#honestly no one can live Lestat the way he wants to loved

[intheamsblog]

The way Lestat reacted when he found out Louis had swam the Mississippi River to get to him. His eyes dilated, his smile slowly disappeared. He was stunned. In shock. Baffled that Louis would do that for him. Of course, this would be the perfect way to show Lestat that he’s loved, a big gesture, a wild action - for Lestat ‘I do everything for Louis’ de Lioncourt.

Which makes me think he wanted Louis to kill Antoinette. He wanted Louis jealous enough to kill for him. So he poked and poked. Just like how he said to Louis “if he had disrespected you I would have killed him myself” is such a casual manner - like it’s nothing. Lestat wanted Louis to kill her as an ultimate show of love. Or even to be asked to kill her. The whole time it was Claudia that asked Lestat to kill Antoinette, not Louis. So he didn’t. He waited and since it wasn’t going anywhere, he just continued to use her.

[onlylove4louis]

Louis finds Armand BORING... and not because he's not Lestat. Not exactly

This is another one of those things I keep randomly thinking about. Just musings. Also, this one really shouldn't be too deep and definitely no intense, emotional dramatics 😅

Now, the take that Louis finds Armand "boring" because Armand is not Lestat. Who I like to call; a category 5 hurricane. Definitely isn't wrong, it goes hand in hand with this one... it's just that, as everything else in this show/series, I think it's more nuanced then just that. To really get to it, I want to point out one of the fundamental differences between Lestat & Armand, as people and/or as Vampires. And then contrast (that's not the right word), with Louis. Lets start with Louis though, because I mean come on.

Louis always comes first

Louis de Pointe du Lac, as well all should know by now, is seen as and regarded as; the most HUMAN Vampire. -- interjection real quick: I don't mean he is human, because he's not. He's still very much a Vampire. He's not any less of a Vampire, than the rest. Alot of people tend to sort of confuse that. It's just that, in comparison to OTHER Vampires, he's more human. Even Claudia didn't regard him as her own "kind", because he's too human -- He has a very human heart, he gravitates and clearly feels more comfortable, more at home... with/around humans. He relates more to humans. And while he doesn't really seem to actually like the individual human much, because he is a Vampire, and they are "food". He clearly loves humanity as a whole. Because humans and humanity = life. Louis is attracted to, desires, and ultimately THRIVES... when he's surrounded by life. He always is drawn to being as close to life, and the living, as he possibly can get. And interesting enough, even while its one of the main things about him that sets him apart from other Vampires, and has him mocked, ridiculed and ultimately outcast by them (for being other)... it's also one of the main reasons, why Vampires, particularly the more predatory ones. Are so drawn to him. He draws Vampires to him, like humans do.

Which now leads me to, Lestat

Lestat, even as a Vampire pulses with LIFE. It just comes out of him. And it's one of the main reasons, why he too feels so at home among humans and humanity. It's why he too thrives in an environment, filled with life. For those of you who don't know that, or somehow don't see it, yet. Just wait, you will 😉 It's why he's able to blend/fit in so well with humans, and why he desires too... Even though he is better at being a Vampire, than most. So just like Louis, it's also one of the main things about him that draws other Vampires (like Armand) to him.

Now Armand, is so very NOT human. He's so far removed from humanity, from "life". And honestly not all together by choice. But other than certain things that have been done to him, and forced on him, that have shaped him into this... He is also just so OLD, as a Vampire. Therefore hasn't been a human and hasn't lived among humans for so long... The point of that being, he's not "alive". There is no humanity in Armand, there is no life or living in/with Armand. There is only death. There is only stagnation.

And there-in lies, why Louis finds Armand boring, especially in contrast to Lestat. Lestat gives off life, he breathes life. Lestat lives and surrounds himself (and Louis) with life; passion, music, art, etc. Armand, does not... All the way down to just having hobbies, he mocks and basically scoffs at the very idea of a Vampire having a 'hobby'. He has no aptitude or interest in music or art, has no interest in the human world as a whole. He barely tolerates and ultimately just humors Louis' humanity, and Louis' thirst for life. But like you do a child. You think it's cute, amusing even but you only engage with it for their benefit. Armand, to Louis is like a statue, or a painting. Static, cold, lifeless. Unmoving.

And the thing is, he was bored with Armand in Paris, he was clearly bored with Armand in San Fransisco, which came to a head:

And he's bored with Armand in Dubai.

In Paris, Louis had no interest in his theatre, he had no interest in his coven. He got nothing from their massacre level 'hunt parties'. Everything Armand was, everything he stood for, everything he surrounded himself by was boring to Louis. Because it was lifeless. It ultimately made a mockery of life, brought death to life, and remained wholly separate from life. To both Louis AND Lestat, it was stifling, suffocating... boring. In San Fran, Louis was having the time of his life with Daniel Molloy, for 8+hrs, while we come to find out that Armand was... sitting at home "picking LINT off the SoFa" Louis was climbing the walls, feeling suffocated by Armand. Not because he was controlling or anything like that, but because he was "beige". He was stifling in his stagnation. In Dubai, "the Vampire is BORED". He's bored with death, he's bored in his coffin/tomb. He's bored with the cold, hard stone, and white clinical lights. Beige, whites and blacks. So far above and therefore removed from, the human world. Removed from life.

In Nola, with Lestat, Louis world & life, looked like this:

So much color, art, always music. Warm, soft lights as well as lots of wood, soft fabrics and nature, etc. So it's not Armand himself he's "bored" of, it's death, it's the static, stilted, stagnate existence. And it's not exactly Lestat he's comparing him too, or he's missing (which he is, again the take is not wrong at all), but it's passion and art and music, and growth... it's life. Which is why, when Daniel helps free Louis from Armand, for good. He immediately goes back to color, and art. He goes "home" and brings back... life.

[dykekingofhell]

okay but the other thing (besides completely shifting armand motivations) about how the show decided to execute the armand betrayal, is that it weirdly softens louis as a character rather significantly. i remember in interviews towards the beginning of the season jacob anderson talking about how he hoped the audience would still be able to like louis after the season concluded, and yeah it's safe to say that we all still love louis, but honestly after seeing the finale, i'm surprised that was ever really a concern. the finale cut one aspect of louis that legitimately puts him a much worse light, the aspect that i thought jacob anderson was referring to. and it's the implication that in the book louis KNEW the extent to which armand was involved with claudia's execution beyond simply not preventing it while they were together and STAYED FOR YEARS.

directly from the book:

“ ‘You could have told me anything you wanted about Paris, Armand,’ I said. ‘Long before now. It wouldn’t have mattered.’ “ ‘Even that it was I who…?’ “I turned to him as he lay there looking at the sky. And I saw the extraordinary pain in his face, in his eyes. It seemed his eyes were huge, too huge, and the white face that framed them too gaunt. “ ‘That it was you who killed her? Who forced her out into that yard and locked her there?’ I asked. I smiled. ‘Don’t tell me you have been feeling pain for it all these years, not you.’

when armand attempts to "confess" to the betrayal, it's not just the louis is too depressed to have grand emotional reaction (which is also true), it's also that he wasn't the least bit surpised; he finishes armand's sentence!! it "wouldn't have mattered" because in all likelihood louis deduced this a long time ago. this is a far cry from the show where he chooses to stay with armand to spite lestat under the assumption that armand didn't direct the play and that he was simply too weak to intervene. in the book, he stays with armand partially out of apathy and an unwillingness to try living any other way after the depression onset by claudia's death hardens him, partially to punish himself out of self hatred by remaining with someone who he holds so much contempt for, and partially because he is haunted by his last interaction with claudia where he tells her that he loves armand, and claudia responds, "no doubt you do. But then again you could even love me." louis sees himself as bound to armand because he sees himself as doomed to constantly fully love (and simultaneously resent) creatures that lack humanity completely. and so he stays with armand, knowing the truth. even in this 70 year period of mourning for claudia he is selfish; wallowing in his own self hatred and pity rather than in her memory doing the very least of leaving the man that killed her. i think the finale would have worked much better for at least me, if this facet of louis had remained intact. i can imagine a version of the episode where daniel attempts a grand reveal only louis' reaction to be much more muted, and for it to be played as a confrimation of already long held suspicions which he chosen to ignore, and i think that would have gone hard.

[ultrapoppet]

About the whole who's the mother in the unholy family topic, actually neither. But who you assign it to depends of your relationship with your mom figure or depiction of moms you're used to seeing in media. I'm leaning towards Lestat as a classic evil stepmom who forces Cluadia to becomes his dad's caretaker. But they both have mom moments at different times.

About the whole feminization of Louis which some fans take way too seriously, again they're both men. But as Florence aptly put it, their nails are manicured. And honestly looking for the woman in the relationship is kind of a Florence take (rip you'd loved fauxmoi).

Regarding the housewife comment which is something Claudia says to Louis to rile him up against Lestat and people take way too literally, show me when this man washed a single dish? He was a hoarder and mostly just ignored his husband that's literally the opposite of a dotting housewife.

But more seriously, even though Lestat is the more powerful person in the relationship, the abused housewife dynamic hinges on sexism and socialization of women that Louis just doesn't exprience. Mainly:

Women are socialized to associate their value with being wives and mothers. They are judged more harshly for divorce and are expected to put up with a lot more to save the marriage. It was legal and common for men to beat their wives and women were expected to put up with it. Louis was socialized to be the patriarchal husband and the provider. And society was not encouraging Louis to keep sodomizing with a white man. Society very much wanted him to not be in a biracial gay relationship and go settle with Hazel instead. On both sides.

There are a system of laws and social roles put into place to keep women dependant on men. Both in terms of financial dependence and the spaces single women are allowed to coccupy. Louis didn't have Lestat's fuck you money then but he was born rich and as a man he was allowed to own and invest that money. We never see him not be well off. He could comfortably live as a single man and face way less judgment than he did with Lestat.

I hate it but Claudia venturing out on her own as a young looking woman and a less physically powerful vampire and having to deal with bruce vs Louis hunting the gay population by cruising shows the contrast well between what men and women usually face in society.

This whole thing feels like another way for Louis fans who are super attached to the idea of him as a helpless victim to give Louis even more disadvantages than he actually had. He is a man. He is rich. He was a pimp. Instead of dragging sexism into this, stick to Louis sacrificed himself by *insert event* posts idk.

About the whole baby trapping argument, Louis is the one who wants Cluadia. He's the one who makes promises Lestat wants to hear to coax and convince him and Lestat gives in and does it for Louis. If anyone baby trapped anyone it was Louis baby trapping himself. Except the baby convinced Louis to finally leave and Lestat was ready to abort it a few decades in.

Also I'd argue that since they mostly live outside of human society, Lestat's main power over them is being an older, more powerful vampire which is a role that can be occupied by a woman. Although vampires still follow human patriarchal norms so probably not many women became coven leaders and it's also unlikely a woman would've acted the way Lestat did.

Also interesting that the qualities Louis displays that get called feminine by fans, mainly being passive which yikes, are actually not a main trait in the one female charachter in the show or the women of vc. But more female fans seem to identify with Louis than they do with Claudia because there are more depressed girls on this website (who low key want to fuck Lestat) than plot murder girls.

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep8 Musings - Loustat (SPOILERS) Pt2: Reunion

You don't know the HALF of what Lestat feels for Louis, to let YOUR grimy arse steal his man, just for LOUIS's happiness. ANYTHING for Louis.

Am I the only one who felt left hanging? We BEEN knew it didn't make sense, but what's your POINT, exactly? If Louis misremembered Lestat whispering, it's just par for the course about the odyssey of recollection. But if Lestat DID do telepathy, is that evidence of...what? That the vampire bond works differently than what's been explained? That he COULD read Lou's mind? AMC, this is AGGRAVATING.

Your goose is COOKED, my guy.

The copium & denial pack Louis was smoking as he laughed was 🤌

That's right, start sweating!

Master manipulation; cuz he certainly would NOT have, as we soon find out. ANYTHING for Louis. (Dang, Imma have to take back some of what I said about Lestat's character development not having started yet.)

I was shocked. I was NOT expecting this plot twist. I was ready to throw Lestat out with the rest of the TRASH, in the DUMP. Well dang. Guess I'll only leave him rotting in a TINY landfill.

I nearly SCREAMED--@nashvillethotchicken and I were talking about Loustat as Bobby and Whitney ages ago! I cannot BELIEVE AMC threw in a New Edition reference in the year of our lord 2024; y'all are diabolical AF, Rolin, STOP IT.

I wonder if AMC used Hurricane Odette cuz the OG script was set in pandemic!2020, so it would make sense that a year later Louis would head back to NOLA during 2021 when Hurricane Odette last hit.

That looks like NOLA's Pontchartrain Hotel--lemme find out he bumped into the Mayfairs when Rowan & them were in town, LOL.

Lestat got more aliases than the KGB; meanwhile Louis just sprinkles his long AF unique AF name all over the place. 🤦 But I guess it's ok, since the tour guide never mentioned him & Claudia by name. (Not Tom Anderson in another finale, LOL.) Louis so offended the tour guide said he ran a voodoo cult. XD

Fall of the House of Lioncourt-Melmouth.

You're gosh darned right! THEE Louis of Troy is in the building!

You love to see it. "A wearisome fledgling; all the millennials are--" not Lestat making PALE PROXIES of rat-catcher extraordinare LDPDL out of millennials. 😭

Lestat, if you don't get your crazy arse outta here with that bloodstained wooden keyboard Imma ROTFLMFAO.

NO JOKE, I effed up my friend's whole set when I started screaming "Siri, Pause," cuz my friend's Siri started freaking out and effed up the volume! XD

HERE WE EFFING GOOOOOOOO

(Best scene all season, fight me on this)

You know this was TEARING Lestat up, cuz of what happened in 1973--I gave Louis to you so you could do BETTER by him than EYE did, and instead it's NICKI ALL OVER AGAIN.

Imma smack him--this is NOT the time to be self-loathing, Lestat!

NOLA is my home--and the SAINT is not a city--I'm gonna cry.

He did. He just forgot, when reality settled in and the allure/nostalgia/glamour wore off. "I tried to make nights awful for you." Not the whole time, Louis. Y'all actually were happy b4--even Claudia said "the easy times" stopped after Florence died; and esp. after Charlie died. Lou can't be blamed for grieving his mom's death, and he definitely can't be blamed for Lestat & Claudia falling out after Charlie. Everything that happened after that--the 7 years of depression--was ALSO Lestat's fault. "I wanted you to suffer, cuz I was suffering;" I'm glad Les just waved that aside and said they BOTH wronged e/o.

He's not suicidal anymore then! He has nights in front of him to look forward to! So Lou can finally "learn to live honestly" with HIMSELF.

And Lestat dove RIGHT ON IN with that! He's been carrying that with him for DECADES, worried about Louis & what happened.

I LOVE that Les' language changes (the way his voice CRACKS and goes so TINY, oml)--he asked Lou in 1973 if he was "ill," and if something had happened TO him; so as to not spook/trigger or blame him--but he can ask more candidly now in a (relatively) "healthier" 2024 if Lou tried to hurt/kill himself; and get a more candid/honest answer. CLOSURE, y'all, I'm gonna cry.

GOOOOOOD. Don't EVER forget your daughter. Y'all need to have a Claudia Memorial; to KEEP remembering her, as she was in all her vampiric splendour, the good times AND the bad times.

I KNOW this hurt Louis to his effing core. The way Jacob cried FIRE!

I'm so glad Lou hugged him--YES YOU WERE, Uncle Les. And you KNOW it; you FELT that bond b/t y'all, even if she never looked at you. The distance b/t y'all was in name only, cuz a little Black girl couldn't have TWO daddies in 1917 and have one of them be white on top of it. I AM YOUR MAKER, sure, but you were her BLOOD FATHER, and she loved you, which is why she hoped you'd help her.

ANOTHER ROUND IN THE STORMY ROMANCE OF YOU TWO. 😭👏

What are these magical off-mic speeches/pep-talks Louis keeps giving people in Season 2?!? THE PEOPLE WANNA KNOW, gosh darnit!

DRATS.

I get why Jam said they thought the Loustat ending was "satisfying." It was nice, even though I'd've preferred to see Lestat in the Dubai penthouse at the end. :\

I LOVE THIS, AMC, thank you! ❤️

[covenofthearticulate]

Ash please I am begging you for the detailed version of your Louis’ Room at Trinity Gate headcanons 🫢 I gotta know it ALL

HI HELLO OKAY LET'S FUCKING DO THIS

so the thing about Louis' rooms at Trinity Gate is that I absolutely believe they're a bit of a cluster fuck. And that is 100% on purpose. The rest of the mansion is so meticulously designed and so incredibly ornate, that Louis' room is purposefully a lot more simple in comparison (it is not actually simple by any means— when I say simple I mostly mean that there's no insane baroque murals on the ceiling or intricately patterned wallpaper or mountains of crown molding on every wall).

Louis' bedroom is his only real sanctuary in the house where he's not expected to be the Head of Household or the Gracious Host. It's also the only room that won't give him immediate Sensory Overload on the nights when the new blood makes everything feel Too Much. So all that being said: I imagine Louis' room is still an interior design dream come true, it's filled with lots of modern luxuries and is very rich, but at the same time it's the most lived in room in the house, so it's cluttered and messy and just very weird looking!!

OKAY LET'S DIVE IN:

Honestly I'd be remiss if I didn't start off by just dropping in some inspo pics from some of my favorite scenic design of all time, from Only Lovers Left Alive because I think Eve's bedroom and Adam's parlour both radiate Louis Vibes

like, look at all of her BOOKS!!! they're everywhere lmfao, the room is so big but it feels so crowded and intimate and even though she's alone on the bed/on the floor she doesn't feel lonely. it's a perfect little nest, and I definitely think Louis is guilty of leaving piles and piles of books around his room just because he likes the feeling of being surrounded by them. those are his comfort Dostoyevsky's.

At the same time, Adam's place is also just so painfully Louis to me with all the clutter from across the centuries:

like the furniture is beautiful and there was clear aesthetic intention once upon a time, but it's so overrun with shit...there are record crates, but also a walkman and headphones on the coffee table...there's a tv remote with no tv?? there's a fucking candelabra on the middle of the table? I just love it so much, it feels very Louis to me because in my mind even when he's mentally doing okay, Louis strikes me as one of those people who will keep lots of shit lying around.

He's not a material person in the way Lestat is, but sometimes it just doesn't really occur to him that he can just throw stuff away, and also I think he's really fascinated and sentimental about certain Human Things. Like I've said this before, but I've always headcanoned that he likes to keep all the slips of paper and makeshift bookmarks he finds in his secondhand books— occasionally Armand will organize them into a pile or tuck them into a drawer, but otherwise that kind of stuff you'll find scattered about Louis' bedside table, dresser top, and and writing desk.

ANYWAY so at Trinity Gate I think Louis' room itself is surprisingly small, and that's on purpose too. it's meant to be something intimate, so really the only furniture is the bed, a writing desk, some bedside tables, and maybe a small plush armchair for him to sit and read in. a lot of the design and layout is inspired by his familiar late 18th century style, but with a much more modern touch.

I know for a FACT Louis has a fancy four-poster bed, and it's a queen, not a king. He doesn't like all that extra space, he only needs enough for him and Armand to be comfortable in (space gets tight when Lestat sleeps over, but that's okay).

The bedding itself probably isn't too ornate— maybe a sage or navy colored duvet and matching pillow set. No patterns or anything fancy on the bedding, just one straight color. Hanging from the four posters are drapes that Louis absolutely utilizes when he wants a little Extra Privacy. It's also something he's used to from his mortal days (re: sleeping with mosquito netting in louisiana) so it's just muscle memory for him to let down the drapes once he knows he's going to be settling in for the evening.

For reference, I imagine something similar to the structure on the left, with the bedding set on the right

Actually the photo on the right is very similar to how I picture other aspects of Louis' room: the bookshelves in the wall, the cool gem toned walls, accented with a bit of crown molding but nothing too ornate.

I also love the idea of Louis only having a single painting decorating the wall, but I've always liked to imagine that it's a piece that Armand had made for him, hand-painted as a birthday or anniversary gift. Louis hangs it right above his bed and likes to stare up at it upon waking in the early evening.

And don't even THINK of bringing in overhead lighting into his room!!!! He NEEDS yellow gaslight sconce things on his wall!!

okay and lastly, I like to think that even though his room is quite small, he does have spaces carved out for all his lovers. Lestat likes to drape himself dramatically on the little ottoman at the foot of the bed and hang with his hair down as he talks for hours with Louis. Armand likes to perch on top of the writing desk like a cat, toying with all the little trinkets Louis has there, or occasionally flipping through his journals and books just to scribble little love notes in the margins.

Sorry I've gone on for too long but YEAH thinking about character's spaces is just such an interesting way to get to know them!! I am never not imagining all of the intricacies of Louis' bedroom!!!! Please I love him so much!!!

[pynkhues]

Love Me at the Ungodly Hour. Lestat x Louis. Interview with the Vampire. Post s2. Explicit. 38k words.

-

“Your film,” he agrees, just for the sake of agreeing, and then, finally, voice deceptively light: “Where are you up to with all that? In the interview, I mean.”

And it’s unsubtle, clearly, given the way Lestat suddenly props himself up on his hands again, the warmth of his body up and over and away instead of close and low and near, and that’s okay, Louis thinks. This needs to be okay. He’s not interfering, he’s just - - finally asking the question. He glances up at Lestat, who looks suddenly very alert as he stares down at Louis, and he must wear it then, his - - intent - - because Lestat promptly clambers off him and then off the bed entirely.

He feels the loss of Lestat’s body over his even as he pushes up into a seated position on the bed, watching with trepidation as Lestat paces for a second, like he just needs to move, jittery with an unspent energy – an unfathomable concept after performing – before he just stops. Peers back at Louis with an apprehensive sort of look.

“Why do you ask?”

And fuck, if that doesn’t rattle the box Louis’ tried to lock this up in, and if they weren’t trying to be better, do better, Louis would ask him why do you think? Would ask him what goes on in your head that you think I wouldn’t want to know all of this? Would ask him what it is about the two of them, who can talk for nights on nights on nights, who can know each other’s topography and undersoil, who can live within the most wild and rugged terrains of one another, yet only turn over their most weathered stones for tourists.

Louis exhales a rough breath, shaking his head.

“I’m just asking,” he says, forcing his tone to stay gentle. “It’s been a few days now. I’m curious, is all.”

“Is Daniel telling you things about Nicki? Because - -”

“No,” Louis replies quickly, honestly. He sits up a little more in the bed, tries to find the words for this: “I’m not - - Lestat, I know you and Nicki had something real, I know how important he was to you. There’s nothing Daniel could tell me about that - - nothing you could tell me about your companionship that would make me take issue with that. We both have our pasts…” he fumbles, searching for the right thing to say, then decides to move past it. To not let this distract from the thing he knows that he wants to ask about, so, softly, he says it: “He said you were at the point of your turning.”

For a moment, Lestat just stares at him, eyes darting across Louis’ face from the other side of the room and the air feels tremulous between them, feels pregnant with something, full, when Lestat suddenly bursts into peels of lurid laughter. And okay, Louis thinks, knowing this response too well now to be startled by it, his mouth twisting into a grimace as Lestat struggles to pull himself back together.

“Oh, Mon Dieu, you had me - - ” Lestat gestures vaguely to his head, then huffs out a little breath with a smile. “Yes, tomorrow I shall farewell my mortal existence and embrace the dark gift.”

He pops his eyebrows at that, almost amused, before clambering back onto the bed and moving to crawl up Louis’ body again, pushing at his sternum, encouraging him to lie down once more, but Louis doesn’t go, just stares back at Lestat, closer now, almost nose-to-nose with him when Lestat leans in for a kiss.

--

Louis and Lesetat argue about moving in, the interview, and finally, deeply, darkly, about Magnus.

Read Love Me at the Ungodly Hour here.

[dxxtruction]

Another post on Armand's decisions because I need to just write down my incoherant thoughts.

I think Armand didn't care what happened with Claudia and Madeleine in the slightest, they could've ran off together or burned and he wouldn't care. Honestly, it seemed he'd been trying to get Louis to feel the same way. He always saw them as a doomed inevitability, but this can not be said the same with Louis.

Fact is there's a conflation of motivations that doesn't make a lot of sense if Armand had no intention or desire to ever save Louis. Yet maybe the point is Armand couldn't even make complete sense of his own motivations himself. He didn’t want anyone to die I don’t think, his allegiances were everywhere to the point he only really had himself. He couldn't tell Louis no, he couldn't tell the coven no either. Pulled in two directions up to the very end. He needed the coven appeased, the coven he never wanted but wouldn’t wish death upon, what he wanted was Louis, while the coven wanted him and his little family dead. Then it comes to it that he could have Louis, but at a cost that they go through with a trial. The trial he directed. So then it's about how Louis could die after a brief happiness or he could find a way to save him - through being close to the whole thing maybe. He's still directing the trial when it comes time. And to that point he may not have known what to do to save him, so just play into it. But I think he'd have still desired being a savior, cause Louis is what he really chose. He maybe legitimately just didn't know if he could be.

And, I don't think he could.

Him being powerful enough to prevent it all is an assumption we've just taken to heart because he has proven capable of a lot. I think Armand's aware of his power - he kept the coven at bay for as long as he can with it - but I think he's also aware of its limits. If thirteen bloodthirsty vampires all came after him, a lot like what had happened with Marius who was also incredibly powerful and ancient, I think he's in his mind that he couldn't take that on. Especially if he'd never desired killing anyone. It stands to also reason these limits are such that he probably couldn't have controlled the entire audience the way Lestat did. Maybe memory is being wacky and he tried as we saw, but it was Lestat who really succeeded, one upping him. Or maybe he'd just given up the hope for it and so it came as a complete surprise.

You also have to think about how beholden the laws are to the coven. Armand's been at the point where he kind of doesn't care for them, or at least he's become lenient and curious about the alternative when it comes to Louis, but the coven is founded on their principles or it wouldn't hold together. So, it's either to dissolve if Louis and Claudia, and Madeleine were to all show the laws can be broken without consequence. Or be mutiny, which is what did happen, and so if he doesn't let those happen then no one lives not even him. This is something that Armand has in mind when going through with it, I'm sure. Still plotting some way to save Louis, but he isn't powerful enough to sway the inevitable, so he figures he has to go along to at least save himself. If anything happens he wants to end up alive.

This may be the reason he needs the coven to keep existing, even though he hates it, it offers him something that's more written in stone, something guaranteed to last so long as consequences are had. It does pain him to do this but the coven was holding the keys to his very life over his head (Which I'd argue makes this whole thing a lack of a choice) and he'd rather stick to his life being miserable than die along with them. Much as Armand really wants love he'd feel safer in this 'forever' thing. I think he's being truthful when he says this.

I think it's truthful as well he was degraded with Santiago's take over, he wasn't secretly leading anything by the time the play was happening. 'The choice' was something Armand felt building he just didn't know when or how it would happen. Santiago being the one to come up with the plan in secret which included trapping Armand to join them or not seems to fit. 'we can kill you now or you can make yourself useful, your choice.' That could've happened at any moment but I think the night Madeleine is turned is probably when they confronted him. Santiago wanted control from Armand so he gets him where it hurts most, forcing a betrayal he wouldn't be able to refuse. Of course he could've tried to fight back, and he did say he could've, but of course there's just this large part of him who would love to be debased from leadership. It's sort of an easy choice to go along and keep going along, when it does debase him, he does get his love as he always wanted him for even just a short while, and ultimately he will live. I don't think he fought very hard. I don't think he found it in himself to.

I think he rides so hard on the he could not prevent it train because he never actually acted to know whether or not he really could've, adamantly believing at the time he couldn't. Coming only to regret it later that he hadn't done enough. He saw how actually easy it was to take the whole coven out when Louis did it, and knew from then on he probably could've done something. He'd rather say anything until it's true instead of be honest with what he really knows.

It may be true as well though that when this play was first conceived, and through rehearsal, he may have been of the shared opinion Claudia and Madeleine would be better out of the picture. Not for laws but selfish reasons. Which would be just another layer of sway over his choice, maybe even another reason why he took the role in it that he did. It was personal to him, he felt Claudia was a lot to blame for things turning out like this. So if he couldn't say no to it, at least he'll exact his little revenge for how Claudia had to go and ruin everything. But again I don't think he actually cared so long as neither of them were being disruptive to his life. Awful thing is he probably thought up till it was too late that they would be. If he really could've prevented anything it was to not let his own spite rule him so much, maybe then he would've prevented a whole lot more.

Now clearly none of this is justified, there was a heavy amount of coercion but I think Armand is very much to be held responsible for what went on in Paris, and his own actions to take part in this as closely as he had were deplorable. His inaction culpable. He's responsible for all the lies and manipulation that took place as a part of this too. And thereafter.

Anyway stay away from cults.

[rottenbrainstuff]

IWTV ep 3: (spoilers)

I haven’t had the spoons to watch a new ep for a while but my oldest kiddo started the show and got me in the mood again.

This ep was interesting. It was like watching a relationship drama in a vampire shape. It was so well acted and well written though that… I almost felt… embarrassed watching it. It was too personal, too vulnerable, I felt like a voyeur watching something too private and I should leave and let them have their conversation. Isn’t that weird?

And oh god. I’m sorry I ever doubted the Lestat actor back in ep one, here he’s perfect. He makes a big arrogant show of how he can’t possibly limit himself to one single sexual partner and how quaint Louis is for even bringing this up, tells Louis (through tightly gritted fangs) that it’s ok for him to go fuck other people too, Louis goes out and gets exactly one (1) blowjob, and Lestat is on the verge of tears. His arrogant mask is slipping and he’s just sad and lonely underneath, because he can’t connect to people honestly and without cruelty, and it’s pathetic and ridiculous and it’s perfect.

I also really love what was happening here with Louis’ memory, and how he finds he can’t remember old details anymore, (and I mean. Of course he can’t. Who can?) and I hope this becomes a running theme. The thing I loved about the old books was how Anne Rice had really spent a lot of time thinking just what WOULD happen to a human, realistically, if they ended up living so long, and my god can you imagine that? I mean I’m only in my 40s and I have trouble remembering details from two decades ago and it sometimes makes me sad. Imagine being alive for centuries, knowing that you have centuries worth of memories but you can barely trust them because they’ve decayed. Maybe this is what has persuaded him to finally get this interview properly done. In 100 more years he’s going to forget even more, he wants a portrait of himself in this moment to be recorded so he doesn’t…. So he doesn’t have to watch parts of himself die while he’s still alive? Or something? It’s interesting to think about.

I continue to enjoy the changes they make with the book, the way they flesh out the characters and situations. I think the books did have enticing things in them: if they didn’t, no one would give a shit about making a tv show out of them almost 40 years later, but I do like the gentle ribbing and references to the books and the movie, and the way they really aren’t afraid to totally change things which in the end makes it… truer to itself, in some way.

Can’t wait to properly see Claudia next ep. God, it’s like a couple who are thinking of getting a divorce but decide to have a kid instead because they think that will fix their relationship.

[kaokhss]

*EPISODE 8 SPOILERS*

I don't understand all the negativity around this episode, from a certain part of the fandom. (actually i know very well why you're upset...but let's pass)

I absolutely loved Louis' revenge part, you could argue that it was way too fast paced but let's be honest, did you want it to last a whole episode? All the vampires were in the same place and asleep he had the advantage the only confrontation that we needed to see in more detailed was the one with Santiago, and as much as he is evil, Santiago is a ''young'' vampire right ?Louis could easily have the upper hand so it was a quick fight,it was satisfying .

I'm not going to dwell too much on the dungeon part because I don't think it happened like that. We're probably still in Louis' modified memories by Armand, so let's move on.

Why a powerful vampire like Armand would be threatened by Louis and not defend himself? Probably shame, disbelief and shock! He didn't expect that to happen at all! It was nice seeing Louis regains a little "power" i wasn't expecting a big fight and I think it's only the first confrontation.

Louis was literally glowing the moment he came back to New Orleans, chatting with the cab driver, smiling and all. He is not even back to the old Louis,no it's a new Louis!

Finally the reunion with a Lestat who was not even surprised to see him there, he was waiting for him and knew it was his Louis. Really appreciated that they spoke openly,one of their biggest problem is obvious lack of communication?? Them grieving the loss of their daughter and admitting they failed her .

I know that everyone has already made hundreds of metaphors about them hugging during the the hurricane but it was visually very beautiful. Despite all the storms in their lives it's always Louis and Lestat 🖤

So if they really met in New Orleans,it's Lestat's first real appearance on the show ?Well he was much more 'normal' than the way he was described by Louis and Armand, less flamboyant? But we must take into consideration that after the events in Paris he was surely no longer the same and lived a recluse life's, healing... I could never hate you Lestat.

I didn't talk about Armand/Louis and Daniel/Armand because I honestly don't know what to say there is probably more to come in s3. Devil minioners there's no better way to start the big DM Adventures!

Louis back in Dubai and talking with Daniel like two besties, please writers you absolutely have to develop this friendship we need to see their dynamic. I know that Daniel is thriving, accepted and adapted to vampirism so well

Claudia's dress and Paul portrait,can i cry? Two of most violent losses in his life, the ones to whom he never got to say goodbye and feels responsible for their deaths.They are here with him forever,the tree is gone just like Armand.

I'm not really sure about the interpretation but Louis casually declaring war on the other vampires,after finally accepting his vampirism? he is that guy!

Look at all the colors,he is Really free after almost 80 years in a black and cold controlled prison.The photography on this show is no joke each plans could be framed on a wall.

I probably forgot a lot but it's already really long! But I don't forget to once again thanks Jacob Anderson for his multi-layered interpretation of Louis. obviously i say it every days and i will continue to say it, give that man every awards.

[apre11]

(from the drafts after s2e5. didn’t want to post but eh i might as well)

s2e5 made me love Armand so much more! his feelings and the way he deals with them were put on full display and it was very raw. he was and is so sure that what he did was right, it’s amazing. and the fact that he erased this whole episode of him being the most real from Louis’s memory?? remarkable show of his character.

the things that Lestat did were at around the same level of fucked up, but Lestat didn’t fuck with Louis’s memory and owned them. and Louis hates him because of that. but also because of that Louis knows who Lestat is and when he loves him he loves him fully.

Armand can’t bear Louis hating him like he hates Lestat. he can’t bear being alone again. and since the real him is just as fucked up, then the only thing he has over Lestat is playing the role of the characterless boring wife that is healthier and more caring to Louis, even though he has centuries of trauma that warp his perception of what’s healthy.

in San Francisco Armand let himself go and express all his resentment, jealousy, insecurity, and cruelty, regardless of Louis’s pleas. only up until the moment that Louis gave him an ultimatum — our relationship lives only if the boy lives.

Armand removed the memory of this whole thing because if it stayed, it would rid him of the only trump card he had over Lestat. he chooses not being alone over being seen because being honestly seen and then not being chosen by Louis’s heart would be unbearable. and he’s so real for that 😔

(and i mean. Louis is also not in the right if he’s actually conscious of the fact that he’s bored and doesn’t want to be with him but still stays and just blames Armand for being boring instead of taking responsibility for his life and leaving. unless Armand has been wiping his memory every time he tries to break up, which is possible i guess)

i love all these eternal trainwreck vampires…. there’s so much love and pain in each of them……… they are lost and afraid and grasping at anything they can reach. and there’s no one in the world who can understand them better than each other precisely because they lived for so long and they’re so intertwined with the horrible things that they lived through and did to each other. and neither understanding nor love can prevent the suffering ❤️

[silverity]

Gabrielle in the Interview with the Vampire books is one of my favourite female characters.

Born and raised in 1700s France, as a noblewoman her life is restricted to marriage and motherhood. She ends up in a marriage she was never truly satisfied by, and she was never really maternal enough to take to motherhood. She is described as somewhat cold and emotionally closed-off. But she does love her children, particularly Lestat who reminds her of herself (a son she lives through), and so for them she tries to provide what they need of their mother. We see her grow old, weary, and sick from the effects of multiple childbirths, and get the sense she hasn't truly lived a life of her choosing.

Before she can die from sickness Lestat turns her into a vampire, essentially a supernatural reversal of his own birth where instead of his mother bringing him to life he brings her into the living dead. This frees her of all the bounds of human society. We first see her as a vampire having changed into men's clothing, having refused the option of a new dress. Later she is described as always dressing like an explorer. Whereas Lestat still enjoys human society and entertainment as a vampire, Gabrielle does not, preferring to adventure off all across the world into the wilderness alone and survive from the sun by slumbering in the dirt. She returns only to maintain some connection to Lestat.

"Come with me, Lestat," she said. "By day I sleep in the sand. By night I am on the wing as if I could truly fly. I need no name. I leave no footprints. I want to go down to the very tip of Africa. I will be a goddess to those I slay."

I thought this was an incredible portrayal of an oppressed female character gaining, for the first time in her life, autonomy, individuality and ultimately freedom. The freedom to explore is something women have fantasised and written about throughout history and literature. It just so completely resonated with me that this woman would care nothing for luxury or status, even though she was born wealthy, because in her mortal life this was inseparable from her oppression as a woman. That, yes, she would prefer to completely abstain from society, a society that holds nothing for her since she would be restricted to the roles forced onto her as a woman. That she would feel so much contempt for man-made civilisation that at times she even advocates its destruction:

She shrugged.

"When the world of man collapses in ruin, beauty will take over. The trees shall grow again where there were streets; the flowers will again cover the meadow that is now a dank field of hovels. That shall be the purpose of the Satanic master, to see the wild grass and the dense forest cover up all trace of the once great cities until nothing remains."

"And why call all this Satanic?" I asked. "Why not call it chaos? That is all it would be."

"Because," she said, "that is what men would call it. They invented Satan, didn't they? Satanic is merely the name they give to the behavior of those who would disrupt the orderly way in which men want to live."

I write all of this because I see people now in this modern era of "gender identities" class Gabrielle as "trans masc", a person with a "masculine gender identity". I find that so abhorrently regressive to our understanding of the experiences of women throughout history, and contrary to Anne Rice's own written words on the page. Women throughout every era of history have always defied and resisted their dehumanisation. To class one resisting their sexual dehumanisation as "internally male" only reinforces it, only reinforces that any expression of humanity must make a person in some way male, that women possess no humanity. Interestingly, this was quite often the attitude of the Church. Women who earned sainthood through great heroic feats were classed as "spiritually men". Good job to everyone for reinventing the patriarchal wheel.

But honestly I truly have no idea how people can read Gabrielle's story, with passages like the above, and conclude she must have a "masculine gender identity". Her story to me is so quintessentially a story of womanhood. You can't understand it any other way. She does not "transition into a man". She transitions from a woman confined to a woman now free. Even more so, a woman now truly empowered, possessing great supernatural powers, such that she compares herself in her own words to a Goddess. She has, like many women throughout history, desired the freedom, humanity and agency afforded to men, not manhood itself. The wearing of men's clothing during a time only men were free beings expresses this, not some internal "masculine gender expression" people in the present like to believe in. Instead of "masculinity" her clothing is an expression of her humanity and her newfound freedom.

[desertfangs]

💋 we all know your OTP, but if you had to pick someone else for both of those characters to be with instead of each other, who would be your first choice + why?

Hot damn, going for the gold, anon!

I kind of ship around so it's not hard to imagine Armand and Daniel with other people, even if I think they are always going to have a little piece missing if the other one is not part of their lives anymore. 😭

I think for Armand, the second best match is probably Lestat. Armand and Louis are sweet together but in the modern era, it's just a little too peaceful and quiet, and while I think they both desperately needed that for a while in the TG era, I think both of them crave a little chaos and want to be challenged more, and I don't think they do a ton of that for each other. (Although let's face it, living with Armand is always going to be a challenge. You wake up one morning and the entire house is filled with 3D printers because he's realized he can make his own wind chimes or board game pieces or something, and that is his new passion for the next 7-10 days. I relate to that a lot, actually.)

Lestat has a lot of things in common with Daniel: sarcastic sense of humor, an existential terror of mortality/death, a desire to learn things and find truth and meaning in the world. He and Armand could have a lot of fun together if they'd stop worrying about whatever petty thing they're currently arguing about, and honestly, I think they do. Their petty fights are similar to Armand and Daniel fighting - they know each other so well that they know which buttons to press and they enjoy pressing them maybe a little too much. But that doesn't mean there's not a lot of love and passion there, too.

For Daniel... I guess if Lestat is with Armand, he can't also be with Daniel. Unless... 🥺 (Look, they are my wild card threesome and I love them.)

Honestly though, I think Daniel is great with Marius. It's the same problem, where it's a little too amicable and peaceful sometimes. I often say Marius is Daniel's Louis - the person he can be with where it's just easy-going and soft and domestic and there's not a lot of chaos. And I do believe Daniel also craves and wants that chaos, just like Armand does. But also think Marius can challenge him, and Daniel is very good at challenging Marius back and pulling him out his comfort zone and making him accountable.

So I guess I would put Armand with Lestat and Daniel with Marius. But let's be honest, if I had my way, it would just a be a constant polyamorous party with these fools.

Thanks for the ask, anon!

[covenofthearticulate]

ASH my love I missed your post last night I'm so glad you're okay!! 🫂🫂🫂

let me see if I can come up with any good vampire thoughts on the fly:

- for armand/lestat/louis I feel like lestat has SO MUCH to learn in terms of being a selfless lover and I guess I’m remembering crimson incarnate again like I do every day of my life, but this time I want lestat to put into practice what he’s learned about putting others’ needs first. and not just sex! I want to see him watching armand to learn how to pamper louis the way louis WANTS to be pampered. I want the three of them in the bath together and for once it’s not The Lestat Show but he’s watching louis and armand bathe each other and he finds in him to ask what he can do too 🤧 he ASKS armand if he’d like a turn in the middle for once

- thinking about louis and daniel, and I just think it would be really sweet if louis became the guy daniel went to whenever he feels like there’s a rift or a miscommunication happening in his relationship with armand (I feel like going to lestat or marius with this one would make it worse). since BOTH louis and daniel are on the fledging side of the equation, there’s a unique common ground here. tl; dr: louis is the post-canon a/d marriage counselor (also it’s so funny bc I know armand and louis commiserate re: lestat and now louis and daniel can commiserate re: armand rip louis my guy does not get a break)

- for armand/louis I’m just imagining louis getting armand’s blood stained filthy love letter and tearing off a rust colored edge and putting it in his mouth like an absolute fucking weirdo so he can have the slightest taste of armand on his tongue as he writes his response (whatever that may be 🫢 )

- for lestat/louis I’m know it doesn’t align with canon since most animals are afraid of vampires and mojo was the exception, but I desperately want them to raise a puppy together! I think they deserve it and I usually imagine louis with cats, but I also think he’d be so sweet with a dog and he’d never stop making comments to it—“you’re just like your papa” when it jumps up and licks his face (papa being lestat)

hope these made you smile and hope you feel better soon babe!!! ❤️❤️❤️ (I apologize for any typos I just drank two energy drinks and I am ZOOMING)

Hi friend I hope you know the reason for the late reply is because I've been keeping this in my inbox like a little locket and I go back to peek at it every time I need inspo or serotonin lmfao but these are all so excellent!!!!!!!!!!

LESTAT WATCHING ARMAND PAMPER LOUIS IN THE BATHTUB HELP I'M DECEASED you're so big brained for this oh my god like Crimson Incarnate was fun and I loved having Lestat watch Armand but I can't believe I never even thought about having Lestat watch Louis! Especially because they don't share the Mind Gift I bet Armand would pull out all the stops just to get Louis to vocalize a little more when he does something he likes :)

And YES I love the idea of Daniel being able to talk to Louis about Armand!!! and even before that like i’m honestly so intrigued by what it would look like when Daniel first decides that he’s going to stay with Louis and Armand like how long does it take for them to stop being awkward around one another and what does it look like the very first time that Daniel broaches the subject and asks Louis for advice!!! they have so much baggage between each other but their common ground is Armand 🥺🥺🥺

(also listen……..every day i’m tempted to write a letter from Louis in reply to the Armand letter like my god that shit STILL lives in my head rent free)

nooooooooooooo but i’m gonna fucking CRY at the idea of Loustat raising a puppy together 😭 like Mojo was already full grown when Lestat found him but imagine all the lovely chaos that comes along with raising a little PUPPY!! Louis is the dad who said “Absolutely Not” when Lestat showed up one night with a little dusty stray and then two days later Louis is planted on the sofa with the puppy curled up on his chest and he refuses to let Lestat anywhere near them LMAO (also just think of all the bittersweet ANGST of the two of them living together and co-parenting again and healing but also still being incredibly traumatized after Claudia aaaaaahhhhhhhh)

[loyalhorror]

FOR THAT ONE GIMMIE A CHARACTER MEME. THROWS CHRISTIAN AT YOU WITH: 🏳️‍🌈- Orientation headcanon (I MEAN WE KNOW BUT LIKES TO HEAR YOU GO ON ABOUT IT!!!!!) ❤️‍🩹- Angsty headcanon 💖- Happy headcanon 😋- Funny/stupid headcanon 🪞- Appearance headcanon 🏡- Domestic headcanon

🏳️‍🌈- Orientation headcanon

honestly i think even if he hadn't been traumatised, he was probably never going to be a particularly sexually-motivated person. i think he wasn't given much opportunity to really consider what he wanted or how he felt about sex/romance given the way he was raised; it was very "you're going to marry a woman and raise children regardless of how you feel about it" (and it's likely he would have been matched to someone of similar or higher status, too, rather than finding someone he actually loved). even if The Bad Thing TM hadn't happened, he was probably always going to have some issues surrounding figuring out what he wants/likes and whether or not it's okay to go after it (and this applies no matter how his orientation had played out; i think it's entirely possible he could have been attracted to women in time if he hadn't been traumatised, but it's also entirely possible that he was always going to only be attracted to men. sexuality is weird and these are fictional characters)

❤️‍🩹- Angsty headcanon

there is no world in which keith outlives him. this makes me very sad. it also makes me think about the fact that there are definitely ways for them to extend keith's lifespan through vampirism or otherworld magics, but the likelihood of either of them being okay with that is… very low. keith doesn't want to live forever. weirdly, he doesn't have much of a problem with the idea of vampirism other than that; he's known christian too long to consider vampirism inherently monstrous. he has way more of a problem with something like otherworld magic affecting his lifespan, because he doesn't want that place touching him.

that said: an AU where christian turns keith would also be fucking excruciating because you KNOW that a) keith wouldn't trust any of the other vampires to do it, especially knowing that there's the potential for a spawn/sire bond, and b) christian has sire trauma and would NOT want to sire a fledgling, especially not keith, especially when he has no idea what will happen because vampires are so variable. rip.

💖- Happy headcanon

he has more friends right now than he's had in the past 400 years and it's DISGUSTING but he is happier than he's ever been. he does not know what to do with that feeling. sometimes he looks at keith+co when they're all passed out in the livingroom together and has to just [standing guy emoji] while he processes the deep friendship feelings he'd experiencing. same with louis+lestat when they're all just hanging out being domestic together.

😋- Funny/stupid headcanon

he has teleported into the wrong place at the wrong time and absolutely BOWLED keith over by accident. keith had a panic attack but he was also laughing the entire time, it was very silly. in general the two of them being able to laugh over startling/uncomfortable situations like that is DISGUSTING but also very much proof of how close they've become (keith no longer tries to hide the fact that he just jumped out of his skin, and as a result it's way easier to laugh it off, for example)

🪞- Appearance headcanon

this man never wears jewellery. it's never really interested him either for the aesthetic or for the status symbol of it all; he likes to be relatively non-descript so he can blend in with other people, though he's always kind of going to stand out as "look at this red-haired dead-looking academic" when he isn't at work.

🏡- Domestic headcanon

he has specific Chore Days (TM) (probably on the weekends/sundays) where he just gives everything a good dusting + cleaning. he COULD hire someone to do it for him the way he hires housekeepers for the manor, but it makes him feel human when he and keith+co are all hanging out and doign chores around the house together. repulsive.

[mermaidsirennikita]

We need the full lashings against the margarita show

Honestly, I don't have much new to say except that it's actually such a bummer to see a book I love this much be turned into not only a bad adaptation, but a bad show. If it made a lot of changes but was well-written and created, I'd get over it. One example of an adaptation of a book I enjoyed that was a bad adaptation but a good movie is A Simple Favor--it's really not all that much like the book and has a totally different ending, but tbh? The stylistic choices made it better. This can be done. Interview with the Vampire (the show) changed a lot of things about the source material--the time period, Louis and Claudia's race and origins, a lot about Daniel, the explicit sexuality and romance of Louis and Lestat's relationship--but it honestly, for the most part, elevated the story.

But this is like... legitimately a super weak show. I've actually never experienced this before lol. Most of the books I truly love love love don't get turned into shows or movies, and those that have I'm usually pretty happy with. This is new for me!

(Also, wasn't Nicky an Italian prince in the book? This is such a non-issue, but I feel like random Italian royalty~ is way more believable than random Irish royalty. For fuck's sake, a Borghese "prince" was on THE BACHELOR. Beverly d'Angelo was married to an Italian prince. They're not that hard to find. WHERE ARE THESE IRISH PRINCES??)

Special callouts for the latest batch include:

--the "I don't regret that dress", an objectively cool, punchy line that absolutely sums up Daisy's character--a woman who's lived hard and wild and is aware that she's messy and feels bad about some things but also objectively enjoys certain aspects of living hard and perhaps misses them--getting flipped into "I don't regret that day". LOL. WHAT WAS THE REASON. That's what I don't get about so many adaptational choices. There's no fucking reason. No reason at all. It really feels, sometimes, that they want Daisy to be more approachable and everygirl when the point of her appeal is that she isn't approachable and everygirl. You aren't supposed to identify with Daisy; you're supposed to admire her, want to be her, and then realize that there is a catch to being as cool as Daisy. You also have to commit to being as fucked as she is.

--Simone's queer disco queen subplot was legitimately one of the most interesting things the show has given (the song was one of the better ones too, even if the lyrics were... still rough....) but ultimately, she still exists to go save Daisy and that sucks. Honestly surprised the show didn't replace Simone going there with more DaisyBilly fanservice. There's a lot the show sort of skirted around about Simone wanting to be successful as easily as Daisy, a privileged white woman, could be; how much she wanted to be open with her own truly committed lesbian relationship the way Daisy could be about her fly by night straight marriage. But rather than delving deep, we have Daisy literally going "IT'S LIKE YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH ME OR SOMETHING" a la Regina George.

And if Daisy had been sympathetic versus obnoxious up until this moment, if we'd had real investment in that friendship, I think it could've read as a slap in the face. Like "oh wow, this woman who seems cool and chill and impossibly chic is actually a fucking messy drug addict who, like many addicts, says ridiculously gross, fucked up shit in a moment, she is cool and she is chic and she is talented but she has a serious ugly side", which is something I think... Let's give an example. A Star Is Born (2019)! Did well. Yeah, you could make jokes about Jackson Maine pissing his pants, but to ME, the moment that rang as "oh this is ugly, even though he's been so lovely otherwise" is when he, while shitfaced and jealous, calls his wife, who he knows is insecure about her looks, ugly to her face. While she's naked in front of him. That scene, after you watch how loving and tender he is, even while fucked up, reads as a harsh slap. It's very realistic, if you've been around people who are otherwise loving and amazing, who struggle with addiction. They do that shit. It hurts. It doesn't necessarily invalidate who they are when they're in better places; which makes it hurt more.

Daisy has been so fucking obnoxious when she's... Sober? High but reading sober because the show hasn't gone in on how much of an addict Daisy is and their version of "functional heavy drug user" is "basically sober, maybe a little stoned"? That this moment just read as more of Daisy being obnoxious. Plus, a lot of this agency is taken from Daisy's hands, and we're told that Nicky is manipulating her. The thing is that Nicky was a total symptom in the book--he was a symptom of Daisy's addiction issues, her mental health problems, and her damage with Billy. He was not a cause. He may not have encouraged her to get better, he may have sped up some escalation, but honestly? Daisy was already a pretty fucking messy person before marrying him. Daisy was already showing up high and drinking throughout the day. She handled it worse on the tour, but a lot of that was touring and having to be around Billy while being in love with him and rejected by him. The show, imo, has done such a poor job of portraying the extent of Daisy's issues that it feels like they suddenly RAMP UP in these episodes, when in fact Daisy had always been an addict with PROBLEMS PROBLEMS, which is! A huge reason! Why Billy can't be with her. The show boils a lot of that down to Camila v. Daisy, and while Billy's love for Camila (and his kids) was a major roadblock... It's possible that if Billy and Daisy had met while he was married to Camila but without the addiction issue in hand? Maybe things would've been different. I don't know. Maybe. But Billy also literally wanted to be alive and a present father, and he could've done that had he and Camila broken up, but he couldn't have done that had he relapsed.

--I found the "Daisy in the shower with Billy" scene so funny. It was just so... corny. Like, this literally reads as bad fanfic. Camila is shuttled off to the side, barely present and mostly dealing with a guy who she isn't into. Billy is holding Daisy and going "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! NOAH THIS ISN'T YOU". It's so unbelievably corny. Billy in the book would've been wrecked about Daisy almost dying and then sublimated that by keeping his distance and then showing up to be like ".... so was it worth it? Almost dying for a bump" and then they would've either been completely cold or had some massive blowup about a song.

Similarly, the way Billy and Daisy fight on this show is so contrived lmao. A lot of the way they fought in the book was similar to how they expressed their love; the love was conveyed in lyrics and performance. The anger was conveyed into conflict about the music, which the show sorta does but it also has them getting up in each other's face to scream about Nicky, and it seems like they are BEGGING you to believe in the chemistry and I.... don't.

--The downplaying of Camila is very sad, and I find it endlessly hilarious that the show is all "pat us on the back, we champion diversity by having Simone go from The Black Best Friend to The Black Best Friend with a Minor Subplot, also Billy's Latina wife is going to be more complacent and mostly just sad about his cheating and probably die sooner also".

Again I say, as Warren and Camila speak Spanish to each other and Eddie gives us his best Nice Guy... If we were going to give Camila full affair.............. why not have it be Warren......

--Karen just announcing her relationship with Graham, which was a full secret in the book even decades later, in order to prop up Graham's ego.................. truly wild. Lol so much of Karen on the show is about male ego, it's ridiculous.