The Vampire Diaries needs to honor humanity

As moving and significant as it was, I had my reservations about how The Vampire Diaries went off into their wonderfully short winter hiatus this year, with “Stand By Me.” It was well-written and -acted, cathartic and transitional and important, but what comes next could be a very slippery slope. Taking away yet another human character will have its consequences for sure, but taking away the humanness of Elena, a trait upon which this series is driven, could be a grave mistake.

And from what I saw last week, that’s exactly what it is. I’m not sure I’ve ever considered an episode of The Vampire Diaries to be horrible (sub-par, maybe), but “Bring It On” was a complete train wreck.

The good news is that nothing lasts for long on The Vampire Diaries — it’s a quick-moving storyline filled with twists and turns — so they should be able to right this sinking ship fairly easily. Here’s what needs to happen to fix this potential disaster. …

Klaus and Haley have no chemistry.
I understand that The Powers That Be are setting up The Originals spin-off (of which Haley will surely be the weak link), but there are several problems with the Klaus/Haley storyline. First of all, the only reason fans love Klaus is because of the humanness he shows when he’s pining over and/or wooing Caroline (it’s not his twisted, Grinch-like grin). Don’t even get me started on what will become of TVD and the Caroline/Klaus dynamic when Klaus jumps ship to the spin-off. And don’t even tell me that Caroline should go with him, because she shouldn’t.

While it’s looking like Haley will be a descendant of the original werewolf bloodline, and that’s cool and all, save it for the spin-off and get her out of Mystic Falls. We have limited time with Klaus and Caroline, Tyler’s out of the picture for right now, so let’s play, people. There’s nothing more appealing than Caroline wrestling with her divided feelings.

Tyler is integral and so is Elena’s human side.
I’m not sure what drives The Powers That be to send Tyler off every spring, but it’s getting old. He’s been an important part of the story throughout the seasons, and he’s still integral in my book.

But here’s the real storyline that needs to be mined: Tyler’s an orphan now (granted, he’s also 18) — both of his parents and his uncle have been killed — does he need to shut off his humanity? No. So why does Elena? She’s been through the wringer, for sure, and she’s lost a few more people than Tyler has … but shutting off her humanity is definitely not the answer (as evidenced by the horrendous “Bring It On”). Over four years, Elena has proven how strong she is — why can’t the Salvatore brothers stop trying to save her, control her, shelter her? This is all just a little too close to the Twilight crap now. No one wanted to turn off Tyler, so stop treating Elena like Bella … she’s stronger than that, and unlike Bella, she doesn’t want a vampire man to dominate her.

I’m sure Tyler is the answer to helping Elena regain her humanness. It can’t be one of the Salvatore brothers, because that would negate her inner strength and independence. Once and for all, Damon and Stefan need to see that they don’t have to baby Elena — she can take care of herself.

More Matt on my screen.
Listen here, TVD writers, and listen good. I’m on board because of the juxtaposition of humanity and supernaturals. I don’t want to watch a show that’s filled with vampires and werewolves and super-human fight scenes. The struggle of the supernatural characters with their human side and how to make peace with their blood-sucking side is a big draw, believe it or not. Watching how the humans reconcile themselves to the strangeness in Mystic Falls is crucial. What would Sunnydale have been without Xander?

Matt is probably one of the most important characters on The Vampire Diaries right now, and sadly, he has to do his important work without Jeremy. He not only shows us that humanity can find a way to survive the supernatural catastrophes in Mystic Falls, but that without humanity, it would surely crumble.