#MAYBE BECAUSE LOUIS AND LESTAT HAD MORE SCREEN TIME SO I'M MORE USED TO THEM????

[adamnablelittledevil]

I'm trying Raleigh Ritchie's music and is so awesome, I'm really enjoying it and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up on my Spotify wrapped... But I still need to disassociate him from Louis lol. I don't know, Jacob is just such a perfect Louis that I can't separate musician from actor and actor from character yet. I'll probably watch his whole filmography to see if I can appreciate the full range of his talent without getting distracted with IWTV faster lol. Anyway, everyone should listen to his music if they haven't already. :)

[vividxp]

I'm very sleep deprived, so I'm taking the easy route straight from your post suggestions (bc I can't form thoughts otherwise rn but want to hear your what you have to say) so what are your thoughts on episode 5 reception then?

I think there's something to be said about how one page in a novel may be nothing at all in the long scheme of things, but there's a common film writing cliché about how one page in a screenplay is equivalent to one minute on screen.

So consider the following excerpt from IWTV, the book:

"And our fragile domestic tranquility erupted with [Lestat's] outrage. He did not have to be loved, but he would not be ignored; and once he even flew at her, shouting that he would slap her, and I found myself in the wretched position of fighting him as I'd done years before she'd come to us."

That's two sentences. And yet, without claiming that this is the exact scene the writers put on screen (because it's most likely not), isn't this pretty close to what happened at the end of episode 5? Claudia was speaking to Louis mentally about finding other vampires, Lestat lunges at her, Louis tackles Lestat and they fight.

But the difference is, "wretched" or not, the book spent 2 sentences and moved on (to another instance of Lestat being irritated by Claudia). Were there any injuries? What did Claudia think about almost being slapped and having to watch her parents fight?

The show on the other hand shows all of that and more.

So I want to stop here and say that I think there are two arguments that people are making regarding episode 5 and I am personally responding to only one of them. The first argument is that the execution of the scene was overly gratuitous and there was no proper trigger warnings. The second argument is that the scene was not only out of character on Lestat's part, but the writers have written themselves into a hole they can't get out of because no one will accept Louis and Lestat as a couple because of episode 5. This latter argument is the one I'm mostly talking about.

Ok, as I continue, I want to look at Claudia's epiphany that Lestat has to go in episode 6. What I find fascinating is how close it was to the book.

This is the excerpt in the book:

"But I know it now," [Claudia] said with authority. "The vampire made a slave of him, and [Lestat] would no more be a slave than I would be a slave, and so he killed him. Killed him before he knew what he might know, and then in panic made a slave of you. And you've been his slave."

Louis denies that and Claudia says.

"No, slave," she persisted in her grave monotone, as though thinking aloud, the words revelations, pieces of a puzzle. "And I shall free us both".

Now admittedly, I have not read IWTV the book. All I have is what others have posted on social media. Maybe my thoughts will change after reading it for myself.

But I think as far as an adaption goes, the show writers had to get us to this moment. And they had to fit the entire arc (Claudia being turned, happy families, things falling apart, murder as the solution) into 3 episodes.

What I find interesting from all the posts I've read from book readers about Lestat's actions in IWTV, is that they'll follow up all the evidence with, "But he said he loves them and that he would not harm him in [insert book here]!"

Why do we have to take his perspective as gospel? I know most people will say that Anne Rice said he's view is the correct one but still. No one denies that Lestat trapped Louis by turning Claudia and threatened to destroy Louis and Claudia if they stepped out of line. It's not a question that Lestat and Louis fought multiple times. With that in mind, why is the logical conclusion that Lestat's threats to hurt them are empty? If the threat was going to work, Louis and Claudia would have had to believe that he could and would harm them.

Additionally, the show made changes to the characters and since they didn't do the easy thing and treat those changes as window dress, those changes had to change the journey to reach the same landmarks in the book.

Claudia in a 14 year old body can do a lot more than Claudia in a 5 year old body can. But both find themselves trapped. When Lestat threatens to destroy her on the show, it's enough to make her go back (and that's saying a lot because she already left and was going to leave again in spite of what happened her first time out) because we've already seen not only how powerful Lestat is, but that he's able to wield that power against his family/fledglings.

This is already pretty long, but I again, long story short, I think when you look at the show in retrospect, the choices make sense to me and were done to serve the larger story instead of a shocking moment for buzz and nothing else. It feels like the writers made a deliberate choice based on their view of the characters from the books and their opinions on what the changes they made to characters would mean (this interview with episode 5's writer is interesting). I'm just not convinced that the differences that people are pointing out between the novel and the show are actually that different at the end of the day.

[13eyond13]

Don't know if it's late, but your top 5 fav books (fictions)?

Ahhh, a good yet very difficult question. I sometimes have very fond memories of books I read years ago, yet they do not hold up for me at all when I reread them again at an older age? So some of the ones I might put on this list in the past I might not feel the same about anymore, so unless I've revisited it recently I don't feel confident enough in my memories to really add them to the list. I went to my GoodReads account and looked at everything I had logged, but I'm quite fussy about the criteria I use for this? As in I feel like the book has to be so beloved by me that it almost feels like it's one of my oldest friends or something. And I just don't feel confident stating that about most of the books I have read, even the ones I've given 5/5 stars. In the end I might only be able to give a top 3 list, but other than 1. Death Note the other two I love the most are: 2. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - I just have such a big crush on Patricia Highsmith's writing style, and I'd say she's probably my favourite writer right now. I don't know how to describe it other than it just draws me in every time with its deceptively soothing and understated prose, and I also love the aesthetics of her settings and characters and plots. This is by far my favourite work of hers. Tom Ripley is one of my all-time fictional characters, and if you're a fan of creepy conman stories and anxiety-inducing thrillers than you'll definitely enjoy reading this one. I had such a good time reading this entire series a few years back and grew really attached to hanging out with Tom, though he really is only at his best and most interesting and complex as a character in this first book, I think. (BONUS RECOMMENDATION: Both the American 1990s The Talented Mr. Ripley movie and the 1960s French movie Plein Soleil are worth a watch as well! I think the 90s one does some interesting things to translate the story from the page to the screen, and certainly doesn't shy away from the homoerotic undertones - also has a fun scene-stealing performance by Jude Law as Dickie. And the French one is just beautiful to look at - particularly because of Alain Delon at his prettiest and scariest, who I unfortunately developed a massive embarrassing crush on as soon as I laid eyes on him!) 3. Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice - There wasn't a book in the world I was ever more obsessed with at some point in my life than this one when I was 15/16! I created an elaborate comic adaptation of this story for a book report that took me entire months of my life to make, I was just that obsessed. It just hit the spot for me so perfectly at the time because I was a lonely and confused little thing that was still very much caught between the guilty obligation of my strict religious upbringing and the frightening burgeoning realization that MAYBE I wasn't actually that straight (because boy-oh-boy is the vampirism in this book and Louis's guilty wrestling with his nature very easily read as a metaphor for struggling with being gay, hahaha). I loved Louis so much, I identified with him so strongly and immediately, and I think Anne Rice is just great at painting a descriptive scene and fleshing out a unique universe full of colourful characters and worldbuilding/lore that stretches back for literally millennia. Upon rereading it again older I definitely found the prose to be a bit silly/purple and the melodrama a little eye-rolly at times, but you know what, that is exactly what a Byronic gothic novel is kind of supposed to sound like, too. Lestat is obviously the real star of the show in The Vampire Chronicles, and Claudia is also a stunner of a character, but Louis has my heart simply for being the one to initially invite me into that interesting world, and for feeling like the only bro who truly "got me" during that particularly angsty and guilt-ridden period of my life. (BONUS REC: the 90s movie starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Kirsten Dunst is a really good adaptation of it as well!)

[travellingwiththedead]

IwtV episode 4 thoughts, here there be spoilers hence behind read more:

-Rashid...what's up with that dude? He gets waaaaay too much screen time to not be important somehow. Or, you know, they're gaslighting us xD He's no vampire because he's got like at least two scenes where he's in full sunlight. But all Louis other human staff wears masks, Rashid doesn't. He's not from Dubai. He's muslim. Edit: Also Daniel guesses he's from somewhere in the Crimea or from Kasachstan? Why's he giving me Benji vibes even if he's too old? Maybe because I still think that penthouse looks like something Armand would own. Yeah, Rashid confuses me xD

-Claudia, OMG, Bailey Bass is just great. I love her. Little teenage brat driving her dad's crazy xD Was calling them "Daddy Lou" and "Uncle Les" her idea? I'm sad we're not getting more domestic murder fangmliy because it's so adorable. Also, I need to rewatch and do some pausing to read if there's anything in those diaries that's not been read out loud. And, four pages missing....hm....does this mean we're post-Merrick in 2022? Or is there a different reason? When Daniel asks where those diaries were in 1979 I kinda wanted Louis to say that a secret order of voyeurs had them locke up in their vaults LOL

-Lestat, dear, that's not how you parent xD I mean, you didn't have great examples but come on...

-Louis and Claudia in that boat, how dare they be this adorable?

-Louis at his mother's wake is ufff. Poor guy's still so angry at her and Grace. Also, Grace, darling, not the time to ask him to give you the house. Not. The. Time. Especially after you just dissed him about adopting a child as a gay couple.

-Claudia picking out her coffin, hilarious xD undertaker was much confusion (and then much dead).

-Yeah, not sure I'm ready for the next episode. Shit is gonna go down.