Distributor: Warner Home Video
Episodes: 22
Duration: 42 min (per episode)
The Vampire Diaries: Season 6 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
It’s been some time since the swimsuit vampire models of Mystic Falls made an appearance on the site. After the events of the fifth season, where Bonnie and Damon were trapped inside the spirit world, leaving Elena and Stefan behind, we were wondering how everyone would be reunited once more, albeit with a few dead bodies falling out of the closet later on. What we’ve learned over the last five seasons is that happiness does not last that long in this peculiar little backwater town.
Bonnie Bennett (Kat Graham) and Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) took the plunge into the spirit world together and thanks to this, they are living in an odd, empty version of Mystic Falls. Even though everything looks reasonably the same as their own hometown, they are trapped in the 1994 version of Mystic Falls, and relive the same day, over and over again. Even though this fortress of solitude indicates that the duo is in fact still alive, rather than killed in action, the loneliness and not knowing if they will ever get out, is proving very hard to cope with. When they stumble upon another soul in this desolate place, a small shimmer of hope finally resurfaces. Sadly for the bickering duo it seems that their roommate is Kai Harper (Chris Wood), a witch who killed most of his own coven, who was sentenced to spend an eternity in this 1994 prison. Even though Bonnie and Damon still want to get out, it seems they will have to consider what to do with Kai, who holds the key to escaping this repeating nightmare.
Back in the land of the living everyone thinks Bonnie and Damon have lost their lives and will never come back again. Whilst this false truth proves to be hard for everyone, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley), Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and Caroline Forbes (Candice Accola) have the hardest time coping with what has transpired. Stefan has given up the search for his brother and tries to drown his grief by leaving everything behind and starting a new life somewhere else, without letting others know what he’s up to. This means Caroline can’t get a hold of him, in the period she truly needs her best friend. Elena can’t cope with a life without Damon and even uses herbs with magic properties in order to see a hallucinated version of Damon. Seeing this has nasty side effects, such as bloodlust, she finally resorts to one of the most drastic measures she can take: to compel away her memories of Damon. To do this, she’ll need the help of the newly revived Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis), who is now in possession of abilities such as those of the original vampires. All of this misery is just the introduction of this season.
Even though the series tends to go from one bad event to the other, this season feels a tad less eventful than the others, whilst keeping the drama level on par with the previous seasons. During this season there will be enough harsh events to swallow, but it’s often the same ones that are getting dragged out over the entire season, which in some cases makes it feel painstakingly long. Caroline will get her share of trouble this season, pushing her a bit on the foreground again, whilst Elena is slowly becoming background noise, as she will be leaving the cast after this season. Other personas will also leave, but we’ll let you find out for yourselves. Nonetheless, the drama pitch might be practically the same as the previous seasons, but it sometimes feels a bit too much.
Overall the flow of the series is still reasonably paced, except the pace of the first few episodes is a tad slower than all the rest. Even though you’d expect the series to start off with a bang again, it actually does not. That being said, after a few episodes you’ll get used to the same old Vampire Diaries routine, but at certain times it feels as if the vampiric cow is beginning to get milked dry, except for the fairly large cliffhanger at the end of this season.
Character (d)evolution was more present during this series, especially when it comes to Bonnie and Caroline. These girls will have to deal with several personal problems, making them react a lot differently than they did over the course of the earlier seasons. Perhaps these characters become the most interesting ones of this season.
Acting performances stay linear compared to the previous season, meaning everyone is still playing their roles very well. Even the new faces in the posse of supernatural beings are interesting, mainly thanks to the actor/actress behind them.
This Blu-ray release has a decent amount of extras, such as the typical deleted scenes, a gag reel and some other extra informative tidbits. Some amusing special features are the ones about the actors reading the twitter feed about the sixth season’s events, and the small thank you documentary for those who are leaving the cast.
Conclusion
The Vampire Diaries season 6 still offers the typical Vampire Diaries entertainment, albeit with a more uneventful plot. That being said, if you wade through the first few episodes you’ll fall back to the normal routine of killing, teenage drama and the wondrous world of magic and unearthly beings. Still amusing for the fans but perhaps it’s time to slowly close the portal to this other dimension.
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