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Hello! Don't you think that the show has destroyed the significance of the DM relationship? Maybe I expected too much, but Season 3 left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Armand admits that he never loved Louis, but he's obsessed with getting an apology from him. He's devised a clever scheme and used Daniel to achieve this goal. Throughout the season we haven't seen any hint of Daniel's significance to Armand or a hint to their past relationship. All we know from the show is that Armand has been keeping an eye on Daniel and occasionally helping him. that's all. "It was love".. well, where is it? What are the showrunners doing with this couple? It's a pity that the actors' potential (both Eric's and Luke's) was wasted. I feel bitter about what they did to the old Daniel and even more bitter about what they did to the young Daniel and canonical DM story.

How after all that they can show the DM relationship in the past and the present and make it meaningful to Armand?

(please forgive my mistakes)

Hello! 👋🏾

So, this might be a strange answer to give to you. But while I feel very much that the show did not destroy the significance of the DM relationship this season ... that doesn't mean you shouldn't feel that way about it.

Because I think, in the end, this all comes down to what your expectations were regarding DM this season vs. what mine were.

Because see, my expectations were, I think, vastly different from not just yours, from what it sounds like, but also from what I think a large majority of DM fans wanted/expected this season as well.

Because for me? I expected next to nothing with DM in Season 3. And, more importantly, those were my expectations right after Season 2 ended, and I (for the majority of Season 3) continued to feel this way about it, expecting next to nothing, even into the Season Finale.

And, well, I already gave a long reason tied to the TV production side of things, as to why I felt this way, and why I expected what I did.

But as to what we all saw -- and saw happen story-wise -- within the actual show itself?

Well, look . . . I thought turning Daniel at the end of Season 2 was a mistake. I said so when I (correctly) predicted that he was going to get turned after EP205 aired.

Because there was just way more story to mine from his character -- and him and Armand together, in my opinion -- if Daniel's character had remained human for longer.

Hell, that was true when it came to the books. Daniel's biggest story and arc in the books, and seeing his relationship with Armand, happened when he was still human.

Whereas, in the books, after Daniel was turned? He did next to nothing.

And what happened after the show turned him?

Yeah, Daniel did next to nothing. And by the end, the season finale just had him hanging out in a bowling alley with Lestat's head, mainly, it appears, to give him something to do and put him in a position for the Talamasca to come in at the end and...

Yeah.

So many people thought that Daniel being turned meant he and Armand would automatically get together, and we'd get some big romantic thing with them in Season 3 because of that.

I, however, in honesty, never did. Because that isn't even how it went in the books with them. In the books, Armand and Daniel spent more time together as a couple when Daniel was still human than they did after Daniel became a vampire.

"Brief, incidental life as a vampire." That line of Lestat's was not a throwaway, in my opinion. I never thought so when I first heard it, and I still don't now.

Because we didn't really go into Daniel exploring his "transformational trauma." We didn't go into the little things the show was hinting at regarding his shaking or why he was taking antibodies.

His big moments were really in EP303 and EP304, and that was all.

In my opinion, and yes, I still believe this, the show never intended to keep Daniel a vampire for very long in the first place. I began to think so last year.

And, in my opinion, it is why it was something that was barely explored with him this season, I feel.

And, in my opinion, it's one of the reasons why he and Armand were kept apart for the first part of the season, and then were barely shown together once they finally did meet up again, and Armand made his love confession.

Hell, after Season 2 ended, I at first thought they'd be kept apart for the whole season until the Season Finale. So them actually interacting, starting from EP304 onward, was way more than I had initially expected.

But because all of this was things that, again, I expected regarding DM this season, the "tell, don't show" stuff with their interactions, no flashbacks with Luke, not getting to see Armand teach Daniel to walk in the sun (which as I've said before, shouldn't have been possible anyway, but I digress), never made me angry or frustrated because I never expected to see any of that with them this season in the first place.

Because even when I thought we WOULD see Luke and get a flashback with him playing Daniel, I didn't think the flashback would be a romantic one. I thought it would just be one showing the beginning of The Chase. Not the romance.

Anyway, when Armand directly told Daniel he could teach him to walk in the sun, I honestly thought to myself, "And they are not going to actually show them together doing that, or anything else, because showing it would mean having to write them actually interacting together, which means they'd have to commit to revealing that Armand is telling the truth about loving Daniel. And they are not going to reveal that yet."

And lo and behold...

Actually showing anything of them interacting together post-park scene would have meant they would have had to actually focus on Armand and Daniel's relationship together. Which would have meant revealing what the actual dynamic of their relationship was, was becoming, was growing to be.

And even reveal that there was likely a past part to it as well.

Showing anything would have meant fully committing to revealing and setting in stone that it was a real romantic relationship, revealing if it happened in the past or not, and a whole bunch of other things.

Which would have meant revealing all of that to regular viewers who have no idea about DM, and that Armand was telling the truth when it comes to loving Daniel.

It would have meant committing to showing actual romance and romantic things with the two of them. You know, the little things that we see with Loustat right now, gazes, light touching, things like that.

And I knew, from everything said and shown prior, that the show was not going to do that with them this season.

Like, I am not kidding, I knew we were not going to get to actually see anything romantic or romance-coded between them this season, and why.

That it would all be left in the realm of ambiguity this season.

Which, doing so, was always going to mean a lot of "tell, don't show" and barely showing them interacting together all season as well.

Which, again, I explained in another post, which I made only just last week, as to why I expected that when it came to the production side of it all.

And which, in the end, yeah. Is exactly how the show played it with them this season, within the actual story it presented with them.

Even Eric noted this in a recent interview about what he didn't get to do in that regard, regarding romantic stuff:

That "millisecond" that he did get to do? It was in EP304, with the showing of Armand and Daniel's vampire bond, which is the one thing regarding their romance that we actually got to see.

Because it was something that could be read as ambiguous if people wanted to read it that way. Because vampire bonds, and how they work -- why some are stronger than others -- have yet to be explained in full just yet.

Anyway, we got to see Armand and Daniel's vampire bond and how it works. They showed us their unique vampire bond; they didn't just tell us about it.

And yes, the way their bond works absolutely floored me when I saw it, for reasons that I've already explained before.

Anyway, in my opinion, we got to see that moment with their bond because it is something that makes it clear -- in an underlying way -- that there is something deep between these two. But it is NOT something that gives the whole game away when it comes to them, either.

Because, again, they never intended to do so this season. They were never going to reveal or show anything more regarding their relationship and romance this season.

Which, doing so, was always going to mean leaving the majority of the DM story ambiguous and limiting what we saw on-screen of Armand and Daniel interacting with each other.

And, as we now see at the end of the season, that is exactly what happened. And what the writers did.

* * * * *

So yeah, I never, at any point, went into this season expecting them to kiss, or have sex, or anything.

I never expected any sort of deep dive into their romance together, via story and interaction, either.

Now, because of the shooting leaks we got, I mistakenly thought for a time that I had been wrong and that they would actually reveal the full extent of their past relationship together, but I should have known better and stuck to my original gut feeling that they weren't going to do that. So the disappointment I felt about that was on me.

But even when I did think they were going to reveal that much about it, I still thought there was going to be something within the story that was going to keep them either fully apart or their interactions to a bare minimum, until the season finale.

So, I honestly never even blinked when it came to the show telling and not showing us so much with them this season. Because, again, I never expected them to show us anything when it comes to those things.

I always viewed it as something that was never going to happen or be shown this season.

So that is why, when it comes to this season and what we got wrt DM? I don't see it as having been destroyed. Because I never expected it to have reached its full construction going into Season 3 anyway.

And I figured Rolin and Co were going to play these kinds of games regarding DM this season. I knew going into the season that they were going to withhold and not show much of anything between them, and I felt I knew exactly what game they were fully playing with it after EP305.

Which is just another reason why I personally feel confident that DM wasn't destroyed.

* * * * *

However, for those who were expecting all of that? Who were expecting to see them interact more, to actually see the romance play out between them on screen this season? And for the full past relationship to be revealed and maybe even explored, some?

You are totally valid for thinking the show completely destroyed DM.

Because, in my opinion, they baited you with the expectation of seeing all of that. Likely on purpose, in my opinion.

Now, they didn't bait you into thinking they are doing a ship that is never going to happen. It still very much is, and I think that is clear about it, even after the finale.

But they baited you into thinking it was all going to be revealed and explored in full this season. That all the expectations that many people had wrt DM were going to happen in some way this season, at some point, specifically after the love reveal in EP304.

When, in truth, it wasn't even DM shippers they were writing towards with all of this this season.

Because the truth is, they've never been writing them with an eye towards people who currently ship DM, meaning they know the full depth, scope, and story of Armand and Daniel's relationship.

They were and are writing this whole thing with DM -- this season and going forward -- with an eye and scope fully trained and focused on the people out there who know nothing about Devil's Minion. Who, at most, might have heard a little something about it, but don't know the exact details about it all.

That is the audience the show was playing to with all of this.

And that audience?

Well, you can see their reactions on YouTube. And they think Armand is either lying to Daniel and/or using him, even if he might love him in some twisted way that isn't really love.

And they think Daniel is being a gullible fool to have fallen for it ... if they are not also busy hating him and wanting him dead for the revenge porn release and the head lopping off for being stupid in following Armand with all of this.

I said, I knew, before the season started, that this was the angle they were going to play, in-story, with DM, because it is the exact opposite of what the truth of it all is. Also, because doing it this way fits seamlessly into presenting Armand as an antagonist, which I was also pretty sure they were going to do with his character this season as well.

And that, only if we were lucky, would they reveal the truth of it all in the final episode of the season.

Which, they didn't.

So yeah. That is the main audience the show was playing to wrt DM this season. The General Audience who doesn't know anything. They are a much larger share of the viewing audience than those who have read the books. And so the writers were always going to deliberately play this all to that audience in a way that builds off of the "turned out of spite" comment at the end of Season 2.

And then, once that was dismantled (because it was), it would still leave them questioning the sincerity of Armand's love confession, given his actions regarding everything else this season, including with Daniel.

Like I said in my review of the finale episode, I feel pretty confident that Armand was running off to go to Daniel at the end there. But I bet anything the majority of General Audience viewers aren't going to be thinking that.

Because, at this point, they really have no reason to.

But yeah, in the end, those DM fans who were hoping and anticipating seeing more with them, seeing their romance fully play out, even in a little way ... were baited, in my opinion. And were, on purpose, being baited, starting after EP304.

Because the writers were never going to actually show any romantic stuff between them this season. And Rolin and Co. were totally playing on the expectations of DM fans that they would.

Because that is how Rolin Jones rolls, as the story Assad told in After Dark EP 4 shows. Rolin purposely played on Assad's wish and desire for Armand to go full gremlin this season by having Armand's first real appearance in Season 3 be at an AA meeting.

That story basically told me everything I needed to know about how Rolin Jones moves when it comes to people having wishes and expectations when it comes to a story he's writing.

Namely, that he starts out such things by giving you the opposite of what you want before he gives you the real thing.

So again, I knew after Season 2 that we were never going to get the full, real thing this season wrt DM. I knew things with DM would be made ambiguous and left up in the air by the end. And everything I saw and figured out between the end of Season 2 and before Season 3 premiered only reinforced all of that for me.

Which, once again, is why I, at least, can feel the way I do about it all. Which is no, I don't think DM was destroyed.

The only thing that I think is that DM is just now one among many story threads on this show that have been set up, but that the full reveal of it all is being held back until ... whenever Rolin feels ready to do so. 🤷🏾‍♀️

And honestly, before now, I would have said that reveal was coming in Season 4. But with the way this show has constantly dragged its feet in fully revealing things... I'm now just hoping we get it in Season 4. 😑

* * * * *

But yeah, if you do feel DM has been destroyed, if anyone feels DM has been destroyed after this this season, I don't think there is anything I can say that can really persuade you or anyone else differently about that, given the different expectations you may have had about DM going into this season than I did.

Like I said, I never expected anything that was of a real romantic nature to be shown or explored between them this season. The end of Season 2 left me with that impression, and nothing between then and the start of the season changed that for me. Even if I did, at a point, think we'd get more of a reveal of their past together in EP305 than we got.

Others, however, I am sure, felt very differently going into Season 3 and now just feel -- rightfully, I think -- sad, angry, and that the whole thing was, as you said, destroyed.

And it is a valid reaction to have about it all, in my opinion, if you did go into season 3 expecting all of that and wanted more than we got.

And, in my opinion? It is now up to the show itself to prove to you that all isn't the case.

* * * * *

Oh, and Armand wanting an apology from Louis, in my mind, has next to nothing to do with any feelings he holds for Daniel. The way that was all written, that was all about Armand needing some personal closure regarding his and Louis' time together, and needing to hear some self-affirmation that he was worthy of being loved by someone in a way that Louis could never give him.

Which, in my eyes, is ... okay, fine, whatever, but it was still a nonsense plan that Armand wanted an apology from Louis and did all of that to get one. 😒

But also, wanting "closure" with your ex before you fully move on and fully commit to someone else, finally letting go of all your hangups about love and wanting to be loved -- that is a pretty standard romance trope thing in many stories, isn't it? Because that is what the show was basically doing with that whole thing between Louis and Armand.

And which is just massively eyeroll worthy, in my opinion, when it comes to all of this with these characters vs how things like this -- in this world -- are in the books, but okay, fine, whatever. Hannah wanted to play around and use romance story clichés with all of this in a gothic horror way, so we got that. Nothing to do about it now. 🤷🏾‍♀️ 😑

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