#tvd6

·         It was time. 

 Man did I used to love this show. Seasons 1-4 I’m actually stillan avid supporter of. I think those seasons are truly creative (s4 less so, butstill good) and as a writer I truly admire them for what they were. However,things changed drastically afterward. One could argue that it was a result ofthem leaving high school but I would disagree because a) They barely ever wentto school and b) Gossip Girl managed fine with the same issue. 

 What the show lost after S4 was what had been one of myfavourite things about it and a point of great admiration for me – the waythey burned through plot. Now I know that sounds bad but it was something noother show I watched was doing. When an episode ended on a giant cliffhanger,you thought that SL was going to be a huge arc for the rest of the season, orthe next 3 episodes or the entire episode at least. TVD usually burnedthrough it in like three minutes. And then they added in 3 more compellingstorylines in that same episode and tossed out another cliffhanger at the end.It was brilliant. I could not wait until the next week. To this day the S1finale cliffhanger is one of my all-time favourite season ends/cliffhangers. Itwas genius.

 Next was the relationships between the characters. They werefleshed out and made to seem important aside from the romances. The girlsreally cared about each other which was a big deal for a show set in this townwhere they used to be normal people who have known each other all their lives. Lemme bold that for emphasis to use later: ashow set in this town. 

·        With S5 and 6 everything changed.

 S5 had two villainous aspects: Silas and the travellers. Thetravellers were the worst (in terms of narrative, not evilness) species we will ever come across on this show and yetthey got the bulk of the season – Silas was amazing and got a few episodes. Those two things were stretched over the entire season and it was lame.

 Half the time S5 was set at Whitmore in an unnamed town and S6had basically no Mystic Falls -- even now when (I think) they’re back there,they’ve destroyed the sets we’d come to know and love, and spend time at ahospital in the Whitmore town and that coffee shop thing etc. instead –basically, abandoning the places we’d built relationships with. I legit caremore about the MMF hospital than the girls’ dorm room because I have so manymemories connected with it (off the top of my head -- Caroline transitioning, Damon carrying Elena out,Stefan killing that one random prisoner, Tyler’s venom being stolen).

 Related to this – I don’t recognise the show at all anymore.When I catch random glances or am lured into watching scenes, I notice that thisdoesn’t feel at all like the show I once knew and was obsessed with. All thecharacters look different, first of all. Not just older but their makeup andgeneral way they look is so different. Then – and this is something I feelalone in having noticed but I noticed it just the same – the aesthetic iscompletely different. The way the show is shot has changed and also they havethese bright blue flaring lights that usually serve as indicators of dreamsequences or memories in other shows. I don’t know what TVD is trying toaccomplish with it besides ruining the look of the show but regardless, when Iwatch I do not feel an inch of nostalgia as I do when I re-watch old episodes,because that tone has disappeared. It feels like an entirely new show (stillkinda holding out hope that the entire season will turn out to be adream/delusion).

 Everything became either about the plot twists or the romances.This show became a place where your best friend could sleep with the villainyou hated and you don’t give two shits; just continue going about life asusual. I’m not here for that. 6 years down the line as a viewer you honestlygive like 2 craps about the plot and fifty bazillion about the characters.Generally if either one is fantastic things can still work out, but usually youwant them either both to be ok or the character work to be excellent. I reallycan’t stress enough that that’s what keeps viewers around for so long.

Supernatural ison its tenth year heading into its eleventh because it does that so freakingwell. It seems so basic, but when you boil it all down it is really just -- constantly -- a showabout two brothers who love each other more than they love themselves or theworld trying to save each other and the world. That brother relationship is thecore of every single story line or arc and they know each other like theyknow their guns. The other day Dean questioned Sam about randomly disappearingevery now and then. Sam said it’s not like he usually doesn’t do that. Dean’sreply? Deadpan: “No, you actually don’t.” They know each other so well and they careabout every tiny development in the other’s life. That is what I’m stickingaround for for this amount of years, that TVD has abandoned – relationships andcharacter. Speaking of which… 

·        Character destruction.

When for five years you have been going on and on about how thisguy is your bff’s soulmate and then you turn around and like him all of asudden it’s very WHAT??!! I mean I’ve always been a Delena shipper and Caroline wasalways that person touting Stelena in Elena’s ear but still I never dislikedCaroline as I do now. I honestly don’t even know her anymore. And back in S2she was my favourite character across all shows – that’s gotta tell yousomething about how far she’s dropped in my esteem (she only wasn’t my fave inseason 3 and 4 because Klaus came and oh my heart with that one).

 Damon and Delena were initially my favourite parts of the showand when that began going downhill in my esteem and there was no longer anyKlaroline, I really wasn’t sure what the point was anymore. Personally I hatethe way Delena went in S5 and thought it was entirely out of character for themand Damon himself. His entire flashback episode was garbage to me and the wayhe broke up with Elena was worse garbage. Damon has always been my favouritebecause he’s the most self-aware so making him ‘suddenly realise’ because of anidiot character that he’s trash was insane to me, I couldn’t stand it. Andsince him and his sass was what just barely got me through S5 and they weredestroying him, I didn’t feel I could watch any longer. In addition, I feellike the end Delena got in the S5 finale was actually pretty great inaccordance with their S1-4 arc so I just felt it smart to end there.

·        The Originals left

Look, I’m a huge Klaus fan. I love that man to death. Same withKlaroline. But that isn’t the only reason why I mourn the Originals’ absence.

 Not only did the Originals make the Scooby Team seem like theywere playing in a bigger, more important, league – they also brought somethingentirely different to the show. A worldliness, if you will. Their characterswere a breath of fresh air not just to us but to the characters we’d known andloved already.

And their interactions, mantheir interactions. Suddenly we have Rebekah throwing unfiltered shade onElena’s every bad trait and we have Elijah mirroring Elena while in love withKatherine and bringing out a different side of her. Suddenly we have Stefan having livedin the 20s with the world’s two oldest vampires and doing shots with them likeit was NBD. Suddenly we got weird (and insanely hot) teamups between two ofthe show’s biggest bads (and hotties– just, like #Klamon, ok) working for good who actually really hated each other,so the sass was off the charts. Suddenly we had the biggest most clinicallyinsane villain falling head over puppy heels for Miss Mystic Falls who neededto be reminded that the world was bigger than this tiny town. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. The relationshipdynamics were fantastic no matter which way you stirred it – Kol and Elena? Fascinating.Kol and Bonnie? New ship. Caroline and Rebekah? Team Barbie. Klaus and Elena? “Justbetween us girls” Elijah and Stefan? A competition of who can be more pompousand righteous aka hilarious. HAVE IMENTIONED IT WAS INCREDIBLE.

One gigantically massive mistake the writers made with thespinoff was discounting how much we freaking loved the Originals because of their relationships with theMMF characters (especially when itcame to Klaus). Don’t get me wrong, I loved their family dynamic but it wasalso only made epic by the fact that it was set against the backdrop of thisnormal tiny southern town, and in strolls these tremendously ancient, screwed up evilvampires whom you expect to be above just, like, everything – and the reality is that they quibble about the dumbestsibling things; mock their sister for being a ‘strumpet’ and beg theirbrother to go out drinking because boredom. And when they were up against theMMF gang you never knew if they were gonna stand together or if one of them wouldteam up with the good guys. It was a fantastic element that their show does notand has never contained and something TVD has very unfortunately lost.

·        Steroline (and Enzo)

I don’t want to make this an anti Steroline post so I really won’tsay much (I could go on and on about that too) because really you either love it or you hate it – it’s up to personalopinion and not something I can academically argue for.

 What I will say is that personally I never saw them as a romancewhatsoever. Ever. Not for one second in all of TVD did I want these two to be athing. What I loved was their friendship. It was so sweet and believable andbeautiful and represented that girl/guy relationships can remain platonic, andhealthily so (Elementary shoutout forstill doing this fantastically). TVD not only destroyed this but also souredtheir entire relationship. I nowdislike Stefan, I dislike Caroline and I hate them together.

 I knew that the writers were going for romance between them though and since ithad been minimalistic in S5 and I’d still hated it, I knew I would be revoltedby it if I continued watching.

 I just don’t like Enzo. Again down to personal taste because Iknow almost everybody does but I don’t. I think he’s an awful boring illogicalcharacter and I cannot stand his scenes.

                                                       ~           ~ 

So, basically, it was an amalgamation of all that and, like I said,some more smaller things here and there. But essentially I felt that I couldnot continue watching a show that caused me more discomfort than entertainment.I used to be one of those people who would stick with a series no matter whatas a point of pride, and in the past 2 or so years I’ve taken up adifferent philosophy which is – Why watchif you aren’t enjoying yourself? Why actually use up time in your life onsomething that is adding nothing to your life but frustration? Nobody is goingto give you that time back.

 And I think the clincher to the whole thing is, there is so so much good stuff out there.I personally will happily provide a list of TV shows that I know are good andthat I’ve heard are good from other people who study these things if you’reinterested. But nowadays I only watch things that truly give me joy to be apart of – things that (this really happens) make me jump up, my eyes tear upand I scream HOLY SHIT!!! because I can’t believe how good it is. That’s thekind of TV I want to be watching. I know a lot of people think TV is crap thatyou do in your spare time and a waste of time anyway but I heartily disagree. TVis art and it should add value to your life. Ultimately I decided TVD wasn’t doingthat anymore and thus wasn’t worth my time.

 You didn’t mention how far back you are but I would reallyrecommend that, if you still can, you save yourself. Stop at the Kat/Elenascene in 4x23. Let fanfiction guide you from there. Trust me, seeing Katherine asa human wasn’t worth it. In fact it was lame. And those last three minutes only leadto disappointment. Stop while you still can. And if you’re any further myadvice stands: stop now. If you’ve watched 5x11, stop now.