Posted by Ciara & D'Ann | July 28, 2011, 10:56 (EST) | 68 Comments
Category: TV Series
It’s the summer hiatus – and IT SUCKS. So to help wile away those lonely TVD-less hours as we await Vampire Diaries Season 3, we’ve rounded up a slew of guest bloggers (and huge Vampire Diaries fans) for a series called Ripping Open TVD. Each blogger will be focusing on one particular aspect of what we’ve just experienced in Vampire Diaries Season 2 and adding a hefty dose of Season 3 speculation. Remember: These are guest posts, so these are the opinions of the person writing them, not necessarily Vampire-Diaries.net. Cool? Cool. This week, Ciara and D’Ann – Vampire-Diaries.net forum moderators – examine Damon Salvatore’s struggle to overcome his worst enemy: himself.
Seeking to forget makes exile all the longer; the secret of redemption lies in remembrance - Richard von Weizsaecker
When we first meet Damon Salvatore, he is “switched off,” or trying to be. This is his exile; he’s denying his feelings – and yes, even then, he has them – and he’s denying the part of himself that has as much capacity for good as for death and destruction. Early in Season 1, the destructive elements are clearly in control but we soon start to see new sides to him. We catch glimpses of his love for Stefan, we see him broken-hearted by Katherine’s non-appearance in the tomb, and we see his friendship with Elena develop and later become love; strong, fundamentally human emotions experienced by a vampire supposedly incapable of feeling.
At the end of Season 2, Damon has begun to see his past choices for what they were and let go of the bitterness that has shaped so much of his undead life. It’s one small step on the long road to redemption. Damon has suffered setbacks and relapses, but he’s also shown a remarkable amount of growth. He’s gone from the man with a diabolical master plan who cared nothing for those he hurt to a man who is slowly learning what it means to care for other people.
CONTINUE READING “RIPPING OPEN TVD: DAMON SALVATORE – HERO HAIRCUTS & REDEMPTION SONGS.
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Posted by Shira Rosenblatt | June 29, 2011, 12:27 (EST) | 36 Comments
Category: TV Series
It’s the summer hiatus – and IT SUCKS. So to help wile away those lonely TVD-less hours as we await Vampire Diaries Season 3, we’ve rounded up a slew of guest bloggers (and huge Vampire Diaries fans) for a series called Ripping Open TVD. Each blogger will be focusing on one particular aspect of what we’ve just experienced in Vampire Diaries Season 2 and adding a hefty dose of Season 3 speculation. Remember: These are guest posts, so these are the opinions of the person writing them, not necessarily Vampire-Diaries.net. Cool? Cool. This week, Shira Rosenblatt makes the case for why death is no longer a “game changer” on The Vampire Diaries and why she hopes Season 3 will “reinvigorate” the stakes.
“There are more dead people than living. And their numbers are increasing. The living are getting rarer.” Eugene Ionesco, Rhinoceros
It is no surprise that death plays a major role on The Vampire Diaries. After all, two of the three main characters technically are dead. As much as we dread the killing of our favorite characters, whether we knew them a long time or fell in love with them at first guest starring sight, it is expected that on a supernatural show where the characters are in neverending life and death situations, we will inevitably say goodbye to some. In Season 1, Vampire Diaries excelled at killing characters at the right times for the right reasons, though I sometimes disagreed with the choice of character. In most cases, the major deaths last season moved the story forward or changed the story in ways that reverberated through to Season 2. When the show used the term “game changer” to describe a death, more often than not, the description was accurate.
SPOILERS! CONTINUE READING “RIPPING OPEN TVD: “DEATH” ON THE VAMPIRE DIARIES.
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Posted by Erin Brown | January 16, 2011, 13:53 (EST) | 28 Comments
Category: TV Series
If you have been a viewer of this series from the start, you’ll know what I mean when I say that if you fast forward from that first glimpse we had of Mystic Falls all those months ago to the Mystic Falls of 2011, you’d be forgiven for thinking that your mental Dorothy wasn’t exactly in Kansas anymore. So much has changed. Or died. Or been cursed by somebody. Indeed, gone are the days when this was the mere story of Stefan (the lone good guy with a bad past), Elena (the girl he had to know), and Damon (the quintessential badass shaped spanner in the works that no love story is complete without). Instead, we now find ourselves immersed in a storyline brimming with champions of one kind or another, no longer in a black and white world; a place where who you are and where you stand is everything but clear.
As we’ve already seen with Jeremy and Bonnie, the creative team behind The Vampire Diaries has decided to throw their plot nets a little wider this season, choosing to go beyond the core story of Elena, Damon, and Stefan. This has taken the form of a number of plot twists, but most notably it has been seen in the intricate and deliberate romantic tanglings of other characters, the most intriguing of which has to be the developing love triangle between Matt, Caroline and Tyler.
That said, as individuals these three also have a lot to offer on their own, too.
CONTINUE READING “BY EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION: MATT, CAROLINE & TYLER”…
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Posted by Erin Brown | January 11, 2011, 12:00 (EST) | 45 Comments
Category: TV Series
In 1849, a wise man named Henri Amiel was quoted as describing heroism like this: “[it] is the brilliant triumph of the soul over flesh – that is to say, over fear. Heroism is the dazzling and glorious concentration of courage.”
Triumph over fear, courage, dazzling, glorious…well let’s just say that they weren’t exactly words I’d attach to the supporting characters of The Vampire Diaries (unless you count “dazzling” and “glorious” when describing Caroline’s hair). But in the course of the last season and a half, and especially in Season 2, a number of (what used to be) sub-characters have become integral parts of a broader tale slowly being brought to light, piece by tantalising piece, by Kevin and Julie (like Madonna, surnames are now a bit unnecessary here) and the rest of the creative team. As such, they indicate a fairly seismic shift in plot focus; unlike Season 1, the intricate evolutions and revolutions of all the characters in Season 2 are proof that – whether they are part of the core love triangle tangle or not – everyone can now be viewed in one way or another as a core element in the greater story, so much so that to tell the story without any of them seems almost unimaginable now.
CONTINUE READING KNOW THYSELF, BE THYSELF: THE CASE FOR JEREMY GILBERT & BONNIE BENNETT…
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Posted by Dianne Sylvan | January 9, 2011, 17:57 (EST) | 62 Comments
Category: TV Series
The lifespan of a TV drama usually goes a little something like this:
Season One – The show is finding its feet, establishing its mythology. It stumbles a bit at first but by the finale has built up a full head of steam.
Seasons Two/Three – Having settled into a groove with the writers, cast, and directors, the show becomes Pure Freaking Awesome. The story arc is amazing, engaging, full of character development and breathless action.
Seasons Four/Five – The show begins to falter as the original story arc expires. Typically by this point there are new writers. Old beloved characters are killed off and gimmicky plot lines appear and cause eyerolling among longtime fans. Oddly, some of the best individual episodes tend to come out of the worst seasons (witness Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s “Once More With Feeling”). They stand out all the more because of the overall decline in quality.
Seasons Six - End – At some point comes the official Shark-Jumping; die-hard fans hang on as long as they can, but even they have to admit watching has become a lot harder than it was in those halcyon early days. A large segment of the fandom takes refuge in fanfic. Cancellation happens, if fans are lucky, before it gets so bad that everyone is throwing things at the screen.
What does this mean for our beloved Vampire Diaries? Surely something made of such concentrated Awesomesauce will break the mold and be great forever…right?
CONTINUE READING COMPARING APPLES TO UNICORNS – VAMPIRE DIARIES SEASON 1 VS. SEASON 2…
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Posted by Red | October 29, 2010, 14:23 (EST) | 49 Comments
Category: TV Series
There’s an article up on BuddyTV titled “5 Ways to Make Matt Interesting on The Vampire Diaries”, and the reason for said article is explained so:
While I don’t mind Matt being alive, the truth is that there’s no real reason for it. More than any other character on The Vampire Diaries, Matt serves no purpose. The only extended storyline he’s ever had was a dull relationship with Caroline that ended as soon as she was turned into a vampire and became interesting.
Ouch.
Okay, we have to admit that this article has irked us somewhat (especially me – you don’t besmirch Matt’s good name in my presence), and quite a few of our followers on Twitter were Not Impressed, either. I am a staunch Matt Donovan supporter, and I (along with the rest of Team Matt) think it’s plain to see that he’s one awesome guy. He’s already an interesting character for one very simple reason. Humanity. Let me explain…
SPOILER WARNING! READ MORE FROM THE MATT DONOVAN DEFENSE SQUAD.
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Posted by Lucia Heroine TV | December 20, 2009, 22:31 (EST) | 18 Comments
Category: TV Series
I have a theory. It could be demons? No, not that one. We all know the saying “Nice guys finish last.” Well, I have a theory that most of those “nice guys” are not actually “nice,” but rather, losers. “Nice” is very often the adjective applied to someone about whom we have nothing else to say. It is the default adjective for our dealings with people out in the world—anyone who is not completely awful or absolutely fabulous is “nice,” causing the word to lose all meaning. Thus, “nice” often means mediocre, or okay-looking, or no-personality-but-at-least-he-didn’t-piss-me-off. I think that if there were an actual nice guy, he would definitely not finish last. In fact a girl (or boy) might be prone to forgetting all about “the bad boy” in favor of this rare specimen. Matt Donovan (or Matt Honeycutt to the book fans), I would argue, is one of these rare truly nice guys—“nice” in the very best sense of the word.
There are a number of different standard character roles in literature, film, and television, and amongst them is “the nice guy.” “The nice guy” role often overlaps with “the best friend,” “the sidekick,” “the everyman,” or sometimes, “the geek.” “Nice guys” usually have unrequited feelings for a “nice girl,” who, of course, should not be confused with the “nice guy,” since “nice girls” are a totally different deal. Yes, the world isn’t fair. The “nice guy” is usually overshadowed by a friend with special abilities—sometimes athletic, musical, or super-powered.
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