The series focuses on the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, that is charged with supernatural history. It follows Elena Gilbert portrayed by Nina Dobrev as she begins to get over her parents' death, when two vampires pull her into a world she didn't know before, Stefan and Damon Salvatore, portrayed by Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, respectively. Kayla Ewell portrayed Vicki Donovan for the first seven episodes until her character was killed off. Matt Davis was later cast as a history teacher in a recurring role to fill the void. He was later upgraded to series regular status.[4] The season concluded on May 13, 2010, and consisted of 22 episodes.[5]
In the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, seventeen year old Elena Gilbert and her younger brother Jeremy are both in denial following their parents' deaths. Elena is convincing herself she's over it despite her self-imposed social isolation. She tries to hide her grief, but it leads to her becoming emotionally withdrawn, while Jeremy turns to drugs to avoid dealing with his own feelings. Nothing goes as planned for both of them during their first day back at school. A mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore, attracts Elena's attention. This leaves both her ex-boyfriend Matt jealous and her friend Caroline who also likes Stefan sees her as her rival. Elena's friend, Bonnie, encourages Elena to go for it and talk to him, but she is unconvinced to leaving her social isolation. After Matt's sister Vicki is bitten by something they believe to be an animal, it is revealed that Stefan is a vampire and is hiding it from Elena. Stefan (who does not feed on humans) realizes he is not the only vampire in town. Stefan's estranged older brother Damon Salvatore, who is also a vampire, is the one who bit Vicki is introduced.
Mystic Falls begins the preparations to celebrate the passing of a comet. While Vicki recuperates in the hospital from her injuries caused by Damon, Stefan uses his mind compulsion abilities to erase Vicki's memories of the attack, but is interrupted by Matt. Meanwhile, Mr. Tanner warns Jenna about Jeremy's recent behavior and tells her that she is doing a bad job of taking care of the two teenagers, causing her to doubt herself. Elena and Damon meet for the first time at the Salvatore house and his revelation about Stefan's past causes Elena to question him. Elena and Stefan kiss. Damon finds his next victim in Caroline.
The semi-psychic Bonnie tells Elena that she has a bad feeling about Stefan, so Elena decides to invite Stefan and Bonnie to have dinner at her house so that they can get to know each other better. At school, Tyler attempts to humiliate Stefan by throwing a football at him, but it backfires as Stefan uses his vampire speed to effortlessly catch the ball and passes it back. Stefan ends up joining the football team, at Elena's urging. During dinner, Damon and Caroline unexpectedly show up, and Elena "invites" him into her house. Stefan gives Elena a necklace filled with vervain to protect her from Damon. When Stefan attempts to convince Damon that he still has some humanity left in him, Damon attacks and kills Mr. Tanner in retaliation.
Elena and Stefan go to the town's annual Founders' Party, hosted by Tyler's parents. Vicki gets Tyler to ask her when she refuses to associate herself with Jeremy. Damon tells Elena about the history of the Salvatores after Stefan tries to cut Damon out of his life. Damon also retrieves an amber crystal from one of the historical artifacts in the Lockwood Estate. Meanwhile, Stefan uses Caroline as a vessel to poison Damon. When Damon sucks Caroline's blood, he falls ill. Once Caroline wakes up, she sees the amber crystal and puts it in her purse unaware of its power. Stefan locks up a weakened Damon at the Salvatore property with their distant nephew Zach to stand guard. The Founders Council, including Mayor Richard Lockwood (Tyler's father), Carol Lockwood (Tyler's mother), Sheriff Liz Forbes (Caroline's mother), and reporter Logan Fell, have come to the conclusion that vampires have returned to Mystic Falls due to the drained bodies, and they must retrieve a pocket watch that belongs to the Gilbert family. In the end, Vicki goes to Jeremy and they go to his bedroom.
While Damon grows weaker from being locked up in the Salvatore basement, Jeremy's and Vicki's relationship grows stronger. At the school organized car wash, Bonnie discovers more about her powers and decides to face with them. Meanwhile, Logan's charm leads to having dinner in the Gilberts' house to charm Jenna, which leads to his stealing the pocket watch. Elena finds out from a stranger that Stefan eerily resembles somebody he knew in 1953, whose name is also Stefan Salvatore. This leads to Elena questioning who Stefan really is, and later confronting him. Elsewhere, Damon uses his connection with Caroline to free himself, kill Zach, and later feeds on Vicki.
Stefan explains his and Damon's past with Katherine to Elena. In 1864, they both loved a woman named Katherine Pierce, who then turned both of them into vampires. Meanwhile, Damon, who is without his daylight ring, spends the day trapped inside the Salvatore Boarding House with Vicki. They feed off of each other and he changes her into a vampire. Stefan discovers this and attempts to persuade her to die instead of completing the transformation into a vampire by feeding on human blood. Logan uses the pocket watch that tracks down vampires and finds Stefan and Vicki in the woods. Logan shoots Stefan with a wooden bullet, thinking Stefan was attacking Vicki. Damon saves Stefan by attacking Logan. Vicki is overcome by the hunger and feeds on Logan, killing him and completing her transformation. Stefan tells Elena that Vicki has become a vampire, and Elena decides to keep this a secret, but not without ending their relationship.
Stefan tries to help new vampire, Vicki, deal with her urge to feed, but is unable to control her. While giving Bonnie her witch costume at school, Caroline also gives Bonnie the amber crystal which Damon took from the Founder's Party. At a Halloween party at the school, Vicki attacks both Jeremy and Elena, and Stefan is forced to stake her through the heart, killing her. Stefan swears Elena to secrecy so she won't tell Matt and Jeremy what really happened to Vicki. Elena is unable to console the grieving Jeremy and asks Stefan to use his powers to make sure her brother does not remember what happened. When Stefan tells her he is unsure of it working effectively, Damon volunteers to "take away his suffering".
An old vampire friend of Stefan's arrives in Mystic Falls, the 350-year-old Lexi. She makes Elena realize the value of love, and helps her to take the first step towards renewing her relationship with Stefan. Meanwhile, Jeremy stops doing drugs and putting off homework after Damon alters his memory of Vicki's death. Elena asks Damon if there is anything else that he did to her brother but all Damon says is that he "removed the suffering". Damon gives a box of vervain to Sheriff Forbes and she reveals to him all of the vampire hunters in town, unaware of his true nature. Damon frames Lexi for the death of a local boy by altering the boy's girlfriend's memory and changing her testimony. The police apprehend Lexi. Outside the bar, Damon stakes Lexi and kills her before she can attack the sheriff or reveal his secret. Stefan is furious about what has been done to Lexi and tells Elena that she was right by ending things with him, then he takes off and attacks Damon, but stops short of killing him. He spares Damon's life to repay Damon for saving him from Logan. While wearing the amber crystal Bonnie has a nightmare and she wakes up in a cemetery.
A new history teacher arrives, named Alaric Saltzman, to replace Mr. Tanner. Jeremy notices his ring, which resembles both Stefan and Damon's daylight rings. Jeremy introduces his new teacher to Jenna, who then becomes infatuated with Alaric. Alaric asks Jenna to invite him into her home, but she refuses after realizing Jeremy is there. When Bonnie is having dreams about her witch ancestor Emily, the girls decide to hold a séance, enabling Emily to possess Bonnie. Meanwhile, Damon reveals the reason he really came back to Mystic Falls: to bring Katherine back from a tomb she was imprisoned in with the help of the crystal that Katherine gave to Emily before she was entombed. Stefan tries to stop Damon, knowing that it'll cause a disaster in Mystic Falls due to the fact that all the vampires that had escaped to the tomb underneath the old Fell's Church, in 1864, would take revenge on the innocent generation of the townspeople. On his way to the ruins of old Fell's Church, Damon greets Emily and reminds her about the deal they made a century and a half ago; Damon will protect Emily's bloodline and Emily will release Katherine. Damon goes for the crystal, and Emily uses her power to throw him up to the branch of a tree. Then Emily performs the ritual to destroy the crystal and thwarts Damon's plan. Emily releases Bonnie from her possession. Furious, Damon attacks Bonnie, but Stefan saves her by making her drink his blood. Bonnie is frightened of Stefan until Elena reveals everything to her. Elena tells Stefan that she can handle being in a relationship with him after learning who he is, but Stefan tells her that he cannot because too many people have died, so he's leaving town. Matt continues to be there for Caroline when she needs it. Logan returns into the picture as a vampire instead of a corpse at Elena's house, and he tries to get Jenna to invite him in.
Jeremy decides to return to his hobby of sketching that he had stopped upon the death of his parents. Meanwhile, the newly turned vampire Logan attacks and kills several people throughout the town. Matt and Caroline continue to hang out together. He tells Tyler that he likes hanging out with Caroline. Sheriff Forbes tells Damon of a new recent attack, and he discovers Logan doesn't know who turned him. Stefan meets with Elena and he tells her about the new vampire in town and has no idea who it is. Alaric helps with a small dispute among Jeremy, Tyler, and Mayor Lockwood. Logan kidnaps Caroline after a dispute with her mother, but Stefan and Damon save her. Logan tells Damon he knows of another way to bring Katherine back. Elsewhere, Elena tells Stefan that she loves him and he decides to stay in Mystic Falls. Stefan and Elena then sleep together. But when Stefan goes to get a drink for Elena, she discovers the photo of Katherine see that she looks exactly like her and leaves his house abruptly, leaving her vervain necklace behind with the photo. Alaric confronts Logan and tells him to leave Jenna alone. Logan tries to attack him, but gets staked and dies. Elena is involved in a car crash while trying to avoid a man in the middle of the road, but realizes that the man is more than human. The last shot is of the stranger approaching the car and Elena screaming.
Damon's arrival causes the mysterious stranger to flee, and Damon frees Elena from her overturned car. Damon brings Elena with him to Georgia to see Bree, a witch and an old flame of Damon's, hoping she can help open the tomb to free Katherine. Bree calls Lee, Lexi's boyfriend (as Lexi was her friend), who wants revenge on Damon for killing Lexi. Elena saves Damon, and he kills Bree after she tells him to find Emily's spellbook. Back in Mystic Falls, Stefan opens up to Bonnie's grandmother in an attempt to help Bonnie come to terms with her new powers and make her aware that she has the power to become a Bennet witch. Meanwhile, Jeremy meets Anna, who knows the true past of Mystic Falls. When Elena and Damon return, Stefan reveals that he saved Elena from the crash that killed her parents. Stefan also tells Elena that her parents adopted her, but knows nothing more about her parentage. He claims his love to Elena and she forgives him. Also, Alaric sits at the Mystic Grill bar and recognizes Damon as the vampire who killed his wife.
As Stefan and Damon try to figure out the identity of the new vampire in town, Stefan gives Elena more vervain-filled jewelry to protect her family and friends. Strapped for money, Matt takes a job as a busboy at the Mystic Grill, where former high school football-star Ben works as a bartender. Ben comes to Bonnie's aid when he notices Damon is bothering her. Damon and Stefan accompany Elena to a school dance with a 1950s theme, where Alaric introduces himself to Damon. Noah, the vampire who has been stalking Elena, is killed by Stefan and Damon. Before dying, he reveals that the way to get into the tomb lies in the Gilbert journal. While Jenna and Alaric are walking home from the party, Alaric tells Jenna that his wife was named Isobel, the same name as Elena's birth mother. Meanwhile, Anna keeps on trying to get close to Jeremy, because she wants to get her hands on his ancestor's journal. At the end, it is revealed that both Anna and Ben are vampires and appear to be romantically involved with each other.
The episode begins with Katherine and Damon in 1864. Katherine stops a carriage and attacks and feeds on the people in it. Katherine and Damon kiss. The scene fades to Damon interrupting Elena and Stefan in bed. Damon reminds them he can be trusted and then leaves. The scene fades to Damon and Katherine in 1864. In flashbacks, Stefan and Damon recall the long-ago actions taken by townspeople, including their father, Giuseppe Salvatore, leading to the devastating events that caused the rift in their relationship. In the present, Bonnie's date with Ben takes a frightening turn when she discovers Ben is a vampire and she has been kidnapped. Elena helps Stefan as he and Damon race to find the missing journal that belonged to Elena's ancestor. Stefan learns the reason behind Alaric's interest in both the journal and the town's history and that the way into the tomb is in the Grimoire. Although Anna steals the journal before Stefan could take it from Alaric, Stefan got a photocopy of the journal that Alaric had made. Stefan and Elena go to Giuseppe Salvatore's grave to find Emily's spell book. Jeremy's friend Anna is revealed to be the daughter of Pearl, one of the vampires trapped in the tomb beneath the ruins of old Fell's Church. Damon takes the journal from her and goes to his father's grave. Damon finds Elena and Stefan there after they dig the Grimoire up from his father's grave. Damon takes the book. Stefan brings Elena home and goes down stairs to get her some aspirin. He then learns that Jeremy has Anna over. Stefan recognizes the name and he runs upstairs to find Elena gone.
Elena wakes to find that she and Bonnie have been kidnapped by Anna and Ben. Stefan has been trying to find her and asks Damon for help, but he refuses. With help from Grams, Stefan eventually saves Elena and Bonnie. Stefan later ends up killing Ben for not obeying his order to leave town. Meanwhile, Jeremy asks Anna to a party in the woods, unaware that she has her own reasons for wanting to meet him there. With the help of Bonnie and Grams, the tomb is opened and Damon realizes that Katherine is not inside. Anna enters the tomb to find her mother Pearl and helps her escape by having her feed on Elena's blood. Stefan warns Damon that the seal of the tomb has only been temporarily broken, and Elena helps them both escape in order to not be sealed in forever. Out of the tomb, Elena sees how upset Damon is and comforts him. Damon afterward confronts Anna and Pearl, and learns that a smitten church guard had let Katherine go, and she was never inside the tomb. Anna admits to having seen Katherine in Chicago in 1983, but she was indifferent regarding Damon. At home, Bonnie checks on Grams, but finds that she has died from the strain back at the tomb. The episode ends with one of the vampires escaping from the tomb.
Harper, the vampire who escaped from the tomb, kills a man in the woods and steals his clothes. Matt and Caroline are surprised by the sudden reappearance of Matt's drifter mother Kelly. Stefan and Elena are worried about Damon's new attitude. Meanwhile, Damon is asked by Sheriff Forbes to take part in a fund-raising bachelor auction and asks the Sheriff for information on Alaric. Alaric discovers that his wife Isobel was Elena's biological mother, and was turned into a vampire by Damon at her own request. He confronts Damon, and the confrontation ends when Damon stabs Alaric to death with a stake. However, Alaric comes back to life, saved by a mysterious ring that Isobel gave him. Elena is determined to find out everything she can about her birth mother, but encounters warnings – possibly from Isobel herself – to stay away. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Harper will be staying with Anna and Pearl.
Anna pays a visit to Damon, bringing along her mother Pearl, who wants to take control of the town. All the vampires in the tomb have been released, and most are staying at an old farmhouse on the outskirts of town. Pearl offers to help Damon find Katherine if he helps her out, but the visit turns violent when he turns her down. Meanwhile, Anna arrives unexpectedly at Jeremy's house. Jeremy cuts his hand to tempt Anna, who then sucks his blood, but is interrupted by Jenna. Elena, Stefan, Caroline, and Matt go on an awkward double date to Mystic Grill where Frederick, a now-freed vampire from the tomb, mistakes Elena for Katherine. Kelly, Jenna, and Damon have some drinks at the bar, but Jenna leaves when things start heating up between Damon and Kelly. Frederick and his girlfriend Bethanne, who blame the Salvatore brothers for their entombment, break into the boarding house and attack Stefan and Damon. Stefan stakes Bethanne, but Frederick escapes and returns to the farmhouse, where Pearl punishes him for leaving the house against her orders. At the end, Anna sneaks into Jeremy's room and chastises him for cutting himself in front of her to reveal her secret, but Jeremy insists that he did it because he wants her to turn him.
A bad storm approaches Mystic Falls making the roads dangerous. Jeremy keeps trying to convince Anna to turn him, but she refuses. While out hunting, Stefan is captured by Frederic and his friends, who intend to torture him before killing him. Damon goes to the house, realizing he cannot get in because the owner of the house has been compelled not to invite him in. Damon and Elena therefore convince Alaric to work with them to help Stefan. Damon, however, will not allow Elena to come into the house with them. Pearl meets Mayor Lockwood in the Mystic Grill. Meanwhile, Matt is angry with his mother Kelly, but is fearful of pressuring her too much, afraid that she may leave again. Alaric enters the vampire house under the pretext of borrowing the phone. Damon kills the human living in the house, thus enabling him to enter. After her car breaks down in the storm, Caroline discovers the remains of Vicki Donovan in the woods. Matt and Kelly are heartbroken by the news. Damon and Elena rescue Stefan, but a fight erupts in which Damon and Alaric kill most of the vampires. Frederick comes after Elena and Stefan, wounding Stefan badly. Elena has to feed Stefan her blood to revive him. Stefan briefly loses control of himself. Anna agrees to turn Jeremy, but she then figures out (and he does not deny) that the real reason he wanted to be turned was to be with Vicki, whom he now knows to be dead. Damon discovers that Stefan has lost control of his blood lust, drinking large amounts of human blood from Damon's storage of IV bags.
As Stefan struggles to maintain control of his new circumstances, Elena and Jeremy's uncle, John Gilbert, unexpectedly shows up in Mystic Falls. Stefan exhibits some unusual behavior at the Founder's Day event, and things turn ugly when Damon tries to find out why John Gilbert has returned. Meanwhile, Matt and Tyler find themselves in conflict after an incident at the party when Matt sees his mother making out with Tyler, which leads to a brutal fistfight between Matt and Tyler in front of the assembled guests. Afterward, Tyler's father angrily hits Tyler for letting him lose his temper, and Matt orders Kelly to move out. Damon and Alaric find out that John Gilbert has a ring just like Alaric's. John knows every history of Mystic Falls including Katherine and Elena's mother, Isobel. Elsewhere, Elena is unable to comfort Jeremy without revealing her knowledge of vampires which causes him to take action when he decides to sneak a look at her diary. Stefan is still out of control and finds himself drinking from Damon's cup which he left there to tempt Stefan.
The episode begins with Stefan going back to school. Elena approaches him, surprised to see him there, but he claims that his cravings for human blood are over. At the Founder's Day Gala, Elena and Caroline compete in the "Miss Mystic Falls" contest. Bonnie returns to town and Elena is very happy to have her back, but Bonnie is cold and distant. Bonnie reveals that she feels angry and alienated with Elena because of her association with the Salvatore brothers. At the Miss Mystic Falls contest, Damon tells Elena that Stefan has been drinking human blood again. Stefan is angry when Elena confronts him with this information, and breaks a mirror. One of the Miss Mystic Falls contestants, Amber Daly, sees him do this, so Stefan takes her. Anna shows up at the dance, and Jeremy attempts to apologize for using her to become a vampire. Jeremy tells Anna that he knows that the only reason Anna wanted to be friends with him was so she could use his blood to revive her mother. Anna asks Jeremy how much he knows and he says he knows everything. Anna and Jeremy make up and Anna says she would never do anything to hurt him. Back at the dance, Damon poses as Elena's escort, since Stefan is not there. Later Elena and Damon, with help from Bonnie, locate and subdue Stefan after seeing him in the woods feeding off of Amber. Meanwhile, John Gilbert tries unsuccessfully to intimidate Damon. The episode ends with Elena injecting vervain into Stefan. She and Damon lock him in the cellar in an attempt to help him control his blood urges.
As Stefan tries to come to terms with his past, he and Damon reveal pieces of their history to Elena, including the truth about how they were turned into vampires. Stefan recalls that in 1864 when Katherine was taken away they tried to save her but were shot by their father. They both then woke up in transition by a lake with Bonnie's ancestor explaining that Katherine had been compelling Stefan to drink her blood and Damon had been voluntarily drinking her blood. Stefan then went to his home to explain to his father that he wasn't going to complete the transition but his father wouldn't listen. His father tried staking him but accidentally staked himself. Stefan tried to help his father but was overcome by the amount of blood and fed off of him, thereby completing the transition. Damon reveals that Stefan tried to convince him to complete the transition by telling him good he felt and how he could turn off his emotions, and when that failed he compelled a woman to come with him, bit her, and held her bleeding neck near his face until he gave in and fed. Pearl and John Gilbert have an ugly confrontation. Meanwhile, Damon and Alaric attempt to track down a mysterious invention before John can find it. Jeremy and Anna's relationship continues to grow as Anna enrolls at Jeremy's high school just so they could spend time together, and Jeremy attempts to learn as much as possible from her. In the end, John Gilbert kills Pearl by staking her and Anna discovers her body. When Elena releases him, Stefan goes blood crazy and wants to die but Elena manages to talk him out of it. They return to the house and Stefan seems to be cured of the blood-craze, but Damon doesn't seem happy about it.
Isobel returns to town and surprises Alaric with her new cynical and cruel attitude and her demand that he arrange for her to meet Elena; despite her seeming indifference toward him, it appears that she still loves him and that she is not truly happy with her life as a vampire. When Elena and Isobel finally meet, Isobel refuses to answer most of Elena's questions, but states that she is also looking for the mysterious invention that John Gilbert has been seeking. Upon learning that Damon has the device, Isobel orders Elena to obtain the device from Damon and threatens to kill everyone Elena knows if she refuses. It soon becomes apparent that both Isobel and John are working for Katherine. Isobel attempts to intimidate Damon into giving her the device and offers to reveal Katherine's whereabouts in return, but he makes it clear that he will not tolerate her threatening him or the people he cares about, and that he no longer wants anything to do with Katherine. Isobel later kidnaps Jeremy in order to force Elena's hand, and Elena implores Damon to give her the device, which he does. Bonnie offers to remove the spell from the device, which can supposedly kill vampires; it is later revealed that Bonnie only pretended to deactivate the device, due to her vendetta against all vampires. Elena gives the device to Isobel, who reveals that she knew Damon would surrender the device to Elena because he's in love with her. It is revealed that John is Elena's biological father, and that he and Isobel had dated in high school. John plans to use the device to kill all the vampires in Mystic Falls, including Stefan and Damon. Before leaving town, Isobel, who appears to care for Elena after all, expresses her fear that the Salvatore brothers may eventually turn Elena into a vampire – a life that she doesn't want for Elena – and that getting rid of them is the best thing she and John could do for their daughter. Anna appears and tells Jeremy that her mother was killed, and that she knows she should not be there, but she has nowhere else to go. Jeremy hugs her and attempts to comfort her.
It is Founder's Day, and everyone is preparing for floats and fireworks. Jeremy, still angry at Elena for lying to him about everything, seeks Anna's company; Anna gives him a vial of her blood and offers him the choice of becoming a vampire. Though Damon and Alaric team up to try to stop John Gilbert from utilizing the mysterious device to kill vampires, John sets his plan in motion, leading to a chaotic, destructive, and deadly end to the Founder's Day celebration. Tyler, Caroline and Matt are in a car when Tyler suddenly succumbs to the device, which generates a high-pitched hertz signal, causing him to lose control of the car. Caroline is severely injured in the crash. Tyler's father, Mayor Lockwood, also succumbs to the signal. John kills Anna and burns many of the tomb vampires alive in the basement of an old building. Tyler's father dies along with them. Stefan realizes that, despite everything Damon has done, he does love his brother. Elena confronts John with the fact that he is her father, which was confirmed previously by Stefan. Bonnie saves Stefan and Damon from John's rampage for Elena's sake but tells Stefan that if Damon kills another innocent person, she will not hesitate to take him or Stefan down. Damon finally realizes that there is some good in him, and that he may actually want to become a better person. Jeremy learns of Anna's death; he drinks Anna's blood and overdoses on pain pills, hoping that his emotional pain will ease if he becomes a vampire. Damon kisses a person whom he believes to be Elena, who is then invited into Elena's house by Jenna. The Elena doppelgänger stabs John Gilbert, who recognizes her as Katherine, pretending to be Elena. The season ends with the real Elena entering the house and going toward the kitchen, where Katherine is waiting...
Production
On February 6, 2009, Variety announced that The CW had greenlit the pilot for The Vampire Diaries with Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec set as the head writers and executive producers.[27] On May 19, 2009, the series was officially ordered for the 2009–2010 season.[1]
The pilot was filmed in Vancouver, but the rest of the episodes have been filmed in Covington, Georgia (which doubles as the fictional small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia) and various other communities around Greater Atlanta.[28] The series was given a full, 22-episode order on October 31, 2009, after strong ratings for the first half of the season.[29]
Storylines
The season begins after the deaths of Elena and Jeremy Gilbert's parents. Both are put in their Aunt Jenna's custody. Jeremy has become a loner and Elena starts dating a boy named Stefan Salvatore. It is soon revealed that Stefan is a vampire and his brother Damon shows up in Mystic Falls and kills people at random.
Another supernatural revelation occurs when Elena's friend Bonnie Bennett discovers she is born into a line of witches and is a witch herself. She gets help from her grandmother to use her powers. Elena's friends and acquaintances also become involved such as Tyler Lockwood, son of the mayor, and Matt Donovan, Elena's ex-boyfriend and Caroline Forbes, daughter of the sheriff. It also turns out that Elena is the doppelganger of Katherine Pierce, a woman who, centuries ago, seduced the Salvatore brothers and turned them into vampires, turning their vampire hunting father against them, though Stefan ends up killing him. Katherine was presumably trapped in a tomb beneath the church and Damon is planning on releasing her. Lexi, a friend of Stefan's shows up and befriends Elena, but is killed by Damon, driving a wedge between brothers.
Jeremy falls in love with Vicki Donovan, Matt's sister, who uses drugs like him, but she was dating Tyler and starts a rivalry between the boys. Vicki breaks up with Tyler for Jeremy. She is later turned into a vampire by Damon, but her bloodlust was out of control and she is killed by Stefan. Jeremy witnesses this and Elena asks Damon to make Jeremy forget this to spare him the pain. Matt on the other hand is devastated.
After the history teacher is killed, a man named Alaric is hired to take his place. Alaric came to town to kill Damon, believing him to have killed his wife, Isobel. Damon tries to kill him in self-defense, but Alaric wears a ring that keeps him from dying at supernatural hands. It is revealed Damon didn't kill Isobel, but turned her into a vampire on her own account. Later, Alaric and Damon become friends.
At one point, Damon finds the tomb under the church, and has Bonnie and her grandmother help open it to find Katherine. During the search, a number of vampires escape, and it is discovered Katherine already escaped long ago. The tomb vampires are led by a female vampire named Pearl and her daughter Anna. Bonnie's grand mother dies and Bonnie begins to resent vampires. It also turns out a group called the Founder's Council know of the vampires and wish to kill them. The council is led by Tyler's abusive father, Richard Lockwood. Caroline's mother, Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes is also a member, despite being friends with Damon, unknown that he is a vampire. Anna also starts a relationship with Jeremy. Jenna also starts dating a man named Logan, who cheated on her in the past. Soon, Logan is turned into a vampire by Anna, and is killed by Alaric, who tells her he left town. From that point Jenna starts dating Alaric.
It is not long before Elena and Jeremy's uncle John, who they grew up hating shows up. John is working for the council. The Council wish to use the Gilbert device to kill all vampires in Mystic Falls. Damon tries to kill John, but he is wearing a ring similar to Alaric's. It is revealed that John and Isobel, Alaric's vampire wife, are Elena's biological parents, they had Elena adopted by John's brother for her protection. It turns out they are also working for Katherine, and are using Mayor Lockwood and the others as pawns, although Isobel tells Elena their unofficial goal is to protect her.
In the seasons climax, during Founders day, Richard and John execute their plan to kill the vampires, both willing to use innocent people as collateral damage. Sheriff Forbes tries to oppose their plan, but is knocked out by John and chained up. John uses the local police who are in on the scheme as foot soldiers. The device is activated and the vampires are neutralized and taken away to be burnt in a basement, but Tyler is affected by the device as he had supernatural genes himself (later revealed to be werewolf); since Richard has these genes, the deputies think he is a vampire and lock him in the basement where he is burnt alive and killed by the vampires. Richard's wife, Carol goes to the station to rescue the sheriff but they are unable to save Richard. John also kills Anna, so Jeremy, not wanting to deal with the pain tries to become a vampire via Anna's blood. During the fiasco, Caroline is in a car accident, Elena also confronts John with the knowledge that he's her father and Bonnie rescues the Salvatore brothers, letting them off with a warning so Damon doesn't kill anyone innocent.
Sheriff Forbes finds her daughter has been injured and goes to the hospital where she is comforted by Damon. John heads home and finds Katherine, who is posing as Elena. Katherine stabs John several times and severs his ring finger and leaves him to die. As Katherine leaves, Elena comes in and finds her father injured.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the season as an approval rating of 73% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "It's not particularly innovative and there's a lot of angsty brooding going on, but there's a self-referential cheekiness in The Vampire Diaries that will appeal directly to its target audience."[30]
The initial reception of the show was mixed, Entertainment Weekly gave the pilot a B+, stating that the show "signals a welcome return to form for writer-producer Kevin Williamson". They end by saying that "Diaries promises us a season of sharp-tongued amusement."[31]Metacritic gave the show a score of 50/100 based on 22 critical reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[32]
Many critics felt that the series improved with each episode. Sarah Hughes of The Independent says The Vampire Diaries turns into "a well-crafted, interestingly developed series" despite a poor opening episode.[33] The New York Post also praised the portrayal of Elena, finding the character to be a strong-minded woman who doesn't allow her feelings for her boyfriend to control her.[34]The San Diego Union-Tribune said: "The supernatural drama is a first-class production, featuring an insanely gorgeous cast, sharp scripts and a brooding vibe that is hard for even the most levelheaded adult to resist."[35] Mike Hale of The New York Times gave the series an honorable mention on his list of the top TV shows of 2009.[36]
Broadcast
The Vampire Diaries premiered on September 10, 2009, and gave The CW its biggest series premiere ratings in its network history scoring 4.9 million viewers.[2][3] Adding in DVR numbers, the ratings for the premiere increased to 5.7 million viewers.[37] Although ratings decreased as the season went on, it reached a series high in adults 18–34 (2.3/7) on October 29, with the broadcast of its Halloween episode.[38] Including DVR ratings the second episode brought in 4.7 million viewers,[39] the third 4.6 million,[40] the fourth 4.3 million,[41] the fifth 4.4 million,[42] the sixth 4.6 million,[43] the ninth 4.9 million,[44] and 4.3 million viewers for the fifteenth episode.[45]
Season 1 of The Vampire Diaries aired in Urdu language in Pakistan on FILMAX. The series was the No. 1 show on The CW for the 2009–10 season averaging 3.60 million viewers weekly, thus becoming the first show to overtake America's Next Top Model which had been The CW's No. 1 show since the network began in 2006.[46]
Season one was released on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4 and on Blu-ray in Regions A and B. Both United States versions include commentary by cast and crew members on selected episodes, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, webisodes, and a downloadable audiobook of L.J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening.[55] It was released on DVD in Region 2 on August 23, 2010.[56] Following that release, Region 1 began selling DVDs on August 31, 2010,[55] and Region 4 on September 1, 2010.[57] In Region A, it was released on Blu-ray on August 31, 2010.[58][59] Region B's releases varied; United Kingdom on August 23, 2010,[60] Brazil on August 26, 2010,[61] and Australia on September 1, 2010.[62]
