The Vampire Diaries (2009) - First Impressions

From left to right: Angel, Buffy and Spike

The only reason I originally watched this show was to make fun of it.  While many vampire shows have a similar basic premise, it's all about the execution, and The Vampire Diaries (from a cursory glance on Netflix) seemed to have all the makings of an awful show.  First of all, it airs on the CW, who, despite my love for Supernatural, typically has the mindset of "beautiful people first, compelling content later never".  Secondly, just look at the picture to the left.  I mean, how cheesy is that?  I mean, that just screams "we're cashing in on Twilight and we don't care who knows".

And, judging by the pilot episode, that's exactly what they're going for.  Despite being co-developed by Scream's writer Kevin Williamson, the pilot is full of goofy/terrible dialogue, bland or annoying characterization, and average acting, at best.  But through it all, it remained entertaining, even if it was in the Twilight-y, so bad it's good, way.  The plot follows Elena, a kind and demure girl from Mystic Falls, Virginia, who gets caught up in a vampire brotherly rivalry between good guy Stefan Salvatore and bad boy Damon.  Along for the ride are witchy best friend Bonnie, vain ego-centric Caroline, douchebag Tyler, stoner brother Jeremy, civilian Matt and his junkie sister Vicki, with many more joining the cast (and leaving) along the way.

The pilot is not a good indicator of the show.  It's messy and dull with its character introductions, and really the only characters that remain similar are Elena and her aunt, Jenna.  The characterization is all over the place, and you can clearly tell that while they developed the characters to a greater extent as they went along, they didn't have much of a backbone to build off of for the pilot (as, from what I have read, they take virtually nothing but the character names and some vague plot elements from the books).  In short, it feels overly long and only seems like it is there to introduce the characters in the most obvious ways possible.

Someone's been learning Photoshop

But it was cheesy and fun, so I pressed on.  And around the end of the first arc (Episode 7), something amazing happened.  The show actually started to get really good.  Now let's drop the pretenses.  Is the show as good as Buffy?  Absolutely not.  Few shows actually develop the subtlety and themes as deeply as Whedon's do.  This isn't a show that is going to stir some sort of existential revelation like The Body, or make you laugh like Band Candy, or make you feel all warm inside like The Zeppo.  It's just not that deep of a show.  But after the initial rocky episodes, The Vampire Diaries does eventually morph into a solid and well-rounded series, full of likable characters, fairly interesting relationships, a deep and intriguing mythos, and yes, even some Whedonesque gut-punches.

This is not what the show actually looks like at all, thankfully

Interestingly enough, I don't think the show has even hit its prime yet, as far as quality goes.  Every season has been more engaging than the last and it doesn't show any signs of slowing.  It probably won't change your life, nor will it be particularly inspirational, but The Vampire Diaries has accomplished an impressive feat.  It has managed to go from something that I laughed at to something that I genuinely enjoy, all in less than two months.  If its trend of quality continues, then perhaps within the next few seasons it can become something that is truly great.