The Vampire Diaries, Season Premiere

by Rachael Nisenkier

Man, Vampire Diaries is a good show. I’ve already rambled on and on about how good this show is and the reasons why you should be watching, so let’s just dive into the Season Premier, shall we?

The Vampire Diaries Revisited

After a work-induced hiatus, I recently reacquainted myself with my favorite vampire-related, network television, teen tv show. And like a pair of fuzzy pajamas put away for the summer, the show fit just right. It continues to be one of the most satisfying, enjoyable hours on television. It's the romance of Twilight, without having to worry that you're secretely being brainwashed into believing in the Church of Ladder Day Saints. It's the action of Buffy without having to dig too deeply into the meaning of being human. It's the sexy plot twists of True Blood without having to worry your neighbors are going to think you're watching porn.

And as its second season saw us finally reunited with the deliciously scheming Katherine, reacquainted with a newly tortured Tyler and vamped out Caroline, and falling deeper and deeper into the show-defining rabbit hole that is the love triangle between Stephan, Elena, and Damon, the show is proving that despite its soap-operatic scale and ever increasing levels of violence, it can more than maintain its premise while deepening its mythology. Plus, the show proves every episode that The CW is an equal-opportunity barely-legal exploiter, given that every male to appear on the show ever (from Alaric, the teacher, to Stephan, the boyfriend, to Jeremy the little brother) must appear shirtless as often as possible.

Despite my tongue in cheek statements, Vampire Diaries really is a great example of a show that aims squarely in the middle in terms of depth, and hits it so well that it has become the single most consistent hour long tv show in my rotation. Even in 8 hour chunks, it never disappoints thanks to the snap and crackle of the dialogue, the surprisingly astute direction, and a plot that is so action-packed and fast-moving that it's hard even for my ADHD infected mind to keep up.

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

Oh my goodness. Just when I thought Damon Salvatore's whole bad-boy-with-just-enough-good-to-make-you-think-maybe-we-shouldn't-stake-him thing was the hottest act since Logan Echolls first punched out an FBI man and Spike started singing about letting him rest in peace, they upped the awesome factor.

This week's episode of The Vampire Diaries featured the return of vampire-mama, Isabelle. And boy was it a return. The highlight of a fairly spectacular episode, however, had to be within the first twenty minutes, just when you thought Damon in a spectacularly steamy scene, was taking moral ambiguity to a whole new level by boinking mama-vamp right after she told him of her evil plans (set sexily to "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked", no less) , he slams her down on the ground and gives her this speech:

"Now that I've got your attention, listen up. You do not come into My town and threaten the people I care about. Threatening Elena? BAD MOVE. You leave her alone or I will rip you to bits because I do believe in killing the messenger. You know why? Because it sends a message. Katherine wants something from me? You tell that little bitch to come get it herself."

Given that Damon has literally spent the entirety of this season in pathetic supplication to the mere idea of Katherine, this was a ginormous, hugemongous and fantastic step forward for his characters development. Plus he was half shirtless at the time.

Now while I loved all the character development stuff, I have a few problems with the direction the show is going that, while currently not overwhelming the awesome, threaten to overshadow the best stuff:

1. Stefan. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hater of the brooding supermodel. In fact, back when he was dealing with his human blood addiction and dancing around in a drunken stupor, I kind of loved the guy. But this episode asked Paul Wesley to do nothing more than glower and make glances at Elena and Damon's ridiculously close bond at this point. Even his episode ending confrontation with Damon, while a showcase for Somerhalder's ill skills as Damon at his most manipulative and defense mechanism-y, felt almost perfunctory. It was like he's the guy the girl is with at the beginning of the TV show (think Luke on The OC or that floppy haired dude on Smallville, or even to an extent Duncan on Veronica Mars) who you just know she's going to dump for the more alluring badboyishness. But... that's not supposed to be his role. He's Stefan... he's Angel... he's Edward... he's Bill. He's not Luke.


2. Elena. I actually dislike her a lot less than I did back in the day, but at the same time, I don't buy that she's Damon's epic love. The thing that makes these relationships so engaging is feeling like the back and forth is worth it. Veronica and Logan's sparkle, Spike and Buffy's sexy wrongness, Phoebe and Cole's* demonic tet-a-tets. Although I can totally see why Elena finds it all so alluring, I find it hard to fully understand why Damon finds her undeniable outside of the rules of television that say that he should. I also didn't need the words, "He's in love with you." Said so early into the television show.


3. Katherine. Can she ever really live up to what we've heard of her? Especially with Nina Dobrev playing her? I don't think she's awesome, but I just don't know if she has the sparkle to pull of what Katherine should be outside of her petticoats.

However, moments when Ian Somerhalder says shit like, "Me too. She's a very good friend. In fact, she might qualify as my only friend," in a way that makes it seem simultaneously manipulative, sincere, and like the idea just hit him makes me think that the show can navigate these waters well, if it does so carefully. As for all the bombshells the show dropped in its last five (the device is still 100% vampire-killing-goodness, John is Elena's father) could hardly top the Damon-osity. In fact, this show is in danger of becoming too Damon-reliant, like the way a bad episode of Gossip Girl is only saved by how amazing Blair and Chuck are on an ordinary basis.

*yeah that's right, I name dropped Charmed.

Vampire Diaries

Perhaps you've wondered why my once verbose self has taken a self-imposed hiatus from blogging. Or perhaps you wonder why we drive on the parkway and park in the driveway. Either way, pipe down.

What could have pulled me out of semi-retirement? A grandiose examination of the themes of Mad Men Season 3? Barely made my typing finger twitch. An exploration of the ramifications of Dollhouse's series finale? Not falling off the wagon. A startlingly profound rumination on the second to last season of ABC Family's surprisingly wonderful Greek? Not exactly.

No, the answer is, as always, hot guys with their shirts off. In other words, it's time to reflect on the return of The Vampire Diaries.

Now if the mere phrase "Vampire" is enough to make you start humming the Buffy theme song in protest, I can hardly blame you. Our culture has become painfully saturated with the pale, blood thirsty types. In fact, when I first started watching the CW's freshman show about good looking people with the strong urge for blood, I wondered if perhaps, like a vampire's victim, I was just being held under some sort of vampire glamor.

But the thing is, Vampire Diaries has really, really grown on me. What started off as Buffy or Twilight -lite has actually turned into a show that is worth delving into, week after week. It's a show that consistently surprises and engages me, even as it plays with its teen soap and horror foundations.

So here are, in no particular order, the five most compelling reasons to visit or revisit The Vampire Diaries:

• While I complained early on about a lack of good female characters, the character of Katherine (badass vampire and lover of both of the brothers Salvatore) has really started to grown on me. At least until the 21st century version of her shows up and turns out to be a lovesick wuss.
• The plot is legitimately surprising, complex, and fascinating. What I originally saw as a pretty straight-forward "girl meets pasty boy" story has evolved into a complex mythology that is at once relateable and action packed
• The banter. Written by Dawson Creek impresario Kevin Williamson, the dialogue may not have the Buffy-flare, but it is consistently witty and fantastic.
• The relationships, especially the semi-friendship between Damon and Elena and the brotherly "love" between Damon and Stefan.

• And lastly...

• The brothers salvatore's near constant half nudity

ALSO, fun fact: : if you google image search Vampire Diaries shirtless, there are at least five pictures of a shirtless Taylor Lautner. Sometimes, blogging is really its own reward.

Dear Diary

The Vampire Diaries is my number one guilty pleasure tv show, a better scripted, equally-well-ab'ed Twilight for the slightly older set. But the thing that actually elevates it above other crappy guilt fests? Ian Somerhalder. As Damon, the bad boy older brother vampire, he's having so much damn fun that you want to have fun right along with him.

Plus, the show doesn't take itself and its mythology over serious.

It still has a serious charisma hole at its center in the form of Elena, and although they both look good shirtless and do good "smoldering eyes from across the room," Elena and Stefan's compatibility never seems more than looks based. And I still wish that a single female character ever seemed fully formed (I'm pumped about witch-girl, and Elena's sister has potential, and ditzy blonde Caroline is actually shaping up to be my favorite, but there's still not a relateable, root-for-able lady amongst the lads).

But the guys in the show are where the action is at, which I guess is how I can tell this is a crappy CW show and not a brilliant genre-defying masterpiece by Joss Whedon. Although Somerhalder is the stand out among the bunch, Paul Wesley as Stefan does more with his cheek-bones and ridiculous abs than Twilight ever allows Robert Pattinson to do. The episode where his female vampire best friend shows up and Stefan finally lets loose and gets goofy with his bad self, Wesley is practically aglow. And it's this air of mischief behind the "brooding good guy" that kept Angel alight for three years on buffy and five on angel (it's also what's missing in Edward Cullen, although that's a subject for a much longer and ridiculous post). Even recurring characters like Logan (newscaster-turned-vampire-slayer-turned-vampire) are so much ridiculous complicated bad guy fun that it keeps the show afloat.

On top of that, the plots are actually pretty decent. The slow roll-out of the vampire mythos, the building of the town conspiracy, even the goofy-witchcraft-ghost-epic-love story works well with the show's semi-ironic aesthetic. Just look at the goofy trailers that the CW puts out to promote the show (randomly shirtless boys, mirror talk a la "It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud." ~wink~, admissions that the show is basically 90% longing looks) to see a pretty honest view of how the show sees itself. It may be Dawson's Creek and Twilight's awkward love child but at least it's self aware enough to know it.

All of this is basically a plug for CW's Vampire Diaries marathon starting on December 5th, where you can catch up on all the ridiculous shirtlessness in one wonderful week.

Pilot Watch: The Vampire Diaries

I am a sucker for both Vampires and Teen shows. I accept this. I also love everything about Dawson's Creek and Scream. Okay. So, Vampire Diaries is probably the perfect show for me.

That being said, the pilot didn't make me go all wobbly (and this from a girl who last night waxed rhapsodic about Ten Things I Hate About You). There's some definite potential buried under the typical-twilight-buffy-girl-meets-vampire story, including a possibly very dark male-lead back story and some very witty dialogue, but thus far it's not congealing for me.

The story goes like this: Elena is a typical teenage girl, except three months ago her parents and she went off a bridge and into the depths below, and only she emerged. Now she, along with her stoner brother, live with their aunt, and Elena spends all day every day fending off the well-meaning inquiries of her classmates. Then, she meets glowering, pale Stephan, who is oddly obsessed with her and bumps into her in both the boy's room and the cemetery.

Stephan is, as we have been well-trained to notice by now, a vampire. But unlike the practically defanged Edward Cullen, he's got a hint of danger to him and a badass brother vampire (played by Ian Somerhalder, yay!) who's out to ruin his life. He's also got a strange, semi-epic connection with Elena, who looks remarkably similar to his dead girlfriend from the 1800s, Katherine, who it is quite possible Stephan murdered in a fit of blood lust. Or at least that's the explanation I'm hoping for.

Along the way, we got a helping of teen drama straight out of the teen fantasy/horror playbook, like the bland, but well-meaning other love interest replaced by the dreamy, mysterious, dangerous new boy (see also: Kyle in Roswell, Mike in Twilight, even to a certain extent Xander on Buffy, definitely Riley on Buffy), the slutty, but soulful female we'll grow to like (hey, Cordy, I'm looking at you!), and a cadre of other good-looking, thinly sketched characters that I know will blossom into more promising sidekicks as the season progresses.

My number one problem is the lead girl. Although tortured and brunette, there really wasn't much to recommend her in the pilot. Most of the choicest dialogue got put into other mouths, and on top of that she was forced to repeatedly use the phrase "Dear Diary" which isn't okay outside of an SNL-style parody of such monologues.

Number two is the tone. The show needs to strike the right balance between melodramatic, Gothic cheese and the witty dialogue, because in the pilot it just feels a little lost.

Despite these caveats, and because I know that pilots are rarely if ever indicative of the final show they will produce, I'm keeping Vampire Diaries on the DVR rotation. Kevin Williamson has provided some choice entertainment in the past, and I'm confident that he'll continue to do so here. Or maybe it's just that True Blood is ending this Sunday for the season, and I need some other gratuitous vampire ab shots to carry me through the long winter.