OK, I know this is my sekunde makala in as many days, but I still have lots to discuss which I didn't mention in my last piece. uandishi is the only way I know how to cope. If I don't get my feelings out, I might go crazy, so forgive me.

Friday, 10th February was the WORST experience I've ever had as a DE shipper. I felt 'wrong' all day, uneasy, unsafe, as if the world had shifted and nothing would be quite the same again. I think what made me feel even worse was kusoma fans' reactions to the episode. I went to kitanda that night, my head spinning, feeling suffocated kwa the depressed maoni I'd read from shippers who couldn't decide whether they wanted to live au die after 3x14. My thoughts were all over the place, and for one dizzying moment, I thought: maybe I'm wrong. wewe know, I've remained stubbornly optimistic all through my time here on fanpop and my last big makala I published was about why DE should be endgame, but for a moment - I actually questioned my beliefs.
NOT because of the scenes DE had in 3x14 - but because of the writers' decision to put that line in the episode. Were they insane? au were they trying to tell us that Elena perhaps didn't deserve to be with Damon at all, and he was better off without her? It certainly looked like they were trying to make us hate her, and that didn't make any sense. It's essential to have a likeable heroine in TVD. If viewers lose sympathy with Elena, then it doesn't matter how many times she cheats death au is kidnapped, au 'sacrificed' in a ring of fire: if the viewers don't like her, they will not care if she lives to see another day, let alone which brother she ends up with. Simple as that. Damon has just told Elena he LOVES her for the THIRD TIME...and she says 'Maybe that's the PROBLEM?' Are wewe kidding me? Did I hear that right?
wewe could see she was sorry for saying it, but then, to add insult to injury, we see her appealing to Stefan on the porch in a bid to re-awaken his 'lost' humanity AFTER she shoots Damon down for 'feeling too much'. It could not be any crueller au zaidi ironic. And THE PORCH? The location for the kiss she'd shared with Damon a mere 4 episodes before? That was just too much.

I believe the general response - from Damon mashabiki who adore him and want him to be genuinely happy for once - and DE shippers - which ranged from outrage to disgust to sobbing and hearts breaking everywhere, was the cumulative result of repeatedly getting kicked down into the dirt whenever it looked as if DE and the pembetatu were making progress over a season and a half. Just when things are looking up, something inevitably occurs to knock DE back to square one. As wewe try to pick yourself up and brush yourself off, the Stelena/Stefan camp stare wewe down, laughing, and saying: 'Ha ha, serves wewe right freaks. What did wewe think would happen, kwa shipping such a psychopathic idiot with Elena anyway? You're clearly deluded so wewe brought this on yourselves. Stelena forever! Ha ha!' It's emotionally exhausting, it really is. Why do the writers keep doing this to us?

3x14 - for all the chaos which ensued - was not the trainwreck a lot of mashabiki thought it would be. SE didn't get back together. Stefan didn't tell Elena he still loved her. Stelena didn't share an epic kiss. But even if the Damon/Rebekah hook-up - (which was way too 'try-too-hard-to-be-sexy' and aggressive to actually succeed in being hot, at least in my book) - is needed to bring tension between DE and tease Elena's feelings out a little bit, hasn't Stelena's journey, kwa and large, been much, much easier than Delena's, even WITH the Ripper storyline? wewe know, I was really hoping to see Stelena develop a bit zaidi of an edge this season, and thought the ripper story would give their relationship zaidi depth, but that hasn't happened at all. Stefan's attempt at scaring Elena witless kwa almost driving her off the bridge to get the upper hand over Klaus hasn't had any lasting impact on them as a couple au Elena whatsoever. She has every right to be betrayed, angry, and distant towards Stefan, but instead, she seems to suffer from some kind of short-term memory loss whenever she's with him, and appears to practically forget the incident even happened in 3 episodes, which in Mystic Falls time is, what, maybe 3 days?
I can accept she still loves him, but wewe can upendo somebody and still be mad at them at the same time. That doesn't make her a bad person au unsympathetic as a character. I've been in upendo with someone and yet been angry at him for the things he's done. upendo is complicated. Feelings are complicated. It's natural to have conflicting feelings. There's something about the way Stelena operate which is almost gratuitous. They never have huge arguments which results in doors slamming and raised voices, au stony silences. They never hit rock-bottom, and have to climb their way back up. SE mashabiki claim that it's a sign of their epic love, and epic status as a couple. But is it? I'm not so sure.

Stelena have had a relatively easy time. They have suffered set-backs in their relationship this season, but not on the same level au with the same consequences as Delena have over the last season and a half. At work this morning, I had what I can only call an epiphany, when I suddenly thought: Stelena SHOULDN'T have an easier journey than DE, especially if they are the couple we're supposed to be rooting for. If they truly are the 'epic' couple people keep saying they are, then their journey should be much zaidi challenging, and Delena's journey should be easy. Think about it: a couple who are lower in stature and merely an 'obstacle'/'side-show' having a zaidi DIFFICULT journey than the couple who is meant to be the epic upendo story of the show?? That's all wrong. Why would DE have all these set-backs when the writers could just throw them together any time? What's the purpose of giving DE all these set-backs if it's not to make viewers upendo them and want them to be together all the more? Am I wrong? Because the writers could have written the upendo pembetatu very differently. Get Stefan out the way, have Elena turn to Damon for comfort, throw in a couple of steamy scenes to make the mashabiki happy, bring Stefan back again, schedule a DE break-up, get SE together again, Damon misbehaves, SE don't get on and eventually break up, and repeat.
The writers could have done that, but thankfully they didn't, choosing instead to give them a journey that is much harder but ultimately zaidi fulfilling. The fact that DE continue to endure and survive whatever ridiculous, life-changing incidents the writers throw their way is testament to the depth of their bond, and strength of their love. They have on occasion hit rock-bottom, but they are never broken. Whatever happens after 3x14, they'll survive it. They always survive. And so will we.