The Vampire Diaries and Consent

Despite a few exceptional moments, The Vampire Diaries has been fairly disappointing lately. The main bright spot in the last few episodes has been the Christmas ep, when Klaus killed all the hybrids. That was way cool. On the other hand, Caroline is a total jerk, the show still hasn’t resolved any of its race issues (Seriously, how long do we think Bonnie’s dad is going to last? He’s black AND a parental figure—I’m pretty sure he’s doomed.), Stefan’s acting like a spoiled child, and the show is incredibly over-reliant on the idea of compulsion.

If The Vampire Diaries wasn’t such an awesome show, I wouldn’t feel the need to criticize it so heavily. But for several seasons now, it’s been one of the best shows on tv, so when these problems keep cropping up, I can’t help but think that this show should be better than that.

The issue that I’m all up in arms over today is the show’s overuse of compulsion and its seeming lack of self-awareness when it comes to that subject.

In the TVD universe, vampires have the ability to compel—or hypnotize—humans into doing their bidding. They’ve used it in previous seasons to score an easy snack, easy sex, and to modify memories, just as a few examples. A couple of troubling instances from recent seasons include Elena having Jeremy’s memory constantly modified, and Damon using Andie as a sex/chew toy. Both of these examples bring up issues of consent that I don’t think the show has adequately dealt with.

Before Jeremy became a hunter, Elena had his memory modified several times to “save” him from particularly painful memories. In my mind, the show always presented this as an altruistic gesture from Elena, even though Jeremy was never asked if he even wanted these memories removed.

With the Damon/Andie example, I think his compulsion of her was clearly presented as morally wrong, yet none of the other characters ever confronted him about it. Even Elena, who is so concerned with the idea of Damon being “good,” never seemed to be all that upset about it. Which is odd, since Damon tends to be blamed for everything on the show, including things that he isn’t responsible for. He is the Mystic Falls punching bag, and yet no one bothers to stand up for poor Andie.

Yet even as I’m here referring to Andie as a victim, the rules and effects of compulsion are presented very inconsistently on the show. Sometimes the compelled is mindless and happy to be doing the vampire’s bidding, while other times, the compelled person can grumble and disagree and beg for mercy before still doing what he/she is told. The same goes for the ridiculous idea of the “sire bond,” which seems to be very similar to the idea of compulsion in that a vampire must obey everything his/her sire says.

The new conflict this season on The Vampire Diaries is Elena’s newfound vampirism and all that entails. Elena is apparently “sire-bound” to Damon as the show’s big “fuck you” to Damon/Elena fans. Instead of allowing the couple’s relationship to develop on its own, it is apparently the result of a different kind of compulsion.  To his credit, once Damon finds this out, he immediately tries to do right by Elena, albeit taking away her consent in a completely different way—by ordering her to stay away from him. Elena doesn’t get a choice either way.

Another problem is that no one seems to take Elena’s feelings seriously, even though Tyler was very specific that the sire bond only affects your actions, not your feelings and emotions. Elena tells Damon over and over that she loves and wants him, yet no one believes her. In fact, Stefan seems to be living in a permanent state of denial, and only becomes more determined to find the cure for vampirism.

Now that I mention it, can we take a moment to talk about how ridiculous this whole Race for the Cure (yeah, I went there) storyline is??

As soon as Elena became a vampire, everyone freaked out about how she’s not “supposed” to be a vampire. Um, what does that even mean? She is a vampire now. Why is Elena so special that everyone feels the need to save her from this horrible fate? No one threw a fit when Caroline became a vampire!

Anyway, so now that Elena’s a vampire, of course there might be a cure, and our boys will stop at nothing until they find it. And the sire bond just gives Stefan yet another reason to be obsessed with the search—if she’s cured, the sire bond will be broken, and Elena can finally make a choice, even though… she already did? Seriously, this show needs to make up its damn mind as to whether or not the sire bond/ compulsion affects people’s feelings. 

All of these are really interesting issues. The problem is, as much as I love it, I’m not sure the show is sophisticated enough to answer these questions. I get the feeling that, even if the writers recognize these issues of consent that they’re raising, we might not get any satisfying resolutions. And in an era where consent is already such a muddy issue in our culture and legal system, that could present a real problem.

The Vampire Diaries Season 2 Finale Or, Why It Should Have Ended Last Week

It's my blog and I can use this picture if I want to.

This past Thursday was the season finale of The Vampire Diaries. I've made it clear before that I love this show. The characters are engaging, the episodes are incredibly action-packed, and there is lots of pretty. That said, the fast-paced episodes can potentially be a problem for the show's writers when all the elements of a season finale occur in the penultimate episode and the writers have to try to top that in their actual finale.

Some of the major plot points of last week's episode: Elena, vamp-Jenna, and Jules are in place as the sacrifices for Klaus's ritual; Jules is killed; Stefan shows up asking to take Jenna's place in the ritual; Klaus stabs Stefan and kills Jenna anyway, then completes the ritual; Elena dies, but is brought back to life by a spell done by the gang, which kills Uncle/Daddy John; Elijah is set to kill Klaus but stops when Klaus promises to reunite Elijah with the rest of their family; Jenna's funeral; Damon tells Stefan he was bitten by were-Tyler and is now condemned to death.

Whew! Got all that? It's the perfect season finale, ending with several deaths and a couple of major cliffhangers. It's no wonder that the actual finale can't live up to all that.

I'm not saying the finale isn't a good, solid episode. It is. It just should have been the first ep of the 3rd season. Instead, the show is starting new story arcs that won't be picked up until the new season actually starts.

It begins with the gang, especially Elena and Jeremy, attempting to deal with Jenna's death. Elena convinces Jeremy that they have to try to get along normally, and eventually things will get easier. Stefan immediately spills the beans to Elena about Damon's wolf bite, breaking his promise to Damon, which is typical. Damon has been dealing with his impending death by attempting to apologize to Elena for force-feeding her his blood, then drinking and trying to kill himself by hanging out in the sunlight without his ring (he's stopped by Stefan, who insists they'll find a cure).

Stefan ends up going to Klaus looking for that cure, who conveniently has it... his blood. After killing Elijah (who, like Damon, seems to always get fucked over by those he loves), Klaus agrees to give Damon the cure... for a price. Stefan must fall back off the blood wagon and run away with him (not like that... although a girl can dream). He agrees, Damon is cured, the end. Also, Sheriff Liz shot and killed Jeremy, Bonnie brought him back to life with a spell, and now he can see vampire ghosts.

The good:

Ian Somerhalder's mortally ill Damon. Somerhalder did not bring the pretty this ep, which is actually a good thing. Dude looked and sounded like he was actually dying. Though no one who has watched this show for any length of time actually thought Damon would die, Somerhalder's acting really did make it seem like there was a chance.

Most of Damon's scenes with the other characters. His apology to Elena at the beginning of the ep was spot-on. I also really liked Stefan's refusal to accept his brother's death and willingness to do anything to cure him (including becoming Klaus's lover... was I the only one hoping for this?). It's always nice to see the brothers acting like they actually care about each other. Also, Damon's friendship with Alaric gives me the warm fuzzies--though I still don't understand why people (including Damon) keep insisting that Jenna's death was Damon's fault.

Liz knows about Caroline and actually seems to accept her now! Caroline is my favorite and it's nice to see things go right for her once in awhile. Chick deserves it.

The not-so-good: To be fair, I don't actually know how to fix a lot of these things. They just seemed like mis-steps to me. Which is why I don't write for a tv show.

Damon's cure just seemed awfully easy to find, especially after Rose's death. I get that it wasn't actually easy to obtain, but it seems pretty obvious that the blood of a werewolf (or was it just Klaus's blood?) will heal a werewolf bite. Where's Tyler when you need him?

Damon's deathbed scene. So cliche! I had been basically enjoying Damon's redemption arc until this episode. He's turned into a really heroic guy who does some stupid things along the way. This is just a terrible way to end that arc. A deathbed tear-fest with a loving Elena mopping his brow? I kept having flashbacks to Little Women and Sense & Sensibility. Damon has become the damsel dying of the consumption confessing her sins and desperately begging for the forgiveness of those she might have offended with her paltry wrongs. It's so pathetic!

Elena kissing Damon was sweet, I guess, but I find myself holding out hope that Damon will find a nice bad-ass lady vamp who will actually love him for who he is, and bring out the best in him without holding him back or trying to neuter him. Also, when Elena insisted she liked Damon "just as he is," did anyone get inappropriate flashbacks to Bridget Jones's Diary?

Maybe if Elena had been wearing a reindeer jumper.

The only way they can make this storyline work for me is if Stefan, Elena, and Damon have a threesome. There, I said it.

Liz kills Jeremy. I'm starting to hate this whole "magic ring" mythology. So it works if Jeremy is killed by a vampire, but not by a human? And it works if a vampire is killed by either a human or a vampire? Why does it matter for humans who does the killing? I really don't understand how someone can come back to life after having his neck snapped or being pushed down the stairs as long as it's Damon (or some other vamp) that does the deed. Also, why doesn't the ring protect Damon from werewolf bites? Honestly, it seems like the complicated nature of this particular mythology is just a really convenient way to get Jeremy where the writers want him in next season's plot.

On a similar note, though, I hate that Bonnie uses a spell to bring Jeremy back to life. Now that it's established that this can happen, why the hell couldn't Bonnie have brought back Jenna, or her grams, for that matter.

Sorry to complain so much, but this is just lazy writing. A season finale is supposed to get someone really excited for the next season, but right now all I'm doing is obsessing over plot holes, so obviously this episode did not do its job. Oh well, despite all this, the season as a whole has been spectacular, and one relatively bad episode can't take that away. I'm still looking forward to next season and hoping some of my issues will be taken care of.

Misogynist Bastards and the Women Who Obsess Over Them

Okay, so I haven't been as good about updating as I thought I would, but that won't stop me from trying! Right now, I feel the need to talk about my latest obsession:

Yeah, a season and a half in and I'm still a little uncomfortable admitting this out loud.

However, it's actually a really good show. Definitely better than the average teen show. Yes, it lacks the sex and gore of True Blood and the... sparkliness of Twilight--actually I'm lying. This show is about 400% better than anything Twilight has to offer. And yes, it has serious issues in the race department--all of the people of color on the show are either cannon fodder or witches (the "magical Negro," anyone?)--but I'm hoping the writers will eventually listen to the critics and iron out these issues. Because despite its problems, The Vampire Diaries is definitely worth watching .

The writing and acting are surprisingly good, and it tends to be really fast-paced and exciting. The show's lead, Nina Dobrev, has turned out to be a promising actress, playing two completely different roles--sweet, determined high-school girl Elena and evil vampire Katherine--with skill.

And the titular vampires in question, brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore, ably played by Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, are both extremely likable characters in their own ways. Stefan, the less evil of the pair, is the love interest of Elena--the Angel to Damon's Spike, if you will. But unlike Buffy's Angel, Stefan actually seems like he'd be fun to hang out with, and is beginning to show an interesting dark side that could possibly rival his brother's.

And Damon? Well, we'll get to Damon in a minute....

This week's episode partially centered on my personal favorite character, Caroline, a stuck-up beauty queen turned badass vampire. Caroline's had a difficult time of it. She spent much of her human time on the show being used as a sex toy/snack by Damon. Then, when she was killed by Katherine/turned into a vampire, she was forced to compel her mother to forget she was a vampire and rejected her boyfriend, Matt, because she was afraid she'd accidentally hurt him. In the past couple of episodes, she's befriended newly-turned werewolf, Tyler, putting herself in immense danger, as one bite from a werewolf is fatal to a vampire.

So, in this past episode, some of Tyler's werewolf buddies kidnapped my Caroline to lure Stefan and Damon to them, keeping her in a tiny cage and torturing her in the process! Poor Caroline managed to escape with the reluctant help of Tyler, but it was obvious that the experience affected her deeply. Also, when Elena and Bonnie showed up for a sleepover at the end of the episode, I may have cried a little. Shut up.

So, with my love for Caroline in mind, one might be surprised to learn of my obsession with Damon Salvatore, no? So the guy's basically a rapist, definitely a psychopath, and also fits into my growing (and slightly alarming) list of favorite sci-fi characters who are misogynist bastards: Spike, Gaius Baltar, and the hero of Canton--the man they call Jayne. So what's with me and sci-fi assholes? Frankly, I don't know, except they often tend to be the most entertaining characters, and I'm also a sucker for a good redemption story, which is what Damon's arc (hopefully) is turning out to be. And another thing:

Yeah, so the other night's episode began in the shower, and ended in the bath. What else can I say, the writers apparently love him too.

Anywho, aside from the pretty, like I said, Damon seems like he's headed for some form of redemption, though it may be a long time coming. But this doesn't make him just another Spike. Though Spike, too, was a hottie, I was never a fan of how his story turned out. I was one of the few who didn't mind the chip-in-the-head storyline, and his subsequent crush on Buffy. I thought the chip was a nice device to make Spike just vulnerable enough to start realizing his true nature. What I took issue with was the restoration of Spike's soul.

I didn't buy the whole "soul" mythology of Buffy. Aside from being wildly inconsistent, it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Buffy's insistence that Spike was good "because he has a soul!" was patently ridiculous. Creatures with souls do terrible things all the time! Within the show, we had Faith, as well as Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew, for starters. Furthermore, it seems like when Angel was turned, he just became a more bloodthirsty version of his human self. But when he gained his "soul," he completely changed personality. It seems that Spike, when forced to stop killing for awhile, was much more similar to his human nature, even without this so-called soul.

Basically, I think his story would have been much more compelling if Spike hadn't gained a soul, but instead had his chip removed and decided to be a good(-ish) person anyway. The soul, within the weird mythology of the show, forced Spike to be good, taking the choice out of the equation. I think the questions that would have arisen from a "soulless" creature choosing the path of righteousness would have been fascinating and much more challenging for an audience and the writers.

Okay, where was I going with this crazy tangent? So the "soul" doesn't seem to really be an issue in The Vampire Diaries, which I like. Vampires can choose to do good or evil, though the impulse toward evil seems to be really strong. I enjoy Damon, because he has some definite preconceived notions about what a vampire is "supposed" to be, but it seems as if his "evil-ness" is mostly an act for his own and others' benefit.

Don't get me wrong, Damon does really horrible things (rape and murder, let's not forget). But it's obvious that, though he does his best to hide it, he really cares about other people. His behavior toward Elena and Rose, and even sometimes Stefan and Caroline clearly shows us this. However, Damon perceives these "human" emotions as weakness, and so pretends not to care. In the last couple of episodes, we've seen this more and more as he's beginning to unravel under the weird of all of his conflicting feelings. At the end of both of these episodes, he basically Hamlets out, using women as his own personal therapists before either killing or feeding on them. So I think he's definitely going to get worse before he gets better--possibly heading for a major breakdown in the near future. But I'm hoping he'll find his way somehow before the end.

Either way, I hope the writers don't screw up his character. Despite his despicable deeds, Damon is a fun character with some real emotional depth. He can piss me off one second, and make me cry the next (kinda like Gaius Baltar). Just please, writers, don't give him a soul!