As a pre-teen I gobbled up any vampire-related reading material I could get my hands on, and so, of course, I read The Vampire Diaries. While the books were never anything spectacular, they did not prepare me for the feeling of utter disappointment I would experience while watching the TV show.
Unlike Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Vampire Diaries falls absolutely flat.
Littered with cheesy lines and cliché tropes, one could play a drinking game watching this series. Who needs to go to Hive for a good time when he or she could get absolutely trashed watching this show? At one point, Bonnie heroically declares: “I’m going to save the world” in a cringe worthy moment of self-realisation. Later, Elena reminds the audience that “life goes on” as if we don’t already know this.
Everyone loves to see a good reunion in shows, but such reunions must be heartfelt. Sadly, the show only consists of several gauche reunions which seem to trivialise the characters.
The protocol for filming each reunion scene? Make sure your actor cries a couple of tears (pretty ones, not the snotty real ones) and have them run into the welcoming arms of others. Finally, as a finishing touch, play the scene in slow motion, in order to nauseate your audience with cheesiness of it all.
The only saving grace of the show is Katherine, Elena’s evil doppelganger. Spoiler alert: true to her mischievous nature, Katherine manages to trick Stefan and Damon into believing she is Elena. This twisted sense of humour makes her almost likeable, compared to her two-dimensional counterparts. Her acerbic comments are refreshing, and she even manages to make engulfing a small town in a magical fire sound a bit funny: “Everybody will go poof … Well, they’ll burn alive first and then their ashes will go poof.”
One last spoiler alert: To wrap up Stefan’s end, he exits dramatically to the sound of the Fray playing in the background. After all, what is a cheesy teen show without some cathartic Fray?
If you’re looking for a show full of unoriginal, sloppy storylines, and some aesthetically pleasing actors, Vampire Diaries is the series for you. If you were an avid Buffy the Vampire Slayer watcher, don’t bother, just forever cherish those memories of Buffy and Angel.
Image: Gage Skidmore @ Flickr