When it was announced that Nina Dobrev wouldn’t be in season 7 of The Vampire Diaries we were wondering if this was a change that would be for the better or the worse, and now two episodes in we can see it’s all for the better!
Alright, so we’re only two episodes into the seventh season but can you blame us for already falling in love with it? Without Elena Gilbert the focus is no longer on some tragic love triangle but rather about a town that’s been torn apart and how Damon’s going to save it so Elena has something to come back to in 60 years.
Here are two other huge reasons why we’re just smitten with season 7.
There’s more character growth
Without Elena we can now focus on Caroline and Bonnie, two characters that have been drastically underused since the start of the show (one more so than the other [we’re looking at you, Bennet]). Of course Damon is still going to be at the core because everyone loves a bad boy and Ian Somerhalder is one of the hottest men on TV, but now in addition to seeing Damon brood and be evil we get to see Caroline and Bonnie’s bond and grow even more.
Additionally, with Elena out of the way these characters can now interact more with each other than they have in the past. Elena used to be the middleman, the person everyone would go to for help and trouble solving, and because of that they never really interacted much with each other. Bonnie and Matt seldom had a scene together and Caroline and Bonnie hadn’t really had much to say to each other without Elena around. But in these past two episodes Bonnie and Matt have worked together twice and Caroline and Bonnie have been able to get closer to one another. It’s only a matter of time before we get to see this circle of friends actually be a circle of friends, and not a circle around Elena Gilbert.
And let’s not forget the brothers! Without having to fight over Elena there’s not that much keeping them apart anymore, other than their own personalities, which helps them not be pissed or jealous of one another for a change. Granted this already started happening last season but it’s even more prominent now. We see that their relationship is getting stronger without some girl in the middle of it and we appreciate that so, so much.
Less flashbacks, more flash-forwards
This season The Vampire Diaries opted to do something different with how they tell their story. Instead of doing flashbacks to learn the history of someone or something, they’ve revealed to us what happens in three years from now on the show. Every episode we learn more and more about what the future of Mystic Falls looks like, and we absolutely love it because things happen that we don’t expect and then we can’t wait to see the cause of that in the present day.
Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen last week’s episode.
For example, last week we saw a flash forward of Caroline and her career at a news station. It was epic up until we found out she had a fiancé and that person was not Stefan Salvatore. Shortly after that we see her getting staked (in the heart?) by the mysterious villain we assume is also after Stefan in the future.
Why is Caroline engaged to someone other than Stefan, and who is it?! And who is this mysterious vampire hunter in the future that we haven’t met yet?! These are perfect examples of how this show is using the flash-forwards in the most epic, perfect way. We can’t wait to see how show creator Julie Plec and her team utilize the flash forwards even more in season 7.
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