I’m really on the fence with Elena being a vampire. While it was time to shake up the love triangle dynamics a bit, I’m not sure this was the way to do it. Stefan and Damon subsisted on saving her, Stefan by respecting her choices and giving her freedom and Damon selfishly saving her from herself, sure that his way was the right way. Will these dynamics benefit from the Salvatore brothers no longer having to save their mortal love? I’m not sure they will.

One thing The Vampire Diaries definitely does is keep the story moving along at a very swift pace. While this works well for the OMG moments, I’m beginning to grow tired of it. Because the pacing is so fast, they miss a lot of ripe opportunities to explore character and storyline more in depth. Nothing goes deep and I’m craving that.

For instance, I was thrilled at the end of last season, when it was revealed that Klaus was in Tyler’s body. Well, that lasted for all of two scenes in the premiere, and that’s a huge stone left unturned. Michael Trevino was so good at channelling Joseph Morgan’s Klaus, down to the tilt of the head and the facial expressions. How fun to watch him play Klaus. And to see the dynamics between Tyler/Klaus and Caroline would have made for some really fascinating scenes and interactions. He said “Love” once, she figured it out and that was the end of that. The Vampire Diaries has so many lost opportunities like this one, and we’re missing out on seeing the characters grow and change because of it.

This season, I’d like to see The Vampire Diaries take some real chances with characterization, in dragging out the storylines and character interactions to mine the potential before moving the storylines along. If the writing is solid, and we all know how incredible the acting is on this show, then they’ll only benefit from this new focus. The storyline doesn’t have to change in every episode; it’s OK to play out a particular avenue over several episodes or even the whole season.

Now that Elena is a vampire, let’s slowly and deeply explore the new dynamics between her and Stefan. Let’s thresh out her feelings for Damon, especially now that she remembers everything he compelled her to forget. Let’s watch her struggle with her newfound immortality, while attempting to remain a good person and fending off the bloodlust successfully. Could she possibly become as amazing as Caroline did? She’s clearly a better woman for being a vampire — let’s see Elena rise to that challenge. That would mean she’s got to stop whining, she needs to be strong for everyone in her life, she needs to remain a pillar of constancy for Jeremy. Let’s not have her turn into an insecure  girl driven by her romantic desires only. We know her emotions are heightened now, so it could go either way. A somewhat strong character could be ruined by her selfish, lustful side.

And let’s not see all of this happen in one episode, only to focus on whatever new plotline is introduced.

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