The transition from high school to college has been known the kill even a strong show pretty quickly. If you recall, we saw former WB hit series Dawson’s Creek start to fall apart around this time in the character’s lives. The CW chose to avoid this period completely with the long-running One Tree Hill. Even though that wouldn’t have worked well with The Vampire Diaries, they seem to be going about it in an equally interesting way. Instead of completely uprooting all their characters and making them either all attend one college, or inventing an inexplicable reason for why everyone else needed to find themselves in that same alternate town, Mystic Falls is still very much a featured component of the show.
Although Elena and Caroline headed off to college a few hours outside of town, most of the characters are staying right where they were. Watching the girls have a fairly normal college move-in day was a refreshing change of pace. Last season was particularly tough on Elena emotionally, and she (probably the fans, too) needed this benchmark moment to put things in perceptive. Although it doesn’t look like the college experience will be quite what she had in mind, maybe the change of scenery was exactly what she (and the show) needed.
The girls thought they were leaving Mystic Falls and their vampire issues behind in exchange for a fresh start they both welcomed, but someone has other plans for them. Well played, The Vampire Diaries, well played. Just in case anyone was worried that the boys back in Mystic Falls would be having all the fun, what looks to be family drama is catching up with Elena at her new location. We saw this work well as a plot twist in season 1 and 2 with the discovery of her biological parents. This also might be a good segue for Jeremy to join his big sister, even though Damon as a caretaker has quite a bit of appeal.
It would have been nice if Tyler (Michael Trevino) had made an appearance after his extended absence. If this is just all part of an elaborate plan for a Caroline and Klaus reunion, you have my attention. Other than that bit of wishful thinking, this episode of The Vampire Diaries was one of the best we’ve seen in a while. I like the direction the series is going in, and look forward to being surprised in upcoming episodes.
Are you a fan of the new look of The Vampire Diaries? Does Damon have a new bromance brewing with Jeremy? What do you think of Bonnie keeping her death a secret from everyone? Let us know in the comment section below!
Until next episode.
