#and 2) uhhh again i love him but basically everything i love about stefan i loved first in angel from buffy and ats so there's that

[jbuffyangel]

No More Julie Plec Shows

Warning: This is a rant after dedicating 9 years to Julie Plec shows.

The upside of The Originals ending is that I am free.

No more Julie Plec shows for this blogger, folks. You must hold me to this. If I even think about turning on Legacies then you must stage an intervention.

I won’t say The Originals series finale was the worst series finale I’ve watched. No, that title will always belong to How I Met Your Mother, but TO comes close! What a hot friggin mess.

Romance and Shippers Are Not Dirty Words

But let’s start with the PR blitz Julie did before the episode aired last night. After building her career off romance and the loyalty of shippers, JP declares 45 minutes before The Originals signs off that “It was never a show that was meant to thrive on romance.”

That’s just stupid.

The Originals has all kinds of shippy ships to ship and Julie Plec milked them for all they’re worth until she decided to kill off 50% of her cast, including the female protagonist of one of the largest Originals ships.

I am really tired of writers using romance to bait and hook viewers, but then arguing the show “isn’t about romance” (like it’s some kind of dirty word) because they don’t have the balls to make an endgame decision. Nor do they want to listen to the complaints of the fans they baited because, GASP, those fans want a happily ever after for their faves. 

Writers tell us to fall in love with the relationship, but then are angry when we fall in love. The Originals is about family and ROMANCE, so let’s not argue otherwise because it’s nonsense.

Also, if all you care about is the romantic storyline in a show THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT AND YOU ARE JUST AS MUCH OF A FAN AS EVERYONE ELSE.

I wouldn’t say the finale was without romance. Freya & Keelin and Marcel & Rebakah were allowed happy endings. This is no small victory because the way this woman torpedoes ships these couples were not a done deal by any means.

However, the three largest ships on the show were all but ignored (Klamille and   Haylijah) or had the rug yanked from under them (Klaroline).

The Ending

I was spoiled on the ending for The Originals before it aired, but that didn’t  make it any easier. It was still a disaster zone. Klaus decides to kill himself to save Hope’s life and Elijah kills himself too because... why not?

If you are a hard core Vampire Diaries fan like myself then you know the original ending Plec and Williamson planned was for both Stefan and Damon to die. They would spend their hereafter looking after Elena living her human life (and she’s married to Matt or someone other rando). So, I couldn’t help but feel this ending was spectacularly lazy and recycled.

I do not have a problem with Klaus or Elijah dying. I have a big problem with both brothers dying. Elijah and Klaus existed in a toxic, co dependent relationship for the better part of a thousand years. Julie decides instead of freeing the brothers from that toxicity, they’ll go all in on joint suicide because family.

The preferable options were:

Option 1) Kill Klaus and Elijah lives

I am not a huge fan of killing Klaus merely because I think it lets him off the hook too easily. Yes, there was character growth with Klaus, to say otherwise is madness, but one or two decent things doesn’t outweigh a thousand years of being a monster. Klaus even asks Elijah in the finale if his sacrificial death makes up for all the years he was awful and Elijah basically says, “Yeah you’re good.”

I disagree, but whatever Klaus dies. I do like the symmetry of Klaus wanting to kill his daughter in the pilot and dying for his daughter in the finale though.

This gives Elijah a chance to find happiness and purpose beyond redeeming his brother. Julie argued they already gave Elijah that story this season and he discovered all roads led back to Klaus. Uhhh... Klaus showing up on Elijah’s door asking for his help to find Hayley isn’t exactly Elijah finding his way back to Klaus, but okay.

This is what drives me nuts about Julie Plec. She acts like all of these choices just happened to her. YOU WROTE IT LADY!!!!! Stop acting like you’re an innocent by stander in all of this. THE CHARACTERS AREN’T REAL AND YOU CAN MAKE THEM DO WHATEVER YOU WANT.

Klaus argued against Elijah dying for Hope because what kind of man would he be if he allowed his brother to die for his only child? Well, I don’t know Klaus, the kind of man who always lets Elijah toe the morality line and do the emotional heavy lifting. Why stop now? (By the way, they could have easily magicked a way for Elijah to steal the Hollow and deny Klaus any say). But yes, I agree, Hope is Klaus’ daughter and he should man up. 

If Klaus is going to die then at least give Elijah a chance at real happiness with the woman he truly loves- Hayley. So, let’s not kill her Julie!!!

Option 2) Kill Elijah and Klaus lives

This is my preferred ending. After they killed Hayley, and made Elijah culpable in Hope’s mother’s death, I thought this would be a fitting end for Elijah. He saves Hope’s life, is free of the eternal torment of living forever, spends eternity with Hayley, and sacrifices himself for Klaus’ redemption. This would instill a deep desire in Klaus to be a good guy for the next thousand years.

Julie also argued immortality is it’s own prison and what were we expecting in a show about vampires (meaning - they are all going to die). I agree with that statement in terms of Elijah and Rebekah, but not Klaus. He reveled in his immortality. Klaus loved being the strongest creature on earth. So, death isn’t a reward. In that sense it makes his sacrifice more selfless. However, I would have preferred to see Klaus earn his redemption by using his immortality for good for as long as he used it for evil. And yeah, if Caroline wants to come along, and they make a stop in Paris, I have no problem with that.

Closure

The Originals writers introduced the afterlife just like they did on The Vampire Diaries finale. We were able to see Josh and Hayley in heaven and at peace. However, The Originals did not give us this glimpse with Klaus and Elijah, their two main characters. Julie instructs us to essentially imagine their peace. That’s like stopping at the 1 yard line and telling the crowd to imagine a touchdown. It doesn’t count. JUST CROSS THE DAMN LINE!

At the end of the day, fans want closure from a series finale. They want to know  the characters they love are going to be okay. This is why the Parenthood finale remains the best ever. You can have heroic deaths, but leaving the character open ended even after death is a little mean. I don’t think it would have been too much to ask to give Hayley & Elijah fans a scene of them dancing in heaven 

or reuniting Klaus with Cami.

But that would make the show too much about romance I guess.

Family

If you want to believe Klaus and Elijah were each other’s happy endings that’s fine, but that’s a tough pill for me to swallow. The Originals was about family, but for most of the series (and their time on TVD) they were people related by blood doing absolutely despicable things to one another. 

Yes, they rallied time and again, particularly when it was in service of Hope. I’m not going to say they didn’t love each other or their familial bond meant nothing. I too get warm and fuzzy about “Always and Forever” but there was plenty of toxicity to go around.

One of my beefs with the finale is it sort of glazes over a lot of that. It was more like The Originals: A Christmas Special than a finale. They look at pictures, make wishes and Klaus waxes poetic about how he secretly adored Kol (despite daggering him and generally making his life miserable for a thousand years). I mean... okay? Feels a little disingenuous, but maybe I’m soulless.

The two familial standout moments for me was Klaus saying goodbye to Hope and Klaus apologizing to Rebekah while making sure she can take the cure if she wants. Stellar all the way around. I felt all the feels and those moments were truly earned. 

Caroline

So… what was the point of having Caroline on the show other than baiting the Klaroline fandom and ensuring their viewership? Cause I got nothing. 

Klaus and Caroline didn’t need closure. They had plenty of that on TVD. Caroline made it abundantly clear she was going to live her life without Klaus, minus a hot up-against-a-tree hookup to get it out of her system. And that’s exactly what she did.

What made Caroline’s presence on The Originals so enjoyable (other than it’s Caroline and she’s sunshine) is it felt like the characters were going somewhere new. We’ve had seven years of Klaus and Caroline dancing around their feelings, but the finale offered more of the same. We get a couple more “if only” moments and a tepid kiss.

Yes, Caroline kept the voicemail. Yes, she enjoyed all the wonders of New Orleans Klaus wanted to show her. Yes, she finally confirmed she cared for Klaus (but anyone who didn’t know that is daft). Yes, Klaus finally earned her respect and had a legitimate shot at a relationship with her for the first time, which makes his sacrifice so noble.

Eh. Caroline already had her noble, sacrifice-it-all-in-the-name-of–family love story (looking at you Stefan). 

Everything with Klaus feels spectacularly redundant for her character.

And to not follow through on this line is criminal.

But that isn’t really the reason I’m ticked. It’s Julie Plec’s explanation for why Klaus and Caroline can’t be together.

It would dishonor Stefan.

Look, nobody (and I do mean nobody) loves Stefan Salvatore more than me. I subjected myself to an additional four years of crap storytelling just to make sure Stefan was okay in the end (yeah I know I could have just watched the finale, but I couldn’t abandon him) only for JP to kill my beloved in the FINAL FREAKING EPISODE.

But this “honoring Stefan’s memory” thing is crap.

Stelena Side Bar

Time to get real for a second. (D*lena and St*roline lovers now would be the time to look away).  Stefan ended up with Caroline because The Vampire Diaries did him dirty with D*lena and they couldn’t get Nina back for their planned (yeah you read that right) Stelena endgame.

Julie Plec loves to put all the blame for how TVD ended on Nina Dobrev’s shoulders.  Yes, Nina left the show and when she left in Season 6 I knew it was game over on Stelena and any hope of a reunion was lost.

I love Stefan, Caroline and their friendship. I begrudgingly got on board with the romance angle because sweet holy Zeus I needed something to be mildly entertained by in Season 6-8.

But let me be clear. Under no circumstances do I favor St*roline over Stelena. 

Caroline Dries absolutely could have put Stelena back together before Nina Dobrev left the show. In fact, that was the direction the show was headed. Elena lost her memories of Damon and suddenly she’s taken aback with the gorgeousness of Stefan Salvatore.

(BECAUSE WITHOUT THE FREAKING SIRE BOND SHE STILL WOULD HAVE BEEN WITH STEFAN SO WHY DIDN’T HER LOVE FOR HIM RETURN THE SECOND SHE FORGOT DAMON? OH THAT’S RIGHT IT WAS GOING TO UNTIL THE WRITERS SCREWED ME OVER). The memory loss storyline was going to be to D*lena what the sire bond was to Stelena.

Then all of a sudden the show turns on a dime. Stelena rebuild is over and it’s full throttle on St*roline. The episodes Dries/Plec would have been writing in January (right around the time Nina let them know she was leaving) put Elena rapidly back together with Damon. Then they dance in the street for some inexplicable reason in her final episode.

Kevin and Julie wanted Nina back for the final 16 episodes of Season 8 to put Elena back with Stefan, but she was unavailable. Guess what cupcakes? You had Nina for the same amount of episodes in Season 6. You had a half season, give or take, to rebuild Stelena. 

There was absolutely no reason why STEFAN couldn’t have been the one waiting for Elena to wake up. Quite frankly, Damon’s struggle to maintain control would have been a lot more interesting because he would’ve had nothing to lose. Stefan would have focused on saving his brother the final two years of the show, only for Damon to sacrifice himself in the end. Damon would have earned redemption, proved he was finally worthy of Elena, and gave Stefan & Elena their happily ever after, WHICH WAS ALWAYS THE PLAN.  

How do you not kill Damon after he says, “Because I am the big brother. I’m sorry I wasn’t better at it until now.” THAT’S THE PERFECT DEATH LINE. 

No one can anyone argue to me that Damon was the better man. (To be fair they were both terrible people, but Stefan was far less terrible IMHO.) Damon telling Elena Stefan is the better man before she wakes up makes a hell of a lot more sense than Stefan saying that about Damon, but whatever. The point is, the choice wouldn’t have been Elena’s but Damon’s (rather than Stefan’s) and it’s so freaking perfect I want to scream.

Anyway, back to yelling about Julie. So, she heaps all the responsibility on the ending for TVD on Nina because she loves to straddle fandoms and refuses to make a damn decision. Not that the D*lena ending was anything to write home about. Y’all got screwed over too. One crappy kiss and five seconds of holding hands isn’t exactly the glimpse into their happy life together that y’all deserved. Sweet mother of Moses, the Stelena fandom had a better glimpse of Stefan & Elena’s happy human life in 5x18.

Stelena side bar over. Back to talking about how ridiculous it is that Caroline can’t move on.

2) The Vampire Diaries had a big old conversation between Lexi and Stefan about how vampires have more than one great love because they are fucking vampires and live forever.

This was said after Elena chose Damon (for absolutely no reason other than it was Damon’s turn to get the girl) and Stefan was driving off to Cleveland or something. This was a difficult for me to accept in terms of Stefan’s character because he lived like 150 years without love until he met Elena. She brought him back to life. So TVD arguing that Elena was not Stefan’s only great love was kind of ridiculous, particularly since Elena was still alive. 

The only reason JP/Dries wrote this line was to smooth the path for a potential St*roline romance. And why? Because immediately after this scene with Lexi, Stefan drowns in a safe all summer while Elena bones his brother. So, yeah they needed to cook up some hope for his character and, at that point, Elena was SO NOT IT.

So, now that Stefan is dead VAMPIRE Caroline can’t move on? The same Caroline who was Stefan’s second chance at love? Is a basic level of consistency really too much to ask? No it is not.

3) It’s been a DECADE since Stefan died. Caroline can move on because it’s HEALTHY

What an abysmal message to send to widowers. Sorry folks, if you lost your spouse you are suppose to live alone for the rest of your life because falling in love again dishonors your spouse’s memory. 

If this storyline was taking place a year or two after Stefan died, then sure I can see the argument for Caroline moving on too fast, but that’s not what is happening here. There was an 8 year time jump. It’s been nearly a decade!!!

Let’s take the vampireness out of the equation as my friend @lipstickandwifi so eloquently said. A woman marries in her twenties and her husband tragically died the day after. She’s now in her thirties and someone from her past, who she always has had a connection with, is back in her life. And her children are almost grown. The answer is: GO FOR IT.

Also, Stefan would never want Caroline to be alone for her immortal life all in the name of his memory. He’d be the first one to say it’s okay to move on. 

He may not love her object of affection, but he’s dead so he doesn’t get a say. MAYBE NEXT TIME DON’T BE SO WILLING TO DIE FOR DAMON, STEFAN. I have some anger issues I am still working through.

So, once again Julie Plec is pulling some bs reason and blaming Stefan for the reason Klaroline can’t be together rather than have the lady balls to say, “I didn’t want them to end up together.” Instead, she plays out forty different scenarios in these interviews, each one pandering to a specific fandom and giving them their happily ever after, but “INSERTS NONSENSE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE.” And Julie deflects any and all responsibility in the choices she made.

The Spin Off

The real reason Klaus, Elijah and Hayley all died is because of Legacies. I’d also say that’s the reason Klaroline didn’t end up together too. Julie Plec wanted Elena 2.0 - Hope to be an orphan so she can rehash the same story she told on TVD (complete with love triangle). Julie blames all these deaths on the actors not wanting to reprise their roles. It has nothing to do with Julie’s need to keep collecting a paycheck. Nope, not at all!

Absolutely no one can argue Legacies did not impact the ending to The Originals to me because it did. It’s fact. Julie Plec admits as much in countless interviews. Anything argued to the contrary is a PR campaign to get jilted viewers to watch the next show. I refuse.

2 shows + 263 hours of television + dozens of ships = 0 endgame couples. That's my shipper maths for Plec shows.  Congratulations to the ships that survived. The rest of us got screwed over. I end yet another Julie Plec show with booze.

And to the sweet summer children anxiously awaiting Legacies, tattoo this on your heart “DO NOT TRUST JULIE PLEC.”

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Thus, this closes the door on both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. At least I can rewatch TVD S1-S3 (and 4x01 as the series finale). There’s always Season 4 of The Originals too.

[britneyshakespeare]

friend: i don't know if i could watch the vampire diaries from what you tell me. it just seems like caroline forbes is too perfect of a character and that sounds kinda boring.

me, a bisexual woman who came to the vampire diaries for the men and stayed for the women, who loves caroline forbes w all her heart, who has never, and would never, speak an ill word of Caroline Elizabeth Forbes-Salvatore in her entire pathetic life, who mainly sat through 8 seasons of a show she felt overall lukewarm towards–too many conflicting feelings as the seasons progressed–for Candice Rene King née Accola's performance as one of my favorite fictional characters of all time: [scoffs] now what could i possibly have said that would give you the impression that she's fucking perfect??