Distributor: Warner Home Video
Episodes: 22
Duration: 42 min (per episode)
The Vampire Diaries: Season 7 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
With Nina Dobrev leaving the cast of The Vampire Diaries we wondered if the series would still feel the same, or if it would plummet into an abyss full with forgettable series, which missed their marks. Needless to say, we started watching this seventh season with a certain bias, which proved to be wrong, as the series was back, a lot stronger than the previous season. Prepare yourself for new love triangles, lots of blood and new supernatural enemies that seem to grow stronger and stronger with each passing season of the series.
Things have turned upside down after Damon’s (Ian Somerhalder) love of his immortal life, Elena, has gone into a slumber. While this would be of no issue for a vampire, she is to remain in her comatose state, until Bonnie (Kat Graham) passes away, as they are linked with a sinister kind of magic. Due to this Damon is forced to wait for her until Bonnie dies, as he can’t harm her either, because she is pretty much his best friend. The duo sets off to Europe together with Alaric (Matthew Davis) who is still coping with the loss of his (butchered) wife. Of course, they can’t enjoy their trip for too long, as their hometown is currently being pestered by the heretics, under the tutelage of Damon and Stefan’s (Paul Wesley) mother Lily (Annie Wersching). After a failed attempt to wipe out the heretics, they retaliate by butchering Matt’s (Zach Roerig) fellow officers, showing they mean business. Shortly after a ceasefire is agreed upon, but to accomplish this truce Stefan, Caroline (Candice King) and Matt will have to force all of Mystic Fall’s citizens to leave town. Luckily being a vampire, who is able to compel people has its merits.
Truth be told, without spoiling too much, the first half of this season will mainly revolve around the heretics and the on/off truces they make with the characters we’ve come to know and love. A forgotten love interest of Stefan pops up, and later on, things turn into an all-out struggle for survival when yet another hunter of the supernatural shows up at Mystic Fall’s doorstep. Pretty much the standard stuff in The Vampire Diaries, but things feel a tad heftier this time, as there’s also a secret organization behind the scenes, that kind of know everything about the main cast of characters. All of this also happens, while small shards of the future as shown, where many of the characters already find themselves in nasty situations.
Overall the flow of this season is quite rapid, as it combines a future timeline, with ‘the present’, and this season also introduces more than one main enemy. While this season starts out with the heretics and the loss of Mystic Falls as the main concern, it switches to new foes and a secret organization somewhere at the halfway mark of the 22 episodes. Perhaps, action-wise this is one of the most interesting seasons so far, as it’s clear that the characters can’t keep (d)evolving or remain bound by the mood swings they already showed during the first six seasons. Overall we were quite pleased to see action and story content being placed in the foreground, rather than the drama that ensued last season. Of course, romance lovers and those who seek a fair share of drama, there is still plenty to go around, the writers just found a healthy balance for this season.
The actors and actresses that play the main characters are struggling to truly surprise us after seven seasons, but they still do a formidable job in carrying the series. Nonetheless, the series has a few cute newcomers who add a certain extra to the series, especially Teressa Liane, who plays Marie Louise, and Scarlett Byrne, who plays her other half, Nora. That being said, everyone does a convincing job, especially knowing many of the characters in this series are prone to mood swings.
After plowing through this season, you’ll notice that the special features on this Blu-ray edition aren’t all that amazing. You’ll get some behind the scenes footage, a small comedy scenario with some of the creative minds behind the series, a gag reel and other very typical stuff, which will prolong your experience a little bit.
Conclusion
The Vampire Diaries: Season 7 caught us by surprise, as it was a clear rise in quality compared to the sixth season. We were treated to a more intense storyline, with characters that now received the attention they deserved. While the unavoidable love relationships this series has, dabble a bit too much in the foreground at times, the ‘screwing around’ vibe the last two seasons had was also toned down a lot. If you’re into gut wrenching moments, interesting new foes, and the Salvatore brothers, be sure to keep on watching the series.
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