I Hope They See Me In The Drive-Thru Lane

Alexander / 26 / just some schmuck

[venomspecs]

Posters for the Greek theater of Siracusa. Duilio Cambellotti (1876-1960)

[fruitblr]

Letting everyone down would be my greatest unhappiness. MARIE ANTOINETTE (2006) dir. Sofia Coppola

[xanaxfarts]

Stained glass window at the Séneca Hotel location: Judería Quarter, Córdoba, Spain

[godkissedme]

High in the kitchen doing bullshit

[righthandedleftturn]

They’re back!

New Doom Patrol series coming in September!

[daily-chilchuck]

[sirbogglius]

burger

[coldeveryseason]

so many creative choices in tvl make sense when you realize the goal of this season wasn't telling lestat's story or adapting tvl the book but using the premise of "adapting tvl" as the justification for a whitecentric rebrand and lowkey reboot of the whole show, as part of amc and rolin's effort to distance themselves from the "black queer show" image and black viewership of s1-s2 in order to pursue the "mainstream" (whiter, straighter) audience they always wanted. this is why most of the major arcs, especially the material given to jacob, delainey and assad, feel like retreads of the arcs they already had in s2, meant to cover plot beats from s1-s2 and overwrite how they were initially depicted in a way that's both more palatable for white viewers. in many ways tvl feels like 7 episodes of a "previously on..." sequence that flits through brief flashbacks and tells, not shows the audience essential information to get them caught up before the real story begins, and that's intentional- tvl isn't meant to be a story that stands on its own as much as a staging point to establish the new trajectory of the show, the new tone and narrative priorities, and invite the audience amc wants onboard and jettison the melanated s1-s2 audience amc thinks it no longer needs before the real story rolin wants to tell begins in s4.

the narrative seems not only spiteful and uncompassionate to its own established characters and audience but almost apologetic for having demanded that viewers hold empathy for black leads during s1-s2, for asking them to center black characters as protagonists and care about their interiority- the brutalization and humiliation of jacob and delainey's characters isn't just the nonblack writers engaging in a gratuitous fantasy of torturing black bodies and "humbling" black characters who've reached too far above their station, but also a way to restore the status quo that asserts the "proper" role of blackness is to be a site of inherent pain and mortification. racist viewers who rejected the show when jacob was cast in 2021 or at any point during s1-s2 bc the idea of getting invested in messy black leads put them off can now comfortably tune back in, assured that the show will never ask them to care about a black person more than a white person or think a black person's material suffering could matter more than a nonblack person's feelings and reputation ever again. the cruelty is the point, in many ways.

it's valid to criticize tvl for claiming to be an adaptation of the tvl book and failing at that on every level, from tone to sincerity to the fact that like. 80% of the book just wasn't adapted, but once you see through the marketing claims and realize the real purpose of this season was just amc's effort to do a soft reboot and relaunch their vampire show as a cynical whitecentric dramedy without drawing the ire of straight-up canceling iwtv, you realize so many of their choices aren't just writerly incompetence but a deliberate creative and network whitelash on multiple levels of production.

[coldeveryseason]

(tags via @leblogestunmonstre) right like when you look at the roles jacob, delainey and assad are playing, they aren't continuations of where their arcs left off at the end of s2 as much as the show trying to redo the same character beats in s2 in a way that asks less empathy for black characters from the audience and is a lot blunter and more flanderized.

s2- louis is consumed by grief for claudia while being gaslit by armand in the present day, as armand destabilizes louis' perception of reality and what happened in paris to conceal his true involvement in the trial. claudia enters armand's employ as an actress while unaware of the true danger of the paris coven and armand's own capacity for antiblack violence. near the end of the season, louis and claudia are lynched in a humiliating public spectacle that it's later revealed armand directed.

s3- louis is consumed by grief for claudia while being gaslit by armand in the present day- except this time armand just gloats about how much he was gaslighting louis. regina enters armand's employ offscreen as part of armand's elaborate scheme to fuck with louis' head while unaware of armand's capacity for antiblack violence. near the end of the season, louis and regina are lynched in a humiliating public spectacle where armand just straight-up personally tortures them this time.

and even the main "original" plot of the season, present-day gabistat, is just a structural copy of the same way they added loumand to the present day in s1-s2-

in the book, the main narrator (louis in iwtv, lestat in tvl) talks about his story alone, after he's already parted ways with a past companion who only shows up in flashbacks (armand in iwtv, gabrielle in tvl). in the show, this companion is an active part of the present-day story, has the 2nd most screentime of the season and is portrayed as more of a sinister antagonist who has the material power in their relationship with the main narrator and manipulates him and his effort to tell his story (louis' interview, lestat's tour) for their own ends. in the final episode of the season, the main narrator realizes their companion is evil(tm) and rejects them.

rolin's been talking about iwtv s1-s2 with total contempt but he's literally just redoing inferior versions of s2 plots for most of the cast, and most of the material that's truly unique to the season (the live concerts, the songs, the band and tour concept) have gone over with a resounding "it's ok i guess" to "eh it's mid" with most of the general audience. anything actually of substance is a photocopy of what they already did in s2, bc rolin has no new ideas of substance and always wanted to prioritize shallow spectacle and shock value over like. character development and emotional sincerity

[lightflame]

Cover backgrounds of the first arc

[pmamtraveller]

Pack of Dogs by John Littleboy

[tsuyonpuu]

leftovers

[failvillain]

claudia says she hates my guts move on next scene. you say you love me move on next scene. you say you stalked me for 52 years move on next scene. i was in love with a boy once he killed himself he was my first love move on next scene. armand was there move on next scene. I'm telling you we started hanging out offscreen move on next scene. my mom and i killed our whole family move on next scene. I'm on an apology tour syke move on next scene. i have a body double oops hes dead move on next scene. i was in aa with your guitarist move on next scene. i don't have transformational trauma now im in cahoots with my maker move on next scene. god forbid we let the weight of anything settle

[reticentvampyr]

"shock value over story" is the crux of the issue for season 3, and it's breaking my fucking heart, man.

the creators (and some of the cast) had the audacity to call the first 2 seasons boring, to reduce it to "two guys in a room talking." two guys in a room talking produced some of the best television i have ever seen.

daniel was challenging louis at every turn. meanwhile here there's no pushback for lestat and no real development. i get we're inside the head of a very unwell person, and i didn't expect everything to be tied up in a neat bow (far from it--the first book was better for being split into 2 parts even if it wasn't the original intent), but again my biggest problem is i'm not seeing any story. no development of the characters we got to know from louis' POV for two seasons. i'm seeing....music videos and incest and racism played for shock value. important dynamics (dm, loustat reconnecting between ep 5 and ep 6) are implied or referenced in a few lines, often offscreen.

i hate saying this because the books have helped me to understand and love lestat as the complex character he is, but if i was a show-only fan i'd be....so lost as to why i should care about this guy. if this was supposed to be a season that explains why lestat is the way he is, i've gotten very little of that with the exception of gratuitous imagery of his abuse at the hands of his mother.

shock value over story.

[dykesynthezoid]

We’ve talked about them over-focusing on the rockstar Lestat stuff but I think a good metaphor for how that all is supposed to work for TVL (as it did in the book) is like, a crème brûlée. The rockstar Lestat stuff is like the crunchy sugary topping; it wouldn’t be TVL without it, so it is important, but it’s also not the actual bulk of the story. It’s there for texture and novelty, an extra special something. An inch-thick solid caramelized topping on top of 2 millimeters of custard isn’t crème brûlée. That’s a mean joke you played on someone

[moldavite]

hopefully i'll get to do something other than endure soon. that would be really nice

[eyepulp]

having your years long special interest actively drop in quality in front of you in real time is always like watching your childhood pet get sick.

[leanputa]

crab makeup by pradaolic on IG