IWTVL After Dark: Welcome to the Funhouse, Louis
@narrativenods thanks for the question!
So, Jacob was asked how it felt handing over the narrative crown to Sam, and if it was scary or freeing. Both he and Rolin answered:
Jacob: I definitely had more of a sense of some of the things Sam was maybe experiencing in the first 2 seasons, that I really didn't understand at the time. I was like: "Well yeah but, the show is meant to be from the perspective of this one character?????" And I remember Sam used to be like: "Well, THAT didn't happen! it didn't happen this way!" And I would always be like: "Well, we HAVE to play it this way, because WE'RE HERE!" This is what the day-at-work is: "Today I HAVE TO believe that THIS is true!" And this season [S3], there were a few times that I was like: "Oh, this is like a funhouse mirror version of Louis! This person that I've grown to know so well, and I suddenly don't know him quite as well as I did." But I think it's fun! That's part of the challenge!… What do you do with him now? It felt to me, the end of S2, it felt like his journey was kind of neat and elegant, and then you're like: Well, we have to mess it up! Gotta rub some dirt in it now!
Rolin: I think we knew this Louis in the writers' room in S1 & S2, we knew he [S3's funhouse Louis] was there. And if you go back, once you see this [S3], and you go back to S1 & S2, you'll see glimmers of this guy [S3 funhouse Louis] in there.
First, the funhouse mirror. Funhouse mirrors are a distorted image/perception/version of something that DOES exist in reality, but is now being seen through a glass darkly. It's off, they're unexpected, zany, scary, funny, a headtrip. That's exactly what Jacob already said we'd see more of with S3 Louis, which is why it didn't surprise me when he repeated the same sentiment on After Dark:
Louis IS "a bit of a headf**k...unhinged," a "confronting figure." And I agree with Rolin, that we've already seen glimmers of that Louis before: just look at 2x5: both the 1st interview with Daniel when he verbally skulldragged Lestat, and ofc the Loumand Fight. 💀 Even when he's high as a kite & hearing voices, Louis can & will judge TF outta you, telling you off about yourself and all the ways he thinks you've failed as a functional human being. Often it seems like it's coming from absolutely nowhere--esp. if you're not paying attention to his red flags & warning signs before he finally explodes.
Which is precisely why Jacob also explained WHY Louis took on the persona he did in Dubai--the fake accent he uses, the elegant mannerisms, etc. He's channeling James Baldwin; the kind of sophisticated & calm & emotionally mature gay Black man, expat, intellectual & literati that Louis WANTS to be, but internally knows he is NOT. Esp. since he's constantly lying to himself that he's not starving for blood; hungry & miserable ALL the time cuz he wishes he could just KILL and not GAF about it later. Hence: the drug binges he went on in the 1970s--killing only when he was high enough to not think about it, but then not being able to live with the guilt unless he got high again. He's an alcoholic, he always has been, even as ah human--he DIED a sloppy messy drunk, and that came right out in SanFran. So he's tryna prove to Daniel that he's NOT that embarrassing shame-ridden vampire anymore, "I sit before you as a master of my instincts!" meanwhile Daniel's looking at him like BFFR, you ain't mastered ish; you still suck at lying, you're not fooling me; you'd kill everyone on Earth if you weren't Catholic, lol.
So it's an artifice/"affectation" he adopts in the late 70s - early 80s--likely as a response to the phantom-limb pain/trauma of his suicide being erased from his memories; knowing he reacted VERY badly to something; but not remembering what it even is that's missing now.
Which is why the "funhouse" version of Louis in S3 is the version of Louis without the Dubai artifice--he has his old NOLA accent back, his old swagger back. He's closer to what he was back when he was still human.... But THAT is an affectation, too--him tryna prove that he Owns the Night, Mr. Hotshot Vampire. That's not who he is with Lestat, and it's definitely not who he is with Claudia, Grace & Paul. So again: who is the "real" Louis? Does he even know? HAYUL NAW! But like Jacob said: that's part of the challenge. It's kinda naive to think you "know" Louis, when he's still tryna figure that out himself; to find "the better version of himself" that he likes best.
Louis had no answer for her--or rather, he gave her the only canned answer he could at the time: I'm your brother. I'm the reticent vampire. All he sees is regret & disappointment.
However, he actually knows EXACTLY who he is. His Confession Booth scene in 1x1 explained everything, revealing the very depths of why Louis in fact HATES himself, HATES his entire life, and has always been miserable, unhappy, depressed, mentally ill & suicidal--constantly tryna reinvent himself whenever he faces another realization about himself that he doesn't like and is desperate to "fix".
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