(no subject)

I decided to rewatch some of the early seasons of The Vampire Diaries yet again (seasons 1-3 so far), and this entry is basically my trying to figure out Elena's character

I've read many comments on Elena using soft power to manipulate her friends and centre herself as the focal point of the group and, while I still don't always completely agree with every suggested instance of that, it did stand out to me in episode 322 that everyone immediately acts like the choice of whether to take up the deal with Elijah or not was Elena's alone, even though they'd all worked together on the plan to get rid of Klaus, and if Elijah had double-crossed them then they would have all been just as affected by that as Elena would be. The writing can sometimes be a bit too on the nose when it comes to Stefan insisting on respecting Elena's free will, and Damon just yelling 'no' over and over again on the speaker phone and saying that he would tie Elena down if he has too, yet there was no one to bring up that actually maybe it's a decision that they should all discuss and agree on as a group. Elena getting to make her own decisions when it comes to her own life is fair enough, but TvD took it to an extreme in moments like that, so that we're expected to accept as a matter of course that Elena gets the final say on everything

( Read more... )