Fadzai and Sandile make magic and mayhem with the wonderful witch of the southeast, Bonnie Bennett.

One of the main characters of The Vampire Diaries, Bonnie is the best friend of lead character, Elena Gilbert, and a budding witch with ties leading back to Salem and the founding of Mystic Falls. As she discovers more about her powers, and the existence of vampires and the greater supernatural lurking in her town and out in the world, Bonnie is at first hesitant to get involved, given the historical fate of witches in and beyond her family. By the end of the first season, though, she reaches a point of certainty that she wishes to be the town's protector from vampires and the harm they cause to its innocent people.

Beyond this point, however, Bonnie finds herself constantly having to compromise her principles given her friends' association with vampires - and some of her friends becoming vampires. From a narrative standpoint, this is largely a result of Bonnie's relegation as a character in the story, with focus placed on her usefulness as a witch in solving supernatural problems for the group. With several deaths, depowerings, and damn-near farcical tragedies under her belt, Bonnie's time in the show is mired by trauma and neglect - especially as the one black main character - and she is in retrospect someone in the show, and in the genre, who deserved so much better.

(This episode focuses on Bonnie in seasons 1 and 2.)

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of familial abandonment, familial neglect, gratuitous violence, mental coercion and manipulation, racism, sexual abuse, assault and related victim blaming, slavery, and suicide and suicidal ideation.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

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Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

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Spin-off! Your hosts talk the Harry Potter TV reboot money-grab, the cursed 2025 version of War of the Worlds, and the longest, gayest chat anyone's ever had about 13 Reasons Why. Also: The Umbrella Academy's Allison Hargreeves, the Winx reboot, and the least cursed lore from The Mortal Instruments books.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of attempted suicide, gratuitous violence, internalised homophobia, sexual abuse and assault, and regrettably, J.K. Rowling.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

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YouTube: @animalattackpod

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(00:00:05) - HBO's upcoming Harry Potter reboot

(00:04:06) - War of the Worlds (2025) and other, better screenlife films

(00:06:56) - 13 Reasons Why, queer characters, and queer dynamics

(00:17:49) - Introducing the "B-Team" in later seasons of a show

(00:19:52) - Allison Hargreeves of The Umbrella Academy

(00:21:06) - The many surnames of Jace from The Mortal Instruments

(00:23:15) - Feminine shaving products, I guess? Also the Winx reboot

(00:24:16) - Speculative fiction and future technology

Sandile and Fadzai cobble together a hero's journey for the final human, Matt Donovan.

One of the main characters of The Vampire Diaries, Matt is the best friend and ex-boyfriend of lead character, Elena Gilbert, and often paired with Tyler Lockwood or Jeremy Gilbert in the context of the Mystic Falls gang. Being the one who spends the longest unaware of the supernatural, his primary focus is typically his relationships, schooling and sports, and his work at the Mystic Grill to take care of his household - given the Donovan's lesser standing, and his absentee parents. Once he joins the fray, though, he becomes instrumental in supporting his supernatural friends, both physically and emotionally, and in being the one remaining human of the group by the end of the series.

(This episode focuses on Matt in seasons 5-8.)

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of addiction, emotional abuse, emotional or covert incest, mental coercion and manipulation, familial abandonment, familial neglect, poverty (relative), racism, sexual abuse, assault and related victim blaming, slavery, and suicide and suicidal ideation.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

Sandile and Fadzai keep it chill and regular with emotional support human, Matt Donovan.

One of the main characters of The Vampire Diaries, Matt is the best friend and ex-boyfriend of lead character, Elena Gilbert, and often paired with Tyler Lockwood or Jeremy Gilbert in the context of the Mystic Falls gang. Being the one who spends the longest unaware of the supernatural, his primary focus is typically his relationships, schooling and sports, and his work at the Mystic Grill to take care of his household - given the Donovan's lesser standing, and his absentee parents. Once he joins the fray, though, he becomes instrumental in supporting his supernatural friends, both physically and emotionally, and in being the one remaining human of the group by the end of the series.

(This episode focuses on Matt in seasons 1-4.)

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of addiction, emotional abuse, emotional or covert incest, mental coercion and manipulation, familial abandonment, familial neglect, poverty (relative), racism, sexual abuse, assault and related victim blaming, and suicide and suicidal ideation.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

In this S1 special of It Was an Animal Attack, Sandile and Fadzai (from 2023) discuss John Gilbert, recurring character from the first two seasons of The Vampire Diaries, as a test episode for the podcast!

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of familial abandonment, gratuitous violence, murder, racism, and religious fanaticism.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

In this S1 special of It Was an Animal Attack, Fadzai and Sandile discuss and review S4E20 of The Vampire Diaries - the backdoor pilot to its spin-off series, The Originals!

Discussion proper begins at (00:09:20).

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of child abuse, oppression, racism, and slavery.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

Spin-off! Your hosts talk mutant telepaths and the "Omega level", various Disney love songs, and Stranger Things writing choices. Also: The plight of Sarah Connor, the genius of Graham Norton, the many roles of Jamie Campbell Bower, and that anti-abortion comic from months ago.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of abortion and anti-abortion sentiment, incest, insects, mental illness and related stigma.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod

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(00:00:05) - X-Men, mutant telepaths, and the "Omega" level

(00:02:12) - Disney love songs

(00:03:40) - Stranger Things and the Stancy problem

(00:05:13) - Jamie Campbell Bower and his many roles

(00:06:26) - The plight of Terminator's Sarah Connor

(00:08:14) - Sam and Cat, the bizarre spin-off of Victorious

(00:09:50) - That anti-abortion comic from months ago

(00:11:27) - The genius of The Graham Norton Show

(00:13:43) - Freddie Stroma, Peacemaker, Vigilante, Prometheus (Arrow), Josh Segarra

(00:16:48) - A musical diversion on "Build Me Up, Buttercup"

(00:18:33) - A linguistic diversion on Southern African languages

(00:19:38) - A Tale of Two Tales of Two Flies

In the fifth instalment of Killer Bites, Sandile and Fadzai commit to the bit with the Gemini twins, Lucas and Olivia Parker. Sliding in during the back half of The Vampire Diaries' fifth season, Luke and Liv are witches who infiltrate Mystic Falls with the intent on stopping the Travelers, and briefly become central in the sixth season when the Gemini coven comes into focus.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of child abuse, familicide, mass murder, mental coercion, and torture.

Questions, queries, or just to say hi!

E-mail: animalattackpod@gmail.com

Refs and Links: IWAA S1

All our online stuff!

Podcast: It Was an Animal Attack

Twitter: @animattackpod

Instagram: @animalattackpod

Tiktok: @animalattackpod

YouTube: @animalattackpod