I still worry about Galina Voronina

[unheardoracle]

I love characters who are like "I'm a terrible person" but when you look closer it's more like

"I adapted to survive something and now I don't know how to stop being that version of myself."

[halyasgirl]

This is just my personal reading, but I think a room full of people whom Lestat had explicitly "murdered, maimed, or memorably traumatized" cheering for him is a pretty big indicator that this was not reality.

I think DreamPaul is Lestat's wish-fulfillment of the highest degree. Lestat loves Louis, and Lestat is possessive of Louis, and Lestat wants validation of his love for Louis from the person Louis loved most. Never mind that the real Paul despised him. Lestat craves absolution. He wants to go to Heaven despite his sins.

(And on some level Lestat knows it isn't real, because his psyche keeps pulling him back to Louis. Real Louis, the connection they have, the relationship they may be able to rebuild, despite everything. Hands touch.)

The Talamasca believes this is the indomitability of the soul; I think this is Lestat's ego fighting back against the beating he received from the Failures committee. But in the end, after unleashing the Queen of the Damned on the world, he is forced to admit "the fault was mine. All mine."

[halyasgirl]

Armand really did have everything on display this episode. Sliding in and out of accents admitting a complete lack of stable identity, how he spoke to Regina as a fellow sex worker even after centuries. The way his voice broke, repeating someone else’s account of his trauma because he could not do it for himself, because he can only believe in himself reflected by other people.

The petty, immature little jabs in his “Armends.” Imposing his will onto others in truly frightening ways. Forcing Louis to validate his pain in the most sadistic way possible. The inability to internalize that his rage is not at Louis but an injustice too big for him to name.  

I wanted to rush across the room and hold him. I wanted to run away from him screaming. I wish we got more of Armand this season but goddamn, Assad Zaman killed it in every scene. Bravo.

[halyasgirl]

The key to understanding the story is to remember that each and every character is batshit insane.

The fun is to contemplate how each unique flavor of insanity got us here.

[nonwal]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Astrid Beck/Essek Thelyss, Eadwulf Grieve/Caleb Widogast, Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, Astrid Beck/Eadwulf Grieve, Astrid Beck/Eadwulf Grieve/Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast

41: think I forgot how to be happy

Essek Thelyss does not, generally, enjoy following orders. He certainly knows when to play along, knows when a polite smile and the appearance of willing subordination is the best way to get what he wants, knows when being subordinate is his only realistic option—but that doesn’t mean he likes being kept on a short leash. He’d prefer equal footing at the bare minimum, but given a choice—Essek wants control.

Perhaps Astrid needs it.

[halyasgirl]

Astrid and Essek after finally consummating their marriage

(Wulf, recognizing the look of someone in the midst of the Astrid-Bren Sex Competition Spiral: “Buckle up, man, it’s going to be a ride.”)

[halyasgirl]

Ok, place your bets for the finale: Mine is that Lestat is going to drop the “Marius is still alive” bomb on Armand right before dying, driving Armand insane trying to get more information. But he can’t because, oops, Lestat’s dead* (Armand killed him) and now Armand’s bidding a small fortune trying to acquire Lestat’s memoirs in the prologue.

*I don’t think Lestat’s actually or permanently dead, but I don’t know who will know that.

[halyasgirl]

I can only imagine Lestat's spike of fear when he heard "It's your boy, Daniel Molloy 😏," only for the camera to pan over to Armand and oh, this situation's gotten exponentially worse.

[halyasgirl]

Today in "sentences I never thought I'd believe:" Armand decapitating his exes with a machete could reasonably be construed as him trying to save the world.

[halyasgirl]

“Louis should not have to do the emotional labor of catering to his histrionic abuser” and “I’m glad Louis clocked that there is something very wrong in the Lioncest relationship and responded with gentleness” are statements that can and do coexist in my mind.

[halyasgirl]

Would anyone be able to tell me if Astrid and Eadwulf were mentioned or alluded to at all during the Critical Role Liveshow? Thanks!

[halyasgirl]

Alright, fishing for speculation here after The Devil's Road

What are people's theories as to Armand's plans and intentions regarding his apology tour? How sincere is he?

Why did he join AA? What are his intentions toward Alex?

Devil's Minion is all but confirmed, at least on Armand's end. Where do you think this is headed?

"He would do more damage than the Queen ever did." Hyperbole or foreshadowing?

Marius next week. Thoughts?

[halyasgirl]

The question is, will Louis discover Gabriella is Lestat's mother before or after he realizes they're fucking?

[halyasgirl]

Back at it again with my Sandra Hüller posting, but her acting in Stratt's betrayal scene is just another level.

Film critics have noted that she tends to be very subtle in her performances, keeping the characters close to her chest, only to reveal extraordinary depths of emotion when the moment finally comes.

There are no explosive outbursts in Stratt's betrayal, no dam of emotion broken. Stratt cannot allow herself to break, but, for a moment, she cracks, and Hüller reveals for the first time just a glimpse of the weight Eva Stratt carries every day, this human being forced to play God.

"Grace, we will lose... a quarter of the world's population in the next thirty years. And that assumes that the nations of the world work together to ration food. Which they won't. So I doubled the estimate."

There's so much fear in her voice here. So much grief. But so much resolve. Eva Stratt was handed the fate of every single life on the planet and she will not drop it. But it's hard. Whatever she claimed, it is hard.

Hüller shows Stratt visibly fighting to maintain her composure as Grace loses his, forcing herself to maintain eye contact, to keep her voice steady, the first almost imperceptible slip in her usually flawless English. There's a strain in her voice she can't quite allow to be desperation as she pleads with the closest thing she allowed herself to a friend to understand what she has to do.

"I have to do it," she tells him. And after Grace flees, we see Stratt alone with herself, and we know it, too.

[halyasgirl]

Is Eva Stratt’s prison tattoo V an actual custom in French prisons?

The creators have stated in an interview Stratt’s V tattoo briefly seen in the epilogue indicates life in prison without the possibility of parole in French prisons. (V dindicating French vie, life), but does anyone know if this tattoo is an actual custom in French prisons? When I google it I can't find anything from before the film's release date, so now I am wondering if it was just creative license. Would anyone know any more information here? Thanks so much!

[halyasgirl]

"Once we launch Hail Mary. What will you do then?" "Me?" she said. "Doesn't matter. Once the Hail Mary launches, my authority ends. I'll probably be put on trial by a bunch of pissed-off governments for abuse of power. Might spend the rest of my life in jail." [...] "Are you at all concerned about that?" She shrugged. "We all have to make sacrifices. If I have to be the world's whipping boy to secure our salvation, then that's my sacrifice to make."

Once again marveling at Sandra Hüller's skill conveying Stratt's selflessness, understanding, and acceptance (with just a hint of ruefulness) in just a moment.

[halyasgirl]

Character arc alignment chart

[halyasgirl]