Earlier this year, Nina Dobrev dropped an instagram bomb announcing her untimely departure from “The Vampire Diaries”. Mystic Falls’ resident do-gooder, human turned vampire, vampire turned human, Salvatore brother serial dater, doppelganger, and kinder-half of the most beloved relationship on television left us all in tears after her final episode as Elena Gilbert. So just a quick recap in case you have been living without cable or internet for the past several months: Alaric’s almost-wife Jo and their unborn child are dead, the witch twins are dead, Jeremy ran off to another unknown location, Tyler left to be a werewolf, Kai was the one who murdered everyone and then he died, and Elena has been cursed to sleep until her BFF witch, Bonnie, dies. Since then, our hearts have had time to mend just in time for the Season 7 premiere last Thursday.
Most of this episode was the aftermath of losing Elena, along with a long list of other less-important deaths, and what the mourning looked like for each character. Elena’s absence has left every character and all of the viewers in a sort of purgatory. Caroline is waiting to get over her mother’s — now her best friend’s — death, Stefan is waiting for Caroline to accept her feelings for him, Damon is waiting for Bonnie to die so he can reunite with Elena, and we’re all waiting to see where they’re going with this show. The plot of the entire series was dissolved when Elena left the picture, and as a result, the story and its characters are left in a place of uncertainty. What this episode did well was assign them all a new purpose. Having a common enemy is what this show thrived off of for years and the new resident bad guys, the heretics, will put up a good fight. The only difference is where we used to see Elena’s moral compass be the deciding opinion for all of the characters, now they are disagreeing. As we know, when vampires and witches disagree, that makes for some good television. We see two approaches to this same war forming as the backbone for the new age of this show almost as we saw the love triangle that shaped the past six seasons forming in the first season. No longer will The Vampire Diaries rely solely on the chemistry of its characters, but on the adrenaline of a vampire versus heretics crusade. Of course we will all miss Delena, which was obviously the best part of the show, but it looks as if a new ship will be taking its place. No, I’m not talking about Stefan and Caroline—we all saw that one coming from a mile away—I’m talking about Bonnie and Damon. Even though their situation is twisted, since all Damon needs to do to get Elena back is to kill Bonnie, they have managed to be the epitome of friendship goals.
It’s obvious that this new era is the return to the volatile Vampire Diaries we all fell in love with when we were thirteen, but instead of a focus on love, the focus is on revenge, family, and friendship. The show back then was dark and sexy and sadistically funny. For the show to go back to that would be the best thing for it. This is a new show, there is no denying it. But it’s the feeling of when you meet someone new and immediately feel like you’ve known them since birth. There are parts of the show that are recognizable, but taking out the leading lady was sure to leave its scars. However final Elena’s departure may be (I think we’re all still holding out hope she’ll be back), her character is so engrained in the show that she is still a character despite her not being there. This episode was full of characters writing to Elena in diaries for her to read when she awoke. If that isn’t the greatest homage to Elena Gilbert as we knew and loved her, I don’t know what is.