25 of the most toxic relationships on TV

Photo: The CW

Elena and Damon

I should start by disclosing that I think Elena is the worst. She’s whiny, helpless, and is the Yoko Ono of Mystic Falls. In between fainting dead away and having emotional break downs, she bounced between the Salvatore brothers, causing a lot of brotherly discord.

She was on again/off again with milder brother, Stephan for several seasons, but it was her relationship with Damon that really checked all the dysfunctional marks. At any given moment, she was scolding, disapproving, and judgmental of his every decision. The irony in this lies in the fact that almost everything Damon did was mostly to protect Elena.

Elena was perpetually wagging her finger or shaking her head at all Damon’s misdeeds, when he was just trying to save her ass from all various and sundry dangers that came for her. She was a catastrophe-magnet, so everybody in her life always had to have their guard up.

Damon struggled to please her, to live up to her impossible standard, and failed over and over again. She had this idea of who she thought he ought to be, and wasn’t shy about expressing her disappointment when he didn’t measure up. That’s no way to live, especially for a hunky, blue-eyed vampire who could have any girl he wanted.