Unpopular opinion (I think) : Season 2 Elena is the best Elena, and I'm tired of pretending otherwise
I just finished my rewatch (don't ask how many times) and I need to get this off my chest.
Season 2 Elena is peak Elena. She's grieving, she's scared, and she's still making her own choices. She goes toe to toe with Katherine, she handles the whole sacrifice mess, and she isn't just reacting to whatever the Salvatore brothers are doing that week. Even Jenna's death hit harder because Elena felt like a real person dealing with it, not a plot device.
After that it feels like the writers kept hitting the reset button on her. She gets turned, she gets un-turned, she's "fine" one episode and devastated the next, and the whole time her personality gets thinner and thinner. By the later seasons I barely recognized her.
And yes, I know people love Season 1 Elena too, and I get it. But S1 Elena was mostly learning the rules of this world. S2 is when she actually starts pushing back against them.
Anyway, that's my hot take. Tell me I'm wrong.