The Vampire Diaries vs Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Who did better Mythology?

(don't worry about the picture, this isn't a shipping war)

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away a man by the name of Joss Whedon created a show about a 16 year old vampire slayer and her romance with a vampire. Okay, it was more than just that, but I'm sure that's what Joss went in with when he pitched it. If for some reason you have never heard of the show, it survived for 7 years and 1 cancellation. It helped pioneer shows about strong independent women, and was very well written. But now times have changed and there are other shows that are doing the same thing, some that are doing it even better. What I want to talk about though is how The Vampire Diaries did a show about vampires so much better than Buffy did.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer had a lot going for it, it had well developed characters, sharp writing, and some decent plots, however overall the show was at its heart about the characters which caused the mythos and plot to fall by the wayside. I'm not saying that it had bad plot, it was decent, but overall it was very calculated, for example:

Each season works on the same exact formula: big bad shows up, someone crosses sides, Buffy beats the big bad. It just isn't that complex:

Season 1: It was only 12 episodes, not that much time to follow the formula, but it was The Master shows up, Buffy kills him.
Season 2: Spike and Dru show up, Angel betrays her, Spike joins her side temporarily, she kills Angel.
Season 3: The Mayor shows up, Faith betrays her, she kills The Mayor.
Season 4: Adam shows up, Spike betrays her (as does Riley out of his own free will), she kills Adam.
Season 5: Glory shows up, Ben betrays her, she kills Glory. But twist! Buffy dies too.
Season 6: Buffy's life is crap (big bad), Willow betrays her, Buffy regains control of her life (beats the big bad).
Season 7: The First shows up, Buffy's friends betray her and she her friends, Buffy stops the first.

Now lets pull some of the mythology from the series:
-Buffy is a slayer, she fights vampires and demons, she has super strength, agility, fast healing (Season 1)
-Since Buffy technically died, her slayer lineage was passed on to Kendra. (Season 2)
-Vampires can get their souls put back into them, Angel got his as a curse, true happiness breaks that. (kinda season 1 but mostly Season 2)
-Kendra died so Faith came (not really mythology since it was already established with Buffy and Kendra, just a repeat) (Season 3)
- The original slayer was a beast (I don’t think this really counts, but it was all I could really think of… OH! Wait, the Initiative… but that is really just government)(Season 4)
- There are other dimensions out there that have Hell Gods out there, Dawn is a Key, The Orb, The Portals (Season 5 was actually really great with the mythology)
-You can make someone feel the pain of everyone in the world with super empathy (Yeah.. .that’s all I got) (Season 6)
---Before I get into Season 7, I just want to say that this is where Joss went wrong, not because of the potentials, because I felt they were integral to the last season, but the scythe and The Guardian. See that is a prime example of what I am talking about. If Joss would have just not thought of this last minute he could have used this throughout an early season and build up on the mythos. Not necessarily give Buffy the scythe earlier on but mention it, tell stories about it, introduce these “Guardians”.---
-Potential slayers, scythe, the guardian, The First, imbuing the power of the slayer to all other potentials, the retconned Uber Vamps… (Season 7)
-We learn a bit more on the witches and how they are connected. (Season 7)

Honestly the only seasons that really went into the mythology of the show was the 2nd, 5th, and 7th seasons. That is only 3 out of 7 seasons that the show really gave any importance to their mythology. The biggest season for mythos was definitely Season 7, but like I said above it was done in a rush and just a way to try and write themselves out of a corner that the plot had put them into. It wasn't until literally the last 4 episodes of the show that they introduced two of the greatest pieces of mythos that the show has seen: The Guardians and The Scythe.

I just feel that after 7 seasons, the show should have a lot more to show for it in terms of the mythology, especially on a supernatural show where there is boundless potential to have unlimited amounts of mythology.

So lets talk about The Vampire Diaries now. It has only had 2 full seasons and is just about over half way through with its 3rd season. Already the show has crushed Buffy in terms of plot and mythology and that was literally just in the first two seasons.

We have actually been told and shown where exactly Vampire originated from and why they were created in the first place. Werewolves were around first and in order to fight them, Mikael had convinced his wife Esther to perform a spell that would transform them into vampires. Unbeknownst to Mikael, Esther had had an affair with a werewolf which resulted in her child Niklaus (Klaus) being born with the werewolf curse which made him the first Hybrid (Vampire and Werewolf mix).

Esther created The Original vampires, and unlike vampires to come after them, they cannot be killed by normal means. In order to permanently kill one of the original vampires is by using a stake made out of a White Oak tree that was around during the time of that The Originals were created. It was thought that the tree was no longer around and was last used on Mikael, but in the last episode we found out that one was used to make the underlining of the bridge in Mystic Falls. You can also kill an Original by dipping a silver dagger in the ash of a white oak tree, however if the dagger is ever removed from The Original's heart, The Original will awaken again. Also, another Vampire is unable to use one on an Original without them dieing as well.

What still boggles my mind though is that if Esther is The Original Witch... then why is she white?

This is just the tip of the iceberg, see how it is already so intricate and well weaved.

But now lets get into the plot of The Vampire Diaries and how things are never as they appear with exactly where they are going with the twists and turns each season brings. Whereas with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, like I showed above, it is always a pretty straight forward plot, Season 5 being the exception.

Season 1 was pretty straightforward for its own purposes, but it still had a lot of elements that made for great twists and turns. The season begins mainly with introducing all of the characters and getting to know what everything is like in Mystic Falls, after all, this was the first season and they needed to build everything up before sending everyone through intricate plot loops. The first part of the season primarily deals with Damon returning to Mystic Falls and being the antagonistic presence of the show. We get to see this first hand with his sadistic influences on Vicki Donovan, he uses her and eventually turns her into a vampire.

After some introductions and showing what some characters are capable of, the show starts to get into some of the heavy plot with the introduction of Damon's true plans of why he returned to Mystic Falls: to open the tomb underneath Fell's Church that is filled with vampires in order to release the woman that he loves, Katherine Pierce. Damon convinces Bonnie and her grandmother Sheila to open up the tomb, only to find out that Katherine was never actually in there.

After the tomb is opened things get a bit meatier when we find out that Elena was actually adopted and that her birth mother is now a vampire who was married to Elena's History Teacher and her biological father was her adoptive father’s brother. Through meeting Elena's biological parents we also learn of Johnathan Gilbert's mysterious device. It has the ability to not only detect where Vampires are, but it can also generate a high pitch hertz signal that will incapacitate any vampire, allowing one to kill them with ease. Bonnie offers to help Stefan and Damon by deactivating the device but double crosses them by not actually doing it when she says that she did because she is not blinded by the vampires charm and knows that they do more harm than good. While all of this starts to go down, we get glimpses into Stefan's past and his struggles of being a vampire. In the end, at the Founders Day celebration the device goes off that triggers off a series of events that open up story lines for season 2. Tyler is driving with Matt and Caroline when the device goes off which causes Tyler to crash (hinting that something is up with Tyler), and Caroline is hospitalized which is the reason she is later turned into a vampire. John Gilbert kills Anna, Jeremy learns of this and drinks some of her blood and overdoses on pains pills in hopes of becoming a vampire to dull the pain. After all of this down it looks like Elena has fallen for Damon when she kisses him, but it is revealed that it is actually Katherine posing as Elena. She stabs John Gilbert in the kitchen and the season ends with Elena about to walk into the kitchen... 

Now Season 2 is where things get real juicy and complex. With the first part of it we get to learn more about Katherine, we get the back story on the doppelganger and learn a bit more on her true intentions. The first part of the season also shows Caroline and her transition into becoming a vampire. It also starts to hint at Tyler being a werewolf.

The second portion of the season leads into more about Tyler and Mason being werewolves and what it exactly means to be one. This weaves into The Original vampires coming into town and also introducing the Sun and Moon curse. The Sun and Moon curse was believed to be a curse that was cast by an Aztec Shaman which gave both vampires and werewolves their weaknesses of the sun and being controlled by the moon, respectively. Both of the races wanted to break the curse because they were to believe that whichever race broke the curse would be free of their weakness; vampires could walk in the sun freely without the help of magical objects, and werewolves would no longer be at the mercy of the moon to transform. The Original Vampires came into town saying that they wanted to break the curse and wanted the moonstone... which leads to the last part of the season.

The last part of the season primarily focuses in on Klaus and all of his true intentions. We don't meet the real Klaus at first; he uses Alaric's body and possesses it in order to get information on the plans to kill him. After Klaus himself appears we find out that the Sun Moon Curse was just a rumor that Klaus and Elijah had made up and spread around the world over the years so that it would liken the chances of the moonstone being found. Klaus wanted the moonstone destroyed because it was key to a ritual (also requires a Vampire, a Werewolf, and a Doppelganger) that would free his werewolf side and make him a Hybrid, which is where Klaus can also call on his werewolf side at his will. Klaus turns Aunt Jenna into a vampire and uses her for the sacrifice as well as Elena for the Doppelganger, and Jules as the werewolf. His plan goes through and he kills all three of them, and Elijah who had made a deal with Elena earlier to kill Klaus, goes in for the kill when Klaus tells him that if he kills him then Elijah will never find where Klaus hid their families bodies, so Elijah escapes with Klaus. Elena doesn't stay dead, while everything was going down, Bonnie was performing a ritual to link Elena to John Gilbert where he would take her place in death. We also find out that Damon was bitten by Tyler and is slowly dying from the werewolf venom. Klaus reveals that his blood will reverse the werewolf bite now that he is a hybrid and that he will give Damon his blood if Stefan will go with him on a killing spree.

The best part of all of this? This isn't even everything. There is so much more plot and story for the minor characters as well, I didn't want to get more into it because it already seems like a sort of bias for The Vampire Diaries, which it is not. In fact Buffy was at one point my favorite TV show. There is just so much more depth to The Vampire Diaries than there is on Buffy. Buffy excelled at character depth, but beyond that there really was nothing. 

I would go into Season 3 as well, but since it isn't done yet I don't want to really get into it. Plus, I honestly feel that even with just 2 full seasons under its belt, that The Vampire Diaries was able to craft a more complex and well spun plot and mythology than Buffy was able to in seven whole years. I am by no means saying that Buffy was a bad show, just that it had so much unlocked potential that was just ignored until it was convenient to pull them out of a corner. The Vampire Diaries just goes to show you that you can not only have a complex plot and mythology, but can also have well developed characters, although that last one can be debated for favoritism of certain characters (Buffy isn't innocent of this either).

You know what show puts both of these shows to shame though? Glee.

...

No, Glee is horrible. Fringe is the one that puts all other shows to shame.