Juggling chainsaws

[nalyra-dreaming]

About me

Nalyra ⏛ she/her/they I love complicated characters and relationships. Vampire lover of old. I like a lot of things, so do mind the tags, please.

Ask | Ao3

This blog is NOT Vampire Chronicles / IWTV / TVL spoiler free.

Life is too short for hate, be brave enough to be kind.

PSA

I reserve the right to be silent human, at least until I‘m turned 😛

[nalyra-dreaming]

Saw someone point out that there’s a very brief shot in the finale of Lestat turning Nicki ? so odd they filmed that and decided to use it so sparsely

Mhhh. I don't think it was of the turning. It seemed to be from the lovemaking between them for me?

[nalyra-dreaming]

https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/822449229779894272/i-could-be-wildlyyyyy-off-base-but-i-almost-feel

This is where I’m at too. I think they may have been trying to simultaneously break down loumand’s relationship by having both of them acknowledge it was a nothingburger and show that it wasn’t the “safe” or “better” relationship. While also trying to “resolve” some things going into the qotd arc. But loumand being willing to work together (with others!!) to try and deal with Akasha didn’t need this🥴 they both love Lestat. That’s the why.

Like… I think I see what they wanted to achieve there. But I just dislike almost every aspect of how they attempted it.

Yes. Pretty much this.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I didn’t register the apology to be genuine or even really about Armand as much as it was about Louis and Lestat, but it’s been interesting to see these different perspectives. Do you think this episode was just thrown together because of the lack of budget?

I'm... afraid that was part of the problem for it, yes.

[nalyra-dreaming]

https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/822447396240998400/did-armand-actually-say-the-n-word-or-was-i-so?source=share

i believe they're referring to when louis was telepathically speaking to armand who then spoke his words out loud, which included the word negro. anon may be a bit confused, it's not the same as saying the n-word but still has offensive use and is largely considered inappropriate for people who aren't black to say.

Oh, okay.

But... I mean. Not to go defensive here, and I do NOT want to take away from people being offended by it(!), but Armand repeating what Louis said there is... not the same as him saying it of his own volition?

Like, at this point, I wouldn't put it past the show to use certain language -.-

God (and @cbrownjc lol) knows that I have been shocked about some things that they did use when I watched it.

But I don't think this is quite the same level.

Again, not wanting to talk over people here or take away from things. Just how I saw this particular scene.

[nalyra-dreaming]

wait i’m a week or two behind on episodes, was the finale bad?? i was so excited :(

So was I.

IDK if you drink, but if you do, get yourself a stiff one for the watch.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I could be wildlyyyyy off base. But I almost feel like they went full throttle with Armand saw-trapping and torturing Louis as sort of… course-correction ??? due to how badly the drop fucked up the way people view these relationships

And unfortunately the 2x05 and 2x08 reveals regarding loumand left a large portion of the audience still not picking up what the writers were putting down. This was… blatantly in your face. There’s no argument that can be made for that relationship being the “safe” one in comparison to loustat.

I strongly dislike the decision. But it seems like they’ve been making their thesis statement on why loustat are good for each other and need one another and decided it was necessary to show how Armand is far worse than Lestat ever was in relation to Louis. Which. Okay. I think it would have worked far better to have all of them in the room together actually addressing their past but whatever.

Maybe that was their intention. Could be, yes.

And, you know, I AM glad that Armand finally spelled some things out. I am.

But the execution of it all??

WTF.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello, I'm sorry to bother you but I've being seeing a lot of posts of people saying that the scene between Louis and Armand makes no sense going around, and I read only the first three books, ages ago, and dont remember almost anything, so for me what I watched was a scene about two people who just finished spending 80yrs together like a married couple, and yeah Armand killed Louis daughter decades ago, but she was also Lestat's?

I truly dont remember if Lestat and Armand have spend a lot of years together in the past also, but surely not almost a century? And it have being long ago? So I dont understand, or remember, why plp are talking about how that scene was supposed to be with Lestat instead? In my memory I believed Lestat wanted to stay with Marius as a partner and not Armand... Can you explain please?

And I remember that the end of the TVL book we have his Trial pov, but we just had that being the s2 finale? So even though I taugh the Long Table scene was luckluster, and after I heard about Amel in the show I did a surface google search and learned about the way vampires can get rid of it, so in my head I taught maybe Armand was working with Fareed & Rashid (who was waiting the butcher to open) to make both Lestat and Louis loose their connections, and while doing with Louis he lashed out about their marriage?

The "love fog" is also very intereresting to me as in with the precise timing of the footage leaking, Regina and the Merrick sceance did to contribute, but without more context is just speculation

I didnt like the episode as much as the rest of the season, but the Armand thing with Louis did made sense for me, so if you be so kind to explain why it should have being with Armand I would apretiate!

I'm glad it made sense to you, here's to hoping it does for the rest of the general audience!

There is a very famous scene in the later books that they used here for Loumand. Only, it is between Lestat and Armand in the books.

It is about Armand's canon obsession with Lestat, about him loving Lestat, fruitlessly, because he tried to rape Lestat and thereby blew it, forever. It is about Louis being hurt, and them both hurting, and Armand telling Lestat he has never loved (and hated) anybody like he loves him, and accuses him of never loving him back the way he loves him.

Sound familiar? 😅

They took a canon character dynamic, and slapped it onto other characters, and it... just does NOT make sense to me. Sorry. Glad it does to you. But Loumand was dead in the water at this point.

And now it stinks, to stay with the metaphor.

Also. The trial at the end of s2 was NOT the revisit in TVL. It was the trial in IWTV.

The revisit in TVL brings more context, and it has been highly anticipated, for years at this point.

Them ... skipping it just makes me go:

Because they are dragging their feet.

Again. Glad it worked for you. No shade!

But for me, coming from the books, knowing all the books and the extra Tulane material for the most part, and recognizing what they're using there... it sucked.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I didn't love the first six episodes as much as you did, but I also agreed with you that everything felt in-character, justified, and in-line with character dynamics. So to have the finale switch up so severely is so confusing to me. I feel like I have to run through hoops just to justify Lesmand being given to Loumand, and Armand and Daniel's motivations.

Yes

[nalyra-dreaming]

Okay, having had some space from the ep -- I don't actually think we're meant to take Louis' apology as necessary. I think we're MEANT to be like "wtf Armand," recognize this is torture, and see Louis' final "apology" as a last ditch attempt to get Armand to let Regina, himself, and Lestat go. Louis hits a nerve and gets real, and Armand didn't actually want him to. So he leaves. And/or realizes he's run out of time, and leaves. Lol hear me out. We know the actors know where the story is going. Both Sam and Assad have talked about the Lesmand dynamic like it's the canon book dynamic. We know these writers drop hints and intentional misdirects, and Rolin has said this season is very much a Part 1. They also made Armand *explicitly* villainous, and set up things they know they haven't addressed. We still have no idea why Armand had Daniel take Lestat's head far away from his body; why he was screwing with his band; or how Alex is involved. We still haven't seen things the show's dialogue or subtext has implied (Lesmand assault, Lestat coerced into the trial). They keep mentioning the Paris coven without showing us what problem Lestat "threw money at and ran away" from. We still have no understanding of why Armand built up his new coven, no understanding of what's going on with Daniel. They left a bunch of hanging threads. I think they WANT us to look at the disconnect between Armand's words and actions and think "...is this really what you were up to, Armand?" I don't know, that moment with Armand over Lestat's body felt intentionally icky to me: he trails a hand over Lestat's chest in this grossly possessive manner when he says "enjoyed ruining for the sake of ruining." Maybe it's my Book Goggles, but that feels too "no joy on earth like the raping of an equal" to me to not be intentional.

Could be.

Look, I'll say this: hope dies last.

I'm... not sure I subscribe to Louis' apology not being honest there, or a last ditch effort.

Louis was dying, he was only able to communicate telepathically.

There was ZERO reason for him to believe that Armand would actually save him or let him be saved, because it's been firmly established Armand does not really do that.

So no, I do not think that apology was fake, actually. There's levels to that scene on all sides that I find icky.

But... yes. They talked about things. The actors I mean. And yes, hope dies last.

[nalyra-dreaming]

So, since everything has come out regarding episode 7, and my poor little fan loving self is now depressed. Would it be awful if I just go with the delusion that the episode leak was intentional and the “real” episode 7 will be aired Sunday morning? Is that bad and how much therapy will I need after Sunday?

If you really buy into that delusion? A lot 😅

*sighs*

Look, I know how you feel.

They... aimed high and fucked up.

Let's hope we won't have to wait a year till s4.

[nalyra-dreaming]

https://www.tumblr.com/nalyra-dreaming/822409315211149312/i-will-miss-the-show-being-a-part-of-our-universe

what does this mean? it’s not the first show to be based on our universe but go post apocalyptic

Read my other asks, please.

[nalyra-dreaming]

gotta be honest and i’m not trying to be mean but i can’t think of any non blunt way of saying this but i wasn’t expecting you of all people to miss the point of that so badly about louis “apologizing” to armand like it was not a genuine apology it was a “i may die if i don’t do what they guy wants me to” apology the entire situation laid that out armand literally had to decapitate bro to have a conversation like nothing about that scene was meant to make armand look human so how did yall read that apology as a genuine thing

It is not about the apology being honest.

It is about the writers feeling that Armand would feel the need for Louis to apologize to him AT ALL.

As I said in my thoughts on the episode, Armand canonically actually understood Louis quite well, and he never shucked the guilt of killing Claudia either.

That said, that apology seemed pretty real to me, because they connected it with Armand's backstory.

If they had wanted to just make it "fake", they'd have Louis tell Armand what he wanted to hear, instead of reiterating that Armand actually wasn't the love of his life.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Prompted by someone else's ask - I have to imagine the "armand did more damage than the queen" thing is talking about on a personal level or something, because I cannot and have not been able to imagine how that's possible.

yeah. Me neither :)

[nalyra-dreaming]

the way Sam kept talking about the Lestat and Armand dynamic really had me thinking there would be more of it. Idk it just fell flat in the end and I never thought I’d say that.

Assad, too. Assad was also talking about it.

IDK. It just feels soooooooo weird. Baffling, really.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Sooooo, how come oracle!jenks and magnus (esp wrt TC) talked about things that hadn’t happened yet :D

I mean, this is a visualization of Lestat's memories while dictating The Failures :)

He's omniscient there. And so are the characters within the narrative.

[nalyra-dreaming]

I usually trust and respect Rolin's creative decisions but I have a horrible feeling this episode started from a place of "Wouldn't it be shocking if Armand and Daniel decapitated Louis and Lestat?" and then the writers worked backwards from there to try and find a way to make it happen. Do you know what I mean?

Maybe.

But the reasoning as to the why still makes no sense with what Armand did this season.