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Evolution of Characters from Season 2

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  • Evolution of Characters from Season 2

    Just a short thread to give me musings on the development of characters in Season 2


    Matt: Not a great deal until the last couple of episodes where the penny finally struck and he worked some stuff out (with the aid of the Sheriff).

    Tyler: Like Matt, he didnt do a lot first season. In Season 2 , he got a bigger role with the whole Mason /Werewolf angle. I expect to see more of him, but the show is the VAMPIRE diaries after all

    Caroline: Episode 1 changed her character right off the bat. New Caroline is a lot like old character but finally has some .. gusto/impetus behind the character. She actually didnt do a lot this season, it just seemed like she had a lot on the go at times. Her story sometimes seems a little like the B story because Matt and Tyler rarely have much to do with the rest of the 'group'. However any time Vampire Barbie and Damon interacted in Season 2 it was always good to see that sass aimed right back at Mr Salvatore compared to the Caroline we got in Season 1.

    Stefan: Generally he seems to play second fiddle in scenes with Elena or with Damon. Im not sure I expected much of a change this season. With the arrival of the originals , Stefan had to deal with Elena making her deal and Damon's changes and threats to that plan. I think most of the time he was still behind the 8 ball.

    Elena: Ill be honest. Ive always preferred the Snark of Katherine over Elena.. even when Elena does take charge. The show is of course centered around Elena and at times she did take charge (again around Elijah)

    Katherine: A revelation this year. After masquerading as Elena, she moved on to trying to get the moonstone, killing some random girls, being locked in the Tomb, a sexual dream with Stefan, telling Damon he had been punk'd by her and then in later episodes sided with the 'heroes'. Katherine did a lot this season and I never really expected her to last. Last she did, and she will likely last well into Season 3. (After all with Stefan leaving town.. Damon has access to the ELena/KAtherine combo)

    Damon: I wont lie. Damon is my favorite character. Ive always like characters who are sarcastic, witty and quick with their mind. Damon simply has the added abilities of being a vampire. Sadly however this season, I think Damon has been somewhat sacrificed to keep the plot moving along. Hes certainly not the same as he was last year. His move towards some bizarre form of 'hero' has been interesting, as has been his encounters with both ELijah, Rose and Katherine. Ive also noticed he gets a lot more screentime in season 2 over 1. Perhaps the reverse of season 1 where Stefan had more.

    Alaric: A character who I thought wouldnt survive but has. Hes become the defacto 'adult' on the show. Early on the writers caught that having Alaric and Damon in some weird odd couple mix would work. It has for the most part. Matt Davis shook things up about when playing as Klaus.

    Bonnie: With great power comes...more character development. I was never sure what to make of Bonnie in the first season. Sure she had power then but it was a little unfocused. Drawing in the tomb story opening, her grandmother dying and then in season 2 having the power to basically kill/torture her foe Damon was there. She got .. spunk in other words. Ive never really bought the relationship between Jeremy and Bonnie.. they actors dont really have any chemistry together unlike what you get between her and Somerhalder when they did finally interact. Note: I tend to find Katerina Grahams delivery of lines a little stilted. THere is a scene with Jeremy holding her after she gets a major influx of power and she talks about how the dying Martin told her how to kill Klaus. The dialogue did not come out very well and it was almost like she was waiting on responses from Jeremy to keep delivering her lines.

    Jeremy: He survived. I was tempted to put money early on that he was gonna die. Jeremy made it through the whole season.. I think because he was let in on the supernatural fun. Ive said what Im going to say about Bonnie and Jeremy. I found it inexplicable that Jeremy would follow Damon around after Damon had snapped his neck. Bizarre. So Jeremy developed.

    Jenna: As the other 'adult' .. although I believe the actress is really not that much older than Nina Dobrev, Jenna did adult stuff with what screen time she had. She was constantly inviting the bad types in and getting away with it until the final Klaus reveal. In a sense Im not sure that her character was truly needed in the end.. cept to keep some actual humans in Mystic Falls. Will I be sorry to see her go? Actually yes, from the story viewpoint you do need these human characters in the show. Their interactions with the main characters provide a lot of the interaction and drive for some storylines.. but more importantly the audience needs a common point of reference. With Elena turning out to be supernatural , and now Jeremy being Sixth Sense kid humans are in short supply.

    Elijah: I was tempted not to put anything in for Elijah because he was and is a guest character. From the moment Elijah turned up, I think he got people watching. 'Who the hell is that?'. For me it was the moment where he awoke imaled on a big assed spear stuck to the wall then pulled himself off it. It was then I knew Elijah would stir the freakin show up. Dressed nearly always in a suit, with a different hairstyle and a hard to place accent. Elijah took over most scenes he was in. As Damon tended to do in Season 1 and 2, Elijah was saying this and we as the audience were always looking for the extra meaning. He was a character I thoroughly enjoyed and even with his ... incident in the finale .. I do hope he is back at some point.

  • #2
    I think the writers could have handled Jenna better. I didn't like that they killed her off a day later after she finds out about the supernatural. It wasn't planned well. Jenna should have found out earlier in the season.

    I also didn't like what they did with Katherine. She had an amazing storyline, but after Masquerade, she fell flat.

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    • #3
      My thoughts...

      ...I like Caroline's development this season...she went from easily manipulated, insecure, whiny, rebellious brat to a stubborn, awesome, fighting chick who doesn't put up with anybody's crap. Caroline has a super soft side that I dig too. She's more understanding and forgiving now that she is a vampire, and she seems more in tune with peoples feelings. That's my favorite thing about her.

      Sorry...I am about to be really critical now....Elena, I think, digressed this year. She lost the fighter attitude she had in S1 and succumbed to the idea that she had to die to make the badness stop for everyone else...that's crazy! She's crazy. I wish sometimes she would be more like Caroline who doesn't give up and keeps fighting and keeps forgiving and tries to understand her peeps perspectives; instead Elena seems to let her stubbornness interfere and get her into trouble way too much. She doesn't listen to the people who care about her and she always thinks she knows better than everyone. That was really bothering me all season. She kept not wanting Jenna to know what was going on...that was clearly a mistake! She ran off to sacrifice herself, more than once...and all for what?...when everyone was trying so hard to find a way to save her and stop Klaus she dismissed all those efforts...at least Harry Potter listened to Ron when he broke it down to him!...why can't Elena humble herself enough to be a team player? Plus, she has been too quick to judge people. She judged John Gilbert right up until the moment he gave his life to prove to her he loves her. She judged her mother for choosing to be a vampire--having no knowledge of what led up to that choice. She judges Damon constantly. She judged Jenna when she didn't tell her she was adopted last year and this year decided Jenna was better off in the dark all season...Jenna could have handled it and should have been given the option. She judges Katherine--calls her bad--which granted she mostly is, but still is too proud to admit that she, like Katherine, has the same inner-struggle when it comes to her attraction for Damon and love for Stefan. (I was glad Katherine pointed that out to Elena when she caught her smootchin' on Damon.) In season one she decided Damon had good in him even though he killed a bunch of people, but she quickly changed her mind the minute he did something wrong to her personally (killing Jeremy)...very hypocritical...as was deciding Stefan was good despite his whole blood binge craziness. I thought it annoying that she kept blaming Damon for Stefan's misfortunes and struggles w/o knowing their back story--both sides. Also, I am a little disappointed at how she drives Stefan and Damon crazy with her rash, self sacrificing decisions. Then, she gets mad at them when they are mad at her for putting herself in danger. She got so pissed at Damon, who in a desperate, and al-beit selfish, attempt to prevent her from dying force fed her blood...but she failed to see how crazy she was driving everyone for basically relinquishing her life--and it wasn't just Damon going crazy--he's just the only one irrational enough to take matters into his own hands, which he shouldn't have done...I know at the end there she didn't really wanna die but all season long her actions said otherwise. I'm sorry but I didn't see her self-sacrificing attitude as being that of a hero...rather someone with a death wish. A hero would insist that no one had to die and find a way to make it so (and if it came down to it in the final two seconds...they'd jump into death to save the world like Buffy and Clark did--but no sooner than that!)....which is pretty much what every other character was trying to tell her all season, she just refused to listen...I saw that as giving up on numerous occasions. I think the real issue for Elena is that she too has some unresolved feelings of low self worth and some seriously misplaced guilt. I think she ignores her grief and pain by trying to fix everyone else (like when she took it upon herself to have Damon make Jeremy forget what happened to Vicki last year) or be a marter (this year), when she should acknowledge the pain and let it pass over. She needs to let others help her. She overburdens herself and needs to stop taking on the responsibility of "fixing" other peoples problems...first Jeremy, then Damon, then Matt, then Stefan, then Bonnie, then Caroline...it's totally not healthy. I hope she lightens up next year and stops having such a bleak outlook. She needs to have more faith in herself and in her friends and family...and in the brothers' love for her.

      Bonnie, like Elena, has this pride problem too...she's grown a lot in her power since last year but now she needs to stop trying to take control all the time and stop telling Jeremy what to do. And, she also needs to stop trying to die! Jeremy and her friends love her and she should respect that by taking counsel from them. I like strong women, but I don't like it when they won't let others help them. (One thing I always liked about Buffy was that even though she had to shoulder a lot of the burden herself...she still let her friends help her and have a say, even when she knew they were wrong...she shared her burdens and her power and was humble enough to admit that she needed help sometimes...she needed Giles and Xander and Willow and Dawn.) Bonnie needs to watch Buffy...Elena too. Jeremy was right to tell Bonnie to chill out in the finale when he wanted to help find Elena...Elena is his sister, and if he wants to help her and be a part of the rescue efforts, who is Bonnie to decide he shouldn't be allowed? Because she has magic and Jeremy doesn't should she have total domination? I think not. Sometimes a strong woman lets a man be a man.

      Jeremy has become someone I really like. I hated how mopey and dopey he was in the beginning of the show but now he's ALL ready to bring it in every fight they face. He reminds me of Xander. Jeremy proved all season that he is brave, supportive, willing to take a back seat to save the day, and ready to lead when necessary. I think he has come so far. Now that he's been raised from the dead he apparently is seeing ghosts too...crazy! I was so stoked to see Anna again...I really wish she could be real and come back...like Darla did in Angel...she was so cool with Jeremy, she trusted him and had faith in him and his ability to handle things...but that's a side-note.

      Moving on, I love Alaric...I like how fatherly he is to Elena and Jeremy...and even Damon and Stefan. I really dig his loyalty and friendship with Damon...that was a pleasant surprise. They gots the bro-chemistry. I think it's neat that he went from wanting to kill Damon last season, to setting aside his grief to save Damon in the S2 finale. Sometimes the best friendships are found in unexpected places. Alaric seems to see something in Damon that others over-look. I love that about him. He's another character that deserves more credit. He is totally bad-A in my book. I think from the time he and Damon went to rescue Stefan from the tomb vamps last season, when they killed like everyone...he's proved he can handle himself in a fight. The rest of the crew was wrong to keep him locked up when they went to go fight Klaus. In fact, this whole group of people need to learn to work together. Hopefully they can get there next year.

      Stefan has come a long way since last year. We've gotten to know him better, to know more about his struggles and his incredibly deep bond with and love for Damon. He doesn't hate him or despise him as much as he originally portrayed. We also realized even more how very guilty he feels for Damon's actions since becoming a vampire, some of which we saw last season, but it was shown with greater force this season...he gave up everything, even Elena, to save Damon. That's pretty powerful! Stefan has Clark syndrome--he feels responsible for all the bad things others do, particularly Damon, despite the fact he has no control over anyone but himself. He beats himself up too much...still, I believe that he risked it all to save Damon not only out of guilt but out of love and brother hood. Stefan is a good person who loves his brother and his friends. Also, another interesting revelation about Stefan was one that Klaus pointed out in the finale...Stefan is very Angel-Esq...he clearly has a dark past that he's been fighting hard to overcome for a long time which we kinda got from last year but it was really elaborated on in the S2 finale...Klaus mentioned how he slaughtered a village or whatever, and the way he drank that blood and killed that girl at the end...he's on a dark road and it seems like one he's already been down. (Maybe now that the Stefan/Damon tables have turned Elena can stop beating up Damon and realize that being good while being a vampire isn't as simple as she seems to think it is.) This Stefan is so much more twisted than the Stefan in the novels. I like him! I love characters who were once evil and now good. I think Stefan will give us a compelling journey next season.

      Jenna, Jenna, poor Jenna...loved her, lost her...I blame it on the fact that no one bothered to bring her up to speed sooner...particularly Elena. Big mistake! I hope this humbles Elena and everyone else too.

      Elijah...he's pretty cool...better than I expected. I notice how a lot of comments have compared him to Stefan here in the forum...I do see the similarities. However, I find him to be a lot like Damon too. For instance, he seems to be of the opinion that Klaus was the favorite son with everything to envy in their past life...kinda like Damon has felt about Stefan. Plus, he seemed to be a good person in his past...Damon was too. Also, he has been on a mission to find the people he loves...his family...for centuries....kinda like Damon spent over a hundred years searching for the woman he loved. On the flip-side, I see a lot of similarities between Klaus and Stefan as opposed to Klaus and Damon...Klaus seems to know many things about Stefan's past crimes that he clearly appreciates and relates to. Klaus also seems to identify with Stefan's feelings of responsibility to his brother. I am interested to see how these characters develop more next season.

      Matt and Sheriff...they are in the know and both have changed. Matt, I was surprised turned away from Caroline and wanted nothing to do with anything supernatural...different than the books. It went against his typical loyal self that we saw so much of last season. Sheriff embraced Caroline and seemed to suffer a level of humility after shooting Jeremy. She is so torn this year compared to last. I am anxious to see her be a help to the kids. She has connections that could be useful next season.

      Tyler is so interesting this season. He's changed a lot from the druggie, snooty, playboy of last season. He's more accessible now. He has suffered through some serious business and I like the changes he's made as a result. I hope he learned that he can trust Caroline...he seems to have. I am hoping for some awesome star-crossed lover romance with him and Caroline next year...like in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Good dramatic romance keeps me on the edge of my seat. Also....can we say ROCKIN' BOD? Great last scene with him!

      Finally...saved the best for last...DAMON...he's my favorite. Again, I love it when the bad boy goes good. I also share in the opinion that characters who are witty and snarky are more fun. (I always loved Spike on Buffy...as well as Cordelia!) Plus, I love the tortured soul on the road to recovery. I think I relate to Damon. I see him as a person who started off good, on the right foot...yet struggled for approval and love from his father. Not able to win his father's affections, he tried to fill the void. Alas, being tempted by Katherine, who played on Damon's yearning for love and approval, gave in to seduction. Everyone, be honest now...who hasn't been there? I think I have been there like ten times. I'm over it now. I see Damon as having come so far since the beginning of the series. He used his vampiness to turn off emotion and numb the feelings he refused to deal with...again, who hasn't been there?...Last season he sought approval from Elena...when she gave it to him he tried harder, when she took it away he went on a binge...Unlike Katherine I don't think Elena intended to hurt Damon, but she did...she manipulated him and toyed with him to get him to be good just as much as Katherine did to get him to be bad. As soon as Damon realized the power Elena had over him his reaction was to make Elena stop caring about him...so he snapped Jeremy's neck...in Damon's mind I think he thought--problem solved--if she hates me she'll stop manipulating me and I can stop caring about her. And again, who hasn't purposely done something to piss someone off and push them away? If you haven't experienced all this relationship drama, you're either not old enough or you lucked out in love. I, on the other hand, have found myself repeatedly relating to Damon...with the exception of blood and gore. By the end of this season Damon has taken responsibility for his actions and allowed himself to feel true, unselfish remorse for once. That's a huge step! He acknowledged Elena's inevitable nature to choose Stefan in the end and still was grateful for the way she helped him grow. I thought that was cool. Not only that, but since the series premiered we've seen Damon go from torturing and taunting Stefan out of jealousy and resentment to saving Stefan, and fighting for Stefan, and even supporting him and covering for him, etc. Damon also has proved that his love and loyalty will always return to Stefan in the end. I love that brotherly love. The moment Katherine told Elena and Damon what Stefan had done, Damon looked super upset and totally ready to throw down with Klaus to get his brother back...just like he got when the tomb vamps had Stefan in S1. Damon loves his lil bro and I can see him stopping at nothing to save him next season. I love that stuff!! Plus, I love how this season Damon recognized his pathetic need for love and approval...sadly he chose the wrong way to deal initially...but after being on the brink of death, by the end of the season he seems to be ready to stop reacting and start acting.


      Can't wait til next season!

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