Vampire Diaries

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know what you're thinking, "Valerie, you're 38, that's like middle-aged, what qualifies you to review Vampire Diaries?" Well listen here, nay-sayers: first of all, it's my blog so feel free to create your own blog to write age-appropriate reviews (it's not that hard, believe me). Secondly (and perhaps more importantly), I count Charmed as one of my all-time favorite TV shows and I still watch America's Top Model (and Canada's...and Australia's...) so believe me when I tell you, I am more than qualified! So here's break down of the good, the bad and the ridiculous of Vampire Diaries:

Basic boy meets girl?: Vampire Diaries could be best described as Beverly Hills 90210 meets Twilight and then marries Supernatural and together they have Dawson's Creek.  The most popular and perfect girl in school, Elena, (whose friends are also beautiful and popular) is recently orphaned. She and her brother live with their young and hip aunt in the small town of Fell's Church, Virginia. She can have any boy she wants, apparently, but her pheromones go to a new level when she meets Stefan Salvatore. Stefan is a teenager and...a vampire. He is drawn to Elena and vice versa. Stefan is a non-human eater (and therefore obvious protagonist) but his brother Damon, also a vampire, arrives on the scene and has no qualms about killing. "I am Vampire, hear me suck!"  All of their roots in the town go way back (a la Bon Temps in True Blood) and the weekly episodes are about the angst of being a high school student and BIG battles between good and evil with supporting characters who are usually more than what simply meets the eye.

The Good - Vampire love is way intense: You can be Team Jake or Team Edward, depending which you think is cuter but Edward's burning love for Bella in Twilight is something that gets to all of us girls, young and old. In Vampire Diaries Stefan would die for Elena and that's just hot. Damon is so deliciously bad and in my opinion, much sexier than Stefan. It turns out Damon isn't totally 100% evil; he has a burning love for Katherine, who turned both he and Stefan into vampires over hundred years ago. His undying obsession to resurrect her is an intriguing plot twist (turns out Katherine is actually Elena's great, great, great something.) It's so Greek mythology!

The Bad - Teens are so tedious: These teenagers are so self involved, so I suppose in that way it's very true to life. The show's attempt to do coming of age story-lines against mass murder and ritualistic killing is a stretch. It's hard to care about teen broken hearts when people's hearts are being actually being ripped out and eaten! I'll be in the minority here but Elena is completely one-note and grates me to no end. Always breathless, always disapproving and always wise, moral and superior. Gimme a break.

Just your average, run of the mill teenage girls.

The ridiculous - How much murder is too much? From the context of the show, the plot moves within a rather short space of time, perhaps within a semester of high school (so that's what, 4 months)? And in that time, probably 2 dozen people have been killed (or have gone "missing") in this small community including the football coach, history teacher, a news reporter and students at the high school. If this were even a tad realistic (I hardly expect gritty realism but a tad would be nice!) citizens would be going around freaked out and hooked on Lorazepam to ease their knife-edge anxiety. But nope, instead the citizens are more concerned about the upcoming bake sale.

I think...it's got potential and I'll keep watching this somewhat entertaining yet irritating series while regularly rolling my eyes. 


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