I HAVE TO SAY…

Below is a slightly edited version of the podcast episode. You can listen to the full episode above, by clicking play, or listening wherever you get your podcasts.

Today, I have to say…Interview with The Vampire just might be my favorite tv show of all time.

Season 3 comes out in any minute now, and I was planning on rewatching the show to refresh my memory anyway, so I thought it would be perfect to talk about here.

So far, we’ve talked about Season 1 and now we’re onto Season 2, so if you haven’t heard or read Season 1 parts 1 and 2, feel free to go back and come back to this one after.

 I’m going to break this up again into two parts.

This will be a recap and discussion, with some light analysis on Episodes 1 through 4 and the next part will be Episodes 5 through 8, with some final thoughts. 

My goal is to keep this as linear as possible and I haven’t watched this season as often as the first, and I’m excited to get into it.

And again, I apologize for how long these are. Bear with me!

Episode 1

At the end of the first season, it’s revealed that Armand is a vampire and the love of Louis’s life. 

Season 2, Episode 1, opens with Daniel reading from Claudia’s diary.

Louis reads the diary himself, detailing what they did after arriving in Europe: traveled light, slept in the ground during the day, fed off of dying soldiers, and tried to avoid suspicion as they travelled, though if soldiers gave them problems they would drain them.

At this point, Armand is at the table with them, giving one liners and in general more smug now that the truth is out and Daniel disregards everything Armand says because Armand isn’t on the record.

Claudia is still mad at Louis and focused on her mission of finding more vampires she can relate to and while rereading the diaries, Louis realizes “Claudia didn’t think he qualified anymore.”

And I get Claudia’s frustration. She had the perfect plan. She achieved the impossible, and was that close to never having to worry about Lestat again, and Louis couldn’t let Lestat go. Again. Now leaving them with the possibility Lestat survived somehow, that he would eventually find them again. And that Louis would choose Lestat over her, again. 

Claudia took lead in their hunt, learning languages from soldiers and stowing them when they needed to travel far distances.  Louis didn’t enjoy any of it but says he endures it for Claudia, even though she wouldn’t talk to him unless it was necessary, like when a bomb was coming and they needed to run.

After another unsuccessful search, Louis says he wants to go home and Claudia is so offended she writes about it in her diary, mocking “Pry up his bones, why don’t you,” and she refers to Louis as dead weight. And in his defense, he did tell her he would hold her back when they were in New Orleans. But with Lestat possibly dead, where else would Louis go than with Claudia?

In the interview, Louis is pained as he reads what she wrote, clenching his jaw and thanking Daniel for restoring some of his memories because it helped him put Claudia’s diaries into perspective.

Daniel then sarcastically thanks Louis for the boring stories about them searching and finding nothing, and decides to play with them, including real Rashid in the conversation, though Real Rashid continues to say he is there to serve.

Daniel asks where Real Rashid was when Armand was pretending to be him and Louis informs Daniel that “his love ran a theatre company,” which Daniel disagrees “his love” was running a theater company because Lestat’s his love and Lestat is in a box somewhere according to the diaries. And it’s funny that as much shit as he talked about Lestat, Daniel also does not like Armand either and isn’t buying that Louis’s in love with him. And I don’t blame him because we spent a whole lotta time talking about Lestat, but Armand is the love of your life? Be serious…

Armand disses Daniel for the slight, telling Louis Daniel is unworthy of his story, then says, “disregard” knowing Daniel is about to say that. Armand is just so smug since joining Louis’s side as his lover instead of his assistant and I point this out because this idea of “worthiness” and “value” comes up a lot in this series.

The way everyone talks about Louis is like he is the prize. And I love me some Louis. He’s my problematic fave, but it’s interesting how he’s viewed by other people in the world and in his life. Lestat tells him, “Do you not know your value?” Claudia tells him Louis needs to find someone “worthy of his love,” and now Armand is saying Daniel wasn’t “worthy of his story.” There’s a lot of coddling of Louis’s feelings but we’ll see if this comes back up again later in the season.

Back in the past, Louis swears he is seeing a dead Lestat on the floor with the neck wound he caused. He’s in white, making it seem like he could be a ghost, though we don’t know for sure if Lestat has survived or not.

 Lestat rises up and talks to Louis who freaks out and tries to walk away, but Lestat just pops up in front of him again, forcing Louis to face him. 

Louis calls out to Claudia, wanting the distraction from Lestat, who mocks him on his four year vampire hunt and asks if this is how denial is manifesting.

Louis reminds himself Lestat isn’t real and Lestat asks if killing him was worth it. Louis says, “Yes” and Lestat mocks him about if he actually meant that or not. And at this point in the story, Louis seems pretty miserable, so I don’t know if he means it either.

Lestat continues poking at Louis, after mimicking his “I do. I do. I do.” and pretends like he’s choking, simulating how he passed. A creature flies out of Lestat’s throat, in the slit where Louis cut him, so this must really be his imagination, plus Lestat mentions something about purgatory, so maybe he’s not dead.

Louis is pained seeing Lestat choke, and apologizes, but Lestat brushes it off. He says, “You ruin it with remorse. It was the perfect betrayal.”

Lestat seems and has proven to be the type to appreciate and respect the game even if it means he lost. He’s competitive, but he will be impressed by other’s skills, and when we think back to when Claudia beat him in the chess match, I originally thought part of his outrage was that Claudia beat him, but before he throws the chess board off the table, he’s surprised but it seems like accepted the loss for what it was. It was when she removed herself and refused to finish it that he really got upset, because he respects the game and at that point she refused to play.

But even if Lestat appreciated the move this version of Lestat, in Louis’s mind at least, wasn’t going to let it slide. He says, “Yes. I’m gonna bloody kill you” and adds that he’s only waiting until he’s happy to do it. “So hurry up mon cher.” And then he bites from Louis’s neck asserting dominance again, showing he still has power over Louis who seems in pain. 

In Romania, Claudia and Louis see soldiers opening up coffins and shooting the bodies. Claudia talks to Louis in his mind, the first time we see since the episode started, because she notices windows shuttered, doors bolted, crucifixes on the wall, and people wearing garlic around their necks, all of which humans believe will keep vampires away.

Louis tries to tamper her hope, as they’re discussing the possibility of vampires being around. Russian soldiers stop Louis and Claudia. They look like they’re going to get into trouble when a native shows up. 

The woman tells Louis having a child out at night is dangerous, reminding us that even after everything that’s happened and even what Claudia masterminded, the world still views her as a child.

Louis explains they’re looking for his wife and are looking for a place to sleep. Emilia introduces herself and invites them to stay in the boiler room because there are no beds left in the factory.

Claudia sees soldiers with garlic around their necks and is excited about the possibility of vampires, especially because Emilia mentions they choose this place because of the stone walls and metal doors, which can protect against bombs, wolves, German soldiers, and…something worse…

But then Louis remembers that he actually misremembered the order of events, and he corrects it. Claudia left first, and then Louis asked about the woods, and Emilia answered about the bombs, wolves, soldiers, and something worse.

This is important because it means that Louis is not just reciting from memory anymore but also challenging what he remembers. He’s happy that he caught it in the moment and insists that he wants to get every detail right, leading us to believe as viewers that he’s not intentionally lying to Daniel about certain things. It doesn’t mean we should trust everything he says, but he is trying to be as open and honest as possible in this interview.

Armand asks Louis if he wants to take a break and I just wanna know why he would interrupt Louis when Louis’s excited and when in Louis’s mind he made what seems like a breakthrough.

Daniel thinks it’s weird too, because he addresses Real Rashid, and in his drawn-out way throws shade at Armand saying he can tell when people have something to hide. “They tell jokes. They’re charming. And at some crises’ point, when I get close, it drops away and I see a flash of the truth.”

Louis defends his man, saying Armand didn’t even want him to do the interview, but Daniel points out that Armand says that but wanted to be close to it and theorizes Armand only allowed it because he didn’t believe Daniel would be able to pull truths out of Louis.

Claudia ends up finding the vampiric thing in the forest, but it doesn’t look like a vampire in the way Louis and Claudia do, though it does drink the blood like they do. She tries to speak in its mind, but gets no response, and it smacks her to the ground and takes its prey with him.

Louis is hanging out with mortals and drinking. Morgan, Emilia’s wife, accuses Louis of not being who he claims because he dates the photograph of Grace. Louis gets agitated, warning him to let it go, but instead of engaging with the man’s accusations, Louis says, “I’m cutting you off and marrying your woman,” and he goes to dance with Emilia, which made me smile because Louis is actually very smooth and charming, and it’s a side of him we didn’t see much of in the first season.

Claudia shows up, saying she needs help because she fell down a tree, and Louis and Claudia go back to the boiler room discussing what Claudia saw. Claudia is excited, but Louis has his doubts. He asks clarifying questions, some of which Claudia sidesteps, and I don’t know why Louis wouldn’t believe what she saw.

Is it because he doesn’t want to get her hopes up? Is it about how they spent years searching and found nothing and he’s just over the whole thing? Does he not want to find a vampire at all because he wants to go back to New Orleans?

Claudia questions why Louis is trying to get to know the humans and asks again if he notices the rituals they do, wearing a crucifix and garlic, basically telling him the signs there’s vampires around are there. She mocks him saying, “If he can’t take you ballroom dancing and tell you you’re pretty, to hell with him, is that it?”

Another crazy read, but lowkey accurate, and Louis says, “Hello, grudge.”

Claudia clarifies, telling Louis that she forgave him for “messing up her plan”, but the problem is that he still carries Lestat in his heart.

Louis changes subjects, making fun of their whole journey asking if they’re looking “for the Adam and Eve of vampires.”

And Claudia vents saying all the vampires she’s known are the worst and she wants one “that isn’t a bastard.”

Daniel cuts in saying, “Memories keep bubbling up,” because in the first season, we don’t get a lot of moments of Louis and Claudia arguing in the way that they have in this scene. In this scene, they actually feel like brother and sister, and we see Claudia’s thoughts about Louis, not just feeling sorry or pitying him, but resenting him a little too.

As Louis continues the story, he realizes Claudia was dreaming, saying he can feel her and see her head twitching. Daniel isn’t so sure, but Louis is. We will never know the truth, because Claudia wrote down she wasn’t dreaming, but Louis is sure she lied, and that she was having a nightmare. And that’s important to him because he thinks there is something worse than having a nightmare. “The void. The nothing. Pieces coming back…” He would rather believe Claudia had a nightmare than that she wasn’t dreaming at all, that she wasn’t remembering her life, or that she was dead because I think he wouldn’t want that for himself.

Louis is emotional, with tears in his eyes as he thanks Daniel again. Daniel looks uncomfortable, telling him he can take a break if he wants.

Louis says he wants to remember and sheds a tear of blood.

Claudia is awoken by noise going on in the factory and he and Claudia find a crowd of people with Morgan yelling for help in the middle because Emilia is hurt from what we learn is a vampire bite. Claudia walks away uninterested and eventually Louis follows, showing that he’s accepted human affairs aren’t his problem.

Claudia and Louis go into the words and lure the vampire creature, but once it shows, things don’t go well. It ends up in a fight with Claudia ripping the vampire’s eyes out and its vampire mother, who looks more like a human, though it’s clear she’s ancient and appears weak and as disheveled as the mortal are, ends its life, sobbing as she does it. But she says that she had to because it wouldn’t be able to hunt.

She goes back to her home and Louis and Claudia follow her. She’s singing, I think trying to make another vampire, and when she notices Louis and Claudia, they explain how they’ve been looking for more vampires for five years.

They invite her to get better blood elsewhere because the blood of the humans there is bad. The vampire is pained, answering Claudia’s questions saying there are no more vampires left. Claudia offers her blood, which is a testament to how much she wanted to meet new vampires and find somewhere she felt she belonged. The vampire dips a finger and tastes it. She’s pleased, but it kinda seems like she mocks Claudia, detailing a happily ever after of them going back to America, regaining her strength, sharing stories and killing together.

And though earlier in the conversation, she said, “We own the night,” she now says, “We own…nothing,” and jumps into the fire, ending her life after death.

It was a sobering experience for them and for us. Is Claudia chasing after a dream that doesn’t exist? She writes she didn’t dream, but she was dreaming the whole time, chasing after vampires she hopes exists and a supportive community she never really had. 

Louis and Armand are alone and Louis asks to see pages of the diaries that have been ripped out.

Armand is worried about sharing them because his name comes up in the diaries and he doesn’t want Daniel to know. But Louis promises he won’t share them. And the fact that Louis has to ask for permission shows that Louis may not have as much power in this dynamic as we think and maybe that Armand knows things Louis doesn’t. Louis may not be leading this interview in the way that we thought.

Then, Armand tells Louis that he lost control of the interview and proposes they stop interviewing, which Louis outright refuses. 

Louis then asks Armand for his observation, and Armand says they can find the boy “who didn’t understand the meaning of the story” in Daniel and they can do it together. 

And now, I’m confused, ‘cause what is their end goal?

They approach Daniel together hand in hand, and sitting side by side, and Armand agrees to go on the record.

Louis talks about how he and Claudia went west after leaving Romania.

Louis tells us about how Claudia is down after what they witnessed and how Louis spoke life into her, some “hard words and soft words.” He says, “Our life is shit.” He says that it has been, is, and will be, but no one cares and at least they’re living a shitty life than dead somewhere. 

He tells her they will find ”other good vampires like them”, and as long as she lives, Louis lives and he will never let her go out like that. And he tells her, “If you were the last vampire on earth, it would be enough.”

And even though he says this, the camera pans next to her and Lestat is there in white again with his knife wound on his neck, staring at Louis who is emotional. 

And even though he’s thinking of Lestat, he tells Claudia, “You and me. Me and you. You and me.”

Claudia seems moved by it, saying, “Okay,” with acceptance of everything that he said. But Lestat is still sitting there next to Claudia, glancing at her.

And the camera angle shifts. We know Lestat isn’t there, but see Louis try not to look in the missing place where he imagines Lestat is sitting.

Episode 2

In Episode 2, Claudia and Louis are now in Paris. Louis tells Daniel he has trouble describing what Paris was to him because now it’s different, so now we know that something bad is going to happen in Paris.

Through conversation, with Armand jumping in, Louis has the final word saying, “Paris is healing just as he and Claudia were healing.”

Louis tells Claudia in French, “Truth is more valuable if it takes you a few years to find it,” but Claudia corrects him because he didn’t say it correctly in French.

Claudia is worried about how expensive living in Paris is, says that trust doesn’t pay the rent. Post world war, supplies are low, people are broke and hospitalized from malnutrition, but Louis asks her to give it time, saying things are turning around, I think hopeful that the same will happen for them. 

Armand pipes up at this point in the interview, telling Louis that traveling vampires have to make themselves known to the local coven and Louis points out he didn’t know that. 

I’m also like oh wait. Vampires do have rules. I kinda thought it was a free for all, every vampire for themselves situation and so did Louis. 

At some point Daniel asks, “Are you gonna finish each other’s sentences for the whole session?”

Louis explains they’ve been together 77 years; Armand points out that is 47 more years than he was with Lestat. 

And Daniel says, “Keep selling it,” which I agree…there’s something that doesn’t feel genuine about their relationship.

Louis and Armand continue with their story about how Louis and Claudia lived in Paris and Armand complains lovingly about how clueless they were and how they had to clean up after them.

Daniel questions why they didn’t just introduce themselves and Louis says, “Thank you!” and I also say, “Thank you,” because I was wondering the same thing. But it is a vampire thing to let people come to you instead of chasing them down, I guess.

Armand argues that they should’ve figured it out because the theatre is called The Theater of Vampires, existed for 150 years, and was a little more than half a mile away.

Armand says that he and his coven tabs on them, and noticed they weren’t romantically involved, neither of them was the master, they did things they didn’t want to please the other (hunting and listening to philosophical conversations) and says they were just dull. He’s even shocked that Louis took up a hobby with photography. Armand thinks it’s crazy for vampires to have hobbies, and it brings me back to the first season when Lestat called Louis’s businesses his hobby. Louis doesn’t care much about human affairs, but he still is fascinated in and interested in humanity. And so, he picks up, what they would say are hobbies, but it’s like…you guys enjoy theater. Like Lestat was always at the opera. Armand runs a theatre company. Are those not hobbies?

Louis explains why he loved photography saying, it’s “wrestling time to the ground. Staring it into submission.” Armand says it’s a human perspective of time, and it is. Because only those who feel the need to wrestle with time are those that know their time can end. Even though immortals can pass, it’s not a clock that ticks down for them in the same way that it does for humans. 

Louis admits photography took his mind off things, and at the time he didn’t think about how pictures “stretching a millisecond into an hour is a reduction.” Because you focus so much on that singular moment, you forget about the context that surrounds it, and what led up to that moment and what happens after.

Memory can work similarly sometimes. The more far removed you are from an event, the more we fixate on certain parts of the story and forget others. 

Claudia and Louis sit outside a cafe while Louis smokes and Louis lies about how he approaches photography and Claudia calls him out on his bullshit and mocks what Louis says because he makes it seem like he approaches it differently than he does, when really, he takes a shortcut. And at that moment it really clicked for me that sometimes Louis is just full of shit. With his words he can make anything look like gold. 

He says, “Let me think I’m deeper than I am.”

The conversation does get deeper, with Claudia asking who Louis is outside of her. And he makes a joke, which is also a different side of Louis than we’re used to seeing. Louis in New Orleans, whether justified or not, seemed like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was in love and emotional, insecure and sensitive, harsh at times, defensive, and impulsive, but I don’t know if he was ever playful in the same way he was in this scene and the scene earlier in the first episode.

Louis makes a joke. His demeanor is playful as he changes his voice and leans into the character. He says he is “a vampire who walks the night, capturing disappointment and regret.” I assume he means with his camera now as I say it, and he shows his fangs.

 But Claudia isn’t messing around. She’s serious and she asks, “If there was no me and no him, who would you be? What would you want and how are you gonna get there?”’

Louis’s playfulness is gone and he looks agitated by the question because in my eyes he doesn’t have an answer, and he’s agitated about the mention of Lestat.

Daniel and Louis argue about what this conversation meant. Daniel said Claudia hated Paris but didn’t want to tell Louis. Louis says she was giving him permission to explore life beyond her. I could see it being somewhere in between, but I did first think she was giving him permission to move on.

Armand takes this opportunity to mess with Daniel and bring up his ex-wife and it makes me think back to what Daniel said, about what happens when he gets too close to the truth. 

Daniel doesn’t let them throwing his memories in his face deter him, and he jumps back into the diary, reading Claudia’s words about how “Louis needs Paris and she wasn’t sure what she needed. Maybe a new brain.” She also writes that “She doesn’t want her unhappiness to mess with his happiness, and she doesn’t want his feelings to depend on hers anymore. She wants to be joyfully joyless.”

So, in a way, they’re both right, though Louis’s viewpoint centers himself and Daniel’s centers Claudia’s.

As she’s walking, Claudia sees a beautiful dress through the store window. Claudia is warned not to go into the store, so of course Claudia does. She looks at the dress up close and starts touching it.

The dressmaker also makes comments about how young Claudia is, through the things she says. They throw shade at each other, it’s a pretty unpleasant interaction for them, typical enemies-to-lovers vibes for us, but Claudia is set on getting the dress and she does. 

Then we get the story about how Armand and Louis met. Louis was in a park he’d go to that was popular among queer people. Armand was impatient, so he approached Louis and Louis says he could sense his ancient power. Armand talks about how handsome Louis is and how ridiculous it was that he thought he could blend in and be invisible. 

Louis says he was worried Armand was going to kill him which makes Armand laugh softly. Daniel is not moved though. I’m moved a little bit, but not in an endgame type of way. It was just cute.

Armand tells Louis “I will not harm you.” and invites Louis and Claudia to the theatre. When Louis goes home, Claudia is trying on her new dress, and Louis tells her vampires found him.

We see an elaborate play that opens with a vampire telling truths laced in jokes. He ends it saying, “Everything you’re about to see is real. Remember that when you leave here tonight. You are all complicit, repugnant, and appalling.”

The plays begin. Louis was impressed with the production and use of animation but says the plays were weird. Armand argues they were timeless, modernized, but passed down through generations, but Louis says they were weird, ending in death or “some kind of cruel barely motivated violence.”

Armand argues that life is cruel and violent, so it’s clear, with the way Armand is arguing, that the plays mean a lot to him.

Louis says Claudia loved them and it was the first time he’d seen her laugh or smile. Louis didn’t understand the effort they put on to make it all seem fake, with the fake vampire teeth, trick rope, fake blood, but Armand says, “it’s luring cattle into a willing belief of disbelief.”

The last performance was the most important one, with a human running on stage, crying and begging for help, telling the audience they were really vampires, and even agreeing to let someone else in the audience to switch places with her when asked.

But the audience is ignorant and blind, one even mocks her, and she continues crying. Louis seems bothered about it but Claudia is really into it. 

The vampire on stage coaxes her into accepting death and then he bites her neck. Other vampires in the ensemble join in and the lights dim. The play ends with the vampires standing in a line and owing. Claudia claps along with the audience, jumping to her feet while Louis remains seated. The main guy on stage winks at Louis and Armand smiles at Louis who claps along but doesn’t seem that into it.

Sanitago, the main guy, complains that they waited five months for them to introduce themselves and asks Maitre (Armand) if it was worth the wait.

Someone giggles, breaking up the tense moment and the rest of the coven is happy they’re there and hug and kiss on Claudia and Louis. Armand introduces everyone. Louis gets hit on.

And then Santiago asks who their makers are and ask if they have the same maker. Louis says yes they do, Claudia says his name is Bruce, and they bounce off of each other, coming up with a backstory.

Claudia asks about the man in the picture hanging on the wall, and Armand says it’s “the co-founder, the finest actor to walk their stage”, Lestat de Lioncourt.

Daniel says he should have seen it coming but didn’t see it coming and then learns that both of them were with Lestat, though Armand clarifies 100 years apart.

Claudia says she saw his picture and panicked, and Louis is worried they will find out they killed Lestat, though Claudia isn’t worried and she really wants this to work because she likes that they are unapologetically vampires and wants to live that way.

Louis doesn’t think it’s safe and he doesn’t want to go back, and accuses Louis of being scared of his lust, because she said she could feel Louis’s and Armand’s tension.

Louis is still worried about the whole thing though, and a part of him is worried or curious about if Lestat is alive, so he visits his lawyer in Paris to see if he had heard from him. The person says he hasn’t, but he knows who Louis is and though he can’t declare him legally dead, he was told to give Louis a box in the event he passed.

Louis opens it and reads a letter, imagining Lestat is really there, reading it to him. In the letter, Lestat writes that he doesn’t want Louis to avenge him, he wants Louis to live his life, and he is “the only being he trusts and loves beyond himself.’ He writes, “All my love belongs to you.”

Daniel in the interview says, ‘Lestat. Lestat. Lestat,” and asks if Armand is a rebound, but Armand says it’s a haunting memory Louis shares and isn’t appreciative of Daniel making a joke out of his pain.

Louis doesn’t appreciate it either, and throws another of Daniel’s memories in his face. While Louis is doing that, Daniel has flashes of Armand doing the same thing, and he looks like he is about to cry as a memory surfaces out of context and this is all while Louis brings up a tough memory about how one of his ex-wives rejected his first proposal.

Louis laughs at his pain, but Armand shifts, looking like he feels bad and assures Daniel, “She wanted to say yes but she didn’t trust you. You hadn’t given her a reason to.”

Louis keeps pushing, asking if Daniel wants to know what she thinks of him now if she even thinks of him.

Armand says “Or we can return to your interview if you just ask the question and then listen which is your job.”

Daniel looks like he ran a marathon and is dazed but agrees to just listen. 

Louis and Claudia were invited on a hunt with the coven. They travelled as a pack through Paris on motorcycles and arrived at a mansion. Armand leads and everyone follows. As they go into the mansion to indulge in the guests, Louis stays back and so does Armand.They share compliments and observations about each other.

Armand makes a comment about how it’s a shame Claudia was made so young because her body will never catch up to her mind, but Louis says she manages

Armand then says she’s good at blocking her thoughts and Louis needs to work on that and he can help him because he noticed Louis’s pause when Lestat’s name was brought up and he advises Louis never to visit Lestat’s lawyers again because it’ll bring up questions and the people there don’t really like liars.

The vibe isn’t friendly as much as it is threatening. Louis calls Armand Maitre, and Armand corrects him, telling him to refer to him as Armand because he hasn’t earned that right yet.

Claudia walks out of the house happy and feeling high from their hunt and the fire they set saying she never wants to leave or hunt alone again.

Episode 3

In episode 3 Daniel gets approached by who he infers is an agent. The agent calls Daniel out, saying Louis and Lestat believed they humbled him with throwing out memories of his ex-wife and the agent also knows that he’s interviewing two of them now… “Well, there was always two of them” but now Daniel knows that he says.

The man reveals that the agency has ties to them and were previously tracking 900 vampires and now that number is 1,600, meaning that Louis didn’t lie when he mentioned The Great Conversion. The agent confirms it’s real and it is happening, and I wonder if we’ll see more of that come up in season 3.

Raglan, the agent, tells Mr. Molloy he isn’t the first to try to interview vampires and it usually ends with the person dead or turned into a vampire, but that primary sources have been encrypted onto his laptop.

Back at their place, after trying to get information out of Rashid about how vampires operate, Armand who was in the room, joins Daniel and apologizes for what Louis did, though he says Daniel was being rude.

Daniel starts recording and asks how vampires are able to stay hidden, Armand says to wait for Louis, and after a pause where Daniel doesn’t turn off his recording, Armand says, people don’t need to sell them anything, so they don’t track them.

Daniel questions how larger society doesn’t know about vampires when they kill often. Aramand says that they see it on the news sometimes, explaining people are easy to distract and vampires exploit their willful ignorance. And that this was, Lestat’s vision.

And then we get Armand’s backstory. How in 1556 he was sent to leave the Paris coven. They lived in filthy conditions, hunted in shame, and obeyed law to protect them from humanity.

And then Armand felt Lestat and knew one of his deserters, Magnus, created him. Lestat broke the fourth law of not revealing his true nature to a mortal and letting that mortal live, which explains why Louis didn’t tell Grace, not that he knew this rule existed, but there actually was a rule on why he couldn’t tell Grace he was a vampire. I had questions about that in the last recap.

But Lestat performed on stage for 500 mortals a night, which Armand thought was against vampire customs, because he saw it as Lestat using his gift for vanity.

Armand calls to Lestat through his mind, telling him to come to him, but Lestat wasn’t interested. It wasn’t until weeks later when Armand sees Lestat with his human lover, that he and Lestat talk face to face. Armand tells Lestat he needs to be with his own and lose the reminder of who he used to be, but Lestat isn’t interested. Armand was worried about losing control of his coven, who watched Lestat do whatever he wanted, and so he uses his vampire powers on Lestat, freezing time and tossing Lestat around.

Lestat asks about this power, and Armand says he can teach him. After more fighting and yelling and Lestat throwing shade at the way Armand and his followers live, Armand grabs Lestat’s lover, Nicky, who we’ve heard a little about in season 1, and he goes off with him.

Armand has Nicky on the table that they place their sacrifices on, and Lestat comes in with a huge cross that he carries on his shoulder. Lestat is worried about Nicky’s condition, because he’s bleeding and knocked out. Lestat mocks the people’s living conditions and forces them to question their beliefs about “Serving God through Satan through Armand” and living in fear of God’s wrath.

Daniel realizes Armand let Lestat come in and destroy everything and Armand confirms it, because he had been thinking everything Lestat had been saying for 50 years, but they wouldn’t have believed him if he said it.

Lestat preaches to the coven, telling them they are the gods and he carries Nicky out. 

Though his coven dispersed, Armand continued following the rituals, saying it was the only thing keeping him sane. Lestat finds him one day and wants to learn about the power that Armand has. They share an intimate moment of kisses on their skin, I’m pretty sure Lestat drinks from Armand’s wrist and Armand asks about Nicky.

Lestat doesn’t answer and Armand says, “Too fragile. I could have warned you,” and then he drinks from Lestat. Lestat proposes an idea to Armand, of using performances and theatres as an opportunity to announce the existence of vampires, drink the blood in plain sight, and perform the rituals.

Lestat and Armand build the theater together, and at some point, end up watching together from a balcony seat. Armand is amazed to see Lestat’s idea come to life and amazed the audience buys that it’s a play. Armand calls out Lestat for getting bored, but Lestat assures him it’s only with the acting and he caresses Armand, asking if they should…

Armand notices Nicky watching who is playing violin for the performance on stage, but Lestat doesn’t care. Armand says he loves Lestat and Lestat pauses then says, “Yes…I love you too.” 

Then we cut to Armand in the interview, who stares at Daniel for a few seconds. Daniel, like me, wants more of the story, but Louis enters saying “They went at it on the floor, Armand taught Lestat the Mind Gift and a week later, Lestat was gone.” 

And let’s unpack that for a second, because would it be fair to say Armand was Nicky’s Antoinette? Just based on how in the first season Lestat has referred to Nicky as someone he loved before Louis. Did Lestat have the same arrangement with Nicky and Armand?

But anyway, Louis greets Armand with a caress on his arm and Armand follows with his eyes, but it didn’t feel loving.…maybe Armand wanted the spotlight? Maybe he was taking a step back into his role and letting Louis lead. Maybe that’s not the truth of what happened. I guess we’ll never know.

Armand and Louis explain that Lestat had his lawyer, with the same last name as the one Louis met with and that waiting for cash and instructions to pay for the theater’s costs in perpetuity. 

Louis then says Lestat abandoned Nicky, Armand, and the coven. “Lestat is, was, and will always be for Lestat.” 

Daniel says to never say I love you to a raging narcissist, so I guess he isn’t done wacking Lestat. Then Armand says he didn’t say them again until he met Louis, and that’s what scared him the most about Louis and they gaze at each other.

Back in the past, Louis and Claudia are rehearsing their backstory because Claudia will start working backstage soon. Armand shows up to their place, and Claudia is allowed to call him Maître. He hazes her and after she leaves, Armand and Louis share a little laugh.

On Claudia’s first day, we learn there are vaults that hold vampires who have passed for breaking laws or going mad basically, and Claudia asks, “what rules,” which she can’t know until the ceremony.

At this time, Armand and Louis take a walk together, talking about Louis’s photography and how the coven says he is in love with humanity, which Louis seems to be, and how Louis never hangs around. 

Armand asks questions about Louis’s maker, Bruce, and keeps trying to get Louis to connect with coven members, but Louis makes it clear he’s not interested and tells Armand if that’s why he’s there he should go.

Armand admits it isn’t the only reason and tells Louis he likes him. Louis tells Armand he likes him too, asking, “Isn’t it obvious?”

Lestat appears at some point in this conversation and Armand says he can sense him in his mind. Louis says, “Maybe I invited you in on purpose,” and Lestat says, “That’s nice mon cher. Lovely,” because Louis is full of it, but Louis is also smooth because after he takes a picture of Lestat, though it seems like he’s taking a picture of Armand, Armand walks closer to him and smiles. “If we were the only vampires in Paris,” Armand says.

Louis says, “It felt like we were,” which we know is a lie because he was just thinking about Lestat. Just as he lied to Claudia about how it was just me and you because he was again, thinking about Lestat. Lestat. Lestat. Lestat.

In the interview, Louis and Armand explain that Armand was supposed to be luring Louis in, but the opposite happened and he ended up spending less time with the coven and more time with Louis in Paris.

Daniel is distracted as Louis talks lovingly about Armand, because he’s opening those files that the agent said were left on his laptop, and asks about Claudia.

Claudia is chatting with Santiago, who is curious about their backstory and shares a little of his own, which is that Armand killed his maker.

Armand and Louis are out debating about evilness and if there are levels to it or if sinning once makes you evil and it leads to questions about “good” and “what goodness is”, if being evil requires a fall from grace, which is a conversation that can tell us in theory what they’re both capable of. 

Someone who thinks sinning once makes you evil will try their hardest not to sin, twist the situation to explain how they’re not sinning, or repent and feel really guilty if they sin, vs. one who believes there are levels in my opinion. And with Louis’s background and some of the conversations in the first season, Louis has a self-righteousness about him, so it’s in line that he would argue that evilness can be defined by one action.

But during this argument, Lestat pops up again, this time playing piano and the record he made for him, and Louis stops engaging, conceding to Armand and putting out his cigarette, which offends Armand, my guess is because it’s out of character for Louis to just throw in the towel like that.

Armand says, “There he is again. And we were having such a nice conversation. Louis apologizes, says he’s been with Bruce 30 years, but Armand is tired saying, “How long are we going to play games, Louis?”

Louis admits Lestat was his companion and Armand says he knew it. Louis admits he killed Lestat, which Armand has said he’s known, and Louis says no when Armand asks if Claudia was involved, though Lestat says yes.

Armand reprimands him for breaking one of their Great Laws, and Louis is stressed, assuming this means Armand is going to kill him. He has an outburst, and leaves and he sees Lestat again and they make out and Louis ends up repeatedly knocking his head into a wall. And when he’s done, he realized he’s doing this to a human because Lestat isn’t real and the picture Louis took was only of Armand and an empty wall, not Lestat.

Louis is freaking out in the red room when Claudia talks to him, wanting to go over their story again after Santiago’s questions. 

Louis wants to confess that Armand knows, but Claudia talks about how Lestat could’ve told them about the theater. She thinks about how Lestat told her vampires were viscous and she met Bruce and realized he was right because Bruce fucked her up. And then talks about how the coven was going to let her join and wanted Louis to be there.

Claudia gets to be the one holding the sacrifice back when Louis comes to support her. Santiago talks about him to Armand, talks about the body found in the park with puncture the wounds on the neck, leading the conversation to the conclusion Louis was the one who had to do it. He tells Armand he has to “do what needs to be done,” since Louis won’t join the coven so that they don’t get ruined.

The rest of the coven backs Santiago up. 

Claudia is inducted into the coven, and Louis is tearful about it. Armand tells Louis the ceremony is only for members and invites him on a walk.

In Claudia’s ceremony, we learn the Great Laws. I’m paraphrasing, but the first law is that each coven has a leader who can decide how the Dark Trick is used on mortals. The second, the Dark Gift cannot be given to crippled, the maimed, or to children. The third, vampires cannot write their history. The fourth, vampires cannot show themselves to mortals and let them live. The fifth, vampires cannot kill another vampire. Only the coven leader can do this, and they must do it to those who have broken any of these laws.

Despite having already broken two of these laws, with her diaries and with killing Antoinette and Lestat, Claudia agrees.

Louis tells Armand he’s leaving Paris as Armand walks with him through the tunnels now that Claudia is squared away. Armand mentions the body in the park, telling Louis the risk he put them in and Louis realizes Armand is threatening him. In the end, Louis accepts it, asks Armand to take his head off instead of setting him on fire and for them to look after Claudia, though Armand says, “She won’t be around very long.”

Louis questions what that means and Armand says because they made her at fourteen, eventually her mind will break apart. “I’ve seen it all before. I’ve seen too much, Louis,” he says when Louis argues Armand doesn’t know her.

Claudia, now a member of the coven, is given an ugly blue dress made for children and told she’ll be starring in a play as a little girl. She’s speechless.

We flip back to Armand and Louis and as they climb back to the street from the tunnel, Louis realizes Armand walked him home. Armand asks if Lestat broke him, and Louis says, “No. But I carry him…and I don’t know if…”

But Armand says Louis will because he did. And Louis learns that Armand and Lestat were together, “A century ago. Yesterday. What is time to a vampire?”

Armand kisses Louis and Louis invites Armand upstairs.

Episode 4

In Episode 4, we see Claudia in the play for the first time, and as it goes on, we realize that this play lowkey mocks Claudia. 

The child gets upset, singing about how she’s “locked away like an old duvet,” and wants to open the window because she believes she’s a bird and wants to fly. The play ends with her eventually jumping out the window to her death.

It loosely parallels how Claudia felt trapped in adolescence at 18 and when she was ready to grow up, she accidentally killed her first love, changing her relationship to humanity. How she felt trapped with Lestat and when she left, she met Bruce and got trapped under the floorboards, which killed off a part of herself. And she’s still stuck in her body as her mind grows old, the play sort of mocking her, saying eventually she’ll “try to fly” as Armand suggested to Louis at the end of the last episode. They also break her legs in the play which is something that happened to her in the past with Bruce. 

Daniel questions how Claudia liked being infantilized. Armand says, “Coven life requires letting go of yourself and she carried her water uphill,” but Louis straight up says she didn’t like it. 

The play became a hit though and after Daniel asks how the coven took it, Louis says they were bitter while Armand says they took it with grace, so still, after all of this time, Armand defends his coven members.

Claudia eventually gets over it, performing with no enthusiasm, though fans are still loving it. Armand writes in the margins of her performance critiquing her acting and in the interview, Louis says “By the 500th performance Claudia was bored” while Armand believes she was intentionally sabotaging it.

Armand calls her out about it in front of the rest of the coven. While Louis sits in the seats reading a book, Claudia says the quiet part out loud. How she’s “a fierce vampire trapped in the body of a little girl,” and how she has to relive condescending remarks every day on stage while humans laugh at her. She asks to work backstage, but Armand doesn’t care, punishing her by forcing her to stay in the dress at all times until her passion for performing returns.

Santiago defends her, saying the crowd doesn’t really care about her performance, which they don’t. Even as she’s grown unenthusiastic, the crowd sings along and is hype about the whole thing, but Armand doesn’t care what humans think.

Santiago keeps going, questioning why Armand is calling Claudia out when there are other vampires among them who have wanted to do their own thing, and not follow what the collective wants.

Louis says, “He has a name,” after they say someone was granted exemption from coven membership. 

Armand defends him, but the coven is annoyed with how Louis doesn’t have to follow the laws and how he doesn’t respect their rituals. This also parallels Lestat, who did the same thing back when Armand and Lestat met of not wanting to follow the laws.

Claudia jumps in to defend Louis, but Santiago keeps going, “Discipline Claudia, but let Louis run wild?” he says. Santiago asks if he and Louis are companions and Louis says no while Armand says yes.

Back at Louis’s place, Armand asks Louis what they’re doing then. Louis is casual about it, and they go back and forth with Louis pointing out that Armand doesn’t know much about his life before being a vampire and that’s okay.

Lestat taunts Louis while Armand and Louis discuss the nature of their relationship, with Armand mentioning the risks he takes on to see Louis and how he’s distancing himself from the coven and keeping their secret about Lestat.

Louis concludes that Armand is saying he wants him to come around more, which Armand confirms, and then he has to leave because of curfew. Louis tells Armand he loves him, and Lestat stifles a laugh.

Daniel says, “Are you schizophrenic, Louis?” which isn’t haha funny, but Daniel just be saying whatever. He’s so blunt about everything, it’s hilarious.

The comedic timing too when Louis says no. He looks off to the side like he has to think about it and decides “No.”

After some more jokes, Louis says basically it felt like Lestat was really there. He could feel him in the air and on his neck, which bothers Armand.

And when Daniel asks if Armand felt Lestat in the room he says no, and that he didn’t know Louis thought about him as much as he did, though he adds he understands because of the vampire bond. 

Daniel brings up the theater’s fires, which he wasn’t supposed to know about, but found in the encrypted folders from the agent. Armand steps forward and looks Daniel in the eye, which triggers memories again of Armand crouching in front of him, talking about his past. 

Daniel blinks out of it and Louis asks about the fire, but then they go back to talking about how Claudia is still journaling, which is against the third law.

Santiago catches her, but doesn’t get her in trouble for it, only warns her what could happen if she’s caught.

Louis joins the coven for dinner and Santiago shittalks Louis to another of the vampires in their mind. Louis rants about Paris ushering in new art forms and halfway through, Santiago recites the words as Louis says them. He eventually mimics Louis, changing his voice to sound like him.

The vibe gets tense, Armand and Louis don’t look pleased though there is a laugh or two, and Santiago clocks that Louis isn’t from Chicago based on his accent and guesses he’s from New Orleans.

Santiago shows his fangs to Louis as Louis calls him a parrot and buffoon.

Louis races over to him and holds him by his tongue in front of everyone and Armand freezes time and it causes the vampires to pass out while he scolds Santiago and Louis. Louis keeps going until Armand says “Enough!” for a second time and then he releases them.

Time continues, the vampires rise, and Louis checks on Claudia before walking out. Armand tells Louis in his mind to come back but he doesn’t listen.

The next scene we get is Louis showing his photographs, I think he’s an art dealer. but the guy basically tells him he doesn’t have the talent, but he has the eye, and Louis is pissed in the moment.

In the interview, Daniel sort of says it’s an artist’s plight to cringe at their early work, but Louis insists he wasn’t that great. Daniel disagrees while he goes through some of the pictures, but Louis says those weren’t his, and questions Armand about why they’re in there.

While they argue about it, Daniel has more flashes of Armand talking to him and sees a body wrapped in plastic on the floor.

Louis pulls him back, telling Daniel he’s embarrassed and wanting to be clear he was an amateur photographer and didn’t want to mislead anyone.

The dressmaker comes to see Claudia’s show after Claudia invites her one night. Claudia and her have a cute back and forth about how awful the show is and Claudia offers to take her home.

Louis is by himself talking to ghost Lestat, looking at the pictures he’s taken and stressing about what the man said about them, making excuses for why he can’t get a good picture. But eventually he asks Lestat to tell him the truth, because as it has come up earlier, Lestat is really the only person that Louis trusts. Lestat tells him the truth, about what’s wrong with the picture and then Armand recites Romeo and Juliet in Louis’s mind.

He comes with flowers and wants to take Louis out, which makes Lestat laugh, but Armand ends up taking Louis to a museum. When a security guard comes to stop them, Armand freezes them and takes his flashlight. Louis isn’t impressed, accusing him of doing what Lestat did of “flexing your power one night and following it with grand groveling.” Lestat appears at the mention of himself.

Armand says he doesn’t like using his powers like how he did and he only does it to discipline his coven, even though we just watched him use his powers to not discipline his coven. As they walk through the museum, Louis gives Armand a list of complaints about Armand flying in like “vampire papa,” Armand says he did it for their protection, Louis says he didn’t like seeing Claudia turned into a puppet, Armand says he treated her as a member of his coven, and Louis mentions the dress and how he doesn’t like her walking around in it, coming to the conclusion that all of this makes Armand look weak.

Armand says, “I am not Lestat, Louis.”

And Lestat and Louis say, “Okay,” at the same time. And I think that Armand says that because Louis did like to get his lashings in with Lestat. In the first season Louis thinks Lestat liked to be talked back to, and so I think Armand is saying he doesn’t like it. He can’t be provoked the same way.

Louis asks Armand who he is and Armand tells his backstory, pointing out a painting his maker made with him starring in it and talking and his connection to the museum. We learn he was rescued from a brothel at 15, named Arun then, he thinks but he was abused so badly he isn’t confident about it. That his maker ended up buying him and eventually turned him, though he refused to for a while and that the coven burned down his maker and his maker’s painting studio before sending Armand to Paris to lead the coven because Magnus, Lestat’s maker, abandoned it.

Armand says, “Am I my history I have endured? Am I the job I do not want? I don’t know anymore…” and that’s something Louis can relate to because Louis is also trying to figure out who he is in Paris.

One of the other vampires telepathically reaches out to Armand to alert him of something, interrupting the moment.

While all this is going on, Claudia is with the dressmaker, having her take in their dresses. We learn that Madeline’s family died because of TB and that people kept painting nazi signs on the window because she used to sleep with a lieutenant in the war.

The dressmaker notices Claudia hasn’t aged and notices her eye, but Claudia makes an excuse and offers her own life story, and when asked why Claudia thinks she searches it out, Claudia says, “There’s something broken within me. A collision in me.”

In the conversation, the dress maker gets her period and Claudia’s fangs come out, but Claudia hides them and tells her about them, which is a significant moment because Claudia doesn’t care about humans and she is known not to have any self-control, but in this moment, she showed restraint. So, Madeline must be special.

Armand finds her in the dress shop and drags her back home, listening to Claudia complaining about the role, but Armand doesn’t care. Claudia says she “missed a chore and made a friend,” basically saying it’s not the end of the world and complains how she isn’t able to make friends with the coven because they’ve been excluding her.

Armand holds her up against a pillar, lifting her under her armpits like you would a child and threatens her, saying most would kill her like she did her maker. He demands her to leave the dressmaker alone and go do her chores and when she walks off, Armand pulls Santiago out of the shadows by his neck and holds him up, telling him to fall in line or he will kill him.

Louis is burning his pictures, talking with Lestat, when Claudia comes in and accuses Louis of telling Armand about Lestat. Louis says he already knew and Claudia says she gave him details.

Louis believes Armand can be trusted and Claudia is pissed that Louis is defending Armand and she asks, “What about “Me and you. You and me. Me and you.”

Louis argues that  the theater was the first place that Claudia was happy and he didn’t want to ruin it for and they argue about it with Claudia telling Louis he always has to be chasing it, I assume it is companionship or sex, and she tells Louis that Armand threatened her. Louis doesn’t believe her at first, but Claudia says, “Oh I forgot! Love makes you stupid. Love makes you fickle and weak and blind. Let me guess he’s your companion finally? Well good for you. You and him. Him and you!” And she walks out of the room, but Louis says she chose the coven.

While Louis heads out too, Santiago and members of the coven break into their place.

Louis and Lestat banter and end up sitting on a park bench and at first Lestat thinks he summoned Armand to break things off with him, but then he realizes Louis is ending things with himself. They have a really cute moment, with Louis commanding Lestat and them gazing at each other before Louis decides to let him go and Lestat fades away.

Armand joins him where Lestat was sitting, the symbolism, and Louis told Armand he felt his panic. Armand is stressed because he knows he’s losing control of his coven and that Santiago is going after his job. Armand advises Louis to leave because it isn’t safe, but Louis says he’s staying with Armand and tells him, “I’m not an artist, but I used to be real good at running things.”

And then we see him tell Armand he is a little wet and that’s all it took for Armand to open the umbrella for him. He advises Armand to give the job to Santiago. Louis says to just give him a little bit so he can overplay his hand, and that the coven will see Santiago fail and want Armand back, and Armand can decide if he wants to go back. Or if he wants something else.

And Armand tells Louis that he wants him, more than anything in the world and calls Louis Maître.

Little do they know, Santiago found Claudia’s diaries, detailing everything that’s happened in their past and with Lestat. And that the coven already calls Santiago Maître.

In real time, Louis and Armand are arguing about the pictures from earlier that weren’t his and Louis says, “You think I need to be coddled, hyped up, lied to.”

And I think the answer is yes because there’s a protectiveness everyone has over Louis. Lestat brings Claudia back to protect Louis’s feelings. Claudia comes back to grab Louis partly because she didn’t want to go alone, I think, but also because she wanted to protect Louis from Lestat. And Armand is trying to protect Louis from his coven. And I just want to know why?

Daniel hears them arguing but ignores them, looking through the archived files he was sent by the agent. He has flashes of memory of Armand again and of Louis talking in their first interview, which leads him to searching his name in the files and see pictures of him and Louis walking and of him being carried out of somewhere by two people. 

Daniel sees unedited audio from their first interviews and starts playing it, but what’s different is that it’s an extended version, and he hears Armand and Louis arguing on the tape because “things got heated with a boy.”

If you made it here, thank you! That’s the end of the first four episodes of Season 2. 

The rest will be out soon!

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