I think I enjoyed the pilot much more the second go round but I can still see why so many considered it awful.

The special effects were cheesy with the fog and crow, the opening vampire attack reminded me of teen fright night movies like Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the story wasn’t that interesting.

In this episode we meet Elena.. sad girl who lost her parents, about to return to school for the Fall. We meet Elena’s brother who has turned to addiction to cope and her best friends who were annoying more so than interesting. We also meet her ex boyfriend who is mopey and makes us wonder why Elena ever would have liked him at all.

Then we meet Stephen, a vampire who is posing as teen so he can attend school. He runs into Elena and they hit it off but he then proceeds to seek her out at opportunity which SHOULD have sent off warning bells that this guy is kinda psycho but instead we are supposed to think it is cute. All the cutesy smiles were making my teeth ache. This show IS supposed to be about bad ass vampires right? And are we supposed to believe that a teen bonfire party is where a cool, old vampire would want to hang? Hmmmm…

Well, a short scene where Stephen is looking at an old photo tells us that Elena is a dead ringer for some chick namedKatherine who lived in the 1800s. Stephen’s voice over narration tells us that he is drawn to Elena based upon this old acquaintance and he “has to know her”. Okay.

A vampire attack at the party clues him in to the fact that another vamp is in the area and when that vamp shows up in his bedroom we see who it is… Stephen’s estranged brother Damon. Whereas Stephen appears to be the good vamp, Damon is the opposite and his sultry smile surely makes us want to continue with the series because it can’t be all bad after that right??????

I guess I liked the pilot despite this long lost of criticisms because I have seen the whole season and it does get MUCH better. The characters become more dynamic and less cookie cutter. The good/bad brother concept goes through many twists and turns and both Stephen and Damon get more depth. This episode gets a C but since the overall series is “A” worthy, I recommend you keep watching.

Vampire Diaries Season One

Source: Blood Falls

From Ausiello:

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: Next season, the appearance of the villainous Katherine in Mystic Falls throws a wrench into the love triangle between Stefan, Elena and Damon, and the other residents of Mystic Falls must choose sides as they fall victim to a new breed of danger. New and unexpected friendships will be forged, allies will become enemies, and hearts will be broken. Stefan and Damon will be forced to face a villain more evil and diabolical than they ever believed possible. And they’ll take their shirts off. Frequently.

The new breed of danger would be werewolves if I had to make a guess based upon the season one finale. Can’t wait to see if I am right!

If you missed it here is a recap of episode 21 Isobel.

In this week’s episode the Founder’s Day Parade occurs and the tomb vampires are plotting to kill the founding families. The council members plan to use the weapon that Bonnie was supposed to deactivate and kill all vampires in a 5 block radius of the festivities.

As the night culminates Damon and Anna are taken captive. Stephen is saved by Rick’s quick thinking and this allows Stephen to survive so that he can attempt to save Damon. All the vamps were taken to an old building and it is subsequently set on fire. For some strange reason the mayor and his son also fell victim to weapon’s power but an injection with Vervain had no effect so what they are… is a mystery. The mayor is killed in the fire, as he was suspected of being a vampire. Anna dies and Jeremy spirals into depression again, debating on whether or not to drink the vampire blood Anna gave him. Stephen is able to save Damon from the fire with Bonnie’s help and Elena confronts her biological father.

The cliffhanger…. Caroline is in surgery after an accident causes internal bleeding. The mayor’s son, who was effected by the vampire weapon, had a seriously freaky , almost wolf-like, flash in his eyes. Elena comes home to find Damon in her house and they kiss on the front porch but when Elena goes inside the house she confronts her father and stabs him with a kitchen knife, revealing that it is not really Elena but Katherine. If those are her father’s final moments does he know it is Katherine or does he think his own daughter has turned and murdered him??  Meanwhile Jeremy has taken the vampire blood and overdosed on pain medication, which will kill him and then bring him  back as the undead.

Wow! What a season!!

At the end of episode 20 we saw that Isobel.. Elena’s biological mother turned vampire is in town. In this episode she meets up with her former husband Rick and asks him to arrange a meet between herself and Elena, threatening to go on a killing spree if he doesn’t.

Isobel and Elena meet but Elena is greatly put off by Isobel’s cold demeanor and Isobel refuses to tell Elena who her biological father is. Isobel explains that she wants an invention created by one the Gilbert ancestors and that Elena must get it from Damon to avoid bloodshed. Upon leaving the meet in tears Elena’s is brushed off by Bonnie, who is not willing to make nice with the Salvatore brothers.

Damon reacts to the threats Isobel made by visiting Iosbel. He ascertains that Isobel is working for Katherine, who wants to make sure that the vampires from the tomb are all killed. Damon roughs Isobel up and tells her to stay away from Elena and to tell Katherine that he won’t be cooperative, even calling his former flame a “bitch”. Isobel is not swayed though and she visits Elena at her school the next day and hurts Matt and kidnaps Jeremy.

Elena, desperate to get the device, begs Damon to give it to her and promises that Bonnie will use witchcraft to render the device harmless so that Damon and Stephen do not need to worry about being killed when Isobel turns the device over to Elena’s Uncle. Damon agrees and Elena turns the device over to Isobel and thanks her for being so horrendous that her adoptive mother’s memory remains at the forefront. Isobel shrugs this off but gives Elena a warning that she is doomed if she stays in contact with the Salvatore brothers and she also mentions that Damon is in love with Elena.

Back at their home Stephen warns Damon to not seek anything romantic with Elena and Damon is elusive about his intentions. He asks Damon to tell Elena that her Uncle is likely her biological father. Later on this is confirmed when Isobel is speaking to her Uncle and she asks him to use the device to kill all the tomb vampires and to kill Damon and Stephen as well… to protect their “daughter” from a future with vampires. This scene cuts way to a scene with Caroline and Bonnie as the latter shares that she has betrayed Elena.

All though not spelled out to the unaware Caroline, Bonnie confirmed that she did NOT alter the vampire weapon that Elena’s Uncle now has and that he will use to murder the two vampires close to her heart… Stephen and Damon.

Will Elena learn that her Uncle (whom she has little regard for) is actually her father and how will she react when he attempts to kill the Salvatore brothers for her own good?

The next episode… #22 Founder’s Day is the season finale!

Source

Found a review of the pilot episode for The Vampire Diaries on CW this fall at the Hollywood Crush blog. It highlights the differences between the book series and the show. Enjoy!

There are, of course, a couple of fundamental differences from the books, not just the fact that Elena (Nina Dobrev) has dark eyes and hair (she’s a blue-eyed blond in the book) and she lives in Mystic Falls, not Fell’s Church. Instead of hailing from Renaissance Italy, Stefan (Paul Wesley, above left) appears to be from Civil War-era Mystic Falls (are we veering into “True Blood” territory now?). But the change makes sense: If they didn’t cast an Italian, it’d be annoying to hear an actor’s fake Italian accent throughout the show. In the book, Elena has a 4-year-old little sister, Margaret, who’s very peripheral to the story. For the show, she has a far more interesting teenage little brother, Jeremy, who has turned to drinking and drugs to deal with his grief.

The CW will kick off its fall campaign on Sept. 8 with the sophomore year of “90210″ and the bow of “Melrose Place.”

The rollout continues Sept. 9 with the two-hour preem of “America’s Next Top Model,” followed Sept. 10 by the preem of “Vampire Diaries” and return of “Supernatural.”

Source: Variety