#don't listen to rolin

[smalldicksantiago]

me when people seriously think that armand turned daniel out of spite:

[dreadfuldevotee]

I'd like to discuss the elephant in the room. Why did we get zero Loumand sex scenes? We got hints and implications, but season 1 was pretty explicit. Do we think that that's a creative choice or something else is happening?

I'm glad I ended up ruminating on this for about a week because episode 7 & 8 really solidified my opinion on it.

I do wanna start by saying that it's very clear to me that there was supposed to be more explicit scenes between them. There has been some thoughts tossed around that censorship happened with the 9 pm timeslot (as opposed to the 10 pm timeslot of S1). I believed this hearing Assad and Jacob talk about the BDSM dynamic between Louis and Armand, but what really sold me on this was Production Designer Mara LePere-Schloop talking about the bedroom set and more specifically about their beautifully carved custom headboard. (If you're a production nerd like me or just want to know more about the design philosophy of IWTV I recommend giving the entire thing a listen!).

I think there are several reasons I think as to why they decided to leave any more explicit scenes on the cutting room floor but above them all is: you cannot separate Armand's sexuality from his abuse. I am really against pulling a "well if you read the books" card but reading just the first couple chapters of "The Vampire Armand" makes me understand so much about not only Armand as a character, but the care being taken to his adaptation. It's clear to me that alongside Rolin & Co.'s commitment to not watering him down to a one-dimensional villain they are also trying to not fall into Anne Rice's tendency to romanticize his trauma.

Sex and sexuality is not the same pillar of Louis and Armand's relationship it was in Louis and Lestat's and so I don't believe their story suffers from the lack of on-screen sex. But I also firmly believe that maybe we don't need to be slutting out the character who we literally just watched talk about how he doesn't remember his life before being sex trafficked. And even when he was "freed" he was still being repeatedly assaulted at the hands of, and under the eye Marius de Romanus. Like it is extremely important to remember that Armand's craving for dominion in his relationships is a manifestation of trauma that deserves the same level of care and depth given to every other trauma portrayed in this show.

I think people have gotten too comfortable calling IWTV a romance when it has always been Gothic Horror. Romance and sex are pivotal to the story but I have found the demands for sex scenes this season a bit absurd and also? unfounded? Loustat share more kisses on screen but there are two sex scenes and both are very plot relevant. I truly figured we were all in agreement that the eroticism of this show is found in the various displays of power, and the dynamics it creates and not the actual clapping of ass-cheeks...which also wasn't happening in S1 either. S2 does not suffer because of the lack of sex-scenes, but the likelihood if it suffering trying to make one work is

[lexdelioncourt]

So I'm sure I'm not the first person to think these things and I'm sorry if it's been talked about a million times already and I've just missed it. But I have a lot of thoughts, many of which are probably unhinged and I need to let them out. This is probably pretty half-baked but whatever I'm way too deep in the Devil's Minion trenches.

SO ANYWAY..

So after Louis burns in SF and Armand has finally put him in his coffin, Armand gives that last little speech before he says he's gonna leave him to himself. Then he tells Louis to “rest” and closes the coffin. Louis then comes out pretty soon after to stop Armand killing Daniel. But are we supposed to believe that Louis, who appears to barely have the strength to walk across the room and sit down properly, had the strength to both break out of Armand’s “rest” (which no one ever seems to do until he lets them) AND push the lid off his coffin and climb out of it?

THEN we don't actually hear Louis tell Daniel the whole speech he ends up putting in his book, right? We see them talking but we don't hear what they say. When Daniel says he's “a bright young reporter with a point of view” he says that to Armand, really quietly, when he's all up in his face. He doesn't say it in front of Louis. Also, when Daniel reads the passage from his book that mentions that line, language-wise, it doesn't really sound like something 70s Louis would say. It also doesn't sound like something you'd say to a random guy you met in a bar 10 hours ago. In fact, the language and tone sounds more like something Armand would say and it even has some echoes of Armand's “easeful death” monologue that we just heard. The passage also has the whole “these are the words you'll hear in your mind” part and who's words is Daniel always hearing in his mind in the DM chapter, even before he's a vampire? Armand's.

To ME that passage from Daniel’s book reads more like something someone would say in a very loving way to someone they know really well, but who they reluctantly want to let go so they can be free. It's got a sense of melancholy to it. What if Daniel DID conflate two events but they just weren't the two events he thought he conflated? What if that passage is something Armand said to him right before they broke up in the past? It sounds almost like a breakup speech and him telling him to go get his shit together. If you listen to both the “easeful death” monologue and the passage from Daniel's book back to back, they almost sound like they could bookend a long relationship. Especially with the repeating of the “bright young reporter with a point of view”. ESPECIALLY when you go back and see the look on Armand's face when old Daniel says that line in the first episode of season 2.

Anyway, that's my incoherent ramblings of the day. Rolin please give us Season 3 already so I can go back to being at least semi-normal.

[savagewildnerness]

I just love how much Sam, and all of the cast and creatives care about portraying these characters in their full truth. And not just their own character, but all of the characters. They care about the show, they care about the story, they care about each other and they care about the final result. And obviously they all care about listening to each other, to find this together, too.

Rolin really knew what he was doing with DreamStat... however, I am sure it worked as poignantly as it does as they discussed it and Sam knew exactly what DreamStat was before doing those scenes. And I can imagine Sam discussing it deepens what Rolin thought about DreamStat too. And therefore DreamStat had his full emotional impact for Louis' growth and personal exploration. And I am sure discussion depended what he became from writing and acting perspective, for everyone, and so ultimately - for us, the audience.

I adore how Jacob and Sam celebrate Claudia and I fully agree on the poignancy of Claudeleine. It's such a shame we'll never see Madeleine again. E6 is an episode I have watched less, and because of that it means every time I do watch, I am still astonished how impactful Madeleine's story is and Claudeleine's love, in so short a time. (Maybe we'll glimpse Madeleine if we revisit the trial ever, I suppose...? But that's just a sad glimpse!)

And speaking of which, I am very happy to hear what is the obvious truth - that the Lestat/Nicolas dynamic we saw in E3 was just Armand's fairytale. I don't want to go on too much, but when there was some Nicki dislike in the fandom it really got to me. hahaha. I think it was clear. It definitely did more than it ought to have. I know I go on about him too much. But there's some character for us all who is that way in this book series, right? Because it's the writing of the characters which is as I see it the best thing abut the book series... which is, I hope, a gift for actors and for a TV show that has time to delve into character arcs?

Anyway, at the time, there was some talk wherein it was suggested that events in this flashback were all truth and was indicative of how Nickistat would be written overall. So it feels good to hear Sam literally laugh at that idea, I cannot lie!

I feel like I always need to do a disclaimer when I talk about Nickistat in a wider context, so my disclaimer is - I ADORE LOUSTAT, and as I will say over and over again, Nickistat only deepens Loustat. Loustat are endgame. God, I am so scared for S3 Nicolas hate, because I know it shouldn't bother me but unfortunately, I have already seen that it does. Also not saying either Nicolas or Nickistat were some perfect romance! Obviously VERY, VERY FAR FROM THAT!!! I MEAN! BUT, there was LOVE. SO there. And not just from Lestat to Nicki, but from Nicolas to Lestat. And no way Rolin ain't writing that. And to have loved before does nothing to detract from future love, Humans can love and lose and love again and it doesn't diminish the earlier or the later love, let alone immortal beings!!

Aww, Loustat with their secrets of love. I remember the time that we first knew about these secret words. And nowadays I love even more that we don't know and will never know what they said to each other.

And now I see, from Sam's talk of how they rushed the rockStat teaser, I understand why he was so nervous for it to be seen!

But Rolin had a vision.

Also, OMG, Sam ABSOLUTELY has rockStat READY TO GO now, doesn't he! I see it in the all of him! Oh MY!!!

[nalyra-dreaming]

Odd, but suddenly today on twitter I'm seeing mentions of a rumor that iwtv was nearly canceled during season 2, and that the netflix deal saved it, and possibly also the ratings bump after ep 5 (the theory being that people didn't like the Loumand romantic relationship, so they started watching more once it became clear Armand was a villain?). I don't know where this is coming from, and it seems weird that it would only come up now, so I just wanted to ask about it? Because it seemed like as s2 was airing, you had heard some insider-ish info that the s3 renewal was happening long before it was publicly announced--and plus, while the netflix deal is a good thing, I'm not sure why that would make the difference between canceling and renewing a show that's part of a larger universe they're so invested in? So I don't know if this ~rumor is just retrospective anxiety morphing through a game of whispers?

Yes, season 3 was renewed months and months before season 2 even aired.

That I know.

I also know that there are individuals in this fandom who strive on sowing distrust and fear, and these cancellation rumors come up again and again and again.

Just... don't listen to them.

AMC paid big, big bucks for the rights to the books. BIG bucks. They own the right in perpetuity.

The only way they can have ROI is by producing - that is why they are building this "Immortal Universe".

Before the show even started it was said that Sam Reid had been signed for 5 seasons, too.

Rolin Jones signed a multi-year contract with AMC in May... and he is only doing IWTV.

AMC is not the biggest network. They do not have the biggest pull. But they make quality content, and all things considered we can be very happy they did, indeed, buy the books.

And they have stated before how happy they are with the show.

[hyohaehyuk]

Jacob Anderson

How did you find out about the series and what appealed to you about potentially playing Louis?

I received an email about reading for the part and just had this really heavy feeling in my stomach, which rarely happens. Anne Rice’s writing just gets you in the gut and you feel like you're being looked at. After reading Rolin’s pilot, I almost felt ill; there were so many things about Louis that really resonated with me. I was very excited about it, and I knew it would be a real challenge. I like projects that give me that nervous feeling for no apparent reason.

How does it feel to be part of something that is so beloved and so important to so many people for so many reasons?

I love literature and comic books and movies and, as a self-professed nerd, I understand that feeling of dread and anticipation with adaptations. Something that's lovely about this is it really feels like we're all in love with Anne Rice's books. We really embraced the spirit of those stories and the questions that she asks through her characters. It feels like holding this very precious thing every day. Everybody has a different personal connection to a story, what you responded to when you first read the book. How did I feel about Louis, in what ways did I connect to him in the beginning? And then making sure that I don't lose sight of that.

What is most appealing about becoming a vampire, considering all that Louis is going through at that moment?

Louis' relationship to vampirism in the beginning is more to do with running away from his humanity, running away from being a person. He doesn't want to be on this earth anymore, so when Lestat presents a second life essentially, he sees it as a way for him to settle into a new identity. The irony is that when he becomes a vampire, he starts to reconnect to his humanity. Louis' story is about somebody who in becoming a monster, connects more deeply to their humanity. That's Louis' journey, at least in the beginning.

Why do you think Louis and Lestat are so drawn to each other?

When they meet, Lestat is everything that Louis is not; confident, free of thought and of being, and seems to have kind of cracked the code to existence. Internally, Louis feels like he's getting further and further away from any kind of certainty of who he is or who he's supposed to be, but his insecurities make him present as this very confident, strong-willed human. Lestat’s looking for somebody that stands out and for somebody that can be his match, but in some ways, it's almost like he's misdiagnosed Louis a little bit in the beginning.

Louis is quite progressive for his time; the way he dresses, the way that he thinks about the world around him is steps ahead. Apart from the physical attraction Lestat has for Louis, he sees that Louis doesn't quite belong in his time. I think that would be a really attractive thing for a vampire, because vampires don't really belong anywhere because they're everywhere. They live forever and I think that Lestat sees that Louis was almost born at the wrong moment.

As a musician, what was it like to have so much music written into the story and how did it set the storytelling tone and mood?

Rolin is an encyclopedia of knowledge in terms of music and he's very particular with references, which version and year and arranged by this person that way, etc. He writes it into the script, which allows you to picture what the show is going to look like afterwards. I think of music as a very visual medium, it's evocative and I see in pictures when I listen to music. Before we started this, I put a playlist together of everything that was in the script and then added things that I thought Louis would be listening to at the time. I listened to a lot of Jelly Roll Morton in my trailer before coming onto set, even before coming out to New Orleans. There was also contemporary stuff that just felt like Louis and others for Louis and Lestat. It really helped me to build another profile of this story. I didn't share it with anybody or talk to Rolin about it, but it helped me get into the right headspace.

How did filming Season One in New Orleans add to the magic of the storytelling?

New Orleans is very much a part of the romanticism of Anne Rice's books. It really serves that kind of magical, fantastical storytelling and it does feel like a place where vampires live. This is a really night-timey place and it's the perfect place to be a vampire, obviously. There is just something here, it is almost like a frequency that as soon as you land, you feel it, but you also don't want to disrespect it. I have stayed away from Voodoo because I respect it and it's cool, I don't want to trouble it. I've had really vivid dreams out here, inexplicably, and I think it's one of those places that’s just a bit magical. It's also a place that has suffered a lot, there's challenging weather and a legacy of slavery that's very apparent. Not to generalize, but I think it creates a real resilience in the people there. That feels very at-one with the story we're telling and these creatures that are resilient.

What was your first reaction, when you walked into the sets that Production Designer Mara LePere-Schloop created for the show?

I can't speak to Mara anymore because I'm just too big a fan. Every time we walk into a new set for rehearsals, I see her there and then I just walk away because I can't articulate how beautiful these things are. For actors, she's so considerate of what we might need, what we might be looking at, what we might want to touch. There's something really tangible about the way she designs, as if she has this kind of x-ray vision over every single word in the script and in the books and our dialogue. She's one of the most considerate designers that I've ever had the pleasure of seeing work. I love Mara and I should be saying this to her.

The weekend before we started shooting, I was starting to feel the enormity of what we were about to do. Painting had just begun on the Storyville backlot and I came in for a fitting. Feeling overwhelmed, I just needed to go outside. I walked down the Iberville Street set and I just felt a bit of a swagger. It's such an immersive space; it feels so real and just seeing that leap off the page, I felt like Louis, sort of possessed by him, certainly like 1910-1911 Louis. I could just kind of feel him as I walked down the street. That was really important for me, personally, to feel safe and armored and ready to go, walking down that street. Throughout shooting I would just go for little walks; little dawdles on the backlot.

Sam Reid

What was your reaction when you found out you were going to become Lestat?

I was blown away and so excited to get to portray this extraordinary, deep character. But I was also quite terrified because I'm such a fan of Anne Rice's work that I put a lot of pressure on myself to try and fulfill that. It's a mix of feelings because I'm so excited and incredibly grateful to have this opportunity, but I also feel a lot of pressure to fulfill Lestat's shoes, which are mighty.

What was it like when you finally met Jacob Anderson in person and started the process of creating this relationship between Lestat and Louis?

It began on Zoom through the chemistry reads process, which is strange in itself because there's lots of different time zones and then phone conversations before we met and we were texting quite a lot. When we met, I think it was a bit like meeting your old friend. We got to know each other really well before we met in person, which seemed very fitting for this pandemic era. I think we were friends from the get-go, we're quite similar people.

How is the relationship between Lestat and Louis different in the series than both the book and the movie?

I feel like Anne Rice has always been very clear that Louis and Lestat were in a romantic relationship. Particularly as we progress through the books, she becomes more explicit with that relationship and their feelings for each other. We are bringing those un-coded elements from the other books into this season. We're honoring that they're in love and the toxic push and pull that they hold over each other for centuries.

What costume did you love wearing, that spoke to the essence of Lestat's style?

Lestat really is a man from the 1700s and in a way, he came into his own through theater, during that period of time before he became a vampire. When we first meet him, he's still wearing pieces decades out of date and we see echoes of that again at the end of the season. But in the 1900s, he's trying to learn to fit into society, he's trying to stay slightly more conservative. Carol Cutshall has done an extraordinary job of keeping elements of bondage in his costume. So, there's always a sense of danger and savagery that exists within his costumes, beneath the faux conservative choices that he makes with his clothes that I think are really fun to walk around in. Also, we each have these extraordinary, hand-made, custom shoes which help with stalking about at night.

What was it like to shoot in New Orleans, a city that is a huge part of Anne Rice’s legacy and synonymous with her vampire mythology?

New Orleans was hit by a tornado the day after we shot a scene that included a direct quote from the novel. Lestat is talking about how much he loves New Orleans and he says, "there's not an inch of this city that wasn't built from the fierce wilderness that surrounds it." I was in my apartment looking out at it thinking: this world, this universe and this character that Anne Rice created speaks directly to the heart of this city. I think people really identify with the way these characters love this city, and Lestat loves this city. It is an absolute privilege and joy to be here, to be playing this character and to be in his element, it's extraordinary.

What are you hoping the world will experience when they finally get to see this?

I hope they see that we are honoring what Anne Rice wrote. There's a huge amount of respect for what she created. We are always referring to her words and bringing in all of the elements as honestly and truthfully and as blatantly as she wanted. That world that she created is right at the front of our hearts.

Beyond the look of a vampire, why do you think people are fascinated with how they live, night to night.

Vampire lifestyles vary, some sleep in a hole in the Earth and hunt in forests, others live in towers and don't go out very much. Some live a hedonistic lifestyle and they can get away with virtually everything. They can hypnotize people into getting what they want. It may get old quite quickly because you struggle to form genuine relationships, end up eating your friends or they end up hating you because you've turned them into a vampire and they didn't really want that. It's not for everyone; I'd warn people against it.

Source: AMC Q&A's with the IWTV cast

[romaroy]

A little theory why I think William Fichtner is Teskhamen and how it adds to Justin Kirk being Marius De Romanus NOT Raglan James....

(short post and thanks to @nalyra-dreaming and @chicalepidoptera @jerydmenckunt for listening to my ramblings)

If you haven't already I have a very detailed theory on why Justin Kirk is NOT Raglan James but Marius De Romanus in disguise

Now for this one-

1 - Justin Kirk filmed in the UK mid Jan and I recently had it confirmed that this was “pretty much” Talamasca. Justin said it was “Top secret…a lot of fun…outside of the country and from a work perspective a great one…likely to come out spookier season” (x)

Talamasca is filming and I have a friend who knows someone working on Talamasca. I asked if Justin was working on it and they said they "aren't allowed to say" which is typically industry speak for "yes but I have an NDA". This is hearsay but it does allign with what Justin was saying.

This was recorded the a few days before 19/01/25 so he hadn't not long returned at the point of recording, Talamasca was still filming

2 - That got me having a little nosey around the crew instagram accounts- specifically the hair, make up and prosphetics and I found something that could be interesting. (note for those that don't know, these trailers have photos from filming on the walls, its very typical of every production)

One photo was blocked out (x)

BUT then a few weeks later, when filming wrapped, it was posted without the block. (x)

This is it zoomed in:

You can see Elizabeth McGovern wearing a similar outfit from when she was on set filming and William Fichtner in the other highlighted photo. This is 100% from the set.

(image cred x )

3 - Look at the photos closely and you can see a character burnt . I think this is Teskhamen and William is actually that character!

This looks like William to me and it looks very burnt and maybe in a grove ish setting. The place where Marius was changed. It’ll be ballsy to do a Marius reveal in a spin off but it could work and I have faith in this more than I do Mayfair plus they've already shwon there's characters from the main show coming over for a visit. (x)

The mouths look the same to me and given that the photos are close togeher I think we are looking at the same person but the darker one looks very forrest/grove/cave like and Teskhamen is known as The God of the Grove!

4 - Teskhamen is the founder of the Talamasca, the maker of Marius and known as the God of the Grove. I can’t see him in IWTV BUT it makes perfect sense for him to be in Talamasca given that he founded it! (x)

5 - So back to Justin and Marius. Rolin and Justin have worked together for years- Justin could even be considered his muse. Casting him as a character like Raglan is so ooc for Rolin as detailed here and in the Marius theory post.

When Rolin has cast Justin, the roles have always been roles of prominence and long-lasting ones that go above one season

6 - And the podcast- why would Raglan be with the Talamasca series when he will likely be a temporary character and hardly have something with another series that would be “Top secret…a lot of fun…outside of the country and from a work perspective a great one…” to quote JKirk

So I think Justin Kirk is Marius de Romanus and William Fichtner is Teskhamen

[anaxibiaclark]

Listening to The Vampire Armand and realizing that there are some uncanny parallels between Armand and Daniel. The only difference is that Daniel was in his 20s. Marius created a monster way before turning Armand. I don't know where Rolin Jones will take Armand's story, but it's gonna be a rough season once we get there.

[toscrollperchancetomeme]

I'm currently listening to "The Dirt" by Motley Crue as an audiobook, because Rolin Jones mentioned it as part of his reading list for Season 3 of Interview with the Vampire. I actually did see the movie a few years ago and enjoyed it, and I love artist biographies, but nothing could have prepared me for how graphic and horrible some of this stuff is, not to mention how they treated their groupies and girlfriends (all the content warnings for sexual assault and a lot of misogyny). (But I truly appreciate that they don't seem to gloss over anything and managed to grow into somewhat better people. It's also giving me a lot of thoughts about today's cancel culture, etc.)

Anyway, I'm usually a binge reader, but I really have to microdose this. If this is even vaguely where they are going with Lestat's tour… damn. We are NOT prepared. There will be SO MANY DRUGS, escapades and self-destructive behavior. There also are some really interesting parallels between Nikki Sixx' and Lestat's childhood traumas and Tommy Lee's and Lestat's very adhd-coded behaviour. Plus the time they spent squatting in LA, trying to get the band started and successful… very much Lestat in Paris! So yes, I can definitely imagine where RJ is going with this and I'm really here for it. <3

Also, Sharon Osbourne just showed up and I love how this Young British Woman successfully manages to reign in the absolute chaos of These Boys through sheer strength of personality. (You really really need a groupie? Well you better beg me on your knees and I will stand by your side while you pick one (1) that I pre-approve so you don't catch a disease.) True queen behaviour.

[oldbutchdanielcraig]

Listen. Listen. It pains me to think that Daniel was turned out of spite and abandoned right after. So I'm putting on my clown wig and I'm not taking it off until s3 comes out.

In all of s1 and s2 I haven't seen Armand being actually angry or cruel with 2022 Daniel. Hurt, annoyed - yes, but not spiteful or cruel. Many of his looks are so obviously tender that it almost hurts to watch. We haven't seen the scripts for other episodes so i don't know whether that's just Assad fighting for his life or Rolin and other writers planned it this way. At the very least Rolin definitely allowed it.

What i do know is that the original script for 2×08 said Armand was angry. I also remember Assad saying in an interview that it was a bit difficult for him to act surprised in that scene. Not angry. And in the final cut he doesn't look angry. Not just angry at least. To me this means they changed the script.

I'd say the show hasn't changed anything fundamental about the books so far, not in the characters' dynamics and personalities (except Louis, good for him). So if in the books Daniel was turned out of love, I'm choosing to believe that the show won't change that. They might make us suffer by adding tension to his relationship with Armand, but they won't completely change the nature of that relationship.

i totally agree with you that in dubai we don’t see armand angry with daniel in the way we know he’s capable of being angry which is genuinely one of my favorite things.

this is more my personal headcanon than how i’m interpreting rolin’s words or what i think we’ll see or anything, but i can imagine armand turned him out of “spite” not because he was angry but because he was so hurt? i kind of imagine him thinking “oh, you wanted this so much 40 years ago, wanted it so much it ruined our relationship, could think of nothing else. i’ve warned you that it’s a curse, but you’ve ruined my life, so fine, i’ll ruin your life too. take THAT” and he’s thinking all of this while he gives daniel the gift and yet they’re both glad before long that he did. like a you think this is spite but it’s actually just love type thing

[ca-suffit]

i haven’t read the books but from the way some book stans talk about lestat like he’s some saint, i was not expecting sam in that interview to be like no actually he loves being evil and he’s really good at it and all the stuff about male rage/akasha and the devil being like wow he’s so terrible i need to recruit him actually. and i’ve seen the odd comment on twitter that’s like oh poor sam for having to put up with this lestat character assassination. like i don’t wanna call ppl out but i saw someone say “he signed up for anne rice’s iwtv, not rolin jones’s iwtv 😢” like ??? no actually he did sign up for rolin’s adaptation. and then they act like he’s so put out by the changes like a) he’s getting paid to pay his favorite character i think he’s okay. and b) even if he has reservations or questions about a change or even outright disagrees with one, he’s always full of praise for the final product and for rolin in general. like girl he is fine lol. like he said, some changes needed to be made and were for the greater good e.g. wrt improving the louis character.

I forget if he clarified in the interview or not, but that bit he says about going to hell comes right from the books

But what had I done to Claudia? And when would I have to pay for that? How long was she content to be the mystery that bound Louis and me so tightly together, the muse of our moonlit hours, the one object of devotion common to us both? Was it inevitable that she who would never have a woman's form would strike out at the demon father who condemned her to the body of a little china doll? I should have listened to Marius's warning. I should have stopped for one moment to reflect on it as I stood on the edge of that grand and intoxicating experiment: to make a vampire of "the least of these." I should have taken a deep breath. But you know, it was like playing the violin for Akasha. I wanted to do it. I wanted to see what would happen, I mean, with a beautiful little girl like that! Oh, Lestat, you deserve everything that ever happened to you. You'd better not die. You might actually go to hell. But why was it that for purely selfish reasons, I didn't listen to some of the advice given me? Why didn't I learn from any of them-Gabrielle, Armand, Marius? But then, I never have listened to anyone, really. Somehow or other, I never can.

he's not a saint (but he wants to be one for a second lol) but I personally didn't feel like he was that "evil" either. anne rice wasn't rly a good writer and fired her editor 3 books in on top of it. the series was unplanned and it's a wreck. he does awful shit but nothing I'd view makes him rly "evil," so it was a struggle for me to get on board with all that. an internal fight about how he views himself, I could understand, but idk what was rly that bad otherwise. especially cuz she was so in luv with him that consequences for anything he does just drop off as the books go? let me not write a whole thing about this lol. but ya the good and evil thing is from the books. the rice-a-ronis do mention it in posts sometimes but ever since the show has aired, everything has to be explained away now, bcuz they don't like black and brown characters or fans judging their white fav. he's either an innocent meow meow or a gothic monster, depending what mood they're in that day to dodge whatever criticism comes for them.

AMC explores a lot of stories about violent men so I've never understood this insistence like it's going to be some soft romantic series. the romance is gonna exist in the violence somehow, especially cuz they're vampires. louis slamming dreamstat's head into a rock wall while being goaded to do it bcuz dreamstat says it's the only way louis knows how to luv is sort of peak loustat for where we're at rn. I'm sure eventually they'll be more tender but it's still gonna have gritty undertones for the network it's on and who is writing it. the stans luv to make it about gendered shit, like rolin is ruining it all bcuz he's a man, but anne rice wrote violent, fucked up things too. worse than the show is prbly going to go. it's all excuses. u can just not like something without having to justify ur dislike of it to death. like damn. it's not ur taste, just stop watching??

and yes sam is a grown ass man getting prbly a good paycheck from this so loll he will be fine!

[dreadfuldevotee]

exactly. while it's valid to critique armand's actions in the show and i do need him to get comeuppance in s3, i agree that certain anti loumand takes really seem to lack nuance. it's really the refusal from these antis to see the moments when louis and armand are genuinely vulnerable with one another. fans act like louis wasn't sincerely listening to armand in that museum scene, some even claimed that louis mocking him. but it was obvious from the way louis spoke that learning about armand's past did affect him. like people don't have to ship them, but reducing every action that louis and armand take with one another as just purely calculated or denying that they ever loved each other? doesn't make sense with the story shown to us.

(also side-eyeing the fans who think that louis would be disparaging about sex with armand, just so lestat can be propped up as the superior choice? some of them are lowkey racist about it too and it's fucking weird)

"The two of them getting to meet again when they have both rediscovered themselves, and seeing each other in new lights would be everything to me."

you! you get it. the potential of what armand and louis could be post divorce actually compels me. both characters have so much to work on with their identities, how will this change their dynamic moving forward?

You are absolutely right. The compounding factors of Loustat's favor among fans & production and straight up racist ideas of the sexualities of Black and Asian men (Louis being construed as sexually aggressive for being in a consensual sexual dynamic where he is dominant or; Constant denial that Armand could be desired by the rest of the characters leading to him magically coercing people into being physical with him or just straight up lying about encounters- typically to prop up a white romantic rival) make up a large part of miss-readings of this relationship and frankly the entire season.

It's not a new concept that people get attached to a ship, especially one(s) they know are Endgame and then come up with ways to make every other relationship about that endgame or just straight up denying any narrative or emotional impact it deserves. But it still pisses me off to see it happen here. I think the first time I read people saying that Madeleine was actually feeling Louis' love of Lestat during the café scene, I started contemplating my own sanity.

I'm really excited to see where both their characters go during s3 and though I am eager to see them interact at length again, I don't want to rush that reconnection because I want it to be earned. Keeping hope alive that Rolin & Co. balance all these complex emotions and ever shifting relationships. For my own personal vindication if nothing else

[sangcreole]

okay maybe don't read below if you want to avoid criticism of the show. sorry.

it's so funny like every time I think amciwtv can't get worse they just outdo themselves LMAO like at this point I've accepted that the characters are butchered and we'll never get anything remotely close to canon but like on a FUNDAMENTAL TECHNICAL LEVEL the writing is just?? dog shit????

The pacing is so fucking FAST and it's not even meaningful, I'm just being relentlessly pelted with shitty one-liners, and even the acting is so much worse but I know it's not even the actors' faults, like they have to do these volley scenes but the pacing is so fucking fast they're not even listening to each other!!!! and the writers clearly don't know what fucking audience they're writing for because on the rare occasion an actor talks slow enough for me to catch what they're saying, they're either trying to do a cheeky "easter egg" reference to book canon that doesn't fit into the world show canon, or they're hamming it up for the new fans who don't know the books and just obsess over funny zingers that they can gif later.

rolin jones turn on your location I just want to talk. you've already massacred the character of daniel molloy please stop parading around with his corpse and making him say racist homophobic shit.

[savagewildnerness]

Let’s talk about truth, lies, morals and goodness in The Vampire Chronicles, especially with respect to Lestat and Louis.

OK, all of this is going to be off the top of my head, but chat around Lestat smacking Nicolas into a wall got me thinking on a topic that’s going to be a hot topic during season 3, particularly given the TV show IWTV so far has been all about “memory is the monster.”

First of all, I want to reiterate that Rolin has said that we’re done with that theme now.  However, I just know that whatever happens in S3, some things are going to be met with “Well I think/know Lestat is lying” in some corners.   And I am absolutely not saying Lestat always tells the truth.  Lestat himself says things such as that he only lies to those he loves and that he sometimes lies to himself. There are moments in the story where I don't believe Lestat (a controversial one being that I believe the book NOLA reunion is close to Louis' account and it is Lestat who denies it as his psyche cannot accept how Louis abandoned Lestat to what Louis thought was a mortal death here. I know many disagree with me. And as I see it, it is irrelevant to the TV show as for me the reasons Lestat has for denying this encounter do not exist on the TV show so it happened, Lestat won't deny it and we can be happy that the beauty of that scene in S2E8 is real with no needed debate.)

Anyway... the whole hitting Nicolas thing today indicates one area Lestat never lies about.  When Lestat has done something bad, he’s telling us.  He’s always telling us.  He’s never trying to hide it.  And depending on how much you like him or don’t, we as readers/listeners may or may not excuse different things he does, to different degrees.  And Lestat is 100% of the time asking us to do just that.  Because Lestat is deeply terrified he is evil.  He knows he has done evil things and bad things and that he has hurt not just strangers as his monster-self, but also humans and vampires he loves.  And so he shares when he hurts someone.  And in sharing, he is pleading with us “I did this.  Do you love me now?”  Lestat is never going to lie about that kind of thing, because he desperately needs literally any random stranger on the street to (ideally) say… “I see what you are, in fullness and I love you anyway.  You are worthy of love.  You can be good.”

Oooooh… I’m going to find Lestat’s own quote on the matter from The Vampire Lestat:  “By the time we left Italy I was playing dangerous little games with mortals. I'd see a man, or a woman -- a human being who looked perfect to me spiritually --  and I would follow the human about. Maybe for a week I'd do this, then a month, sometimes even longer than that. I'd fall in love with the being. I'd imagine friendship, conversation, intimacy that we could never have. In some magical and imaginary moment I would say: "But you see what I am," and this human being, in supreme spiritual understanding, would say: "Yes, I see. I understand." Nonsense, really. Very like the fairy tale where the princess gives her selfless love to the prince who is enchanted and he is himself again and the monster no more. Only in this dark fairy tale I would pass right into my mortal lover. We would become one being, and I would be flesh and blood again. Lovely idea, that.”

We, as ‘the reader’ literally would be unable to tell Lestat what he so desperately needs to hear if Lestat lied about or minimised the bad things he does or his negative actions.  He himself feels varying levels of guilt for different things.  But he tells us what he does that is bad. Obviously this was inspired by discussion of Lestat hitting Nicki. But he was provoked into that and while he describes that Nicolas can then take the moral high ground, just as he could with The Children of Darkness in that moment... because Nicki achieved what he wanted here... Lestat tells us way worse things he does than this: murder of the most innocent, rape of innocent humans, to his closest mortal friend... he runs the gamut and he tells us every thing he does. Which is not to minimise that Lestat does harm Nicolas. That is a thing that happened. Even though obviously vampires recover quickly from physical injury.

Lestat does lie though.  Lestat, the endurer was taught as a child that when he has big feelings, they are *too much*... Although he expresses his emotion readily, even by the person who loved him most of all, Gabrielle (who does validate some of Lestat's feelings and experience), he is taught - do not sit in your feelings. Especially do not dwell in existential feelings. Move away from enduring existential pain. Move into action.  Be practical.  Fight.  You are a fighter.  You will endure.  You are strong. 

And as such, Lestat lies when he feels utterly broken.  We see Lestat as an optimist so thoroughly, not because Lestat is internally 100% optimist, rather because he chooses to be an optimist.  Internally, Lestat is not as much an optimist as he appears to others.  We ought to know as we hear his existential crises all the time, from when he was a child. We know him from the inside out.  And so Lestat lies when he feels suicidal.  He minimises his own pain. He minimises psychological damage done unto him. 

Which is a distinction - Lestat does not minimise his emotion!  He’s happy to tell us he cries and of his joy and of the whole gamut of big and human expression.  But he minimises his pain. When he is psychologically damaged, it often isn’t even that he wants to lie.  It’s that he cannot allow that of himself and so he isn’t fully aware of it in himself. And Lestat does not minimise the physical or psychological pain he does unto others. He is well aware of it. And we don't need to deny that he does cause others pain as well, as of course he does. To love is to harm as well as to heal. Show me the person who has never hurt someone they loved (emotionally/psychologically. I don't mean physically) and I'll show you a true liar....!

I just want to put these thoughts out there.  Because when we get into season 3, I want it to be very clear exactly when and why Lestat might not tell the full truth. (Obviously with the concession that TV Lestat is his own being, but I feel like surely he'll retain his core self???)

Things are very different for Louis.  There’s a similarity, as Louis too is deeply terrified of not being good.  But unlike Lestat who presents every aspect of himself and says “Here is all I am.  See me.  Can you still love me?” Louis is so afraid of what he might be that he’s scared to look deeply inside himself in case he were to look inside himself and find true horror he could not cope with.  Of course Louis has been brought up with religion in a way where he believes that were he to look inside himself and find terrible enough things, God and he himself would know and Louis himself then would be unable to endure.  Louis doesn’t need that external validation.  He knows himself.

Because Louis is afraid to look deeply within himself, he is also afraid to look deeply within others.  Which is an interesting dichotomy as of course Louis is naturally empathetic and sensitive and thoughtful.  But for example in the book IWTV he makes a lot of assumptions about Lestat without thinking about Lestat’s internal experience at all.  And he’s happy to make those assumptions as if fact as he cannot bear to delve deeply and understand himself, let alone Lestat.  Louis needs to be good just as Lestat does, but Louis imposes external moral rules upon himself so he doesn’t have to think more deeply about who he is and can just feel good if he follows his rules (much like his religion imposes its rules.). This means that when we hear things that aren’t entirely true from Louis, they often seem more like lies.  But they’re never intentional lies.  And they’re often not even misremembering - they’re simply Louis afraid to look at the all of himself.  And happily, Louis has a beautiful soul, and so once he has been able to accept himself (and Louis is aware on some level of this aspect in himself by the time he gives his first interview; aware of his fears of acknowledging all of himself - so his journey has begun even then) he is deeply empathetic and can offer this to Lestat.

And happily, at the end of S2, Louis has reached this place of accepting and understanding himself. Which is much happier than the books, where it takes him longer to truly get there.

We can look at many other characters too - some who lie to themselves; some who fail to understand aspects of themselves; some who are literally incapable of a lie, sometimes to their own detriment or destruction, so it is absolutely not always a good thing.  Some who cannot know their self fully.  All who are damaged in some way.

I don’t know where I’m going with this now.  But I guess I just wanted to open a conversation about truth and lies and goodness and evil…?

I hope this may spark some more articulate thoughts in someone else…?

And obviously, all only just as I see things/my truth.

And I guess I'm also saying that how we recount events depends on our experience of them, yes. But humans lose much to memory in a way vampires do not. For good and for bad. To not remember everything protects us, as mortals. So is it any surprise that immortals, with vampiric-level memory, as all other senses, in order to endure eternity have to not look too deeply in some areas. Or else they simply couldn't go on...

OK, shut up me! But I am curious to hear anyone's thoughts here..???

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hi nalyra!

Regarding your latest post about going into the tags, I've been having a similar experience to be honest, especially lately. Definitive factors are the lack of news and s01 and s02 leaving us for 4+ years with this "tale". So much so that I've been actually starting to take it as face value too. Because really what does one have to say otherwise? Hints? Hints are not canon yet so they can't count as proof -also we don't know how they are going to be used.

Promised revisits? Yeah we saw those in season 2 and they definitely did not help change the tale. Contradicting promises and half truths from cast? It's not enough to rely on. The responses are often more about how the actors interpret their characters motivations not what the writers actually write and how they see the characters.

I really don't wish to be negative but I think it's equally possible that season 3 will infact not turn everything onto its head and this is largely based on the creative decisions taken so far. So many relationship dynamics were changed to their core eg. Armand-Louis.Core events altered completely, murder scene, trial scene etc.

And may I just add here a comment about rolin and not everyone has to agree this is just my impression, but listen to the way he talks.

Nickistat is a "super emo relationship", lestat is always described with epithets like "messy" "volatile", the world "sexy" was used a lot. Emphasis is given on how this is the Monster Vampire Show where everyone is equal in monstrosity because that's how monsters monster.

I really don't mean to dump all over anyone's dreams here but when people speak they show you who they are and what their intentions are. How hannah reacted to the 1x5? That's who she is and what she believes and what she writes stems from this.

When they spoke of the 1x5 revisit they were speaking like they somehow altered the whole series and its trajectory when infact no? The scene interpretation and its fall out stays exactly the same. Has stayed the same for the audience!

In no interview did they mention about setting up how lestat functions as the hero in the VC universe, not because to use a quote "this guy is a mess" but of how horrible things keep happening to him (some based on his bad decisions but others not) and he keeps going some times with existential angst others with a joie de vivre.

They did not mention or give emphasis on how the core of iwtv was parental grief, and how it WAS supposed to be about claudia.

We cannot expect season 3 to magically alter all of That. The edited tale very likely will never change but instead "added upon" let's say with some revisits and clarifications.

As of right now 90% of the Fandom is confused and to that i say it's not because all the pieces are missing its because the pieces don't match.

The writers intentions vs the actual book arcs and characters don't match right now there is a dissonance.

I apologize for the offensively long post, of course anyone can feel free to disagree I love hearing how other iwtv fans are experiencing the series and fandom and their thoughts on the future season(s).

And massive thanks to you Nalyra for providing this space that is much needed!!

You're welcome.

I mean... I do think the revisits helped to change the tale? And massively so, because the "sales man" comment alone made it clear that there had been whole memories implanted.

Should have made it clear, I need to say though I guess, because that for example is what I meant.

People... don't take the mental step back to evaluate the tale they were told. They "waited" for the big revisits to change everything they had been shown.

And what the show did instead - was change key scenes... and it expected everyone to be able to follow.

To re-evaluate why Lestat in 1x05 did not have blood on his face outside or in the sky... but was shown in the revisit to have had blood all over - for example. Because it's an implanted memory!!! The hair styles also indicate that, I have talked about that at length before.

What really happened out there is up to interpretation right now, and I do think it has to do with the arc they try to do that Sam hinted at.

But this way of revealing things... and expecting people to have the mental capacity to reevaluate the whole show after the fact... THAT is what did not work.

At least for some.

Because I have seen enough fan reactions to know that it did NOT in fact stay the same for the whole audience.

I do not expect s3 to give us many more explicit revisits. I do expect a revisit to "murder night" because the words in Claudia's diary do not match and the revisit was hinted at before.

But Lestat did not go and contradict everything Louis said in his book - some, yes, but not everything?? - so why would s3 do that.

No the show is not the books, and yet it is.

It is an adaptation.

I do not like all of the choices... but what I do get is what they intended with the revisits and how these few key scenes do, in fact, actually do change the whole tale.

Go on, nonny, do a rewatch.

Look at Lestat's hair in Louis' memory, and notice the hair in what turned out to be a wrong memory... notice what Louis could not have known, but told of, and then... re-evaluate.

Because that is what this show wanted us to do with the revisits :)

Because it's all in there already... and THAT - as much as it frustrates me, given parts of the fandom not understanding it 😅 - is quite ingenious.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2: (Un)Answered Questions & Plot Holes

This is just me going thru my S2 Musings posts & collecting all my questions/concerns/complaints, which can hopefully be addressed or fixed in S3. As much as I love IWTV, I do wonder if the writer's strike effed things up, cuz some of this just don't make sense, Rolin.

WHY was Louis hallucinating Dream!Stat?

What was Lestat up to after the Trial & the Loustat breakup!?

When does Raglan James go rogue?

WTF is even happening with the Great Conversion?

WHO tried to interview vamps that the Talamasca knows about

HOW did Loumand not know their building was crawling with Talamasca spies?

Magnus

Armand's languages

Armand's religion

Papa DPDL

Claudia's diary pages

Armand's Backstory

Alice & Kate

Louis' photos

Louis' aerophobia

No Frankenstein?

The Script/Lestat's lies during the Trial

Lestat's bruises, no Tower Scene

The London Coven

Lestat's maker/fledgling telepathy in 1x2

Where were Claudia's diaries & yellow dress?

Loumand post-Paris and pre-Dubai

Daniel's Turning

When/Why did Sam go to the Talamasca?

Wtf is Dr Fareed up to in S3?

2x1:

1: WHY was Louis hallucinating Dream!Stat?

I still wanna know if this was a figment of Lou's imagination/guilt, or a symptom/manifestation of his mental illness. Is Lou REALLY schizo, or was Daniel just being an a-hole? (AND, is there a dream!Lou who visits Lestat in the dump? XD)

2x2:

2: What was Lestat up to after the Trial & the Loustat breakup!?

Ok, so we know Roget was right--Lestat was asleep after Mardi Gras, and Santiago woke him up for the Trial--WHEN though? As soon as Lou & Claudia arrived? Or when Santiago stole her diaries? (That would've just been an approx. 5yr nap; not a decades-long torpor like the ones Les had in the books.) But was Les asleep in NOLA after the Trial? Rolin said he wanted the reunion scene to be during Katrina, but the timeline didn't fit, so he used Odette instead. Was Lestat awake for Katrina? Did he sleep right through it? When did Lestat learn about Siri?

2x3:

3: When does Raglan James go rogue?

I'm very confused about this guy. We already get his threat/easter egg that he wants to Body Snatch someone and take over the Talamasca, so he's clearly already plotting. He got Armand's OG script from Sam, so I assume he still has access to the archives & agents--so they wouldn't've kicked him out yet. (Unless he hacked their database like he hacked Dan's laptop?)

Cuz he's complaining about not being well-funded, which is weird; the Talamasca THROW MONEY at their agents. And Raglan was kicked out of the Talamasca precisely cuz he was a kleptomaniac who made a fortune stealing people's money/identity--so he's got funds.

We didn't get to see the list of questions he said the Talamasca wanted Dan to ask Louis, either. What was THAT about? But Raglan did get Dan a Talamasca-approved publisher like he promised; and the Talamasca edited out...whatever it was that they didn't want mentioned--and what were THOSE edits? What does Louis know that the Talamasca says is off-limits, and what did the final cut of the book include & omit? Does this leave the door open for Lestat to come swooping in saying "Louis" lied on him, when really it was the Talamasca?

So IDFK know what's going on with Raglan (don't even get me started on Rashid), but I'm excited to find out!

4: WTF is even happening with the Great Conversion?

OK, we got confirmation that S3 WILL do Rockstar!Lestat (thank god), but y'all STILL left the Great Conversion hanging. Louis knew this was happening in like 1x2, and we haven't learned EFF ALL about it since. Why didn't we get Lou/Dan watching TV, listening to news reports about strange killings or something? Or even them talking about seeing more baby fledglings out & about?

Cuz it kinda defeats the purpose of Lou's book pissing the vamps off, if on the one hand they're gung-ho about secrecy & staying in the shadows, and on the other hand they're Turning noob vamps left & right!? So many, that the Talamasca's getting worried!? And why aren't they going after Daniel--HE'S the vampire on TV saying vamps are real!

Like, I get it--AMC's obv setting up the whole Amel plotline, where he wants/NEEDS Akasha to wake up & burn all the vamps, cuz his silver cord/neural link with all his fledglings is being stretched too thin if too many vamps are connected to him; so he wants to cull the herd. The Great Conversion's the last thing Amel would want. And it makes for easy fodder for Akasha, so we can have an epic scene of her just lighting mofos on fire. But other than that, the Great Conversion hasn't made much sense since y'all first mentioned it, sorry.

5: WHO tried to interview vamps that the Talamasca knows about?

6: HOW did Loumand not know their building was crawling with Talamasca spies?

I seriously hope AMC retcons this, and says that Raglan was shielding Daniel's thoughts from Loumand, cuz that's literally the only explanation that makes sense. We know from the books that the Talamasca could block even strong vampires like Lestat from reading their thoughts, but I'm stunned that Armand wasn't scanning Daniel's brain the whole time.

7: Magnus

I hate everything AMC did with the Magnus backstory--I hope this is just a matter of Armand (1) lying his arse off, and/or (2) not knowing wtf he's talking about. Just like Dream!Stat said: HA! 😡

8: Armand's languages

What Daniel said in 1x4 about Armand's Muslim prayers sounding Crimean/Ukranian or whatever has had everyone reeling ever since. But AMC never addressed it in S2! So wtf IS Armand? He says French is his 4th and poorest language--so I'm assuming:

he was born in Delhi, spoke Sanskrit (a la Arun in Sanskrit)

(???) this 2nd language is the one I'm confused about. Either this is the Crimean/Ukranian/Russian Armand learned when he converted(?) to Islam (WHEN??); or it's some other language. In the books, Andrei knew Greek when he was kidnapped & sold to the ship captain (which makes sense cuz of Greek Orthodox Catholicism), and that's how he initially communicated with the boys in Marius' palazzo), cus his amnesia made him forget his native Russian

Amadeo learned Venetian Italian from Marius' boys, and that's what he ended up speaking the whole time he was with the Children of Satan in Santino's coven

French, which he spoke when he was transferred to Paris to lead the Children of Darkness at Les Innocents

9: Armand's religion

10: Papa DPDL

11: Claudia's diary pages

NGL, I do wonder what all the fuss was about in 1x5 when Lou refused to show Daniel the rape pages, if he was just gonna tell us what happened in 2x3 anyways. 🙄 Is it cuz he realized Dan was right about not editorializing; wanting to be as honest as possible--getting "every detail right", like he said in 2x1? Lou told Armand he wasn't gonna share the pages with Dan, he just wanted to see them again--is it cuz he forgot what had actually happened to her? Yeah, IDK what was going on there.

2x4

12: Armand's Backstory

13: Alice & Kate

We never did find out if these chicks (and Dan's daughters) were even real.

14: Louis' photos

We never did find out wtf was going on with Louis' photos (my money's still on Rashid).

2x6:

15: Louis' aerophobia

Did Louis ever get to fly a plane, is all I wanna know, AMC. For reasons.

2x7:

16: No Frankenstein?

NGL, I'm holding out hope that Armand actually did chop Claudia's head off, and just kept HELLA QUIET about it cuz he was working so hard to come off innocent as possible. TVA spinoff tell-all WHENNN?

17: The Script/Lestat's lies during the Trial

WHERE and WHEN did Lestat sleep, before he went to America?

I think this was Lestat deliberately misdirecting the coven so they wouldn't know he found TWMBK.

1908 leaves a 2-year gap, since Lestat met Louis in NOLA in the winter of 1910. So WTF was Lestat up to? The math ain't mathin!

18: Lestat's bruises, no Tower Scene

AMC, this was quite possibly your biggest L all season. If it wasn't for the eagle-eyed fans spotting Lestat's bruises, we'd have NOTHING to even begin to hint that Lestat was being forced to participate in the Trial! Why on god's green earth did y'all not focus on that more--during the Loustat reunion would've been a great time for Lestat to let Louis know he only did it cuz he HAD to!

I wouldn't be surprised if the Trial's revisited to Gotcha! us in S3, when Lestat tells the "real" story 🙄, and we get Lestat's perspective, arriving in Paris, confronting Armand, and getting the coven's ultimatum. Cuz TBF, the Trial was being told strictly from Loumand's perspectives--what Louis remembered when he was going in & out of consciousness under the coven's Mind Gift assault; and what little Armand provided (that wasn't a lie). Louis wouldn't've been in any shape to notice light bruising on Lestat's wrists with one of his eyeballs literally hemorrhaging. And Armand CERTAINLY wasn't gonna bring up Les' bruises if he's the one that put them there--he was already shaking in his boots over "Banishment."

So I think this situation can still be salvaged--YES, it'll be a cop-out, but whatever; I just wanna see it. Rolin promised us that we';d see Lestat be "humbled," but I thought we'd get something way different. It's beyond ridiculous that y'all didn't make it clearer that Lestat had been tortured; especially cuz he seemed just fine during their rehearsal--and THAT would've been the moment to show him effed up before they dolled him up for the stage.

2x8:

19: The London Coven

20: Lestat's maker/fledgling telepathy in 1x2

21: Where were Claudia's diaries & yellow dress?

We clearly see Louis stuffing Claudia's dress & diaries in a burlap sack, and we clearly see the dress perfectly preserved in Dubai. So Daniel's question still holds: "Where were all these diaries in 1973?" There's also the question of when Louis started his "archives." I have several theories (X X), but yeah, I'm confused.

22: Loumand post-Paris and pre-Dubai

AMC, the math ain't mathin!

I need a frikkin Loumand timeline, AMC, this ish don't make no sense!

23: Daniel's Turning

Like. Wtf? I can't believe y'all offscreened Armand Turning Daniel. We'd better get a proper Devil's Minion segment in S3, istg; I NEED to see the gremlin terrorizing Daniel; it's pure comedy!

24: When/Why did Sam go to the Talamasca?

Just a spare thought--was it for asylum? Out of spite against Armand? Out of boredom? Seeking attention? What?

25: Wtf is Dr Fareed up to in S3?

I just hope we'll get the reveal that he's a vampire, and that we'll see his Maker Seth for the very first time on screen--hopefully as they side against Akasha! That would be a spiiiiiicy family reunion!