Dimitra

Great!

@Dimisaurus just let me read your last chapter`s again :)

@Erifigueroab On it! Thank for replying. Do you also have any ideas or theories of what S2 would be about? I already have a document with so many ideas but would be cool to hear yours as well! 

@agniesh thank you for replying! Then I'll do S2. Have to do research and brainstorming so that hopefully it stays completely faithful to the setup in S1. Do you have any ideas or theories about what S2 would be about? I have plenty but would be nice to hear your input as well! 

At the end of the day the show captured what was more important for me, which the movie adaptation failed to. I wanted a Badass Rose. I wanted her to be strong, curvy, I wanted her mixed cultural background to show in her features, I wanted her fighting scenes to be brutal. I wanted her to be tough, with an attitude that was more controversial than “cute and sassy.” Sisi captured this perfectly, while Zoey was just another skinny, pretty, dolled-up Hollywood poster girl. And Dimitri. While movie Dimitri was just too old, making the relationship with Rose look like a dad with his daughter, show Dimitri captured much better his vulnerability, his struggles, his imperfections, his conflicted feelings about Rose and duty. I really loved the subtlety in Kieron’s performance and how seriously he took his portrayal of book Dimitri. That last scene, where they say goodbye to each other, and it looks like he’s about to break down completely… It’s just gives me exactly what I wanted from an adaptation of VA. 
            
            I’m so sad this was not meant to be. I’m so sad that I wasn’t able to be a part of the push to make a second season happen. Living in Sweden, I couldn’t even watch the show on Peacock. I wasn’t even able to watch when it released. I couldn’t help with the numbers, with the marketing, with the word of mouth. Nothing. That’s what bugs me the most. Maybe I would have not been able to make a difference, but I would at least have done something. Anything. Just like Rose would have done.

At the end of the day, Dimitri is not all powerful and the importance assigned to him by Rose in the books is entirely subjective. He's spoken of as a God by novices, who all aspire to be as skilled, he's definitely respected, but I liked that the show treated him as a part of a whole instead of as a central piece. He's a dhampir guardian, like all the rest, and he has rules to abide by, like all the rest. 
            
            What I found neat in the show was how they ramped up his own struggles. Beyond his loneliness, Dimitri abides by a code because there's something inside him, his violence and capacity to kill, that he fears. He fears it because of his father and his silent belief in freedom. Until Rose, he never had a reason to question the code, his beliefs, his life, and the way things have always been done. But she makes that silent hope in him more tangible. He realises that there's more to life than putting your life on the line for Moroi who won't raise a finger to defend themselves. In a way, all the depth to his character that I sought to pursue in my own fanfic was adopted by the show, and it was refreshing to see someone else take the same approach.

Were there some strange changes? Yes. Would Dimitri ever pursue a casual hookup with a character, especially one as controversial as Tatiana? No. Even Kieron himself spoke up against this. Did killing off Mikhail do the show any favours when it came to the future of the story in regards to Sonya's character? Not really. Did the show absolutely butcher Adrian? Yes. To begin with, he was introduced too early. They should have done it after Rose’s relationship with Dimitri became more problematic. The show did not manage to quite capture Adrian’s flair, though there were some fun moments. (“I’m useless in a fight”). 
            
            But some of the changes were in my opinion completely brilliant and gave the show a fresh edge more suitable to our time. I liked that Victor, Sonya, Mia, Meredith, Alberta and some important royal characters were given more central roles in the story. I felt more invested in them when they had their own struggles, arcs, relationships, personalities. I loved the inclusivity approach with POC, gay couples, and handicaps. I mean, the books treat Meredith as an aside to poke fun at. They did not make nearly enough use of Mia's character arc and development. She wasn't involved enough in the bigger picture. 
            
            Do I fault the books for these things? No, absolutely not. The books have a tight plot and cast and it suits them. But for a show released fifteen years after the books, some changes are just necessary for the story to make sense for a more modern audience. Toning down the age difference between Rose and Dimitri was a necessity, in my opinion. Those kinds of relationships are definitely more frowned upon these days. And since Dimitri is aged down, it was necessary to make him less of a "God" that the movie adaptation insisted upon. I don't need him to be the Coolest Guy that Anyone Ever Saw. I just need him to be that for Rose. That's what I care about.

@ Dimisaurus  if you do let me know and I will come and help you 

@Dimisaurus do invite me when you do so .... Cause i can resist dimitri in his making 

@agniesh I can understand your English just fine, no worries  and yeah it's just sad to think now that VA's gotten two chances, and both failed. It's not gonna get a third chance and that's what makes me so upset! Like come onnnn. I understand why it did badly, because it wasn't faithful to the source material, and like, how hard is it to make something the fans WANT? I'm fine with more inclusive casting, I'm fine with character merges, I can even swallow the fact that they changed a lot of the plot and introduced more politics. But the reason we love VA is not Lissa and politics, we love it for Rose badassery and her impossible relationship with Dimitri. And I feel like we didn't get nearly enough of that tension. Also the fact that they crammed 3 of the books into one season just makes us ask the question: what are we supposed to look forward to now? Anyway, I'm about ready to become a film director and make the damn adaptation myself.