The Vampire Diaries: Series Finale | REVIEW & DISCUSSION

Hey, guys! Today I thought it would be a great idea to discuss my all time favorite show, and the fact that it has ended. I debated on making a blog post about this for a while. I have had time to grieve the ending of the show and all the screwed up things that happened in the finale. Its been over a month since the show has ended, and I honestly thought I was starting to be okay until I started watching some Delena videos in relation to the finale, and I started sobbing again. Clearly, I just need to discuss this and get it out of my system. I need to talk about this finale because I have one friend who is obsessed with this show, just like I am (Okay, I am probably a little bit more obsessed than her; I am sort of a crazy fan of this show…), but she is like 4.5 hours away because I am at University. So I can’t really talk about it with her. But I just really need to share my thoughts, opinions and feels on this show’s ending. So let’s get into it!

Warning: This post will spoil pretty much everything that happened in the series finale of TVD. If you have not seen this finale, I would advise you leave now or you will be spoiled pretty majorly on all accounts. If you keep reading, be forewarned. I will spoil you.

My Raves:

Oh my God, Nina was back in the very beginning of the episode. It was fucking fantastic to see her in the flesh, for real, back on the show. Like I was tearing up just seeing her talking to Bonnie. Also, her acting was fucking on point. Like she is my Queen. Some people were not acting like their character pretty much throughout the entirety of the finale, and I didn’t appreciate it. *cough cough* Ian *cough cough* However, that will be in my rants section of this post. But anyway, I really loved Nina’s acting, as always. It was like she never left.

The “Delena Reunion” that the show leaked was actually Katherine?! Okay, as much as that pissed me off, I had to admit that it was pretty clever on their part. The entire fandom, particularly the Delena fans, were so pissed that they would leak that reunion. Like that was the one thing I had been waiting for ever since Nina left the show at the end of the sixth season, and I was pissed as hell that they leaked that. But the show runners only did that to watch us be this pissed off and to watch us squirm, and it was probably very amusing for them because we figured out that it was actually Katherine pretending to be Elena. I just…

Stefan sacrificing himself for Damon’s happiness. This will be in both sections because HOLY GOD MY EMOTIONS. You remember the part when Damon “compelled” Stefan to leave the tunnels? Yeah, I was very confused as to why Stefan would not be on vervain. Thank God it was revealed that he actually just left so he could extract the cure from his body with a needle because of course he was on vervain. He isn’t stupid. And he went back, shoved the cure into Damon and pushed him out of the way. And he died from Hellfire along with Katherine. And we get that whole heartbreaking scene with him and Elena saying goodbye, and I was just…not okay.

They brought Lexi back! This was the thing that made me so happy in the finale. This was something they 100% did right and did make me feel a little bit better about Stefan’s death. I still was not okay with it at all, but I absolutely loved seeing Stefan reunited with his best friend. It just made my heart happy, and it really made the show come full circle, in my opinion. It would not have been right if he would not have seen Lexi when he found peace. We had to see her in the finale, and I am just so ecstatic that we did. It just makes me happy even thinking about it…

Can we just talk about how badass Bonnie was in the finale? Bonnie, just like in every other season ever, is the one who saves all of their asses. Bonnie has been my favorite character since the very first season. I have always felt that she was such a strong, independent woman who really deserved better, but we will get into that later. So it is up to her to find the magic within herself to push that hellfire away from Mystic Falls and into the tunnels, back into hell. And you know what? She fucking does it with grace and the power of the witches behind her. I was so happy in this scene because we saw Enzo, Grams, several other witches we definitely knew, and if you recall from season 2, Bonnie meets her cousin who at the time was working with Katherine (Lucy Bennett). SHE WAS THERE. I out loud yelled, “HELL YEAH.” Like I was way too excited, but I just loved seeing her there. I just loved seeing the power of the witches backing Bonnie as for the last time, she saved all of their asses. It was a very empowering scene.

Damon and Caroline had a real moment. There was this moment when the two of them were looking at Stefan’s tombstone that just displayed how much the two of them have come in terms of the development of their friendship. Caroline hated him for very many years, but now she gets to call him family, and she really loves him. Their friendship has been a pretty rocky one, but in the end, they both really care about each other, and this scene just really solidified their friendship and showed how much development they both have gone through. It was a really beautiful scene, in my opinion.

WE GOT THE DELENA REUNION ASDFGHJKL. It was very sweet and cute, but it also was a little bit sad because she saw him when he was at his brother’s grave. I loved the way that she was looking at him. The scene was so genuine on her side of things (see My Rants section below for why I am not mentioning the side of Damon), and I really appreciated that. I was a little bit upset because the scene was like less than fifteen seconds and they don’t even talk to each other, at all in the episode, which is very upsetting, but I am just so glad we finally got this reunion, even if it wasn’t everything I wanted.

Matt made it to the end as a human. This isn’t a rave, really, more like a proclamation of extreme surprise. To be honest, I have had a huge problem with Matt’s character for a while now. I used to like his character, but then he started really going downhill when he became a full-blown hater of all vampires. He was so harsh to Caroline, really unnecessarily, and I just had a real problem with that. But props to him for making it to the end as a human. This is just what comes to mind when I think of Matt:

There is possible hope for Klaroline! I knew that Klaus was going to be mentioned at some point in the episode. Julie mentioned that once on her Twitter feed. I just wasn’t sure how he was going to be mentioned in this episode, and it actually looks like we have been given hope for Klaroline to possibly be a thing in the future. There was the letter and in the narration of her reading it, Alaric mentions, “But that is the beginning of another story.” And that gives us fans hope. Personally, I really hope Caroline ends up on The Originals at some point, and I really hope we get to see her and Klaus interact again. Like I am so excited to potentially see Klaroline happen.

They brought the crow back! Okay, this probably was not that exciting to most of you, but for me it wasn’t just the fact that they brought something from the pilot episode back into the series finale. The crow is a huge part of the book series, which I am absolutely in love with. In the books, Damon doesn’t just control crows. He can transform into a crow, which is why it was super significant in the first season, even if they did drop that part coming into the next season and onward. That crow is super important to me, and I just loved that they put that in the series finale.

Delena was endgame. Hells yeah, bitches. My all time OTP was endgame. Granted some important people had to die in order for them to be endgame, but they were endgame. Like this was something that I would have been so pissed off about, if they had made Damon die or some shit like that. So I actually was talking to my friend about them being endgame, and she told me that prior to the season finale, she had been saying that she could be okay with all of her ships burning and sinking if Delena was still left standing. And that is exactly what happened. That is kind of crazy, but in the end, my friend got what she wanted. She’s been shoving the fact that Delena is endgame down all the other ships’ throats ever since…

We got to see those we lost again. It was so satisfying to actually see Liz again and Tyler and Enzo. Oh, and we saw Jo too, which actually brought tears to my eyes (okay, I was already crying, but still). Just seeing her watching Alaric with the children hit me right in the feels. I honestly didn’t care about Vicki, but we got to see them all again, and that definitely helped with bringing everything full circle. It just made all kinds of happy.

Elena reunited with her family. I loved that the show actually showed them finding peace and reuniting with their loved ones. It made me absolutely unbelievably happy to see Elena with her parents, Uncle John, and Aunt Jenna. So I had been theorizing with one of my friends as to how Jenna was going to come back. Julie had tweeted, saying she was going to be in the finale, and we just could not figure out how she could come back since she found peace. Which is precisely how we saw her. Elena found peace and reunited with her family, with Jenna. This whole scene was just beautiful, and just really made the show come full circle. I am so glad we got to see this. It was super satisfying.

The Defan reunion. What really made the show come full circle, for real, was definitely seeing the Defan reunion. We all like to think this show was about their love for this girl and Elena being the center focus, but I actually think the core story line of this show was the love between these two brothers. This unbreakable familial, brotherly bond was the heart and soul of this show, and it just made the end super satisfying to see how they reunite and the final words to the show being the first words those two spoke to each other all the way back in the first episode of the show, the pilot. It was just super satisfying, and I am so happy that it ended like this.

My Rants:

I had issues with the Katherine story line. Okay, I love Katherine about as much as anybody else. She is my Queen. I think she is badass, sassy, bitchy and I just really love her character. But this scheme and this plan was just so beneath her. Like she could have done so much better than this as to a revenge plan. If they were going to bring her back, they should have done her character justice. Her lines were awkward (that’s not to say that Nina’s acting was off; it was on point, but the lines sounded weird). She just did not say the types of things that Katherine would say, and I just felt that the story line came out of nowhere. They killed the devil. It should have ended there. They should have spent time on giving us a fantastic ending to the show, but they wasted so much screen time on this ridiculous plot line. And I just didn’t appreciate it.

Vicki did not need to come back. As soon as we saw her again, my immediate thought was, “Why would you bring the bitch back? We can’t ever get rid of her! NO ONE LIKES VICKI FUCKING DONOVAN.” And that is totally true. No one likes her. I never liked her character, not even from season one. She never redeemed herself ever, and I just hated it every time they brought the bitch back. Like of all the characters to bring back, you had to bring back Vicki? It was just not a good move, in my opinion.

Yes, Stefan died, and it could have been avoided. HIS DEATH COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED. We all obviously remember the episode where Stefan kills Enzo and Bonnie shoves the cure in Stefan, right? That entire situation, which created the situation in the finale, all could have been avoided. This is what should have happened. Stefan, first of all, never should have turned off his humanity, but whatever. Bonnie should have given Enzo the cure so they could live a long and happy human life together, have children and grandchildren and all that good stuff. And then when Bonnie was getting older, probably about to die of old age, Enzo would give the cure to Damon. When Bonnie died, and Enzo with her, Damon would have taken the cure, Elena would be awake, Stefan would be alive, and all would be right in the world. And Stefan could be with Caroline (even if I don’t ship them. This scenario would have worked out in the favor of the Steroline shippers). This is what should have happened. But no. They had to bring back Katherine and make Stefan kill Enzo and all that shitty stuff THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. I will never get over the fact that they killed off Enzo for no reason other than to hurt Bonnie and kill the fans. I will forever be bitter about this.

WHAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT OF US SEEING THE CUTE AF STEROLINE WEDDING IF THEY KNEW THEY WOULD KILL OFF STEFAN. EXPLAIN THIS TO ME. I don’t understand why the show runners would be okay with giving us a Steroline wedding, knowing that it would rip out the hearts and souls of the fans because he was going to die in the finale, like literally an episode later. It is just really cruel in my opinion, and I am not even a Steroline shipper. I don’t ship them, but I think it was really cruel and unfair to do that to those fans. Something about that just made me uneasy when I was thinking about it.

Bonnie deserved better than what the show dished out to her. Okay, Bonnie has been put through absolute hell over the course of every season of this show ever. She is the character who ends up as collateral damage to everything that happens. She is always the one that gets hurt. Every time she seemingly gets a happy ending, something happens to screw that up. She was finally happy with Enzo. They were so in love with each other, and I really shipped them. Like they were up there with Delena for me. Bonnie deserved a happy ending more than any other character on that show, and they killed off the one person who had chosen her over and over again. They killed off the love of her life, and they did not even attempt to bring him back. Bonenzo should have survived. They should have had a happy ending, and I am always going to be bitter about the fact that they stripped Bonnie of her happiness. I am never going to be okay with that. Just the thought of it infuriates me, even now.

I had real problems with Ian’s acting in the finale. It isn’t just me. There have been a lot of people who have been expressing to me that they feel he was acting very off, especially when he was around Nina. At first, I just brushed all of them off, saying that he was acting off because Damon could not be happy when the only reason he could be with his girlfriend was because his brother was dead. And then I thought about, and I thought about it, and I just kept on thinking about it. And then I realized they are completely right. He couldn’t even muster up a real smile during the reunion. He didn’t smile once when he was with Elena/Nina. He is supposed to act happy. They are supposed to be happy because they are spending their entire lives together. Nina was so on point with her acting. Her smiles were real, genuine. She acted like Elena. Ian? Not so much. It just bothered me that he couldn’t act even the slightest bit happy in that entire season finale. I think he smiled when he reunited with Stefan, but that was it. Literally it. And I just am not okay with his acting in the episode.

Elena and Jeremy did not reunite. I didn’t think about this until after the episode ended because we briefly see a cameo of him helping out in the school that Caroline and Alaric opened. But should we not have seen Jeremy and Elena reunite? They were actual blood related family who were so close with each other and they don’t even reunite? Even if it was a very brief scene, we should have seen that, in my opinion. It is kind of a disappointment that we didn’t, but I honestly can understand it. They can’t fit everything into the episode. But they possibly could have. If they would have dropped the stupid fucking Katherine story line…

My Reaction to the Ending:

Okay, so I was live Snapchatting my reactions to the ending of the show. And I was rightfully very upset, extremely emotional, and I haven’t cried that much like ever. I am not even joking. I don’t think I have ever cried even reading a book that much because I am not a big crier. I don’t cry all that much in books, and I am pretty good at staying strong and not crying. This was not the case the night of the finale. I posted one video of the 15+ that were on my Snapchat on my fandom Instagram, which I have linked here, if you are curious as to how hysterical I was. I had been crying pretty much throughout the entire episode, but I started bawling my eyes out when I found out that Stefan was going to die.

This really does make sense for me, at least. I will have you know that I made a list of the possible people that Julie Plec could be killing off in this finale because she had mentioned that one of our core characters was going to die. Stefan was at the top of my list. He was the one that I was pretty sure was going to die. I had made peace with that. Stefan was not one of my favorite characters on the show. I liked him, but he was by no means on my favorites list. Yet, I ended up crying like nothing else when he died.

And I didn’t stop crying. If I even think about the fact that Stefan is died, I pretty much immediately start crying, especially since I let it sink in that the only reason Damon and Elena are together is because he is dead, and that just breaks my heart even more.

The Differing Timelines:

Something that most people aren’t aware of or aren’t thinking about is the fact that there are several different timelines existing in this one episode. People have been very upset that Klaroline might become a thing, not realizing that some time has past since Stefan’s death and he would want her to be happy. But there is a different timeline between everything with Katherine and Elena waking up. They don’t happen right after the other. The time line with the school is different and Stefan’s funeral and when Delena reunites. There is a different time line with everything that is going on in The Originals with the time jump. All of these events happen at different times, but they could only have Nina for one episode, so they had to squeeze everything into one epic finale instead of two episodes, which would have made things ten times better and way less confusing. But you can’t have everything. If you are interested in the specifics of the timelines, I definitely recommend you check out this wiki page that discusses all the timelines and how they coincide with The Originals and all that good stuff. Its pretty detailed and definitely explains it better than I can.

But there you have it! That was my overall thoughts, opinions and feels on The Vampire Diaries series finale. What were your general thoughts on the finale? Did you like it, love it, had problems with it? Comment down below! I would love to know. And that is going to be it for this post today. Thank you all so much for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you next time!