…The Vampire Diaries and The Originals.
The CW has a bad rep. As a network dedicated to teen shows, all of its content is overlooked at best, looked down on at worst. Some of their shows truly are what people expect: little more than a bunch of beautiful teens wearing overly pretty clothes and getting into unnecessary trouble (The Carrie Diaries, Gossip Girl, 90210…). But where the network has really found its niche is in the fantastical: superheroes, vampires, werewolves. (Its only real misstep in recent years was The Secret Circle, which might have been more solid had it chosen a better lead and focused more on the ensemble. The Tomorrow People has its weaknesses, but the show has been getting stronger as the season progresses.)
For me, the network’s greatest strength lies in The Vampire Diaries and its spinoff, The Originals. The Vampire Diaries demonstrates how true it is that a show needs some time to find its footing before you can decide how good it will be. At first, The Vampire Diaries felt like little more than a Twilight copy, especially when it came to its lead. Elena was the moping damsel in distress at the center of a love triangle. There were also the diary voice overs from which the show got its name. (I generally consider voice overs a weakness on TV shows, unless they can be truly integrated into the world so as to feel like a necessary and informative part of it, but more on that in a future post.) Caroline, supposedly one of Elena’s best friends, was entirely obnoxious and unlikeable. I mostly wondered why they were friends at all.
But the show evolved into something so much more. The voiceovers went the way of bad memories: best buried away and forgotten forever. Caroline went from obnoxious mean girl to strong and empathetic (my favorite character on the show). Elena became less the girl who needs to be rescued and more the girl who takes action even when others treat her like a helpless doll. Not to mention the pace of the show (more happens per episode than happen in a season on many other shows) and twists. The Vampire Diaries carefully sets up a detailed mythology, and then happily overturns it with an entirely logical, yet completely surprising, turn of events. The Vampire Diaries has more tear jerking moments than one would expect of a CW show and more than one gets on most shows. The acting, combined with the writing, makes viewers love and root for characters who do the unforgivable. The seemingly unredeemable are redeemed, at least temporarily. And those changes are done gradually and naturally.
Then we met the Original family aka the first vampires. Talk about some complicated family dynamics. This more than a millennium-old family is more fascinating and dysfunctional than any other characters I can think of. You have other shows with immortal or long-lived characters, but none truly deal with that longevity and history as thoroughly as is done with the Original family’s. (We see a great deal of their history from before they become the world’s vampires up until present day, despite how much time it covers.) Separately, they are each a force to be reckoned with, together they can be indestructible, if they can get over their trust issues to work together. They all but took over The Vampire Diaries, which ultimately earned them a show of their own, The Originals.
The Originals, is just as exciting—if not quite as fast-paced—as The Vampire Diaries, with some of my favorite characters at its center. The remaining members of the Original family moved back to their old stomping grounds of New Orleans to deal with a threat to vampire-werewolf hybrid Klaus. The show is a little slower paced than its parent show, a little more mature too (it helps that there are no high school details to work around). Only in its first season, we are still in the early character development and mythology stages. Already the show has given us its first big twists and the overall tone and pace seems to be finding its stride. We have also had our first big death (sounds like a true death, which is rarely the case on supernatural shows) and some cry-inspiring moments.
If you are looking for a show with deeply complex and interesting characters, with some incredible acting, with tons of surprises, with an intricate mythology, and with the ability to make you cry, then give The Vampire Diaries and The Originals a chance. I recommend you take the time to watch these shows from the beginning and don’t simply jump in now; the time investment will be worth it.
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