I can't stop thinking about this. Daniel was a drug addict in the traditional sense. But his addictions appeared in other ways, in his work as a journalist, his desire to always dig for the truth, his inability to say no to taking on a big story. He's someone who, even before Louis planted that little kernel of him being a bright young reporter with a point of view in his mind, was dogged about finding people to talk to and stories to sink his teeth into.
And now that he's a vampire, that seems to only be amplified to a ridiculous degree. That splinter of coldness, where he latches onto something his interviewee is circling, isn't wanting to address right away, is avoiding because it hurts, came out in his interview with Louis. But it's just so more visceral and defined in s3.
And it's all the more intense because guess what Daniel is avoiding? His own transformational trauma! Every time Armand is mentioned around him there's just a look of pain on his face that he can't hide. He's telling himself lies, that he's fine, that he loves being a vampire, that he has no trauma, because to do otherwise would require him to step back from being the journalist, the director, the documentarian, all roles that allow him to look outward. These outside roles he thrives on and has lived in for 50+ years give him the space to have some kind of control over the narrative, even if it's other people's narratives. If he acknowledges his own trauma around being turned, that's going to require him to turn his truth seeking and digging onto himself, to look inward.
With where he's at right now (as of TVL ep3), he's not ready to do that by a long shot. It's so much easier to stick to the role of the journalist, the person who is meant to bring a somewhat impartial eye to another person's story, instead of even digging into his own truth.
And look, perhaps he does love being a vampire. But with all the shit he's got going on right now, the avoidance of his own trauma, navigating being a fledgling who was abandoned, the (not totally confirmed in the show but lowkey confirmed by Eric Bogosian) existence of past Devil's Minion, the broader events going on around the entire tour, and the wack bullying but they're kinda friends relationship with Lestat, there's not much space to actually see Daniel enjoying his new life as an immortal just yet.
Like he's a good fucking journalist at the end of it all. But it's so, so fascinating to see what being a vampire has done to him.
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