Rewatching: The Vampire Diaries

I’m not sure when this urge to watch The Vampire Diaries started, but here we are. 

This show aired when I was in high school, and I remember my friends and I being obsessed with it for good reasons. I mean… who wouldn’t want two sexy vampires by your side at almost all times?

Jokes aside, the show has a solid storyline with great characters. Back then, I never finished the show and got updates from friends or watched short clips on YouTube. Since the holidays are coming up, I thought I would try to get through as much of the eight seasons as possible…

After finishing two seasons, I can confidently say that goal was too ambitious.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the first two seasons of The Vampire Diaries, mainly because of the story’s great pacing. However, as I get into the third season, the love triangle between Damon, Elena, and Stefan is getting tiring, something I didn’t have a problem with way back then. 

While nothing is really wrong with it, I know that this will drag into the later seasons. I would’ve preferred it if the love triangle was done and over with by the end of season two or at least season three. That way, it could focus on developing other plot points and character relationships.

I would’ve loved to see something happen between Damon and Bonnie. Love triangles aside, I’m sure a lot of people would like an enemies-to-lovers story.

But while I entertain that thought, Damon is just a problematic character overall. I may have loved him in the past, but now I noticed that he’s a walking red flag, but it’s supposedly okay because he’s fictional. I wish that the writers took a different approach to Damon. You can still keep the bad-boy vibe without being a jerk. He gets away with most, if not all, of his problematic actions because he’s one of the main characters. And the writers need someone to advance the story, too, I guess.

I don’t want to dive into character essays since this is supposed to be a post on how I feel about rewatching this series. Still, I want to mention the “girl boss” trio: Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie.

While I used to love Elena and Caroline, I’ve noticed that I began to appreciate Bonnie’s character. She’s the problem-solver, the one everyone goes to for solutions to whatever supernatural conflict is out there. But it seems like that’s all she is. She’s just along for the ride when they need someone and then cast aside to focus on the romantic relationships of Elena and Caroline. Bonnie deserves better.

I still enjoy The Vampire Diaries as much as I did when I was younger but with a new perspective on some of its characters and relationships. I don’t know if I’ll ever finish all eight seasons. But it’s still keeping me entertained, and that’s good enough for me.

As a side note, I never noticed how close the actors stand to each other when delivering their lines. It happens so frequently too. Like geez, you have to be careful what you eat.