TV Series Review: VAMPIRE DIARIES – Season 2 (2010)

Teen drama in real life is pretty irritating to deal with. Now experiencing the same whiny ridiculi when it comes to the entertainment of watching a fictional supernatural show in VAMPIRE DIARIES… is just infuriating.

The non stop action and emo drama continue with Season 2 of The CW’s very own vampire drama, VAMPIRE DIARIES. I’m just gonna breeze by the fact that the title of the show refers to the fact that the lead characters both used to write their thoughts in their journals, which was used as a narrative in the beginning of the series. That lasted a few episodes only. So… a very relevant title indeed.

Getting over my irritation over the teenage BS involved in this show, Season 2 sees the return of Catherine, the former vampire lover of the Salvatore bros. who Elana looks like. Her appearance creates a lot of drama and tension in the lives of all involved as no one knows the reasons behind her return. Not to mention sibling rivalry between the bros. since Catherine is both their exes. Ooohh!!

The newest thing introduced in Season 2 along with witches and vampires are werewolves. Come on, this came as a shock to no one. The minute I saw a burly looking buff guy with a laid back personality… I called Werewolf! Along with it there are newer vampires, witches and some cool elements involving the origins of some of the supernatural characters in the show.

Anyways… there is some originality in Season 2 of VAMPIRE DIARIES, as the conflict throughout the season is dealt with some expertise. More than the usual sub plots that dominate a season, this season there are quite a few things going on and a lot of highs and lows. The whole Katherine thing would’ve seemed like the main focus of the season, but it’s not… there’s a whole ‘nother batch of crap for them to deal with.

Seeing how this is a teen show, lemme very quickly bitch about a very un-important part of this season. Bonnie (best friend of lead vampire lover Elana) ends up together with Elana’s brother Jeremy (both his girlfriends are dead vampires). I find that whole thing to be very creepy, considering Bonnie is uber bad-ass witch, while despite a new hairdo (yea, that’s considered character growth for this show) Jeremy is still treated like the immature dumbass little bro always worried about everything. It just seems wrong and…. wierd.

Moving on! Majority of Season 2 revolves around a curse placed on both Vampires and Werewolves and some mysterious powers trying to break the curse. Which means that if the Werewolf part of the curse is broken, they will be able to change whenever they want and not be bound to change only during full moons, as is the case now. Obviously there’s more, as Katherine is somehow involved within this and therefore so is Elana. There are discoveries made about her true nature and why the hell she looks Like Katherine.

Season 2 of VAMPIRE DIARIES does amp things up, however more in the supposed ‘drama’ aspects of the show. The lovey dovey immature crap is pretty drawn out, always interrupting what I consider the cooler parts of the show (yes, this is a very ‘guy’ review of this show, I’m aware!) and thus making the experience that much more annoying. The story arc is pretty original, as original as they can get with a lot of ‘borrowed’ elements. However the coolest and most unique part of this Season would really be how they depicted werewolves’ transformation. It’s not a 5 minute ‘woosh’ change as depicted in a lot of other sources, but an excruciatingly painful change that apparently can last hours, and is traumatic as hell. The actor who portrays it in this season does an awesome job, and is probably the only actor of the show whose chops go beyond brooding and looking pensive. (not naming for obvious SPOILER reasons) And, as predicted in my Season 1 review, Damon becomes a regular member of the crew helping them in their adventures, whose previous ‘evil’ nature is dismissed by the rest with the usual ‘Oh that Damon…’.

yea… my reaction going into this season..

VAMPIRE DIARIES is one of those shows where the fact that its geared for and is about teenagers, gets in the way of some great universal storytelling that would make the show awesome not just to teens (or people who act like ’em) but a wider audience in general.

Now that I don’t have to deal with THE VAMPIRE DIARIES till the the Season 3 finale next year, I’m gonna go enjoy Season 6 of SUPERNATURAL.

Get Season 2 on Blu ray