#forwood

Runner ups:

I also like/can see it for:

I love Caroline, but when I heard her say to Klaus, "You were never the villain in my story," LIKE GIRL....🤦🏾‍♀️ What are we talking about here, Caroline?

I don't even understand why people think they're some sort of "true love fantasy" When Klaus Mikaelson said himself he shared a "true connection" with one person and that was Camille.

Forwood is Caroline's best relationship, although it's an unpopular opinion. I also love Steroline, but I feel that their connection felt forced after season 6. I really wish they had started their relationship at the end of season 4 or the beginning of season 5. At least with Forwood, there was a genuine connection, unlike the Klaroline fantasy.

I LOVE Klamille but I would have loved to see Klaus and Bonnie; they would have made a great enemies-to-lovers romance.

Also, Klaus NEVER told Caroline he loved her; she just assumed that shit. Yes, he said he intended to be her "last love", but even with that being said, it still doesn't make any sense to me, this situation came out of nowhere.

Ms. Caroline Forbes' first (technical) strike occurred in the first episode of the 3rd season, the start of their relationship, and where Girlboss Blondie herself gets all in her feelings because Tyler was dancing with another girl. In the previous season, Caroline turned him down, mind you. Now, in perspective, jealousy is human nature, and everyone goes through this in some way. But knowing Caroline is Julie's self insert, and knowing how Julie is, this gives me an icky feeling. (but agree to disagree or whatever...) Not long after, she ends up compelling the same girl who did nothing wrong to leave a party that's not even hers, and the fandom gives her praise for this.

This is interesting to me because for someone that the fandom despises and wholeheartedly believes is a terrible boyfriend to Caroline, surely does care when he's around someone else that’s not her.

FAAAAAST FOWARD to the double whammy, aka the start of Forwood's downfall. You thought the previous season Tyler was going through it, Julie & Co. said, "Watch this." The way there was no sympathy for Tyler after he you know was killed in front of his friends and at that moment had a low possibility of even surviving the transition. Not a "Hey, how you've been ever since that night?" But Caroline sure had something to say when Tyler mentioned Rebekah was helping him. Had a whole hissy fit in the bathroom for what exactly? It also brings the question, where was Caroline that whole time? Apparently, not with Tyler, but she can mention him to the trio. Not much time has passed, and Blondie throws another fit over Tyler compelling the coach, which is ironic considering she did the exact same thing to someone else 5 episodes ago. APPLY TO THEE BUT NOT FOR ME I GUESS.

Then we get to the scenes later in the exact same episode, where Tyler is discovered to be sired to Klaus, and instead of I don't know talking to him, everyone's favorite wattpad ass bad boy sedates him. And his girlfriend throws another fit acting like he really did something crazy, and Tyler has to be the one to apologize for LITERALLY nothing. And right after this, Caroline then decides to warn him about the downside of vampirism because that couldn't happen earlier in the episode...

Now, for the next 3ish episodes, this is where it gets worse from here. From the start of the episode, Caroline is at it again with her damn fits. And what is it for this time? Tyler for being around Rebekah again and also setting Matt up to be her Homecoming date. (Off topic, but the way Caroline felt the need to step on Rebekah, calling her an "evil blood slut" twice in the same scene... Just why? like you personally don't know the girl saying all that. And it's incredibly crazy considering Bex is the sister of the guy that the fandom heavily ships Caroline with. "She's the bad guy, of course she's not going to like her." Uh huh, keep this in mind... )

And speaking of Homecoming... Despite the fact that Tyler basically saved her from being put in harms way, what does he get in return? His "loving and supporting" girlfriend flanking on him because he's "sired to Team Klaus" AS IF HE HAD A FUCKING CHOICE. But you know what? GOOD FOR CAROLINE, FOR PUTTING HERSELF FIRST IN RESPONSE TO A SITUATION WHERE SHE'S NOT THE DAMN VICTIM BUT ACT LIKE SHE IS ANYWAY... YOU GO GIRL. Skip an episode, and the start of the Forwood - Kl*roline love triangle BS begins. It really amazes me how the fandom loves to act like Klaus is Caroline's savior to something he initially took part in. AND A MONOLOGUE AND A PRICEY SPARKLY BRACELET WAS ALL IT TOOK TO SPARK THIS "RELATIONSHIP".

NOW TO THE NITTY DAMN GRITTY OF HALF OF THE EMOTIONAL CHEATING THAT STARTED. (I remember when I was told wait til I got to the Mikaelson Ball episode like it was the push that was suppose to be life changing, and boy, how it changed not a damn thing.) Ms. Caroline Forbes, if it's one thing that she undeniably has, it's the audacity. The audacity to show up at the Mikaelson Ball wearing the dress and bracelet he gave her, as if she made a statement. The audacity to dance with him, entertain him, and then later in the night tell Klaus that she's spoken for. THEN. WHY. THE. FUCK. ARE. YOU. HERE? Because the excuse that's always been given by the fandom is that "She went to the Ball because wanted to negotiate with Klaus into bringing Tyler back." And any other day, she just couldn't do that cause she didn't give a damn the day after willingly posing herself as Klaus' distraction.

caroline forbes is not perfect. in fact, i would argue she's not even inherently a 'good' person. she is a hard-working and neurotic overachiever, a highly flawed individual with a mean streak, and a lot of insecurities that fashion the way she interacts with the world around her.

once she becomes a vampire, she becomes 'better' because vampires are better—from a purely superficial level. she is a good vampire because she doesn't kill people (ignoring how, if we follow this logic on its own, she was a good human for not killing people, but no one gets praised for that like a vampire does, do they?). she becomes a 'better' caroline because she gets to be young and beautiful (and fast and strong and nearly unkillable) forever.

to be a better person, all caroline has to do after transitioning is not kill people to sustain herself. that's a small hurdle to jump.

of course, this is supposed to be a struggle for any vampire, it goes against their nature. but she also had a lot of advantages in this battle:

most of the people around her were friends, family, friends of friends, or people she at least knew of (since she lived in a small town and was a social butterfly); killing them would likely hurt her in turn, which could help keep her temptations at bay

her mother was a cop: following the rules, the law, and doing what was right are probably concepts caroline has been familiar with since her childhood

the fear of punishment: if she stepped too far out of line, stefan and bonnie could kill her, and officer forbes would probably put down her own child if it meant saving the town from what she perceived as truly harmful; it would a punishment that felt almost divine, handed out by people she knew and loved

she had a seasoned and resourceful vampire (stefan) with a deep history tied to 'addiction' to blood, who was already aided in his journey by someone else (lexi), who wanted to better himself and was willing to help her avoid the pitfalls of being a vampire

if vampirism 'enhanced' emotions or existing personality traits, consider that caroline was a teenager whose entire identity was built as a multi-layered show of theatre and the desire to seem perfect. one of the things she wanted more than anything was control. someone with those traits could find it easier to try and 'control' their hunger, especially when failing to do so would tank her standing socially.

to be a better person, caroline simply had to do the one thing that would seem morally reprehensible... to a vampire, or a human, or a werewolf, or a witch: slaughter people indiscriminately with no purpose beyond entertainment.

from a narrative perspective, caroline forbes needed to accomplish... basically nothing in order for the narrative to paint her as 'good' past her transformation.

the issue then becomes this: what about all that emotional and mental baggage?

that's where tyler comes in.

compare and contrast: narratively, tyler needed to accomplish the impossible, then got side-lined, belittled, battered, forgotten, then brought back just to die and even then the narrative painted him only as 'little more than a small town boy,' in the words of his greatest adversary, from the lips of his greatest love, who he lost to the aforementioned adversary, who went on to be painted as a great man, just as his murderer did. brutal.

we watch tyler make choices and mistakes that are much easier to point out. things the narrative frequently points out. he's verbally and physically angry, he's sexually promiscuous and of course there's what happened with vicki, he's loud and he's rude. his dad's abusive, he's abusive, his whole bloodline has the capacity to be abusive, his entire supernatural species in more inclined to be abusive! bad! bad! bad!

just like how murder is bad, caroline can look at tyler's behaviour and easily label it bad. so does tyler. tyler sees within himself his flaws, things he does not like, and makes an effort to fix them, to better himself, and to change. spurred on by a curse, his upbringing, the abuse he and his mother went through, and his feelings for caroline, tyler actively works toward becoming a better man.

tyler can look at caroline and he can easily label some of what she does as bad. he called her on her bullshit quite often, which caroline did not like, but he was probably the one consistent voice in her life that refused to let her remain in her protective bubble of 'i'm a good vampire, i'm good, so everything i say and everything i do is good.'

he saw the girl behind the act.

for tyler, that mask wasn't good enough. he saw the brightness in her, the positives, the love she felt, the pain she had, and he accepted her. all of her. even the not so nice. caroline, on the other hand, began accepting tyler once he had made that effort to change. to be better.

unfortunately for caroline, i think the the 'i can help him fix himself' storyline needed to go both ways.

caroline never feels the need to become better. and the narrative eventually stops wanting her to become better, or to even evolve. to grow. she stagnates and becomes faultless, she can never be blamed, she can never be wrong. so she can never learn. trapped in a hamster wheel, repeating her cycles, playing pretend, caught up in a life that looks so, so perfect on paper from a safe distance away.

tyler doesn't necessarily tell her she needs to be better - or rather, different - because he, probably better than most, understands that some parts of you cannot be snuffed out. especially the ugly parts forged from trauma or pain. these parts can only quieted, chipped down, maybe mellowed. maintained, to put it into more caroline-friendly terms.

only with a genuine love and understanding can you tell a girl who possibly fashioned some of the ugliest parts of her personality as a shield from hurt, abandonment, fear, and insecurity, that yes, she is beautiful but no, not everything she does, even if it is not out of malicious intent, is okay. there is love in acceptance, of course, but there is also love in accountability. something caroline helped teach tyler, and something he could have taught her in turn.

and this is where i start having a bone to pick with this show and its writing.

i think caroline could have genuinely grown into a better woman; the woman the show kept telling us she was, instead of showing us. not for a man, she would have already had the man (who was head over heels for her even at her worst), but for herself. dealing with the quieter internal struggles alongside a man who also had room to grow, and was willing to grow beside her, with her.

a story of two flawed individuals gradually growing into better versions of themselves together. a relationship where you can make mistakes, stumble and fall, and know that they will be there to pick you up and help you back onto the right path. a relationship that allows enough autonomy to make mistakes and be stupid, to be human, but with strong enough guardrails in place to keep each other safe while they figured it out, whatever 'it' was that month. to stop each other from doing things they couldn't take back, things that they would regret, because they knew each other enough to help balance one another out.

but alas, i guess this is all the writers cared about: