klaroline had chemistry and were both popular/beloved characters. i believe that's what attracted ppl to it... ur analyzying a hot vampire show too deeply. if the white girl thing mattered so much, he'd be shipped that hard with elena, hayley, that other white girl from the originals, etc. pretty sure klaus interacted with many white girls and none of it picked up
well, on the one hand i would say that klayley and klamille had/have pretty big fandoms on their own with a sizable impact, but i know what you mean that KC seemed special and out of the ordinary and that’s, imo, due to timing and convenience. klaus was due a “love interest” and this was the “first” girl that seemed to finally draw his interest. if there had been a white witch instead, or elena, under the same circumstances, (i’m gonna kill you, oops, i change my mind, cat and mouse game), it would’ve had just as much hype around it cuz ppl wanted to see klaus courting smb, cuz #klausthirst, i guess. 2012 was a gentler time. also, before KC showed up, there was speculation and klonnie and klena too, but since nothing concrete had happened, it did not seem to take over the fandom as KC did.
i think KC’s big appeal is less about chemistry (more about that in a minute) and more about facility and self-referentiality. so for instance this ship could be teased in the last season of TO precisely because it’s not really reliant on any storyline or character beats, it’s somehow independent of the show, it has its own universe and it can pop up on tvd, TO, legacies etc because it’s more about this illusory dynamic where klaus is caroline’s weakness (he’s not) and where caroline reformed klaus in some way (she didn’t). in fact, KC thrives on “would-be”s and being these “imaginary soulmates”. if caroline and klaus had actually interacted more and had more to do with one another, the ship’s popularity would have been tested by a relationship’s natural progression. but since KC were never rly given a chance, it can live in that ideal place of “canon without consequences”.
the best i can say about them is that they ended up as friends, which is rather more appropriate. (their TO scenes read like two exes who are content with having put their brief stint behind them. in fact, they have far more chemistry as friends)
as for the chemistry, the first KC scene is probably the best because there was a certain warmth and mystery to it that it never managed to equal after 3x11. the rest of the season caroline kept acting more bothered by him than anything else (and not in a fun hot way). their scenes are always a combo of caroline going like “gawd! i can’t believe you’re here!” klaus: you can’t get rid of me so easily, love x 100 but without much impact on the storyline or on each other as characters. klaus doesnt really grow as a person until his stint on TO, let’s face it (and his time with his family and cami) and caroline’s “ethical dilemma” about klaus is not really dealt with (tyler is vilified for it more than her - not that she should be vilified but you don’t get the sense of real conflict) because this whole thing was not thought out very well. hell, even caroline’s attraction to him is infantilized. i mean…. klaus literally comes back for a few scenes just to have sex with her….okay. their emotional scenes are always stunted by lack of good writing (the scene where he stabs her and bites her and then she’s like “you’re in love with me and every person who loves is worth saving” ….is tonally weird, because it has not been earned and it jars with the rest of their dynamic, because such intimacy is hardly ever brought up again). i will say KC had potential for smth interesting, but it’s precisely because of their “no narrative strings attached” policy and because this ship ultimately isn’t that challenging that ppl latched onto to it. and i don’t fault them for it, we all like fast food, i just wish we’d be more critical about it.
(sidenote about whiteness: i feel like caroline was a much easier self-insert to project on than hayley and camille who challenged klaus in far more intimate and visceral ways. again, caroline could have potentially challenged klaus like that, but she never got the chance)
