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Yapping about movies, tv shows, reality tv, pop culture moments, and anything else that I can't get off my mind.
Next Episode Ranking Some of Anne Hathaway's Movies Out 5/14/26!
Hello and welcome to the I Have to Say Podcast.
Today, I have to say…Interview with The Vampire just might be my favorite tv show of all time.
Back before the second season came out, I heard about the show and started watching on AMC+, and since then, it’s become part of my personality.
Since Season 3 comes out in a few weeks, and I was planning on rewatching the show to refresh my memory anyway, I thought it would be perfect to talk about on this show.
Eventually, I’ll talk about season 3, but it won’t be until some time after the full season airs.
This is intended to be a recap and discussion, with some light analysis of the episodes.
Even though I’ve seen the series before, I will try my best not to let what I know happens in the future cloud what my thoughts are given the context of the episodes.
My goal is to keep this as linear as possible, and fair warning, if you haven’t already seen, it’s going to be longer than my usual episodes and posts. I’ve tried really hard to condense it but so much goes on in this show. There’s a lot of information in the little details and a lot of foreshadowing, and I’m taking about, give or take, seven hours worth of a tv show and condensing it into two parts…so…yeah.
Thank you for joining me. Thank you for being here. And let’s get started.
Episode 1
What amazes me about this show is how much character detail we get within the first few minutes, with very little action going on.
At the top of Episode 1, we learn Daniel is an investigative journalist who teaches classes. We see there is a bite mark on his neck, and through the cassette tapes he was shipped, we learn that Daniel interviewed a vampire.
Daniel reads the letter that came with the package,which was signed by Louis Du Pointe Du Lac. There’s something comfortable in the way Louis writes and it’s clear there is history between the two of them.
Even in the midst of Covid, Daniel flies to Dubai to meet who he claims is “the most dangerous man in the world.”
Pretty much the minute they connect, Louis and Daniel spar with their words. Daniel at some point even references the bite mark on his neck, reminding Louis that things didn’t end well the last time that they did this.
Louis is offended to not have made it into Daniel’s memoir, and Daniel explains that in a book where he talks about self-pity, drugs, and humiliation, people would question the authenticity of it if it also mentioned his run-in with a vampire, letting us know that vampires as a species aren’t something larger society knows about.
Through the verbal sparring, Louis confronts Daniel about his Parkinson’s diagnosis, which Daniel is understandably offended by, because only his family and doctors know. And shit, I’d be annoyed too if someone knew my health was declining just by being in the same room with me.
They play the tapes and on it we hear Daniel telling a vampire, who I’d assume is Louis, “You don’t know what human life is like. You’ve forgotten man. You don’t even understand the meaning of your own story.”
Through more back and forth, Daniel admits he wasn’t a great interviewer back then and Louis admits he wants to do another interview for “truth and reconciliation.”
Through this interaction, there’s a teetering power dynamic between Louis and Daniel and they both, but especially Louis, don’t mind going low with their words. Because of the power plays and their history, the vibe is tense at first, with sparks of chemistry I think…would it be a reach to say there’s a tiny bit of sexual chemistry there? Or am I toxic?...
But even though Daniel can keep up with Louis’s wit, Louis will always have the upper hand because at any time Louis could kill him if he chooses. Daniel was bit badly enough before that he still has the scar to show for it, so Daniel may be right. Louis just might be the most dangerous man in the world.
So the interview takes place on June 14, 2022. The scene is set sometime in 1910 and we learn about Louis’ background. His family was in the sugar business, his father passed away and Louis became the executor of his family’s estate.
Louis is really the master of reframing his thoughts, but I haven’t decided if it’s a good or bad quality yet.
Daniel says Louis got the estate because he was the oldest, Louis says it’s because he was the favorite. Louis says he managed a diverse portfolio of investments. Daniel says Louis was a pimp, which Louis says the product of his businesses was pleasure in any form.
Even with his reframing, though, Louis feels the need to defend himself and explains that he had to be tough, rough around the edges, in order to survive back then.
We get a few examples of this with one of the women in his brothels attacking one of his top clients, and in that scene it’s also clear this show isn’t going to shy away from race relations in the 1900s. The client Louis tries to help doesn’t want a “n-words” help until he realizes who the “n-word” is, and as a viewer, we now know that Louis' name carried some weight back then.
In the second example, we meet Paul, Louis’s brother, who shows up preaching in the street. Louis ends up kicking him to get him to leave, Paul punches him back, then Louis pulls a knife out on him, but excuses it in the interview, saying again that he can’t look weak, because you never know who is watching.
Despite the fight, the next day at breakfast is pretty playful, with Paul, Grace, Louis, and their mom teasing each other. Paul still talks about how Louis is profiting off of “the damnation of souls.” His mom says eventually they will move into a respectable business, but it’s clear that there’s love and comfort between them and that they’re comfortable with the money that’s coming in, regardless of how it's made.
Paul is attached to religion and the Church, so Louis donates and brings Paul in for confessionals. Paul has a lot going on in his head and there’s times where he isn’t all there. The church and religion bring him comfort, but Louis feels conflicted because his business and religion were at odds. And he says there are latencies within him that he held back, which I think is fair to say he was referring to his sexuality, because as he talks about it the camera pans to a man.
As the interview goes on, we meet Ms. Lily and Lestat. Louis has an attachment to Ms. Lily. He pays for her time, and she’s a source of comfort for him and a woman he goes to when he needs to decompress, though I’m sure appearances is also why he sees her.
Seeing Lestat with her, then hearing Lestat ask about how Louis even got in (you know, since he is a Black man, which Lestat insists he didn’t mean any harm by), and then Lestat touching on Ms. Lilly as he stares Louis down, I think it’s fair to say that Louis and Lestat didn’t start off on the best foot. Louis talks about how he wanted to fight him, but Lestat pulled him in, and Louis says, “his gaze tied a string around my lungs and I found myself immobilized.”
Watching it, I couldn’t tell if it was in Louis’s head or if it was really happening, but when Lestat releases him, Louis physically reacts, gasping for air as if it was taken from him. They have a pissing contest, seeing who can put down the most money to get Ms. Lily for the night, which Lestat wins, but before that, Lestat hits on Louis and through Lilly reveals that Louis is his destiny. Lestat agrees, saying destined to be “very good friends.”
Louis and Lestat meet again at a card match with some business players in town. There, we see the men offer opportunities for Louis while simultaneously talking down to him, and giving him lowball offers. Someone refers to Louis as the labor to one of their capital, which is as racist as it sounds. At this card game, Lestat unveils more of his power, stopping time, freezing the people around him, and speaking to Louis through his mind. While time is frozen, Lestat scolds Louis for putting up with what he does, rants about how appalled he is at how Black people are treated in America, and asks Louis why he’s putting up with them and wonders if it’s for a larger purpose. He says, “Do you not know your value?”
And I think Lestat’s viewpoint is privileged in a way. He genuinely doesn’t understand what life is like for Black people in the 1900s. For Louis to talk back would be a death sentence, because even with Louis’s money and even with Louis’s seat at the table, those he sits with remind him time and time again they view him as inferior.
At the same time, I can see the question of why he would want to be in a room he isn’t genuinely welcomed in, when he has the means not to be, in theory…I mean there’s limitations on where he can go and what he can do because of discrimination, but I can understand the sentiment a little bit. But money is power, and Louis is motivated by power.
After that, Louis and Lestat start spending more time together. In the interview, Louis says, “I was being hunted and I was completely unaware it was happening.”
Grace, Louis’s sister, doesn’t really like that Louis has been spending less time with them, but she is supportive enough, inviting Lestat over for dinner.
At dinner, after having a conversation about God, who Lestat loathes, saying there is an ocean between him and Christ, Lestat sucks in Paul like he did with Louis previously, which pisses Louis off and he slams the table to get him to stop and tells him never to do that with his family.
Lestat apologizes, saying he inherited his father’s temper.
They talk about it a little bit as Louis walks Lestat home, and Lestat calls Louis out for lying about not enjoying the Opera, and says that he must be jealous that his brother can say what he’s thinking without shame, which was a crazy read. But he does have a point. Louis is so concerned with how he is perceived and he says that himself when he mentioned why he was rough around the edges. He hints about it when he talks about the latencies he held back.
And even as Louis is interviewed, there have been and will be moments he feels the need to explain himself, almost as if to say, “But it’s not what you think. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
Lestat saying this leads to a talk about how judgemental Louis feels like his family is and it’s the first time we see Louis talking vulnerably about the business he’s in and his life. And Lestat tells him he doesn’t have to explain what he does to take care of his family and keep them ignorant in their comforts.
Louis vents that there is, “nothing but broken souls around me. And the ones that aren’t broken are greedy” and it makes me think…what does that make you Louis? Did these characteristics somehow pass you by or are you also broken or greedy? Or are you feeding off of other people’s brokenness and greediness and is that why they surround you? Isn’t he profiting off it technically? And that’s not to say you always attract what you are, but in this case, I think it begs the question.
Louis and Lestat make it outside Lestat’s place. Lestat invites Louis in, and even though Louis makes excuses for why he can’t go, he still follows Lestat to the door. Lestat says he brought Louis a gift. A flower.
So Louis goes up and sees Ms. Lily. As they all talk, Lestat talks about how he composed music for a boy of “infinite beauty and sensitivity,” which can explain why he’s drawn to Louis, who he seems to view the same way. Lestat questions how come he and Ms. Lily usually just talk and then Lestat and Ms. Lily seduce Louis. Lestat admits he’s been watching Louis for a while and they start kissing on Ms. Lily.
Worried about appearances again, not comfortable with his latencies, Louis tries to fight his pull to Lestat and focus on Ms. Lily, but when Ms. Lily says it’s okay, Louis gives in a little. And when Ms. Lily is lulled to sleep, Lestat and Louis hook up, floating a little above the ground. It’s confirmed that Lestat is a vampire when he bites Louis’ neck.
In the interview Louis wants to highlight the importance of this moment because he didn’t consider himself gay at the time. Louis also uses the opportunity to play with Daniel, pointing out that they met at a gay bar, which Daniel excuses as it was a great place to get drugs.
Louis emphasizes how much restraint Lestat showed when he took a little drink, and talks about how intimate of a feeling it was for him and how unsettling that intimacy was because being an openly gay Black man at the time wasn’t acceptable. And I believe he says this to explain why he started avoiding Lestat.
Back in the past, Grace gets married, and Paul and Louis do an amazing tap dance routine where they were in sync. It was a really sweet and fun moment together and it highlighted again how important family is to Louis, how even if he didn’t always show it in the best ways, even though they fought, he truly loved them and wanted to protect them.
I should’ve known that this story wouldn’t have a happy ending, because when things seem to be going too good in media, something bad always happens. Louis and Paul sit on the roof together talking and reminiscing. Paul brings up Lestat, happy that Louis isn’t doing business with him anymore because he says he’s the devil. Here to take souls. And that Lestat told him that and spoke to him without moving his lips, which we know Lestat can do. He told Louis that sins need to be confessed.
Louis tries to defend Lestat, saying Paul thinks everyone is the Devil, that Lestat just has tricks, and that he isn’t going to see Lestat again, sticking up for Lestat like he would someone he cares about.
Paul makes sure Grace is truly loved by her new husband and says he loves Louis and then he walks off the roof. I don’t know if he knew what would happen when he did that or if he was lost in his mind, but I guess the reason doesn’t really matter.
In the interview, Louis says, “I don’t miss the sun. The reminders it carries.” and explains that he has seen death over and over and over again and that it’s boring, which is the complete opposite of how distraught Louis was after Paul passed. So, being a vampire has really changed him and hardened him over time.
It doesn’t help that Louis’ family blames Louis for Paul’s death, saying Louis always has to have the last word.
Paul’s death made Louis realize he had all this power and status in the city, but no one really cared about him because businesses were still open and life was still going on. He says, “Who was I to them?” This thought process also shows how drastically his world has shifted, but how his outer world hasn’t changed at all and how much turmoil he feels that his outer and inner worlds don’t match up.
Louis says this is “Easy pray for the discerning predator” and Lestat shows up, making jokes and also just angry that Louis has been avoiding him. Lestat is pretty unsympathetic about Paul’s death, because he, being a seasoned vampire, probably felt how Louis feels in present day. Death is boring. Humans die and being a vampire, he lives on. Lestat was more focused on his relationship with Louis and Louis is upset that he confronts him about it, in public, as he’s mourning and they start fighting until someone escorts Lestat away, though Lestat breaks that person's arm in the process.
Through the funeral, Louis is haunted by Lestat telling him to come see him in his mind and at the end of the funeral, he is blown off by his mother, who blames him. He doesn’t want to face his mother or his sister, who he says pities him, so he drinks and goes to see Ms. Lily, but learns she passed away, from a fever that caused the blood to dry up inside her.
Too distraught, Louis runs to the Church, listening to Paul and confessing his sins, breaking down about how he profits off the miseries of others and “does it easily,” about how he’s a coward who runs to his vices, and about how he slept with a man, “the Devil.” Louis cries saying he needs help because “he’s weak and he wants to die.”
And then the ground shakes and destruction happens around him. The priest is pulled out of the booth and Lestat feeds on him with fire and blood in the background. Lestat is offended about how Louis can go to the Church for comfort saying, “Do you think God heard you Louis? Do you see how unworthy he is? How can you humiliate yourself like this.”
And through more arguing and reveals, Lestat says he can give Louis the death he is asking for. He says he sees Louis for who he is, and with all his rage and sorrow. He said he wants to build a home with Louis and he loves him and he just needs him to say yes.
Lestat says, “Be my companion. Be all the things you beautifully are and be them without apology for all of eternity.”
And Louis admits in the interview it was the first time he felt seen and that’s how he was turned, with the sound of their hearts chasing each other, pounding in his ears.
Episode 2
In the second episode, Daniel tries to figure out who Louis’s assistant is, but the assistant remains pretty vague, saying, “I serve a god. It is my honor to serve.”
It’s dinnertime, so Daniel is served courses of different endangered species while the crew sets up Louis’s table by wrapping his place setting with saran wrap, which is smart for easy cleanup. They also open a blood bag and pour it in a cup like you would do with a glass of wine.
Louis apologizes for his outburst, and Daniel says, “Memory is a monster. We forget. It doesn’t,” but that scene confuses me because there wasn’t an outburst that I remember, unless they’re just talking about how emotional Louis became as he talked about Lestat.
But they continue on with the interview, and Louis talks about how good he felt after being turned, and then how shitty he felt, and then how high he felt while Lestat disposes of the bodies .
Louis is also really hungry and tries to drink from one of the bodies, but Lestat tells him drinking of the blood of the dead will lead to his final death.
As they walk through the street, Lestat emphasizes that people around are now his inferiors, which I don’t know if Lestat intended it to be as loaded as it feels, but I’m sure writers would know what that could end up meaning to Louis as a Black man in America.
Lestat then teaches Louis how to hunt. Louis is disgusted with himself for taking a life, and he just wants to go home to see Grace and Paul, who has passed away. It feels like Louis woke up from his high with regret and a hangover and Lestat tries to talk him down, but Louis and his newfound strength push Lestat away, hard enough that he hits the wall. Louis makes it out the door but gets burned by the sun and he doesn’t make it far.
Lestat comforts him, accepting him back into the house saying, “the sun gives life to everything except us. I should have taught you that. The life of a vampire has its challenges and its rewards.” and I’m thinking, yeah Lestat you should have taught him that.
And let me rant for a second, because I know that Lestat did wait for Louis’s consent, but did he really give Louis a choice? If Louis said no, what was going to happen? Would Lestat have turned him anyway or would Lestat have killed him? Would Lestat actually have left him alone if he didn’t want the dark gift?
Lestat offers Louis death in a moment where he’s hurting and shameful and vulnerable and I would even say scared…Louis didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle on what it means to be a vampire when he accepted the dark gift...so when Louis says in the first episode that Lestat hunted him…yeah. I get why he would say that.
And there’s also just so much irony in this situation. Lestat’s in a Church which we know he despises. He killed two priests and sort of became a priest himself, giving Louis the opportunity of rebirth in a Church the same way pastors and priests do. Lestat did say he grew up wanting to be a pastor…and he became a god, kind of, in a sense.
But anyway, in the interview, Louis says it was too many firsts for one night: death, rebirth, coming out, homicide. This is Louis’s story, so it makes sense Louis is centering himself, but Daniel forces Louis to talk about the impact of his actions on tape and questions why Louis’s coming out is being tied into this story, which I think anyone who reads this part of the book would question too.
Louis explains being desired by and bedding Lestat was pivotal to his queer awakening and how that was a big deal to him, but it shouldn’t be confused as playing a role in the salesmen’s death.
Daniel mocks him about that and Louis emphasizes he got into his coffin from his own free will and thinks of Lestat and him as equals.
Daniel says, “white master, Black student but equal in the dark.” which bothers Louis but cracks me up, because why would he say that. Daniel’s hilarious. And he lowkey has a point, because race relations didn’t magically get solved just because Louis is a vampire. They aren’t equals, and that’s even without mentioning how many years Lestat has on Louis as a vampire. Louis gets wrapped up in the romanticization of his story and because he romanticizes parts of it in his own mind, this conversation also contradicts what Louis says earlier about him being hunted.
Because is it possible for him to be hunted but also choose to get into the coffin himself? Or is Louis saying that he could leave whenever he wants to, which at this point isn’t true because he’s a baby vampire, still adjusting to life after being turned. And he’s a Black vampire, at that. In America in the 1900s…like, let’s be serious.
This was literally his first murder after being turned and Lestat had to coach him on how to drink the blood in the first place. He tells him, “Bite the neck. Don’t bite the blood!”
So either Louis is in denial about the situation, or has learned once again to reframe what has happened so he can live with it, or…he feels like an active participant who wanted to be a vampire all along? But to me, it’s not really shown that Louis wanted to be a vampire. He wanted to feel seen and he wanted to die, and a vampire happened to show up, pissed off that he would turn to God and the church instead of him, and that vampire brutally murdered two men in front of him before saying he loved Louis as he was.
Daniel brings the conversation back to the salesman, emphasizing with detail about how he he killed him. Louis then questions, “Do you contemplate the life of the rabbit before you cut it or do you simply cut it.” Louis saying that really put things in perspective on the situation for me in the way.
Because vampires are eating to survive just as we eat to survive. It’s just that as humans we have gotten pretty detached from the act of killing and hunting what we eat, so we don’t think about the fact that we are eating a living creature. For vampires, they’re hunting the thing that they eat, but at the end of the day, they’re still eating…so it’s really not that different if you get into the nitty gritty of it all because they are a different species than humans.
Louis also adds that vampires are predators and killers detached from humanity and that there is “thrilling satisfaction in being the end of that life and having a hand in the divine plan.” Sounds like he’s describing being a god huh? Daniel says people won’t like hearing that and Louis says that’s the point because this is meant to be a warning.
Then we jump back to Louis and Lestat, learning that vampires can read the minds of everyone except whoever they turn.
Lestat realizes Louis is attached to humanity and his human life and wills to break him out of it. Louis goes to visit his family, and hears his mom criticizing him and his fashion choices in her mind, insinuating that he’s gay and she isn’t happy about that. She criticizes how long he’s been gone, but Grace is happy to see him and wishes he comes around more.
Louis tries to keep going with business as usual, meeting with a man who does business with him, but is being mocked for his intelligence and is called “an exceptional negro.” In the moment, Louis realizes how much he has submitted to white men and how much he has been mocked and is tired of it. Lestat was right. They were his inferiors now, and now Louis can actually do something about it, in theory, without consequence, so Louis drank from him. Lestat helps get rid of the body and scolds Louis for going after someone who is powerful and whose absence will be noticed, which is against his teachings.
Lestat doesn’t understand why Louis is offended by what the man said because Lestat does NOT understand race relations in America, and Louis points out their differences in characteristics and how that shapes how they’re perceived in the world: colored vs. white; Creole vs. french; Queer vs. half queer/mostly queer/ what is it?
Lestat says nondiscriminating.
And it’s just funny that this comes up in the story because Louis says earlier they were equals.
So Lestat and Louis are mad at each other, but Lestat breaks the ice as they’re laying in separate coffins, and Lestat asks how he can make it up to him, which Louis says by buying the saloon.
Lestat voices his reservations, but does it anyway to make Louis happy and in this moment, their relationship really feels like a human one. They got into a little fight and push each other’s buttons, but there is care and love between them.
Louis is checking in on his family less. He didn’t meet the twins and now is meeting her third baby. Without words you can tell Grace and him aren’t as close as they used to be because of their body language and the distance they sit from each other. Eventually they share a laugh, but Louis struggles with fighting his instincts when he’s alone with the baby.
Louis, in the present day, feels the need to interrupt the interview, emphasizing yet again how much he has changed and how he’s learned to master his instincts. I think interrupting the story to reframe or distract from the horrifying situation at hand. Louis even brings in a human donor who he takes a drink from and afterwards, he mocks Daniel, who watches him drink with disgusted interest.
Then we jump back into the past. Louis leaves the baby on the floor and runs and then Louis vents to Lestat about how badly he wanted to drink from his nephew and how he feels like he’ll never get control over his thirst.
Lestat tells him it’s a rite of passage to have to leave your family alone before they grow fearful and he has to spare them from the pain he is causing by cutting things off.
Louis complains that he will never have a family, no sons, no daughters and Lestat mentions that he is Louis’s family. It really is a mix between a sweet moment that they share and a sad one, because Louis’s longing for death didn’t go away as a vampire. He casually mentions Lestat should throw him in the incinerator and make another vampire. Lestat reassures Louis about how “one of a kind” he is and how “imperfectly perfect” he is, showing us yet again that vampire emotions and vampire love may be no different than human emotions and human love…that even as a vampire, even with Lestat’s detachment from humanity, there are parts of them that can be seen as human.
We move on from that moment and Louis explains “My murder, my mentor, my lover, and my maker” and that he didn’t choose me to be his doormat, he liked it when Louis fought him back but still, Louis worshiped him.
Louis, says Lestat “had a way about him” that disarmed Louis and calmed his agitation.
Lestat fears loneliness above all else as a vampire and says Louis takes the feeling away from him. So they have to stay together forever, and never part.
But their relationship starts to crack when Lestat draws out a kill, a tenor who offended Lestat at The Opera for hitting bad notes. Louis is annoyed by how taunting Lestat’s hunts are and how he humiliates his victim, which leads to Lestat begging Louis to embrace who he is.
Lestat encourages Louis to drink from the tenor, saying “he can strike like the hand of God.” And because Lestat has a way about him, and probably because he was already there, and probably because Louis hadn’t been eating much as it, and probably because Louis enjoys power though he’ll never admit it, Louis gave in and fed from the tenor.
But Louis says. “He never enjoys the aftertaste.”
Episode 3
Episode 3 opens with Louis asking why he was put on this earth and Lestat reminds him that he put him on this earth and his purpose is pleasure.
Louis introduces the idea of eating animals or just being selective of the type of humans they eat. Lestat argues that all humans are capable of becoming monsters, but Louis is committed to being better than humans
Lestat asks, “Is okay all you desire?” because animal blood is just okay in comparison.
Throughout the episode, Louis continues to ponder who he is, which exacerbates Lestat because he keeps telling him he’s a vampire and he reminds Louis of this in his place of business. Lestat says his business is an illusion. Louis argues he helps fund businesses and Lestat mocks him saying he kills 20 people to save 1 small business. This is another example of Louis reframing his reality and Lestat sees right through it, but I guess it’s a chicken or the egg situation. Is Louis creating drug addicts and drunks or is just supplying a need and people would find a new supplier if it wasn’t him?
Louis finally admits that he doesn’t want to kill anyone anymore, which Lestat says is against his instincts as a vampire.
Lestat then turns his annoyance to the musician, mocking his ability to play piano and challenging him.
Back in the interview Daniel questions Louis' story, saying it sounds rehearsed and questions their abused-abuser relationship, bringing up past tapes where Louis seems to be waffling between loving and feeling bad for or maybe hating Lestat. Louis makes clear again that he doesn’t see himself as a victim or abused. So again, I ask, why Louis insinuates he is prey to a predator if he feels like he isn’t a victim, but Daniel says he’s too close to it because of his feelings for Lestat.
Daniel adds something along the lines of, “50 years later you talk about Lestat as if he’s you’re soulmate and you’re in some fucked up gothic romance and I want to know why.”
Louis brings up a passage from Daniel's book, highlighting how flawed memory is and talking about “the odyssey of recollection.” He admits in the past he put on a performance, now he is going on his own odyssey of recollection and wants the space to do that in this interview, which satisfies Daniel who throws away the old tapes.
So, Lestat shows off and taunts Louis’s current lead band member.
Lestat tells Louis later it was because he found out the band was planning to leave Louis, but I think that the new singer caught his eye and it provided a convenient opening for him to get closer to her.
Lestat and the new singer spend a lot of time together, hosting parties after their performances and Lestat would feed there away from Louis “out of respect” he says.
One night, Lestat invites the singer over while Louis is home and they flirt in front of Louis, with Lestat eventually pouring champagne down her shirt. The singer says she’s confused because there are rumors that Louis and Lestat are together, but Lestat says he prefers a cluster over a single note.
Louis is irritated by the whole thing and ends up leaving. On the way out, Lestat mocks Louis about feeding on animal. Louis mocks Lestat, saying he hopes they enjoy themselves “because it’s the purpose of living.”
Louis is disappointed when he finds out that Lestat didn’t kill the singer after their night and begins to feel insecure, asking Lestat “Aren’t I enough?” And Lestat cracks up, like a real genuine laugh in Louis’s face, and regardless of what he was feeling, it’s a crazy response. He goes to Louis caressing his face, commenting that there is squirrel on his mouth, which I see as a petty jab because it frustrates Lestat that Louis only drinks from animals, but Lestat is finally honesty, telling Louis he likes a variety, even though he and Louis will have 10,000, 100,000, nights together.
Louis asks if that means he can fuck other people too, and Lestat says “Of course” unconvincingly, like five times. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course, as if it never crossed his mind that Louis would venture out as well.
And I mean, there have been signs that this is a toxic situation, maybe even abusive, but Lestat not realizing the freedom he wants also applies to Louis is really the cherry on top of the path this relationship is heading down.
Meanwhile, there’s a new ordinance that is attempting to segregate the city. Louis made the women of his place owners to circumvent the law and at a card match is praised for his cleverness and told “it’s not about race” even though other establishments with similar businesses weren’t targeted. Louis accuses them of being jealous that his business is successful and calls them out for being hypocrites (since one of them is one of his top clients) and says he feels like there’s “a boot on his neck.”
Louis wins the card game and someone says, they preferred the days when Louis “let [them] win on occasion because those were days of deference,” which again. Yes. As racist as it sounds.
Louis gets a visit from an old friend, Jonah, who is visiting with the rest of the soldiers and navymen in town. Lestat notices them, but Louis doesn’t notice Lestat noticing. Jonah and Louis talk and flirt, eventually driving out somewhere and flirting more even though Louis admits “he has someone. A man.” But because Louis and Lestat are open, Jonah and Louis do more than talk.
And when Louis goes home, he feels the need again to explain himself, this time to Lestat, telling Lestat Jonah found him and they’d known each other since they were young, though Louis doesn’t say how much older than Jonah he is.
Lestat is jealous that Louis reconnected with his first love, though he doesn’t actually say he’s jealous at this time, but says that he’ll end it with Antoinette. Louis mentions in the interview that Lestat’s boots have mud on them and Daniel asks Louis if it rained that night and Louis can’t remember, but says he met up with Jonah decades later.
Seeing Jonah, Louis thinks about his family again and brings presents to drop off the twins. Louis’s anger and frustration gets directed at his family after his mother makes snide remarks and he knocks down their door. His mom says, “There he is. There he is,” and Grace tells him to leave.
As if the day couldn’t get any worse, Louis finds a bunch of soldiers in his house with Lestat playing piano. Lestat says, “Now that I know you have a type, I thought you’d be pleased.”
Louis is fed up and tells him to get everyone out, and so Lestat unlocks another power, mind controlling everyone to force them to leave.
Lestat brings up a conversation Louis had with Jonah saying that he, as in Lestat, knows he’s a lot. He’s not perfect. And this sparks another fight because Lestat admits he was jealous and doesn’t like sharing and Louis brings up Antoinette, which Lestat says is different because he doesn’t have feelings for her.
The conversation leads to Lestat’s infamous crashout “I heard you hearts dancing!” which still lives rent free in my mind. And they argue again about how Lestat is only drinking from animals and not living his life to the fullest and Louis accuses Lestat of taking his life and says he has nothing and lost everything, and he’s about to lose the last thing he cares about which is his business.
And I know that hurts Lestat because Lestat is standing right there and Louis didn’t mention him as someone he cares about…I wonder if Louis even though about Lestat’s feelings in that moment, like if he said it on purpose to hurt him…though I don’t know if I blame him…
So, the businessmen play in Louis' face about his business, thinking in their mind about how Louis took a bad deal on the price of the building and they offered to buy it back for 15 cents at the dollar, which pisses Louis off because they’re ripping him off.
Lestat reminds Louis he doesn’t need the money, but Louis frames it as a slight against Black people. Lestat brings up the other properties he owns, which Louis says is nickels, dimes, so Lestat says it is about the money. And I think it’s a mix of the principle, ego, and money.
Business goes south after Louis puts up a colored only sign, even though the women owners say it’s a stupid idea and eventually the business gets closed for infractions. People break the glass door, and I was thinking about all of the people losing their jobs because “he put his hubris on display.”
One of the Aldermans is in the street talking about making the street safe for families, even though he is one of his clients, which fuels Louis' rage even more.
Daniel says in the interview, “Take a Black man in america, make him a vampire, fuck with that vampire, and see what comes of it.”
Louis breaks into Anderson’s home and after the alderman's lengthy speech about how Louis is arrogant and a tiny man flying too close to the sun, Louis hunts. He plays with Anderson, giving him time to shoot him, because Louis will survive, and then he gives him more time to reload his gun. And then he rips his ear off, finally admitting he is a vampire.
Louis hangs his body win a gruesome display on the gate of the capital with a whites only sign. But Louis didn’t think about what that would do to other people.
It started riots and chaos in the streets. He and Lestat watch and Lestat says he’s proud of Louis even though it goes against his teachings, you know, trying to stay under the radar. Louis says he didn’t do it for him, he did it for his city and his people. Lestat says “That tortuous death was for your people?” and eventually adds, “Save that lie for yourself. Did you not feel pleasure doing that?”
Louis blames Lestat, saying maybe Lestat saw this coming and didn’t stop him. Lestat says Louis did it because it gave him pleasure, calling him “Companion of the dark gift finally.” saying that they should make it their anniversary.
I think Louis is in denial about who he is and the harm he causes and I also think he genuinely believes he did it for a larger purpose than himself. Lestat wanted him because he believed Louis would match his energy, but Louis either restrains himself more than Lestat expected or he hasn’t come to terms with who he is. Maybe the rage Lestat felt was from Louis being a Black man in America.
Louis does take accountability in the moment, blaming himself for the chaos out there and Lestat says Louis gave them an opportunity. “Toss them into circumstance and they go for the throat,” which offends Louis, because for whatever reason he has faith in humanity. So he hits Lestat below the belt, telling Lestat, “That’s why we’ll never work and why you’ll always be alone.”
He goes into the street, wanting to help. Someone tells him to save himself and run, but then he hears cries for help and believes he can save her and be redeemed.
Episode 4
In episode 4, we learn about Louis' story through a different perspective. Louis is resting and Rashid takes Daniel to a room with a single tree. Rashid gives Daniel gloves with a set of diaries that have been preserved, so we know based on that, these diaries are cherished and whoever wrote them are important to Louis.
Rashid recommends Daniel starts on the left, so of course, Daniel glances at the diaries on the right, before officially starting on the left, at the beginning.
The diaries are written by the girl who was yelling for help during the chaos that ensued. She says she thought she was dead and saw a Black Angel crying and wondered why they would cry if they were in heaven.
Lestat and Louis argue about what to do with her. Lestat is annoyed, arguing against it, and realizes that Louis wants a daughter. He says, “You were ready to abandon our home and you want a third?” But Louis begs and so Lestat does it to make him happy and Claudia is thinking since her family is gone, she might as well make the best of it.
Louis and Claudia bond pretty fast since they can talk to each other through their minds. Lestat is annoyed saying, “I can already see how this is going to go” and jumps up from his seat to interrupt them.
Claudia learns she’s a vampire and Louis and Lestat agree they’re going to be a family, with no secrets.
They answer all her questions, even the ones they wouldn’t answer before they declared they would have no secrets. They let her decide if she wants to hunt humans or animals, which really makes it feel like she’s a pawn in their relationship problems, but they teach her how to hunt.
She’s a natural, allowing the cop to come to her. Letting the prey come to you was a tip Lestat gave to Louis after he was turned) and now that I say that, it’s interesting that Lestat said that and told Louis to come to him after Paul’s death, which makes me think maybe Louis really was his prey…in a way.
But after realizing something isn’t right, the cop says, “You’re ain’t a girl. You the devil.” and she sucks his blood.
On the way home, Louis preps Claudia on what to expect: confusion, regret, euphoria and lectures her about not going after a cop again, all of which I think he wishes Lestat did for him, but Claudia is distracted because she’s still hungry.
Lestat mentions her young lady metabolism is permanent now, almost with a hint of regret and then Claudia disappears to go after someone else.
In her diary, Claudia writes about how there are no kids to play with because the sun goes up and she goes down and tells Louis and Lestat that she talks to the book because the book is her friend, when they ask her, and the reality of Claudia’s situation is just really sad…and lonely. All she has is Lestat and Louis…
She asks Lestat questions about his past which Lestat is frustrated by and assumes Louis is behind her curiosity which leads to another argument between the two of them in French, because Claudia sleeps in the coffin with Louis while Lestat has his own one. Louis brings up again that Lestat is too detached from humanity, telling him all teenagers do is question their existence and he’s forgotten what it’s like to be young, which is ironic because Lestat forgetting what it’s like to be young is similar to Daniel saying Louis forgot what it’s like to be human.
Eventually they get Claudia her own coffin as she grows up.
One night Claudia and Louis are on a boat ride together while Louis hunts for fish. This boat ride we see how close Claudia and Louis are getting. There really don’t seem to be any secrets between them, with Louis answering all of her questions about his and Lestat’s sexuality and what Lestat does when he goes out alone. But she also mentions how Uncle Les has secrets and like always, Louis excuses Lestat’s behavior saying “He’s older and sometimes old people don’t like talking about their past. Sometimes you have to be careful where you dig.”
Louis also advises that it’s not just the act of killing when it comes to vampires, but also how someone does it. You can make it quick or you can get extravagant, insinuating like Lestat does. But he emphasizes that some of the kills have consequences and what happened to her and her family is a result of one of his extravagant kills. He says he used to get caught up in human affairs and then Claudia happened and that seems to make her feel special.
Daniel takes a break from reading and overhears Rashid praying. Rashid is not here for Daniel jokes, glossing over them with a little but of annoyance, but through the brief conversation, Daniel and his journalistic skills realizes Rashid wasn’t speaking Arabic and deducts Rashid is not from Dubai.
In the next diary, Claudia gets her own room and on her birthday Lestat gifts her a necklace which is too big for her. She asks Louis when she will grow into it. Time passes and gets repetitive and she says when Louis and Lestat have problems, she can make it right. She compares their lives to mortal lives “we fight, we eat, we laugh, we sleep, we love.”
And then, Louis’s mom passes away, Grace wants possession of the house, Louis threatens Grace, which I would say is out of character, but I don’t know if it actually is forreal…we see what he did to the door and how he pulled a knife out on Paul…and when he gets in a mood he can be combative with his words…but in this scene, Louis looses his ties to Grace. The house was the last thing.
Sometime later, Lestat and Claudia bond, with Lestat teaching Claudia to drive and being stressed out because even though they’re immortal, she can still get injured badly enough it’d take months to recover.
Claudia admits Daddy Lou is her favorite but she and Uncle Les have a lot in common and Lestat teaches her how to hunt on lovers lane. And that hunt makes Claudia realize she’s 18 and inexperienced and she’s ready to grow up.
Claudia changes her wardrobe and dresses up to go out by herself. Louis in her mind says “Don’t do something Lestat would do” and she says, “I’m going to tell him you’re talking to me like this.”
On the town Claudia overhears people mocking her outfit and being racist. Her fangs come out, scaring a horse, but she controls it and talks to the guy who calms the horse down and checks on her.
She has her first crush with Charlie and is happy to have her own secrets. And when they’re finally on a date, Charlie hesitates because she looks young. But Claudia makes it clear she’s nineteen and in the back of the carriage things heat up and Charlie is overwhelmed, asking her to slow down. She reads his thoughts, “You don’t even look like a girl. You’re an angel.”
And Claudia becomes overwhelmed herself, biting him. But she doesn’t stop and she accidentally kills him. She brings the body to Lestat and Louis and Lestat says it's easy to get carried away when you’re young and in love and then harshly tells her he can’t bring him back because he’s already dead and she needs to clean up after herself, pretty detached with death. Pretty detached with the idea of first loves it seems too.
Lestat forces Claudia to see his body burn, telling her “This is why we don’t get close to mortals. Because sooner or later they end up dead.”
Louis says you have us, and Claudia says she doesn’t want him, which is a similar sentiment that Louis had when he felt like his world was crashing and burning.
Louis makes an appearance in the interview and Daniel asks why Claudia wasn’t mentioned in the previous tapes. Louis talks about how much he loved Claudia, in the poetic way that Louis talks, and basically admits to feeling shame in how he’s failed her and why he didn’t share a diary detailing how and when he failed her to a young reporter he just met at a gay bar.
But Louis knows these diaries so well he is able to quote the journal as Daniel catches him up to where he is in it and mentions how Louis mentions how the death of Charlie began the darkest eras of their lives. He says the “Fantasy of happiness burst. Claudia was…”
And Daniel finishes, “A bandaid for a shitty marriage” which Louis says he was going to say something else, but yes. And I also have to sadly agree. She deserved so much more. She was just a child when they turned her.
Louis and Lestat fight over the handling of Charlie and Claudia writes that it’s funnier when they fight in French. But that moment hardens her. She starts calling her diary dumb and we get a fuller picture of her pre-vampire life, where she was also lonely, with a mom who died in childbirth, a father who gave her away, and an aunt that beat her.
She shares bitterness about how her body won’t develop and she’ll look like a 14 year old forever while she grows old and says that she’s doing fine, even though you’d probably wonder how she gets up in the morning. And she’s fine because "The first man I killed called me a devil and the last boy I killed, the last boy I’ll ever love in this world called me an angel. So that means I’m on the right path and that means there’s so much more fun out there to have. I’m just getting started.”
Claudia opens up the house to sunlight and sticks her arm out and screams but doesn’t move as the sun burns her arm…
Alright, well that’s the first four episodes of Interview With The Vampire Season 1. More people voted they’d prefer this recap be split into two podcast episodes, so I’ll call it here. I give final thoughts on the entire first season in the second part of this recap, and it should be out tomorrow, May 28th. I hope to see you there!
You can visit my blog www.ihavetosay.blog, where I also have versions of these episodes that you can read if you don’t want to listen. I’m on instagram @ihavetosaypod. I’m on threads at lyssa_posts_ and I hope you’ll subscribe.
Okay.Thank you for joining me. Thank you for being here. Bye bye.