The Vampire Diaries - Season 2

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1!!!



It is the night after Founder's Day. The vampires from the church have been dealt with, but Anna (Malese Jow) has been killed by John Gilbert (David Anders), and that pushes Jeremy (Stephen R. McQueen) to take the final step and kill himself with vampire blood in his system so he won't have to deal with the pain of loss. While he lies comatose after overdosing on sedatives, Katherine has infiltrated the Gilbert house, invited in by an oblivious Jenna who mistakes her for Elena...

Season 2 begins the very moment Season 1 ends - with Elena coming home at the precise moment when Katherine stabs her uncle John. It is only the beginning of a brutal mind-f*ck as Katherine starts pursuing her own ends in Mystic Falls while playing cruel games with the Salvatore brothers and her look alike Elena. But that is only half the trouble, as an older and far more dangerous enemy starts closing on the town to use Elena for a purpose that Katherine herself was once meant to fulfill.

There is no real difference in quality between the first and second years of The Vampire Diaries. The plot structure and narrative pacing of Season 2 are more or less the same as they were in Season 1. That said, it suffers a little bit from the "what do we do with those characters now?" syndrome. Elena and Stefan achieved perfection around the middle of the previous year, and the new season doesn't attempt to mess that up, which means they are kinda stuck in their awesome love, with Damon hanging around hopeful and confused. Speaking of Damon, he is completely in the Good Guys camp now, although he still messes things up badly by being a psychotic killer who utterly disregards any life that is not his, Stefan's or Elena's. Apart from being something of a wild card though, his motives are not unclear as they were in Season 1 and to me he feels rather tamed.

Other than the main triangle though, relationships develop and change all over the place. With the introduction of an entire new species of supernatural beings, a lot of characters change their roles in the show, while new ones appear around the main strory-arcs. The best development award undoubtedly has to go to Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola) who changes dramatically after events from the very beginning of the season, and turns into easily my favorite person in the Good Guys camp. Another severe change is the character of Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino), but both him and Caroline are an important part of the main plot, so I can't say more without spoiling,

The star of the first half of Season 2 is undoubtedly Katherine though. Played by Nina Dobrev same as good girl Elena, the 400 year old vampire could not be more different. Self-serving, vicious, with no dignity or honor whatsoever, except for when it would help her survival, Katherine is an evil manipulative flirt who would stop at absolutely nothing to get what she wants. She is always prepared, always has a plan B, C and D, and is thoroughly delicious, especially in the early episodes of the season. If anyone could make you squeal with unformulated joy by their very presence in this show, it has to be Katherine.

The Vampire Diaries has not learned its lesson from Season 1, sadly, as the most awesome characters in the show - usually guest stars - get snuffed out all too quick, and with no chance of returning. It is annoying to get to love someone after barely five minutes of him being in the show, only to have him killed at the end of the same episode or the next one. Another problem is the drama, which is still all over the place, extremely formulaic and mostly boring, particularly when it deals with someone's personal issues like lil' brother Jeremy or best friend Bonnie (Kat Graham) who - by the way - turns in this season into Dr. Strange. The ending of Season 2 is also rather bland and doesn't fare well in comparison to that of Season 1. The resolution of the main plot is no resolution at all, and the cliffhangers leave sort of a meh feeling that doesn't hold a candle to Katherine's "Hello, John. Goodbye, John" from the previous year.

That said, there is action galore, and it is absolutely fantastic at times, and just like Season 1, the few times when the drama is actually done right, it is done all kinds of right. Towards the end of the season there are moments to seriously make you cry, and manipulative as they might be, they work. The soundtrack is still awesome if you are into cheesy pop - although there are a little fewer memorable tunes this time around - but the fact that apart from the main triad most of the recurring characters see major improvement (seriously, you will not believe how Caroline turns out) deserves admiration.

So, if you liked Season 1 of The Vampire Diaries, you can not afford to miss Season 2. The quality might not be drastically different, but the stakes are higher, the characters are cooler, and there is now two of Nina Dobrev, which I count as a win. And personally, I can't wait for Season 3 to start!

8/10

The Vampire Diaries - Season 1

Remember your favorite indie band? The one you loved so much, but nobody else had heard of? Remember how you used to persuade people to give it a shot, and how victorious you felt after every new convert? And do you remember how your world crumbled when the group got into a blockbuster soundtrack, and suddenly everybody knew about it? And how people almost laugh at you for being a sheep now when you say you are a fan?

That's what Twilight did to my infatuation with vampires. It is now degrading and embarrassing to like them, but I will have you know I was deeply in love with the children of the night long before they started sparkling in the sun. With that in mind, I knew it was only a matter of time before I started watching The Vampire Diaries, even though it looked like a soapier version of Twilight.

In truth, it turns out the show is the better Twilight. Based on J.L. Smith's successful young adult series of the same name, it is Twilight with a main character that does not cause the reader/viewer aneurysm, with vampire love interest who has backbone, and with drama and intrigue that actually make sense.

The story is set in the small town of Mystic Falls (of course), where a hundred and fifty years ago a great battle of the Civil war took place. Nowadays it is a thriving little community supported by the rich Founding Families. Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), the freshly orphaned daughter of one of those, is just beginning to reassemble her life after her parents' tragic death in a car accident that she has miraculously survived. One day a new student arrives at the school - the dashing and mysterious Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). Elena instantly falls for him, and it seems he is falling for her as well. But Stefan has a dark secret - he is a vampire, turned a century and a half earlier in this same town. And not long after, another vampire appears. While Stefan feeds only on animal blood and wishes to build a normal life in Mystic Falls, his older brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is a psychotic killer who thrives on causing misery and has dedicated his life to ruining Stefan's. But he has another reason to return to his birthplace, and that has to do with the potentially devastating secret of a church fire a century and a half ago.

The Vampire Diaries takes a certain attitude to enjoy. First of all, you should not expect intelligent drama. The show is far from dumb, but just like Supernatural (another CW offering), the plot is fairly predictable where character interaction is concerned. Predictable does not equal poorly executed though, so unless you need to be surprised and challenged by character building, you will enjoy it. There is also the issue of everyone in the cast being absurdly scary hot. Seriously, so much eye candy in one place is definitely ungodly, and at the beginning it almost prevents you from taking the show seriously. Once you get over everybody's sinful hotness though, you quickly see that there is more to it than that.

The show does well what Twilight fails with, and that is plot. Sure, it's not the most original one, but the twists and turns are many, and The Vampire Diaries offers an extensive cast to soap things up. Romantic drama, secrets, intrigue, it's all there, and it works. And when it comes to the romantic part, all it takes is getting over the fact that the only type of relationship anyone in the show seems to be able to be in is True Love. After that you just root for most of them.

The acting is surprisingly good, considering (stereotyping alert!!!) the looks of the characters. The cherry for the first season goes to model-turn-actor Ian Somerhalder whose Damon is beautifully unstable, in turns psychotic, charming and unapologetically, deliciously evil. He brings most of the humor and the horror in the first episodes, and his scenes are pure delight to watch.

Another very strong point of The Vampire Diaries is the soundtrack which - again - does what Twilight isn't able to, and that is to create mood. Barely an episode passes without a "longingly staring at each other and random sad/romantic happenings happening with an epic pop song in the background" moment, and more often than not said pop song is perfectly chosen. Instead of pretentious indie-ness, the show has opted for teen pop, and it turns out it works a lot better.

There are, of course, downsides to being a guilty pleasure. First of all, the general quantity of soap and the continuous structure of the plot means that you can't jump episodes, or you'll miss important plot developments. That every episode ends with a cliff-hanger is understandable, and they're done right, but it's hard to acquire new fans when the only episode you can start watching from is the pilot.

Another flaw is the guest-starring support cast. Unlike Supernatural which suffers from a distinct lack of support, here there is a whole plethora of it - students, teachers, parents, everyone somehow involved in the vampire shenanigans surrounding Mystic Falls. They are mostly a stable presence, and some of them are extremely important to the plot. The issue are the characters that show up in random episodes, because most of the time they are done very well, but almost inevitably end up killed. Seriously, I don't think I've had so many characters I love die on me in a single show!

The final complaint is fairly predictable, considering what I already said about the character interaction - a lot of the time the romantic drama is just painfully repetitive. That said, you won't often be annoyed with it, probably, so I don't think it's that big of an issue.

So is The Vampire Diaries worth watching? Hell yeah! If you have at least a little appreciation for vampires, if you like intrigues and secrets, and if you can stomach lots of romance, then this show is a must. Fair warning though - the season ends in a gloriously satisfying cliff-hanger, introducing perhaps the best character so far, so do make sure you have access to the first episode of Season 2 when you get there!

8/10

The author of The Vampire Diaries has been "fired"?

I stumbled upon this piece of news over at The Wertzone. Apparently L.J. Smith - the writer of the hugely successful The Vampire Diaries series - has been fired by her publisher HarperCollins from her own series. It seems HC thinks that the recent books have deviated from the "core of the series". Honestly, I can't believe such a thing could happen in this day and age, but as the series started coming out a good twenty years ago, I guess it's not that impossible. Also, it turns out that Smith was only hired by the publisher to work on an idea they had. I imagine I'd be pretty pissed if it were a series I cared about. In this case I only find the whole thing mildly absurd and a little funny. Especially considering how huge the series has become recently around the whole vampire romance mania and the tv show. Honestly, I'm sorry for Smith, but I'm also chuckling a little.