#in a way that clearly really upsets lestat

[pynkhues]

I am very very curious about that tower scene because Sam said in an interview that he didn't think Lestat was at the tower voluntarily--so if Armand put him there, how much of Louis' memory of that scene is accurate? Lestat looks very well put-together for a prisoner, and how is he being kept there? So much about that scene felt intentionally odd (even, and you touched on this in your fic, that Lestat says that he wasn't kept in the room with the corpses/"disappointments", whereas he'd told Louis and Claudia that he was kept in a room with corpses).

I'm really curious too, anon! It definitely feels like one that's going to be revisited, probably in more ways than one given Magnus' tower is such a vital location across The Vampire Lestat, and it makes sense that Sam would say that too given Lestat's not there by choice in the book. Like you said, Armand takes him there after the trial (and pushes him out the window to debilitate him further) and I'm curious as to how much of that the show keeps. They've changed a few elements of that sequence already that I don't think can be reversed - like Claudia's dress ending up with Louis for instance, not Lestat - and the bigger fact of Louis seeing Lestat then at all when in the book Armand tells him Lestat died in the theatre fire even though he knows he didn't).

You're right though that it's an odd scene, both between how good Lestat looked (but then Louis' memories of how he looked at the trial too were coloured by other emotions given the revisited scenes at the end showed how unwell he actually looked) and that change in what Lestat tells Louis about where he was kept in Magnus' tower feels pointed given 2.08 spends quite a bit of time pointing out its own deliberate inconsistencies with s1 moments.

I think like a lot of these scenes, Louis' memory of it will be a partial truth, but it lacks the context that we have (and he now, at least, has some of). I also kiiind of imagine Lestat and Armand are probably talking to each other too with the mind link in that scene, but obviously we're not privvy to if that's happening or what it might entail yet.

I can't wait to see what they do with it.

[shesnake]

I wanted to know your thoughts on this but do you think it's fair to say either Louis or Armand are abusive in their relationship? Idek if this is a valid angle to view the characters from because I guess they're all monsters or whatever but a part of me thinks that it's kinda lukewarm to refuse to engage with the complicated themes of the show, which abuse is featured heavily and pretty clearly imo. This isn't aimed at you btw. Something I noticed is people tend to use some of Louis's less favorable moments to justify the violence he experiences. Like that post about Armand just matching Louis energy in ep 5, most of the notes are taking the stance that Louis is a cold, unempathic pimp who doesn't care about sa victims, that Armand genuinely is completely right when he says he is always cleaning up after Louis that he was only worried and tenderhearted and Louis escalated in the worst way and that after Louis said that he deserved everything that happened after. And I may be biased but to me that is so fucking crazy. To me it seems like fans, specially nonblack fans, have zero empathy for black abuse victims, actively enacting abuse culture even. But idk if that is a too reactive view. I don't want to say Louis isn't flawed because he is. But I mean we are watching the season about Armand getting Claudia killed on purpose and somehow people are still like Maybe Armand didn't do it, maybe it was all Louis, maybe Louis really asked for it. All of it. I think there's a problem there but idk I kinda feel a little crazy too. Btw disclaimer I fuckin hate Lestat this is not about comparing Loumand/Loustat lol

hi! and wow there is so much to discuss here...

I think it is fair to describe the actions of both Louis and Armand towards each other as abusive by definition but it's always important to remember that it is Armand in the position of greater power over him. Armand is older, stronger, owns dominion. He can walk in the sun, manipulate memories, and live without constant debilitating hunger for blood - all of which are things that impede Louis from being his own person outside of Armand.

Louis also faced this same predicament when he was with Lestat, but unlike Armand who uses his own innate powers against Louis, Lestat mostly used his social advantages of whiteness, wealth etc in addition to withholding key knowledge about vampirism to keep himself in control and Louis dependent on him.

and sure Louis can lash out all he wants! He can mock Armand's sexual trauma (trauma which Armand himself already gets them both to fetishise... but that's a whole different conversation...) he can hit back when Lestat hits him but when he's with either of those guys he is always going to be the victim. Nothing shitty he does to his partners, or to Claudia, or to Daniel, justifies what is being done to him by these men.

There absolutely has to be anti-blackness involved in any argument that says Louis deserves any of this. (Of course Armand as a brown South Asian man is not immune from fandom racism but his treatment is racialised in a different way that is also a different conversation). Any negative behaviour from a Black man is going to be seen by racists as exponentially more aggressive than it is, especially the cross-section with those you mentioned who aren't engaging with the complicated themes of this show exploring abuse.

They can see that Louis yelling at Armand is bad, but don't notice that Armand is being manipulative. They can see that Louis stabbing Lestat that one time during sex is bad (and still sexualise it), but don't notice that Louis is disassociating in every sex scene he has with Lestat afterwards (because they're too busy sexualising it). They can see that Louis making Daniel upset is bad, but don't notice that Daniel has been leveling dozens of racist and homophobic micro-aggressions at him since episode 1.

Armand got a few minutes to tell his tragic backstory in Louvre, Lestat had 2 or 3 different scenes in season 1 to recall his own. It's just been words. Meanwhile racists erase Louis' experiences with trauma because they never had enough fucking empathy for him to begin with to even register it happening to him! on screen! in real time! right in front of us!

And yeah Louis and Armand and Loumand are incredibly complex and compelling, and I do enjoy seeing Louis' moments of cruelty towards Armand! But he's never going to win against him in the game Armand built for him.

And in terms of Claudia, I do think that Louis failed her, as he has always failed her. And is responsible for her death in that regard. But that failure involved letting those other two fucking sharks eat her!!! I personally haven't seen anyone pushing the blame completely off Armand and onto Louis but I wouldn't be surprised. This week I've more pissed off about people levelling it all on Armand and think of Lestat as an unwilling participant.... this is of course the blonde white vampire show....

anyways sorry this is so long! thanks for the message this was really interesting to think about.

[cordyceph]

one big thing about iwtv i like is that Every character has flaws. even characters we're meant to unapologetically sympathize with in other medias

paul, for example, is a very clearly sick man whos sickness weighs on his family. in any other media, hed'd be virtually untouched by any flaw other than being tragically sick. in iwtv, the first time we see him he's harassing louis' prostitutes (and we Know its harrasment because she tells louis he wont leave and paul isnt listening when she tells him she isnt interested.) we also see paul detest levi- who he views as having taken away his sister- and then act borderline hostile to lestat- some weird white man who's come to take his last sibling away, by attacking something he Knows he can win (religion, implying that lestat is either a blasphemer or gay) (either way, living in sin)

i think the only character who is like not an asshole without reason to be is grace? because shes generally kind and understanding until louis endangers her kids, literally disappears for months, years, until their mother dies, until she has to 'kill' him in her mind. sure, she was aggressive and insulting at their mother's funeral, but like... i would be too. if my brother fucked off for who knows how long, comes back Wrong and more of an asshole than before, literally breaks a door down, threatens me? id be way more upset than she was. like shes kind of a saint compared to literally everyone else. armand? armand. need i say more. louis? half the show is 'look at louis be unnecessarily cruel to those around him' (claudia, daniel, armand, lestat) lestat. oh my god lestat. i want to study his brain and be like brother how do you have every disease.

claudia is kind of a special case because for as much as she acts grown shes permanently stuck in that fourteen year old era. i know i, when i was an unsupported mentally ill teenager, said horrible things i deeply regretted later on. claudia goes through that too, just by like... a hundred or so years more. its not until madeline really treats her like another adult woman that she acts more like. well. an adult. louis didn't treat her like an adult ever (as much as lestat did wrong by her specifically, i do think he treated her like an adult, but never a child. but thats for another ramble) anyway, claudia says awful things and does awful things because shes fourteen and being treated like a child, but shes an adult, but no one treats her like one. like babydoll from batman animated

daniel . daniellllllll. olllllld man. i lost my steam thinking about that old man im gonna be real. hes just really funny and pretty and smart and cool okay im gonna jackhammer that guys pelvis

[leslutdepointedulac]

Did Nicki really love Lestat?

I feel like there's sometimes a question in this fandom as to whether or not Nicki truly loved Lestat, or if it was all a 'ruse' of sorts. Some people will say that there was no love there, either at points, or just overall. But personally, I'm inclined to disagree. The way I see it, Nicki did genuinely love Lestat, especially at the beginning of their relationship.

They knew each other as children and, to an extent, they grew up together. This already puts them in a relatively close relationship with each other. This relationship between them starts out as just a friendship, but of course this evolves into something more.

When Nicki presents Lestat with the cloak, it's him who is acting rather flirty towards Lestat, not the other way around with him leaning into him and saying

"Only the impossible can do the impossible."

A week later when they're in the room at the inn, Nicki is the one who leans in and initiates that first show of intimacy, by kissing Lestat. Granted they were drunk at the time, but Nicki doesn't give me the impression he goes around kissing just anyone, even while intoxicated. I think the fact that they were drunk was just the perfect excuse/opportunity for Nicki to act on his feelings towards Lestat.

Further down the line, when they're in Paris - and at this point have been together for several months - Lestat returns to the theatre after his 'disappearance'. One of the first things the other actors do when Lestat initially arrives, is call Nicki to tell him that Lestat is back. And once he turns up to join the others in greeting Lestat, the actors immediately part to make way for Nicki to come through. I think they all knew there was a deeper level of connection between them. They share a very long and tender moment together, which the troupe allows without disturbance. Personally, I see that hug between them as coming from a place of love, heartbreak that they had been separated, and relief that they're back together again. Yes, Nicki had previously been, and still was angry and hurt that Lestat had supposedly left him, and without any warning. Especially considering Lestat was - as far as everyone else was concerned - perfectly fine during that time, only for him to turn up out of the blue with little to no explanation as to his whereabouts. I think Nicki's anger at this was partially down to Nicki being terrified at the thought he had lost his lover, and he couldn't hold his upset in.

Skipping forward to Nicki's turning, in my opinion, his very recently experienced trauma, combined with his already fragile mental state, were both amped up x100 by said turning.

The way I see it, Nicki got overwhelmed by the recent events and his mental condition clouded his mind causing him to lash out at the one person who he loved the most. Lestat. The reasoning for him lashing out at Lestat specifically, being because he was so immensely hurt by Lestat's disappearance, with him returning acting as though nothing had happened. This understandably angered Nicki, and mixed with his strong feelings for Lestat, it all bubbled up and exploded in their faces.

I think Nicki said what he said to Lestat during their last proper interaction, because he was deeply hurt and quite frankly, he just wasn't well. I don't think he was seeing/thinking clearly, and was probably also confused by the very sudden and drastic changes in his life. This led to him taking it all out on Lestat out of a need to blame someone for everything that had happened. Lestat just so happened to be the easiest and most obvious target for Nicki to let his anger out on.

Eleni tells Lestat in her letters to him, that even the mention of his name in Nicki's presence is enough to send Nicki over the edge. But I think this was down to his mental instability, along with his lingering hurt that had festered in his mind for so many years at that point; he wasn't in his right mind and so wasn't able to give appropriate reactions to his former lover.

Before Nicki goes into the fire, he gives his violin to Eleni, with the instruction to send it to Lestat. He also says how he had originally intended to give it to him the last time they saw each other, before Lestat left Paris. In my opinion, I don't see why Nicki would've had his violin that Lestat bought him, sent to Lestat, right before taking his own life. And there is a chance that he did this with malicious intent, as a way to taunt Lestat, but in my mind, I feel as though there was some lingering care left for him. I don't know that there was any love remaining on Nicki's part, I'll be honest, but I do there was some semblance of care left in him. I don't think this is something Nicki would admit to anyone, even himself, and I also don't know that he was aware of this - that it was more of a subconscious feeling. But I still think, regardless, there was something still in Nicki that cared even just a little bit for Lestat, albeit buried beneath the darkness in his mind.

Re: Nicki's interest in the violin and his comment about wanting to 'go down' in Paris, I think his initial interest in the violin was genuine. But when people around him *cough his father cough* told him to abandon the idea, that's when it turned into a thing of spite. However, I do believe there was still an honest love for playing. Even after Nicki had gone mad, playing the violin was something he turned to as a source of familiar comfort through his dark times.

As for Paris, it was Nicki's idea in the first place for both him and Lestat to run off (although, yes, it was more of a joke when he said it.) But I think he genuinely wanted him and Lestat to get away from the village that had been suffocating them both for so many years. When Nicki said he wanted them to 'go down', I think that was also as a result of his unstable mind, and his hurt at the recent events being taken out on Lestat. There may very well have been elements of truth in what he said, but overall, I think it's just yet another example of his inability to contain his pain.

Of course, none of this excuses the way Nicki treated Lestat in the end, but I think to simply say it was all because he didn't love Lestat is missing out on taking a deeper look into the reasons why he did and said those things. To denounce the love Nicki felt for Lestat seems unfair to me given his situation.

[sofipitch]

I can't stop thinking about how well they portrayed Louis in the show. I think the change in race also really helped solidify the "vampire with a human soul" part of his character. Bare with me for what I mean by this; a lot of readers of the book tend to "not get Louis" and this was especially true of the movie, even AR said where it just seems like Louis is being annoying and whiny, go be a fun vampire. But Louis main conflict is that becoming a vampire changed nothing about him internally. The issues he has, primarily a concern with consumption and damnation don't go away. Louis is afraid of sin and also his own desires for indulgence. To some readers this may seem abstract, but they are often clear metaphors for being gay or alcoholism, Louis is very concerned with regulation, and not because he has any issues with drinking blood but more with how he is judged. He is very concerned about being seen as a monster (see Babette and portrait painter scenes). His big fight with Paul is also about Paul telling Louis that their family wasn't being holy enough. You can quickly see how Paul saying that they need to change their entire lifestyle is a judgement on Louis, the head of the household. Louis also said that he didn't want to believe his brother could have been visited by saints, bc it would be proof his brother is somehow a better person than him. Louis's internal conflict is often easily summarized by his Catholic guilt, which again can be abstract to audiences who have never experienced internalized homophobia or just a large sense of shame/feeling you are being watched

Anyways, why is the change in race smart, it's another way we can see Louis continues to be human governed by human rules, despite being a vampire. We can see it very clearly in how he is treated by society in the show, he is still treated as "lesser". Lestat thinks Louis should be above such things because he is a vampire, and while being gay and being an alcoholic are to some degree things you can hide, Louis's race is not. The opera being the last scene in Ep 2 where the schism between Louis and Lestat begins to get worse, is also where Louis has to act like Lestat's valet in public. If they were both gay white men they could at least act as equals, friends business partners, whatever. But even Lestat "we are above society" has to go through with this act but is notably not upset by it while Louis is. So to audiences that didn't get his issues, Louis desire to basically just be "normal", not an alcoholic, not of a sexuality that would be remarked upon, (while both real these two in the books are not shown overtly and exist in Louis's fear of damnation, which is still fear of judgement by others, but it isn't something that has a scene of a random accosting him in the street, it's more a persistent fear in his head, in the show they showed both these more overtly in the confession scene and the police officers in their home) not of a race treated as inferior, not having to act up his masculinity, by mixing all of those together at least one should make you GET it. I think even Jacob Anderson said it in the podcast that Louis really just wants to have a domestic family life like anyone else, and in the book while it is glossed over Louis says the time he spent being happy was that domestic family life. He just wants to be loved and not judged

In a lot of ways vampirism should suit Louis, and the book IWTV often romanticizes Louis pouncing on his prey from dark corners of the street. And that is what fits Louis the best, the desire to be left alone to be himself

[cbrownjc]

Could you explain why you are ok with ep 5? I hated seeing, yet again, the battered body of a black character beaten to a pulp by his white partner, especially since such violence never happened between Louis and Lestat in the books. While I know white people can't understand and probably couldn't care less, I'm genuinely curious about your take on this.

Hi Anon!

Okay, first I'm sorry this reply back took the long time it did for me to answer it but, aside from wanting to think on it, RL things got in the way too. And then I also got caught up with some other writing I'm doing. And, as I said, I wanted to think this out before I wrote on it.

Now, first of all, it's actually not true wrt the books that Lestat and Louis never fought before. Someone other than myself has taken screenshots of passages in the book ITWV where such fights have happened. So I do not believe that it was out of character at all for them to have even had a fight in such a way, as such things did happen in the books. (And honestly, I didn't think it was OOC for Lestat at the time it happened before people started posting screenshots of the passages in the book that showed them fighting).

What has upset people is how visceral and beaten Louis looked by the end of that fight. (And no one is wrong for feeling that way if they do/did). It is disturbing to see a black man beaten in such a way by his white partner. And I actually don't think the writers were completely unaware of that imagery when they did this either. Not when you take into account the other pointed underlying racial dynamics the show did and highlighted throughout the season, before and after that episode. (From basically all of EP3, to Claudia mocking Louis telepathically with the "massa" talk in EP6.) So no, I do not think they were at all ignorant of the loaded racial imagery in EP5 after that fight.

And whether some views can forgive Lestat for it will be an individual thing, at the end of it all IMO. Some views may never forgive it, and I think that is completely okay. However, for me - and why I not only wasn't that shocked by the fight itself but feel I understand what is going on with it is - is 1.) as said, they did have knock-down fights in the first book, 2.) knowing Lestat does have that level of violence-ability in him as I noted when the episode first aired and 3.) and this is the main point - that there, strategically, some clear missing context going on here wrt that fight.

Because the entirety of that fight never once was told from Louis' POV. Until that moment when Lestat took Louis out into the courtyard and then up into the air, the actual fight itself was all told from Claudia's POV.

And that was clearly a deliberate choice. Not just to highlight what it must have been like for Claudia to witness this but because there is clearly something about that fight that Louis is holding back about. And no, not because he's lying about the fight having happened at all, and him being beaten in such a way. The fight did happen, and Louis did get beaten in the way we saw at the end. Because, again, what we saw of the actual fight was all from Claudia's POV, and Claudia would have no reason to lie about such a thing in her diary, where the account of the fight was clearly taken from.

No, it's because I strongly feel that something was going on during it that I don't think Louis can - even now - really process. And I have a huge suspicion about what it is.

We're now headed into book spoiler territory and I don't know how much you might want those, so I'm going to stop with that here. All I will say is that the pauses in the fight when we heard Lestat's voice talking are very, very important, particularly when it comes to what he's saying.

Part of this, and that fight, has to do with the very nature of what Lestat and Louis, and Claudia all are as vampires. Again, I'm really trying not to spoil anything here, because I suspect the show might reveal some of this in Season 2, particularly wrt Paris and the Theater Coven.

Though I don't think the majority of it will be talked about until Season 3 when we finally get Lestat's POV. And it might even be something that carries on over into multiple seasons.

I understand the POV of people who will never be okay with the fight and the imagery it left wrt Louis. But I really do feel the writers didn't do it without one, knowing how it would look, and two, that there is a larger, overall, story arc point going on here which ties into the fact that we are not dealing with human beings here.

This isn't a story about vampires seeking redemption or a way back to humanity. With Rice's vampires, the longer they live, the more apart from humanity they become. That is, overall, one of the things the VC explores here. And they are all going to continue to do some really inhuman things, at least during these earlier parts of the story, towards people they love.

Over time, even as many of them, especially Lestat, learn better how to deal with that nature, particularly towards those they care about and love, those inhuman things about their nature will still be there.

So I think also having that view, understanding that about these characters, as well as everything else I talked about, (including something I strongly feel they are setting up as to why Lestat acted the way he did), goes into my few of that fight and why, when it happened, I honestly wasn't either surprised by it and am okay and want to see where they go from here with it. This is just all, personally, where I'm coming from it with it of course.

[romanticizingmurder]

One last thing on Benji and Sybelle - you don't even need the draft of the unfinished novel for the "turning them was probably inevitable" idea to be at floated in canon.

From Armand, in TVA:

And then from Lestat's POV, in TPL:

Given that she was apparently inclined to have Marius think something similar from his POV in a draft, and given that after massive blowout fight, Armand isn't too upset to just Cuddle and Chill with Marius (who we establish in the first chapter of TVA is generally very careful about not pushing physical touch boundaries with Armand, Armand describes him as a perfect gentleman about it):

And that when Marius & Armand fight or express resentment in the final trilogy, turning Benji and Sybelle is not a topic of argument (aliens, violence, maturity, and abandoment *are*), I feel like canon was clearly leaning one way with this, and it's not really one of particular strife - and characters doing things we might consider terrible morally that get brushed under the rug without being particularly significant in long term canon is practically a trope in TVC, so it's not really unusual.

[ca-suffit]

not sure if you’re blocked and also it’s long but: https://www.tumblr.com/virginiaisforvampires/754230384624107520/hello-you-can-just-delete-this-if-you-think-it any thoughts on this post? i really don’t know where any of this is going…

Virginia is a known racist and Lestat apologist who will dig up any crumb of "evidence" from the show to fit her own version of anything. She's attached to Lestat and the story bcuz of personal trauma and doesn't seem to have any self-awareness about that. She's able to play a professional victim about anything, particularly for the way she always has to throw in this kind of shit into every post:

And that element is where the dissociation between the writers/characters and the fandom begins. The fandom wants to view this through the lens of domestic abuse with one partner being 100% the victim and the other partner being 100% the abuser. If anyone disagrees, it gets into the territory of bullying, name-calling, harassment, labeled an abuse apologist, labeled a racist, constant policing of opinions, and so on and so forth.

A show like this doesn't happen by accident and the stuff we're told at various levels of the show are not the writers themselves. Things are being intentionally put into these stories to be noticed the way they are. A lot of ppl hate this adaptation but pretend they don't bcuz they're waiting for Lestat's season, cuz they think race won't matter anymore and it's time for fun, sexy, sassy bitch shit!! They think none of this will rly matter and it's something to tolerate rn.

None of these ppl has an understanding of Lestat as a character the way that Anne Rice actually wrote him. They'll praise his "honesty" and then ignore the ways he tells u himself how he's killed ppl sometimes bcuz he was just moody, or how he knocks Nicki across a room into a mirror during an argument. Louis and him physically fight all the time. This reliance on "he'd never do this to Louis" is bs bcuz this is a logical escalation of the character from Anne Rice herself.

These ppl don't see Lestat objectively and they don't understand how to navigate the reality of what abuse looks like, they don't know how to navigate interracial abuse, and everything they're looking for is a reason that Lestat is the real victim, which is why nothing makes sense to them.

We didn't revisit murder night at the trial bcuz the trial is fake and that is meant to highlight why it's fake. "Why aren't we focused on the actual crime?" Bcuz the point was to assassinate the characters of everyone through a lot of antiblack tropes, not carry out any "real" justice. As Claudia says, Lestat is clearly still alive. It's meant to feel disorienting and fucked bcuz it is! The revisits to the fight and everything else are to make Lestat look like a bigger victim. The point of the show is never to reveal one "true" version of anything. The truth of any of it lies somewhere in between *all* of it. Ppl waiting for this "perfect" moment of clarity, usually where Lestat can stop being seen as such a bad guy, are going to wait forever.

Anne Rice never rly confronted any topics or had characters grow so her book stans don't know what that looks like and can't see where any of these stories are going. Ppl upset about the drop, saying it ruined a beautiful loustat book moment, can't seem to comprehend that they will prbly fly into the sky again at a later time, when Louis' trust has been restored more. There's no ability to think long term into stories, I've noticed. it's all a rush of soothing panicked feelings at "why does this fandom hate my favorite character." IWTV has *always* made Lestat out to be a piece of shit. The only difference here is that his white privilege is brought to attention more and the characters he's hurting and who hate him are now black and brown. that gives ppl a lot of feelings and so now the point of fandom has been to keep reminding everyone he's actually a great guy and all of this is from trauma and vampire laws, he's innocent under it all!

That is what many people in this fandom seem to be doing. They are viewing this show through their own lens of personal experiences, viewpoints, credos, and humanistic morality standards.

And that will simply not work with this show. From what I’ve seen and heard, I think that is the detached approach the writers are taking. They are creating this gothic love story adapted from books about vampires. They add in meta levels of commentary about racism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc. They just never meant for that to be what the show was truly about.

She can't even describe book scenes accurately or ever talk about race or racism but let's all trust her to tell us what the show is rly trying to say lol. suuuuuuure.

[goayda]

Not My Place to Say - Part 3/3

Third (and last, I think) part of a Stizzy fic. Second part can be found here:

(As usual, set some time after 2x07, Ed is happy being a fisherman somewhere and there was no Zheng fight and no Prince Ricky attack. As usual too, no warnings needed, except for the fluffiest fluff.)

Bonnet had politely waved him in and Izzy had walked into the cabin more confused than he had ever been before. Besides having just noticed the now painfully obvious similarities between Lestat and Bonnet, his mind was still reeling from Sprigg’s stupid words.

Because it was just a stupid idea, clearly, Bonnet being jealous? He was annoyed, that much was obvious, but that must be all. Izzy just had to discover what exactly had bothered the captain and then try to fix it before it could mess their relationship even more.

Bonnet was his captain now, but surely he didn’t expect to have a say in the first mate’s dalliances. Not even Edward had- no, better not go there, Izzy thought, because the truth was that Edward had never been bothered by who Izzy spent the night with because he had never cared. It was surprising and silly that this thought could hurt him, even after everything-

“…Izzy?”

Bonnet’s voice startled him and Izzy realized the captain had been talking to him, but he had been too wrapped up in his own thoughts to hear a thing.

“I was saying if you would want to have some tea with me,” Bonnet repeated with a soft smile that faltered when Izzy simply stared at him without answering. “Unless you’ve already had breakfast, of course,” he added then, looking slightly uncomfortable. “And I know you’d probably prefer a cup of coffee anyway, tea is probably not your thing-“

“It’s fine,” Izzy finally found himself saying. “Tea is fine. Thank you.”

Bonnet nodded, smiling lightly again and poured two cups of tea and Izzy sat there at the table, looking at his cup while thinking how the hell he was going to start that conversation when Bonnet cleared his throat and squared his shoulders as he looked straight at him.

“I wanted to apologize, Izzy,” he started, seriously. “I’ve been rude to you for no good reason and I was bringing the mood down when this shore leave was supposed to be a good time for everybody.”

Izzy stared wide-eyed at him, not used to a captain apologizing, especially for something as trivial as this, but before he could open his mouth to reply, Bonnet continued.

“I’m glad that-that you found somebody- well,… it looked like that man at the tavern was… nice,” he added, looking as if uttering those words was actually painful to him. “We’re still going to be here for two more days, maybe you could invite him here to have some drinks and meet the crew…”

“I don’t even know where he’s now, Bonnet,” Izzy replied flatly. “And I don’t care.”

The way Bonnet tried and failed to hide his relief almost made Izzy laugh out loud, but even as tired as he was after a sleepless night, Izzy had a reputation to uphold so he resisted the urge to even smile while he tried not to think about how Bonnet’s reaction had warmed him inside.

“We said goodbye, I don’t expect to see him again. He was just… some guy,” Izzy added after a pause, not really knowing why he felt the need to explain himself now. “I just felt lonely, I guess. And he was good company for a night.”

Bonnet’s face softened and he nodded in understanding with a sad, little smile, but then he turned serious once again.

“I guess I must be honest, Izzy. I was a bit upset last night when you left the tavern because…”

Bonnet hesitated then, looking slightly embarrassed and Izzy’s heart started thrumming in his chest wildly.

“I was worried that you weren’t going to come back,” Bonnet finally said, lowering his gaze. “I think deep down I’ve always been worried that one day you’re going to leave us for another ship, for a better crew,… for a better captain.”

Izzy gaped at him, bewildered. He hadn’t seen that coming at all.

“That’s-that’s absurd,” he blurted out, making Bonnet flinch. “I mean… leaving without a proper resignation would be totally unprofessional,” he added quite lamely.

“Well, actually, I never officially asked you to be my first mate,” Bonnet replied with a playful smirk.

That was true, Izzy realized in dismay. After Edward left he had simply kept going as usual, doing the first mate’s tasks, training Bonnet and the crew, but nobody had really asked him to be the first mate. What if they had simply let him stay out of pity? Why would they have chosen him anyway? It was not as if Oluwande couldn’t do the job, or Jim, maybe. What if he was just… tolerated on board as some old ratter dogs are because they are still useful?

Izzy’s tired mind was starting to panic, but then Bonnet, who must have noticed his inner turmoil, reached for Izzy’s ungloved hand over the table, stopping all his thoughts from spiraling any further.

“But that’s a mistake I’d like to fix right now,” Bonnet said determinedly as he squeezed Izzy’s hand briefly. “Would you want to be my first mate, Israel Hands? It would mean a lot to me if you said yes. And to the crew, it would mean a lot to all of us,” he added quickly.

Izzy stared at Bonnet’s kind eyes and wished he was better with words in situations like this. He was going to have to try, he guessed.

“Yes,” he said firmly and then he squeezed Bonnet’s hand tightly.

Bonnet’s smile was blinding.

“And you don’t have to worry about me leaving,” he added, forcing himself to be brave. “This is a good crew and you… you’re a good captain, Stede.”

The look on the captain’s eyes, so soft and so caring, was almost too much for Izzy so he lowered his gaze to look at their intertwined hands instead.

“The tea must be getting cold,” Stede said lightly, after a few seconds of silence. “We shouldn’t let it spoil after Roach took the time to make it for us.”

And he started drinking it without letting go of Izzy’s hand. The first mate hesitated for only a moment and then took his cup with his free hand to take a sip while he tried to hide a smile.

The tea was awfully bland, of course, but Izzy couldn’t care less.

XOX

[cosmicjoke]

Okay, I started “Merrick”, and Louis is breakin’ my heart into a thousand and one pieces.  These guys’ have got to stop doing this to me, lol.

The part where he show’s David the daguerreotype of Claudia and tells him the story about it had me in shambles man.  His pain, how much he misses her, how much he just wants to make sure she’s not in torment, and the way you can just tell, from the things he says to David here, that once he can know that, once he knows she’s alright and has moved on, that he’s planning on killing himself, ugh, I can’t hardly take it.

Louis really is like the perfect opposite of Lestat, and I think, ultimately, that’s why the two of them are really made for each other, why they so deeply love each other.  Louis is so withdrawn and quiet and introspective.  All of his pain is sort of aimed inward, dealt with silently and unobtrusively, while of course Lestat is very much an extrovert, very open and blunt with his emotions, very loudly expressive.  I think they each feel their pain as keenly as the other, but their ways of coping with it is totally opposite.  And there’s just something about the quiet manner in which Louis suffers that cuts you to the quick.  Almost like he doesn’t think enough of himself to feel like he has any right to express his pain aloud. 

This part too, when David says Lestat never told him the story about Claudia being upset at them not being able to have their photographs taken, because the sunlight was necessary for it,

“Lestat forgets many things,” he said thoughtfully and without judgment.  “He had other portraits of her painted after that.  There was a large one here, very beautiful.  We took it with us to Europe.  We took trunks of our belongings, but that time I don’t want to remember.  I don’t want to remember how she tried to hurt Lestat.”

Like just kill me now.  Ugh.  Louis so clearly has so much love for BOTH Claudia and Lestat.  You can just hear the pain in his voice, thinking about how one of the people dearest to him tried to hurt the other.  You can hear how much the reality of that torments Louis.  He probably felt like he failed both of them, in allowing things to get to that point. 

And then this part, talking about the picture of Claudia

“Wasn’t she beautiful?” he asked.  “Tell me.  It’s past a matter of opinion, isn’t it?  She was beautiful.  One cannot deny that simple fact.”

Like he’s sharing this deeply intimate and guarded part of himself with David, asking for confirmation from him on Claudia’s beauty.  Just something about this struck me as so sad.  Like he wants someone else to also remember Claudia and how beautiful she was.

And then finally this last part of this chapter, when he talks about visiting Lestat in the orphanage, wanting to check in on him, even though both he and David know Lestat doesn’t really need protecting.  Really, Louis’ love for Lestat is always just so moving, and comes through as so genuine.  You can see how Louis’ even tempered calm and quiet is kind of like the perfect treatment for Lestat’s more manic and broad emotional turmoil and intensity.  I don’t get when people just write these two off as “toxic” for each other.  I don’t think their love is toxic at all.  Their situation might have been, at one point, but their love is genuine and pure.  And that’s why it worked out, in the end.

[enigmaticdiary]

episode 14

I dont have a lot of thoughts right now if im being honest because I'm still. frankly in shock about everything that occured in that episode. Just want to get these out while Im still awake and still feel this all extremely fresh. This isn't an episode analysis or anything. Just my feelings.

My feelings, right now. um. I won't say catatonic because I have gripped desperately onto my will to continue functioning but I certainly feel close to it. Felt far closer to that right after the episode ended (25 minutes ago as of me typing this sentence).

Is it embarrassing to admit that this episode left me like... physically affected? beyond crying and heart hurting. Like. I felt physically Numb. I still kind of do. Like i got ejected out of my body and i didn't realize it until I made the move to get out of my chair. I don't want to get into that further. But aside from that, i cried too. More than I thought i might.

I dont really cry at stuff! I haven't cried this season at all. (Edit: Sorry I lied i absolutely have cried this season. During ep 10 i believe) I think I cried once when I was watching season 1. I cried once while reading tvl. Like a single tear each, probably. I get really upset and emotionally invested when I'm engaged with things but I don't... cry. I was on the verge of tears for most of the episode if I'm being honest, but once claudia spoke up after Lestat's apology, the first tear fell.. And I kept crying until the end of the episode.

I was fucking mad. I was real fuckin mad. And thinking about it all is making me really mad again. It was hard for me to not feel like i was also up there on the stage with them. The psin of the trial hits differently when you're a black viewer. That shit was racist. to the core. Up and down fuckin racism and i was seething through the whole thing watching this. Essentially public lynching. I'm crying again!

I can't even think about it all clearly it's all so much to think about and trying to put my thoughts together so soon after the episode is making me confused because all my thoughts are just flooded with how horrifically angry i am.

It's a show yeah and I'm always embarrassed to be upfront with how deeply fiction can impact me but when claudia and madeleine died. I didn't feel like i was sitting in my chair in my room watching an episode of a tv show. i felt like i was in that theatre, helpless, watching a part of me die up there!!! it feels like something died in me!! and it's so fucked up because I knew what was coming i was preparing myself the whole season and i feel like me trying to brace myself just made it all the worse because there was no way I would have ever come out of this episode feeling any different to how i currently do. blind, unbraced, it don't matter.

God fuck this show, man

[illiadofrecollection]

Thinking about how Lestat's narration in TVL really isn't that kind to Gabrielle, whose actions (hiding the parcel from Roget!) show the opposite of what he thinks is true. Lestat assumes she doesn't really want him with her when she asks. That she's asking out of politeness. But her actions make it very clear she desperately wanted him to come, to the point of concealing an urgent letter from his lawyer asking him to help his father. Announcing his two brothers and their wives have not survived the Revolution.

And she buries it! She buries something that important because she fears that Lestat will feel duty-bound to go to his father if he finds out about it. Which is exactly what he does once she reveals it. For all his talk about how much he loves his mother this is clearly a betrayal of sorts to her. Lestat's father is the cause of Gabrielle's unhappiness in life. He is the one who stopped Lestat from being educated in the convent yes, but he's also the reason why his mother was trapped in an environment she clearly hated. There are very good reasons for her anti-civilisation rants. She was a woman in 18th century France, and not one who lived in a particularly enviable position either despite her status. She does love Lestat and him choosing to go to his father of all people is deeply painful to her.

And the oddest thing seems to be that Lestat doesn't seem to realise it. He's so upset about her burying the package and keeping important information from him. But it doesn't occurr to him to see the gesture for what it is-- the kind of betrayal done by someone who loves and wants to keep you. He continues to see Gabrielle as happier without him, wanting him to let her go.

Part of it can be blamed on Armand's lies about Gabrielle's mind, who (aside from already having revealed he wants Lestat to kill his loved ones so Armand can have him to himself) Gabrielle herself says doesn't understand her because she is a real adult, full of contradicting desires in a way an eternal 17 year old will never understand. Lestat knows about his motivations and he has caught him lying before. And yet it seems he feels so abandonned by being shut out of Gabrielle's mind he believes him on some level.

But the crazy thing about that is-- well you couldn't read minds when you were human either could you! This much mourned loss was something you experienced for minutes as Gabrielle was turned only. And words suffice for the rest of us, if you still value and use them. The silence between maker and fledgling only exists if you don't talk. And going by Garbrielle's words to Armand being able to peek into someone's head doesn't mean you understand them at all. It's not the magical solution that makes it so that you're never lonely or misunderstood Lestat thinks it is.

It's just -- Lestat clearly has abandonment issues because of his mother's behaviour when she was alive, but in the end he's the one who chooses not to go with her. And he never really seems to realise that someone who just wanted to leave without you would never have gone to such lengths to keep you.

[sideeffx]

Sorry this concerns ep 5 and #that scene. Had a few stray thoughts regarding it. The sentiment seems to be the entire scene was out to paint Lestat as “abusive,” which I put in quotes because I feel as if the tip over the line had happened long ago. Maybe somewhere around the time he turned Claudia but it was brewing much earlier. But I was kind of ruminating on how maybe part of it was also to establish how Louis can’t ever fully run away from his victimhood? It’s easy to justify Lestat’s gaslighting, repeated actions to get a rise out of Louis etc but it’s not easy to justify something that quite literally leaves you bedridden for an indeterminate amount of time right? And we see that this is around the time Louis becomes even more of an unreliable narrator. “Unreliable” in the sense that he makes Lestat look better than he actually is. Daniel’s snarky comments compare Louis to someone who is still in love with their abuser but I’m kind of thinking part of the retelling while it comes from a place of still loving Lestat also comes from Louis all these years still being upset at his perceived emotional weakness.

He contradicts himself multiple times in his explanation of the way he and Lestat’s relationship unravels where it seems like it was a case of him not being able to fully let go of his human nature and thus not living up to what Lestat wants but at the same time Lestat’s role as “the monster” bleeds into his interpersonal relationships so hard that his two spawn are utterly terrified of him. Notably, a lot of his lack of tiptoeing around Lestat’s more deplorable actions is specifically when Claudia is in the picture because she makes her opinions of Lestat clear and even by the end he tries to play an “ultimately she loved him too” card on Daniel. Only for it to be refuted immediately because none of that is at all consistent with Claudia’s own thoughts written on paper. Louis is still somewhat trapped in the prison of his masculinity and pride where he simply can’t admit to himself he was in a situation that left him powerless emotionally and mentally. Thus the only real “abusive” action is when he gets in a fight with Lestat that he loses miserably. The physical pain a reminder of what transpired compared to the emotional rollercoaster that Louis can choose to forget about the next day. “I am not a victim,” only said clearly once, but reminded to you through his own biased storytelling. Really he means “this was all partially my fault, for being weak.”

[serpentarius]

some observations about IWTV after my third rewatch - a working doc

S1 spoilers for AMC's Interview with the Vampire (2022) below!

In 1x07, Louis slits Lestat's throat with the very same blade that drew Lestat to him in 1x01 ("It was not until a few nights later, when I watched a man pull a knife out of his walking stick and pressed the blade of it to his brother's breast bone, that I said to myself, 'Lestat, unpack your trunks. You're home!" )

When Loustat have their final dance in 1x07, they're dancing to an instrumental version of Lestat's "Come to Me" 🙃💔

Rashid/Armand says something in Latin to Louis in 1x06, when Daniel is asleep. Turbidus rebus ad infinitum, is what I heard. I'm no Latin expert, but a quick Google search showed something along the lines of "cloudy/troubled things forever". There are so many ways to interpret what he means by that.

Armand doesn't approve of Louis doing this interview, this much we know. He's convinced that, if the book gets published, the vampire masses will seek him out and kill him. But it's not ‘til he says this line, "You are chronicling a suicide," to Daniel, that made me think perhaps Armand isn't controlling Louis quite as much as I originally thought. Of course he's still toxic af, he's still Louis' captor and something weird is definitely going on, but Louis clearly pushed for this hard enough that he got his way. And it makes sense that Armand wants to keep his own identity hidden - he must be scared, right? Scared for Louis' life as well as his own?

Armand's microexpressions give away so much. After Louis says "I'd give it to you now," to Daniel, Armand looks kinda upset? Angry? Confused? Hurt? And then he immediately excuses himself. Clearly this has struck a nerve, and clearly there's history between him and Daniel. YOU CAN'T TELL ME OTHERWISE

After Lestat says "I have a capacity for enduring" in 1x06, the word "endure/endured" is used a handful more times throughout the rest the episode, by both Louis and Claudia. I really like that they resonated with and related to that word, and continue to use it to describe their experiences.

Claudia's question about Nicki must have cut Lestat deep. "Did Nicki kill himself like your maker, Magnus?" Cause, um, if the show is going by book canon? Then, yeah. That's pretty much what happened, more or less.

[maggicktouched]

I finished Interview with a Vampire and wanted to share my thoughts. This will not be spoiler free so I will put it under a cut. But if you want my overall opinion if you’re like on the rails about watching this: watch it. It is so much more than I ever thought it would be. I don’t know a single person who has watched it and disliked it. Watch it. Give it a chance. Especially if you’ve ever liked the series.

Also you can watch on AMC+. An app that is genuinely awful but is running a special rn for like two bucks for two months. Not a bad deal for a good show.

I’ve had a very, very long history with the series, with the fandom at multiple times in my life, and with every iteration of the source material. I’ve most of the books multiple times and there was a long portion of my life where I would have claimed that The Vampire Armand was my favorite book, even if it kind of signaled the series flying off the rails.

I really didn’t expect to like this series. Even when I heard it was good I didn’t expect to like it. First and foremost because over the years I’ve become very disenchanted with Anne Rice’s work. Though I loved Armand’s book because I adore the character, I really struggled with Memnoch the Devil. At the time I was a teen and seriously grappling with religious trauma and any reference to the Christian faith triggered some ugly emotions in me. 

Rice also made some writing choices that just didn’t sit well with me. The Tale of the Body Thief has two sexual assaults if I remember correctly. And it wasn’t so much the character doing bad things that I minded as the way Rice framed him and clearly thought of him in spite of him being one of the most morally repulsive character she wrote.

I never made it through Prince Lestat tbh and I don’t even know the name of its sequel right off the top of my head. 

So when I heard there was a new series coming out I was mildly interested but had little hope that it would be decent. 

The pilot was a little bumpy of a watch for me. It highlights one of my only issues going forward with the series and it isn’t necessarily bad, it just means I’m likely not getting one of my favorite parts in the books and that is Daniel. Daniel who is my second favorite vampire in the series and a character that I have a very vivid picture of in my own mind.

The other issue I struggled with initially was Louis being a pimp. That felt so far off of the very reserved/miserable man in the books I often thought of him as. But it actually worked. 

I never loved Louis in the books tbh. I was very neutral about him and often felt sorry for him because he often felt like he was passed from one abusive partner to the next with very little agency of his own. He gets rid of Lestat just to fall prey to Armand just to go back to Lestat a short while later. Maybe it was just my interpretation of him at the time (I was like twenty the last time I read the books---literally a decade ago lol) but he kinda bored me. This Louis is a person I genuinely and wholeheartedly feel for. He feels much more real. Every scene where Daniel would get bitchy with him I’d be like “YOU BE NICE!!!!! HE HAS BEEN THROUGH A LOT!!!!” meanwhile being just as frustrated with him at times.

They made fantastic casting decisions for everyone. Lestat genuinely unnerved me in every scene. Honestly every time he’d look intensely at anyone this tiktok would play in my head but he was genuinely frightening. The scene where he’s talking to Claudia on the train? I felt physically sick listening to him threaten her to come back.

Claudia’s actress was also dead on. And honestly so was her character. I’ve never liked Claudia. I’ve never even felt bad for her even though she was written as a tragic character. But now knowing what happens in the books and knowing where this is going I’m so upset. I genuinely don’t know how they’re going to make me dislike her because for the first time she isn’t some spoiled blood hungry brat but a tortured woman living under the oppressive rule of an abusive man. And I know she’s not a child but Louis is very obviously her father figure/big brother and her having to be the one to save him---her having to stay behind and sacrifice her life and happiness for him---her being the one to have to stand up to Lestat and pull them out like that is a pain that I understand and goddamn do I feel for her. Abuse forces you to grow up way too fast, and in a body that never ages? It’s torment. Her life was torment.

I loved Armand’s actor. I absolutely hated the original IWAV Armand. He’s a great actor, but that was not Armand in my mind. This guy has the young face. He has the sharp features. And he has the menacing presence that Armand always had for me. I went into the series having that twist spoiled for me, so like I did know, but I actually think I preferred it that way. I am extremely excited to see where it goes with Armand, especially as the story goes on, because him being there AS the story is told is a big deal. And Louis and Armand’s love affair in the books isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, so the question is what is going on between them? Have they been together all this time? Or did Louis go TO Armand and admit he wanted to retell his story only to have Armand insist he do it there in his own home? Are they actually in a relationship or is Louis just as trapped in Dubai as he was New Orleans? Is it both? God I’m just so excited to see where Armand goes from here.

I also really really loved the pacing. And that’s something I didn’t think I would like. IWAV is not a book with padding. It is excellently paced. So I really worried when I found out not only was this a series, but it was only like half the fuckin book. I had zero faith that could be done without making it an unnecessary shit show of filler. But I think that the pacing is actually what makes this show so amazing. It gave us the time with each character to see them and who they are in this new adaptation and honestly I liked all of them. It showed us explicitly that Louis is not a reliable narrator, which makes me very curious to see other angles and points of view for characters.

The lighting was really great too. So many shows right now are making the “artistic” choice to turn every goddamn light in the studio off and shoot using a dinosaur nightlight plugged in 50 feet away from the camera rn. You can’t fucking see shit. Game of Thrones did it, so did House of the Dragon, so did any show that has ever been on the CW. And as funny as the memes are I like being able to see shit.

I like that the vampires are a little more feral than they are in the books. 

I liked Louis’ family. The part with his brother worried me at first, because disorders like that are often not shown in a kind light, but in the end I think they did a decent job. He was a tragic character and there was always the mystery of “did his mental illness kill him or did Lestat” and honestly I still am not certain Lestat wasn’t lying when he said that he didn’t kill him.

I liked the hints toward characters like Marius and Nikki. 

Most of all I loved how unabashedly gay this was. It’s what we have all wanted.

I am still disappointed about Daniel. I was disappointed in the original movie with him too. That’s just not what Daniel looks like in my mind. Him being older makes me wonder if they’re going to cross his story over with David and I won’t enjoy that. 

While Lestat/Louis was most people’s fav toxic couple, mine was Daniel and Armand. Two characters who were both horrifically broken people in a shit storm of Armand’s making because Armand doesn’t know how fucking else to love anyone because that’s how he was shown love by Marius from the start. Daniel’s misery and ultimately his madness. Even after being transformed he was always so painfully human to me. I always wanted them to somehow find a way to be ok on their own and come together again later in life, and I have heard that it does eventually happen in Prince Lestat and the sequel. So it doesn’t look like I’m going to have that, and if I do it’s going to look very different than how I personally wanted it, but that’s ok. It’s a personal preference.

But yeah. Currently those are all the feelings I wanted to get out. And they’re mostly overwhelmingly positive. I can hardly wait for another season and I hope everyone watches this show and we get more and more seasons to come.

I might even watch the Mayfair show. And I’ve never even read/liked those books.

[williamaltman]

My full IWTV thoughts/feelings/"review" (Part 1).

Ok for a while now I have been wanting to do like a big post talking about all of my main thoughts about the show. I think I went into the show in kind of an odd position because, I'm a book reader, but not a longtime one. I literally just got into them right before the show started airing. I started watching when it started airing and I had finished IWTV and TVL, but then I stopped and decided to at least finish TQOTD before I continued the show.

So, I'm gonna start with all the things I like and then what I didn't.

First of all: The way they just said fuck subtext or lowkey representation and made this fully romantic and horny. One of my issues with the books is that, at least in IWTV (but in a lesser extent the others too?), they keep things in this realm of plausibe deniability where even though things are obviously gay they still don't make it fully explicit. I get that it was 1976, but that doesn't fully change how I feel reading it, you know.

Besides the material itself, from what I understood AR loved to give some vague answers and "let things speak for itself", along with an idea in both books and her comments that vampires don't "need to worry" so to speak with sexual orientations, that in a way it doesn't really count, which is wack imo (though she did also full-on say that Lestat is bisexual which I appreciate).

But I think what bothered me the most in IWTV, wasn't even the subtext itself, but the way that Louis essentially didn't express any love for Lestat. The story is written like he just hates him from the beginning save for the first moments where he saw him to when he was turned. They are obviously coded as a couple down to HAVING A CHILD TOGETHER, but Louis' narration just never acts "accordingly" and gives it this weird no homo vibe. His love for Armand is a bit more clear which is better, but also not totally? Especially cause when they're saying stuff like "I/you want him to be my/your companion" it usually has the context of him as a replacement for Claudia.

Anyway this isn't a book review, so what I mean is basically that it was just VERY satisfying to see Loustat being clearly in love, especially from Louis' part. I love to see that sort of initial attraction especially when it comes from someone who doesn't want to be feeling that and all the angst that comes with it. Also, THEY FUCK. I kinda appreciate the concept of vampires not having regular sex in the books, but I'd still rather have them fuck. As a treat.

The fact that they also explicitly established Louis as gay instead of staying ambigous about his sexuality was also incredible. I do like works where that just isn't brought up and it just works naturally like if they were straight, but it's not my favorite approach. I like when they actually deal with it.

And on the topic of Louis' changes: Anything from slave-owner in a plantation is a glow-up. Making him also a black man is like, downright reparations. If you're upset about that you're dumb and possibly racist sorry. I understand that Louis' "race-swap" is different from most other characters since him being white actually is relevant, but it's relevant in a bad way. The upgrade definetely needed to happen to tell the story in current times.

And since we're talking about these types of changes, Claudia. I have A LOT of issues with how Claudia's story was handled, but Claudia herself, as in Bailey and her acting? Great. She's just amazing. The change in her age makes for a different story, but one that still works. And Bailey is just so charismatic and fierce. To see her slowly change from the cute daddy lou girl (which as I said, was way more fun and charismatic than book Claudia) to whom she has become in the latter episodes? Incredible. She truly embodies being the baddest bitch in the house, she INVENTED girlbossing.

And kinda going from this, the acting. The acting of all three is great. They have great chemistry, both Sam and Jacob and the two of them with Bailey. Even appearance wise, Claudia still looks like a living doll, and Jacob is still a soft pretty boy in a way that fits my own standards for a babygirl-coded character. Sam Reid might actually be too hot to be Lestat, tbh. I joke but wow, I'm actually attracted to him now. Armand's was like particularly genius cause even though he's not a auburn-haired white teenager he still looks just like Armand when it comes to his actual features?!

Also, the vibe, the atmosphere. It actually took me a while to get into it. I had whiplash from reading the book and seeing the movie where it was like 1 or 2 centuries behind the show, but once I got into it I loved it. I don't know how to explain this better but I just like how everything looks and "feels". The set and costume designers ate. The cinematography is great too and gives it the final touch.