Okay, we are halfway through Season 7 of The Vampire Diaries, AE (After Elena) and I have a few thoughts on how fans, Mystic Falls and her nearest and dearest are handling Elena’s absence.  This article contains spoilers so if you haven’t seen the show or current season, please do not continue reading.

The Vampire Diaries is a supernatural/scifi television show airing on The CW based on a series of popular young adult novels by L.J. Smith  in which a young girl, Elena Gilbert in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia finds herself intertwined in the lives of vampire brothers, Damon and Stefan Salvatore as well as other supernatural beings such as witches and werewolves.

For six seasons, Elena Gilbert (played by Nina Dobrev) was a strong presence in the lives of best friends Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes as well as the life of vampire bad boy, Damon Salvatore.  But now, Elena is in a deep spell induced sleep with her life connected to the life of Bonnie, a powerful witch from a long line of power Bennett witches. In a nutshell, Elena will remain in eternal slumber as long as Bonnie is alive.

Fans of the early seasons of The Vampire Diaries have been quite vocal in expressing their displeasure over the current season of the show.  They miss the early days of the Salvatore brothers interactions with Elena and other residents of Mystic Falls and haven’t taken to the character of Lily Salvatore, Damon and Stefan’s return from the dead mother (now a vampire herself) and her surrogate family of vampire heretics, who are murderous witch/vampires.  They also miss Katherine, Elena’s evil doppleganger.  Additionally, they feel that the earlier seasons more closely resembled the novels.

I concur with these points raised.  I was a huge fan of The Vampire Diaries when it first came out.  The story lines were very interesting in the beginning seasons.  I liked how Elena was torn between her feelings for both Salvatore brothers and how Elena’s love for Damon transformed him into a better man, one who experienced moments of remorse over his hideous actions in the past.  Nina Dobrev’s dual portrayal of Elena and Katherine convinced  viewers of her talents.  Additional characters of Bonnie, Caroline, Jeremy, Matt, Tyler and Alaric rounded out the show. The Vampire Diaries’  popularity even helped to launch a spinoff, The Originals.

The most difficult challenge a veteran show faces is change . Characters come and go, story lines take new directions.  These changes can be unsettling for long time fans. Some of these choose to no longer invest in a series.  This appears to be happening with The Vampire Diaries.  The show has seen a declining audience.  But I still believe that the show has value and viewers should give the new characters a chance . Without Elena, the relationship and past of Salvatore brothers is being further explored.  We’re learning more of the reasons why Damon and Stefan became who they are.  Scenes between Ian Somerhalder (Damon) and Paul Wesley (Stefan) touch on their characters’ brotherly bond.  The mid season finale found the Salvatore brothers in a perilous situation.

The Vampire Diaries will never again be the show it was in its heyday but it still has some merit  and deserves continued viewing.

The Vampire Diaries currently airs Thursday at 8/7c on The CW. The show will move to Fridays when it returns from hiatus in January.