The Vampire Diaries is very good at setting up storylines, but it’s even better at paying them off. The penultimate episode of season 2 saw Klaus perform the Sacrifice, the culmination of a season (and a thousand years) worth of planning. The event led to the deaths of Jules, Jenna, Greta and John, adding one of the highest body counts of major characters ever to the episode’s list of huge accomplishments.
But what next? The show cleverly concluded the Sacrifice storyline this week so that the season 2 finale could focus largely on Damon’s fate following his werewolf bite, as well as the fact that Matt and Sheriff Forbes know everything. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up, but I’m starting to think a lot of them will have to wait until season 3.
Let’s look at where the show will go after the Sacrifice by looking at three of the biggest loose ends.
Katherine’s Living Arrangement
The show carefully and repeatedly explained that Katherine could only leave Alaric’s apartment if Klaus died or if he said she could. He did neither before leaving with his brother, which suggests that Katherine is stuck in the apartment for good. It’s better than the tomb, but Katherine’s new home may create some trouble for Alaric, who will either have to find a new place to live or have an evil vampire as a roommate.
My first thought was that they would live together and Alaric might even fall in love with Katherine (kind of gross, but kind of not). It might seem like a joke, but I feel like it opens up an interesting story for Alaric. When he tried to come along to save Jenna, Bonnie stopped him. Alaric may feel some serious guilt about how he was too weak to help, or that being just a regular human isn’t good enough in this fight.
Maybe Alaric spends time with Katherine and tries to get her to turn him into a vampire so he can be a better warrior. Whatever they do with Alaric and Katherine, I think both characters have huge potential for some interesting and dark storylines in season 3.
Elena and Jeremy’s Guardian
I suspected Jenna or John might die, but I NEVER thought they both would, mostly because it leaves Elena and Jeremy without a legal guardian. Their parents are dead, Elena’s birth parents are now dead, and their Aunt Jenna is dead. That’s a lot of loss in the span of two years, but it raises a huge question: Who will take care of them?
They could become emancipated minors and live on their own, but that seems a bit unorthodox. The most logical route could be having Alaric become their legal guardian. Technically, since he was married to Isobel, he is or was Elena’s stepfather, which could give him some legal ground to stand on.
Klaus and Elijah
The biggest and best loose end from the episode is the story of Klaus and Elijah, who ran off together to retrieve their family of Originals. There’s no way all of that can play out next week, so I fully expect season 3 to focus heavily on the family of Originals and Klaus’ attempts at world domination now that he’s a true werevamp. Daniel Gillies and Joseph Morgan have added a lot to making season 2 so great, and the prospect of having them back, possibly on a more permanent basis, is exciting.
Regardless of what goes down in the season 2 finale, The Vampire Diaries has had a tremendous year, a lot has happened, and, more importantly, there’s still a lot of story to go. I have no idea how all of these loose ends will play out, but I’m eager to see them do it. There’s still one more episode, but I’m already looking forward to the fall when season 3 premieres.
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
