The Vampire Diaries, take three

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New meds are making me feel kind of nauseous today, but it's no worse than all the other times I've been nauseous this year, so I guess we'll give it a thumbs up for now?

Anyway, I believe I owe you guys another Vampire Diaries post, don't I? Well, now that my midterm is just about finished, let's get to it!

I will say, whatever its faults in the beginning, once it found its feet, this show has incredible pacing. I think most shows would've made a whole season out of the "free Katherine from the tomb" plotline. We wouldn't have seen Katherine until at least season 3. And I think that is definitely part of the appeal, because it's hard to be bored where things are moving that fast. Everything's going at breakneck speed and you just hang on for the ride. And while they're doing that, I'm not sure there are really too many things I'd have wanted to spend more time on, so it's not like they're rushing through and leaving things unresolved or underdeveloped (*cough*Dollhouse).

Like, for example, I really liked Vicki. At that point, she and Damon were the only most interesting people on the show. And I loved her whole arc of becoming a vampire, both because of the way it fit with her character and how it helpfully introduced us to the process of becoming a vampire early on in the series. :) But even with as much as I enjoyed it, I didn't feel like, "Oh, they killed Vicki too soon!" I think they made the most of her character and then her arc came to an end. And I was fine with that.

One person I wish we could see more of is Bonnie. Early on, she and Elena were really close, and Caroline seemed like a distant third, but between Bonnie's witch-fu putting her at odds with Elena, Stefan, and Damon, and Caroline becoming a vampire (and thus now integrated into the Supernatural Club), it feels like Bonnie is the outsider. Which makes me sad, because Bonnie is awesome. But she's not dead yet, so I suppose there's always hope she'll come back into the story more consistently.

Anyway, overall I've liked the larger plot arcs, and despite the outrageously soapy nature of the relationships on this show (Elena's uncle is really her dad! And her mom is Alaric's dead wife! Who was turned by Damon! And how every single character is descended from a Founding Family, because that's totally not a weird improbability), there's never really a point where I feel like the plot doesn't hang together if you try to challenge the logic, the way I do with some shows (*cough* Joss Whedon, I am looking at you). They also do a good job of moving from one thing to the next - instead of piling questions on top of more questions and never answering them, they have this consistent pattern of set-up/reveal, so that every question gets answered, and every conflict gets resolved, but it also leads to the next set of questions and conflicts.

As for this season, I'm not quite enjoying it as much as last season, I think. Stefan and Elena are kind of driving me nuts again. I felt like they calmed down once they got over the whole OMG vampire thing, and they weren't too annoying for the back half of the season. They seemed to have settled into a relationship where they could do plot-related things as an established couple, without there being constant angst about their status. Now that Katherine is the main focus, though, it seems like every episode has to be about Stefan and Elena's relationship being threatened, and I have zero tolerance for their inane drama. Thank God the fake fighting thing didn't last. I thought my eyes were going to roll right out of my head when they came up with the secret code "I love you" crap.

I abso-freakin'-lutely ADORE Caroline as a vampire, though. Seriously, that is the best thing that could've happened for her character. I love her being all bad ass, but I appreciate that she's still neurotic and insecure, because that's why I identified with her. And she's definitely gaining depth as a vampire, with her struggle to control her darker urges, her selflessness in breaking up with Matt to protect him, and being conflicted about living with Mom the Vampire-Slaying Sheriff. Now that Stefan/Elena is bugging the crap out of me, I actually wouldn't mind seeing Caroline and Stefan get together - they were kind of adorable when he was showing her the ropes, and she really brightens up Stefan's unrelenting seriousness, much the way Damon does for both Stefan and Elena. (I think this is the problem, actually. Stefan and Elena are too serious together. They each need an anti-angstifying partner to balance them out.)

The werewolf plot, on the other hand, is doing nothing for me. I wasn't interested in Tyler or his family before, and not even a hot, mysterious uncle is gonna lure me in. Things have gotten marginally more intriguing, though, now that we know Katherine is pulling Mason's strings (just as she was pulling George Lockwood's 145 years ago).

I still remain unconvinced that Katherine just came back for Stefan. The show seems to want us to believe she really does love him, but if that's the case, why'd it take her 145 years to find him again? They made a huge deal out of Damon getting the "she's just not that into you" treatment last season, but the fact is, she didn't come looking for Stefan all this time, either. I also don't buy that she's just here to wreak havok in Elena's life because they look alike. But I don't know what she is here for, and I think that confusion is starting to hurt Katherine as a character. If I don't know her motivation, I can't really understand her or get invested in what's happening with her. Maybe it's a little early to be making that complaint, but as I said, this show is so good at not leaving you in the dark for long that I feel like we're at that point already, so I'm hoping the moonstone leads us to what Katherine's really up to.

Comments

[shadowkat]

Wow, I agree with every thing you said in this post. Usually there's some quibble or other when I read other's reviews of shows I watch, but I agree with everything you said.

As much as I miss some of the tomb vampires (Miss Perl and Anna) - I have to agree, thank god they didn't drag it out. Wondering if Williamson learned a few lessons from Dawsen's Creek (where he did drag some plot-lines out for far too long?).

Also, word on the whole Elena/Stefan relationship. I keep trying to put my finger on why that relationship isn't appealing to me - they take themselves far too seriously. They never joke or make fun of each other. There's absolutely no banter. That's also to a degree my difficulty with Elena - she takes herself too seriously. Lighten up Elena. Banter. Snark a bit.

I'm also wondering if the moonstone may be the key to what Katherine's up to. She's back for a reason and I'm guessing it's not just Stefan, and it's not just Elena (who she's clearly been keeping tabs on through Isabel and John), but possibly the combination of Stefan/Elena/Damon and something else? It may tie into why she had to leave 160 years ago, why she turned up in Mystic Falls, and who she is running from. Possibly whomever turned her??

And yes, Caroline being turned into a vampire is by far the best decision they've made to date. She's frigging awesome as a vampire.

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I'm sure we've had this conversation before, but I always forget that this is a Kevin Williamson show! I don't know why. Maybe because it's good? (ooh, burn) No, I did like Dawson's Creek for at least a few seasons, but they definitely Dragged. Stuff. Out.

I think the "taking themselves too seriously" thing is probably pretty accurate for high school romances. I know that when I was in high school, everything seemed dire and every relationship hiccup was the end of the world. It's just not very fun to watch from the other side of 21, you know? (And what's Stefan's excuse? He's only pretending to be in high school!)

Yeah, I am curious why Katherine had to fake her own death. I suppose there has to be a Bigger Bad out there than her, if the show's going to last past the second season. :)

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I did more or less the same thing with Dawson's Creek - I watched the first two seasons, gave up, came back off and on in the latter ones, but only really watched the last two or three episodes of the very last season to see what happened. VD actually feels like a combo of Dawson's and the Scream flicks, with the snarky sense of humor that was prevalent in Scream, and the teenage angst/navel gazing in Dawson's. Will state I liked the heroine in the scream flicks better than Elena. Elena lacks a sense of humor.

True on the rest. This show is clearly not written for people over the age of 30, even if it is literally written by people over the age of 30 (a hilarious contradiction if there ever was one, and well may explain a lot - they write this stuff as they would like to remember it - exaggerated and heightened.). ;-)

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This show is clearly not written for people over the age of 30, even if it is literally written by people over the age of 30

Heh. The thing that always strikes me about these "teen" shows is that the characters always look like they're thirty, and they talk like they're thirty, but they're in these frustratingly high school drama-rama situations. And I just want them to GROW UP.

But the interesting thing is, I didn't mind the teenage drama on Huge, because it felt like I was watching actual, realistic teenagers, and so I sympathized with them. It's the overblown "thirty-year-olds acting like they're still in high school" feeling I get from these other shows that drives me crazy.

[fangfaceandrea]

Yes! and how cool is that you posted this right when I was finishing my marathon? I get to squeeee all over your DW!


Mostly I love the pacing, for the reasons you listed and because it doesn't feel rushes as in it leaves things out or totally unresolved for the heck of it. And to me the pacing only got dulled where Jeremy was concerned in S1, with all the secrecy but this season I like his interactions with the rest of the cast better.

I still remain unconvinced that Katherine just came back for S Oh I Love how much I'm not falling for Katherine's feelings ... But it's fun to see her messing with Stefan's head.

:)

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Yaaay! I am all for more squeeing!

Yeah, Jeremy is kind of a weak link - I liked his relationship with Anna, but he does feel like he's off on a different show most of the time. Even now that he's BFFs with Tyler, I'm not loving it (since I'm not loving Tyler), but I definitely want to see him in on the action when shit goes down.

[goldenusagi]

they have this consistent pattern of set-up/reveal, so that every question gets answered, and every conflict gets resolved, but it also leads to the next set of questions and conflicts

This is definitely one of the show's strong points.

I'm also feeling vague about Katherine. IF she did love Stefan, yeah, why did she wait SO long? Even by vampire terms, that's a long freaking time. I want some more hints about what her real purpose is in Mystic Falls.

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Yeah, and it didn't help that the big Katherine/Elena showdown was super anti-climactic. I was hoping that would be a big moment, but they sort of blew it.