Daniel’s immune system/memory and body seem to remember Armand and it is PISSED however his eyes VERY much like Armand…Armand’s entry back to him will be through that I think. I mean, he’d be stupid NOT to play it.
I think Armand’s strategy is going to be playing peacock/walking fashion plate thing we see him do in the 1940s. It is also what he does in the books during the chase. It’s his classic. He’s peacocking and Daniel’s feral over it because it’s like he gets a new partner with every outfit change. He never knows what to expect from Armand but he knows the view will be great as Armand never misses on that front (it’s not like he can, I mean look at him. Plus he’s got epic titties. He’s like a tall juicy bone to Daniel’s dog 😂). I think on the show, this will be Armand’s foray into Daniel’s life after biting him. A seduction campaign through strategic use of fashion as Daniel’s admitted he’s sensitive to that on the show (how he describes Alice at one point).
I also think Daniel might remember their fling by Armand’s actual pet name for him…which is “Beloved”. Armand in the books seldom calls Daniel by his own name in actuality. He nearly always calls him “Beloved” to the point you nearly think it’s Daniel’s name. Armand touching him or being physical with him might not fully make Daniel crack as their relationship is complicated. It would be fun but Daniel’s not that far gone. Their bonding is based on spiritual harmony/connection first. Their physicality enhances that after.
The show has confirmed that Daniel remembers things but his memories have been bamboozled by what was thought to have been Parkinson’s but Daniel and the audience suspect there’s more to them; his memories being all jumbled up is likely how he eventually lost his wives. Probably pissed them off recalling something unholy he did with Armand and how he wanted a reprisal but the ladies were either horrified or feeling upstaged by a monster they weren’t aware of. People really don’t take well to not being their partner’s dream or the best they’ve had. Armand should know, no ONE likes being upstaged in their lover’s heart.
I’m pretty sure that in order to turn him that Armand knocked him out somehow, did that, locked him in his apartment, some random lost youth he finds somewhere drugged up (also knocks him out) and a mother-load of blood to stable him while he gets his bearings. Daniel wakes confused then gets a whiff of the bloke, sees his hands, looks at a mirror and the rest is history. Armand shows us in both seasons that in the present day he **DOESN’T** want to hurt Daniel if anything he goes out of his way to be bewilderingly gentle with him. It’s likely not how he likely wanted to orchestrate it but it’s the closest to how he turns Daniel in the books (on a private plane) and the safest for Daniel as any resistance Daniel could put now given as far as we can tell, Daniel’s guarded around him, could seriously wound Daniel given that despite his likely vampire spiked vitality now (remember Dr. Fareed in S1 and how Daniel came in compared to how he’s leaving), Armand is STILL the physically more powerful dude. Armand might not intentionally hurt Daniel but if Daniel moves wrong and Armand tries to stop him it’s too easy for Daniel to wound himself (and since he’s human and old he won’t heal too fast unless Armand gives him blood but even then). Armand seems to have been definitely plotting for the easiest and gentlest foray into immortality for Daniel…I think he’d hold onto that until the end even if Daniel imploded his union with Louis. Once Armand makes a plan it’s set in stone. Armand shows us he still cares for Daniel but maybe acted differently out of using Daniel’s mortality to control him. Since Daniel can’t overpower Armand in any way save for emotional (which we see, Armand values Daniel’s opinion of him A LOT), Armand doing this throughout the years likely contributed to Daniel’s heartbreak/pains. Daniel shows and tells us he’s in deep pain and even more, he wants romance for these are his favorite bits of information. He escapes through them. Armand would know that and yes, choose the romantic’s route which is knocking him out, turning him, and then leaving him to his own devices but with snacks/prepared.
Armand would need to explain himself first but I think by the end of S2 Daniel’s deduced that he definitely fucked a vampire and that this was Armand. Too many hints back it up: The first being his crestfallen face when Louis says they didn’t smash. Daniel said it with CERTAINTY not reluctance. He can’t remember shit but he KNOWS he’s such a freak that it would be miracle if he didn’t fuck one. There’s only two options and if Louis wasn’t it, the one he remembers hitting on first, then it was Armand, who he fell HARD for in the murder apartment (“I could be on my knees in a second”. The boy said it with conviction and it nearly made Armand squirm in his chair, seemingly clutch his family jewels and batting his lashes in confusion. You know you’re a freak when a vampire let alone Armand is looking at you like he’s disgusted, shocked, oddly turned on and blinking his lashes as if telling himself Morse code). I think Daniel held back from taking Louis’ quickie offer not because he was nervous/excited but because this was a curveball of news that he now had to recalibrate for. This moment gave him ammo to finish the interview as they could’ve ended it sooner but Daniel decided to drag it from here on. The other moment was the end of S2E5, the accusatory face that Daniel made at Armand when Armand said “I had a hunch”. There’s a subtle moment in the end of the divorce, where Daniel visually WINCES when Armand calls him “insignificant mortal”. He listens to Armand panic blubbering, reducing the events, and then “Don't let an insignificant detail, delivered from am insignificant mortal.” It was a WEEK and Daniel’s eyes tear up before he looks upwards to hold tears back before attempting to break a run and realizing it is useless. Irrelevance is how you sting Daniel. Armand’s been throwing him x-ray vision all week and making his cocktails as he likes but now Daniel’s insignificant?! Why the bad review? He went from having two bones to no bone. He failed with women and now men too? His ego wouldn’t let that fly. Armand hated him so much he erased himself off Daniel’s psyche? He’d want to know so I think he stayed to probe Armand. If Armand wanted to kill Daniel he would’ve pulled his head from his body at the table and erased everyone’s memories of it. He didn’t. Armand’s a quick dude and even quicker when he’s pissed. He was a bit sad that Daniel broke his house of cards but not so badly to protect it with all his might so as to kill Daniel. This might be an elaborate act on his end to break from Louis and care for Daniel in the midst of looming danger. In S3 we might be seeing him spiraling from wanting to emotionally connect to Daniel but not knowing how to break back in except the vampirism and Louis. Again, Daniel doesn’t remember him fully if something between them happened so Armand has to crack it but perhaps waited until they were alone to not trigger Louis’ ire (Louis can’t stand being bested and breaking this way would give him a sense of his controlling the shots even when he doesn’t. Louis’ trigger is his ego and his main obstacle with Lestat but this pride dangerous towards Daniel both physically and mentally (the Mama DuLac nasty bit we saw him bring out to full capacity in that house fight). It’s easy and again, Louis likes Daniel but he’s petty when he’s not the one everyone’s salivating over and Daniel would be TOO EASY for Louis to break emotionally. Armand would know to prevent that dogfight as Daniel. It wouldn’t be a fair fight if Daniel gets roasted for failing to hold onto people if his reason for it might be Armand’s dickmatizing (that he was made to forget. It would destroy Daniel and potentially close him off to both of them for good which Armand might not want if he’s liked him before. A nimble, compliant, confident partner is better to toy with than a broken, insecure one. Guys usually spiral when you roast their manhood and Daniel would spiral even faster as he’s developed a track record of failures).
I think the crack would be the word “beloved” as it’s intimate, Daniel wouldn’t expect it but it’s also what he wants from a lover the most. His romantic regret is that he’s never been someone’s big love or had that. So he thinks. Being acknowledged of importance through such an adjective would give him his full confidence back (as he was in ‘73, clearheaded and optimistic). Something to claim let alone an ancient, gorgeous vampire moving mountains for him. Daniel likes to put claim to things, he’s married twice. Armand’s hot, impossible to control, but emotionally needy even if he’s physically the more dominant party. His starve for connection is where Daniel can and WILL break him as Armand’s also BORED. Daniel will make Armand work for it out of pride for the mind erasing and the “insignificant” stings. Armand will peacock to distract Daniel from asking too much about his past as while he doesn’t mind playing sad boy with Louis as Louis responds to pity he DOESN’T want that from Daniel).
It seems to me Armand likes the deference Younger Daniel gave him when he assumed Armand as older-wiser-mysterious back then (which is true, in ‘73, Daniel was physically 20. Likely still in university). Armand was/is **27** and we see Daniel look and treat him as older then. I think Armand got used to that and their relationship troubles might’ve started when Daniel got older and maybe insecure a bit over now being older than Armand physically which would make Armand panic. He’d get used to reverence from Daniel and would not know what to do when Daniel would treat him as a kid or not view him as an authority once he physically aged. It would break Armand and confuse Daniel because he’d definitely like being babied but act some type of way when he’s no longer the “baby”. Especially if Armand still views him as “the baby”/“younger partner”, which he does, even now in the present. Unlike Louis though, Armand doesn’t infantilize Daniel and might understand the boundary out of his own frustration of being an old man that’s infantilized because he looks like a doll forever. I think this is how Armand will bond back to him and work his story to reel Daniel back in. They’ll connect over their ages/life stages and Daniel will empathize with him because now he has his own experience to understand how Armand’s situation would frustrate anyone. He might also understand better why Armand let him age as honestly, Armand’s situation is NOT fun. It’s barely above the Claudia situation. He might be forever young and hot but this has its limitations in too many dynamics as he’s a MAN. He’s not a child and doesn’t want to be one so he definitely doesn’t appreciate being treated like one even if he complies out of habit. Just like Daniel hates being called a boy, Armand would LOATHE being treated like one. This is how he’ll level the playing field with Daniel as if this is why they had a falling out, Daniel will GET IT now and not resent him so much for these decisions even if they’re not “ideal”. Daniel’s trigger is disrespect and he knows young men everywhere aren’t really respected unless they have status/money. He’ll understand why Armand has to move like he does because even if he doesn’t want to admit it his physicality does limit him in so many ways. Daniel’s different because his being so smart and observant made him “old” back then (as in, “mature”). His bond to Armand is through smarts/intellect and he’d feel shame now as an older adult for possibly contributing to their falling out through his insecurities of being physically older when he was mentally younger. I think this turmoil reflected in Daniel spiraling in the ‘80s to calm his insecurities over growing older and then Armand forcing him to marry in order to save him from the AIDS crisis.
Their dynamic is flipped from the usual narrative because emotionally Armand’s the submissive but PHYSICALLY he isn’t. Daniel does have one but very potent power over Armand and that is emotional, Armand is weak over an emotionally distraught Daniel and Daniel forms awareness of this in the books (and does in the show in the end of S2 (the “Why do I owe you my shame?” scene); physically though he’s submissive in this particular setting and the show confirms this with the possession scene in ‘73. Daniel also LIKES it but wants to live so he’s a mess over it but it seems like he’d be game on for it in kinky circumstances just not out of it. Armand’s claim/power over him is that way, physical and visual.
Round 2 of the chase and their relationship will be a messy tango of a conversation/interview with their playing into these dynamics as they clear the air. Daniel will try to play hard to get to wear Armand out. Armand will be morose over his old tricks not working on Daniel (and they probably are but Daniel’s expressing it through binge eating people to take that out of his system). At one point this ruse gets hard to pull off so Armand sees through it and confronts him about the ethics of what he’s doing so negotiates an interview in exchange for his own blood out of seeing he’s succeeded in getting Daniel to want to open up. This would be the hurdle Armand would be dealing with when it comes to Daniel as physically he has him in the bag but he doesn’t want Daniel to just respond to him that way. He wants a besotted Daniel and what a mess Daniel could be when he is besotted (like we saw in ‘73 when he negotiates giving Armand head to save his own head. He could’ve begged other ways but he chose that way for his own wanting/amusement and Armand clocked it; “bartering with desire? Is that what makes you fascinating?”). Daniel falls apart at and starts remembering shit at the first sip. They start having funny feelings because the blood does that. Armand goes for the kill (might use his classic entrapping line in DM; “you’re mine beautiful boy”) and Daniel’s head go bonkers at the words as they echo in remembrance. Bang bang, the memories become sentient as Armand’s going to town physically acting out Daniel’s favorite hits; Daniel’s memories of their physicality finely connecting to the present as they get nasty…and ladies and gents, the actually consenting open marriage in this series is reprised again (because Louis didn’t consent to opening up their relationship but Daniel in the books does and is fine with it). Armand “flagellates” Daniel physically as that’s definitely his poison and he’s unabashed in his younger years over it (Young Daniel’s forever a mood for it); Daniel flagellates Armand verbally and Armand loves it (until it’s too much then he walks out or makes signals so Daniel stops it). I finally cracked their puzzle and I’m still addicted to their shit like they’re crack 🤣
