The TV Triangle

So, I have to admit that I have my own (mostly CW) guilty TV pleasures. Recently in almost all of the shows I follow, the main characters (usually women) are in a situation in which they are forced to choose between two men they love or care about. With this post I start a series of posts on ongoing triangles and my take on how they should/would play out.

Vampire Diaries

Stefan, Elena, and Damon

Image Copyrights: New York Post

After spending two seasons claiming to be completely in love with Stefan Salvatore, Elena Gilbert, in the third season of Kevin Williamson's teenage vampire drama, seems to have finally come to terms with the idea that she might have feelings also for Stefan's older brother - Damon. And, as if falling for the (delicious) older brother of your boyfriend is not bad enough, there is also Katherine - the Elena look-a-like great-great-...-great-grandmother that additionally complicates things. Katherine, just like her doppleganger, took a liking in both Salvatore brothers but also went as far as to sleep with both of them in the same time (well not in exactly the same bed but you get the point).

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There is nothing like hearing that your girlfriend who just a few months earlier swore that "It's always gonna be Stefan," say that she (just like your ex) felt no regrets kissing your brother while you went all crazy just to save her life from a 1000 year old hybrid. Not having the prior experience would not have made it less painful, probably, but it adds to the frustration that the two brothers feel about finding themselves in the same situation all over again. And there is also this really strong brotherly love between the two Salvatores - in some ways similar to the "mother-of-all-co-dependent-relationships" bond of Supernatural's Sam and Dean. The two brothers go to extraordinary lenghts to protect one another from harm while having occasional violent fights.

Image Copyrights: Popstar

Solution: Poor Elena has to make a choice - Stefan, Damon, or neither. In the ideal case it would have been both because there is so much love between the three of those that they just have to be together. But having the Katherine experience in the background makes it less likely - being with the two of them only broke the hearts of both brothers and Kat made the only reasonable choice - she ran away. Whomever Elena picks at the end, everybody gets hurt. The problem back then was that both Salvatores were "greedy" - they wanted Katherine only for themselves. Maybe there can be another way now . Maybe they can finally understand that the love Elena feels for Stefan is completed by the love she feels for Damon and there is nothing wrong in three people who really care for one another to be together. For the time being it appears unlikely - all seem to agree that it is "either ... or" situation. Therefore neither seems the most likely outcome, even though all three of them will be hurt. 

The whole situation seems somewhat Karmic - until the two brothers learn to accept the fact that they fall for the same woman, she will always appear and break their hearts over and over again. The road to Nirvana in Buddhism is through peace and the Salvatore brothers will never find peace until they embrace each other and the Petrova doppelganger and be together - all three of them. It seems as if there was another curse, placed on the doppelganger - to fall in love with two brothers at the same time and be unable to choose. And since she cannot choose, it is up to the brothers to accept their fate.