ok my thoughts on the finale!
overall, i really loved the episode. to begin, i think it was a great culmination of lestat's character arc this season and his reckoning with how his mother's abuse formed him as a person, and how that in turn shaped him to be so desperate for real love that he would hurt the ones HE loves. having the realization come from the memory of the witches place, the burning of two innocent girls he knew, gabriella refusing to shield his eyes, bringing him there on purpose...i thought that was so powerful.
i've mentioned it already, but the paul scene is my favorite. i think he was a representative of lestat's psyche, the holy, soft, sweet parts of god/religion that a part of lestat still holds dear. i love that paul represented that for him, and was also a representative of louis' unconditional love, like sam said. i know some interpret this to really be paul, but i personally think it's more resonant if he's another muse. at the end of lestat's life, hearing the one person louis truly loved unconditionally tell lestat that he is loved in return is beautiful.
now onto the horror show lmao. the armand and louis sequence was the most disturbing thing this show has ever done, but i appreciate the horror of it a lot. i think it's completely in character for armand to do this - frankenclaudia exists in the book for a reason. louis being forced into this revolting, horrifying situation, and using it to first mock armand with his love for lestat, until, despite it all, they come to a genuine understanding of the uncomfortable circumstances of their relationship, was moving in such a disturbing, unexpected way.
i was very surprised at first that louis was the one armand chose to torture over lestat, as i think everyone in the fandom was. i'll have to go back and watch the season again, but besides the fact that louis was the only one he didn't go to for his apology tour, there didn't appear to be any hints or clues as to that being armand's true motive all along. so if the aim was to shock the audience, they definitely got me! but i do really, really appreciate a final resolution to the loumand dynamic. i was aching for it after their abrupt ending in season 2. it relieves me that this 77 year long relationship wasn't just sort of hand waved away, even though they both loved other people. it felt for a while there like there wasn't any point to how much time was devoted to them in season 2, so I'm glad to see it come back around.
i know it's a really controversial segment of the episode, and i get why it is particularly upsetting for a lot of people. i'm personally of the mind that this is a horror show, and this is true to armand's source material characterization. for the show version of the loumand dynamic, it does make sense to me (it wouldn't in the book, where louis is not a pimp).
at the same time, i wish they would let the OTHER characters be physically brutalized in the way louis so often is. i am a fan of body horror, but it needs to happen equally. it's especially frustrating when they've purposefully REMOVED so much of the physical brutalization of lestat that happens in the books, usually by armand's hand, and transposed it onto louis. i'm disappointed by show lesmand's dynamic thus far, i have to be honest. i think there was a version of this episode that could have happened where armand tortures both louis and lestat at the same time for different reasons, maybe keeping them in separate rooms. i don't know, just off the top of my head lmao. but yeah, while the sequence did work for me, i understand that particular criticism.
i loved the reunion of louis and lestat at the end, it healed my soul. and i loved lestat calling gabriella a monster and louis looking on with pride. the ending was extremely abrupt, more abrupt even than the season 1 ending, and i won't lie, i wish there was a bit more to it. maybe ending with him taking a breath before going on stage, or i don't know, just something that feels like a REAL cliffhanger. because yes, we see him recording the failures and the destruction of the world, but we already knew akasha was going to do that. maybe it's because the book cliffhanger is so iconic, but it fell a little flat for me.
anyway yeah those are my thoughts! overall, i loved this season to bits. i don't know what i'll do for the next year+ without my weekly hangouts with my best friend lestat :'(
