Rank the seasons
Here are my rankings
1. Season 2
2. Season 4
3. Season 6
4. Season 3
5. Season 1
6. Season 5
7. Season 7
I don't have an exact order, but 1, 2, 3, and 6 were good, 4 and 7 were ok, and 5 was inconsistent and sub par. The S5 ending was good though.
Who wants to live forever?
I really liked season 6 but season 7 was terrible imo, not because of Elena not being around but because of the heretics. While Julian was a good villain, the heretics were just terrible. They got hyped as these big bad villains and then what we get instead are those annoying lesbian chicks who essentially get turned into anti-heroes for no reason, Valerie is suddenly not a villain anymore and the one that seemed most interesting gets killed off fairly quickly (Malcolm). I was expecting villains like Kai or something but we got those clowns.
Hopefully season 8 is better, the Siren is an odd choice for a final villain but if done right could be good (Let's just hope midway through the season they don't turn her into a misunderstood anti-hero and then introduce another villain)