Ascending

Ascending is a developmental process that Elena is told she is approaching at seventeen, but its signs and effects remain uncertain in the available scenes. Elena reports feeling no different, while Dean’s apparent change over the summer gives the process a second, suggestive point of reference.

Elena's Expected Development

When Sammy asks how Elena feels physically, she explains that Elena is seventeen and growing closer to her Ascending. Elena understands that Sammy is asking about physical changes, but says nothing has changed for her. The exchange establishes proximity to the process without showing that it has begun or identifying what Elena should expect to experience.

Elena distinguishes this lack of change from a disturbing dream in which she turned into the Sun-Blast that killed Brian. She says nothing paranormal is happening to her apart from that dream; it is therefore not presented as evidence that she has Ascended. The difference between an anticipated physical development and an alarming dream leaves Elena’s own transformation unresolved.

Dean as a Point of Comparison

Becky recalls that she, Elena, and Sammy encountered Dean two weeks earlier and were struck by how much he had changed. Describing him as having blossomed over the summer, she prompts George to ask whether he has finally Ascended and what blossoming means. The exchange links Ascending with a visible change in Dean, but does not describe the process itself or establish its specific signs.

Set beside Elena’s unchanged condition, Dean’s apparent blossoming makes Ascending legible as a development that may become noticeable to others, even while its meaning remains unexplained. Elena is approaching it without recognizing any change in herself; Dean is discussed as someone whose transformation may already have occurred. The scenes establish expectation and comparison, not a complete account of what Ascending entails.