ok. so. despite everything in episode five, i actually don’t hate this progression of lestat and louis and claudia and their fraught relationship. everyone expected it to be bad, and it is, and it’s also so much worse. but. considering the version of events the show is telling, i think it makes sense. these are three vampires with a laundry list of unaddressed traumas and repressed resentments spanning years now going absolutely apeshit when confronted with their opposing wants and fears. this lestat (up until now) has consistently been romantic and theatrical, but also incredibly obsessive and sadistic - we did see that from the start, in episode one, with him getting into louis’ mind when louis was wounded from paul’s death, finding louis at his most vulnerable state in the church, yelling at louis, and killing two priests right in front of louis before confessing his love - and they are not shying away from portraying the worst of this lestat (or the worst of louis and claudia), which i think is interesting. (and to be fair, in interviews like this one, the actors also made it clear that the relationship between lestat and louis was going to be extremely not good, with sam reid literally warning they were going to go over themes of domestic abuse.)
.....that being said, lestat was INSANE in this. dragging louis by the throat like that was CRAZY. certifiably UNHINGED. like girl what. telling claudia he never wanted her???? the gaslighting through the fighting (”cheri, let’s stop this, you don’t want to fight like this anymore, i am tying to restrain myself”)????? everything about lestat was deranged in this episode. there should’ve been a disclaimer/warning every 15 seconds just for him.
