In the “Like The Light By Which God Made The World Before He Had Made Light”, the revelations from the last episode come bubbling to the surface. Even in Louis’ narrative of the past Armand’s (Assad Zaman) actions begin to get colored a little differently right before the fire at the Theatre des Vampires.
Over dinner back at the sushi bar, Molloy discovers that Rashid is working with the Talamasca as he “goes to the bathroom,” when Raglan (Justin Kirk) shows up to join him for a chat. Now concerned about Armand’s passive aggressive ancient ways of torture, Molloy tells Raglan he just wants to get out of the interview alive—he strikes the deal to work with the Talamasca to get some intel for them during the interview, in exchange for his life and actually getting to publish his book. Back in the lover’s den, Louis and Armand discuss art, and the former maitre begins to pick up hints that his lover has grown discontent, still vaguely unaware that he now remembers that fateful night with the Boy Molloy in San Francisco.
Resuming the interview, the trio pick up on the chapter of the saga where they attempted to appease Santiago (Ben Daniels), by giving him more power and attention for their next show at the theater. Unbeknownst to Louis, Armand and Claudia, Santiago has stolen the latter’s diaries and has begun passing them around to the coven. The betrayal is so real—and sucks even for us as viewers, because it came from the vampire Claudia trusted the most. As if that wasn’t enough for Claudia, however, her friendship with Madeline (Roxanne Duran) the dressmaker intensifies when her shop is attacked again and Claudia goes rage mode to protect her new bestie by killing the harassers once and for all.
It exposes Madeline to the truth and she accepts Claudia, something that the young vampiress has been wanting. She takes Madeline to her and Louis’ apartment, and he confronts them for exposing their identities since they’re on thin ice with Armand’s coven. Claudia points out that this could be her way out with a companion of her own, since he’s found his new one. Louis asks if it’s romantic—and while Claudia says no, Madeline says “not yet”, as Claudia asks Louis to turn Madeline. Louis admits he doesn’t think he should be the one to do it, as he doesn’t want to pass on more of Lestat’s lineage and suggests they ask Armand, who has more benevolent blood than theirs. If he only really knew at this point, right?
Armand getting brought into it, knowing what we know, feels so wrong. He does have a talk with Madeline and tries to make her understand that Claudia is not long for this world due to her circumstances, an aging mind in the body of a young woman. But Madeline vouches for her, arguing that the war ravaged world they have lived in has aged anyone in ways that it doesn’t matter if you’re human or immortal—she’s ready to take it on as a vampire, which shows how much more balls she has than Armand. Playing up his role as the sensitive maitre, however, he declines turning her, confessing that he’s never turned anyone and that the idea repulses him. It ends up coming down to Louis—with the help of Claudia—and the duo leave town, with Louis finally understanding that they’re a better pairing and stronger than he expected. Even with his concerns about Lestat’s lineage, it’s arguably the best thing he’s done for his daughter.
Meanwhile at the theater, Santiago and Sam argue about the play they’re doing. There’s infighting as there’s more discord sown into the coven between Santiago not being a great leader, Armand and Louis doing the dirty in the office in full honeymoon mode, and of course Claudia’s diary tea being spilled all over the place. You get the sense among the mess something is afoot, that Louis is unaware of something—and back in the present, all this coincides with Molly being given a conflicting order of events. Armand tells Molloy he had to make a choice, and broke with the coven to be with Louis to cover up the pages being torn out of Claudia’s diary. Among the confusion, Armand realizes Louis remembers San Francisco, as he tries to take back his narrative with newfound distrust of Armand’s version of events. Armand gently affirms that both removing Claudia’s diary pages and erasing both Louis and Molloy’s memories was to protect them, and that they wanted it. But Molloy pushes back, and dresses Armand down for taking away his agency—a turn that helps Louis question if he really did ask Armand to help him forget.
Everything comes to a head when they recount the fateful night in Paris, where Claudia and Madeline visited Armand and Louis. It’s a lovely and romantic double date where you really get to see Claudia be happy and comfortable, a dynamic that’s obviously more healthy and mature than any of Louis’ relationships have been. Admittedly as a fan of the book and of the changes the show has made so far, I found myself wishing that the writers could maybe give Claudia and her companion a way out from their fate—in such short time, they’ve been developed so well. They deserved better than the sheer bullshit Armand pulls, freezing time to allow the coven to kidnap all of them—including Louis—mid-meal, and take them prisoner for their crimes.
The deal, it seems, is that Armand has betrayed the people closest to him to save his own skin. It’s a cruelty we’re reminded of in the closing minutes of the episode, as the coven beat and harass their prisoners, with Santiago relishing it all as they prepare for the real show he wanted to star in: the trial of the vampires for breaking the cardinal rules, and for the murder of their master Lestat de Lioncourt. It’s so heartbreaking to see and even more so gut-wrenching when it’s revealed that the trial’s special guest star—er, star witness–is none other than Lestat himself.
The trial before the fire begins next week on Interview With the Vampire.
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