Ron Does Stuff

I was curious over the weekend why everyone on Twitter was talking about the latest episode when I thought it was only releasing today, but apparently there was a leak? I dunno, I was avoiding it! But here I am now!

At the end of the last episode, Louis had just been told by the Talamasca that they’ve found Bruce. That Bruce. And now I think we’re going to find out what he’s going to do to him.

Of course, this is still The Vampire Lestat, so it’s Lestat’s narration that kicks off the episode. He and Gabrielle are hunting in Canada, and it’s this newlywed couple from what I assume is an American state who becomes one of their victims. This killing spree has Lestat missing an interview appointment with Daniel, which is not making him or Claire happy. We also find out that in this adaptation, decapitation doesn’t necessarily mean instant death for a vampire. Especially for one who has the blood of Akasha in them. And yes, I’ve seen those jokes.

Lestat’s narration on The Failures also makes it sound like Daniel died by the time episode one happened. Interesting. From what I can gather — since Blood Canticle was the last Anne Rice book I read — Daniel is still very much alive in the books. I think this is an okay change, because while it does sound morbid, Eric Bogosian isn’t exactly getting any younger.

We then get to the interview, and now we get to hear a few lines from the book. Fun! I liked it when they did that in Interview with the Vampire. I also like how we get the logistics of being a vampire in the ~modern time~, as we see Claire have a crew of cleaners, I guess, to take care of Lestat and Gabrielle’s little feast in the car. Which really isn’t that farfetched considering death cleaners are already a business in Japan.

The interaction between Daniel and Lestat is very different from the interaction Daniel had with Louis. It’s much more tense and adversarial, and Lestat even gets a dig at Louis in the process. He is not going to be so easily cracked like Daniel thinks he will be.

Meanwhile, Louis is headed somewhere, possibly wherever the Talamasca told him Bruce is. And Louis is pissed. He easily dispatches a vampire guarding the hideout of Bruce’s gang — is it still the Fang Gang or another group entirely? — and he even does a little floaty thing. I don’t think it’s the Cloud Gift yet. Call me when he shoots up into the sky. He’s cleaning out the Fang Gang pretty quickly!

We then go back to Lestat’s interview, and now we’re getting stuff from the books, like the witch burnings and living with Nicholas in Paris. The show even goes ahead and makes Lestat and Nicholas lovers who have sex, which the book skirts around. And since I am a perverted gremlin, I kinda wish we had a sex scene, but that would have been gratuitous, and I can see why they didn’t have one.

The sex scene we do get is an absolutely demented one between Gabrielle and Lestat’s body double, which I feel like threw off not just Daniel and the interview, but Lestat as well. And while visually funny, the Magnus sequence was a really well-done and economical way of telling that story. And the spectacular acting from Sam Reid as he recalls what went down with Nicholas when he finally descends into madness after being turned into a vampire. We also get another reminder that Lestat is different from Louis, as the whole sequence with Nicky and his eventual madness and death? Only relayed telepathically to Daniel, so he didn’t actually get footage of Lestat being vulnerable. Also, did that tower falling down in the background as Lestat drives away actually happen in-universe, or is it Lestat being an unreliable narrator?

Now we’re back to Louis, who is waiting in the Fang Gang hangout while Bruce walks in with Baby Jenks. And I gotta say, this Louis is much more interesting than the one in the book. Then we finally hear what was actually written in the missing pages from Claudia’s journal, and the show’s decision to intersperse Louis reading Claudia’s journal to Bruce with scenes from Lestat being turned? Masterful, and really brought home the horror of having your agency taken from you.

And then the two reveals of Regina and ~Arun~ at the end? Looking forward to the next episode!

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