The Vampire Diaries is back with its third season, which means I’m back for another year of reviews! And, for the first time ever, it’s without Smallville. It feels kinda odd, to be honest.
I actually quite enjoyed the way the premiered eased into everything. A whole lot happened in last year’s finale and to be honest, it took a while to remember everything that happened to each character. They took things slow, but not to the point that it was boring or tiresome. And best of all, they built up certain stories and actually paid them off by the end of the hour. What did Klaus want with Simon Camden? Why was Tyler’s mom giving Caroline the stink eye? Would Jeremy reveal his secret about seeing dead people? And how far would Stefan go in his journey down the dark side? A lot of shows make the mistake of drawing out storylines/mysteries too long, to the point that fans no longer care or the payoff doesn’t meet the expectations built up in the viewers’ imaginations. Thankfully, The Vampire Diaries didn’t fall into that trap tonight.
Let’s start with the first question. So it seems that Klaus and Stefan are scouring the globe so that Klaus can build an army of vampire/werewolf hybrids. It seems Caroline’s mother, who now knows her daughter’s secret, is helping them track Stefan (in addition to Damon and his news reporter “girlfriend”). We’d also come to learn that Stefan is willing to go quite far to protect Elena and Damon, in his own twisted way, by actually forcing Damon’s girlfriend to kill herself. Bringing that character back for this moment was actually quite brilliant, as it allowed Stefan to kill somebody close to Damon without having to sacrifice a major character. And since she had been instrumental in assisting Damon in his search for Stefan, the audience had an actual reason to care about her death. Well done.
I thought they did a pretty nice job with Elena and Damon’s relationship, as well. Thankfully, they didn’t push the tension too much and decided to play it smart. There was one thing that bothered me, though, and this is something I don’t get about women (okay, one of many things)….why exactly did Elena need Damon to put the necklace on for her? I understand it was to create a tense, romantic moment for them, but this happens on television often and I just don’t get it. Am I to believe she is unable to reach behind her neck and clip the necklace together? Talk about helpless….
One of the things I didn’t quite remember from last season’s finale was whether or not Caroline and Tyler ended up together. As we learned this episode, no they did not, but they sealed the deal before the end of the hour. However, for whatever reason, Tyler’s mother has it out for her. Since she’s in the know, I’m guessing it’s because Caroline’s a vampire. Speaking of Caroline, I did laugh out loud when she casually picked up that guy and moved him aside when she needed to get by.
The interactions between Jeremy and Matt were nice, and it wasn’t until I saw them that I realized that these characters very rarely seem to share screen time. So, what do you think Vickie (and I presume Anna) need help with? And will Jeremy be seeing any other characters? Like Jenna, perhaps?
I was actually a bit saddened to see Alaric move out, as I enjoyed the fact that he became a surrogate guardian to them. I hope this doesn’t mean he’s being phased out, or that his role as a “father figure” will be minimized.
Although I’m glad The Vampire Diaries didn’t fall into that other TV trap – namely, getting too gloomy for too long after something tragic happens – if I did have one disappointment it was that aside from Alaric, none of the characters really reacted to Jenna’s death. Elena and Jeremy were clearly in disarray, except Elena was all mopey and depressed because she couldn’t find Stefan, and Jeremy was a wreck because he was haunted by dead former girlfriends. The only one who even mentioned Jenna was Alaric, and that was borderline tongue-in-cheek. Out of all the deaths we’ve seen thus far, this was probably the saddest, yet it felt somewhat glossed over.
So, what did all of you think of the season premiere?
