The Vampire Diaries 2.15 “The Dinner Party” Review

The werewolf chapter is over for now in Mystic Falls allowing the spotlight to fall once again on all things vampire and this means we’re in for the treat of flashbacks, once again this device does not fail to disappoint.

The dinner party of the title could not have been more forced and awkward if it tried (well maybe if Isobel had turned up). Damon doesn’t always listen to reason so Alaric trying to prevent Damon from attempting to kill Elijah was an uphill battle, though it once again paved the way for some banter between the two, which by now you know that I love. After the reveal from original John’s journal that the dagger if wielded by a vampire would kill that vampire as well, Alaric managed to stop Damon in time making Elijah’s life expectancy go up. The surprise that Alaric would take an opportunity to kill Elijah whilst Jenna was in the house was definitely a shocking but very cool moment. It’s a shame that Elena hadn’t read the Original killing small print that said the dagger had to remain in the body, these Originals really are a pesky bunch to kill. In a not so good ‘what are you doing Alaric’ moment, why oh why would he give up his ring to John, I know this might get John to stop with the baiting but that ring sure has come in handy for Alaric, now there will be maximum peril.

Elijah has been a most excellent foil this season so it was sad to see him go tonight, the manner in which it happened was however pretty damn awesome and once again showed that Elena is not a girl who is always in need of saving, she is part of the team and can make her own choices. After calling Elena’s ‘I’m going to stab myself’ bluff, she did indeed plunge the knife in to her gut, to draw Elijah in, in this moment Elena managed to stab him and this time they remembered to leave the knife in. Damon’s reminder of “Little tip, don’t pull the danger out” was a nice tension breaker, after all that had happened in this episode the tension most definitely needed breaking. Stefan not objecting to Elena’s plan by not swooping in with his hero hair showed that he has indeed listened to her point of view regarding the whole sacrifice shenanigans. In fact I would say that this has been a good week for these two regarding openness and honesty, not something that Alaric is willing to do with Jenna yet who is still completely oblivious to anything supernatural goings on.

The device used for Stefan giving Elena full disclosure is the brilliant flashbacks, with these being the first proper ones of Damon and Stefan as fully fledged vampires. It might seem like an easy trick to have Stefan and Damon in reversed roles but it is so wonderfully executed and shows why Stefan has so much guilt. Paul Wesley really seems to take such relish in these scenes where he gets to be so animalistic and behave like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Of course the return of Lexi added to my enjoyment of these flashbacks, it’s not a surprise that she was the one who managed to tame Stefan and seeing her again showed what a devastating blow it was that Damon killed her last year. I’m sure that this isn’t the last we will see of her and I’m still hoping for that Bon Jovi flashback, but it reinforces how important she was to Stefan and why Stefan is who he is today. His need to help new vampires such as Vicki and Caroline clearly stems from how Lexi helped him but it also allows him to show why Elena shouldn’t give up either.

In amongst all of this Bonnie and Jeremy have some nice flirtation after their passionate and much anticipated kiss from last week. Jeremy is clearly smitten and acts like her protector with Dr Martin and Luka. Only one out of these goes so well, the other ends with him pinned to a wall like something out of an exorcism movie. Things turn bad for Bonnie who has her powers drained, apparently for her own good. Not that we can trust Dr Martin and the process of this draining looks disturbingly invasive but could he be protecting her from the ritual that has taken his own daughter? Are the Martins and the Bennetts the original founders of Mystic Falls?

To our favourite trapped vampire Katherine who looked less than well when Damon took her a care package of blood. His purpose was to find out whether he could kill Elijah and for once Katherine seemed genuinely scared that he would do it and she would be trapped in the tomb forever. In forgetting that Katherine is rarely genuine about anything set up the final scene perfectly with the mystery brunette in Damon’s much recently used bathroom. But of course with Elijah dead his compulsion is broken setting Katherine free and letting her offer her help, that sounds like a good idea right? Of course she was provocative in this offer, doing so in the nude in front of Damon who for once was lost for words.

This episode was full of tension, shocks and propelled the vampire story forward, making the werewolf business seem like an age ago. The flashbacks worked effectively and allowed us to see ‘bad’ Stefan and the return of Lexi. A+

What did you all think? Glad that Katherine is out of the tomb? Sad that Elijah has been killed? What will Bonnie do without her power? Let us know in the comments below or join us in the forum. Be sure to check out Mark’s always brilliant and thorough recap later.