After a mid-season hiatus that lasted a month, the CW’s highest rated show ever, The Vampire Diaries, is back this Thursday and fans are once again bloodthirsty for their favorite teenage vampires for the second half of season four.
Since the premiere of The Vampire Diaries in 2009, the show has attracted millions of viewers each week and has evolved into a successful series that even the toughest critics have been quick to applaud. The Vampire Diaries follows the life of highschooler Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) whose life, already tragic since her parents deaths in a car accident, becomes a hectic fight for survival after she falls in love with brothers Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) and Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder), two vampires living in her fictional hometown of Mystic Falls, Virginia. The appearance of the “Original Vampires” in Mystic Falls begins to not only affect Elena, but also her family and friends (who are witches, vampires, and werewolf hybrids) and threaten their safety, too.
The season three finale of The Vampire Diaries brought the Elena and Salvatore brothers’ love triangle to a head – Elena rejected Damon and later got into a terrible car accident leaving her with a bleeding brain. Dr. Fell (Torrey DeVitto) took it upon herself to rescue Elena using the only way possible – with vampire blood, leading to Elena’s fateful decision of season four as to whether to transform into a vampire or not.The first nine episodes of Season four were met with the same success seen in seasons past. The plot twist that ended the third season picks up where it left off with Elena’s new life as a vampire in Mystic Falls, creating for entirely different plotlines, and essentially, an entirely different Elena heading into the first half of season four. As Bonnie (Kat Graham) struggles to find a spell to return Elena to her humanity, Elena also faces the pressures and trickery of the Original Vampires, and her difficult life sired to Damon.
Elena’s transition into a vampire gave this show the boost it needed. After three seasons and three years, The Vampire Diaries has entered the age where it is often questionable as to how much longer this teenage drama will keep renewing itself. As some of the screenwriting and acting is often very cheesy, Elena’s transition from a her sweet, caring, self – to the monster she dreamed of never becoming – has been and will be among the reasons that many choose to view the fourth season this Thursday. Fans have continued to root for Damon and Elena’s relationship in this season, as Nina Dobrev recently made the revelation that she had been dating Ian Somerhalder for several years now, another reason many have been so drawn to the show.
Overall, the CW’s The Vampire Diaries first half of season four has lived up to the hype produced in the off-season by this show’s crazed fan base. The characters and the show have truly evolved from season to season, storylines beginning with the vampire history of Mystic Falls to the ever present theme of making sure that Elena is always protected from the evil, supernatural world – even though she is now a part of it. Fans have their fingers crossed for the end of this season; the fate of The Vampire Diaries beyond this season is uncertain. However, executive producer Julie Plec has expressed interest in a spinoff from this series called The Originals, following the Original Vampires, lead by Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and his siblings as they relocate to New Orleans, where Klaus was a Founding Father centuries ago.
Whatever may be in store for the rest of The Vampire Diaries this season is unknown; starting Thursday night on the CW, more suspense will build and secrets will unravel in Mystic Falls. Bombshells are sure to drop considering this may be the fateful end to a successful series in hopes that fans can be ready to move on along with the show’s producers to the new spinoff and show The Originals the same enthusiasm that they’ve had for The Vampire Diaries for so long.
