#plecs

[queenbonniebennett]

Nothing but facts. Go argue with a wall

[haylee-bb]

Growing up is realizing that Damon Salvatore was a stagnant character trapped in an endless cycle of fuckups by writers and a fan base that refused to let him grow, and if he was going to be with anyone, it should've been Bonnie, the only person to consistently hold him accountable and force him to face the consequences of his actions.

[willowhistle]

never forget that klaus mikaleson, the big bad hybrid, most powerful being on the earth, owner to a thousand years of honed reflexes and senses

almost got hit by a car because he was so entranced with caroline forbes

[icepandawarrior]

MKAY MS. KATERINA KNOWLES 😏

[ishouldbeoverfanficsbynow]

Julie Plec when I catch you

[schtrawberry]

saw this tweet and thought of #them

[rlnacore]

I wanna preface this by saying this isn't anti-bonezo it's moreso anti tvd writers room.

So recently I've been falling back down the TVD rabbithole and i've been rewatching episodes and reading takes online. Then I saw that recently Kat and Ian were on panel, where they spoke a bit about the unexplored romantic potential between Bonnie and Damon. Interestingly enough, Kat addressed the systematic racism problem in the industry and how that translated to the storylines and romances she was given on the show. She kinda hinted at the fact that Enzo only became a romantic interest for Bonnie because he wasn't as popular as Damon was.

And to be totally honest, hearing that and kinda reflecting on my personal feelings towards Bonnie and Enzo's relationship (which can really just be summed up to indifference or even frustration) it finally made me realise why i can't enjoy their romance.

For me, the entire existence of Bonenzo is just a manifestation of the deep-rooted racism in the TVD writers room. The sole purpose of their relationship was to absolve Julie Plec, Caroline Dries and all other anti-black higher ups from any accusations of mistreatment towards Bonnie's character and Kat. I know that for me personally, the odds of me becoming fond of their relationship is slim to none, because shipping them would feel like condoning the producers' behaviour (that sounds very dramatic but I'm sure you understand my point).

They took a shoehorn/convenience character who was a watered down hybrid of two other significant characters (Damon & Klaus - both of who's actors expressed a desire to have a romantic storyline with Bonnie) and who had already pursued the male leads' mother and Caroline (to no avail), then threw him into a rushed, underdeveloped romance with Bonnie, only to reveal that it started out as a kidnapping situation and that he'd been slowly killing her the entire time (unintentionally because duh).

Regardless of my fondness towards Michael and Kat, knowing that they have a strong friendship to this day and that they enjoyed getting to work together on that relationship, or that "at least we got to see Bonnie happy", I cannot bring myself to enjoy it because it should've never happened in the first place!

And considering the way their story ended I can't say I feel like I missed out because in the end they still couldn't let Bonnie have this "happiness" for long.

So moral of the story, I don't HATE bonenzo nor do I judge other people for shipping them. They had ok chemistry and i actually kinda liked Enzo (probably more to do with Michael though) - I just don't believe that for a character like Bonnie, he was ever TRULY going to be her epic romance...

Oh and screw you to whichever producer (I'm looking at you Julie) tried to tell us that Bonnie never finds love again after he dies and only has flings for the rest of her life until she meets enzo in the afterlife.

[misspermitted]

Random Vampire Diaries discourse but I’ve been thinking about Bonnie and Kai and why they interest me so much. Because usually TVD’s sexually charged “he’s a terrible person but he’s infatuated with you” thing doesn’t interest me. Like I enjoy watching Klaroline and Delena as a guilty pleasure, but it doesn’t interest me. He’s just obsessed with her, and she eventually brings out the good in him, yada yada the messed up toxic guy brings out her dark side yada yada, she realises her power and so on. And I just don’t really care. I just watch it, and then I move on. I don’t linger on it for days and think about the characters.

But this random Bonnie and Kai thing that went on for 10 episodes, for some reason every so often I just think about them for days on end. And I reckon it’s because what the actors were setting up with them was really unique and not that trope. But then, since TVD is really badly written, after the prison arc they tried to turn it into the “guy is infatuated and redeems for her” and Chris Wood (who plays Kai) legitimately refuses to act that (which, like, good on him). So then they dropped the Bonnie/Kai storyline and just made him a villain.

But what were they then? At least originally? Because every time I get obsessed with these characters I go into fanon and it ruins my obsession, because it’s just that whole “evil guy is infatuated” thing all over again and it just doesn’t feel like them.

So let’s go through my reading of the Bonnie/Kai prison arc:

For me, what originally caught my attention about these two was that I thought Bonnie was the actually obsessed one. At least at first.

How Bonnie acts during their first scenes together

Bonnie spends seasons without her magic and this random guy shows up and gets under her skin so much she actually unlocks it? What? And the reason given is that she needed to save Damon but the spirits had straight up taken her magic. Her friends have been in life and death situations for ages and she couldn’t do anything about it to the point where she takes on dark magic. Clearly it is not just a desire to save her friends that unlocks it. And her becoming anchor does not change the fact that it had been confiscated. Forever. Who is this random guy that got her to unlock it by just taunting her?

And then she spends the whole first few conversations legitimately flirting back with this guy. Who just tried to kill her friend. When Bonnie doesn’t flirt with people. Like we have never seen Bonnie (until now, no bonenzo erasure) actually be interested in any villain ever. She typically just glares at them.

And that’s something that gets me about their dynamic. Bonnie acts so different around Kai than she does with anyone else. When Bonnie has dealt with evil sociopaths before. This guy is not new.

Bonnie tries to kill Kai (the first time)

What does Bonnie do when dealing with evil vampires or evil warlocks? Usually shes the one who is the voice of reason. With the plan. Who comes in at the end and saves everyone. Not Kai. She straight up throws an axe at him. On a hunch. When he actually hasn’t done anything that bad.

Bonnie doesn’t kill people a lot before this point. Unless she thinks it’s necessary. And they have to have done something really bad and she actually seems upset afterwards. But not Kai. Literally all he does is threaten them a little, offer to be friends, and kill his family 20 years before. Which is incredibly low stakes given the other stuff people do in TVD. Why does he get under her skin so much?

It’s so weird to me that she’s so against letting him out. I mean Bonnie is stubborn and has a strong sense of justice, but she also does bad stuff for the greater good. It’s far more like her to let him out for the greater good of getting them both out, and then stop him. But she’s not actually being reasonable.

Even Damon calls her on it. How she’s acting more impulsive and negative than he is. Just because Kai exists. It’s a level of caring and irritation that we don’t actually see from Bonnie a lot, who is usually cool and collected and strong.

How Kai acts in most of the prison world arc together

Kai meanwhile acts towards her how he later acts towards Elena. Flirty and off putting. Though he does later seem to realise that Bonnie is legitimately impressive and useful in a way that he decides Elena isn’t (which is just factually true). But Kai (in the first half) is a sociopath who uses people for his own benefit, and that is exactly how he treats Bonnie.

Especially later, after Damon is gone, he tries to play the sympathy card so many times and the “you’re different” tactic, but it’s all a lie and Bonnie is aware of it. And this it the other thing that I love about their dynamic, Bonnie is clearly very diverted and unsettled by this guy, but she is not an idiot. She has watched Caroline and Elena both fall for bad boys saying that they'll "change" for them. And she has spent the whole time saying they're being incredibly stupid. And she doesn’t turn from that awareness.

In my opinion, that’s the first thing that makes Kai act differently around her, the realisation that she is not gonna fall for any of that. He waits four months to manipulate them, and then suddenly is really impatient about when to do the spell? Why? And I think it’s because he realises that he’s not gonna get her to agree for long. She’s too observant. She figured out who he was so goddamn quickly. And she’s only gonna be scared for so long.

Kai takes her to his house

It’s so weird for Kai to take her to his house. He knew how to get out. He could’ve just left her. And it would’ve been less risky, since it’s clear at this point that he treats her as a danger.

Like he could just kill her. It would be safer to kill her. Bur he doesn’t. He brings her to his house. To gloat? He never seems interested in doing that before now. He’s cool for them to view him as irritating or a child or something to be scared of, depends on what’s useful. You don’t even see him gloat to Jo.

And this actually makes sense. Kai doesn’t care. Why would he need to gloat. He has a goal and he just needs to achieve it. Once he achieves it his revenge will be done and he will have won. He doesn’t have to villain monologue. He won. That’s satisfying enough.

In my opinion this is where Kai stops acting normal towards Bonnie. Like she’s just something to use for his goal. Or, rather, his goal changes.

Kai says he brings Bonnie to his house because he’s never had someone to share it with before. I feel like he might actually be telling the truth here, because it’s the only thing that makes sense.

Kai tries to manipulate Bonnie the day before wearing all his possible masks. An abomination making her scared and powerless. A misunderstood monster playing on sympathy, flattering her and saying he wants to be like her. And he believes it works. But it doesn’t. Bonnie not only outsmarts him, she outsmarts him and mocks the masks he wore. She take his manipulative bear that is supposed to be his attempts at fake kindness, and literally sends it away. He spends the whole first half of the day repeatedly trying to scare her and make her feel powerless, and her counter plan is all about how she is not powerless at all. He’s not in control. He needs her magic. And that’s hers. She controls it. And now it’s not here anymore. You’re welcome 😇

And while this is incredibly iconic of Bonnie, and irritating for him, it also means Bonnie sees past all those masks. For a guy who’s clearly used to pretending. For a guy who was always seen as an abomination even when he wasn’t. It clearly interests him that she actually just doesn’t see him as a monster, at least in any superficial way that he can use. Bonnie Bennet knew him well enough to know that he was lying.

So Kai brings Bonnie to the place where all of his memories are. Where he grew up. Where he killed his family and the blood is still there. And it’s clearly not to gain her trust through being misunderstood (the blood is still there, and he shows absolutely no attempt at remorse). And he is legitimately cordial and doesn’t restrain her, so he’s not purposefully trying to make her powerless or scared. So what’s his angle?

This is the thing, where Kai acts different as well. He shows resentment about his upbringing when he mentions it, not sadness or any pity based emotions. He babbles and cooks because he (as we learn) likes cooking. Bonnie later interprets it as him trying to gain her trust just to betray her out of sadism, but 1. Kai isn’t actually a sadist. Kai likes control, and can get angry and violent. He doesn’t care if he’s stabbing someone or not. We see it as he gets out, violence and manipulation is a means to an end. Always. And there is no end aside from revenge for him to try to betray Bonnie. Especially because Bonnie has been very clear that she will not trust him.

Then there’s the fact that he is not, as we’ve addressed, actually doing anything that would lead to trust. None of the previous masks. He’s actually being very open and generally having dinner with a psycho in the house covered in blood stains from when he killed children is not a trust building exercise. (Honestly, kind of weird that she thinks it was supposed to be. What, were you actually warming up to him during that dinner? A little suspicious Bonnie.)

But if, instead, Kai is doing all this to share himself with Bonnie. To be seen. He’s so irritated when she doesn’t understand: “Can’t you see I’m trying to apologise?” And then she very clearly states that she is not interested in spending any time with him, seeing anything, sharing anything, aside from the last dinner.

And we wonder why he puts it off, if his entire plan is just to stab her, leave, and gloat with a pager. Why does he drag the dinner longer than necessary? He’s about to leave, he’s been impatient to leave this entire time, but he actually puts it off. There is no reason to. He’s about to be around so many people to communicate with, but he wants to spend as much time with Bonnie as possible. Why??

And if the ascendant can only be used in the Mystic Falls tunnels, and he flies all the way to Portland, and it’s getting dark when he grabs the knife in the tree stump, then he puts off his return for an entire day. Just to eat spaghetti. Really slowly.

It only makes sense if he’s there specifically because his goal is to hang out with her. He wants to share. She pretty much acknowledges this and says she will never, ever care or like him. Stop trying to share with her. Leave her alone. Which, if he’s this excited about being seen, would be infuriating for him.

How Bonnie acts after he leaves

What really got me about the whole arc, though, is how Bonnie talks about what happens. Because that really shows how weird these two are.

Bonnie is furious with Kai and when she’s explaining what she went through to Damon, and doesn’t emphasise the stabbing or the manipulation as the worst part, but that Kai left her. All alone. He abandoned her.

Which is crazy, because that is so intimate for a complaint. But that is what she holds on to. Damon didn’t abandon her, even though he did. Her friends didn’t abandon her, even though they did. This random sociopathic guy abandoned her. Bonnie has the opposite of an abandonment complex, she is constantly overlooked and left and never gets mad about it, except this one time. With Kai. Who there shouldn’t have even been expectations about.

But it’s clear they were both aware there was. Despite Kai promising to leave her alone after a last dinner, his message isn’t “have fun” or something like that, it’s “I lied.” But he didn’t lie? He left her alone?

It’s like they were both aware that he was sharing and there was an expectation there. Where she would say she wanted to be left alone but he wouldn’t do it anyway, and she would keep paying attention anyway. That they were gonna play the “follow you around” intimacy game. Except Kai is like, woops jokes on you I can get out and I’m not taking you with me. Even though it was a given that I was gonna try to win you over, for fun. I know the hell I just condemned you to, enjoy.

Post Kai getting emotions (sort of)

And this reading gives an entirely new light to their first interactions post Kai getting emotions and how furious she is that he is trying to get her attention. Because fuck off, I gave you my attention and you left me. We’re not doing that again. You get nothing from me.

And also why he can’t stop thinking about her. Let’s be honest, the “I want to be forgiven” is bullshit. It’s far more, “I’m a new me and I want to be seen.” And Bonnie just refuses to. Not this time. I will not understand Kai as more than a monster. He doesn’t deserve that from me.

Kai asks her to spend the afternoon with her and she says no. Fuck you. You don’t get me to willingly walk into your house again. Fuck off.

It’s just so weird and personal especially to Bonnie. Like this is where I think they were getting Bonkai wrong. Kai is always shown as so unbelievably obsessed with her, but he doesn’t really think about her until she gets back. And it’s with the same weird determination that Kai gets about all goals.

It’s Bonnie who is so out of character. Despite all the stuff she’s been through and abuse she’s suffered, it’s Kai somehow that changes her. And makes her more emotional. Bonnie is the one that is weirdly touchy about it all and structures her life around (not) seeing him. Bonnie is the one that’s unreasonable about her reactions to him.

And it was so fun seeing a female character, especially the “saviour” female character, be so concerningly “enemies to lovers” obsessive over a guy, and the guy being so oblivious to it. Like it’s funny seeing all of Bonnie’s friends go “maybe you should chill out about Kai” and her just go “NO.” Meanwhile Kai’s just over here like “so Bonnie can see through everyone including me, so if I can convince her there’s a new me, that’s confirmation that I’ve changed 😊 Ah she’s so pretty I wish she’d stop trying to kill me. But Bonnie’s just like that I guess.” But she’s not. She’s not like that at all!!

I wish they’d explored it more but at the same time, if Julie Plec was gonna fuck it up then I’m okay with them going the villain route.

[childofnemesis]

when elena says to damon "maybe if you and i had met first"

like till this day i do not understand the significance of her meeting damon first bc damon wasn't the one who respected her choices. damon wasn't the one who helped her get over her parents' death. damon wasn't the one who stood by her and supported her unconditionally.

but damon was the person who shamed her for caring about stefan (after stelena broke up). he was the person who killed jeremy- the only family elena had left bc katherine rejected him. he was the person who sa'd and used caroline as a human bloodbag. he was the one who terrorised bonnie to open a tomb full of ancient bloodthirsty vampires. he was the one who turned vicky (and to an extent was the reason vicky was killed) all bc he was "bored". like i can sit here and talk abt this all day people.

damon is a bad and poorly written character. sure he's funny but that really doesn't cancel out all the things he did to other people. "meeting first" proves nothing if the person you're meeting is a monster.

[bonkai4ever94]

Cr to who posted this

Their chemistry is unmatched

[queenbonniebennett]

✨STUNNING✨

[klonnieshippersclub]

Kat Graham at the Black Women in Film Summit

If there’s ever a Bonnie fan felt their voice didn’t matter. Kat heard you and thanks you for teaching and showing her that she mattered. Incase you weren’t aware Kat has been consistently crediting the fans in her recent interviews (Bonnie fans that is) for their hard work and support. Kat also wants you to have power in yourself today to understand you mattered.

Kat deserved so much better than the hand she was dealt playing Bonnie. Bonnie deserved better than to be sidelined and ignored because of her race. Her fans deserved better than to deal with constant racial harassment just because they were black/and or of color. That continues to happen today.

Don’t forget to watch Duplicity!

Video Credit: Tabreshai on Instagram.

[enghsaid]

Propaganda I’m not falling for:

Bonnie being too good/“pure” to date and be shipped with an villain

[icepandawarrior]

You know one of the things I'm so tired of hearing when it comes to Bonnie... THAT STUPID ASS GILBERT DEVICE SITUATION WHO GIVES A FUCK!? WHAT GREAT LOSS WAS THERE TRUELY!?

"Damon was affected by it" and miraculously survived for 7 more damn seasons as he usually does

"Tyler was affected by it" first off, let's not act like you genuinely care about Tyler's existence... let's not sit up and bring up a character who y'all don't give a single fuck about just so you can have your "ah ha" moment. and not to mention his trash ass father could've not brought him to a town event where he knew something malicious would happen

"Anna was affected by it and killed" Her bean headed ass could've left town and came back when that whole mess blew over. No one was putting a gun to her damn head and forcing her to stay, and if I remember correctly, her mother (before she was killed) told her they needed to leave... and she said nah I wanna stay in town for this teenage boy that I've been hovering over for like 5 episodes cause it's not like cellular phones exist in this time of age... SELF PRESERVATION AND SURVIVAL INSTINCT GONE

The biggest question I have to ask is considering the fact that Bonnie lost her parental figure and (unfortunately canonically) the only person who cared for her to die due to the prevention of more vampire bullshit shenanigans and in the end it doesn't even matter... WHY THE FUCK SHOULD BONNIE CARE AND PLAY PEACEMAKER AFTER THAT HAS HAPPENED!?

Y'ALL CAN FULLY UNDERSTAND ELENA HATING KATHERINE AFTER JEREMY'S 3RD DEATH BUT SUDDENLY LOSE ALL COMPREHENSION WHEN BONNIE IS BROUGHT INTO THE CONVERSATION... HONESTLY CAN'T STAND YOU JP UNDERSTUDIES

[cancerian-woman]

in my opinion, d*lena isnt enemies to lovers but its often called enemies to lovers. when i saw potential for REAL enemies to lovers with bonkai, it’s shot down.

TVD’s and imo most of the fandom version of enemies to lovers is really bad boy/good girl. The woman in question is good and pure but could potentially like someone who isn’t “good” that is appealing enough for the fans. Damon and Elena weren’t equals. Damon could hurt Elena as much as he wanted to (killing Jeremy, abusing Caroline or Bonnie to his whims if Elena did not act as he wanted her too) and Elena couldn’t do anything about it. It only lessens (but never quite stops) when Elena is more receptive to his advances. I’d even argue that Elena never hated Damon when she was with Stefan. She just refused his advances as she loved Stefan. Damon and Klaus could never remain the villains that they were when it came to Elena or Caroline because they can overpower them and have them bend to their will if need be.

BonKai never has that problem. Kai can’t do anything to Bonnie that she can’t do back! Bonnie doesn’t check off the damsel in distress boxes in the way that Elena and Caroline does. Bonnie never being the damsel is another issue with her writing. Elena and Caroline are damsels, people feel for them and understand their struggles since IRL they probably felt just as powerless. Bonnie’s a fighter, tenfold even when she feels like she has nothing. It’s not to say the other women aren’t strong just that Bonnie’s different than them. Her magic immediately sets her apart. It’s her defense. So in return, Kai can push and Bonnie can push back, and better yet? She WANTS to fight back. He opened up a darker aspect that Bonnie never got to experience long term before. It’s electric, it’s actually ya know a REAL FIGHT than what DE/KC has. BonKai’s dynamic is dark and compelling it leaves you questioning what else can they do? How will they do it? Kai doesn’t need a redemption arc to deal with Bonnie because in some moments as Kai explained his family’s history we can see Bonnie be intrigued by him. Hell, look at the gif, these are supposed to be enemies There’s a sexual tension here. Actually, Damon needs to leave so they could fuck lmao. The scene where Kai tells Bonnie he wants to be more like her is direct copy of how Klaus speaks on Caroline’s “goodness”.

What I truly think stops people from shipping BonKai and admitting they have sexual sub-texts is because we don’t see BonKai act romantic. It is a complete lie to say that BonKai doesn’t have chemistry. They do and it’s sexual, and intense when they’re fighting.

Kat’s an amazing actress, but her love interests that she’d get were so bland next to her and working with Chris really showed what she could do if given the platform. (Not to say that her scenes with other villains are bad).

The same fans that criticize BonKai will hyperfocus on the violence and Bonnie’s trauma - which is important don’t have the discussions that while Kai did traumatize her…. Bonnie’s friend group is the larger center of Bonnie’s trauma and it goes unnoticed. Every single person in the MFG has benefited from Bonnie being harmed/sacrified or was the person inflicted said harm. If Bonnie is so deeply traumatized by Kai, then neither Elena or Caroline should’ve slept with and saw said romantic interests in that light. The one time they chose (and I’m not mad that they did it’s how they did itlol) to really center in on Bonnie’s trauma that was when people made it known they liked BonKai. If she was white, they wouldn’t have cared to even admit the trauma. They’d throw them together anyway. The Gemini and Bennetts have history, the season before we see Bonnie with Liv and even interacting with Jo in S6. Then everything with Kai. The plot line was there for the taking.

I didn’t whack Legacies and how they handled Kai & his relationship with Jade so let’s do that now. To be clear for what I’m about to say isn’t on Chris for aging. I thought he looked hot to me! Anyways:

Legacies and their cesspool of mess is typically a blip on my brain. However, what I cannot forget nor forgive. Is that Kai/Chris was easily visibly older than this actress (as expected that’s not the main issue) yet Kai and Jade were working together, were told they started off as enemies and eventually started fucking. Now whose dynamic does this replicates without the sex? BonKai.

Which means Kai being violent or lacking a redemption arc was never the issue with BonKai. It resides in Bonnie/Kat being a black woman and not wanting her to have those romances and screen time.

[nightingale2004]

An au for the Bonkai fans (myself included)

Bonnie Bennett, the goddess of magic and witchcraft

And her husband Kai "Malachai" Parker, the god of chaos

(Do with this au as you will)