Posted by Staff | June 29, 2011, 15:57 (EST) | 23 Comments
Category: TV Series

One season, sooooo many deaths. So many, we’ve split the Best Death Scene (nickname: Golden Gravestone Awards) into two different polls. Last week, we asked Vampire-Diaries.net readers to chime in on their picks for the most memorable significant character death scenes and you have chosen your Top 5!

Congratulations to lcahill, the winner of A Visitor’s Guide to Mystic Falls, courtesy of Smart Pop Books!

Vampire-Diaries.net readers choose the five best major character death scenes of Season 2…

#5: Jeremy (by Damon, with a neck snap, in Elena’s bedroom)
Abby: Oh, snap! Damon, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…the fabulous, diabolical ways you have killed people, that is! It’s no secret that I love the bad boys and as fond as I am of the youngest Gilbert, Damon snapping his neck was just awesome. Not awesome for Jeremy, not awesome for Elena, but in terms of showcasing Damon-on-the-edge and making me leap out of my chair yelling OH MY GOD!…it was amazing. Looks like you all agree! With a single crunch, Damon trashed his relationship with Elena, put Stefan in a truly unenviable spot, gave Jeremy enough angst to chew on for at least two seasons and let us see the Gilbert ring in action one more time. It also served to show us, the audience, how totally unhinged Damon was by the double-doppelganger rejection he’d experienced that night. This death was surely among the most surprising of the season, and it was one hell of a way to open it up. The timing within the episode was also particularly good, coming as it did at the end of such a roller-coaster. It was a bit like tuning the fans upside-down and letting us all hang there for a few seconds before showing the ring. Say it with me now, fandom: AUGGGHH!!!! Love it.

#4: Elena (by Klaus, with his fangs, in the sacrifice circle)
Abby: I know I’m always the first one to yell “Yay Klaus!” in any given situation, but this was a really beautiful scene. Coming after the more violent deaths of Jules and Jenna, the almost gentle way Klaus brushed aside Elena’s hair and held her close while draining the life out of her was extraordinarily disturbing. The lighting and music were perfection, the whole thing was creepy-romantic, and the counterpoint of Stefan’s total inability to help her in any way was heartbreaking. Klaus is the only vampire on the show who seems able to feed neatly, and seeing Elena’s lifeless body dropped like a doll on a rock with just the two little puncture wounds was a terrific contrast to the rest of the episode. Even with everyone (except Klaus, of course) knowing that Elena’s death was strictly temporary, the scene was moving. It’s a good thing, too, because with so much build up and preparation by both characters and audience, this death needed to move us, it needed to stand out and be something special. That’s a tall order in a show with this much killing going on, so kudos to Nina Dobrev and Joseph Morgan for making it work.

#3: Bonnie (by herself, with a fake-out spell, in the school cafeteria)
Kate: This one isn’t technically a real death…but then, on this show, defining “real” death gets awfully tricky. Whatever it was, though, Bonnie’s scene with Klaus-as-Alaric in the cafeteria was one of the most visually compelling the show has ever had, with its exploding lightbulbs and showers of sparks. And Bonnie herself had to be at her most compelling to simultaneously complete the spell and convince Klaus – an impossibly older, more experienced adversary – that she was actually dying. She eventually started breathing again, of course, but not before her “death” made Elena realize the single-minded depth of Damon’s commitment to her, and made everyone realize the level of loss they could – and would – soon face.

#2: Jenna (by Klaus, with a stake, in the sacrifice circle)
Red: While her parenting skills may frequently have been called into question, Jenna’s love and devotion to her family could never be criticised, and her death is the ultimate example of this. Instead of taking the opportunity to run and save her own life, Jenna didn’t even seem to consider that as an option as she went straight for Greta in an attempt to spare Elena from death. It’s also proof that while Elena may not share blood with them, she gets her pluck and courage from her mother’s side of the family. Clearly the Sommers women aren’t lacking in guts when it comes down to putting their lives on the line for those they care about. While we knew she was pretty much doomed the moment she became a vampire, the sight of Jenna’s grey and broken body on that clearing floor after such bravado was a heartbreaking thing to see. We salute you, Jenna Sommers, for bravely refusing to meet the Grim Reaper without a fight.

#1: Rose (by Damon, with a stake, in Damon’s bedroom)
Vee: The flirtatious relationship between Rose and Damon reached an unexpected depth in The Descent, with Rose deteriorating both physically and mentally from her werewolf bite and Damon struggling to pretend he wasn’t as affected as he actually was. Rose’s death may have been a mere stepping stone to Damon’s character development, but even the most indifferent viewer couldn’t help but be overcome by the beauty of the dream Damon created for Rose in her final moments. Sunlight, green grass, and home contrasted sharply with the dark, agonizing reality, and Rose’s gratitude and acceptance of her fate seemed to cut right to Damon’s core as he staked her in the heart. Then, just in case we’d forgotten Damon’s knack for self-sabotage, we watched him kill innocent bystander Jessica on a dark and lonely Mystic Falls road – a loathsome act given unexpected dimension by Damon’s obvious pain and quite possibly Ian Somerhalder’s finest performance on the show to date.

V-D.net Honorable Mention: Katherine (by Katherine, with Rose’s blood and a noose, in English cottage)
Vee: Katherine’s death – which we see in flashback – didn’t make the poll, but we feel it deserves a special mention for being utterly unique among the show’s cornucopia of character deaths and because it so perfectly underscored what Katherine was willing to do in the name of self-preservation. Faced with the prospect of being turned back over to Klaus and sacrificed, Katherine stabbed herself to force Rose into feeding her vampire blood, then promptly strung herself up from the cottage rafters. Once she awakened, she wasted no time in finishing off the transformation with a nibble of English villager blood and leaving Rose and Trevor to weather Klaus’s wrath on their own. Katherine controlled every single aspect of her own death and transformation and if that doesn’t speak to her cunning and her general disregard for others (“Better you die than I”), we’re not sure you can be convinced of this woman’s awesome at all. The circumstances of her death sum Katherine up better than her alphabet of devious plans and set an uncomfortable standard for Elena.

Red’s Top 3:

• Elijah (by Alaric, with the dagger, in the dining room)
• Jeremy (by Damon, with a neck snap, in Elena’s bedroom)
• John (by Bonnie, with a spell, out front of the dead witch house)

 
Vee’s Top 3:

• Jeremy (by Damon, with a neck snap, in Elena’s bedroom)
• Elijah (by Alaric, with the dagger, in the dining room)
• Elijah (by Elena, with the dagger, on the porch of the lake house)

 
Abby’s Top 3:

• Elena (by Klaus, with his fangs, in the sacrifice circle)
• Elijah (by Elena, with the dagger, on the porch of the lake house)
• Rose (by Damon, with a stake, in Damon’s bedroom)

 
Kate’s Top 3:

• John (by Bonnie, with a spell, out front of the dead witch house)
• Elijah (by Alaric, with the dagger, in the dining room)
• Elijah (by Elena, with the dagger, on the porch of the lake house)

 
Crissy’s Top 3:

• Jeremy (by Damon, with a neck snap, in Elena’s bedroom)
• John (by Bonnie, with a spell, out front of the dead witch house)
• Elijah (by Elena, with the dagger, on the porch of the lake house)

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