Whatever. Don’t judge me. I’m doing enough of that myself…
I have a confession to make.
I just finished watching the first six seasons of ‘The Vampire Diaries’. And I loved it.
Like, I loooooooved it.
Please know that it’s taken me months to share this with anyone outside of a small, sacred circle of trust. Out of respect for all of us, I kept this guilty pleasure pretty much to myself. Now that the show, and my relationship with it, is at a crossroads, I have to come clean.
I was raised on Anne Rice. Vampires are meant to be badass and kind of awful. I read the first Twilight book and saw the first movie only so I could talk smack appropriately and with supporting evidence. For the record, those vampires suck (or, at least, were not done the justice of decent context). True Blood? Better, but the whole human-girl-torn-between-supernatural-hotties just seemed a bit played out. Of course, I hadn’t met the Mikaelsons and Salvatores…
Following an October trip to New Orleans last fall, one of my traveling companions (who knows me better than just about anyone) mentioned a show called ‘The Originals’ that takes place in NOLA and features lots of great settings in the city. Centered on the Mikaelson siblings, it tells the story of the world’s first vampires. It was on Netflix, and I figured a little vampire-based guilty pleasure wouldn’t hurt. In fact, I needed the distraction. It was just about New Orleans, right? If only I’d have known…
‘Originals’ is a spinoff of ‘Vampire Diaries,’ whose Netflix thumbnail I’d ignored, assuming it represented something too Twilightesque for comfort. Whether or not that’s that case will not be debated here. Don’t you dare say anything mean about Stefan or Elena or Damon (Ok, the first two are fair game. But leave Damon out of this. He’s perfect.).
Who am I?!?
When I finished ‘Originals’ and its lovely NOLA imagery, I wandered over to that questionable thumbnail. I argued with myself, and finally, wincing, clicked. Two minutes in I felt relieved, if, admittedly, a little bummed. ‘Vampire Diaries’ was obviously written for high schoolers and not at all like its spinoff. But. Then… Two episodes in I was getting a little interested. Two seasons in and I was hooked.
Addicted, I pretended not to see “yoga” on my to-do list and used elliptical time as an excuse to squeeze in another episode. I watched as the Salvatore brothers, vampires since the Civil War, enacted vampire awesomeness on an upscale, Virginia suburb, and got involved with the local humans. Happily, most humans of interest eventually become supernatural as well. Sure, there’s plenty of cheese and ridiculous plot, but it’s countered by some relatively interesting characters (if you give them time) and the show’s healthy ability to make fun of itself (and Twilight, but never Ms. Rice).
I’ll be honest. Upon watching the last episode of season six last week, I felt a little bit of a void. The season ended with a major change in cast and character, and who knows if the rest will be worth watching. Further, while I kind of want to keep indulging myself, I definitely get more done when another episode isn’t taunting me from one tab over. I know the best thing is a clean break, and so far it’s been pretty painless (except for those weird dreams about old mausoleums and Stefan’s obnoxious hair).
And now I’ve talked way too much about this television show, and I’m going to stop. But I feel better – like I’ve been really upfront about something kind of shameful. I hope you don’t hold it against me.
Because, let’s face it. I’m totally gonna watch every single episode they make. And love it.