Unfortunately, Legacies may have gotten the dreaded cancellation by CW recently, but its parent franchise The Vampire Diaries remains as popular as ever. The love triangle between the Salvatore brothers and Elena, along with their myriad run-ins with supernatural creatures of all kinds is still well-loved — at least most of it.
Like every TV show, The Vampire Diaries also had its moments that audiences just didn't love, whether it was because it was too painful, had an unnecessary plot device, or simply annoying characters. There were many storylines that fans didn't love, and many episodes which were a drag or just upsetting, so they tried to watch them as little as possible.
"After School Special" (4x10)
Overall, this episode was not a terrible one. It did get complicated with the involvement of April Young with the all-powerful Rebekah, but fans stay away because of the blow it dealt to the Stelena ship and its supporters in that fated hostage situation.
Rebekah being her meddlesome self got Caroline, Bonnie, Elena, and Stefan in one room, compelled them to stay, and then compelled Elena to confess that it wasn't her sire bond but real love that drew her to Damon. It was extremely painful to see a lovelorn Stefan endure this, and his fans try not to watch this awful moment more than once.
"Stand By Me" (4x15)
Another raw and emotionally hard-hitting episode, "Stand By Me" laid witness to Elena's unraveling, and it wasn't a pretty sight. She couldn't get over Jeremy's death, keeping his body around for the longest time, which was hard for even the strongest viewers to stomach.
Later, when she did accept the death, Elena was inconsolable (a moment that is divisive with regards to Dobrev's acting skills) and was encouraged to turn her humanity off. After this, she did the worst thing, burning her home down with all of its memories, which makes this a hard watch.
"Graduation" (4x23)
Chaos ensued in this episode, with Kol and various supernatural beings trying to drop the veil between The Other Side and the mortal plane, but two extremely sad things happened in this finale which makes viewers wary of watching again.
Bonnie dies as a result of bringing Jeremy back to life, and this was one of the most hated storylines of The Vampire Diaries. Then, Stefan refused Damon's company to the quarry to throw Silas' body over for good, which birthed the most traumatic moment of his life: getting locked into the safe and thrown over, forgotten by his friends as he died and returned to life repeatedly.
"The Cell" (5x09)
Becoming a test subject for Augustine was one of the worst things that happened to Damon on the show. What made it worse was that even Stefan was unaware of the horrors his brother went through and watching the repeated dissection and torture of him and Enzo was really terrible to see on-screen.
Besides this, the writers even besmirched the names of Grayson Gilbert and the rest of Elena's family by involving them in these gruesome experiments with horrible flashbacks. This was just unnecessary and served no purpose.
"The Devil Inside" (5x12)
There's no doubt that Katherine's main talent was to survive against all odds, but viewers got a bit annoyed with how she got a long-drawn-out farewell after being injected with the cure, and then ultimately used Nadia and Elena to keep herself alive.
Moving into Elena's body and pretending to be her was something fans had seen umpteen number of times by this point in the series, and the plot device got old very fast. It was frustrating to see this constant struggle of Katherine trying to take over Elena, and fans wish it hadn't happened at all.
"I'll Remember" (6x01)
With Damon and Bonnie gone in a flash of light, fans didn't know what to expect in the season 6 premiere, but it definitely wasn't a first-time junkie Elena. The flashbacks of Damon would have been cute, but audiences were well-aware they were in her head, and that made it pretty irritating.
Elena as an addict was not lovable — she attacked people, harassed them, wanted to compel away her memories, and a lot more. All of this while Damon and Bonnie ate pancakes in a Gemini Prison World, so it's a definite miss.
"Day One of Twenty-Two Thousand, Give or Take" (7x01)
As the show progressed, the premieres of the later seasons started becoming more and more disappointing. First and foremost, this was the first premiere without Elena around, so that felt odd for many. Damon and Bonnie roamed Europe as Damon hesitated to save his best friend, and Alaric was too bent on getting Jo back to life.
The overall tonality of the episode was just off, and then there were the Heretics. This supernatural breed is one of the most hated, and their activities in this episode killed the entire police force in Mystic Falls, evacuated the town again, and got Caroline kidnapped. Most fans couldn't stand Lily and her chosen family.
"Days of Future Past" (7x16)
The number of time jumps in this Ian Somerhalder-directed episode were enough to confuse even the most diehard TVD fan, and the constant presence of Rayna Cruz irritated them further. This was a villain nobody enjoyed, as she had no personality but managed to make the whole gang scatter.
Fans were subjected to a weird tropical vacation between Valerie and Stefan, Alaric was revealed to be engaged to Caroline, and Damon had been asleep for three years. The only redeeming part was Enzo and Bonnie's romance, but the unholy Valerie/ Stefan and Rayna Cruz plot overshadowed it.
"Today Will Be Different" (8x02)
This was easily one of the least loved episodes in the TVD community because Sybil started replacing all of Damon's memories of Elena with herself. She was trying to erase his love for her by inserting herself into his mind and gaining full control. Fans hated Sybil and this episode for this.
Also, more of TVD's penchant for making people of color suffer came forth in this episode, with Sarah Salvatore getting a terrible death, and Bonnie losing Enzo yet again to Sybil. This chapter was not a good look for the show at all.
“You Made a Choice to Be Good” (8x11)
If anyone deserved a chance at true love and happiness, it was Bonnie. It sure looked like she was on the path to it too, but the writers had to make Stefan kill Enzo, yet again, in a brutal fashion. The unfairness of the moment and the loss of a great love story were unnecessary and upsetting for many.
If getting the cure into Stefan was the end, it could have been done in many ways. It was awful to dangle the happy ending tantalizingly in front of Bonnie, and then snatch it away like that.