History YMMV / CarmillaTheSeries

** Are Laura and the others (Carmilla, Perry and [=LaFontaine=]) who fled Silas at the end of Season 1 a bunch of {{Cowardly Lion}}s who can be viewed as the DesignatedHero? Or are they [[OnlySaneMan the only sane people there]] for trying to escape while an ''eldritch abomination'' was breaking free?
** On the one hand, while obviously not the bad guys, they up and abandon Silas when a literal Hellmouth opens because of their actions, only returning after much hardship [[AllThereInTheManual only for a gnoll in a mountain to bring them "home" again]]. She also doesn't acknowledge the fact that the Summer Society, Alchemy Club, and Zetas actually stayed and helped to try and provide for or protect the simple, average students having no idea on what the hell is going on.
** On the other, the group had just been finished dealing with the already mighty forces [[spoiler:the Light and Carmilla's mother]] provided, part of which involved Carmilla, the badass vampire, ''very nearly dying''. It's hard to think of a way they could have fought against said Hellmouth when dealing with just a fraction of it was so difficult, and they had no way of knowing [[spoiler:that the abomination inside would get stuck coming out]]. Laura is genuinely remorseful about the state that everything is in, and her first response upon learning about the power struggle is to try and get some genuine authority involved. When that fails, [[ChronicHeroSyndrome she resolves to help fix everything]], despite all the crap she'd endured from the start of Season 1 and after. Also, the Zetas, Summers, and the Alchemy Club are so focused on fighting for territory that they aren't actually doing much good.

** Mattie and Perry tend to get ''awfully'' close in some episodes. There's even some FoeYay to go with it considering Perry is heavily antagonistic to her. [[spoiler:Becomes IncestSubtext in a way when a few of their moments were likely when the Dean was out and not Perry.]]

* WhatAnIdiot: [[spoiler: Withholding blood from three vampires (one of them who is still ''grasping'' to the concept of being undead) for information is not the smartest thing that Laura, Danny and [=LaFontaine=] could do. Special mention goes to J.P. repeatedly stating that he feels like he needs the blood badly. It's no wonder that he then charges at [=LaFontaine=] as they are holding the blood bags.]]
** [[spoiler:FridgeBrilliance: The starvation diet was Perry's idea this time, and Perry is possessed by the Dean. The Dean is taking an opportunity to sow dissension in the ranks of her enemies.]]

** Are Laura and the others (Carmilla, Perry and [=LaFontaine=]) who fled Silas at the end of season 1 a bunch of {{Cowardly Lion}}s who can be viewed as the DesignatedHero? Or are they [[OnlySaneMan the only sane people there]] for trying to escape while an ''eldritch abomination'' was breaking free?

** Is Kirsh just a douchebag frat boy with no respect for women, or is he more misguided but well-meaning? This died down a bit after season two, when the show itself began to lean towards the latter.
* BrokenBase: After the season three finale, the fandom became split into those who liked [[spoiler:Laura's redeeming Inanna (aka, the Dean), or those who found it ridiculous.]] Most people agree Annie Briggs and Elise Bauman's acting was good enough to pull it off, though, even if one does find it to be a bit contrived.

** [[BigBad Baron Vordenberg]] from season 2 is an elderly Austrian [[AristocratsAreEvil baron]] who is a member of the Silas Board of Directors. When he is first introduced, he [[FauxAffablyEvil seems to be a kind and friendly man]], despite [[FantasticRacism his apparent disdain for vampires]]. Once Laura gets him voted as the Chairman of the Board, he immediately shows his [[ANaziByAnyOtherName true colors]] by ordering a detainment of all vampires and anything supernatural in Silas University. He has some of the students, including Laura's friend Danny--to whom he lies that he will stop after arresting Carmilla and Mattie--recruited into his militia , and preaches anti-vampire propaganda. It is discovered that, despite the potential consequences, he intends to kill Lophiiformes, [[ItsAllAboutMe all to make a name for himself]]. After killing Lophiiformes, he intends to execute Carmilla and Mattie, along with any students protecting vampires; the attempted arrest indirectly leads to [[spoiler:Mattie's death]]. After he almost callously shoots one of his men, Laura starts a resistance against him. In the battle, he has his henchman Theo betray them and kill [[spoiler:Danny]]. In the finale, he has the other board members shot over the announcements and prepares to behead Carmilla, in front of Laura and their friends, taunting them all to their faces while doing so. Despite his seemingly [[ObfuscatingDisability doddering demeanor]], Vordenberg is far more dangerous than meets the eye, his claims of heroism being lies he tells to fuel his ego, not caring who he has to kill to live out his fantasies of personal glory.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: In the outtakes for season three, we find out what, exactly, the Dean said during her capture [[TakeOurWordForIt that was apparently bad enough to make Laura spit out her food in disgust]]. Annie Briggs was simply instructed to say "something gross," so what was the first thing she came up with? [[spoiler:"I gave Lola Perry a venereal disease."]] Elise Bauman just about chokes on her food, and everyone either cracks up or lets out a CollectiveGroan.

* DracoInLeatherPants: While Carmilla is by no means a villain, and certainly seems to have more of a moral compass than other vampires in the series, the fandom can frequently forget that she's "not the hero of this piece," and can go to far in [[TheWoobie woobifying]] her. Most interestingly is that for the first half of season two, ''Laura'' seems to give her this treatment in-universe, which ends up causing problems for them [[spoiler: and eventually leads to their breakup.]] Mattie gets this treatment, too. A rather annoyingly large portion of the fanbase refuses to blame Mattie or Carmilla for anything, even when they're clearly at fault, or acknowledge their flaws.

** Papa Hollis manages to be beloved by most of the fandom ''despite never appearing onscreen for the first two seasons''. When it was announced he'd be in season three, the fandom went ''insane''. When he ''did'' appear, he immediately won most viewers over by proving he can hold his own against vampires, turning out to be hilarious, and being remarkably open-minded and accepting all in his first two episodes.

* LateArrivalSpoiler: [[spoiler:The Dean is possessing Perry.]] This is one of the most talked-about aspects of the second season by the fandom, and it quickly became ItWasHisSled within a week of the season finale. The third season trailer doesn't even ''try'' to hide it. For that matter, the Dean being evil, Laura/Carmilla being the OfficialCouple and Carmilla surviving the events of the ending of season one qualify, too.

** When Carmilla recounts her backstory from the novel to Laura in episode 16, she frequently interjects with hokey asides using sock puppets. Sure it's silly, but it does serve to take the edge out of the trap of many monologues for being too serious. As it is, it provides a few laughs while Natasha Negovanlis' [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct genuinely engaging acting]] sells the scene. Thankfully, Laura herself stops the act when she realizes how serious she's being.

** The season three finale is, if you think about it too hard, utterly ridiculous. [[spoiler:How does Laura keep living (and monologue-ing) for a good ten minutes after her heart gets ripped out? Did she really save the world with a ''hug''? Wasn't it all a bit too convenient in the end for Carm and Laura?]] However, it's very well-acted, and most people are too happy to see [[spoiler:Hollstein alive and happy]] to care, snarking aside.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Mel's evident horror at [[spoiler:Danny's death, and admitting that despite the fact the two of them didn't see eye to eye didn't take away the fact she was a Summer]] has won some people over. Season Zero managed to turn around the opinions of the rest.

** Mel is disliked by near everyone which isn't a surprise given that her character is a huge {{Jerkass}} who doesn't offer any kind of help to the group, [[spoiler: actively hunted Carmilla when the Baron gave the order to]], dislikes Danny for her friendship with Kirsch and loathes Kirsch to the point of ''aiming an arrow at him with the intent to kill''. Not to mention it took until the penultimate episode of the season to show her in a new light. That said, that one moment [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescued]] her in the eyes of a lot of the fandom, and most agreed that there was hope for Mel after all. Season Zero finished the job, and Mel's now decently well-liked in the fandom, or at the very least tolerated.

** And in season 2, it's pretty obvious that the swanky mansion with a network of secret passages isn't really for "visiting professors". Which [=LaFontaine=] also called.

* {{Wangst}}: A lot of people have had this reaction to Danny in season three, [[spoiler:especially her claims that no one cared when she died, when this is ''blatantly'' untrue. As one creampuff put it, she says this as she's draining Kirsch's blood. You know, the guy that ''snuck her body off the pyre so she could be resurrected''.]] That said, it's implied that [[spoiler:the Dean may be brainwashing her and she doesn't know Kirsch did that.]]

** Perry in particular will break your heart. She just wants everyone to be safe and happy, but is constantly surrounded by supernatural horrors that she's not really qualified to deal with. She sticks around for the sake of her friends, but she's a NervousWreck most of the time. [[spoiler:Oh, and now she's ''possessed''.]] Season Zero really cranks up the sympathy factor for her, giving some insight for ''why'' she's so afraid of the supernatural.
** Laura, come the end of season two. [[spoiler:Danny's death sends her hurdling over the DespairEventHorizon, and it just gets worse in the last episode of the season. She lost ''everything'' trying to protect everyone and make the school a better place, and was forced to go against her own principles and kill somebody in cold blood to save the love of her life. In the finale, she's completely traumatized from what's happened, and it's only Carmilla that can keep her from shutting down completely.]]
** Kirsch is also pretty pitiable at the end of the second season. [[spoiler:He was told he could resurrect Danny, his friend and the girl he loved. Good-natured fool that he is, he doesn't question this, and does what "Perry" tells him to do, not realizing it's actually the Dean in Perry's body. Then Danny comes back to life and he's completely overjoyed, especially when she kisses him -- and then "[[NotHimself Danny]]" ''bites'' him. As of the end of season 2, we're not even sure if Kirsch is alive, dead, or [[FateWorseThanDeath worse]].]]

* MagnificentBitch: Matska "Mattie" Belmonde, is Carmilla's catty but loving adoptive sister and a representative of the Corvae Corporation, and intial chairman of the Silas Board. Taking over Silas in the wake of her mother's death, she does what she can to suppress Laura's coverage of events or put a positive spin on them. It was soon discovered she plans on setting off an explosion to bury Loppiformes as a pragmatic solution to her mother's operations. When Vordenberg becomes too much of a threat, Mattie drinks Lopphi's blood to become more powerful against him. Despite her initial failures and death, her spirit returns as a servant of Ereshkigal, and helps aid the downfall of her mother. Correctly guessing how her mother's plans would fail, she appears again to taunt her over her failure, and a final time to grant Laura her life back if Carmilla could answer a riddle; one Mattie makes easy to guess out of compassion.

* MagnificentBitch: The Dean. [[spoiler:In season two, she managed to outsmart ''everyone'' and get everything she wanted in the end, using only DemonicPossession, ThePowerOfActing, being a ManipulativeBitch and being very, very patient.]] Almost none of the fans want her to succeed, but ''everyone'' in the fandom was impressed.

** [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers And then there is]] Zeta Society which is Kirsch/Danny

** ''Film/TheCarmillaMovie'': [[BigBad Elle Sheridan]] was a noble woman who, discovering her lover Carmilla was a vampire, betrayed Carmilla to her mother before her death. Unable to cross into the afterlife with the other souls of the sacrifice victims, Elle grew to [[DrivenByEnvy resent Carmilla and Laura's life together]]. Elle began to torment Laura with nightmares, luring her, Carmilla, and her friends to her mansion. Gathering the souls, Elle manipulated them into preparing a ritual that would help them move on to the afterlife, with Carmilla willingly giving up her human life. Unbeknownst to them, Elle plans on stealing Carmilla's life for her own, and condemning the rest of the spirits back into the hell dimension forever. [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse Despite her past]], it's pointed out she wasn't the only sacrifice and the others never turned evil, with Elle admitting to her jealous and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] motives, with disdain and indifference to everyone else. Elle picks off Carmilla, Laura and their friends, trapping them in their nightmarish hell; Carmilla's in particular reliving Elle's betrayal over and over again. When Laura rescues her friends and the other ghosts to prepare the ritual, Elle makes one final attempt to disrupt them, holding a knife to Carmilla's throat. Originally seen as a tragic figure of Carmilla's past and even a benevolent force in the first season, Elle ended up becoming a dark far cry of her previous self.

* FandomBerserkButton: '''DON'T REFER TO LAFONTAINE WITH FEMALE PRONOUNS'''. Calling them "Susan" is also a no-no, ''unless'' you're referring to them when they were still willingly going by that name, before they transitioned.

** ''[[Film/CarmillaTheSeries The Carmilla Movie]]'': [[BigBad Elle Sheridan]] was a noble woman who, discovering her lover Carmilla was a vampire, betrayed Carmilla to her mother before her death. Unable to cross into the afterlife with the other souls of the sacrifice victims, Elle grew to [[DrivenByEnvy resent Carmilla and Laura's life together]]. Elle began to torment Laura with nightmares, luring her, Carmilla, and her friends to her mansion. Gathering the souls, Elle manipulated them into preparing a ritual that would help them move on to the afterlife, with Carmilla willingly giving up her human life. Unbeknownst to them, Elle plans on stealing Carmilla's life for her own, and condemning the rest of the spirits back into the hell dimension forever. [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse Despite her past]], it's pointed out she wasn't the only sacrifice and the others never turned evil, with Elle admitting to her jealous and [[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]] motives, with disdain and indifference to everyone else. Elle picks off Carmilla, Laura and their friends, trapping them in their nightmarish hell; Carmilla's in particular reliving Elle's betrayal over and over again. When Laura rescues her friends and the other ghosts to prepare the ritual, Elle makes one final attempt to disrupt them, holding a knife to Carmilla's throat. Originally seen as a tragic figure of Carmilla's past and even a benevolent force in the first season, Elle ended up becoming a dark far cry of her previous self.

** ''[[Film/CarmillaTheSeries The Carmilla Movie]]'': [[ItsAllAboutMe Elle Sheridan]] was a [[EvilFormerFriend former friend]] and lover of Carmilla Karnstein, before she learnt Carmilla was a vampire and betrayed her to her mother, who buries Carmilla alive. Later sacrificed to Lopphiformes, Elle plotted revenge against Carmilla, [[DrivenByEnvy resenting her]] for having her humanity and mortality restored. Elle hatched a plan and began to torment Laura with nightmares, luring her, Carmilla, and her friends to her mansion. Gathering the souls of the other sacrifices, Elle manipulated them into preparing a ritual that would help them move on to the afterlife, with Carmilla willingly giving up her human life and turning back into a vampire. Unbeknownst to them, Elle plans on stealing Carmilla's life for her own, and condemning the rest of the spirits back into the hell dimension forever. While she was a victim of sacrifice herself, it is shown and repeatedly stated that she was far from the only one, admitting to her selfish motives and plan when called out, and showing a cruel disdain and indifference for everyone else, contrasting with the forgiving attitude of the other ghosts. Elle goes on to pick off of Carmilla and Laura's friends, trapping them in their nightmarish hell before doing the same to Carmilla and Laura themselves; Carmilla's in particular reliving Elle's betrayal over and over again. When Laura rescues her friends and the other ghosts to prepare the ritual, Elle makes one final attempt to disrupt them, holding a knife to Carmilla's throat. Originally described as a tragic, romantic figure of Carmilla's past and even a benevolent force in season one, at the time of the movie, Elle has since become a far cry from who she previously was.

** When Carmilla recounts her backstory from the novel to Laura in episode 16, she frequently interjects with hokey asides using sock puppets. Sure it's silly, but it does serve to take the edge out of the trap of many monologues for being too serious. As it is, it provides a few laughs while Natasha Negovanlis' [[HeReallyCanAct genuinely engaging acting]] sells the scene. Thankfully, Laura herself stops the act when she realizes how serious she's being.

* HeReallyCanAct: Not that Annie Briggs didn't get praise for her performance as Perry before, of course, but her performance as the Dean is ''stunning''.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Baron Vordenberg]] from season 2 is an [[EvilOldFolks elderly]] Austrian [[AristocratsAreEvil baron]] who is a member of the Silas Board of Directors. When he is first introduced, he [[FauxAffablyEvil seems to be a kind and friendly man]], despite [[FantasticRacism his apparent disdain for vampires]]. Once Laura gets him voted as the Chairman of the Board, he immediately shows his [[ANaziByAnyOtherName true colors]] by ordering a detainment of all vampires and anything supernatural in Silas University. He has some of the students, including Laura's friend Danny--to whom he lies that he will stop after arresting Carmilla and Mattie--recruited into his militia , and preaches anti-vampire propaganda. It is discovered that, despite the potential consequences, he intends to kill Lophiiformes, [[ItsAllAboutMe all to make a name for himself]]. After killing Lophiiformes, he intends to execute Carmilla and Mattie, along with any students protecting vampires; the attempted arrest indirectly leads to [[spoiler:Mattie's death]]. After he almost callously shoots one of his men, Laura starts a resistance against him. In the battle, he has his henchman Theo betray them and kill [[spoiler:Danny]]. In the finale, he has the other board members shot over the announcements and prepares to behead Carmilla, in front of Laura and their friends, taunting them all to their faces while doing so. Despite his seemingly [[ObfuscatingDisability doddering]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity demeanor]], Vordenberg is far more dangerous than meets the eye, his claims of heroism being lies he tells to fuel his ego, not caring who he has to kill to live out his fantasies of personal glory.

* [[{{ScaryBlackMan}} Scary Dark Woman]]: Mel is dark-skinned and AxCrazy.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Baron Vordenberg]] from season 2 is an [[EvilOldFolks elderly]] Austrian [[AristocratsAreEvil baron]] who is a member of the Silas Board of Directors. When he is first introduced, he [[FauxAffablyEvil seems to be a kind and friendly man]], despite [[FantasticRacism his apparent disdain for vampires]]. Once Laura gets him voted as the Chairman of the Board, he immediately shows his [[ANaziByAnyOtherName true colors]] by ordering a detainment of all vampires and anything supernatural in Silas University. He has some of the students, including Laura's friend Danny (to whom he lies that he will stop after arresting Carmilla and Mattie), recruited into his militia , and preaches anti-vampire propaganda. It is discovered that, despite the potential consequences, he intends to kill Lophiiformes, [[ItsAllAboutMe all to make a name for himself]]. After killing Lophiiformes, he intends to execute Carmilla and Mattie, along with any students protecting vampires; the attempted arrest indirectly leads to [[spoiler:Mattie's death]]. After he almost callously shoots one of his men, Laura starts a resistance against him. In the battle, he has his henchman Theo betray them and kill [[spoiler:Danny]]. In the finale, he has the other board members shot over the announcements and prepares to behead Carmilla, in front of Laura and their friends, taunting them all to their faces while doing so. Despite his seemingly [[ObfuscatingDisability doddering]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity demeanor]], Vordenberg is far more dangerous than meets the eye, his claims of heroism being lies he tells to fuel his ego, not caring who he has to kill to live out his fantasies of personal glory.

* {{Wangst}}: A lot of people have had this reaction to Danny in season three, [[spoiler:especially her claims that no one cared when she died, when this is ''blatantly'' untrue. As one creampuff put it, she says this as she's draining Kirsch's blood. You know, the guy that ''snuck her body off the pyre so she could be resurrected''.]] That said, it's implied that [[spoiler:the Dean may be brainwashing her.]]

** On the one hand, while obviously not the bad guys, they up and abandon Silas when a literal hellmouth opens because of their actions, only returning after much hardship [[AllThereInTheManual only for a gnoll in a mountain to bring them "home" again]]. She also doesn't acknowledge the fact that the Summer Society, Alchemy Club and Zetas actually stayed and helped to try and provide or protect for the simple, average students having no idea on what the hell is going on.
** On the other, the group had just been finished dealing with the already mighty forces [[spoiler:the Light and Carmilla's mother]] provided, part of which involved Carmilla, the badass vampire, ''very nearly dying''. It's hard to think of a way they could have fought against said hellmouth when dealing with just a fraction of it was so difficult, and they had no way of knowing [[spoiler:that the abomination inside would get stuck coming out]]. Laura is genuinely remorseful about the state that everything is in, and her first response upon learning about the power struggle is to try and get some genuine authority involved. When that fails, [[ChronicHeroSyndrome she resolves to help fix everything]], despite all the crap she'd endured from the start of Season 1 and after. Also, the Zetas, Summers, and the Alchemy Club are so focused on feuding for territory that they aren't actually doing much good.

* DracoInLeatherPants: While Carmilla is by no means a villain, and certainly seems to have more of a moral compass than other vampires in the series, the fandom can frequently forget that she's "not the hero of this piece," and can go to far in [[TheWoobie woobifying]] her. Most interestingly is that, for the first half of season two ''Laura'' seems to give her this treatment in universe, which ends up causing problems for them [[spoiler: and eventually leads to their breakup.]] Mattie gets this treatment, too. A rather annoyingly large portion of the fanbase refuses to blame Mattie or Carmilla for anything, even when they're clearly at fault, or acknowledge their flaws.

* RewatchBonus: Many [[spoiler: Perry]] scenes that may have seem odd or even unlike the character now makes perfect sense when you go back and watch with it in your mind that [[spoiler: in certain episodes the Dean is in control of her body.]]

* ActorShipping: There's a strong following for Laura and Carmilla's actresses, Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis, AKA, Negovanman. Annie Briggs (Perry) and Sophia Walker (Mattie) also have a ship name -- Wriggs.

** Papa Hollis manages to be beloved by most of the fandom ''despite never appearing onscreen for the first two seasons''. When it was announced he'd be in season three, the fandom went ''insane''.