The Vampire Diaries: Season 3 (2011 – 2012)

*CONTAINS SPOILERS* 

What I liked: 

• How close Damon and Elena have gotten, though it is just unfair on everyone. I mean really. All this means is someone gets hurt.
• Stefan going off the deep end and being all cuckoo crazy. Love. Really, so entertaining, considering how uptight he always is.
• The amount of Klaus in this season. The man is amazing. I mean, crazy and all hell, but gorgeous and solid in his convictions and always goes beyond what is required about everything. He is so unpredictable! Yes, that entertains the hell out of me. And Elijah, if only he got more screen time.
• Some Mikaelson history in this season, and that is always appreciated.
• Damon Salvatore. Oh. My. Gosh. That guy gets more and more amazing every time I see him, and his character development is insanely interesting, too.
• Klaus and Caroline. Oh. My. Gosh. He seems genuinely taken with her, and she is sassy enough to deal with his crap, which is fascinating to watch. And I just want to see this work hahahaha.
• The plotting, the scheming, all things fantastic!
• Damon and Alaric – that bromance is just so much fun!

• How tight the Salvatore brothers are – again, they might love/hate each other, but they are the only ones to have that right.
• Klaus’s hybrid army obsession, and then, of course, the meeting with Papa Mikaelson. Like whoa!

What I didn’t like:

• The sheer amount of insane plots that were squeezed into one season. It was heavy.
• Alaric going all cuckoo and being written off. Really, who do these people think they are? NOT ON.
• How convoluted some of the Originals plotlines are. I mean really, I was waiting on so much more potential here. I know I praised it above – it was a bit of a mixed bag. Also, I want so much more Elijah man.
• The love triangle. I knew that this was coming, but freaking hell, I hate these things. I think they are the ugliest and most unfair things in the world.
• Bonnie and Jeremy drifting apart – I know they didn’t really get a crap load of screen time, but they work absolute wonders together. Ugh. They just had to bring Anna back to throw a pin in that one.
• Rebekah was quite the annoyance, I have to admit. Okay, a really big annoyance.
• Caroline’s dad. Sure, steadfast in his beliefs and all, but come on dude!

Rating:
Back to another super busy season, that, while good, was not as good as the last season. I found it interesting to watch the lengths that Stefan would go to to protect his brother, and his unfeeling, nasty side was such a different, crazy character. This season spent a lot of time trying to get things cozier with Damon and Elena, and I don’t always think that worked too well, but the point was made – she was falling just a bit for him, but like I said, it didn’t always feel real. Elena was clinging to the old Stefan, which was actually painful to watch at times because it got really grating.

Then there was the whole Klaus thing. I like Klaus. He is crazy and insane, but he is incredibly entertaining to watch, and I think he is very interesting. I love the dynamics between him and Elijah, another thing that is great. I also truly did enjoy the concept of Klaus having a soft spot for Caroline – it is a creepily satisfying option I would like to see explored. It was with Caroline that we got the first real chink in Klaus’s whole facade, when he went to save her from Tyler’s bite, and had a real romantic outlook on the rest of her life. It was so beautiful it stunned me and I just didn’t trust it, but the more I watched, the more it seemed evident that it was a genuine thing for him, so wow. Just… Klaus and Caroline together is one of the things that makes me beyond happy. She is snippy and snappy with him, but he is endlessly fascinated by her, and that comes through in every scene. Let’s not even forget to mention the chemistry those two share – wow!

Now, the whole love triangle (Damon/Elena/Stefan) thing got annoying. We all knew it was coming, but I found it so unfair that when she was free to be with Damon, she didn’t do it, and when Stefan came back, she was all uhm and ah about them, even though Stefan didn’t want her. I think her and Damon could be great together. Stefan is the safer option, sure, but Damon is the one where you see passion igniting, and some danger, which was cool.

Naturally there are all the crazy plotsies around the Originals – fascinating at times, frustrating at others. I think this is because there is just so much more to their family dynamic than can be squeezed into one show where they are not the leads (lucky for us, there is a spin-off, and it’s great). I totally could have done with  more Elijah Mikaelson, the man is fascinating, but I was super stoked to have so much more Klaus in this season. The man is bona fide crazy, but so ridiculously compelling.

Anyway, the season finale really was depressingly sad. Damon had his heart wrenched out and stomped on, which was bad enough. But then he was was fighting the super creepy, dark, scary vampire hunter Dark Side Alaric, and when Dark Alaric was dying, there was a moment when Damon realised Alaric was really dying, and that meant that Elena was dying, too, and it just got so much worse. Like really. His face, his panic, his heartbreak? It was horrible. Like, I wasn’t even concerned about Stefan at that point. Overall, another really good, solid season, and worth a watch!