There is not enough chatter in the streets about Interview with the Vampire being the best show currently on television for my liking.
I need billboards and someone standing on a street corner with a sign telling everyone to watch this show and give it the full recognition it deserves.
Shows this captivating and striking don’t always come around, and we should be so lucky to have this series.
The vampire trial could have been the climax of the season easily. It was painful and horrifying, but it was a beautifully crafted television episode.
Then Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 8 came along and decided to break our hearts and put them back together.
How did Louis get out of the crypt?
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That had to be the number one question heading into this final hour, and it was undoubtedly fresh on Daniel’s mind as Louis and Armand carefully laid out the fallout from the trial.
According to him, Armand was suitably shunned and flying under the radar while Santiago ran the coven; however, Santiago ran the coven.
I understand Louis is a vampire, and being buried alive isn’t the same as it is happening to a human, but that doesn’t make it any less painful to hear how much he disassociated while trapped inside a tomb, slowly starving to death.
Jacob Anderson is always tremendous, and he especially shined this season when they called upon him to do even more. His blank expression while remembering some of the most traumatic moments in his life was riveting and so disturbing simultaneously.
You could see him reliving everything and transporting himself back to a time when he’d felt that low, just wasting away and waiting to die, all while contemplating what small changes in his long life could have helped to change his current outcome.
Just typing that out sends a chill down my spine.
Considering Louis and Armand’s 77 years of “bliss,” it was apparent Armand got him out, and they reconciled. However, seeing it play out was fascinating, especially seeing how much Louis struggled, understandably, in the aftermath of Claudia’s death.
Madeleine was truly a forgotten entity in this whole thing. Even though she was Louis’s fledgling, they never cultivated a bond.
Louis’s John Wick revenge plan was about getting justice for Claudia against the vampire coven she wanted so badly to accept her at first, who ultimately broke her down to watch her burn.
Louis came out of those sewers with one goal in mind, and as he gathered his strength, the Louis we know started to come back piece by piece. The one who first emerged was weak and also filled with fury.
It was interesting his subconscious conjured up one of his victims to help him with his master plan, as if he was so consumed with his pain that he needed that push from someone else.
Armand, desperate, poor Armand, pleading with Louis to leave and save himself, was on par with Armand, except he wasn’t doing it for the right reasons.
Though knowing the truth about the trial and Armand’s role in it, why did Armand eventually save Louis?
I guess it’s easy to surmise that it was done from a place of love for Louis, but it’s so hard to be moved by that when Armand was an active participant in what happened to Louis.
But before we get into all that, Louis’s coven demolition was sexy and exhilarating, and it couldn’t have played out better for him.
What sweet justice for Louis to get over on the vampires who always felt they were so much better than Louis de Pointe du Lac.
They were so much better than the vampires who shunned the coven’s life and didn’t feel the need to form a bond with strangers solely based on their like-minded food preferences.
Louis outsmarted and outwitted them, especially Santiago, whose gigantic ego wouldn’t allow him for a second to see that he was walking into a trap.
Santiago was one hell of a villain until the end. His coven was in shambles, and he ran through the sewers like a rat while engaging in the worst display of toxicity one can engage in to make sure Louis knew it was he who caused him pain.
His severe narcissism wouldn’t let him even entertain the idea that Louis was going to beat him when he outsmarted him so severely and killed someone so dear to him.
Oh, you really thought you were doing something with that filth you were spewing, Santiago.
Say that shit about Claudia to my face.
Louis
The whole sequence of events was done so well, and the music was a nice touch, giving it the air of some clandestine meeting between two rivals meeting in a café bar in a spy noir.
Santiago’s beheading was like the straw that cut the rage from Louis’s back, and suddenly, his most recent purpose was gone. He was so hellbent on getting his revenge that once he got it, what was left?
When something consumes you for so long, especially extreme wrath, it can be difficult to flip that switch. To suddenly wake up in the evening without the need to formulate a plan.
All roads lead back to Louis and Armand, as we know from their existence in Dubai, but Louis barely made him work for his forgiveness!
On the one hand, Louis was tired. He’d been emotionally drained by everything he’d gone through, and while physically restrained, energy draining out of every pore, he’d had to process and try to grieve Claudia.
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After setting the theater on fire and killing his way through the coven, a weight was lifted, but the heaviness set in.
On the other hand, Armand broke his trust repeatedly. And even while believing that he saved him, Armand was no savior.
There’s no point in being too hard on Louis, though, because the vulnerability and suffering of that time isn’t something you can fully comprehend unless you’re in their shoes.
He was now staring at a world where Lestat was walking around, and Claudia was not. I can’t begrudge him for wanting to spend time with someone and not be utterly alone.
Armand was there. Armand had lied, but he’d also helped him. They had years upon years to try and make things right.
Lestat was one of the only vampires whose name remained unchecked on the vampire kill list. And look, I get it.
Out of anyone, Lestat would be the one Louis felt most betrayed by. He watched Lestat sit on that stage and participate in a play whose sole purpose was to kill his daughter. And Louis, as well!
I can’t forget about Louis.
One thing that was noticeable about Louis as he summoned Santiago to him and got his revenge was how stoic he was. There was no panic, no second-guessing.
And the same went for his encounter with Lestat. He was calm and prepared to do what he had to, and none of Lestat’s manipulations would hinder that.
But once it was clear that Lestat could not be killed by simple fire, Louis’s pivot to soul-crushing heartbreak was gasp-worthy.
Louis: Here’s your death, Lestat. He and I are going to spend the rest of our lives together. Wherever your miserable life takes you. Whoever you find to endure time with. Whatever pale proxy of me. I’ll be with him. I just wanted you to know that.
Lestat: Well. Enjoy it.
I’m not sure he even fully believed what he was saying at that moment because there was an obvious chasm in Louis and Armand’s relationship at that point, even if they were on the road to reconciliation, but it didn’t matter.
All Louis needed was for Lestat to believe it. For Lestat to see him kiss someone else and pledge himself to them. For Lestat to close his eyes every morning and see images of Louis and Armand kissing in a dimly lit lair before he was submerged in his coffin sleep.
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Lestat displayed such restraint, which had historically not always been something he’s excelled at. But knowing everything was a farce, Armand and Lestat knew the truth, and Armand stayed quiet for obvious reasons. Lestat’s restraint was quite impressive in retrospect.
And maybe impressive may be too strong a word, but he had to decide for himself and Louis. He let Louis go, something he’d been so unwilling to do in the past.
Lestat wanted Louis to live. He was never going to let Louis die. And if Louis wanted Armand and that life, he wouldn’t stop him, even if it broke his heart.
To think that Louis then lived 77 years walking hand-in-hand with Armand, not knowing the truth, is pretty damn wild.
And the fact that it took that long for him to learn the truth is also wild.
Daniel Molloy tapped into his journalism bag when Louis and Armand ended the interview, his suspicions overriding logic and self-preservation.
Daniel had never recovered from the Rashid lie exposed during Interview with the Vampire Season 1 Episode 7, and he’d never had an ounce of trust or respect for the vampire ever since.
He’d seen something nefarious in him and his union with Louis, and hearing what happened at the trial helped align certain events for him, and that first-addition play script tied everything up with a bow.
Was Armand being a liar and helping orchestrate the entire trial really that much of a surprise? Was it genuinely shocking that Armand, the longstanding coven leader, was willing to watch his companion die while following the great laws?
It’s completely on-brand for Armand when you think about it.
Did Armand love Louis? I think he did and still does. But back in Paris, with the walls closing in and Louis someone he couldn’t control in the ways he perhaps wanted, the deaths of Louis, Claudia, and Madeleine were something he was willing to do.
Something he helped orchestrate!
And that’s to say nothing of the satisfaction he would have gleaned from seeing Lestat have to witness their deaths, his bloodline being decimated right in front of his eyes, and the crackling of Lestat’s heart when the love of his life disintegrated mere feet away from him.
Louis had every right to destroy that penthouse and take everything out on Armand, but he kept his feelings controlled yet again. And his escape to New Orleans, to his beginning, was such a full-circle moment for Louis.
Now, why he chose to leave Dubai without ensuring that Daniel was safe from the vampire whose life he just ruined, I’ll never know, but then we wouldn’t be getting multi-millionaire, well-known conspiracy theorist Daniel to enjoy in season 3.
Louis’s New Orleans pilgrimage seemed like an excuse to re-center himself to his past. He spent so long running from it, choosing to see it in a particular light because of the torment it represented in him.
To walk those streets with a smile? That’s not something I would have guessed from Louis before he found out the truth.
Now, the reunion of all reunions came about unexpectedly, but wasn’t that the only way it could have come about?
There are so many questions surrounding Lestat that we don’t get answers to here, but it’s obvious he’s been in New Orleans for some time, and he’s much less surprised to see Louis than Louis is to see him.
Lestat’s been seemingly bidding his time, waiting for Louis to figure out the truth, not expecting it to take as long as it did.
Louis: Did you save my life in Paris?
Lestat: I gave you to Armand. You tell me if that was saving.
Louis: Why didn’t you say it was me who saved you, not him?
Lestat: I don’t like to point out my virtues. Besides, I knew you’d figure it out. And look. You have. I was right. All hail me.
The scene played out beautifully, with a raging hurricane outside threatening to consume them, the devastation a perfect representation of their entire union.
Lestat tried so hard to keep his cards close to the vest, and it was such classic Lestat to deflect with humor and keep Louis at bay, no doubt still reeling from what happened in that lair, even if it had been decades.
Louis had to breach the space and guide much of the conversation.
They had so much to talk about. There were years to discuss and unpack if they wanted to, but those initial minutes weren’t the time to hurl accusations or hurt one another.
They were to be free and honest to one another in a way they stopped doing long before Louis watched Lestat bleed out on the floor.
There was such raw and pointed emotion in both Louis and Lestat’s voices, and words can’t even describe how excellent Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson were in that scene, which was the first one-on-one we’ve ever had of them in the present day.
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Their whole dynamic is complicated, and much will be made about Louis thanking Lestat, considering everything Lestat put him through. Still, Louis’s acceptance of himself shouldn’t be shamed either.
Lestat doesn’t get a pass for his actions. You don’t forget about the abuse and trauma he inflicted because he’s hurting, but his emotions in that scene were genuine.
He’d been haunted by the call from Armand in San Francisco. Claudia’s death had haunted him. Louis’s absence had haunted him.
That hug was over 70 years in the making.
The abruptness of the scene cut was genius because even if we never got another hour of Interview with the Vampire, our lasting image of Lestat and Louis would be an embrace with the world falling down around them.
I can’t find a better way to summarize their relationship.
Extra Thoughts
- Daniel going nuclear on national television was such a Daniel thing to do. Never change.
- Louis fully embraces his nature and calls out all the vampires to come for him if they want, which is a great way to end this chapter of the series. Could you imagine Louis from Interview with the Vampire Season 1 Episode 1 doing something like that?
- I’m glad they showed us Louis grabbing Claudia’s notebooks and dress from the theater before it all went up in flames. It was a small thing, but a nice touch.
- The Talamasca played a big role here, and it only made me more excited for the spinoff!
- Where in the world is Armand?
- Having seen Queen of the Damned, I have a working knowledge of Akasha, and there’s no way they dropped that name here for it not to play an important role moving forward.
Well, folks, somehow, this series has only improved, culminating with two truly magnificent hours.
As we wait for its return, do me a favor and let me know in the comments how you felt about the ending, what questions you still have, and what you’re looking forward to seeing when the show returns for season 3!
Whitney Evans is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is a lover of all things TV. Follow her on X.