US Television: Vampire Diaries, Episode 2.12 "The Descent"

Vampire Diaries
Season Two, Episode 2.12, The Descent
Original Air Date:  January 27, 2011

Rose is getting sicker and sicker by the day as the werewolf bite grows worse despite all efforts to save her.  Stefan feels contacting Isobel for information on Klaus is worth the risk.  Damon battles his inner demons.  Tyler learns some surprising secrets from Jules.  A surprise visitor returns to town.

Jules awakens in the woods after her transformation.  She walks through the woods and finds a trashed camp site.  As she is cleaning it up, a sheriff's van drives up.  As the officer approaches her, she starts to cry and tells the officer a wolf came out of the night and attacked her and her friends.  When he goes to call the attack in, she grabs a log and bashes the officer.

Elena and Stefan share a kiss but Stefan ruins the moment because he wants to talk about Klaus, Katherine and Isobel.  She points out that she made a deal with Elijah.  Stefan understands but he didn't make any deals.  Stefan takes a drink of vervane to try and build his tolerance up as Katherine did.  Elena asks how Elijah is able to compel another vampire and the only answer Stefan can give is that he's an original and he doesn't really know what that means.  No one does, except perhaps Isobel and they should ask her.

Rose's depression is causing her to contemplate her mortality.  She's lived 560 years and can die as she's lived long enough.  Damon tries cheering her up and gives her blood to drink to help with her injury.  The wound on her shoulder is looking worse but Damon doesn't have the heart to tell her.  When Elena enters the room, she agrees with Damon that the wound isn't that bad to spare Rose's feelings.  Elena wants Damon to speak with Stefan to prevent him from finding Isobel.  Damon agrees with Stefan.  He asks Elena to sit with Rose while he's out.  Elena asks Damon privately if Rose will die.  He answers probably and that death happens, then leaves.

Preparations for the Booster Club Barbecue are underway and Taylor finds Caroline amidst the hustle and bustle.  Every one of his muscles aches but he made it through his first full moon transformation.  She assures him it will get easier as he gets better at it and learns to control it.  He thanks her for being there for him.  She jokes about them needing to re-inforce the wall and reluctantly tells him that one bite from him and it's curtains for her.  Matt interrupts them and she assures him there is nothing going on between she and Tyler, which Matt readily accepts.  Matt kisses her but she pulls away and leaves.

Jules finds Sheriff Forbes at the Mystic Grill and asks if there is any news on Mason, which there isn't.  Alaric calls Damon to let him know "the wolf is in the Grill".  Stefan sits down across from Alaric and the two talk about Jules and Rose.  Stefan asks if Alaric can get in touch with Isobel.  Alaric doesn't think she would help but admits he has an old number he can try and warns Isobel cannot be trusted, even when it comes to Elena.

Elena helps Rose into bed, in Damon's room, to rest.  Elena looks around Damon's room and finds it doesn't look anything like what she would have expected.  Rose tells Elena she's lucky because no one has ever loved her the way Stefan does.  She asks why Elena is so eager to give up and cites her deal with Elijah when Elena says she isn't.  Rose points out the deal is her easiest option.  Rose tells Elena she really is determined to die.  Rose starts to hallucinate and asks Elena for more blood.  When Rose takes a drink the blood makes her sick.  Elena goes to get a wet cloth to help Rose and when she turns around Rose is no longer in the bed.  Rose is behind her and pushes her against the wall thinking she is Katherine.  Elena screams she isn't Katherine and Rose snaps back to herself.  Rose realizes she is losing her mind and tells Elena not to be afraid of her.  Rose says she wants to go home and Elena, trying to get Rose's mind off her illness, asks her to tell her about her home.  Rose tells Elena a few details about her home and how so much time has been wasted.

As Stefan watches Jules at the Grill, Alaric texts him Isobel's number.  Stefan immediately calls it and leaves a message for her that he needs to speak with her about Elena.  Damon arrives and Stefan tries to stop him from confronting Jules.  A call comes in for Stefan as Damon sits down with Jules.  He wants Jules to tell him how to cure a wolf bite and he will not kill her.  She refuses.  She tells him to take a stake and drive it through Rose's heart.

Elena goes back to Damon's room with some clean sheets and again finds Rose gone.  She goes through the house looking for her and calls Damon to tell him to come home.  She hears a noise and goes to investigate.  She finds a blood bag then finds Rose sitting on the floor drinking from a bag.  Rose again mistakes her for Katherine and tears through the house after her.  Elena keeps telling her she is Elena and not Katherine.  As Rose attacks Elena and pushes her to the floor, Elena grabs at a curtain and pulls it from the window.  The sunlight streams in and hits Rose.  Elena runs to the front door and as she is opening it, Rose grabs her to bite her.  Elena claws at her wolf bite which makes Rose sink to the floor and Elena takes the opportunity to escape.  She runs to Stefan's room and locks and barricades the door.  She opens the balcony doors and breaks a leg from a table for a weapon.  From the other side of the door, Rose tells her she knows it is Elena in the room and not Katherine and that she needs her help.

Matt finds Caroline and asks why she ran away.  He asks Caroline to tell him how she feels and she says she feels like she loves him.  He wants to know what the problem is and what she's keeping from him.  Someone distracts Matt giving Caroline a chance to get away.

Everything is quiet outside the door and Elena opens the door to the hall, which is empty.  She ventures out, stake in hand, and finds the front door open and Damon behind her.  He asks where Rose is and Elena doesn't know.

At the barbecue, Rose stumbles behind a dumpster, sick.  A sanitation worker asks if she's OK and she attacks him.  Sheriff Forbes calls Damon about the worker so they can look for the vampire.  Elena leaves a message for Stefan to call her.  When she asks Damon about Stefan, Damon gives her a stake and takes her with him in the search for Rose.  In the parking lot, Rose attacks a couple at their car.  Damon finds her and tackles her to the ground.  Rose comes to her senses and is distraught over killing the couple.  She begs Damon to make it stop.  He picks her up and carries her home and puts her in bed.  Elena enters the room as Rose talks about the urge to kill.  She tells Elena that Damon is a lot like her (Rose).  He wants to care but runs away from it.  She tells Elena she needs to fight even though she's scared.  Rose starts convulsing and Damon sits down next to her to comfort her and sends Elena from the room.

Tyler is waiting for Caroline at her house when she gets home that night.  They need to talk.  He wants to know why she would risk being around him with the dangers of werewolves and vampires.  When Caroline starts complaining about him not wanting anyone to care, Tyler steps up and kisses her.

Damon holds Rose to comfort her as she dreams about her favorite place as a girl.  Damon is there with her.  She tells him he matters.  She isn't afraid anymore.  In the dream they race to the trees while in real life Damon stakes her to spare her further pain.  Damon takes Rose's body to Sheriff Forbes and tells her he will take care of burying the body.

Jules calls a meeting with Tyler and tells him she knows about both he and Mason and that they are werewolves.  She also knows about Caroline.  She tells him she can help him.  She also tells him Caroline and her friends killed Mason, a fact Tyler didn't know.  There are others like them and they are on their way.

Elena talks to Damon about his feelings.  He admits he feels guilty about Rose dying when it should have been him.  He wants her to go home.  Before she leaves, she hugs him.  When she gets home, Stefan is waiting on her.  He called Isobel and didn't exactly find her.  John Gilbert is also at the house waiting on Elena.

Jessica (Ahna O'Reilly), a woman driving at night, sees a man in the road.  It's Damon.  She stops and gets out of the car to check on him.  He tells her he's lost.  He compels her not to move and then unburdens himself to her.  He admits his secret is that he's not human and he misses it more than anything else in the world.  There's only so much hurt a man can take.  He tells her she's free and as she's running to her car, he attacks.

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I hated to see Rose die as I really liked her.  She was one of the good guys (well, once we were sure she wasn't going to turn Elena over to be killed).

This show focused quite a bit on Damon and how he feels.  While feeling isn't something he likes to admit to often, he does feel.  Now we finally know his greatest secret:  he misses being human more than anything.  Seeing the tear on his cheek when he staked Rose lets us know that he still has hold on some of what he used to be as a human, at the very least.

The stage has been set for some fireworks between Tyler and Caroline.  Thanks to Jules, who I'm not really liking very much at this point, Tyler knows that Caroline isn't the only vampire in Mystic Falls.  Trouble-maker Jules has also pretty much left him with the impression that Caroline was directly involved with Mason's death.  We should find out how things go here next week.  (And it doesn't look like it's going to go very well, at that.)

Uncle/Daddy John Gilbert is back in the picture!  Stefan calls Isobel and it's John Gilbert he gets instead.  Course, I would say John Gilbert would know a good deal himself.  As long as John plays the good guy and doesn't try to stake Damon or Stefan, I'm good with him being back in the picture.

What an excellent way to come back off holiday break!  Vampire Diaries never disappoints, does it?
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For more information:
Official Site:  http://www.cwtv.com/shows/the-vampire-diaries
The Internet Movie Database:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/
TV Rage:  http://www.tvrage.com/The_Vampire_Diaries