Summary: With magic banned in Mystic Falls, and Damon and Bonnie lost forever to The Other Side, Vampire Diaries continues four months later, as everyone still deals with the aftermath.
I was skeptical about this season premiere. Vampire Diaries, though still enjoyable, is not nearly at the level of smart television it once stood at. With the Original vampires gone, taking Rebekah with them, the show became a little lame and stale. There are no important characters left to kill off — I mean, obviously there are, but the writers are clearly unwilling to part with the ones who are left. In fact, the only real character who died last season was the BEST characters on the show. Katherine was the only good thing the show had going for it last season, and it was 300% a mistake to kill her off.
When last season ended and the link between The Other Side and life closed, with Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) gone forever, I cheered. Sorry. They are my least favorite characters, and I believed their actual deaths would bring on a positive change the show hasn’t felt it a while. I realized shortly after that Bonnie and Damon probably weren’t gone forever. VD has been pretty stubborn about keeping those two around, plus the Delena fans would revolt and probably pillage CW studios and burn them to the ground. This suspicion was confirmed by many articles that came out in the summer, basically assuring the fans that Bonnie and Damon are not gone. SNOOZE.
Even so, Bonnie and Damon did appear to be gone through most of the first episode. Coupled with the fact that most of our favorite characters can no longer enter Mystic Falls, and finished with the “Alaric is back!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!1!1!1!11111111!!!!!” cherry on top, the show actually did have a freshness to it I was longing for.
Everyone was scattered. Elena was high on magical herbs, busy hallucinating her dead boyfriend and attacking humans. Caroline was stuck hanging out at the border of Mystic Falls with her mom. With no vampires to terrorize Mystic Falls, Sheriff Forbes was legit busting teenagers for underage drinking, which was hilarious. Stefan (Paul Wesley) was off just chilling far away, being super low key in his new like as a mechanic. And I may not have mentioned this yet, but ALARIC IS BACK!!! (Alaric is my favorite. Except for Katherine.) Lots of ressurection jokes and new vampire jokes ensued — because remember like 3 years ago when Alaric got turned into a vampire and then INSTANTLY DIED?? This show used to make stuff happen!
Of course at the end, we saw Bonnie and Damon hanging out together eating pancakes in the afterlife. Because the afterlife has an unlimited supply of pancake batter, but you have to cook the pancakes yourself. #ThingsIAssumeWhileWatchingVampireDiaries
I think this season will be very interesting. Until the plan to get Bonnie and Damon back really comes to fruition and the show gets boring again. I really enjoyed this episode, but I have no doubt the direction this season is going in.
But, you guys. Alaric is back.
Rating: 6/10
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Marla Pachter is a comedic writer, obsessed with all things television. She doesn’t discriminate against TV shows, which either results in pleasant surprise or an eviscerating review for your reading pleasure. Marla loves Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine Nine, and she will probably be watching new seasons of Grey’s Anatomy until she’s 90. Sometimes she writes TV shows herself, but they don’t air on television. She also likes big butts and she cannot lie. (That was a lie). @MarlaPachter
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