It all started about 9 months ago when Cox cable sent a notice that the bill would be increasing to over $275 per month. You read that right, $275. That would have covered high speed Internet, phone, and pretty much every channel known to man. That’s the way it had always been. Channels coming out of my ear-holes. That was a long time ago, it seems. Things were great, money seemed to grow on trees and spending it was easy as can be.
Fast-forward to the present. I’m a self employed marketing consultant and self employed means money doesn’t get deposited on the regular. Cox was the first thing to go, not the high-speed Internet, but pretty much everything else. That’s when Amazon prime, Netflix, and Hulu-plus came into my life. Because I’m also a suffering doctoral student, I get my Amazon prime membership for $40 per year. Netflix costs $8 per month for unlimited streaming and Hulu costs an additional $8 per month. Things changed after that. Instead of channel surfing, I began series-surfing. Enter the Vampire Dairies. I figured, being a lover of True Blood and all things vampire, I could blow some time watching the Vampire Dairies. One Saturday marathon led to an addiction of sorts. Season one was interesting, but not great. Season two changed that. Enter Caroline (as a vampire) and Katerina Petrova. Since I could go on and on about these two characters (they are definitely my favorite female vamps), I will just say I was quite content going forward with the Vampire Diaries (despite the young cast).
Then something happened about mid-way through Season two. That something went by the name of Elijah. From the first time he entered the picture, I wanted more. This vampire had the walk and confidence of a predator, a top-predator who had spent the better part of 1,000 years being that way. He was intelligent, honorable, charismatic and beautiful. About 3/4 of the way through Season two another something happened. Nicklaus Mickaelson, the man with the sexiest voice in all of history (this honor used to go to Layne Staley the former front-man for Alice-In-Chains may he rest in peace). I don’t know what to say about Klaus. He isn’t the best looking man I’ve ever seen or even the most charismatic. He is also terribly broken and infinitely flawed. But whenever he enters the picture, I can’t turn away. Season three of the Vampire Dairies wasn’t my favorite. Klaus couldn’t even save it. I was just starting Season four when I heard the announcement, a spin-off. CW was giving The Originals their own platform.
Prior to The Originals debut, I had consumed all of Season four of the Vampire Dairies and would be waiting for Season five plus the Originals, that coming fall (which is now). The Originals debuted with a re-working of the pilot that aired during Season four of the Vampire Dairies. Then came the new stuff and somehow they managed to change any and all negative perceptions I had about a few characters. The first being Rebekah Mikaelson, sister of Elijah & Klaus, and original vampire. I was luke-warm on her. The second is Haley Marshall, the werewolf, and future baby-mama to a Klaus sired hybrid. I actually didn’t like her. The first thing they did to change my opinion of Rebekah was the bond she quickly developed with Haley. Haley can trust Rebekah, and there aren’t a lot of people on earth who can say that. Rebekah would also do anything for her big brother Elijah. The dialogue between these two has been very well done. Tender but not too corny. They have done an excellent job of stripping Rebekah down to all of her flaws and making you want to be on her team. Haley is just a bad a*s. She also seems warm and considerate and handling a pretty bad situation with a great deal of poise. If you cross her, she will kick your a*s.
This week The Originals didn’t run a new episode. For the first-time in I-can’t-remember-how-long, I was disappointed about something not coming on television. TV has been bad for a long time. By streamlining my options, I have been able to really enjoy it again. For that, I say thank you to Cox cable for that rate increase, thank you to Netflix for introducing me to the Vampire Dairies, and thank you to CW for picking up the Originals for a full season of 22 episodes. One last thing…thank you to the writers for good dialogue, empathetic characters, and exciting times….please don’t screw it up.
The One & Only – Klaus
