If there's one thing to know while indulging in the phenomenon that is Interview with the Vampire, things are often not as they seem.
This hour detailed the events leading up to the trial, which those who've read the novels will remember quite well.
All roads were meant to converge at this exact intersection, so while the closing moments were less than surprising, this was another standout hour in a series full of them.
After reliving the events in San Francisco, there was an unmistakable chill in that great Dubai penthouse, with Louis and Armand as far apart as we've ever seen them.
And I mean that literally, as the two men sat on opposite chairs, a direct contrast to the united front they displayed when they first sat down together to rehash the memories of their past to a man who played an important role in it.
Louis and Daniel both had a major chip on their shoulder, and for good reason. Daniel has never trusted Armand, and Louis must have questioned himself and his relationship with Armand. How could you not?
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Are your memories truly your own? Or an amalgamation of your own and those of the man who loves you?
The Dubai scenes are often some of the funnier and more intriguing moments of each hour, as Daniel does his best to get to the heart of matters, all while satisfying his own natural curiosities.
Daniel: I want to get out alive.
Ragland James: You want a book.
Daniel: I want...both.
Ragland James: You fear Armand. You should fear the other one.
But throughout this twisted journey the three of them have taken, Daniel and Louis have almost formed this very tenuous and oddly defined friendship, which felt pronounced here when they were both so clearly not buying everything Armand was selling.
And what Armand was selling was a tale in which he was being outwitted and outsmarted by the coven and so blinded by love that he never saw it coming.
If you take things back to the beginning, Louis and Claudia were doomed from the minute they arrived in Paris, unaware of the vampire rules and immediately placing them into this other box they could never escape.
They were never truly a part of the coven. Claudia joined them and still felt like an outcast, which was part of the reason she sought refuge and comfort with Madeleine in the first place.
Louis was out falling in love and cultivating his own life, while Claudia was again on her own. It was supposed to be different this time. It was supposed to be her and him, but suddenly, it was him and him, and she had no one who was going to choose her first.
In an eight-episode season, there's not enough time to explore every single storyline in depth, and we didn't get to spend nearly enough time with Claudia and Madeleine.
Their bond was told to us more than shown, but it didn't necessarily matter in the long run because, in the short time we spent with the pair, a sense of familiarity and understanding bled through their scenes.
They saw something in one another, creating respect and a desire to know each other deeply. They weren't in love in those Paris days, not in a romantic sense (not yet at least), but there was a deep connection, and Madeleine was becoming and ultimately became the closest thing to a partner Claudia had ever had.
Claudia's had moments where she could have done things differently. She's had bouts of immaturity and hasn't always done things the right way.
Exposing herself to Madeleine and then allowing her to live, even allowing her to read her journals and ask questions, goes against all the vampire rules.
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But Claudia found something for herself that she wanted, and she would be damned to give it up, especially when she'd already broken some of the precious vampire rules.
It's easy to understand why Claudia wanted to turn Madeleine, and it's easy to feel empathy for her as she was forced into this vampire life. She's never found another vampire whom she's felt connected to in the way she's seen others.
She was slowly drained of her sanity being couped up in a home with the dysfunction that was Louis and Lestat. Then she came to Paris, only to be surrounded by a coven and other relationships she would never infiltrate, nor did she want to.
She wanted what others had. A companion. Someone to have just for herself. It could be her and her, and she could believe that it would be true and stay true, no matter where they went or what new entities they found over the years.
For her part, Madeleine was clearly a survivor. Someone who'd been through a lot, in a different way from Claudia, but still a lot and came out the other side. She didn't come out happy, but she came out.
Meeting Claudia and being introduced to vampirism felt like something she wanted to embrace, an inner otherness she could explore alongside Claudia, someone who made her feel something she hadn't felt in some time.
It was interesting to see Madeleine's excitement here after Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 5 when a drugged-up Daniel was practically begging Louis to turn him, as he was seduced by Louis's story and the idea of immortality and an escape from his current life.
Madeleine seemed seduced by the idea of vampirism but in a different way. It was an escape but also a new beginning for her. And she wanted to do it alongside Claudia, whom she felt a lot for.
When she was being turned, and Louis saw Claudia through Madeleine's eyes, it was such a beautiful moment, especially for Louis to feel and see someone admire Claudia in the way he's always wanted for her.
Now, as we saw, she almost wasn't turned at all, and there were so many fascinating dynamics at play as the quest to turn Madeleine ramped up.
Everyone was playing a game, trying to get what they wanted from someone else.
Claudia, ever the Lestat hater, wanted Armand to turn Madeleine, and Louis tried to convince Armand to do it while Armand was busy doing whatever it was Armand did when Louis wasn't around.
Was Armand wrong to call Claudia a manipulator? Was she not using her and Louis's past to guilt him into convincing Armand to give her a companion?
Again, I could understand why she wanted it, but to act as if she wasn't pulling some strings to get what she wanted wouldn't be reality.
Hearing Louis refer to Claudia as a burden had both her and me feeling some type of way because, whether true or not, Claudia didn't ask to be turned. She didn't ask for any of it, and she'd always done the best she could with the cards she'd been dealt.
And she's always felt like a burden, her whole damn life when she was meant to be protected and loved.
Claudia: Without the burden of me.
Louis: I said it to get him through the door.
Claudia: Did you mean it?
Louis: Does it matter? I got the result.
Claudia a burden TO Louis? Spare me, Louis. Spare me.
The whole hour kept building to SOMETHING going wrong; it was just a matter of when that something would come.
Armand was putting on quite the act in Dubai, really playing up the angle that he was such a dummy back in Paris, entirely unaware of what was happening under his nose, though that didn't match what we saw play out through their memories.
Present-day Armand felt guilty but guilty for what? He followed Louis's plans and kept the coven off Louis and Claudia's backs.
If they'd found out about Madeleine, they'd be dead after all.
And Armand chose Louis! He chose Louis over the coven he'd spent years with. True love prevails! Loumand forever and ever!
They gave him a choice. He chose.
Louis
What a shock to learn that Armand ultimately sold them down the river. By shock, I mean not at all shocking because they've been slowly setting Armand up to be the true villain of this story.
Louis asked Armand to imagine Louis without the burden of Claudia, and the potential of Claudia being gone forever, and not just in a different country, was something Armand couldn't pass up apparently.
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Now, how we go from the trial to the scene before us in Dubai is the real question we need to ask ourselves. How does Armand come back from this and stay in this "happy" coupling with Louis for the past however many years?
Would it be silly of me to ponder whether or not things we'll see in that trial or after that have been alerted in Louis's memory? It wouldn't be the first time.
It was super convenient of Armand to hit Louis with the 'you asked me, too' line regarding his missing memories because Louis cannot corroborate those claims.
You could see Daniel's face crumble as Armand told Louis because Armand had Louis hook, line, and sinker in seconds. The mini-rage building inside him extinguished with a paltry explanation that set Armand up as the one doing good.
The one who should be given grace. The one who did wrong but acknowledged his shame and deserved small mercy.
As I said before, the dynamics this hour were center stage and so damn engrossing.
If Louis's memories about the trial are just fine, then is it possible that Louis was involved in what happened to Claudia?
I don't even want to speak that out loud, but Claudia's pointing out the way he'd grown stronger and harder, coupled with his whole 'I did not care' speech, has me more than curious about what's poised to happen during this gutwrenching trial.
And that's to say nothing of the LESTAT DE LIONCOURT of it all!
Lestat's back. He's looking as Lestat as ever. And the trial we've all been dreading has finally arrived.
Everything as we know it is about to change forever.
Extra Thoughts
- Finding out Armand never turned anyone felt like heavy foreshadowing. Hearing him question Madeleine, almost talking her out of her decision, was a neat way to showcase Armand's complicated emotions about his existence as a vampire.
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- Ragland James was back, and the Talamasca sliding some questions to Daniel is certainly a twist! What exactly are they after here? Where does Daniel truly fit in? And how can Daniel use them to get what he wants? We'll have to stay tuned!
- Speaking of the Talamasca, Rashid is a double agent for them? He must have his mind locked down like a fortress.
- The coven members reading Claudia's diaries right up under her nose! Gosh, this is all so heartbreaking because she truly had no idea what was happening just a few feet away from her.
- Okay, hear me out. When Madeleine told Louis she could feel his love for HIM, was the him in question actually Lestat? He's told Armand that he loves him, so that didn't make a ton of sense to me for it to be about him. Could she have been feeling his love for Lestat, who was very much alive and about to return to him?
- Santiago is such a smug jerk, and he's the perfect villain for this part of the story. Ben Daniels is absolutely brilliant here.
Are you ready for the trial? Are you ready for the Louis, Lestat, and Claudia reunion?
This next one will be a doozy, folks. But while we wait, drop all your comments about this hour below so we can talk it all out!