[caption id="attachment_1198" align="alignright" width="196" caption="Ian as Boone Carlyle on LOST"]
[/caption]Just as an aside before we tackle the episodes of Season 2, I want to quickly share the importance of why fans of LOST would enjoy this show. First of all, when the cast of TVD was announced, I was thrilled (yes, I did a happy dance) when I found out that Ian Somerhalder was cast as the dashing, tortured and often mischievous (one might call him evil, but I won't go there) Damon Salvatore. Damon is the older brother of the brooding love of Elena, Stefan Salvatore. Most of us Losties know Ian as Boone Carlyle, who was the brother of Shannon and was sadly sacrificed for the sake of the Island by Locke in Season 1 of LOST. I will admit that initially the only reason I was sucked into the world of LOST was because of Ian's character. (I watched in reruns in the summer after the first season). When Boone was killed off the show, I was crushed, and for a while after, I had a hard time watching the show without being really mad. That was 2004. Flash forward to 2009, and Ian is now a member of the undead on TVD. Kind of fitting after all that happened on LOST, huh?
Anyway, in an interview regarding his character on TVD, Ian once said that he looked to Josh Holloway and his portrayal of James "Sawyer" Ford as inspiration for Damon. In my estimation, Damon and Sawyer do have quite a few similarities.Because I was have always been a big Sawyer fan, I enjoy Damon's sarcastic quips, his nicknames for others and the fact that on the other side of that high wall that Damon built to protect himself from hurt, there is a person that is loyal to the ones he loves the most and will protect Elena when all hell breaks loose. Also on the show is several flashbacks of events that happen and now they even have an online interactive game, The Vampire Diaries: Bloodlines Revealed, that goes along with the events from the second season. It give clips of what is to come in this season as well as giving the player a chance to get a deeper look into the TVD world and its characters.
[caption id="attachment_13061" align="alignleft" width="300" caption=" "]
[/caption]Along with the great actors on the show, the music of The Vampire Diaries is just as amazing. Harking on the same dark themes as the music of the Twilight saga, The Vampire Diaries soundtrack gleans from artists like Smashing Pumpkins, Placebo, Gorillaz, and Bat for Lashes to deliver the raw emotions of love, betrayal and teenage angst that make TVD so popular.
Having said all that, here's what you need to know about TVD Season 2:
"The Return": In the Season 2 opener, Elena walks into the kitchen to find John stabbed. Katherine cut the ring off John's finger so that he would not survive the wound. Elena calls 911 and goes up to check on Jeremy. Stefan arrives. Stefan talks to Jeremy and explains that if Jeremy tries to kill himself that he would die. Meanwhile, Bonnie, Damon and Elena go to the hospital to check on Caroline's condition. Sheriff Forbes and Matt wait to find out if Caroline will survive the car accident. Bonnie, Damon and Elena decide that Caroline needs Damon's blood so she will heal faster. Damon confronts Elena about their kiss. Elena does not remember any of what Damon is describing. Damon is the first to realize that Katherine has returned and is now impersonating Elena. At the Lockwoods' house, Bonnie meets Katherine and a short fight ensues - Stefan breaks it up. Both Stefan and Damon try to find out what Katherine wants, why she's back, and how much of a threat she is to the people they love. Tyler is surprised when his uncle, Mason Lockwood, arrives in town to console him. Katherine tells Damon that she never loved him and that it was always Stefan. Distraught, Damon goes to see Elena. Angry when he discovers that Elena also loves Stefan, Damon attempts to kill Jeremy, who survives because he is wearing John's ring which protects him from death from supernatural forces. Katherine later goes to the hospital to see Caroline, who mistakes her for Elena. Katherine asks Caroline to give the Salvatore brothers a message, before grabbing a pillow and smothering her with it. Before Caroline dies, Katherine delivers her message - "Game on."
"Brave New World" - Newly-turned vampire Caroline awakens in the hospital, craving blood, and begins to realize what she is. Mason quizzes Tyler about his bursts of anger. Elena and Stefan try to lead normal lives, unaware of Caroline's transformation. Jeremy confronts Damon. Tyler catches Mason searching for a family moonstone, which Mason claims he wants for sentimental value. At the carnival, Damon compels Carter (whom Bonnie likes) into picking a fight with Tyler to provoke his rage. Mason intervenes and breaks up the fight with his superhuman jumping ability and strength, suggesting that he is indeed a werewolf. Caroline arrives from the hospital to confront Damon, who realizes that she has been turned. He alerts Elena and Stefan, as a ravenous Caroline attacks and drains Carter. Damon wants to kill Caroline, but Elena and Stefan refuse; Stefan promises Caroline he'll help her. The vampire-hating Bonnie is horrified to learn what has become of Caroline, and what she did to Carter. This causes Bonnie to lash out at Damon and almost kill him. Tyler confronts Mason back at home, but Mason denies anything happened. This leads Tyler to take matters into his own hands and retrieve the moonstone which Mason has been seeking. Matt notices Caroline's erratic behavior, but admits that he loves her.
"Bad Moon Rising' - Elena, Damon, and Alaric head to Isobel's old office at Duke University to do research on Katherine and the Lockwood family secret; they encounter Isobel's research assistant, Vanessa, who helps them locate information on werewolves and their relationship to vampires. Stefan stays behind to help Caroline adjust to life as a vampire, which includes teaching her how to control herself and hunt animals, and having a reluctant Bonnie make her a daylight ring. Meanwhile, Mason's plan to restrain himself during the full moon hits a snag, leading him to roam free as a werewolf, and come into contact with both Stefan and Caroline. Tyler saves them by shouting at the werewolf, causing it to run away; he later finds Mason in the woods, naked and covered in dirt, and connects the dots. Caroline cannot control herself while making out with Matt, and ends up feeding on him. She compels him to forget about it, but later ends up intentionally causing him to break up with her to keep him safe from herself. Damon gives Elena Katherine's real name (Katerina Petrova) to aid in her research, but Elena still refuses to forgive him for everything he's done. Alaric reaffirms his romantic interest in Jenna. Caroline awakens to find Katherine in her bedroom.
"Memory Lane" - Stefan and Elena are left without options after Katherine delivers an ultimatum. Katherine tells Stefan that she will kill everyone in Elena's life unless they get back together, but Stefan still refuses. Katherine then tells him she will kill Elena too. Stefan attacks her, which causes her to break free from the chains he has been using to hold her. But Katherine tells Stefan that she has been drinking a bit of vervain for the last 145 years and has developed an immunity to it. She stabs Stefan when Elena turns up at the house - after leaving Caroline who was attempting to break Stefan and Elena up - they both meet and Katherine said Elena was asking the wrong questions. Throughout the episode Damon tries to get Mason to touch anything silver. Mason realizes this and decides to call a truce. They shake hands, but Damon has other plans. Damon corners him in the parking lot and stabs him with a silver knife, which backfires when Mason says its all a myth and that they are now enemies. As she watches the full moon rise, Katherine remembers what happened back in 1864, after Stefan and Damon had been both shot in an attempt to save her. She goes to Stefan and kisses him, and later says that she'll be back for him, and that she loves him. Stefan and Elena pretend that they are no longer dating so that Katherine won't hurt anybody. They "break up" within earshot of Caroline and Damon.
"Kill or Be Killed" - Elena and Stefan continue their fighting facade. At the Mystic Falls picnic, Mason Lockwood tells Liz, the sheriff, that Stefan and Damon are vampires. He proves it by spiking Damon's cup of lemonade with vervain, causing him to choke after taking a sip. Next, Stefan and Damon are set up and shot by Liz and her fellow police officers. Meanwhile, Caroline listens and fills Elena in. They have a short run-in with Mason, during which Caroline fights him off easily. They get to the brothers just in time before Liz kills them; however, Caroline's identity as a vampire is exposed. Liz rejects Caroline as her daughter and Stefan drinks Elena's blood for strength. Caroline confesses to Elena that Katherine threatened to kill Matt if Caroline didn't spy on Elena and Stefan for her. Tyler almost kills a girl by accidentally pushing her down the stairs. After this incident, he gives up the moonstone to Mason. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Mason is working for Katherine (who wants the moonstone) and they are lovers.
"Plan B" - Elena and Stefan wake up together in her bed and frolic around, while the camera splits between them and Katherine and Mason, who are also making out in a bed elsewhere. Jeremy goes to see Damon and offers to help get rid of Katherine. Preparations get underway for the masquerade ball at the Lockwood mansion and Damon and Stefan ask Bonnie to help them apprehend Mason. Caroline tries to bond with her mother and later compels her to forget that her daughter is a vampire. Bonnie agrees to help the Salvatore brothers. Bonnie then incapacitates Mason by giving him an aneurysm - he is kidnapped by Damon. Damon tortures Mason, who believes that Katherine loves him. Bonnie has a vision of the moonstone hidden in a well. Stefan searches for it but quickly discovers the well to be full of vervain and screams for help. Caroline and Bonnie arrive, and help Elena to rescue Stefan and retrieve the moonstone. Damon kills Mason and tells Katherine of his death. Jenna is found to have been compelled by Katherine and is forced to stab herself as Katherine taunts Elena via a phone call. Elena decides to break up with Stefan for good. Needing another werewolf, Katherine compels Matt to attack Tyler, so Tyler will trigger the curse.
[caption id="attachment_13430" align="alignright" width="400" caption="Photo: Bob Mahoney/The CW ©2010 The CW Network, LLC"]
[/caption]"Masquerade" -
Stefan, Damon, Bonnie, Jeremy, Alaric, and Caroline team up and form a plan to kill Katherine at the masquerade ball. Jenna returns home from the hospital, and Alaric agrees to keep an eye on Elena while the others carry out their plan. Katherine is visited by a witch named Lucy, who is to help her retrieve the moonstone from Stefan and Damon. At the ball, Katherine pretends to be Elena and threatens to kill partygoers if she doesn't get the moonstone. Bonnie intuitively realizes that Lucy is a witch. Matt, Tyler, and a girl named Sara are drinking and partying in a room at the ball when Matt- under Katherine's compulsion- begins taunting Tyler about his father and tries to fight him. Caroline hears them and breaks up the fight, but Sara- who is also being compelled- stabs Tyler with a knife, and he accidentally slams her into a desk, killing her. His eyes turn yellow, showing that the curse has been triggered. Stefan and Damon trap Katherine in a room that Bonnie has spelled to prevent Katherine from leaving it. Meanwhile, Elena becomes suspicious and goes to the ball to investigate. Jeremy and Bonnie tell her what's going on. Stefan and Damon try to kill Katherine, staking her several times, but stop when Jeremy comes running and tells them that every time they stake her, Elena is severely wounded too. Katherine reveals that she had Lucy put a spell on her and Elena, linking them together. Bonnie confronts Lucy and demands that she lift the Katherine/Elena spell. Lucy does so and incapacitates Katherine, who collapses. It is revealed that Lucy is Bonnie's cousin. Elena recovers from her wounds but refuses to get back with Stefan, saying she wants to feel that she and her family are safe first. Damon traps Katherine in the underground tomb. Before he seals the tomb, she pleads with him, saying that Elena is in danger, but he walks away. As Elena heads home, she is intercepted by a masked stranger, who grabs her and covers her mouth while she screams.
"Rose" - Elena's kidnapper brings her, unconscious, to a vacant lot off the highway, where she is transported to the backseat of an unnamed vampire's SUV. Jeremy realizes Elena didn't come home last night and tells Stefan. Elena is taken to a large, abandoned house by her captor, who is named Trevor. Another vampire named Rose appears, who tells her to stay quiet. At school, Tyler deals with the aftermath of Sara's death. He attempts to get Caroline to tell him what she knows about his abilities, and she eventually reveals that she is a vampire, but doesn't tell him about Stefan and Damon and swears him to secrecy. Elena overhears Rose and Trevor, who are seem to be arguing about a vampire named Elijah and whether or not to go through with a plan. Using Jeremy's blood, Bonnie finds Elena's location with a spell. Stefan and Damon set off to find her, 300 miles away. At the house, Elena tries to get information out of Rose, who tells her Elijah is one of 'the originals', and that they are using Elena, who is a Petrova doppelganger and the key to breaking the curse, as a bargaining position. Trevor reveals that he is the one who helped Katherine escape her fate, and he and Rose have been running from the originals ever since. Elijah arrives, and Rose offers him Elena in exchange for their pardon. Elijah agrees, but decides to kill Trevor. Elena tries to stall Elijah, saying she knows where the moonstone is, but he rips off her vervain necklace and compels her to tell him its and Katherine's location. Stefan and Damon arrive, fight with Elijah and stake him. Rose finds Stefan and tells him the originals will come for Elena; that they are doing it for Klaus. Elena returns home and is reunited with Bonnie and Jeremy. Later, Damon comes to her room with her vervain necklace. Before he gives it back, he tells Elena he loves her but that he doesn't deserve her and can't be selfish about her. He then compels Elena to forget what he has said and leaves. Back in the abandoned house, Elijah slowly pulls the wooden stake out and lets it drop.
"Katerina" - We see Katherine give birth in a flashback. The episode begins in Bulgaria in 1490. She asks to hold the baby but her father says that Katherine has shamed their family enough and takes the baby away, leaving Katherine sobbing. In current time, Elena goes to see Stefan, meeting Damon at the door. She sees Rose, and their is a discussion about Klaus, the oldest known vampire. Meanwhile, Bonnie meets a warlock named Luka, which makes Jeremy jealous.
Elena decides to skip school to go to the church to see Katherine. Caroline tags along, and Elena implores that Caroline not tell Stefan about it. Caroline opens the church door for Elena. Elena explains in flashbacks that the baby given away because it was born out of wedlock. Elena was then banished to England. She met a nobleman named Klaus there. She found out what he wanted from her and decided to run away. A group of men come looking for her. Trevor was the one who comes to her rescue because he is in love with her.
A dopplegänger from the Petrova line can be used to break the curse. Elena, as Katherine's descendant, is the current Petrova dopplegänger. Katherine came back to Mystic Falls to offer Klaus what he needed to break the curse: the dopplegänger (Elena), the moonstone, a witch (Bonnie), a werewolf (first Mason, then Tyler), and a vampire (Caroline).
Flashback, Rose is in England. Elena runs to her because Trevor tells her to do it. Rose does not want to help
[caption id="attachment_13431" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Slater tells Rose and Damon what he knows about Klaus. Quantrell D. Colbert/The CW ©2010 THE CW NETWORK."]
[/caption]her and pushes her out the door. Rose and Damon go to see a guy named Slater. Rose is older and stronger than him. Slater seems to know all about Damon. Back to Elena and Kat in the Church. Flashback… Rose has a change of heart. Rose give Elena blood. Trevor shows up and says he loves Kat. Kat hangs herself. Kat offers to make Elena a vampire. In flashback, She became a vampire to escape Klaus and incriminated Trevor and Rose in the process, thus causing Elijah and the originals to hunt them for the next five hundred years. Caroline and Stefan are at a restaurant eating. They have a bff moment. He says she reminds him of Lexi.
Bonnie talks to Luka and is introduced to, his dad. They came from Louisiana. Jonas asked her if she has relatives from Salem. She says yes. Awkward moment. Damon, Slater and Rose talk about Trevor. Craig’s List is the way to get in touch with Klaus, through Elijah, who Slater and the others thinks is dead. However, he’s undead again. He has one of the rings on. Meanwhile, Caroline won’t tell Stefan where Elena is, no matter how hard he tries. Also, Katherine had Mason to find the moonstone all in the hopes of taking Elena to Klaus, along with Mason, Caroline and Bonnie. Kat says that Elena is correct. Explosion!!!!! But who is to blame??? Damon demands answers from Rose. She insists it’s Klaus.
Luka comes up to talk to Bonnie. His dad picked up on her powers. Come to find out, they are both witches (ahem, I mean warlock).
Back at the church, Stefan finds Elena at the church. Stefan said that Kat is a liar.
In flashback: 1492 - Kat rides up on a horse at her house. People are dead. Kat starts running. All of Kat’s family is dead.
Back in present day, Katherine tells Elena that she is the safest one in the town because no vampire will enter into the tomb. They would never be able to get out.
Damon looks sad. Rose apologizes for the day. He says he will save Elena. Rose said that Damon reminds her of Trevor. To survive, she says he needs to flip the switch on his emotions. Damon and Rose sleep together. BOOOO!
Katherine looks at a sketch of her and her parents. She tears up. Maybe she has some emotion after all.
Rose (after doing the deed with Damon) says that you can’t turn off the switch. Slater calls and he’s okay. He said that the curse can be destroyed. Come to find out, Elijah had COMPELLED Slater. He then tells Slater to stake himself. And he does…… ouch.
And we also find out that Luka's dad is working for Elijah. EEEEEEEK!!
