Vamp Diaries's Spin-Off The Originals (which has definite potential)

[shadowkat]

[As an aside, I'm sick and tired of people in our society telling us all there is something wrong with us for not being in a romantic relationship, being single, and not having fallen in love recently. As if being single was horrible or something. First of all - at least 50% of romantic relationships end badly - and are often abusive. Every day, a woman/man is beaten to death by their spouse. So hello, dangerous. Second, I've lost count of the number of friends, associates, acquaintances who went through nasty divorces, or were in abusive relationships either mentally, physically, or emotionally. Years ago, I was told by a friend of my mother's that most people had the relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Bridge - which was sort of distant and cold. My parents and brother's marriage are rarities - which is true, I've seen that first hand through friends and extended family members - few of which are happily married or in a romantic relationship at all. In the US alone, single women outnumber men and married women 10 to 1. We are in the majority, unfortunately. Quite a few are clustered in Chelsea, NY and Wyoming... So if someone asks you why you haven't fallen in love yet or aren't in a romantic relationship? Tell them the odds frankly are against you. And ask them if they've been out much? As Bridget Jones once related there's nothing worse than the smug self-righteous marrieds. But rest assured of one thing - sooner or later one of them will die, and hello widowhood. I say this after watching various family members go through it. Don't take it for granted. Don't brag. And don't be smug. And if someone is? Remind them that widowhood is just around that corner. Eh, I probably shouldn't have tried to watch Hart of Dixie tonight or read certain things online. Back to abusive erotica novel (don't ask) and Dance of Dragons.]

Vamp Diaries rocked tonight..it surprised me. I didn't expect to like it. Spin-off's rarely work for me. And they were interrupting the flow of the series to do a pilot for the spin-off. But this episode rocked. In some respects it's even more interesting than Vamp Diaries.

Niklaus is an interesting character and the Originals is an interesting family dynamic. It sort of reminds me a little of the idea behind Angel the Series, but a whole lot more interesting and far gritter, not to mention riskier. It's not episodic. Also it would be like giving Angelus his own series...except a more complex and integrated Angelus. Plus it takes place in New Orleans and has a nice racial/ethnic mix. Nice thing about today's tv shows is the diversity in the casting. It's the major difference between 21st Century TV and 20th Century TV - 21st Century is more ethnically diverse.



This was essentially a pilot for the new spin-off series.

The set up for the series is Niklaus, a 1000 year old vampire-werewolf hybrid, decides to move back to New Orleans and reclaim his power. His protegee, a street-kid that he turned 100 years ago, named Marcel, has taken over the town and claimed it as his own. He's king. He rules everyone. It's his playground. And Marcel has power, love, loyalty, respect and family - everything Niklaus lusts after. Also, oddly, the fact that Niklaus somehow managed to knock up one of his vampire-werewolf hybrids - Hayley. At least I think she's a vampire-werewolf hybrid. She may just be a werewolf. During a one-night stand. Apparently the fact that he is half-werewolf makes it possible for him to get someone pregnant. His first response is to not give a damn. But as Katherine tells Rebekkah, Niklaus will eventually care because he is a lot like Katherine - "we both manipulate, punish, and love power - but mainly because we are both alone and we hate it." She used Hayley to distract Niklaus, but it back-fires on her - because it results in distracting Elijah as well. Elijah has decided this is yet another opportunity to redeem his brother - and maybe find the man he once loved again. So he joins Niklaus in New Orleans. Niklaus has decided to stay not for the kid, so much as his desire to have everything Marcel has...to reclaim it as his own, and well he could always use an heir. He's already intrigued by the blond bartender, who is a tough and interesting character. Actually might prefer this series to Vamp Diaries - it's much older in tone.

The writer's appear to have a lesson from Secret Circle - in that they should go older, instead of younger. And darker. Also they picked up one of the more interesting cast members from that series - the one who is playing Hayely now.

Some good lines in the episode as well..

Hayley: I know it is impossible.
Niklaus: You're lying, how do I even know it is mine?
Hayley: After spending the last several weeks holed up in the bayou as a prisoner of a bunch of witches, don't you think I'd have fessed up by now?

Or...
Elijah: Nikalus is in New Orleans hunting the Devereaux witches..
Rebekkah: You aren't going to help him?
Elijah: I might help him or work against him...depends on my mood.

I rather like the Originals. It's like having three snarky Damons. And no waiting.

Meanwhile...Damon and Stefan are attempting to starve Elena into turning her emotions on again. It's not working. They are moving to stage 2 - scare tactics.

Elena: Oh so you want to play games now? Let's see who wins.

I have this feeling Elena might. Katharine pops up briefly to tell them that she may have found a way to finally get Niklaus out of their lives for good. Unfortunately it costs her Elijah in the bargain, who she'd gotten close to again and wanted to run off with. She's probably cursing Niklaus right and left at the moment. She's stuck with Rebekkah. She's probably thinking - why couldn't Rebekkah have decided to join him instead.

Speculation for the finale - according to the teasing show-runners, (who live to tease audiences - it's the most annoying thing about this genre actually) - three things are happening, 1) one person will ingest the cure and it will affect the Elena, Damon, Stefan dynamic and shake it up considerably, causing people to go off on separate pursuits and shake up the show, 2) 10 people will come back (yes, we are apparently having a zombie apocalypse after all or at least a solid ghost one, seriously no one really dies on these shows), 3) Silas will continue to wreck havoc into S5? Or is it 6, I've lost track. He's apparently taking the place of Niklause as the resident villain. We do need at least one after all. First it was Katrina, then Elena's biological parents, then Niklaus...and now, Silas. I hope he's cast well. Niklaus was. Casting is important in regards to villains, otherwise they are boring and you need to kill them.

Comments

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Regarding Silas, they have a convenient out in his ability to take multiple forms. If the first person cast doesn't work...

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Quite true. And handy. Personally, I wish he'd just stick with the image of the Professor - I rather liked that actor.

Vamp Diaries keeps killing off actors I like, dang them. (I still miss Rose Marie.)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Re: the first part (haven't watched TVD yet) my mother's neighbor died last weekend leaving his wife of seven years widowed. He left a will... that didn't have her in it. He had made arrangements for an expensive funeral, but stopped paying the premiums on it a year ago so despite not having left his wife a dime, she was stuck with the obligation (insisted upon by his children) that the wife pay $10,000 for his funeral out of her own pension and savings. He also stopped paying for his life insurance and left his car to his nephew. When they married seven years ago, she sold her house and the two of them bought the new (more expensive) house. They still have five years left on the mortgage... and he left her nothing in his will, no life insurance, and no money to pay for his $10,000 funeral where his adult children treated her like crap. My mom asked why on earth had she married the guy in the first place. Her answer? She didn't want to be alone.

Personally, I'd rather be alone than having someone who was so selfish and/or mean that he left you in a situation like that.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thank you. My views exactly.

I've lost count of how many stories I've heard my mother relate to me that fit yours above. She has a lot of friends who either had horrible marriages or kids had horrible marriages. One woman was a Ph.D, a Doctor, and her hubby, a neurologist, and he mentally abused her - and physically as well for years.
Made her feel trapped in her own house, controlled every aspect of her life.
It was crazy. She escaped with the kids, after a grueling divorce.

And then there are the guys who marry these train-wrecks. They want to save them (sigh - people read too many Nicholas Sparks novels - you can't save people). So they marry this woman who is a wreck, who treats him like crap, and it is a disaster. I have not one, but two cousins who did this. There's one guy who married this woman who won't eat, who is critical of whatever apartment they buy - so they have move five times, in NYC. It's crazy.

And at work - there's married guy who is screwing one of his employees, she is horrible at her job, but apparently give good head and now his marriage is on the rocks. Another guy promoted...his mistress. I kid you not.

I spoke with a friend about the difficulty of finding anyone to date, recently, and she said - well, we outnumber the guys first of all, second if you subtract the one's who are gay and the one's who are married - who is left? Hardly anyone.

I like being single. I have my own space. I can watch whatever I want. Without criticism. Most of the men I've dated have been critical. Read whatever I want. Eat whatever I want. Yes, there are drawbacks. But...I don't like to be dominated. An Alpha male would most likely drive me nuts - I don't handle control freaks or authority well. I'm too strong myself. And
the beta males are often too wimpy. I want an equal, someone who treats me with respect and vice versa, who can give me space, kindness, compassion, and I can talk to. I'm over the wild physical attraction bit - that only works in romance novels not in reality. (well with few exceptions)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Niklaus is an interesting character and the Originals is an interesting family dynamic. It sort of reminds me a little of the idea behind Angel the Series, but a whole lot more interesting and far gritter, not to mention riskier. It's not episodic. Also it would be like giving Angelus his own series...except a more complex and integrated Angelus. Plus it takes place in New Orleans and has a nice racial/ethnic mix. Nice thing about today's tv shows is the diversity in the casting. It's the major difference between 21st Century TV and 20th Century TV - 21st Century is more ethnically diverse.


"nods" Setting it in NOLA means a lot of racial/ethnic mixing which is a nice change for oddly white Mystic Falls.

And there seem to be definitely parallels to AtS.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It reminds me a lot of ATS, but without the silly case of the week set-up. The Originals doesn't mind being a full-out serial. That was Whedon's whole problem, in part due to the time period - the 1990s were less accepting of serials than we are now. He kept trying to do episodic and serial - which did not work. LOST changed all of that.

In some ways, I think I may like it better. Niklaus is a more interesting character. And NOLA is going to be more diverse than Angel's LA even was.
Heck Mystic Falls is more diverse than Buffy - with Bonnie as a main character. But I agree Mystic Falls should be more diverse than it is.

I also think I may like it better than Vamp Diaries...it appears to be directed to a more adult audience. Less 20 something, more 30-40 something.
And a lot darker. Although Vamp Diaries is getting darker and much better as it goes along...the first season was grating at times, the last few have been rather good, well as long as they aren't focusing on the Oppressive Love Triangle of Doom.

[shapinglight]

I quite like the sound of this Vamp Diaries spin off, but I've never seen a single ep of the original show. Do you think it'll matter?

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think it will matter.

Niklaus is basically the villain from the original - think Angelus, but with a soul. He's an original, this means he and his family created the vampires.
And he's played by a hot Brit - so basically imagine James Marsters playing Angelus. Marcel is African American and hot.

It also has strong female characters. A tall and adult blond human bartender, who knows karate, a werewolf/vampire hybrid who is snarky, and a couple of smart witches.

So antihero show.

I think you can figure out what is happening without ever seeing Vamp Diaries. Actually the Originals is less connected to the Vamp Diaries, than Angel was to Buffy. Niklaus has a girlfriend on Vamp Diaries, but she hates his guts, she's a vampire in love with another vamp/werewolf that betrayed Niklaus and was sired by him. So no real ties.

So no, it won't matter. You can ignore Vamp Diaries and watch this. They are actually doing a better job of creating a spin-off than Joss did, by doing one that doesn't require you to have actually watched the original series.

[genericmarn.livejournal.com]

On your first thought: agreed, it's a terrible message to send altogether, and it's everywhere in our culture.

As for Vampire Diaries: Yeah, it rocked! It was so good that I didn't realize that I hadn't seen Stefan or Damon or Elena or Caroline until about 3/4ths of the way through. I think I'd watch this spinoff even if it was just the Niklaus Hour. I may not always understand what motivates him, but he's never boring.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

On the first bit - Thank you. Exactly. I want to kick psychologists who provide that advice - don't they know it's dangerous?

I think I'd watch this spinoff even if it was just the Niklaus Hour. I may not always understand what motivates him, but he's never boring.

Oh he's so much fun and portrayed by a very good actor, not just a pretty boy. Rare thing that. The actor is a British Actor who started out on Doc Martin of all things.

I think what motivates him is a combination of Daddy Issues meets Serious Mommy Issues (after all both tried to kill him), the fact that he's an illegitmate kid who never knew his biological father and felt like an outcast and rejected, plus the only one of his kind for centuries, and add to that...loneliness. His parents made him feel like a victim and powerless - then they turned him into an immortal monster.

Oh so much fun.

The writers are really good at world-building. That's important in these sorts of shows.