Welcome to the next article in this year’s spooky series! Every day in the month of October, the staff here at Nerds and Beyond are revisiting some of our favorite Halloween themed TV episodes. Today’s article will focus on season 1, episode 7 of The Vampire Diaries, “Haunted” (insert ghost sounds here).
The Vampire Diaries is arguably one of the most iconic shows to come out of the early 2000s. In the height of the fascination with vampires that was spearheaded by Twilight in 2008, The Vampire Diaries television series came a year later in 2009. The teen drama, based on the novel series by L.J. Smith that was originally published in the early 90s, centered around Elena Gilbert, a high school girl that ends up finding her heart being pulled in two different directions, having to choose between the beloved Salvatore brothers, Stefan and Damon.
This episode is important for two major reasons: It was the first time the audience would see a vampire be killed permanently. Not only would it show just exactly how the transition to a vampire takes place in the TVD world, but in the previous episode, Damon snapped Vicki’s neck, but not before feeding her his blood, and she woke soon after. Although the characters had their own opinions about Vicki (I’m looking at you, Damon), this would prove the show would never be the same again.
In the episode, we see Vicki’s full transition into being a vampire. In the previous episode, Damon had killed her, but not before feeding her his blood. At this point, Vicki is not a full vampire yet. In order for her to turn and fully transition, she needs to feed. Although Stefan is hellbent on keeping Vicki on lockdown until she learns to control herself, Damon has other ideas and whisks Vicki outside to the front yard to teach her all the vampire tricks. Then, well, Vicki doublecrosses the both of them by vamp-speeding out of there.
Something I appreciate about the setup of the episode as a whole is that it doesn’t outright scream “Halloween,” there are aspects that make it extra spooky and intense, but for the most part, it’s just another day in Mystic Falls. However, it’s the perfect episode to turn on and watch in between passing out candy to eager trick or treaters.
That night, Vicki turns up to the Mystic Falls Halloween dance as, naturally, a vampire. With everyone searching for her at the dance, she grabs Jeremy and they share an intimate moment before she bites his lip, drawing blood. Now determined to feed her craving of hunger, she attempts to suck his blood before Elena steps in to save her brother. With the situation escalating, Stefan shows up in an attempt to control Vicki but she quickly speeds out, hiding and waiting for the most opportune time to strike. Stefan tells Elena and Jeremy to get back inside, but as Elena opens the school’s back door, Vicki grabs Jeremy, throwing him out of the way to grab Elena, biting her neck. Before Vicki can go back in for more, Stefan impales her with a wooden stake, stopping her in her tracks and killing her.
The way the episode was filmed made it seem as though the characters were walking through a haunted house with the dark, moody colored lighting, cobwebs, and the decor. In a specific scene where Elena is trying to find Jeremy, she runs into Vicki and Matt, and in the background, fog from the fog machine can be seen rising from the floor. Between this and the ominous music — viewers are left wondering what’s going to happen next. Once eyes are off Vicki and she escapes, Elena is now rushing to find Jeremy. Parts of the scene are cut to give a view “through the eyes” of Elena with the props in the scene, adding to the intense and creepy atmosphere.
Stay tuned for tomorrow as we continue to dive into our favorite spooky Halloween television episodes! The Vampire Diaries is available to stream in its entirety on Netflix now.
