By Gemma Williams
Any avid Vampire Diaries fan will have been biting their nails down to the bits over summer in anticipation of the fifth season. Season four ended with the main group graduating, Elena choosing Damon and Stefan dumping Silas’ body while Matt and Rebekah decided to travel together over summer, Silas reveals his true face and Bonnie dies resurrecting Jeremy Gilbert. The season ended with Stefan trapped in a coffin, sinking into a lake and a cured Katherine. The season finale was heartbreaking but also opened many doors for the fifth season, so how was the premiere?
Any avid Vampire Diaries fan will have been biting their nails down to the bits over summer in anticipation of the fifth season. Season four ended with the main group graduating, Elena choosing Damon and Stefan dumping Silas’ body while Matt and Rebekah decided to travel together over summer, Silas reveals his true face and Bonnie dies resurrecting Jeremy Gilbert. The season ended with Stefan trapped in a coffin, sinking into a lake and a cured Katherine. The season finale was heartbreaking but also opened many doors for the fifth season, so how was the premiere?
Season five kicks off as the new college term is about to begin. Over the summer, Elena has kept in contact with Bonnie through email, though what she isn’t aware of is that it is actually Jeremy writing to her, as he still has the ability to talk to ghosts. Elena spent the majority of summer having sex with Damon; Matt and Rebekah were shown to be having a threesome with a mysterious woman. Stefan hasn’t been heard from but is shown awakening in the coffin to drown again soon after. Human Katherine is lost and alone.
Caroline and Elena are starting their first year in college. They receive a shock, however, when Bonnie doesn’t appear, but a human girl named Megan takes her place as third roommate instead. Caroline tries some of Megan’s water to find it laced with Vervain. They later go to a party which Jesse, Caroline’s new love interest, invites them to, but Elena and Caroline can’t enter the party as they need inviting in! As is the life of a vampire. Megan phones Elena begging for help before falling from a window and dying in front of the stunned friends. Elena looks through Megan’s phone to find that Megan knew her father. Tyler phones Caroline to tell her that he is not going to attend college with her, leaving the loveable Caroline heartbroken.
Caroline and Elena are starting their first year in college. They receive a shock, however, when Bonnie doesn’t appear, but a human girl named Megan takes her place as third roommate instead. Caroline tries some of Megan’s water to find it laced with Vervain. They later go to a party which Jesse, Caroline’s new love interest, invites them to, but Elena and Caroline can’t enter the party as they need inviting in! As is the life of a vampire. Megan phones Elena begging for help before falling from a window and dying in front of the stunned friends. Elena looks through Megan’s phone to find that Megan knew her father. Tyler phones Caroline to tell her that he is not going to attend college with her, leaving the loveable Caroline heartbroken.
An uncouth, pathetic and scared human Katherine appears at the Salvatore mansion. When Damon offers to change her back, she is clearly tempted but refuses as she has no way of knowing whether she will wake up as a vampire or die permanently. Katherine hints at Damon still loving her which he doesn’t deny. Is there already trouble in paradise for Delena and their fans?
Jeremy, to the town, has ‘risen from the grave.’ He and Elena had created a cover story of overwhelming grief from the loss of all of their family members and drugs usage to explain why he ‘faked’ his death and burned their house to the ground. He has trouble fitting back in at school. Some boys start a fight with him over him faking his death and Jeremy kicks their ass, resulting in expulsion, until Damon compels the Principle to instead give him a three day suspension. Is this Damon turning into the new ‘Alaric’?
Matt and Rebekah are back in Mystic Falls, where Matt is already working. Nadia, who used hers, Matts and Rebekah's threesome as a distraction to steal Matt's borrowed Gilbert ring, turns up in Mystic Falls to return the ring... But not before she and a male friend cast a spell on him which changes his eyes black, a la Supernatural, and he collapses.
Jeremy, to the town, has ‘risen from the grave.’ He and Elena had created a cover story of overwhelming grief from the loss of all of their family members and drugs usage to explain why he ‘faked’ his death and burned their house to the ground. He has trouble fitting back in at school. Some boys start a fight with him over him faking his death and Jeremy kicks their ass, resulting in expulsion, until Damon compels the Principle to instead give him a three day suspension. Is this Damon turning into the new ‘Alaric’?
Matt and Rebekah are back in Mystic Falls, where Matt is already working. Nadia, who used hers, Matts and Rebekah's threesome as a distraction to steal Matt's borrowed Gilbert ring, turns up in Mystic Falls to return the ring... But not before she and a male friend cast a spell on him which changes his eyes black, a la Supernatural, and he collapses.
Silas appears to Sherriff Forbes and explains to her that the vampire curse was based on him, ‘but don’t ever call me a vampire.’ He leaves the Sherriff to find Damon who believe it is Stefan until Jeremy tells him the truth. Silas is open about his desire to get Katherine which is when he discovers Katherine’s whereabouts. Katherine is soon seen having a bath, talking to Silas who tries to drown her. Jeremy drives away with her until Damon phones him to bring her back. Katherine grabs the wheel and crashes the car. She leaves the scene of the crash, with unfortunate Jeremy lying at death’s door. Damon arrives and feeds Jeremy his blood to revive him. Silas pays a visit to the Mayor, Bonnie’s father, as he is giving a speech to the town. He uses his extra powers of compulsion to compel the town to stand still and be silent as he calmly murders Bonnie’s father. Bonnie, who is still a ghost, screams and run to her father, unable to help. Silas tells the town that he wants their help to find Katherine.
Throughout the episode, the audience is shown Stefan in his coffin, dying every times he wakes up from drowning. This has been happening to the He keeps dreaming of himself and Damon in a light room where Damon is trying to convince him to turn off his humanity. After the audience is shown this for the second time, Stefan is ready to turn off his switch, when Elena enters and persuades him to keep his humanity on, in some of Nina’s best acting as Elena ever. Elena is Stefan’s humanity and is the only thing keeping him going in his traumatic time.
Season 5 feels very different from the previous seasons. The show is growing with its characters and the story is maturing with it. At the end of season 4, making Katherine human seemed an extremely risky decision on the writer’s part but watching her in this one episode, it works very well. Nina Dobrev has a difficult job of playing both Elena and Katherine but does an excellent job of distinguishing between the two with her acting styles. Although she is now human, Katherine is still the same bitch we all love and is nothing like Elena.
Throughout the episode, the audience is shown Stefan in his coffin, dying every times he wakes up from drowning. This has been happening to the He keeps dreaming of himself and Damon in a light room where Damon is trying to convince him to turn off his humanity. After the audience is shown this for the second time, Stefan is ready to turn off his switch, when Elena enters and persuades him to keep his humanity on, in some of Nina’s best acting as Elena ever. Elena is Stefan’s humanity and is the only thing keeping him going in his traumatic time.
Season 5 feels very different from the previous seasons. The show is growing with its characters and the story is maturing with it. At the end of season 4, making Katherine human seemed an extremely risky decision on the writer’s part but watching her in this one episode, it works very well. Nina Dobrev has a difficult job of playing both Elena and Katherine but does an excellent job of distinguishing between the two with her acting styles. Although she is now human, Katherine is still the same bitch we all love and is nothing like Elena.
Elena has switched Salvatore brother again when she chose Damon at the end of season four, after she chose Stefan in season three. Will this girl ever decide between the two? As a fan of Stelena, I would love for Delena to get some time together to be happy, but the writers are already incorporating the love triangle into the show. Interesting as the love triangle can be from time to time, the show has much more to offer in its story and I would personally love it if they moved focus away from the triangle for a bit and onto a broader story. Elena should just be single for a season while she figures out who she is and what she wants and she should stop getting in between the Defan bromance.
Stefan is one of my personal characters but another Doppelganger? I feel like they could have come up with a more creative solution for this. However, I predict that Silas’ true love was an ancestor of the Petrova’s and this is why he is searching for Katherine. This could potentially explain why the Salvatores have a weakness for the Petrova Doppelgangers and why Stefan ‘will always be the one.’
Stefan is one of my personal characters but another Doppelganger? I feel like they could have come up with a more creative solution for this. However, I predict that Silas’ true love was an ancestor of the Petrova’s and this is why he is searching for Katherine. This could potentially explain why the Salvatores have a weakness for the Petrova Doppelgangers and why Stefan ‘will always be the one.’
It was made public that Matt would grow up this season. Matt is a massively under rated character. He is lovable and was the only human within the main group of characters but always helped Elena. I was heartbroken at his part in returning Elena’s humanity in season 4 but I also called that he would be the one. From this one episode, I’m not a fan of his transformation. I loved the innocent Matt who was madly in love with Elena. Rebekah has helped him move on over the summer but he seems to be a hugely different character. I am hoping to see him with the main cast soon as that will be the real test of his character.
Not a lot is known about Silas so I really hope they reveal more about him, and soon as I am not quite feeling anything towards him yet, whereas previous villain Klaus was terrifying before we even met him. Paul Wesley plays the villain very well and is great as Silas, but I still feel he is better as Stefan as Silas hasn’t had a chance to grow as a character yet.
Not a lot is known about Silas so I really hope they reveal more about him, and soon as I am not quite feeling anything towards him yet, whereas previous villain Klaus was terrifying before we even met him. Paul Wesley plays the villain very well and is great as Silas, but I still feel he is better as Stefan as Silas hasn’t had a chance to grow as a character yet.
Overall, a great episode. A lot happening but I feel this was also a weakness. They were clearly trying to give the viewers an insight into each character and how they fared over summer, but too much happened for anything to be revealed to hook viewers in. I will still watch next week’s episode as I love the show but some episodes are literally jaw dropping but I just did not experience that this time. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting from a premiere but it was still worth watching. They have produced and written much better episodes. This definitely wasn’t a bad start to the season, but it did leave me intrigued for more.
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