#Louis calling him 'Arun' and Armand calling him 'Maitre' okay!

[regicidal-defenestration]

Easy to look at Louis and Lestat and think "okay this is pretty fucked up surely Louis can only go up from here" but then in walks Armand

[nalyra-dreaming]

COMMENTS on 2x04 - SPOILERS ahead, obviously^^

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God that play is really…. and to see the joy just leave Claudia

And the foreshadowing with her soul leaving her body!!!!!! Holy shit.

Louis’ face mirroring the disillusionment.

Lol, Santiago getting a BJ while getting ready and bitching about the play. 💀

Armand and Louis in Dubai saying different things about that time…

Armand’s notes threw😬 me - and to call her lack of enjoyment of this play after 500 performances sabotage? Definitely a choice.

Ah, I see that is where that Santiago outfit comes in^^ - I would not have expected it to be Claudia there. I so feel for her there, it is so bitter. And Santiago having her back there and challenging Armand (and his relationship with Louis) damn. Also, Louis being so… IDK. Happy to ignore the warning signs now??? Ouch.

The coven going at each other, lol

That discussion “after”. And Louis’ “inner Lestat” commenting on it all - bitter

“Do you notice how hot the room gets”!!!!! FUCK

“I try to find the vulnerability in the object.” DAMN

The laughter. And Louis calling himself out there lmao.

They didn’t like Daniel changing track that’s for sure^^.

Santiago and Claudia 😭 - god I wished. And his warning her… damn.

Oh…. so THAT is where the “tender” comes in. Ouch again.

Madeleine and Claudia

The mimicry at the banquet. Ohhhhh it’s going to go SO BAD

But it’s nice to see that when Louis snaps… he snaps^^. Canon, baby, canon.

I felt so bad for him at the photography evaluation…

The fragility comment re Armand.

The photographs mixed in!!!! Holy shit. What is going on there - has been going on there????

“This is a Stein”. LOL Armand… “Probably Rashid”. Yeah, sure.

The body in the plastic!!!! Oh we are going full horror next episode, aren’t we.

Louis letting his “inner Lestat” criticize him. Aw sweetie. “I end up eating them”…. yeah.

The laughter again. And ”Lestat” mocking Armand as being “barely Balthasar”. 💀 Oh Louis. (I do feel bad for Armand. He wants love so badly.)

Madeleine’s story. One of many I would think. I … liked how they did it.

The Louvre.

“Vintage Lioncourt” - and then his “inner Lestat”!!! That expression, lol. And also the “ha” later… that is interesting.

In sync. “Okay” Argh.

HOLY SHIT! I KNEW THEY WOULD GO FULL IN AND DARK. AND THEY ARE 😵‍💫 OHHHH DAMN.

The coven abandoned by Magnus(??). And “Lestat” shaking his head.” Interesting.

I ALMOST thought we would get a Memnoch-type event!!!!! Damn, I wanted them to go there :))))

Armand threatening Claudia -.- . And letting her know. Talk about making things clear.

The thing about Santiago’s maker again...

Practicing the fire gift I see. Ah yisssss. *rubs hands*

“manipulative gremlin” LOOOOOLLLL LOUIS HOLY SHIT

God that scene with Claudia. Me and you, indeed.

“Bad decisions”. “Love makes you stupid”. “The wilderness that is our daughter”. 😭😭😭😭

Louis trying to say goodbye to Lestat there… heartbreaking. “An elicit couple out for the cheat”. Yeah. No double meaning at all. NONE. Their theme.The initials stitched in. Letting the rain pour down. Summoning Armand. “Mutiny brewing”. 😭 God Louis, why didn’t you just leave. “I used to be real good at running things”. Louis geeeeeeeeezzzzzz you are playing with FIRE. (Yes, I know, foreshadowing.)

And Santiago and the others using that moment to get the evidence they “need”. 💀

“You sure about that, Arun?” “Yes, Maitre.” Ohhhhh fuck. So fucking dangerous. “He is Louis’ creature indeed.” DAMN. Louis dammit you beeeeep Sorry, but honestly, that was… STUPID. You make your only protection look WEAK.

And them arguing in the bedroom. Louis probably having done that himself??!?!!!

Daniel using the time to go through the material - and remember. Oh the FORESHADOWING

And cut.

So in total:

Loved it, lots of very bitter foreshadowing once more. Loved all the little flashback hints. Knowing where the “tender” as a description for them comes from is… 😬. Louis trying to let Lestat go - I KNEW that would be a breakup scene, but I had guessed it would be another one that came later in the book^^, loved this change though. Unfortunately we already know it won’t quite work… Louis deciding to (try to) let Lestat go (which we know won’t work), and trying to take the “bull by its horns”… god. I mean. I get him. But that made my teeth hurt I clenched them so hard because that is literally… like, I said it above, but ARMAND calling HIM “maitre”? When the coven is already plotting? Oh boy. Not good in the long run. Not good.

So yeah. Loved it. So much in it!!!

And... my heart breaks for Armand.

__

And the EPISODE INSIDER. Spelling it out once more: (A gag order definitely dropped away^^)

“Lestat is just ruining Armand’s and Louis’ romantic evenings together.”

“He almost takes on the Lestat role in his relationship with Armand.” 😬

“Louis’ relationship is a response to his relationship with Lestat.” “Armand is a rebound. A rebound that lasts for 70 to 80 years.” 💀

“I think Louis knows he can get away with more.” “Like Armand is maybe a bit of a pushover. He realizes he can manipulate that relationship a little bit more.” (LOOOOOOL JACOB)

“Ghost Lestat [] is also like Louis’ doubts about Armand.” “He tries to accept Armand the way he is.”

“Armand will always see a little bit of Lestat in Louis.” “His paranoia is all encompassing.”(!!!!)

“It’s this really sad aspect of his life.” (indeed.)

And last, but not least:

“But it’s also seeing Louis slip faster with Armand than she had planned.”(!!)

HOLY SHIT. 💀

[flopgirlsummer]

honestly, Armand is so cringe and I am so sad for him.

he gives off the most try-hard vibes in everything he does and Daniel is not having it, which is valid. he calls him out every time he tries to come off as blazé or superior and Armand tries to put some mansplain manipulate malewife-energy into his side of the story in the interviews. even with krypto boy’s/lunch menu’s shades on Armand ist getting outcunted by both Louis and Daniel just sitting there (and probably Real Rashid). he ate for like a second, but then he just radiates such desperate, ancient boomer energy that it’s off-putting.

Armand's dominant facade is exhausting for him to perform and for all of us to witness. he just needs to relax and sit down next to Louis on a cushion on the floor and stop levitating to try and remind everyone of his powers. we know you're strong honey. you’re cute, but you are not the assertive, badass bitch you would like to be and that’s okay, jesus. him being enslaved, groomed and then appointed as head of a coven is just cruel at this point. he craves guidance and approval, but since he cannot get it outside of the Maitre/Arun role-play he just tries to manipulate his way to the top of the food chain. when actually, he should be hand-fed by DanLouisRashid while they pat his curls. I want them to have a cozy, healthy Dom/switch/sub dynamic with sane and and consensual play. so, yeah.

[mousehousediary]

one of the things that makes the louis/armand dynamic so arresting to watch is that while armand's submission is illusory in that not for a second does louis have genuine power over armand, it never comes off as cynical on armand's end. instead, assad plays him with this heartwrenching earnestness and vulnerability. you can tell how badly he wants and needs to believe that he really will obey louis in anything. his desire to reenact/reimagine his trauma is such a deep-seated compulsion and he gets swept away in it in a heartbeat.

meanwhile, even though he clearly enjoys it on some level and gets something out of it (i.e. feeling like he's too dom top to be abused) there's a touch of awkward self-consciousness to the way jacob plays louis taking on the maitre role. like he's almost embarrassed for himself and armand when he does it, bc he can't help but feel the artifice of the performance ("every hat you're forced to wear: the stern landlord, the deferential businessman, the loyal son").

idk, it's so fascinating to watch bc this is the one aspect of their relationship that armand seems incapable of approaching with any kind of studied artifice, even as it's a major driving force behind the idea of himself as perpetual victim that underpins so much of his abuse of louis. meanwhile, louis, who shrugs on the role self-consciously, does it yes to try to be the patriarch instead of the housewife this time around, also seems to do it imo out of a kind of tenderness and compassion? he doesn't know how else to reach out to armand about his past as arun & amadeo and so he's responding to armand's deep-seated desire to replay it.

like. okay, the bench scene. i'm not SURE about this reading bc louis has already initiated the d/s play through prompting armand to hold his umbrella for him at this point (plus he delivers it with a brusqueness and confidence that could mean it's like a rhetorical dom question) but like, it's notable to me that the first time louis calls armand "arun" it's him asking armand if he's sure that he wants him. "arun" here carries, as it always does, the meanings of both its possible origins: both the abuse armand suffered at the brothel and the mythical, opaque possibility of a past (& a family & a heritage) that existed before the abuse. he's asking him: are you, someone who has had choice taken from him for so long, sure that you want me? and are you, whoever you want to be outside of everything that's been done to you, sure that you want me? like, he's doing him the same kindness that claudia does him: asking him "who are you? what do you want? how are you gonna get there?" and it's a kindness that armand notably never reciprocates.

but yeah this is all just yapping but all to say that i think the texture of jacob and assad's performances adds so much to their relationship. it could have been as simple as "whoa, can you imagine a d/s relationship where the sub is the abuser?" which like, yes, yes i can, but the way it's written and performed, it's so much more than that. it's this nexus point through which so much of their relationship runs: the love and tenderness, the skewed power dynamic, louis' compassion, armand's obsession with worship and servitude, his shifting all culpability to louis at all times even as he robs him of actual choice, their shared desire to replay past abuse through each other in a way that they can control. im cwazy.

[nalyra-dreaming]

"And if a friend wandered into town I was occasionally...donated"

How resigned Armand sounded about this. No emotion just the exhausted resignation that he was still in the brothel, but this time doing it because he desperately wanted to make Marius happy. Probably felt like he had no choice he needed to make the man he loved happy, he knew what Louis was and it must’ve felt like repeating his life over and over.

Staring at the painting he was raped for in payment.

It was gross not gonna lie watching Louis turn back into the pimp. Especially when you think of S1 the confession in the church where he had a self aware moment that he knew what it must be like for the girls he employed.

“Stuffed cotton in my ears so I didn’t hear their cries!”

This moment I have a lot of thoughts and feelings and I’m not okay not at all. Next episode gonna kill us all. Rolin how dare you, Assad how dare you!

I mean... let's be real - love or no love, ARMAND had no say in being given to the guests... no choice. He probably labeled it as a service to someone he loved to cope.

And yes, that change in Louis' demeanor. He put the mask back on, retreated to the known self before Lestat.

Him calling Armand "Arun" may have seemed nice at first, but since it was immediately followed by "maitre" it immediately made the power play clear.

Like, this is so fucked up!!!

And of course it's ARMAND so he is willingly doing the submissive power play, but still, this is SO FUCKED UP.

And this... THIS is how Armand will run his relationship(s) - because Louis told him so:

Very, very fucked up.