The Vampire Diaries may no longer be on the air but it still exists in many people's minds, especially because its second spin-off series -- Legacies, is currently going strong in its second season and was already renewed for a third.
New fans are discovering the parent series all the time thanks to its availability on streaming services. We decided to rank all eight season premieres from worst to best according to their IMDb scores.
8 Season 6, Episode 1 - I'll Remember (7.9)
One of the main reasons the season six opener is likely the lowest-rated on this list is due to the death of Damon Salvatore at the end of season five. Lots of fans weren't happy about how the previous season ended and likely chose not to tune in to season six until they knew that Damon would be back in action.
The episode also sees Elena trying to cope with Damon's loss, which she does by erasing him from her memory -- another thing fans hated. Elena tries to use drugs to deal with her grief but it doesn't work, so she asks Alaric to compel her to forget Damon.
7 Season 1, Episode 1 - Pilot (8.0)
It is surprising that the pilot episode of The Vampire Diaries ranks so low on this list. Seasons one and two of the series are often considered the best, so it is strange that this episode isn't higher. However, not many people knew what to expect from the series when it first began and fans didn't have a chance to fall in love with the characters or understand the plot until later in the story.
The pilot winds up being a little forgettable and uneventful compared to some of the later season premieres where there is more action connected to the longer story arcs. All that said, an 8.0 is still a good score for a pilot episode.
6 Season 7, Episode 1 - Day One of Twenty-Two Thousand, Give or Take (8.4)
The first episode of season seven was also the first episode without Elena Gilbert or Nina Dobrev. Fans didn't know what to expect and they also knew that Damon Salvatore would be going through hell in her absence. Damon is forced to figure out how to move forward without Elena in his life, although at least he knew that someday she would come back to him.
On the other hand, fans who were attached to the relationship between Damon and Bonnie were pleasantly surprised to get so many scenes of the two of them. Bonnie decided to be Damon's moral compass to help him navigate his new life without falling back into old, damaging, habits.
5 Season 8, Episode 1 - Hello, Brother (8.5)
The beginning of the end, "Hello, Brother" marked the first episode of The Vampire Diaries' final season. The episode title was also a direct quote from Damon, as was the trend for all of the season eight titles. In this episode, Stefan is desperately trying to find Damon after he and Enzo mysteriously disappeared from inside the Armory vault.
It also shows Damon turning off his humanity for the third time in the series -- to disastrous and frustrating results. Stefan and Bonnie spend a lot of time struggling not to abandon their hope in this episode. Elsewhere, Alaric and Caroline begin to realize that someone might be targeting their family.
4 Season 5, Episode 1 - I Know What You Did Last Summer (8.5)
One obvious reason the season five opener ranks so high on this list is because it heavily featured the romantic relationship between Damon and Elena, which many fans had been eagerly waiting for since the show began. On the other hand, many "Stelena" fans were not happy about the direction of season five and its focus on the "Delena" pairing, which likely prevented it from reaching the top spot.
This episode also introduced a new chapter for most of the characters on the show as Elena and Caroline took for college at Whitmore. Another exciting aspect of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" was the introduction of a human Katherine after Elena forced her into taking the cure.
3 Season 3, Episode 1 - The Birthday (8.7)
"The Birthday" was an exciting episode of The Vampire Diaries for a number of reasons. For starters, we finally got to see the beloved relationship between Klaus and ripper!Stefan in all its gloriousness. A lot of people loved having the Mikaelsons around and season three gave us lots of drama from the Original vampires. It's not surprising that they wound up getting a spin-off series of their own after how much fun they provided during this season.
The season three premiere also gave Delena fans plenty of great scenes between Damon and Elena as the two of them tried to figure out a way to save Stefan from Klaus and revert him back to his normal, non-ripper, status. It also helped that this episode kickstarted the romantic relationship between Caroline and Tyler.
2 Season 4, Episode 1 - Growing Pains (8.8)
It is a little funny that a season four episode wound up nabbing the second spot on this list considering how much people hated the fourth season overall. That said, it's not all that surprising that this specific episode got such a high ranking because everyone wanted to see what vampire!Elena would be like.
She was officially turned during the season finale of season three and fans spent an entire summer theorizing what the show would be like when Elena returned as a vampire. Some people loved vampire Elena, others hated the storyline. Either way, it drew enough interest that people tuned in and gave it a high rating for the amount of drama it offered. Another reason people liked this episode so much? Klaus took over Tyler's body and people wanted to see how that would play out, especially with Caroline.
1 Season 2, Episode 1 - The Return (8.9)
The highest-ranked season opener is a well-deserved one. It's almost unanimous between Vampire Diaries fans that season two of the show was its strongest and that was largely in part due to Nina Dobrev's fantastic performance as Katherine Pierce. She is one of the show's all-time best characters and someone that almost everyone loved.
Her introduction at the end of season one was a high point of the series and it delivered on her character when she truly became a force to be reckoned with in the season two premiere. "The Return" certainly earned its place on this list as it delivered a very strong opening to an even stronger season.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/2Q9pwUm
0 Comments