BRONX, NY- After eight seasons of love triangles, supernatural deaths, doppelgangers, and powerful enemies, The Vampire Diaries came to an end last night. I want to give a special thanks to the cast and production crew for entertaining me for eight seasons. Although the story line did fall out in season seven, I believe the character development was phenomenal. This is not a post full of spoilers or fandom. I am here to tell you how my journey with the show has impacted me.
To start off, I am not a fan of vampire stories. Twilight was a cheesy saga for me, so when I heard the CW was launching a pilot episode of The Vampire Diaries on September 10th, 2009, I was skeptical. Was the network jumping on the blood sucking bandwagon? L.J. Smith had become popular writing the book series so it must be a trend the CW was trying to follow. When the pilot premiered at 8 p.m., I was proven wrong.
I had not read the books before the series premiere, so Stefan Salvatore’s opening line immediately caught my attention: “For over a century, I’ve lived in secret. Hiding in the shadows, alone in the world. Until now. I’m a vampire and this is my story.” Viewers later discovered he had been hiding from his older brother, Damon Salvatore. The pilot introduced the three main leads and supporting characters. Damon and Stefan had established they did not get along and when the episode ended. I wanted to know more about what happened between them.
“Are they going to give this show every Thursday?” I whirled around to see my baby sister, who I shared a room with at the time, was wide awake. I could have sworn she had been asleep. I realized it was too late not to allow her to watch the show and at six years old, Alondra handled most drama television shows more maturely than kids her age. I replied “yes, so far it’s every Thursday.” She smiled and finally fell asleep.
During the next four seasons, Alondra and I watched the characters fight their instincts while trying not to lose their humanity. It was a great bonding moment to have with her. Alondra’s teachers were astonished to learn she understood the plot line of a series targeted toward mature audiences. Alondra was Team Damon all the way. The series soon developed a spin off called The Originals, based on a family of villains. By the fifth season, Alondra had lost her interest in the show. She believed the love triangle was redundant and the number of doppelgangers had gotten ridiculous. I was on my own again.
From a writing standpoint, I agreed with Alondra. Season five had a strange drop in plot lines due to redundant topics. Yet, I continued to watch the show to see if things would improve. I began to see possibilities in character development and plots. This increased my interest in creative writing. The executive producers of the show soon released a spin off book series Stefan’s Diaries, sticking to the descriptions of the television adaptation and not the original book series. I found Stefan’s Diaries more interesting than the L.J. Smith books.
It is now 2017 and the show has ended. 23 million fans in over eight years, a spin off show and book series. The Originals will premiere its fourth season on March 17th, 2017. The show has expanded my love for creative writing, and although it was for a short time, I got to bond with my baby sister (who is now fourteen years old). Thank you, The Vampire Diaries!
Banner Image: CW.com
Photo: Rosa Elena Burgos
Note: Legacies is the new series in the Vampire Diaries universe on the CW.
Last Updated: December 29, 2021