The Vampire Diaries: Season 1 Review

The first thing the show did right was to cast Ian Somerhalder (previously of Lost), Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev as the lead characters and the show’s main love triangle. Wesley and Dobrev as Stefan and Elena are an appealing couple; not only are they a strong partnership when they are together, but they are fully realized characters when they are apart. Somerhalder adds the spark to the show with his evil, flirty, snarky, and possibly redeemable Damon, brother to Stefan. Often when shows introduce a love triangle it feels like a contrivance to keep the “real” couple apart or it ends up just being a distraction from the action. The Stefan/Elena/Damon relationship is one of the rare times that the triangle idea works on all levels, enough that it is difficult to even pick a side.

Rewarding viewers with swift resolutions and new twists each week, Vampire Diaries raced through the plots in its first season. Episodes usually ended on a cliffhanger, which would be quickly addressed in the next episode. Some things seemed to linger for too long, like the Founder’s Day celebration. (How long is that supposed to be anyway? It lasted the entire season.) It also got a bit repetitive to hear Damon obsess about Katherine. Some things were dropped quickly, like the scenes of Stefan and Elena sitting around writing in actual diaries. The majority of the plots were winners though, from large scale stories like the release of a tomb full of angry vampires, to more personal concerns, such as revelations about Elena’s real family.

Another strong element of the show is that the majority of the characters are so likable. Similar to how rapidly they raced the storylines along, the show moved quickly with character development. Katerina Graham’s Bonnie had a complete journey from the sidekick best friend role, to powerful witch with the ability to save or doom the brothers. Caroline, played by Candice Accola, had less of a dramatic arc, but the fact that she turned out to be such a sweet character and not the stereotypical bitchy popular girl at school was a pleasant surprise. That Caroline remains in the dark, along with Matt (Zach Roerig) and Tyler (Michael Trevino), about the secret community of vampires is a nice counterpart to the intrigue going on with the rest of the characters.

Elena’s brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) may have started out as a mopey drag, being pulled down by his romance with Vicki, but he turned a corner when Anna (Malese Jow) was introduced. With Anna, Jeremy had his eyes opened to what was going on around him, paralleling his sister’s awareness. Their relationship might have felt forced at the beginning, but by the end, when her death pushed him to desperate action, it was very believable and tragic.

The best mid-season addition to the show was Alaric Saltzmann (Matt Davis). Luckily for us all, a magic ring kept Damon from killing Alaric early on, and he remains alive to annoy Damon for many more days to come (if we’re lucky). While Davis is cute as the history teacher who is also dating Elena’s aunt, the revelation that he is a vampire hunter was one of the better twists of the season. And he is fantastic when forced to work with Damon. Their odd couple relationship (“Can we not kill anyone tonight, please?”) is very funny, and their grudging respect for each other was fascinating to watch unfold.

While Vampire Diaries’s town of Mystic Falls is apparently cursed like Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Sunnydale to attract trouble, Mystic Falls just has the vampires to worry about, so far at least. There were some pretty clear hints about werewolves that are sure to pop up in the second season. Every vampire story needs werewolves nowadays, apparently. With the town’s characters and family ties dating back more than a century, the conflicts reach larger-than-life levels, something that is helpful for a show with so many soapy elements. Not only are the characters deeply connected to each other, but they are connected to the history of the town.

The historical aspect of the show has the additional benefit of flashbacks. We get to see the Salvatore brothers back when they were mere mortals, both in love with the same girl. That is where we were introduced to Katherine, the vampire who turned both brothers. Dobrev must have fun playing Katherine, a character who is the polar opposite of Elena.

With quite a few cliffhangers in the finale, The Vampire Diaries needn’t worry that fans will forget to tune in next season to find out what happens next. Hopefully the show will be this much fun again next year.

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The Vampire Diaries: Season 1 Review

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