Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) just lost her parents, but her life is about to change in ways that she never expected! Elena thinks that she'll be able to just move on with her life, since that's really the only choice she has. Her Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning) moves into the house to take care of Elena and her brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen). Elena thinks that now the biggest problem that she has to deal with is her brother's drug addiction, which she's determined to put an end to.
On the first day of the new school year, Elena meets Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). Upon seeing him, we know there's something special about him as he convinced the secretary to admit him without immunization records or transfer papers. Elena and her best friend Bonnie (Katerina Graham) think that's he's quite hot, but don't really notice anything wrong. Bonnie has also just been informed by her grandmother Shelia (Jasmine Guy) that she comes from a long line of witches, so she's got to be a witch as well. Granted they don't really believe in this, at least not yet. The girls have another best friend, Caroline (Candice Accola). I really feel for Caroline as all she wants is to be as good as Elena, to be wanted like Elena is, but yet she never quite measures up.
Stefan is immediately taken with Elena. She also finds herself drawn to him in ways that she just doesn't understand. In the teenage dating world, this means that they start going out. But Stefan has a few secrets that he can't let anyone know yet. Stefan was born in the mid 1800's and he's been a vampire since 1864. Elena is the spitting image of a past love named Katherine. Personality wise though, she couldn't be more different! Stefan manages to hide all of this for a while, at least until his brother shows up. As is typical, there's usually a good brother and a bad brother. Damon (Ian Somerhalder) is definitely the bad brother. Damon has promised Stefan an "eternity of pain" but we don't know why for a bit. Needless to say, Damon is going to shake up things in Mystic Falls! The season finale brings a few secrets to light and leaves you waiting to see what's going to happen!
Overall, The Vampire Diaries feels very much like a cross between Buffy and Twilight. But in this universe, they do know about current pop culture, so there are amusing references to things like "Why don't you sparkle?" I was amused with the high school antics, especially the football team. It must be nice to not worry about getting hurt, or at least nothing that will actually last. Of course, I also found it disturbing that these kids are in high school, but they drink champagne at the Founder's party and various other alcohols everywhere. They're really bad examples of how to behave, but yet their behavior is pretty much accepted as normal.
There are also a lot of special features available to watch, all of which were quite entertaining and informative. Into Mystic Falls tells how Vampire Diaries came about, how it was fleshed out and created. You also learn that the show isn't really like the books, for those of you who were expecting them to be. They pulled some of the characters, the essence, but the show is its own creation. When Vampires Don't Suck is more about the cast and the fans' reaction to the show. There are also more features, a gag reel, and even the audiobook of The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening, the original book. So as you can see, there's a lot more packed in there other than just the wonderful show.
I hadn't actually seen any of The Vampire Diaries on TV, so I'm glad I got it in to review. Even though it is more like a teen soap opera, it's very well done and keeps you coming back for more. I recommend you check it out!
