About Bamon, I kinda feel like they did the Damon going into the coffin for 3 years thing because otherwise think about it. He'd be the one protecting Bonnie instead of Enzo, and all that time together maybe Damon and Bonnie begin to have feelings for each other.
Now, I love Delena too, and Season 6 kinda sealed that Delena was to be endgame, after all, Damon and Elena had been about to become human together and have a family before Elena got put in the sleeping spell.
BUT he couldn't be with her until Bonnie died. I don't see why they didn't go there, Damon and Bonnie likely would have felt guilty but I think it still would have been beautiful to explore. I feel like they felt they couldn't do it because Delena was endgame because of season 6's ending, but again, Elena won't be around until Bonnie dies. Damon and Bonnie developing feelings and acting on them when she's under a sleep spell would be the kind of emotional angst and even messiness the show thrived on.
Wow, my first TVD-related ask! I always find it super interesting to hear how delena-bamon fans (or even just DEs who are indifferent towards bamon) felt about the direction the show took with their relationship once Elena was no longer in the series.
And I totally agree with you! To be honest, I don't know that I believe there was any possibility that Damon would've been around for those 3 years and nothing would have ever happened between them. I also don't know if the decision to incorporate the time jump was ever discussed by JP, so I can't speak to the intentions behind separating our core characters for so long.
You mentioned that S6 sealed DE endgame, but that Kai's spell guaranteed (or at least was supposed to) that they wouldn't get to have their happy ending until Bonnie was dead. Personally, I started watching the series after it had ended, so going in, I knew that Damon and Elena were going to end up together.
That being said, it was to my understanding that Elena would be in the show from beginning to end, so you can imagine my surprise once I reached season 7, and the writers clearly weren't ready to progress the characters or the story without her (I've described it before like they wrote s7 and s8 hoping each day that Nina would spontaneously call and says she's coming back tomorrow haha). I think a lot of people don't necessarily take into account that there are nearly 40 episodes between Elena's departure in 6x22 and her return in the series finale. Like you said- that would've been MORE than enough time to explore AND conclude a romance arc between Bonnie and Damon! And that's adhering to canon where Elena is only asleep for like 5 years - how much more if they they had a lifetime to explore a romance?
I watched this TVD video essay a couple of years back where it was mentioned how realistically, Bonnie was probably the best romantic option for Damon during Elena's nap solely because the two relationships never would've overlapped. But honestly, I wasn't picky about Bonnie and Damon being together #5eva, I just wanted to see it explored!
I think you raise a fair point about the possibility that maybe they didn't feel like they could explore bamon because of the S6 ending, but again, 40 episodes is a longgggg time. Nowadays, that would be considered an entire tv series! In those final 40 episodes, we saw new relationships begin and end (Calaric, Stefan and Valerie, Bonnie and Enzo).
And lastly, the guilt aspect most DEFINITELY would've added to the angst - the 'will-they won't-they', the other characters picking up on the shift despite their adamant denial, the big damn kiss after they finally give in, even the jealousy trope we could've gotten - from Bonnie it'd have been when delena's relationship was brought up, and for Damon pretty much what we got in 7B with him being super jealous of Enzo and Bonnie (except in this universe they don't try to convince me Enzo is her soulmate, they'd just have a flirtationship to push the plot along).
There were so many ways they could've made it while still giving Elena and Damon their happy ending (and even Bonnie and Enzo except they didn't wanna see her happy so). The problem lies in the fact that the writers and producers had no intention of giving Bonnie/Kat a well-developed romance- ESPECIALLY with the desirable male lead....
dailybridgerton
yousharknotpass
titsay
ellievsbear
