Ron Does Stuff

I know, I know. It’s been a literal month since I watched the first episode. Life got in the way! And just like I said previously, life is still in the way, but I’m trying to be better at posting, and also it keeps me away from doomscrolling. So let’s get into this new episode!

We saw Louis turn into a vampire at the end of the previous episode, but we don’t immediately get into what happens after that since we get back to the present, where Daniel is admiring the work of Marius, who readers of The Vampire Chronicles will immediately recognize as Armand’s maker. Daniel is also a little testy with Louis’ manservant, which he never really had in the books so I’m curious what role he’s going to play further down the line.

After a few dishes for dinner, Louis finally joins Daniel in the dining room and continues the interview, where he talks about the pain he had to go through as Lestat’s blood does its work on his body. And to be fair to this show, it does a better job at portraying the initial bliss that Louis feels after his transformation than the film does, and since this has what I assume is a smaller budget I guess it’s just because Jacob Anderson is a better actor.

The show also portrays Louis and Lestat a little more favorably when it comes to the first hunt, maybe because they know what’s in store for the characters in the coming seasons. Louis isn’t as morose and Lestat isn’t as dismissive, so they don’t run the risk of turning off any viewers who might be encountering The Vampire Chronicles for the first time through this show. I also like how they show early on how vampires burn in the sun, because we all know that’s going to play a big role further down the line.

The show is also really smart about how it deals with Louis’ race and how that plays at the time. After showing us how underestimated Louis is by his white “peers” in the previous episode, we get to see him in this one not only “empowered” in a way by Lestat’s blood but also letting him feel what it’s like to be treated as an equal. Now does Lestat think of him as an equal? We don’t know, but for Louis, it feels that way.

It did throw me off a bit when Louis began saying Lestat’s lines, but I did enjoy the slight dig at the purpleness of the prose. And having Daniel deliver that dig is also a good choice since it distinguishes him enough from his younger self in the book and movie and also allows the show to explore something new within the text.

The tutorial on vampire powers is also something I really like, because the movie understandably couldn’t dwell on that because it only has a limited amount of time to tell its story. It was one of the things I like about the books as a kid obsessed with the X-Men as much as I was obsessed with The Vampire Chronicles.

I also like how they explore Louis’ interactions with his mom and sister after he turns into a vampire, something that was happening in the background of the book and completely discarded in the film.

I also liked the scene where Louis gets handed his nephew and he feels the urge to eat him. I can’t remember which book it is at the moment, but I think Lestat actually does eat a baby? I could be misremembering or this could have been a different piece of vampire media. But either way, the tension I felt as Louis struggled? This was good.

Having Louis also acknowledge that he also loved and worshiped Lestat is also a change I really liked. It’s not the movie’s fault that this wasn’t explored more, since again, they only have a limited time to tell their story, so I really appreciate that this is something that the creatives behind this show decided to explore more. And to choose to explore this with Louis being a colored person? They did not make things easy for themselves and the show is all the better for it.

The scene at the opera also made me wonder if some of the stuff Bryan Fuller thought of when he was still attached to this project got incorporated into the new showrunner’s material since eating an out of tune tenor is totally something Hannibal would do. And the bitchiness of making the tenor practice singing before getting eaten? You’re a mean gay, Lestat. A mean gay!

The death of the tenor takes the place of the prostitute scene which was one of the more memorable scenes from the movie adaptation for me, but it’s a change I can live with. And this concludes yet another great episode!