward.  And awesome.  Really nice flip on the love triangle now that Stefan’s apparently abandoned his better nature and Elena in the process.

Jeremy’s back from the dead and having trouble sleeping, hearing noises and seeing creepy shadows out of the corner of his eye.  Turns out he brought a few things back from the afterlife with him, like both of his dead ex-girlfriends.  Bonnie is going to be so pissed!!

That’s it for season 2 folks.  See you down the road for Season Three . . .