As someone who has dabbled in screenwriting, I know how difficult it is to write a cohesive story which could sustain a feature-length film. Therefore, I can't begin to imagine the Herculean task of constructing a television series. Sure, coming up with the basic idea may be easy, but writing up to 24 episodes for a season, how does one do that? Therefore, when a show can be on for a few seasons and continue to introduce interesting ideas and characters, it should be applauded. The Vampire Diaries may have looked like a made-for-TV Twilight clone when it began, but the show has created its own mythos and, as Season 3 shows, continues to offer excitement and drama.

The Vampire Diaries is set in the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, where supernatural beings run amok. Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) was just a normal high-school girl until she meet Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder), both of whom must happen to be vampires. Elena was immediately attracted to Stefan, and the attraction was mutual, as she looked exactly like a woman he had loved a century before, whose name was Catherine (also played by Dobrev). Stefan had been able to overcome his bloodlust and attempted to live a peaceful existence, while Damon showed little remorse in killing. The Salvatores attempted to create new lives in Mystic Falls, but trouble always followed them, typically in the form of Catherine, but also when werewolves came to town.

Thus, Season 3 opens with Klaus and Stefan going from town-to-town murdering people. Klaus is looking for werewolves so that he can create werewolf-vampire hybrids. Meanwhile, back in Mystic Falls, Elena is attempting to deal with Stefan's absence and finds herself attracted to Damon. Elena's brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) learns that he can see and communicate with ghosts. Elena's friend, Caroline (Candice Accola), a vampire, has entered into a relationship with Tyler (Michael Trevino), a werewolf. As if all of this craziness weren't enough, Klaus and Stefan return to town and Elena is forced to confront her old boyfriend, who is now evil. The group stumbles across an ancient cave which may hold the key to killing Klaus.

It's interesting that Klaus wants to create hybrids, as this is exactly what The Vampire Diaries is -- a hybrid. On the one hand, it falls squarely into the teenage soap-opera romance genre, as someone is always pining after someone. Elena is torn between Stefan and Damon. Caroline is attracted to Tyler, but doesn't know if she can trust him. Jeremy is dating Bonnie (Kat Graham), a witch, but the fact that he's seeing deceased ex-girlfriends puts a kink in that. Matt (Zach Roerig), the only "normal" person, can't seem to find love. Of course, all of these character "love" with a burning passion and I'm often forced to yell, "Dude, you're only 17!" at the screen.

Season 3 is definitely an improvement over Season 2. I hate to accuse any show of being overwritten, but the second season was simply ridiculous, as the world "doppleganger" was uttered every six seconds and the storyline was murky at best. Season 3 is much more streamlined and the story is much more interesting. The are two flaws here. First of all, despite the fact that the show is well-written, I got the feeling that the writing staff didn't have enough story to sustain 22 episodes, so things get a bit redundant at times. (Klaus can't be killed, we get it.) The other problem is with actor Paul Wesley. Stefan is supposed to "have no humanity", but Wesley never acts evil. I kept waiting for him to become bad, and it simply never happened. Those issues aside, The Vampire Diaries is a good show which shows that TV can do complex stories which contain horror elements.

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Third Season offers a lot of bug-eyes from Damon on DVD courtesy of Warner Home Video. The five-disc set contains all 22 episodes from the show's third season. The show has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is fairly sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source materials. The image is noticeably dark at times -- it doesn't obscure the action, but it doesn't look good either, and there are a lot of nighttime scenes on this show. The daytime shots do so good colors. The picture show an OK amount of depth, but it's soft at times. The DVD carries a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are nicely done, as they cue us to sounds off-screen. The surround sound effects aren't all that detailed, but they do work well in the action and crowd scenes. The action scenes also provide acceptable subwoofer effects.

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Third Season contains a smattering of extras, which are spread out across the DVDs. On Disc 2, the episode "Ordinary People" contains one "Unaired Scene". On Disc 3, "Our Town" has 4 "Unaired Scenes", while "All My Children" sports one. The remainder of the extras are found on Disc 5. "Stefan's Descent into Darkness" (10 minutes) offers interviews with Wesley and Executive Producer Julie Plec, as well as some other cast members, who discuss how Stefan turned evil and how the character changed. They talk about the character's motivations and actions, and how it effected the story. "The Original Vampires: The Beginning" (22 minutes) is a mini-documentary which examines vampire lore and the origins of the undead legends. Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker takes us through the history of vampire legends and how it's changed. He also ties it into the show. "Second Bite" is a 3-minute GAG REEL.