The Vampire Diaries season 5 finale left a lot of fans shocked and outraged. But this fan’s problems with the series started long before that.
I want to start by stating that this article is in no way a slam of The Vampire Diaries, which I have enjoyed for many years, and even podcasted about.
It is in no way a critique of the actors or writers – I have nothing but respect for Julie Plec and her team, and I think they have crafted fantastic, intricate characters and relationships.
There just came a point, about halfway through season 5, where I’d simply had enough. Not just of The Vampire Diaries, but most TV series (The Vampire Diaries was just the tip of the iceberg).
Once upon a time (…reference unintended, but appropriate), I was a massive fan of a little show you may have heard of called Lost. Here was a show that was different, where every character’s decision mattered and where every little plot detail was up for debate and analysis.
To cut a long story short, I got burned. I wasn’t that bothered by the ending of Lost, but it trivialised plotlines that I had considered so revolutionary, and it ignored some of the most riveting aspects of the story.
Of course all of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again – which is ironically a quote from another show that let me down, Battlestar Galactica. It was so damn good, until it wasn’t. Character arcs were abandoned, storylines were watered down, and by the end of the series most of the things that seemed like important clues at the beginning had turned out to be meaningless.
And if we take a quick scan of history, most TV series end up disappointing its fans, either by changing too much or not changing enough.
When I first started watching The Vampire Diaries, I really appreciated how quickly the show evolved, and how much the characters developed. The evolutions of Caroline and Damon, and even Elena, were dynamic and consistent. I still remember how surprised and excited I was when Caroline and Tyler got together, because it was a coupling which grew from actor chemistry, not story convenience.
But after a couple of seasons, a trivial pattern emerged: the character development was circular (Damon and Stefan were alternately the hero and the villain, Klaus’ mood changed depending on what the story required, and Elena kept being torn and tragic), the relationships were completely interchangeable and transitory, and the plotlines became more and more outlandish (I thought the doppelgänger mythology was interesting enough when it was just Elena and Katherine).
And after a while, there came a point when I simply stopped caring. Too many characters had died, and it became hard for me to get attached to anyone. Too many relationships had started and ended for me to be invested in them.
The Silas plotline didn’t capture my attention at all. Klaus was supposed to be the original; they couldn’t just bring in the original original and expect me to buy it this time. For all I knew, next season would introduce the original original original, who lived back in the Stone Age. And why should I care? Silas wasn’t even that scary, and the fact that Stefan turned out to be a doppelgänger as well seemed incredibly forced. Essentially, I’d like to see something different from the show, not just more of the same.
And then, of course, there are the character deaths. This is my biggest beef with modern television. I’m sick of caring about characters that get killed off. I’m sick of new characters being introduced and inserted into the story for the sole purpose of dying – and then, once the shock has worn off, there’s no sign that they were ever there.
Can you name all the characters that have died on The Vampire Diaries? I bet you can name a lot – too many – but a lot of them slip out of memory. Uncle Mason, anyone? Elena’s real mother and father? Tyler’s parents? Bonnie’s grams? Damon and Stefan’s uncle whatshisface?
And let’s just address the giant Damon-shaped elephant sitting on this post: no, the character’s death is not what prompted me to write this post. I stopped watching long before the rumours of his departure even started.
Related: Will we see Bonnie and Damon return in ‘The Vampire Diaries’ season 6?
However, while Damon’s death wasn’t the reason I stopped watching the show, I admit that it has a lot to do with why I’m not giving it (yet) another chance. It’s just the last, and absolutely final straw for me. Whether or not he’ll be back in season 6 is irrelevant – I’m just so tired of all the character deaths. There’s been too many. It doesn’t shock or awe me anymore, it bores and depresses me.
Honestly, at this point, I’m surprised when a TV show doesn’t kill off any of its main cast members. Is this the Game of Thrones effect? Very possibly. Look for an article on how that show is ruining it for everyone else very soon.
As far as The Vampire Diaries goes though, I know that it is completely unrealistic to expect that a show entering its sixth season won’t have taken a few turns around the primetime trope dance floor (there’s an image), but I simply don’t care. I’m old and weary in my mid-twenties age, I don’t have time for something I’ve already seen a hundred times before.
The Vampire Diaries was great for a long time because it stayed fresh and challenged itself, while still staying true to its long-running character arcs and developments. Ultimately, a TV show isn’t good because it’s particularly serious or high concept or “edgy,” it’s good because its characters are consistent, true to life and relatable, and because the plotlines – however full of magic and monsters and space ships they might be – can make us reflect critically on our own lives.
The Vampire Diaries might be a teen show on The CW, but it did all of these things. It might have started out as a mediocre teen show, but it quickly rose above that. Like Buffy, Alias and Teen Wolf (and my more controversial TV faves Dark Angel and Dollhouse), The Vampire Diaries took an old genre and gave it a fresh twist by giving us realistic, interesting characters and situations, and defying genre stereotypes.
But now it just feels played out, and while there may or may not only be one season left, that’s one season too many for me. I wish the show and its fans all the best – but I’m peacing out early. Maybe I’ll check back in around the series finale, just to watch them kill off Elena and/or send her and Stefan off into the sunrise.
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