The Twilight franchise was comprised of five
films for four books, because that is simply how desperate they were to bleed
the fan base dry. At least that franchise managed to find a way to cease the
endlessly obnoxious love triangle at the center of the narrative by the fourth
film. “The Vampire Diaries” is based on its own transparently familiar book
series by L.J. Smith, and the format of television allows for even more
opportunities to drag out the story than the Twilight franchise. The fourth
season is now available on Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, available for fans to see
the point when this show dragged the love triangle out at the peril of the
entire series.
In the first
three seasons we were already given plenty of opportunities to see that the
show’s producers and/or Smith could simply make up new supernatural rules to
change the outcome of previous episodes. Characters dying rarely ever means
death; instead they just shift forms. Humans become vampires, werewolves,
ghosts, hunters, and any number of other things that can be made up on a
moment’s notice to save them from leaving the cast completely. This season even
brings the possibility of a cure for vampirism, as well as another stupidly
rare ‘deux ex machina’ moment which allows for the obnoxious love triangle to
continue on for a maddeningly long amount of time.
Stefan Salvatore
(Paul Wesley) is a vampire who fell in love with Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), a
human high school girl who we later discover first met Stefan’s brother, Damon
(Ian Somerhalder). Damon is also in love with Elena, who after three full
seasons is finally able to choose Stefan before dying and becoming a vampire in
the season finale. In season four, Elena must deal with being a vampire when a
new breed of vampire hunter is born into her own family, but this is the strong
part of the season. The weak part, which takes over it like a poison, is the
silly way that Elena’s vampirism drags the love triangle out in an infuriating
way that makes clear the show’s writers don’t intend anyone other than naïve
fourteen-year-old girls to enjoy their program.
There are plenty
of special features directed at the juvenile target audience, including six new
featurettes, a gag reel, deleted scenes and fan created art work. Anyone over
sixteen is likely to hear nails on a chalkboard listening to the seriousness
with which this material is discussed. The package is also oddly bulky, in
order to account for both Blu-ray and DVD discs to be included together. They
are also equipped with the Ultraviolet copies.
Entertainment Value:
6/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 2/10
Historical
Significance: 1/10
Disc Features: 8/10
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