Ever since the advent of the Twilight series of Stephanie Meyer, a lot of vampire books and chronicles have started surfacing. Vampire fiction has long been here already but the vampire-human-werewolf saga of Meyer has fueled a new fascination for the modern-age treatment of vampires. My first vampire movie, as far as I can remember, was Interview with the Vampire which starred Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Kirsten Dunst. For books, my first vampire book read was the work of R.L. Stine which was heavily popular during my high school years. Today, not only do you have vampire saga in books but Hollywood has taken a lot of these books into the big screen. Talk about Vampire Mania!
I got to read the Twilight saga and also watched the Twilight sequels. But this is not about that. This post is about its predecessor, the Vampire Diaries.
The Vampire Diaries are, originally, book series that were written by L.J. Smith.
Because of the tremendous money that Twilight raked in both for books and the silver screen, the Vampire Diaries screen franchise was brought to life. But this time, it was made for TV.
I haven't really read any of the Vampire Diaries books. I first heard of the Vampire Diaries TV series from a friend and read good reviews about it. The Vampire Diaries is always compared to Trueblood, which is also a vampire TV franchise. I was also hooked with the first season of Trueblood but later on got unhooked with its following seasons. So I decided to try the first season of Vampire Diaries without any expectation at all.
In a nutshell, the Vampire Diaries TV series is about the sibling rivalry of two vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon. Back in 1864 in Mystic Falls, they both fell in love with the same vampire, Katherine. Because of both brother's love for Katherine, they agreed to be turned into vampires by Katherine. Upon knowledge of their father that Katherine is a vampire, the townspeople imprisoned Katherine and her other minions to be locked up in a tomb forever. Fast forward to 2010, Stefan finds out about Elena who is a carbon copy of Katherine. Elena is human and is an orphan with both her parents killed in a car accident. Stefan falls in love with Elena and Damon later on finds out about Elena and her stark similarities with Katherine. Stefan does not feed anymore on human blood and has already an 'animal-blood' diet because he does not want to be guilty of killing innocent people. Damon, on the other hand, is still remorseful about what happened to Katherine back in 1864 and vows to bring her back to life because of his undying love for her. Elena has two bestfriends who are Bonnie and Caroline. Bonnie is a witch while Caroline ends up with Elena's ex-boyfriend Matt. Matt is bestfriends with his football teammate Tyler, who is sort-of frenemy of Jeremy, Elena's brother.
The season evolves around the lives of these people and the Council of Mystic Falls whose members are descendants of the people who imprisoned the vampires back in 1864. As the season progresses, it is revealed that Katherine was not at all imprisoned in the tomb because she has escaped. Elena's biological mother is a vampire, Isobel, who later on had a plan to kill Stefan and Damon because she fears that they will turn Elena into a vampire too. She does not want Elena to suffer the consequences of having to live an 'undead' life forever and feeding on innocent people's blood.
At the end of the first season, it was revealed that Katherine is already back in Mystic Falls. Her motives are not yet clear as to why she is back. Damon realizes, as well, that he has strong feelings for Elena even if he knows that Elena loves Stefan. Bonnie has fully developed her witchcraft skills and warns Stefan that they should not kill innocent people anymore, especially Damon. The season ends with Elena coming face to face with Katherine at their house.
Overall, I liked the first season so much. I wasn't expecting a lot in the storyline but I got what I could have expected. There was meat in almost all of the characters' personalities, which I think Twilight lacked. Among the two brothers, I empathize more for Damon. Sure he is a badass but the guy's got some heart, too. I like his sarcasm and quick humor. Seldom do you meet vampires that are like that. If I would be a vampire, I would definitely want to be like him. LOL! I also liked Elena because she is a feisty heroine. Unlike Bella who is a wimp, Elena is strong-willed and very independent. She carries herself well and has a positive disposition amidst her life's losses. I also liked Bonnie. I find her very gorgeous and sexy. She looks like Bangs Garcia, a Filipina actress, in some of her angles.
Now that the season 1 has ended, I would definitely catch the second season of this series which will premiere on September 2010. I can't wait already. My personal wishlist for season 2 includes Damon to be still badass but more emphasis on his human side, more Damon and Elena love angle and Stefan to turn into the dark side. Now that would be a good twist.
As for my recommendation, this series is definitely a good watch especially for those vampire love story fanatics.
For online streaming of season 1 episodes, you can go to the link below.
You can also follow some of the lead casts in Twitter:
