The Vampire Lestat: The Devil’s Road

"What now, Daddy Lou?"

This episode had a slightly different feel. It was a bit less chaotic and more emotionally charged. Lestat is unraveling, and it is both tragic and compelling to watch.

There’s a lot going on in this episode, but the crux of the main emotional throughline is people seeking connection and forgiveness for transgressions. The most blatant example is Armand and his apologies to Daniel and Lestat. While Daniel shut him down entirely, and Armand looked clearly upset by this refusal, Lestat was a tiny bit more restrained and simply ridiculed him a bit, going so far as to invite him to a show and then mock him on stage.

Speaking of Armand, I am starting to understand him, and I think Louis and Lestat are painting him in a very bad light. Not that Armand is in any way innocent. He clearly has a lot of guilt over his actions and his visits may have been mildly self-serving on his path to forgiveness and redemption, but I do believe they were genuine. Of course the person he really needs to approach for forgiveness is Louis, and I can imagine how that will go.

Although that final scene between Daniel and Armand was full of visual acting instead of direct dialogue. Neither could really understand what is happening between them, and Armand hinted pretty heavily that he was in love with Daniel. Has he been infatuated with the "fascinating boy" for fifty years? It would make sense why he decided to turn him into a vampire. Or was he so angry with Daniel tearing apart his world that he turned him out of spite? Armand tried to argue that he was blinded by love, but it seems weird that he didn't see it coming, unless he wanted the truth to be revealed (which he implied when he was talking with Lestat).

Louis’ journey this season is kind of fascinating. From his revenge against Bruce to his new infatuation with Regina, he is still all about Claudia. It makes sense; getting over the loss of a child is incredibly difficult. His entire persona is shrouded in her memory, to the point where he is barely functional around this doppelganger. She could ask him for anything and he would gladly turn it over to her. Which makes their final interaction just disturbing, her change of voice and mannerisms was eerie. How could she possibly have any idea what Claudia sounds like?

Rounding back to Lestat, his journey in this episode was all about his dysfunctional relationship with Gabriella. Starting with their exodus from Paris, they cross the countryside as fallen minor nobles trying to figure out the best cover for their predatory lifestyle and coffins atop their carriage. While amusing, there was a very stark difference on display between Lestat and Gabriella. She seemed almost jovial, reveling in the depravity of her new found freedom to kill and screw anything she wanted.

While Lestat is decadent, hedonistic and will kill on occasion when it suits him, there is this underlying dissonance between what he says versus what we are seeing. Lestat is getting his blood via blood bags, probably from the farm (as described in a previous episode). He isn’t actively hunting and killing, not like Gabriella.

In the past they were waiting for a boat to run ashore. Although we didn’t see the massacre, something had already shifted between Lestat and Gabriella. Their relationship has changed, had become intimate, and she said the words that he wanted to hear. Then she left without a word, leaving her clothing and hair behind. Literally severing all ties to her former life. While this is understandable given the struggles and the cage she has suffered within, it was a brutal and callous lesson for Lestat.

In the present, it is getting quite obvious the band is starting to fall apart. Their drug use and weird songwriting is getting to the point where they are more chaos than anything else. That entire scene with the cop pulling them over was hilarious, but underneath it was a deep rot that will eventually pull everything apart. Even their lawyer is neck deep in hedonism, unable to form a coherent defense to even prevent the cop from getting on the bus.

When we got to that final performance, the one where Lestat openly mocked Armand, things were painfully broken. Lestat’s opening monologue on stage was unfiltered and raw, his entire persona falling apart in real time. Drugs combined with the pressure of the performance, the great conversion and his role in encouraging it, Sofia/Gabriella’s disappearance and the hurt and depression he continues to feel over Louis’ betrayal, Daniel's mere presence and of course Armand returning are clearly tearing his psyche apart.

So the shooting felt like a logical extension of this unfolding misery. A fan determined to show the world Lestat is a real vampire pulls a gun and shoots him point blank. Christine is injured (we don’t know what happened to her yet) and the band, well, disbanded. Lestat was so clearly done with everything, sitting alone in the bus playing a somber song. So of course Gabriella reappears, encouraging him to continue, revealing to him that he is inspiring the entire vampire world with his music. On paper it was almost touching, but her motivations feel corrupt. I don’t know what is going on with her, but I don’t trust her at all.

Bits:

Lestat mentioned that he was in a brat phase. He is referred to in the books as The Brat or The Brat Prince due to his rebellious nature and provocative behavior.

Armand did the mind thing to Alex, which makes me wonder what else he did to him.

The fan who shot Lestat was last seen in episode one or two. He asked Lestat for an autograph on his copy of Interview With the Vampire, which he signed "Lies."

Regina mimicking Claudia is weird. Is it just a twisted situation with a real person? Is Louis hallucinating? Or is Claudia somehow possessing or even speaking through her doppelganger? No matter what, I cannot imagine this going well.

Original Music: "Big Boss"

Quotes:

Lestat: "All rockers sing about the road. It's practically preordained. Seger turned the page. Brown loaded out. Jon Bon played for keeps because he had too many doubts. I mean, that's not the lyric, but it should have been. And Phil X was a better guitarist than Richie Sambora. There, I said it so you don't have to."

Lestat: "I would later find out the hits were predominantly bots paid for out of a Talamasca discretionary fund. Should your privileged purse strings become interested in pursuing the actual truth of our recent apocalyptic adversities, look no further than that watchful order of the river of discreet money flowing in dark directions. Nonetheless, I was in my grand brat phase, with more gigs in the rearview than the road ahead. And our bus never stopped for gas. We ran on bots and abandonment."

Officer Gillogly: "You want to tell me what's in that bowl right there?"
Lestat: "That's cоcɑіnе."
Christine: "He exercises his... right to remain silent."
Officer Gillogly: "You mind repeating that for the body cam?"
Lestat: "Oh, the body cam, democracy's compact mirror, which is funny, because that was a joke, because this is actually, um, powdered makeup."

Lestat: "Service stations. Travel plazas. Off the Autobahn they're called Raststatte. On the devil's road, these liminal spaces have no name, for the occupants are not aware they need rest or service."

Daniel: "Hi, Dad."
Armand: "I can only imagine your anger..."
Daniel: "Stop! Turn around. Walk in the opposite direction until you're halfway around the world. Once there, find a radioactive storage facility and, as is your way, asshоlе your way inside and see if the workers will give you a couple of spent fuel rods to suck on. Do that for however long it takes until your eyes begin to cave in and your dіck falls off. After that, lose my number. After that, fսck off!"

Daniel: "Are you doing the Steps? Oh, my God."
Armand: "I know this is 52 years late..."
Daniel: "... Wait a minute. What group would have you? What, the Pseudologia Pensioner Fuckboys for Sobriety?"
Armand: "I know when we first met..."
Daniel: "... Wait, wait, wait, wait. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. I've done this myself once. Let me try. Hey, Son. Dad here. Sorry about the deadbeat, no-child-support vibe I've been giving off for the past two years. Sorry about killing you on a private jet. I probably could have waited till you crossed the GW, but no, your vampire birth certificate resides in fսcking Newark. Oh, oh, oh, and one more thing, you're not gonna get any of my special vamp skills because my blood sucks. And oh, by the way, I'm a friendless bottom twink sociopath. Sorry about Dubai. Sorry about San Francisco. And hey, a big-time sorry about every second in your life in between... the two divorces, the blackout years at Knight Ridder, the five trips to rehab, the year listening to Phish. Yeah, that's all on me. But hey, boyo, you have to admit that it really does all boomerang 'round at Castro Street and your weekend at Mengele's, doesn't it? I'm really sorry about that, Danny. It was my job to put you out of your misery. But, hey, when a bucket of Louisiana fried chicken walks into the room and says, 'Stop,' well, what can I say? I'm just a 500-year-old pussy. Oops! Pick up the tab, will you, Pops?"

This was another strong episode, this entire season feels very purposeful. Despite feeling like chaos they really are moving through the adaptation of the novel’s most important points. I’m curious what we’ll see for Lestat’s role in Interview With the Vampire, which did take up nearly a quarter of The Vampire Lestat.

3.5 out of 4 Bowls of Cocaine

Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.

• Interview with the Vampire season 3
• Interview with the Vampire home