Tonight’s episode of The Vampire Diaries should have been magical. Fans should have finally gotten the reunion between Elena and Damon they deserved. There should have been tears of joy and metaphoric fireworks. But, it never really works like that on your favorite television show, does it?
Although it wasn’t an all out loss for fans, TVD definitely skirted the edge of obnoxious. Fans waited for years to see Elena (Nina Dobrev) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) finally get together and now it seems that their short-lived romance has taken a turn for the worse yet again. Worse than Damon dying and being stuck in 1994 indefinitely, if you can believe that. And worse still, “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get” was more of a predictable nightmare than anything else.
As the credits rolled, a wave of disappointment began to roll in. Did the writers really just put another giant roadblock in the way for Delena fans? Are there really not any other storylines worth exploring that don’t involve keeping these two apart? Let’s not forget that Bonnie (Kat Graham) sacrificed herself (err, at least that’s the working theory) so that Damon could get back to Elena, and for what? Another 12 rounds of unforeseeable circumstances?
Drama between Damon and Elena has become the go-to story arc on The Vampire Diaries, and frankly, it’s more than a little overdone. Sure, the writers have managed to throw in some other plot twists here and there, but at the core, they’ve managed to replace the love triangle between Elena and the Salvatore brothers with an endless loop of Delena interference. Would it really be that creatively difficult to just let this onscreen couple be? Judging by tonight’s episode, the answer to that question is an overwhelming and resounding, “Yes!”