Why I Love Watching The Vampire Diaries

I share the study table at home with my sister. The same as any other day, she was watching an episode of a series in her laptop. I caught a glimpse of one scene, I saw Nina Dobrev, and I asked my sister to play the series from the first episode. This was how I started watching The Vampire Diaries.

I was after the romance that would develop between Elena and Stefan, but the show gave far more than what I expected. Every time I think that the story has already come to a dead end, it proves me wrong by unfolding things that open new possibilities. It never stops giving me surprises.

It does not dwell on obvious questions like "Should Elena choose to become a vampire?," or "Who should Elena choose between Stefan and Damon?" These questions certainly need to be answered, but the story does not revolve around them; rather, the answers to these are molded by the sequence of events.

The series keeps me thinking. In the story, one can only kill a vampire by staking him (using a wooden stake) through his heart. In other words, a vampire lives long, if not forever. The very nature of vampires, that of feeding on blood, puts humans at risk. Moreover, vampires possess powers that can control humans to act against their own will. The existence of vampires does not only go against the natural, but is also a threat to the human race. Given these, killing the Originals would be ideal as this would bring an end to the whole vampire race. However, having known Stefan and friends, we have already grown fond of them. We want them to live, because we know that they have not lost their humanity. Now we ask: Is it right to allow vampires to live, to put humans' lives at risk, for the sake of the few? I find the question interesting as we are often faced with similar questions in life, questions that have no right or wrong answers.

Moreover, the characters are well-developed. Take Rebecca as an example. Rebecca is certainly not a likable character, but we cannot bring ourselves to fully hate her. Ironically, we begin to sympathize with her for having a brother who chooses to live with his fellow hybrids than his own family, for having a mother who wanted nothing but to kill her and her siblings, for the betrayals she experienced after choosing to trust.

How about you, what do you like about The Vampire Diaries?