Ron Does Stuff

It’s finally here! Let’s get right into it! I’ve actually been re-reading The Vampire Lestat, but unfortunately, life has been lifing, and I wasn’t able to finish my re-read before the premiere!

The new opening credits have a very True Blood vibe to it, but it’s even better because it’s actually Sam Reid singing and performing it. So excited to see this show!

The show starts with what looks to be a secret auction, attended by Armand — who’s wearing an eyepatch — Louis, and Raglan from the Talamasca. Louis also seems to be missing a leg! Interesting. Only two things are being auctioned, one of which is the master recordings of “The Complete Works of the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt”. which include master recordings of The Vampire Lestat, discarded session recordings, handwritten scores, and private recordings. However, the auctioneer burns it all up before starting the bidding, where it sells for ¥1. Someone bought it!

Burning up the first lot got a lot of people out of the auction, which is a shame, because the second lot is the real prize possession. Aside from what I assume are an expensive turntable and speakers, there is an old bottle of wine, a magnum of Lestat’s blood, and an “omniscient recording” of “the consequential global catastrophes that sprang” from The Vampire Lestat album and tour. I’m guessing this is Akasha’s killing spree, and the Talamasca is very interested.

It’s then that we shift to Lestat’s voice, who tells us that we must be very privileged individuals to be hearing him right now. He tells us that he’s going to start in the middle of the tour, because that’s where he should have stopped. Now, what’s left are the dead and the traumatized still alive. This makes it sound like Lestat’s dead, but we know he’s not because if Rolin Jones is planning to adapt at least up until Memnoch the Devil, Lestat has got to stick around. Lestat also confirms that male killings will happen. Yes!

Then we go to a Vampire Lestat concert, with a couple of vampires in the audience not happy about it. Lestat is singing “Long Face”, which AMC released a year ago.

Lestat’s commentary? Adequately bitchy, insulting both his bandmates and the audience. In fact, I feel like it should be less bitchy, but it’s a minor complaint. And is it just me, or did he come in his pants?

Once the performance is done, Lestat is nitpicking the band, signing NDAs and settlements, and just making his lawyer, Christine Claire, miserable. He’s also not a darling of the documentary crew filming him, which really is a departure from the books. I’m not at that part yet in my re-read, but from what I remember, he spoiled his band. But then again, male-fronted rock bands aren’t exactly in right now, so I get why he’s being portrayed as less-than-famous and bitchier towards his bandmates. He even says that he’s just a niche celebrity! But enough of a celebrity to have a body double to get himself out of a legal scrape.

I also like that this Lestat is aware of the algorithms, and shares book!Lestat’s awareness that the vampire doesn’t exactly have a place in modern society, whether it was the 80s of the book or the “present” time. And in this present time, he’s sharing a tour bus with vampire Daniel Molloy, who is every bit the hostile interviewer that he was in Interview with the Vampire. He’s trying to find the truth between the story Louis told him and what Lestat says is his story.

But even in this “new” show, facts and how fragile they are are still a big component. Lestat just won’t answer straightforwardly, and now even the structure of the show breaks, as we’re taken back…a year back? Lestat’s talking to Louis on an iPad, and it looks like they’re kinda on good terms? Or at least, on good terms until Lestat finds out about Interview with the Vampire, Daniel Molloy’s book. And it’s so hilarious seeing Lestat reading it!

But the hilarity is soon over as Lestat’s ~vampire rockstar~ persona cracks during a performance, and he feeds on a girl onstage. The girl, unfortunately, is high on ecstasy, and since there’s precedent in Interview with the Vampire, Lestat’s now tripping on ecstasy. The girl he just fed on is telling him that they are coming, and then we’re pulled away from that night and thrown into another one.

This night has Lestat with his head in the toilet, the bathroom bloodied, after an eventful night. We find out that the girl Lestat fed on during the performance is Baby Jenks, and I remember her from The Queen of the Damned. But the real star here, to be quite honest, is how the show is telling Lestat’s story. It’s like one of those Rolling Stone oral histories or something, except it’s just Lestat telling the story. It feels a little Almost Famous-y, except with more sex, drugs, and death.

And there’s also the Fang Gang, who I also remember Baby Jenks being a part of! We get a bloody hallway fight that is punctuated by Dee (?) spouting career affirmations, which is just so darkly funny. And then there’s the reveal to the unsuspecting mortals that Lestat is for real a vampire. Sam Reid’s monologue was great!

But that isn’t the high point of the story. Throughout the episode, Lestat’s been texting someone, and you’re primed to think that it’s Louis, or at least I was. Of course, it’s not. It’s actually Gabrielle, his mother, and they close out the episode by making out. Exciting!

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