I was on the verge of entering the realm of adulthood, therefore, I decided to relive my teenage years by watching The Vampire Diaries. I've grown up with this iconic series' memes and footages flooding my social media feeds, I practically grew up with it but I never actually watch it, until now. I believed Twilight had ruined my fantasy for vampires even though I was unhealthily obsessed with that franchise during my adolescence. However, thanks to The Vampire Diaries, my belief was somewhat restored.
I came to this series without any expectation, I wanted to relive my youth carefreely and I did. The show has many plotholes but I chose to ignore them all. I have always been a huge fan of sci-fi series and I now can proudly say that I'm also a huge fan of The Vampire Diaries too.
To be honest, I was kinda bored with the doppelganger plot and it got exciting again in season 6. Season 6 must be my favorite of all with the Prison World, sociopath Kai and his revenge on his family, Damon & Bonnie's friendship, Caroline & Stefan's love blossom, and the final dance between Damon & Elena. The season that had the most interesting storytelling is season 7 which turned out to be not as good but still, innovative.
The writer must have gone through the pain to write such accurate details. One of my favorite moments was the dialogue between Caroline and Damon after Liz, Caroline's mom died of cancer (Figure 1).
Or the moment Elena broke down when her brother died, he was the last family member she had and she just broke, and I felt her, truly, thank you, Nina, for such great acting.
Blood is thicker than water (pun intended)
This show is not about the love triangle between Elena and the Salvatore brothers or any love story that happened in the show. It's about family and what family represents. So many beautiful, sacred, and touching moments and details about family and the bond they share were planted throughout the series. For example, a girl named Annabelle lived for more than 100 years in order to save her vampire mother in a tomb where she had been captured or the Bulgarian girl Nadia traveled across the world for 500 years to find the mother she had lost. The love Elena and Jeremy Gilbert had for each other was indescribable, the bond the Salvatore brothers share was so strong that they were willing to die for each other every time though they fought like dogs.
The show has never been about romantic love but the family loves. Damon could survive 5 years without the love of his life, Elena but he couldn't wait to die so he could reunite with his little brother. The first word Damon said when entering the show was "Hello, brother" and those were also his very last words. Stefan was willing to give up his life to save the brother he loved, whom he thought was lost after being turned into a vampire, the brother he grew up admiring. Stefan gave up on the person he thought was the love of his life so that his brother would be happy for the very first time in 150 years. Damon's hope and motivation during 5 years of imprisonment was his brother. Damon acted out on Lexi when she came to help him because he expected his brother instead. They literally went through hell and back for each other every time. No one could love Damon more than Stefan, even Elena, and vice versa. In the end, what they chose was family.
I even love it more when I found out that Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, the actors who played the Salvatore brothers in the series, had opened a bourbon company together in real life named Brother Bonding Bourbon. I mean, could it be any more perfect after the ending in season 8? They are brothers in real life too and their friendship, bromance, or brotherhood is what I admire the most, it goes beyond the screen and entered eternity. The happy ending that the Salvatore brothers couldn't have, Ian and Paul brought it to life. Moreover, bourbon is their favorite alcoholic drink in the series too, I mean, come on.
Love transforms people
Even though I said the series is not about romantic love, the love stories in this series still inspire me. Love for Elena had transformed Damon and vice versa. Damon entered the show as season 1's antagonist, he was an absolute a** even though he was smoking hot. Then as soon as he showed affection for Elena, his character shifted, he started expressing his compassion, sympathy, and human. So did Elena, love for Stefan kept her in a safe and stable zone but love for Damon challenged her, pushed her to her limit, made her stronger and braver. I cannot shake the feelings I had when watching their goodbye dance at the season 6 finale, perfect music, just two people in love on a trafficless road and slow dance, I cried my eyes out that night after watching it. The video is attached below, you may not feel what I feel but whatever.
The chemistry between the former real-life couple Ian and Nina was epic and yes, I'm a Delena or Nian fan and I'm still rooting for them.
I also enjoy Bonnie and Enzo's love story. Enzo was a psycho and I didn't like him and his stupid reasons for killing people sometimes but when Bonnie entered his life, he changed. Just like Elena's influence on Damon, Bonnie's effect was the same. I realized these men were just lonely, and desperate after spending a century chasing some unreal past girlfriends' ghosts, all they needed was to be loved and appreciated. However, unlike Delena's story, their ending wasn't happy but I did like Enzo more than I used to.
Pure heart and soul does truly transform a dark and cold soul. This applied to Caroline and Klaus. All these men appeared the first time acting like some children whose toys were stolen and they had to punish the whole world for one person's mistake. Then another person entered their lives and altered them forever, for good. The way Klaus looked at the world and the way he looked at Caroline is a statement every man should declare to the world. This series truly restore my belief in love that someone out there will actually love me the way these men mended their hope in one person.
"You are my best friend..."
Those words actually mean something in this series and they really live to prove that. Has anyone who called themselves your best friend willingly sacrifice their lives to save yours the way Bonnie Bennet continuously did in this series? She died over and over again to save Elena, Jeremy, and then Damon. Bonnie was the most selfless character I have ever encountered on the screen. But was she stupid to put them before herself? I don't think so, I would do the same for my friends too.
Lexi, Stefan's best friend who was mercilessly killed by Damon in season 1. She recurred in different seasons as a supporting character with a simple task, helping Stefan with his bloodlust. Lexi, like Bonnie, selflessly did everything for her friends, gave up the chance to resurrect to save Stefan, again. I mean the way she was portraited makes me think that the whole meaning of her life was dedicated to her friend, specifically, Stefan. But I'm fine with that.
Elena's solution to the humanity-switch was to see her friend, Matt got hurt. Matt, the most epic character who stayed true and consistent with himself. The only human that stayed human for 8 seasons straight, he hated vampires and every other supernatural source that ruined his life but still chose to defend ones as long as they were his friends.
I cannot move on without talking about Damon's friendship with Bonnie, Alaric, or former sheriff Liz Forbes. Though Damon could be the most hated character in the series, his friendship stores were the most interesting and inspiring. These three closest friends of Damon's all hated him at first, then things changed and I could not be any happier. I kept smiling every time Damon called Bonnie his best friend instead of Elena's best friend, I cried when she returned from Prison World unharmed and the first thing she did was to come to Damon's house to make pancakes and jumped into his arms with waves of laughter. I was happy (sad happy) when Damon kept saving a seat at the bar for Alaric after his death and instead of lighting the Japanese lanterns like everyone else, he decided to drink bourbon at Ric's grave and told him how much he missed his best bud in his very own weird way (then the creator ruined that precious bromance later as the show went on, perfect -.-). And I love how he cared for Liz Forbes genuinely, and how broken he was when she had gone.
I've been meaning to save these two people's relationship to this part because their epic love was built on a concrete foundation of true friendship, Caroline and Stefan. Remember when Stefan told shallow Caroline at the beginning of the show that nothing would ever happen between them, I now can laugh sarcastically at Stefan. Vampirism suits Caroline perfectly more than anyone else, besides Damon, she changed completely and I love her. Caroline and Stefan's friendship blossomed when he taught her how to hunt and how to deal with the bloodthirst, then with everything happened, they continued to be each other's besties until Caroline realized she has fallen in love with her best friend. Their love was convincing to me because we, the audience, have witnessed their journey together as friends, it was believable and more hopeful when they found the perfect love in each other at the end. Like Bonnie and Enzo, Caroline and Stefan's story was a sad ending. "Tell Caroline I heard her, and I will love her forever too." These words will haunt me forever too, Stefan.
"I love you, Damon Salvatore." - Elena Gilbert & well, me.
Damon Salvatore reminds me of Bojack Horseman, another favorite character of mine who destroyed everything good ever happened in his life, woke up every day to make mistakes then spent the next day trying to fix it. But doesn't that make us human?
I love Damon Salvatore. I wish someone loved me the way Damon loved Elena. I wish I had someone with dark hair and blue eyes like him in my life (I'm Vietnamese so get over it.)
He was darkly handsome and dangerous the first time he appeared in the show. He had a damaged history as the show went on and you know I have a thing for bad guys and damaged people. Damon's actions were intolerable but I still chose to tolerate him because I somewhat saw myself and every human in him. Repeatedly did things we believe to be right which turned out to be wrong then managed to fix it with every breathing second. Isn't that how we, humans, live? How many times have you run away instead of facing the problem or the pain? I have, many times these couple of years and there is nothing wrong with that because we will do anything to avoid pain, won't we? Moreover, in his defense, he wasn't happy with his vampire life after being forced to turn by his brother, he wasn't loved by his sire for over 150 years after trying to save her, he wasn't anyone's first choice and he resented the world for it and I understand it. Most importantly, he eventually found his way to reconnect with his human self after all that, that person was loving, compassionate, and honest.
One thing I love about Damon is his sarcastic witty humor, like Chander Bing in Friends but hotter and more badass, haha. A sarcastic person is way more interesting, right? Here is some evidence, there are many iconic moments in the show that defines Damon Salvatore's intolerable attitude :))
I also love Damon because of the love he had for Elena. He promised her a love that consumed her, passionate and adventurous, even with a bit of danger and he delivered her just that. He loved her when she was a human and still loved her when she became a vampire. He never wanted to change her, he loved her no matter what species or who she was. Moreover, unlike Stefan who had many love interests in his life, this smoking hot older brother only loved two women in his long life, talking about faithfulness, Damon is my choice.
And that's my Damon Salvatore, psychotic, evil, cruel, reckless yet also very loving, passionate, and sensitive son of a bitch.
P/S: The song that made me decisive about watching TVD. Thank you!
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