The End Twist: It's a doozy

 Okay, once again, this is a review of season two of the new series Interview with a Vampire, if you don't want to be spoiled, please read some of my other posts.

Okay, no magic Claudia didn't die whatever. I guess that was too much to hope for. However, the twist that does come after Armand and Louis have finished telling their version of the story is no less shocking. Although I have said before that I was doubtful as to Armand's honesty about the situation, I didn't know to what extent he was being a lying little snake.

Because Lestat's on-stage apology wasn't the only thing he did for Louis that night. Okay, so let's rewind.

After the whole thing, when Louis is about to starve, Armand feeds him some blood and helps him escape after all the other vamps are asleep. Once Louis is free, he spends his time plotting a way to wreck revenge on the whole coven. However, he warns Armand to be gone as a courtesy and a thank you for saving him.

After mercilessly burning most in their coffins, exploding the two who rode their bikes off into the night, Louis faces off against the main conspirator the very hateable Santiago who brags about them using Claudia's ashes as eyeliner for their plays and antagonizes him completely by every word in this telepathic conversation. But Louis is prepared and when Santiago emerges from the sewers, Louis is waiting to decapitate him with a machete, probably the most satisfying death in the whole show.

Then Louis goes to Armand who spins his little web of lies about how he was helpless to keep it from happening and apologizes for lying to Louis. Louis asks if Lestat is still in town, they find him in what looks to be a torture dungeon where his maker kept him like in his story early on about how he was made. Lestat looks broken and defeated. Louis asks him if he feels anything at all about Claudia's death and of course Lestat talks about the great laws which Louis correctly reminds Lestat he's never followed before. Louis then says he's here to kill Lestat which Lestat responds with I have the blood of Magnus and he mentions someone else, then Louis says, well we share the same blood. There's no epic fight scene. Louis jabs Lestat in the most painful way possible by kissing Armand and telling Lestat that his death will be the knowledge that Louis chose Armand. Lestat responds, we'll see how long that lasts but he's obviously devastated. Then it cuts to Daniel taking down the story and Louis says that's all there is to it.

Now, I suppose you're wondering where Armand's treachery comes into this. The way it is revealed is so brilliant. A question here about something that doesn't make sense. A comment there. Then Daniel Malloy pulls the entire rug out from under Louis by producing proof positive that Armand was in on the play from the start. He has a copy of the script with footnotes written by Armand directing the play. It turns out Lestat not Armand was the one who saved Louis during the play.

It flashes back to rehearsal, where Armand is overseeing the play and Lestat is arguing about how they can't keep Claudia in check and they're underestimating her. Daniel gets a computer message from the people who sent him the stuff about the fire and the script saying: GET OUT OF THERE NOW. Louis and Armand fight, breaking a bunch of shit, but when Daniel goes to see Armand is obviously defeated. Louis tells him not to harm Daniel and swears that if he does, he will kill the older vamp. He then tells him he's leaving and when he gets back the other vampire better be gone.

So what does this revelation mean, well besides the obvious that Lestat always loved Louis, truly loved him, as his on stage apology would have seemed to suggest. It also shows that nothing Armand says can be trusted. I figured this when Armand left out the crucial detail about Lestat asking him to tell Louis that he loved him.

Louis goes back to New Orleans where he finds Lestat who has gone a bit crazy (he's playing a wooden piano and eating only rats). Lestat tells Louis how much he regrets what happened with Claudia and says, at the end before she died, she looked to him like a daughter looks to her father. I knew I noticed something in his eyes when the scene of her death played, but I wasn't sure how much to trust it since it was Armand's narrative. Lestat cries and Louis hugs him as a hurricane rages outside. This is a beautiful end to their relationship arc which was always filled with storm and passion. 

Next, we see Daniel Malloy has become a bestselling author for his book, but most people aren't taking it seriously as a memoir. He's on a talk show with a host who calls it a "work of fiction". Daniel insists on the veracity of his book and takes down the talk show host and his condescending remarks by saying "you haven't read it" and the host continues to act like Daniel is somehow delusional. Then, Daniel talks telepathically with Louis who is in Dubai revealing that before he left that day Armand turned him. The final act of treachery, not able to kill him without facing repercussions, he made him a vampire instead. Vampires all over the world are gunning for Louis because of the book and all the damning evidence that's written in it, but Louis sits down and issues a warning of sorts to those who would challenge him. End scene. It was such an epic way to end it. Louis has come full circle from the fledgling vampire who didn't want to be a vamp, to become someone powerful enough to confidently throw the gauntlet at anyone who dares come at him. I loved the fact that Lestat really had no choice in what happened to Claudia and that it scarred him as much as it did because he seems not to care about her for much of the story.

Well, that's all folks, unless they do a season 3. Not sure what they'd use for the story line if they did.

The Trial: Lestat Returns

One more time, for the people in the back, there are major spoilers for the AMC show Interview with a Vampire in this blog post. If you haven't watched and don't wish to be spoiled, please turn back now before it's too late.

Okay, I just finished watching this episode and I need to collect my thoughts but wow. It was a doozy. I knew that this would be the episode where Claudia would die, and I figured it would have something to do with sunlight and the thing they stole from the observatory and why they were having the matinee performance so none of that surprised me. Armand saving Louis by controlling the entire theatre of humans surprised me a little and Louis not witnessing Claudia's death surprised me too. It actually makes me doubt the veracity of the tale that Louis wasn't there to see it especially considering the fire that destroyed the theatre. 

I expected to be a bit more emotional at Claudia's death scene. Maybe I'm still in shock, or maybe it's because the only one with tears in their eyes as Claudia and Madelaine died in each other's arms was Lestat, but that wasn't the emotional scene that I expected. It felt more like the death in Braveheart where the martyr dies cursing his murderers. I was actually much more emotional at the scene where they almost killed Lestat.

So we know that Lestat is manipulative, and we know that not only because of Louis and Armand's narrative, but because it makes sense. Yes, he loved Louis, but he also hurt him. He chased after Claudia and forced her to come back. He might have done that FOR Louis, but he still did it. Lestat's version of events is probably skewed, partially because the story is scripted by the coven. When Lestat goes off script, they don't control him like they control the three on "trial" which makes me think they either can't control him, or he helped engineer the whole thing. If they got to Lestat through the lawyer, then the last letter is even a manipulation tactic because Lestat probably wrote that after the attempted murder. Even though his version of events is skewed, it gives us another piece to the puzzle, a piece provided by neither Armand nor Louis.

Louis says that Lestat's version of events of how Claudia came to be turned is probably more accurate than his. In Lestat's version he tries to tell Louis that turning her is a bad idea and that making someone 14 forever never works out because their mind matures but their body doesn't. He then claims that Louis begged and pleaded until Lestat caved promising he'll do anything. If Lestat's story is somewhat accurate it shows only Louis' desperation to redeem himself after having wrought chaos on his people. We've also seen that Louis' memory is patchy and often unreliable and that Armand deliberately hides or obscures things to "protect" Louis. Does Armand love Louis? Probably. That doesn't change the fact that he played a part in the downfall of Louis, Claudia, and Madelaine. The fact that Armand could have defied the coven and allowed them a chance to escape by warning them occurs to me. Yes, what he did was cowardly. It may also have had a tinge of thinking logical thinking in there as well, calculating the odds of them escaping the coven entirely even if they did run away. But if any of what Lestat said was true, you have to wonder how much and if you wonder how much, you have to wonder if he was talking about the human lover that Armand almost killed and then they turned and if Armand killed him out of jealousy before Lestat ran away. According to the story, Lestat was heartbroken at the loss of his lover and buried himself for years before finally coming up and going across the ocean. There is no probability that this is true, he would have starved. However, if he did spend a period of time in mourning for a lost lover, that would explain the gap between Armand's Lestat and Louis' Lestat. However, if Armand's story of Lestat is inaccurate, if Lestat didn't just use him for his power and then run away, but Armand actually had something to do with the end of their relationship, then that could also color his relationship with Louis and pretty much everything he says. I'm very suspicious about the fact that the only person who can attest to what happened to Claudia and Madelaine is Armand.

Now I'm not saying for SURE they're actually still alive, but... I mean, they could be.

The part that actually did get me emotional in this episode, was surprisingly a part of Lestat's testimony. When Lestat goes off script and states that what he did to Louis was wrong and he'll never stop being sorry for it. That was genuine. It didn't move Louis, probably because Louis understood that no matter how sorry he was for having hurt Louis back then, Lestat was still here, helping the coven convict them and doing nothing to prevent what was happening to them. Not sure what Lestat might have been able to do if even Armand was powerless, though. He was able to defy them about the script and did not seem bothered by the fact that the coven planned to kill all three of them. I do wonder how the finale is going to play out when Louis realizes that Claudia is gone and how he and Armand are going to escape the coven. I think the fire might have something to do with that, but obviously Lestat survives because Armand reached out to him when they were in San Francisco after Louis tried to run into the sun.

Really excited for the finale next week and if Claudia makes a reappearance, I'm going to be so...I told you so about it.

Claudia and Madalaine: Star-crossed lovers

 As always, if you don't want spoilers for the new season of Interview with a Vampire, check out some of my other posts instead. Here we go with episode 6.

There are so many things about this episode that I want to touch on. I absolutely loved the evolution of Claudia, I even saw her falling for the dressmaker when she first showed up and demanded a dress but thought it again when she went back. Madaline's story is tragic. Labeled a monster because she slept with a nazi at the height of the war, but also perhaps because she survived when so many around her died, she has become a leper in post-war France.

As always with episodes that contain a SA scene that the love interest has to rescue a character (usually a woman) from, I didn't care for that bit. The bullies could have just tried to beat her up or something, but no...since she's a woman they had to try r*ping her instead. This always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I did enjoy that Claudia who has been a victim of this type of assault, and not the male vamp who's supposed to be watching the dressmaker, is the one who rescues her, though. It also helps because this is the intro to the idea that Madaline should be turned, so she and Claudia can be together.

I love the scene where Armand and Madaline talk about her becoming a vampire, even though he's just yanking her chain because he's not even planning on entertaining the idea of turning her. Love the little conspiracy going on in the background throughout this episode as the vampire coven conspires under Armand's nose, and the ending...well they get me every time.

I have questions. First, can that really be Lestat? I'm thinking no, because it showed his reflection, and vamps aren't supposed to have reflections, right? But if that's true, then it can't be another vampire playing him either, it must then be a human. But it looked like Lestat. However, the coven is accusing them of his murder so it would be strange to invite him there to a trial of his murderers when he's clearly not dead. Even more than that, if they're going to accuse the trio of breaking the law by turning a child, shouldn't they also have Lestat on trial since he was the one who actually did the turning (whether it was on Louis' behest or not)?

Madeline's back story is pretty tragic, but it's one of survival. She's a survivor. This is probably why she takes to being a vampire even though Louis has never turned anyone before. It was interesting that the vamp sees a victim's life when they drink in their blood. Does this only happen with victims they plan to turn, or does it happen with every single one?

Then there's the reveal that Louis asked Armand (according to Armand, which who knows if he can be trusted or not) to erase his memory of the 6 days in San Francisco. Now that the show has reminded me, I remember the exact number. That doesn't change the fact that Armand seems to exist for Louis to need him. He needs to be nurturing. Perhaps it has something to do with guilt for betraying him. Yes, it is finally revealed that it was Armand's betrayal that led to the events which culminated in Claudia's death. I still have yet to figure out exactly what happens and if the theatre burning down has anything to do with it, but if that actually was Lestat, perhaps he is the one who rescues Louis, since Armand was the one who fed him to the wolves to begin with. Or maybe Armand has a change of heart and starts the fire in order to rescue the man he loves thereafter letting the rest of the vamps fend for themselves against the fire. He does have the power. I often wondered why not just use his power to dispose of the bodies instead of the rats. He can also survive in sunlight and none of the rest of them can, so he could probably wrap Louis up in something and make a run for it and no one would be able to chase him since it's still daytime out.

There is the suggestion in this episode that Louis has amassed his fortune by dealing in art which he has a good eye for. He obviously still has next to nothing in the 40s, and even in San Francisco they seem to be living meagerly. I love that the secret agent or whatever he is who sent Daniel all the encrypted files and stuff tells him that he needs to fear Louis rather than Armand. I think this speaks to Louis' unpredictability. He's like a time bomb. He's already been shown detonating in several different ways throughout the story. The first is when he impales the rich white man which in turn brings a race riot against his neighborhood. Lestat was hoping this act meant he had finally embraced his vampiric nature and decided he was no longer human, but Louis can't help but feel responsible for the ensuing chaos and all the innocent people who are affected by it. 

Perhaps Armand is not doing what he is out of guilt or love but out of a sense of duty. Since he had a hand in an event that probably set Louis off even more than anything else might have. Now it isn't for sure that Claudia dies in the fire, or gets killed in the trial, but the fact that it is cannon that Armand has a hand in her death should not be discounted when looking forward to future episodes. I think she'll probably die in the next one. I just wish she and Madaline could be happy, but they were never going to be one of those vampire couples that last centuries because of the machinations that had already begun to conspire against them before Madaline was even turned.

Buffy: Pilot Episode

 Okay, initial thoughts:

Xander is creepy as ever in the first episode and I think maybe the first time I watched I just didn't catch how creepy he is thanks to his friend Jesse being slightly more so, but they're both kinda yuk. Giles is too quiet. Everyone else speaks at normal volume and he speaks about three decibels too low it makes it difficult to hear anything he says. That does make sense for a librarian character though. Baby Willow is too cute and a touch naive and way too much of a pushover. Makes the transformation to bad-ass witch Willow even more amazing to watch her in this version. Buffy is kinda annoying at first with all her trying to avoid her destiny and getting herself in over her head because she underestimates the danger. Also, Angel comes off a bit creepy in this episode too. The master is a pretty boring villain: "I'm hungry, bring me something young." Ominous voice. Luke is way more interesting. Darla is pretty cool in this episode too, but she gives up and hands the reins over to Luke too quick. The Bronze is a club where teenagers hang out, but no one is ever carded? Does this mean they don't serve alcohol? Cordelia is too funny. She's probably the most interesting character in the show so far. Buffy's mom comes on a bit strong and I can't watch any of these episodes without remembering The Body.

Creep factor for this show was pretty high, so I'll give it that. Lots of spooky effects, low lighting, a few jump scares. Love the Buffy line: "It's just one vamp" and then the cut to Darla who we've already seen at the show's opening sequence to be a vamp. It's a TBC episode, so it cuts off right as Luke is about to bite Buffy. Of course, we know he isn't going to keep the upper hand, but pretty good way to keep suspense for the pilot episode. I get it, when a show first starts you're just learning who your characters are and how to play them, so they feel a bit stiff at first. Cordelia's line: "What's your childhood trauma?" is one of the most memorable lines of the show. I forgot that she was initially nice to Buffy because Buffy looked like she'd be one of the mean girl types. No Harmony yet, I seem to remember her being Cordie's right-hand man, so she'll probably show up in the next few episodes.

The principle ripping up her transcripts and then seeing the note about the fire and trying to tape them back together is too funny. I know he gets eaten in the Hyena episode, which is when they get Snyder (the prick everyone loves to hate), but this guy is too funny.

Episode rundown: Episode opens with a couple breaking into the school. The girl is acting afraid like she's scared they'll get caught. Typical damsel in distress trope thrown on its head when it turns out she's the vamp in the situation. Cut to Buffy having nightmares of some foreboding omen. Then Buffy wakes to a room with packing boxes all around. Buffy's mom calls her. Next we see Buffy's mom dropping her off at school and leaving with the parting words "try not to get kicked out, okay?" Then Xander skateboarding down the sidewalk despite dozens of students he's almost hitting like he has more right to be there than them. Yeah. That is our first introduction to Xander, and the typical checks out a girl and crashes into something trope as he hits the stair railing while watching buffy climb them. Creepy much? Willow and Xander have a moment as Xander sweet talks Willow into helping him with his homework. Next Buffy is talking to the principle who isn't at all worried about her track record until he finds out she burned down the gym at her old school. Then she walks out of the office just to bump into Xander and drop a bunch of her things. He helps her pick them up, tries hitting on her and I suppose we're supposed to feel bad for him because he's so awkward about it, but really, I think he's being super creepy here too. Buffy goes to class where Cordie generously lets Buffy read from her textbook and then starts a convo. Buffy doesn't seem too impressed, probably because Cordie goes out of her way to be mean to Willow without provocation. Cordie takes Buffy to the library where we meet Giles for the first time. He tries to give Buffy a book about Vampyrs and she makes a run for it without talking to him. Buffy then approaches Willow about helping her get caught up on schoolwork. Willow seems to think Buffy wants her to move at first. Xander and Jesse join them. Xander is being creepy at Buffy, Jesse is just being creepy all together. Cordelia walks up to inform Buffy that gym has been canceled after a dead body was found. Buffy starts asking morbid questions thereby solidifying her status as social leper in Cordie's eyes. Buffy goes to check out the body and racks up her first amount of damage to Sunnydale school property when she forces the door open, breaking the wood where the lock is placed. The victim is the guy from the previous night who was with Darla, he's dead with puncture wounds. Buffy goes to Giles, and they have an argument about her being the slayer which Xander overhears without announcing his presence because I guess he just wasn't creepy enough before that.

It's night. Buffy is getting ready for her first night out (was her first day of school on a Friday?). Buffy's mom has no problem with her going out and doesn't even ask her anything about the club she'll be going to. Did she let Buffy go out to clubs in LA? Buffy is still only sixteen in this episode and she's walking to the club at night. Now we all know that Buffy is strong and capable, but a mom not offering her 16-year-old at least a ride to the club so she can sus it out...I mean, it takes all kinds, I guess. Buffy's mom is a pretty good mom for the most part throughout the show (well, despite not being aware that her daughter is literally fighting demons while she's asleep in bed) so I guess I'll forgive her this one slight. Buffy notices that she's being followed and hides so she can confront the guy who's stalking her. We get our first glimpse of a very cocky Angel. He warns Buffy about something called "The Harvest" and gives her a cross necklace. She gets to the club where she finds Willow who says she's waiting for Xander. Buffy tells Willow to seize the day to help her get over being too shy to talk to boys and then notices Giles up in the rafters. Buffy goes to talk to him acting like it's creepy that he (an adult) is at a club frequented by his students. It's a club, it's supposed to be mostly adults, isn't it? Buffy tells him about Angel's warning, calls Angel handsome but says she doesn't like him (yeah, right). Then Giles says Buffy is right, there's nothing to worry about, it's not like she's been having visions. Then he tells her she needs to be able to spot a vamp and to try...she spots one by his outdated look and notices the girl he's talking to is Willow. Buffy then goes on a cat and mouse hunt for the vamp and Willow, accidentally traumatizing Cordie in the process. Giles offers to come with, but Buffy says she can handle one vamp. Screen cuts to Darla picking up Jesse. Then Buffy into Xander who acts super arrogant about what he overheard in the library. Then Buffy and Xander go in search of Willow and somehow get there just in time before Darla and the unnamed vamp have had time to feed. Well, Darla's already bitten Jesse "I got hungry" she pouts and the unnamed vamp. They are presumably bringing the kids to the Master to replenish his hunger but seem about to feed themselves when Buffy interrupts them. A fight ensues. Buffy dusts unnamed outdated clothing vamp. Just realized that their clothing also disintegrates when they turn to dust. So bizarre. Darla is holding her own for the first bit, but Buffy starts getting the upper hand and Xander helps willow and Jesse escape. Luke shows up and Darla runs away. Luke and Buffy Tussle, he breaks her steak and throws her into whatever that thing in the center of a tomb is called where they keep the dead body. Then, just as Xander Willow and Jesse end up running into some more vamps in the cemetery, Giles is looking up the harvest, and Buffy seems about to get bitten, the screen freezes and the words to be continued show up. Not the strongest pilot episode I've ever seen, but not the weakest either. Characters that were best established in this episode: Cordelia played to perfection by Carisma Carpenter and Giles by Anthony Steward Head. Also give props to Allison Hannigan for her baby Willow, just because of how much Willow expands as a character from this point. Right here, she's just your garden variety nerd with a touch of cute and awkward shyness. Characters 7/10, Villains 5/10 (I gave an extra point because Darla's pretty good in this episode), Plot 6/10, Creep factor 9/10 final tally: 6.75/10

Interlude: Upcoming reviews

 So, as I was writing the last post about Interview with a Vampire, I realized that I really want to do an in depth, episode by episode review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and maybe one of The X-Files too. I'd also love to do one of Frasier (since that's one of my favorite shows ever) and I think I could do at least one episode a week from various shows and write up a review. I see that my blog is getting hits on my episodic Supernatural reviews, so I'd also like to continue with that as well. I really need to finish watching the show as a whole eventually anyway. I've been taking Saturday or Sunday as my day off recently, so I think that would be the best time to schedule a watch and blog post, but maybe I could watch an episode of several different shows and then write up a blog post about it. I also kind of want to learn SEO to help my blog get more traffic. Maybe I should change the name. I think I had this vague idea at one point that the name would be ironic if my blog ever took off, but now it just seems stupid.

Anyway, if you like my episodic reviews and want me to do them on a specific show, feel free to post a comment. I'd also love to do one on The Good Place (another comedy gem). That's all for this time. 

Louis and Armand: Codependent Toxicity

Once again, I've come here to voice my thoughts about the new Interview with a Vampire show on AMC. If you have not watched yet and don't want spoilers, come back to this post later. Otherwise, enjoy my delve into the relationship between the long-term vampire couple, Louis and Armand. Are they soul mates, or do they just have a different type of toxic relationship than Louis and Lestat? 

In episodes leading up to the big reveal that Armand has been toying with Louis' memory, Daniel begins to have flashbacks to Armand berating him with questions: "In high school, you told a girl you'd only do her with a paper bag over her head..." Armond says in an angry voice. Daniel looks over to see a corpse wrapped up in clear plastic on the floor nearby. At this point in the story, their facade of the perfect relationship has begun to fall apart when Louis realizes that Armand has replaced some of the photos he took in Paris with professional photographers' photographs. They have a screaming match about it while Daniel struggles with his memories from that day in San Francisco when he first began the interview.

We open the next episode as if the fight has never happened. We're back to the interview, and Louis and Armand are both calm and collected. However, when Louis makes comments that give Daniel pause, the older vampire is the one to suggest it is merely because his lover is tired. Armand leaves to hunt a human who is in on the game. He knows that if he gets away, he'll get a reward, but he doesn't seem to know or care that no one has gotten away so far. Daniel notices this and comments on it. Armand is vicious in a different way than Lestat. He doesn't eat frequently, but he likes to hunt his victims when he does. Once Daniel and Louis are alone, Daniel decides to confront Louis with the memories that have started to come back to him about that night in San Franscisco. He knows that Louis attacked him, he was pretty high the whole time, so he doesn't remember much that's not on the tapes, but he also has been told that Armand saved him, so what is with the memory of getting the third degree from Armand? Where did it come from?

As the two talk about their night together (Daniel was almost sure that they'd slept together but Louis says no) they both realize something. Neither of their memories of that night are clear. They both have missing pieces. Daniel plays the ending of the last tape after it has been cleaned up and it reveals an argument between Louis and Armand, an argument which culminates in Louis trying to commit suicide by sunlight. Then the two start to remember what has been wiped away by Armand. The three missing days between when Daniel went home with Louis and when he woke up in the drug den where they'd dropped him.

What becomes clear with this reveal is that Louis cannot trust the happiness he thinks he's experienced with Armand. All of it could just be the times in between his mental breakdowns which have been conveniently erased as if they never existed. This is not a healthy dynamic because you cannot grow from pain if you're not allowed to feel it, to remember it. Sure, it could just be this one time. Maybe Armand didn't want Louis to remember that they fought about Lestat or that he contacted Lestat, but Louis chose him, so that's doubtful. More likely is that Armand was exceedingly jealous of Daniel for being someone Louis treated differently. In their fight, Louis calls Armand boring and Daniel fascinating. Armand also intimates that he thinks the reason Louis trash talked Lestat was because it was a call for Lestat to find him and take him away. Like bait if the book were to get published. So yes, Armand might have erased his memory just this one time because of jealousy or because he didn't want Louis to remember trying to kill himself, or he could have been doing it all along.

Armand needs Louis. He needs someone to take care of. He needs to be needed. Keeping Louis in that perpetual state of healing would be advantageous to him, then. Louis also needs Armand. He needs someone to pull him back from the edge of the abyss every time he starts to lean into it. During their first interview in San Francisco, Louis tells Daniel that he was going to stay out in the sun after watching Claudia walk away the first time. Perhaps that is why Lestat forced her to come back. He knew he wasn't enough. Every time Louis sought something outside Lestat (his humanity, his human family, his people), monsieur de Lioncourt acted out. And now, Armand has taken over that mantle of Louis' protector. But their relationship cannot be truly happy if one is being controlled with false memories and manufactured peace, now, can it?

Those are my thoughts on this week's episode. I'm sure next week we'll be discussing the episode where Claudia dies and I'm sure I'll be in tears while I type the post up.

Lestat and Louis: Fire and Gasoline

 Hey all, been a while. I've been watching the newest adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire, which is deliciously gay, BTW. If you'd like to watch, beware that there will be spoilers in the following review.

First, I want to acknowledge that Louis x Lestat is toxic AF. Lestat cheats on Louis, he manipulates him, and he gaslights him. No one even knows if anything Lestat tells Louis is the truth because he lies so often. It is, however, a very powerful and dynamic relationship for a couple of reasons.

Lestat is the first white man to acknowledge Louis without seeing him as inferior, even though Lestat looks down on humans in general. There is a nice little bit where Lestat loses his cool over religion while he's wooing Louis and that kind of gives you some indication about his past. This is confirmed later in the show when Lestat mocks the other vampires for fearing the cross. Lestat definitely has some religious trauma in his past, but prior to hearing Armand's side of the story we don't really get any glimpse into the Lestat before Louis. He claims he wants Louis because he's lonely, but he then cheats on him because he "likes variety". I have my suspicions about why Lestat cheats, and I don't think it has anything to do with his bi-sexuality (and don't even get me started on why portraying Lestat as cheating with a woman and saying it's because he likes variety is problematic and bi-phobic because that is a whole other blog post). Anyway, moving on...during the period of time Lestat is wooing Louis, he tries to pull him away from thinking of himself as inferior, but after Louis chooses to be vamped (a really violent but sexy scene BTW) he feels inferior in a different way. He can't let go of his humanity and just be a vamp. Lestat hates this about him and it is the cause of most of their bickering.

Then along comes Claudia. Prior to vamping her, Lestat and Louis already have plenty of problems, but after Lestat concedes to Louis' request, they seem happy for a time. This is a band aid on their relationship just as the journalist states. The big problem with that is, band aids only work if the damage is minor. Lestat and Louis have major problems. After Claudia accidentally kills her first boyfriend in the throes of passion, she and Lestat begin to clash a lot. However, it is not until she runs away that things really get out of hand because she finds out that other vamps can be just as dangerous as Lestat claimed. I don't know if you've ever had a relationship with an abusive or authoritarian person before, but when they give you kernels of truth like this, and you end up getting hurt by straying from what they're trying to control you to do, it messes you up. Claudia comes back broken, and then the enormous fight between Lestat and Louis happens after her return. This is the first time Lestat ever brings the abuse to a physical level, and just as many abusers do, he attempts to make amends afterwards by romantic gestures. However, it is not until he appeals to Louis' jealousy about Lestat having a relationship with his human lover Antoinette that Louis finally relents and lets Lestat back into his life.

Now Lestat is a complex person, and the way he treats Louis is absolutely horrific, but I will concede that I think he actually does love Louis in his own way. Take, for instance, how things play out for the plot to kill Lestat towards the end of the first season. Louis and Claudia decide on this course of action after Louis realizes that Lestat has lied to him about killing Antoinette and that he's still cheating with her, and after Lestat prevents Claudia from leaving him. One could contribute Lestat's downfall to him being overly confident in his abilities, but I maintain that he knew that Claudia would succeed in taking him down from the moment she beat him in chess. There are a couple of clues I found which support this assessment:

First, at the ball, when Lestat supposedly thinks he's got the upper hand (Antoinette has been eavesdropping on all the conversations between Louis and Claudia when Lestat cannot, after all) he talks to Louis as if he's saying goodbye.

Second, you don't learn this until the next season, but Lestat wrote Louis a note in case something happened to him. Now perhaps this was just because he suspected that Armand would try to kill him upon their arrival in Europe, which was why he resisted it for so long, but if he thought he would win, why would they be arriving in Europe at all? Wouldn't he just keep Louis in the US and just move to a new place? He could have even planned to kill Louis for his betrayal, although, to be fair he could have killed both Louis and Claudia the moment he learned of their intentions. He did not. He allowed the ball, and the cockamamie scheme of drugging him to go on. In truth, he probably wanted to die that night, by Louis' hand. I think because he actually loved Louis in his own way, the knowledge that Louis wanted to kill him made him want to die.

I don't think Lestat ever loved Armand. He used Armand's attraction to him to manipulate the older vampire. I think he decided to do this when Armand kidnapped his human lover, although it is doubtful that Lestat had any feelings for him either. After turning him, he quickly turned his back on the man making out with Armand right in front of him (though he did this to Louis too with Antoinette), so perhaps he did have some small love for the human lover that Armand corrupted. 

Now, you may ask, why does Lestat cheat if he loves Louis and it's not about his bisexuality? He cheats on Louis because he wants to elicit that jealousy from him. Louis doesn't take to being a vampire, still clinging to his human life, but when he's riled up, he tends to let his vicious side out. Lestat wants him to be vicious. He doesn't want him to be sweet, or kind. This is why I think Lestat was so eager to let Louis kill him. Not only because the idea of Louis doing that hurt because he loved him, but because he knew it would create in Louis the monster Lestat was hoping to cultivate. The one who fully embraced his vampire side without remorse.

Anyway, it is a very poignant show. Some elements are problematic, to be sure. I did absolutely love that it was their shared trauma concerning Lestat that brought Armand and Louis together, although I would also argue that Louis' trauma is much greater than Armand's. The older vampire got his heart broken after someone he loved used him for what he had. Louis was played with, cheated on, beaten, and lied to over many years. He spent so much time revolving around Lestat and then had to live with the trauma of having "killed" him. I don't really know if Lestat is possibly still alive since they didn't burn his body. According to the lawyer, he hadn't been in contact, so if he was he probably decided to leave Louis to it and not seek revenge (unless the note was a part of his revenge, there is more to come after all).

I am dreading the eventual death of Claudia because of how adversely this is going to affect poor Louis. He's been through enough shit. I just want him to get to be happy. However, knowing he gets to live the next 70 years in a loving relationship helps a bit.