Bonnie Was Robbed of Her Happy Ending (And So Were TVD Fans)
She was let down her whole time on the show, but this topped it all.
Bonnie Bennet was a powerful and talented witch, a loyal friend and protector on The Vampire Diaries, and one of the most loved characters on the show. After an 8 season run, Bonnie deserved happiness above anything else, but she was struck with one final, tragic blow before the show ended that she, and fans, never recovered from.
Bonnie was a best friend to Elena and Caroline, and fiercely loyal to those she cared about. She was also one of the main female characters, but this was not always obvious during her time on the show. More often than not, Bonnie was used as a plot device, and her character development suffered because of this, lacking depth and overall feeling less interesting than other characters when in fact she was feisty and likable.
Her magical abilities were never truly explored, and used mostly at the bidding of Elena, Stefan or Damon, when they needed her to step in and save them. Bonnie was frequently sidelined for the story to focus on these same characters that she was constantly having to save. Meanwhile, her insane, unexplored powers could have changed the whole series.
As a woman of color on a very white-dominated show, Bonnie’s sidelining felt all the more negative; there's no doubt that The Vampire Diaries writers let her character down.
This all being said, when she found love with Enzo in season 7, fans were hopeful that her character would receive more focus, that her romance would be long-lived and that Bonnie would at least have the chance to be happy, with someone taking care of her for once.
But the fans, and Bonnie, were left devastated.
After all she had been through on the show, she deserved peace and happiness. But. thanks to the show's writers, just when she had finally found true love, it was violently ripped away from her in season 8 when Enzo was murdered. He was standing in the way of Stefan, who was on a humanity-less rampage with the intent to kill a comatose Elena. Enzo tried to protect Elena, and Stefan mercilessly killed him, physically ripping out his heart and leaving his body for Bonnie to find.
In the end, Bonnie embarks on a journey to Africa, having promised Enzo that she would see the world. This may sound like a happy ending, but it was more of a solo trip in an attempt to find peace within herself after all the suffering.
Bonnie deserved happiness and love, but was given grief and loneliness, which was so wrong of the writers to do to her character and to TVD fans.