The Vampire Diaries season 3 episode 19 review: Heart of Darkness

 

This review contains spoilers.

3.19 Heart of Darkness

It’s taken them nineteen episodes to get there, but things are finally heating up in time for the finale on The Vampire Diaries. Heart of Darkness is mostly concerned with the various love stories/triangles (probably to make room for more exciting stuff in the last three weeks) but, as always with this show, nothing much is resolved on that front. Jeremy and Tyler also make a return, along with Rose the ghost and the worst mother in the world, Esther.

We’re back with self-sacrificing, painfully earnest Stefan, who decides that the best thing for his relationship is to send his girlfriend out of town with the brother she’s secretly in love with. Things don’t go his way, predictably, but the trip doesn’t work out for anyone’s love life. The pretention of the weekend away is to visit Jeremy, who still has the ability to speak to the dead. Again, it’s not much use, as ghost Rose finds little time to help after all the time she spends handing condescending relationship advice.

I’d say it’s nice to see Jeremy, but he doesn’t really get much to do. The most significant impact he has on events is walking in on Elena and Damon’s heated makeout session, something a lot of fans won’t be rushing to thank him for. And the kiss, well the kiss is excellent. In true CW style, there’s a Florence and the Machine soundtrack, a hesitation, a sexually charged bedroom scene, and then, finally, Elena initiates the kiss for the first time. All that was missing was rain; rain would have completed the effect.

Back in Mystic Falls, another returnee gets some action. Tyler is back, and wastes no time getting down and dirty with Caroline. I’ve expressed in the past how little I like this pairing, and the sweet and simple scene she shared with Matt immediately beforehand just added to my distaste. True to form, just as the couple are settling back into their relationship, Tyler gets crazy jealous over the creepy Klaus drawing in Caroline’s bedroom. It’s been revealed that a big death is in store before the end of the season, and Tyler is definitely on my wish list.

But could he find a loophole? It’ll be the cop-out of the century if it turns out Stefan; Damon, Caroline and Tyler all share an original sire, so the only way out seems to kill Tyler. But it’s interesting to think that, because he’s a werewolf, and has as much tie to Elena’s blood as he does Klaus, he might survive the final killing spree. That’s assuming they’ll actually kill Klaus in three weeks, which is in no way a given. There’s also Bonnie, who was absent this week, Matt, who seems to have a new romantic interest in Rebekah, and Alaric, currently on the top of the show’s hit list.

After all the romantic back and forth, the final twist will be what the episode really leaves behind. Now Esther has taken over Rebekah’s body, does this spell the end for the only female original? I doubt it, considering the effort they’re putting into her connection with Matt, and the heartfelt talk she has with mommy just before the body swap. It’s been pointed out online that Esther mentioned weakness since Bonnie’s mother was turned, so if Bonnie was the one to die, wouldn’t her connection to Rebekah be severed completely?

There’s certainly a lot to ponder, and I haven’t even mentioned evil Alaric’s return. We know that someone will die, and Elena will make her choice between Stefan and Damon, sometime during the next three weeks, so at least this season finally has some momentum driving it.

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