Meat! It's what you're made of; Keep that in mind

this is the blog where i quarantine the bulk of my insanity

[feedingicetothedog]

Oh loumand these racist writers will never make me hate you, the most compelling, interesting relationship in this season and the whole show

like at the end of the day the characters of armand and louis and the relationships between them are too important to me personally for me to have them ruined by a bad season of tv. like that's just the reality. if they didn't want me to like them then they shouldn't have written such a compelling relationship in s2 and cast 2 amazing actors w/ the most electric chemistry i've ever seen in my life

[feedingicetothedog]

and what's crazy is that despite everything that happened w/ louis and armand this episode, they're STILL the most compelling relationship this season. and i think the reason is that unlike loustat and dm, their scenes didn't happen off screen

[feedingicetothedog]

the way that loumand absolutely could have had an actual conversation post divorce to be transparent with each other. the book had that scene of them walking near the river, wonderful quotes like "I look into your eyes and my reflection isn't there" because these were two people who genuinely loved each other but louis couldn't fully accept that armand was responsible for killing another person in his heart (claudia). we could have had a version of this in the show, I'm still angry that s2 finale cut away from jassad's acting to show daniel panicking over his laptop who gives a fuck?? such a waste of a complex dynamic and combined talent between two actors of color with great onscreen chemistry, nah let's toss in racist saw trap 2.0! these writers are full of shit.

what’s killing me is that in s1 and s2, the adaptational changes and recontextualizations for the new narratives strengthened the original themes of the novels or challenged problematic ideas in the source material but it felt like almost every time something from the novel the vampire lestat was incorporated into this season it was weak, weird, and narratively ineffective. there are so many parts from the book iwtv, tvl, qotd, tva, etc. that could've been reworked EFFECTIVELY for the show that supposed the new contexts and racial realities of the characters and elevated the original moments but it felt sloppy and bad and like an afterthought. which is crazy bc i have no clue what they were prioritizing this season

[feedingicetothedog]

i would be more inclined (but not completely) to buy into the louis and armand scene if louis was actually emotionally affected by the claudia seance. like if he was a complete emotional wreck in the aftermath and having a breakdown, i could see him indulging in the feeling that he's experiencing an appropriate punishment for how he failed claudia (i do not think this is correct or representative of actual reality but i believe the character would see it this way). but bc he was so blase about the whole thing it was like...what's the fucking point of any of this?

[feedingicetothedog]

and like the problem is there are elements of the louis and armand plot in the finale that would make for a very compelling story. like louis and armand having a big fight upon first interacting after s2 that ultimately resolves in them realizing that they loved each other and saw each other but never in the way they really needed to grow and feel secure? great. armand demanding an apology from louis but not even really knowing what he's looking for, just that he feels like he's owed SOMETHING after everything that happened between them despite knowing that he's the problem? great. louis being in a position where he can save regina in a way that he couldn't save claudia? great. but like....the execution.

[feedingicetothedog]

the way this isn't even a revelation because of all the damn characters, louis has always been the most empathetic in regards to armand's past and csa and we didn't need a gratuitous torture scene to understand this! louis acknowledged arun as armand's birth name before sexual slavery while the "love of his life" daniel was busy being racist and calling him a rent boy. fans always treated louis as a callous pimp while pretending as if a white savior was going to save armand. it's such bullshit.

writers wanted to punish louis for any reason for things that weren't even his fault. it's so cruel and i'm so angry that the talented cast of color were expected to act this out.

like the whole time i was watching that plot i was like this could've been a normal conversation lmao. like they literally didn't have to do any of that. i don't even know what to say about it tbh. like there have been so many writing choices this season that are so wildly offensive, mean-spirited, and RANDOM that i'm just mostly confused by them. and louis' storyline feels like they're trying to say that he's being selfish for grieving claudia. that he's stupid for being introspective. that he's evil for being mean sometimes to the much more powerful men in his life that mistreat him and ABUSE HIM time and time again. like why does louis have to be like "armand YOU have a REAL excuse for being fucked up, i'm sorry for being emotionally unavailable sometimes after you participated in the murder of my daughter" while armand is literally doing a vampire snuff stream??? and what sucks is that jacob and assad are literally so talented and they perform that last scene so well that i was actually moved and then i got angry bc why did this moment have to happen w/ this fucked up evil backdrop?? anyway.

[feedingicetothedog]

so the person who makes armand feel truly seen at the end of the season is louis?

[feedingicetothedog]

also apparently finale got leaked but i'm not gonna watch it until sunday so no one bring any spoilers to me lmao

[feedingicetothedog]

i will say that i love the fact that lestat represents magnus at the little table in akasha's chamber w/ the william blake painting the number of the beast is 666. it immediately jumped out at me when i first watched it (i have a deep past w/ hannibal) but it feeds into the religious symbology and impending apocalypse narrative that's been driving the whole season

[feedingicetothedog]

just saw the video matthew santos posted of lestat's montreal apartment and the art is very violent. lots of disembodied torsos, the max dean flayed torso photograph, lots of imagery of ppl on their knees, and of course tons of statues of just heads. it feels like a crime scene

[feedingicetothedog]

wait i'm remembering that when the writer's room posted one of the pics of the fan art on their walls they had art of armand beheading marius and then this season they had armand behead lestat. honestly that's kinda funny

[neptunecity]

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[archvillainofromance]

The Vampire Lestat 3.06 Montreal

[feedingicetothedog]

however as the finale approaches i keep thinking about something rolin said at the atx fest q&a which is that he feels that they might have written themselves into a corner w/ the finale and it's gonna take some work to figure out how to get themselves out of that and i'm like what does that mean 🧍

[feedingicetothedog]

my last hope is in the tvl finale we get a scene like that last one in mouthwashing between jimmy and polle where jimmy keeps saying he's gonna take responsibility for his actions but is only focusing on what he did to curly and polle says:

bc curly has been pointedly ignoring the whole game what he did to anya even tho it's literally the reason behind everything he's done the whole game

[feedingicetothedog]

the thing being addressed here would of course bc the trial bc why has lestat been SO focused on the veracity of the train scene, he keeps bring up the train scene, all he MENTIONS is the train scene! but he hasn't brought up his role in the trial once. it's mentioned around him, louis' brought it up twice now as a vague indictment that lestat has not countered but he hasn't SAID anything about it. gabriella also brought it up and positioned lestat as claudia's murder as well. he can go and nitpick about being lelio, about his hair and scars, about knowing what the word infinitesimal means, but he has not said "i am not responsible for the trial. i was forced to be there. i am not to blame". it's the constant elephant in the room but it has not been brought up. in the claudia séance scene she keeps looking at him and seems fixated on him at the beginning but then the focus shifts to louis and lestat gets by unscathed. why will no one ask him why he did that? why will he not say why he was there?

it feels like there's a hole in the center of this story and nothing has moved forward bc of it and my hope is that the last episode will address it in a meaningful way

[feedingicetothedog]

my last hope is in the tvl finale we get a scene like that last one in mouthwashing between jimmy and polle where jimmy keeps saying he's gonna take responsibility for his actions but is only focusing on what he did to curly and polle says:

bc curly has been pointedly ignoring the whole game what he did to anya even tho it's literally the reason behind everything he's done the whole game

[feedingicetothedog]

theories on why armand and daniel did that to louis end of ep 6? i can maybe understand why it happened to lestat but why louis?

i have like 2 main theories, one more grounded than the other lmao. but first before i get into those, i think armand and daniel know that louis and lestat aren’t gonna die, this is just basically putting pause on them to stop the great conversion. dr. fareed told daniel that vampires of a certain level won't be killed by decapitation, we saw that louis also knows this bc he did it at the fang gang base, and i don't think armand wants lestat or louis actually dead. anyway, here are my theories:

1) my first theory is that daniel got in louis’ head at the dinner to gauge if louis was planning to stop the concert in any way and saw that he wasn’t so they’re taking him off the board to avoid possible interference from him. louis has proven in the last 2 seasons to be a very skilled vampire killer and would retaliate and cause issues w/ the plan, esp considering armand is the one fronting this whole thing.

2) here’s my conspiracy theory lmao: i’m starting to get very invested in the “louis is in on plot to stop the great conversion w/ armand and daniel”. in this case, louis gets his head cut off for plausible deniability. but also, part of me w/ this theory is like lestat wasn’t looking at louis when it happened so maybe he just assumed that louis also got his head cut off.