A Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls - By Red Page 0,8
supernatural (or wear life-saving supernatural objects), and more likely to, while being supernatural, still be on the side of light: see our List of Surviving Sympathetic Supernatural Characters.
Bonnie with her magic, great! Two vampire brothers. One vampire slayer with a magic immortality ring. One possible pending vampire. One werewolf.
. . . Okay, I admit Tyler has not yet been confirmed on the show as a werewolf. But given the frequent scenes like this: 6882 Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls[FIN].indd 16
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Tyler: I just don’t know why I keep acting out in violent or sexy ways! It’s so animalistic! I’m so out of control!
What could be going on?
Camera: DRAMATIC LINGERING SHOT OF FULL
MOON
Well, I guess Tyler could be a werechipmunk, but I’d lay you pretty good odds.
This is not just a problem for supernatural girls anymore.
If Caroline dies as a result of her internal injuries—I do not think she will but there is always a chance with the tricksy, tricksy Vampire Diaries—that will leave us with Elena and Bonnie: She Who Is Beloved by Vampires and her token best friend forever who never ever gets any romance at all (the one time Bonnie scored a date all season, it was with an evil vampire who was only intent on her magical spell-casting ability, not her magical making-out skills). Both Elena and Bonnie are considerably more complex and interesting than those descriptors imply, but it would be a very familiar story to us: the story of Just the One Girl All the Boys Like, the girl surrounded by boys.
I am not exaggerating. Watch me do mathematics, without the aid of a safety net. The women of The Vampire Diaries are starting to look truly scarce in comparison to the men: we have Stefan, Damon, Jeremy, Tyler, Matt, and Alaric as main characters. If Caroline dies, the girls are outnumbered three to one.
There are excellent minor characters, like Caroline’s mother, Sheriff Forbes, and Elena’s guardian, Jenna, but they 6882 Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls[FIN].indd 17
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simply do not get the same screen time, number of lines, or involvement in major plot points. We’re given less opportunity to care about them and be interested by them: even Bonnie, arguably the secondmost important female character, disappeared for four episodes of the first season. If Damon disappeared for four episodes, the viewers would be hysterical. None more than me, I hasten to add: I would be swooning on the sofa with my smelling salts, in deep Damon withdrawal. But this doesn’t mean I want to go without Bonnie for that long either!
Part of what made me love this show was how different it is from other shows, and from what I was expecting the show to be at first. It’s different and it’s daring, and part of what made it so for me was seeing characters like Pearl and Anna, and seeing Elena’s bond with Bonnie and Caroline, and how important it was to her. The first time I loved Elena was when she went on the warpath to defend Caroline from Damon. Vicki and Anna should not just be fodder for Jeremy’s angst. We should not love Elena just because Stefan and Damon do.
I think The Vampire Diaries is an awesome show. I hope they will continue with their risky storytelling and their truly scary yet often truly sympathetic vampires. I do see a worrying trend developing, but I also see how much the show has done right, so despite my cries of sadness about Anna and my cries of “Save Caroline!” I remain a huge fan and will be waiting with breath that could not be more bated for season two—where the current deficiency of girls may be 6882 Visitor's Guide to Mystic Falls[FIN].indd 18
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repaired by the arrival of Meredith, a friend of Elena’s from the books who has not yet appeared on the show.
The Vampire Diaries has done so well thus far that things can only