A Goodbye Letter to The Vampire Diaries

Dear The Vampire Diaries, 

Yes, I'm writing a goodbye letter to a television show. There is a reason. First, I'll start with a story. In high school, I worked at K-Mart. That job was pretty much my escape from bullying (mostly mean girls rather than physical bullying) and depression (which I did not understand because I did not want to accept that I was weak). K-Mart was monotonous and the customers were mostly old people who were sweet. That is besides the point. I often found myself in the book section. I probably bought two or three new books every pay period. This time around, I bought The Vampire Diaries books. They were odd because they were multiple books in one. I enjoyed it. It was an easy read and I was finding it in the midst of the vampire media mania. These books, though, were published in the early 1990's. 

Growing up, I watched a ton of television shows that were on the WB. Soon, it was bought out and renamed the CW. Even to this day, I pretty much exclusively watch television shows that air on the CW (minus some on ABC, Freeform, and FOX). In 2009, it was announced that there would be a television show. This show was called  The Vampire Diaries. As someone who actually had read the books, I was excited about it because it would be the words from these novels brought to life. 

I loved the cast. Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley are some beautiful men. Nina Dobrev was a good Elena, but I am not always fond of her acting (specifically her laugh and her cry). The rest of the cast were fantastic. The storyline and acting had its cheesy moments, but it was good. It continued. It was expected. Why? Because you knew it would continue on every Fall and every Spring. Here we are, it is the year 2017. It's been eight years since this show was put on the air. 

Just like a book, I was pulled into this series as an escape from reality. I know that must sound odd, but when life is stressing me out or bringing me down, I can engulf myself in a book and not think about what is happening in my life. This television show was one of the ones that I felt that way with. I cheered for the characters. I yelled at the villains (Katherine, specifically). I cried at the sad moments and laughed at the happy ones. 

We watched the characters of Elena, Stefan, Damon, Caroline, Bonnie, Matt, and Alaric grow. Elena fell in love with Stefan (who was the perfect yet damaged man). She fell in love with Damon (who was the damaged but perfect man). She lost family members and sacrificed. She became a vampire. She became human. She lost friends. She was put into a tomb until Bonnie would die. Throughout these stories and these character developments, we watched them grow. Somehow the viewers could relate to this crazy fantasy story. For that, I give major props to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson.

My favorite moments of this show were probably some of the best or saddest of the shows entire eight season existence. I'll add them below. 

These are some of the moments I enjoyed out of several. I would list pretty much every moment and you would be here until tomorrow watching the clips and episodes. It was great. It was epic.

Speaking of emotional moments, I definitely was emotional the final episode. The brilliant producers were smart and did a "recap" episode prior to the actual series finale. It brought back a lot of things that I had forgotten over the last eight years (even though I've probably binge watched it on Netflix in boredom spurts at least three times). It was a great chance to say goodbye to the actors and the characters before really saying goodbye. You can watch this part on the CW (and probably Netflix next week). It was nice.

Now onto the finale... yes, this letter is long. This was eight years of good memories. I used to watch this with my mom when it first started. I used to swoon over Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley. I was hooked on the Delena/Stefana/Steroline/Benzo drama. I really and truly was. I loved it. And sadly, like so many shows this Spring, it is ending for good. I watched this episode with pure angst. I did not want to. I even paused it halfway through because I was scared I would be disappointed. In a way, I was... It deserved a two hour finale. It felt rushed. Though, the storytelling was perfect. I cried. Here comes spoilers if you want to avoid them... don't keep reading more.

This entire season, I felt like Stefan would get the short end of the stick. It wouldn't be Damon because he and Elena were the love to end all loves. It wouldn't be Caroline because she's a mom now. It had to be Stefan. I was curious how they were going to pull this off, considering a spoiler let everyone know one person would die. There would be a funeral. Previously, Stefan was married to Caroline. They had a future planned. He felt tormented by the amount of bloodshed by his hand. He was human now. He felt it all. Caroline and Stefan were finally together. Since episode one, they said how they would never be together... and here they were. Caroline's dress was beyond beautiful, by the way. Caroline found peace in life. She knew she would always have Alaric and the girls. She knew she had her best friends to always support her. 

Bonnie, on the other hand, had such loss. I always felt bad for Bonnie because she was always either dying or losing someone she loved. I was so happy with the Benzo relationship. Part of me knew one of them would die since everyone was so lovely in that last episode together. Even though Stefan murdered Enzo, I still hoped and prayed that they would find a way to bring him back so Bonnie could live a full life with the love of her life. No such luck. Though, his spirit was always with her. 

Damon finally reached a point in his character development where he realized how much sacrifice everyone has made for him over the years. He realized he did not want to be the bad guy anymore. He wanted to be the man that Elena and Stefan could see. He would sacrificed himself for the good of the ones he loved so they could be happy at any cost. 

Promo for Series Finale

Unfortunately, nothing went the way everyone would expect. At the beginning of this episode, there was a bit of craziness. Katherine was back as the leader of hell. Vicki Donovan was back to ring the bell to bring the hellfire to destroy Mystic Falls. Matt Donovan couldn't talk her out of it (also he just found out his mom was dead and unfortunately his mom was right... no one cared). Caroline and Stefan were married. Bonnie had passed out (and possibly died for a moment). Alaric was trying to get the girls and Caroline out of the way.  

That is when all hell broke loose (ha ha ha). Katherine was back. She was intent on killing Elena, everyone in Mystic Falls, and ruining every one of the main characters' lives since they ruined hers. There was a lot of soul searching and craziness in this episode. The way you find out who died was absolutely heart-wrenching. Bonnie was going to control the hellfire and destroy hell itself. Damon planned on sacrificing himself to send Katherine to hell for good (well, to nothingness). Stefan was not okay with that plan, but Damon compelled him to leave Mystic Falls and be with Caroline. Unfortunately, Stefan is not an idiot and took vervain. Therefore, he was not compelled. He injected Damon with the cure, so he could be with Elena and live a long life together. He died with Katherine. Hell was destroyed. The way the viewer finds out about this is when Stefan meets Elena in this weird limbo realm and explains it to her. My question at this point was: Why is Elena in this weird limbo world if he's dead? If he sent Katherine to hell to die for good, why didn't Stefan? I guess because he reached peace for whatever. You can see this clip below:

This scene was cry-worthy. It was so heart-wrenching to see a character like Stefan sacrifice everything for them. It was also so sad because this scene pulled these two characters full circle. The producers/directors were so smart when it came to this. They started together in this hallway and they ended in this hallway. The first episode ended with The Fray... as did this scene. Everything came full circle. Though, it was under one of the saddest situations. Then Stefan walks out to his best friend... who said the line "I Was Feeling Epic" in an early episode/season. "I Was Feeling Epic" was the title of the finale and it fit so well. Stefan repeated this line to Lexi as he found peace. This scene was so emotional and perfectly designed. I cannot give Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson enough props.

The end of the episode was unfortunately quick and not too clear. I was happy to have a wrap up of what happened to the characters, but it would have been nice to know more. Considering the only information about Caroline and Alaric were about the school they opened and how they received money from Klaus Mikaelson. I do hope they bring Caroline onto the Originals. They were my favorite Caroline -ship. I'm going to post the final scenes here. The monologue by Nina Dobrev really encompassed the series and gave it a good final thought. As it came in, it exited with an Elena journal entry.

Though I do have some questions: Does Damon going to "peace" mean that he was redeemed? Did Elena and Damon have children? Did Elena die young since she's shown at a young age, even though she said she lived a long life? Is "peace" on the same plane? Can they all walk around it and be together? Which leads me to my next question, does that mean Damon and Elena can be together in the afterlife? Does Caroline move on? Caroline could definitely be with Stefan in "peace", but will she? They eluded as if Caroline and Klaus would have a story together. Does that mean that they'll live on together? I just want to know more! 

Thank you for these last eight years, The Vampire Diaries. You had a hard-working cast and crew. Thank you for all the laughs, tears, and joy. More happiness than anything. You were a great show. You did not disappoint. I'm sure I along with several others wish you weren't going. Goodbye and good luck.

Sincerely, 

a huge fan who misses you already