ah, but the reveal in 3x05 is fucking insane. the realisation that daniel has never been without armand and can never escape him again! since he met armand in 1973, he has been entangled in him. he has not spent a moment out of armand’s grasp, and he has never truly been alone, because for 52 years armand was there alongside him. more than that, armand has guided his life, changed the course of his fate, the ghost of him everywhere now in daniel’s memories.
how lonely daniel seems when we first meet him in 2022, but now he knows he has never truly been alone. there is someone who knows him in all of his messy, human entirety. someone who knows the deepest depths of his soul. how terrifying that must be, how suffocating, how comforting. daniel holds so much shame for the choices he has made and the life he has lived and here armand is, saying he loves him, saying he has always loved him despite all of it. and if you were daniel, how could you not believe it? as humans we hold our mistakes and our shame close to our chest. it’s intoxicating to think someone could see that and still want you. armand could read his thoughts, saw him at his worst, and yet here is. in love with daniel. desperate for him.
and in all of this, daniel cannot escape armand now even if he tried. he is his child, he has his eyes, but more, his connection with armand makes the world fall away. he could run to the other side of the earth and he would still be able to feel armand. it is the most beautiful and unsettling dynamic of the whole show because now, daniel and armand cannot be separated from each other. armand has literally haunted the vast majority of daniel’s life, and now will haunt his eternity. this is peak gothic romance, reminscient of cathy and heathcliff. be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!