While the most discussed aspect of the end of this season is the departure of protagonist, doppelgänger and love interest Elena Gilbert, I was far more shocked and horrified by something that happened in the second to last episode, I’ll Wed You in the Golden Summertime. I’m referring, of course, to the death of Josette Laughlin and her unborn children.
Jo quickly became an audience favorite after a view appearances, and became romantically involved with Alaric after he became human again. Their relationship progressed quickly, and we rooted for them. Jo was sweet, and kind, and had a dark past but was incredibly bright and sunny. She appeared in seventeen episodes, which is actually kind of a record. Looking at the four love interests we see for Alaric, Jo appears in more episodes than all but Jenna, who obviously had more screen time before her own untimely death. But this does seen to indicate a pattern. Jenna is murdered, Isobel becomes a vampire, and then is murdered. Meredith is the only one who gets a happy ending, moving away and marrying some pediatrician.
Jenna’s murder was shocking and horrifying, but nothing reaches the level of darkness that we see in the murder of Jo. She is sadistically killed by Kai, at the alter, in her wedding dress, stabbed through the abdomen. She dies in front of her entire family, friends, and loved ones, and, possibly worst of all, knows she is dying, and that her twins are dying with her. She dies in Alaric’s arms and then is quickly swept away in a tide of goodbyes to Elena, minor wrapping up of plot strings like the Liv and Tyler romance, and Kai committing Coven-cide.
Just as she is about to recite her wedding vows, we get this.
Kai gets one of his snappy one-liners, and then we have one more episode of the season. In Elena’s goodbye to Alaric, she basically just tells him that it’s going to be alright. BUT IT’S NOT. We get nothing from any of the other characters- Alaric has lost not only his fiancée, but his kids- he lost an entire family, and somehow Elena’s Sleeping Beauty curse overshadows that. Likely, Alaric will never see Elena again. Should Bonnie live a long, happy mortal life, the only people who will ever see Elena again are Caroline and the Salvatores. Elena spent her last moments with her father figure, not mourning his family, but telling him everything was going to be okay. I am seriously disappointed with this bloody finale, and I feel cheated. Because Jo didn’t have to die. How did Kai even get inside without being seen or sensed? They whole room is basically vampires and witches. Rest assured that there will be a lot of fic that Jo will live on in. Rest in peace, Jo. 
The Chamber of Spoilers 