In a season about revenge and reconciliation, Lestat's revenge on Daniel is maybe the most complete. Daniel's work is the one thing in his life that he feels secure in – and that's something that Louis gave him in San Francisco, one of the only things Daniel does remember about what happened. When he's turned, and his daughters reject him again, and Armand runs off on him, and his book gets panned by the critics, Lestat offers him a life line of a documentary and Daniel accepts, because what else does he know how to do.
And he asks Lestat repeatedly 'why did you ask for me?', wondering if it's because Lestat wants Daniel's reputation and expertise in rehabilitating his image. But no. It's a lot simpler than that. Lestat wants to take the last thing Daniel has from him: his pride in his work.
So Lestat sets him up. He plays hard to get, not answering Daniel's questions, getting cranky, giving bits and pieces. And then he finally springs his trap and gives Daniel what he's been working towards – he breaks down and reveals something of himself – but it's all a fake out. Daniel has been taken in by an illusion inside his own head put there by a more powerful vampire who knew just how to push his buttons.
And then, as the coup de grace, Lestat casually and mockingly asks Daniel why it's never occurred to him that Armand has done the exact same thing to him with the interviews in Dubai. Armand is also a powerful vampire who can read people's minds and maybe it's just like when Daniel was taking pride in breaking Lestat down in front of his whole crew only to discover there's nothing there. It's completely devastating for Daniel. And for Lestat, destroying something in Daniel that Louis had given him must've been part of what he wanted from it.
#exaaaaaaactly#I've seen a lot of people wondering why Daniel struggled so much to interview Lestat effectively this season and like—#speaking from a similar profession: you'd be amazed how much the subject's willingness to engage can affect the process#Louis WANTED to talk about his past. Louis WANTED to unpack his memories. Louis WANTED a sounding-board.#likewise with Daniel's past interview subjects. even the evil ones did agree to talk to him—if only for the chance to spin their lies.#Lestat? Wanted a punching bag.#he didn't want to talk about the past or unpack his motives for the whole rock band lark. he wanted someone to bitch at.#(someone other than Louis. he can't bitch at Louis AND give him the silent treatment.)#so Daniel goes in with no real angle to interview someone who doesn't want to talk to him.#not about the past; not about the book; not even about his music.#which is ostensibly the point of the doc. and when we join them they've already been at it for the better part of what? two months?#hence why Daniel starts harping on the stutter thing. Stutters often begin with a childhood trauma.#Daniel knows if he's going to get at how Lestat became Lestat then a core trauma is a good place to start.#and it was. all that reflecting on the stutter led to him accepting that Gabriella was kind of always a monster in the finale.#(and no he didn't already have that epiphany in ep 6—he got close but a revelation like that? often comes in increments.)#(so it makes perfect sense for his anger to only kick in when he feels it on his childhood friend's behalf rather than his own.)
#love this take and the added tags!!#i completely agree lestat is angry at both louis and daniel for the book#and that anger manifests in different ways towards them both#such a good point about how daniel’s career is his lifeline#and we can see that really start to degrade this season#with daniel going from award winning journalist to clickbait youtuber#and how that lines up with the idea that vamps struggle to create meaningful art#louis interview is sooo different bc he really does WANT to be interviewed#imo any obfuscations or misdirections are genuine errors#louis knows his recollections are imperfect and he WANTS to remember#lestat knows his recollections are imperfect but has no interest in changing them#iwtv
Oh yes – you're so right! Daniel's career going from prestigious to trashy is so interesting. And there's a lot said about Lestat's music/stage persona being derivative in the show. What little we see about Daniel's new work suggests it's also derivative stuff – the tawdry little clickbait video, but also when he says they're shooting the stage shows in black and white and intercutting it with color interview. There may be some other reference there I'm not getting but it reminded me of U2's Rattle & Hum documentary arthouse movie, which documents their Joshua Tree US tour and recording of new songs in a mixture of B&W and color footage. It was generally panned by critics. So I wonder if this was a nod to that. But one way or another, it's an artsy choice that sounds immediately cliched.
And one of the big things that Daniel and Lestat have in common is that they both really really want to win accolades from the establishments in their fields. Lestat wants his album to be in the top 100 on Billboard. Daniel wants to take his documentary to Cannes.
That's why they can goad each other so successfully by pointing out crappy reviews – Lestat from the stage pointing out Vanity Fair trashing Daniel's book and Out Magazine calling it 'a steamy beach read', Daniel throwing up the Pitchfork review at Lestat. And they both compare themselves/resent the biggest names in their fields – Daniel bowling strikes calling out [Ronan] Farrow, [Glenn] Greenwald, Lestat being annoyed about Drake's 50 track drop. So Daniel knows exactly how to needle Lestat by pointing out Mitski's huge arena gig in contrast to his 1000 seater venue.
Because actually by what measure is Lestat's music career 'a failure'?
If, as he claims to Daniel, it's about pure self-expression, then why does it matter that he's bankrolling the whole thing and sometimes papering the house to get an audience? And if he's serious that the album should be produced for vampire ears only, then why does he care that it's not charting high enough on Billboard? Even in commercial terms, the band has only been going for three years and is playing 1000-2500 seater venues and probably selling enough merch and streams for them to be able to make a living – pretty rare these days for rock acts. Florence Welch asks them to open for her!
But none of this is enough for Lestat who has thousands of fans but wants billions. And ironically Daniel is probably the only one who fully understands that sort of megalomaniac ambition. But as he says in the bowling scene in the finale, Daniel grafted his way to the top of his profession, and he deeply resents Lestat's dilettante rich-kid queue-cutting. It'll be funny/terrible to see his reaction if it turns out next season that Armand was behind some of Daniel's career success too.
If it were me, I’d have Daniel regain control of his undead life and find his way back to real journalism through interviewing Armand and helping him make sense of his past. A willing subject instead of whatever Lestat was. They are able to put each other back together and figure out a way forward as companions. Explore Daniel and his vampirism through him exploring Armand and his. That’s just me though.
the issue I think for armand and daniel’s arc is because they decided to keep that dynamic hidden that also meant that to hide more of daniel’s journey through s3. as I’ve been doing a rewatch the hints of him not dealing with vampirism his life as failed journalist and his conflict are there up until episode 5 but the minute Armand enters the picture his conflict becomes another plot point that cannot be addressed. it is a double edged sword of letting lestat’s’ character study story moving forward before we get back to daniel and his dynamic with armand and how it is linked to his character.
also on a rewatch it is very clear that having only 7 episodes for this arc doesn’t work perfectly. the momentum is dropped short and while, again, lestat’s journey accepting his failure and knowing he loves is done so the story can move forward, a lot of many other parts or details literally had to be cut. now, I’m not saying having 8 episodes would have fixed everything but the pace of s3 in terms of character driven moment (and less about plot) was similar to s2 in a way. and the issue with the show now is that because it became way bigger (outside of louis’ recollection, many different locations and places), a 7 episode format (with each episode being around 45 minutes) doesn’t work anymore. you either give them 8 to 10 45 minutes episodes or you give them 7 episodes that are 55 minutes each.
s3 has a lot of good things, especially on a rewatch. a lot of pieces are really put cleverly in the narrative and the foreshadowing, with lots of different motifs echoing each other. it is truly lestat’s pov all the way through. but adapting qotd in 8 episodes means they will have to either cut things for s5, while also revisiting bits they didn’t show for s3. and considering the failures albums is part of the narrative, i hope the writers know exactly how they will structure that. if you tell me it’s a 2 acts story, you better make sure you can watch the two seasons and see it fully while also giving us enough bits for the rest for the story.
everyone needs to hear about the situation in india right now. the youth of this nation are going through hell and back to protect the foundations that our country was built on in the first place, while the adults who are supposed to actually be in charge try to silence our voices.
NEET, which is an exam taken by millions of students per year and is the ONLY gateway for medical admissions across the country, had its papers leaked. so many took their lives because this exam meant everything for their future. and NTA, the agency who conducts this exam, was not held accountable.
there was national backlash. cockroach janta party (initially a satirical political party formed by abhijeet dipke in retaliation to the remarks of the chief justice of india calling the youth "cockroaches" and "parasites of society") started protests at jantar mantar, demanding the resignation of the union education minister, dharmendra pradhan. the movement also asked for ten million inr (~100,000 usd) in compensation for the families of students who died by suicide and wanted NTA be held accountable.
sonam wangchuk, a climate activist and education reformer, also went on a hunger strike at jantar mantar to protest against this corruption in india's higher education system. his fast began on june 28, demanding the resignation of the union education minister. his fast lasted for 20 days until delhi police FORCIBLY removed him and admitted him to safdarjung hospital on july 18.
because of this, cockroach janta party announced "chalo sansad," a march to the parliament beginning on june 20th, 9:00 am ist. but the police seems to be responding with water cannons, mobile jammers, and baton charge. all of this, because of a peaceful protest led by people no older than 30.
and yet there has been absolutely no indian media coverage about a movement that spans the entirety of this nation. so, please, if you see this, keep talking about us. we will not let those old bastards stoop any lower than they've already had. we will not let them ruin our country any further. we will not be silenced
Please look it up. Students have been beaten bloody. They’re using electrified batons. They’re using batons with nails hammered in. They’re dragging people off and locking them up for no reason. People are being beaten, assaulted, and even molested by the police.
The government is doing everything it can except for actually having an honest dialogue with the protestors.
It’s important to note that despite all the police brutality, despite how the government has had extra forces airlifted to Delhi to help quash the protest, this has deterred no one.
Not only is the protest in Delhi going strong, the government closed down every metro station in Central Delhi in an effort to stop them and it still hasn’t.
There’s protests in most major cities in India in solidarity. Palakkad, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, and probably more besides. There has been a protest in the UK as well in solidarity.
People who aren’t at the protest are donating so much food that the organisers have had to ask them to stop doing so because there’s more than enough. In lieu of that people are donating money for medicine, lawyers, cleanup, and umbrellas.
Most crucially, hopes aren’t broken. Spirits aren’t broken. People with bruises and broken bones are still showing up. People are showing up cosplaying as freedom fighters and super heroes and a dinosaur. People are doxxing goons who show up trying to incite violence. People are making reels. People in Mumbai literally opened a moving police detainment van to allow arrested students to escape.
*all links lead to Instagram posts or reels showing the same. Almost every major Indian news network has been bought and either ignores the protests or depicts them unfairly. All honest news comes from people on the ground and smaller independent news outlets.
My Vampire Lestat Review: Stopping Before the Nosedive
In an interview, show runner Rolin Jones stated that each episode of The Vampire Lestat feels like a song and the season as a whole feels like an album. Each episode is different, but as a whole feels cohesive. I would agree with one modification: this is side A of the album and side B is missing.
The Vampire Lestat came in with no pretense that it would have any similarity to its predecessor Interview with the Vampire, besides the same characters.
Gone are the days of warm oil lamps and extended time spent exploring the minutia of complicated interpersonal dynamics. Gone are the ornamented monologues of Louis de Pointe du Lac. Lestat uses TikTok lingo and rants about interests and people niche to him, look them up if you want to know what he is referencing, he isn't going to explain. This season isn't for you.
It's for Lestat, and Lestat is a rollercoaster.
If "Detroit" is the moment the car takes off at break neck speed, "Toledo & Toronto" are the loop-de-loop and "The Failures " is the moment the car stops right before a dive drop. Do you feel nauseous? Grab a barf bag. Need to breathe? Wait until the season is over. You are in the Vampire Lestat's mind now and no one is going to hold your hand.
The show takes a big swing. It tells its audience: if you enjoyed Interview with the Vampire, great, that is a complete show for you to enjoy, but we are doing something different now. We aren't going to explore large portions of The Vampire Lestat (book) and we aren't going to revisit most of the first two seasons.
In large part, this season explores how abuse changes one's relationship to themself, specifically how they receive love and how they give it. Lestat isn't asking you to forgive him, he doesn't even believe himself is worthy of forgiveness, but he is asking you to listen.
The arc of the season follows Lestat's breakdown following the release of Daniel Molloy's Interview with the Vampire, a book that makes him second guess his relationship with the love of his life Louis de Point du Lac and vampire daughter Claudia. He is failing as a vampire, a husband, a father and now an artist. His music doesn't appeal to a general audience, his band hates him, and he feels no fulfillment in his life.
In need of any love at all, he asks his mother, Gabriella, to return to his life which spirals into apocalypse… literally. While Lestat simply wants to feel the love of someone who knows him completely, Gabriella has her own motivations. While Lestat wants to make music because he is an artist, Gabriella wants him to make music to gain power over the vampire population. The secondary arc of this show is watching Lestat come to terms with the fact his mother abuses and uses him and still does not love him the way he needs to be loved. That love can only come from Louis de Pointe du Lac, with whom Lestat finally reconciles at the end of the season.
In episode 7, Lestat accepts (and also doesn't) that all his endeavors and relationships have been failures, but at least he tried.
As a whole, TVL is an enjoyable season of television thanks, in no small part, to Sam Reid and Daniel Hart.
Reid carries a massive load this season. Lestat is on screen in almost every minute of the show, and very rarely is he taking it easy, lying back on the couch as he does in Episode 4 "The Devil's Road". He flies, he screams, he sings, he cries, and then he does it all over again.
When Lestat is on screen, the actor disappears. There are no cracks where Reid shows through, no hints that Lestat isn't anything but the being that has spent nearly three centuries with the blood of a primordial spirit in his veins. He takes a character that can easily come off as overbearing or annoying and maintains a god-like level of charisma and physical stature while also conveying tender, child-like vulnerability. Give Reid the ball and he'll never miss.
You see Lestat experience every emotion under the sun this season from nauseating narcissism to complete and utter torment. Stand out performances include renditions of "The Loneliness", "Long-Face" and "Hit the Lights" as well as scenes with the muse of Magnus in Episode 3 and a panic attack with Louis in episode 6. In episode 5, Lestat speaks to Akasha like a son to a mother as well as a young paramour to their lover. Reid's performance is dripping in so much whimsy and wonder that it seems he is ten years younger.
Hart also gave all to his role of composer this season. Writing 19 songs for the show as well as a new score for the season is no small feat, especially considering the songs were written before the scripts. Hart played a massive part in creating the character of Lestat this season and the songs he wrote gave us insight into Lestat that we might have never had without it.
Jacob Anderson also gives an outstanding performance in his role as Louis de Pointe du Lac. An actor of Anderson's caliber is almost always going to feel underutilized unless given Interview with the Vampire level screen time. Where Reid's Lestat shines when he is stealing a scene, Anderson's Louis thrives as a scene's foundation. He is the glue that holds the show together, the cement, the quiet, steady presence that gives the audience a break to take a breath. Anderson is an incredible scene partner, bringing life and a lived in feeling to every moment on screen. He makes unrealistic dialogue realistic, he reveals profound emotional depth and tormented humanity with just his eyes, and he does perfectly what actors are supposed to do: make you feel. It is hard to pinpoint one or performances that stood out this season, because every scene he is in had me enraptured. From Louis’s conversations with Regina to his panic when he learns about Lestat and Gabriella, Anderson is perfect. Like Reid, when Anderson is on screen, there is no thought to the actor behind the role. There is just Louis. And Louis is nothing without Jacob Anderson.
While Louis is a chaotic character in his own way, the show feels the most like itself when Anderson and Reid are together on screen. It is impossible to describe it as anything other than magic. The show goes to lengths to separate Louis and Lestat, despite an already decades long separation. Both find affection and attention in other places only to come up empty and realize the only home they have is with each other. Lestat and Louis do not need to kiss or even express direct romantic interest in each other for the audience to feel like these are two people who are meant to be. A finger brush or the caress of a neck scar can be just as erotic as taking off each other's clothes.
Episode 6 is the stand out episode of the season as it is a return to form to what makes this show special, spending extended amounts of time examining the complex interpersonal dynamics of two people who are wrong for each other and yet. This show has yet to bring to the table anything as engaging as watching Louis and Lestat just walk around the city and toe the line of getting back together, save for their parental relationship with their daughter Claudia.
Delainey Hayles deserves every minute of screen time she receives in season 3. She balances two roles, Claudia and Regina, playing both as believably distinct people. While Regina gets little screen time over the season, you immediately fall in love with her. Like Louis, you just want to see Claudia's face again, until, like Louis, you accept the fact that she is not Claudia and Claudia is gone. When Claudia's spirit returns in Episode 6, you can't help but feel partially responsible for her rage alongside Louis and Lestat. You also wanted to see her again, you were also pulling on her to return when she has already had so little peace. Hayle's performance in the seance of Episode 6 should be sent to every working casting director.
However, where the show soars through performance and music, it struggles in its narrative.
Returning to Hart's extraordinary work this season, how his work is used on the show is hit and miss. Some songs are over utilized while others under utilized. "Biggest Fan" is the standout example, with only half the song used in Episode 3, leaning instead into the original score for the second half of the episode. Both the score and Biggest Fan are beautiful, but the amount of choice the creative team was given results in some songs feeling crammed in, rather than using fewer pieces to their full potential. A good example of balance are episodes 6 & 7, where fewer songs are used, while a good example of failed potential is "Big Bad Wolf".
The specifics to Lestat's anger regarding Louis and the book is glossed over in the text of the show, but the lyrics of "Big Bad Wolf" lay out Lestat's issues in detail. It is therefore disappointing that the choice was made to use only seconds of the song in Episode 5. Audience members who take the time to download the song after the show will be treated to a back door on Lestat's psyche like it is an easter egg when it should be part of the text of the show.
But there are more shining moments when Hart's work are used to full effect like "Brutal Love", "Stained Glass Eyes", "Long Face", "Black Licorice" and "The Loneliness."
This season also suffers from lack of interest in its own source material.
While Interview with the Vampire was divided into two parts, each season has a complete arc, with the overarching plot complete at the end of season 2. The Vampire Lestat is half a story in every way and yet it is marketed as one complete season. There is no part 2 teased in the Episode 7 end credits. There are hints from the creatives that Queen of the Damned is considered a part two, but this is a completely separate book to be adapted with its own dense plot.
While elements from The Vampire Lestat were translated into a modern day context, time was wasted setting up elements of The Queen of the Damned and The Tale of the Body Thief. Setting up plot points that are 1-2 seasons and 2-4 years away from premiering while there are questions the audience wants answered about the prior two seasons is alienating.
Many came to season 3 with questions about Lestat's role in Claudia's trial, what specifically he took issue with in Louis's interview, what he did after he was killed in New Orleans and how he made his way back to a disintegrating shack for Louis to meet him in 2022. And those are just a few questions left open from the last two seasons.
Book fans were looking forward to seeing Lestat's complex relationships with Armand, Nicki and Gabrielle (Gabriella in the show). Fans of any of these relationships will be disappointed. Nicki and Lestat's relationship is vague and non-specific, his relationship with Armand only hinted to, and his relationship with Gabriella something entirely new.
The most expansive arc of the season is Lestat coming to understand that he is in a sexually abusive relationship with his mother Gabriella. There is more on-screen intimacy between the pair than Louis and Lestat who are the core romance of the show. It is grotesque, disturbing and by the end, exhausting. We learn that he loves her greatly and would do anything for her, even bring the end of the world, but learn little about Gabriella or her motivations. Only that she doesn't care much about Lestat, only enough to use him for her own unknown reasons.
Yet, Gabriella is the cornerstone of the show's plot. It is her abuse and Lestat's love for her that leads him to recording an album, rallying the vampires, and performing a concert that will unleash horrors onto the world. For such an important relationship, it lacks the depth one normally expects from characters written by Rolin Jones and Hannah Moscovitch. While Armand's motivations were similarly masked until the end of season 2, hers are completely absent.
Armand and Daniel's inclusion in the season is also, in one word, bizarre. We hear through expositional dialogue that Armand loves Daniel, that he stalked him for decades, that he turned him, but we don't see anything. Their subplot could be completely absent from the show and the show would not suffer, rather it would be more focused.
Daniel's interview with Lestat leads to nothing and only serves as a way for Daniel to have a vendetta against Lestat to lead to the beheading in episode 6. Lestat's backstory with Nicki and Magnus could have been explored in a more interesting way without Daniel.
Armand has a large role in the book "The Vampire Lestat" yet almost none of it is adapted, even though the ending for season 2 left so much potential for his motivations to be explored. Armand has many things to be angry with Lestat about: destroying his Paris coven, leaving him, choosing Louis, spurring on the Great Conversion and opening up vampires to danger – but none of this is addressed. In Episode 7, it is not Lestat's detached head that Armand confronts, but Louis's; Louis who Armand has had no screen time with in season 3. The last time the pair were on screen, Louis threw Armand into a wall because it was revealed he lied to Louis about killing his daughter. Louis is the one who has been wronged, yet Armand feels owed an apology. If the pair had been given screentime together or if Armand's resentment of Louis developed, this could have made sense, but it wasn't. This leads to Louis being tortured by Armand in a scene that felt as if it was written for Lestat but got switched to Louis just to give him screen time. And where was Lestat's head? In a bowling bag with Daniel serving no narrative purpose other than to be picked up by Raglan James because he wanted the concert to happen for some unknown reason.
Unknown reasons on top of unknown reasons on top of more unknown reasons.
There could have been a more narrative-ly satisfying way to put Lestat in a near-death situation before the concert and it could have been done entirely without Armand and Daniel, and without subjecting Louis to needless on-screen torture. They are included only to set up a relationship that will develop for an unconfirmed season while the current season suffers.
The future post-Apocalypse narrative also confounds. Over the season we see Louis and Lestat find their way back to each other but we know from the future narration that they will be on the outs again. For me personally, this cheapens their reunion. Louis and Lestat have been separated for decades, their reconciliation was short lived and for the most part happened off screen. The audience wants them together and the show is telling its audience not to be invested in their romance because they are going to break up anyway.
By Episode 6 Lestat stops calling the book Louis's book and calls it Daniel's, accepting that Louis did not want the book released and that the depictions are not entirely honest. But in the future, that acceptance is gone. Is Lestat narrating what his feelings were at the time or what his current feelings are? One can't be sure, this will hopefully be answered in future seasons.
Lastly, the anti-black choices in this season cannot be ignored. I will not talk over the Black community, it is up to each and every Black person what their interpretation is and what they can forgive. It is not up to any non-black person to tokenize one Black person’s opinion as the opinion – even Jacob and Delainey’s. Intentions are buried under the impact of carelessness, and this show has been careless. From Daniel calling Louis "Louisiana Fried Chicken" in Episode 4 to Claudia's racially charged language in Episode 6, these inclusions were obvious indicators that the writers room was white and did not know how to write such inclusions with the sensitivity deserved.
To Rolin Jones, hiring Black writers is not a suggestion, it is a necessity and not just because three of your main characters are people of color. You cannot infuse racially charged language into your scripts while ignorant, you only lean into racist stereotypes and alienate the fan base that gave you this show.
While there are many issues with the narrative, it cannot be denied that I enjoyed this season. This roller coaster is bumpy and I feel as if I am still waiting for the dive, but I loved it and I don't want it to stop. The performances, the music, the cinematography, the directing, the editing; on and on one could go about the obvious passion of those behind the scenes. It must be appreciated and celebrated to create something so honest and unconventional and to do it without fear.
There needs to be more art that is afraid to fail as it takes failure to succeed and even in failure, there is no waste – and isn't that what The Vampire Lestat is all about?
As a Daniel enjoyer, can I just say, the racism is the point. The ableism is the point, the bag on her head as she cried, the student used aggressively, the estranged daughters. This is a boomer monster. Remember how he lectured Lestat's head on having carved out a path for himself? That's boomer talk. You dislike him by design, because he is a bad person and I'd never seen a so thoroughly boomer evil on tv, it's very interesting and timely, you just gotta understand that it's not a blind spot in the writing, it's intentional. Just like it's intentional that Armand torture Louis, and the shockingly evil ugliness of that. The ugliness of incest, of murder, nothing is sanitized.
They're wealthy predators, the discomfort is the point.
That's what irks me, about so many of the monstrous characterizations, this season. They feel flat, not because I'm offended or uncomfortable, or can't handle friction in storytelling, it's because they forgot to add in the love.
Yes, this season is about loneliness and failure. It is about monsters lashing out because being lonely turns you into a worse version of yourself. But part of what makes a COMPELLING monster narrative, is showing the love.
We got the love in the first two seasons. You felt Louis loving Lestat. You felt Louis loving Claudia and her loving him back, as twisted and bitter as it was at times. You felt Loumand love each other, as twisted and empty as it was at times. You even felt Daniel and Louis weave in and out of each other, and care about each other, as they mocked each other.
Where is the love? Where is the personality? "Asshole" as a personality trait is fine, as long as it has something to love. I loved his snark, yeah, but what else was there? In season 1, Daniel tells us how he loved that Alice had a blonde eyebrow, and he was disappointed she dyed it back. He called her a "mutt" which IS an insult, but he said it with love. THAT'S what I wanted to see. THAT'S what I come to this series and the characters for.
When I say "that's not Daniel," it's not that he wouldn't say abrasive, fucked up, inflammatory, microaggressive comments. That's in character. What isn't in character is that he feels dumbed down by the narrative to make it work. What isn't in character is that he doesn't say anything with fucked-up fondness. What isn't in character is that Daniel has nothing going on in his life but bowling and the documentary. Where is his addiction? Where did his health problems go? Why is the Talamasca SO involved in his life, to the point he'd ruin a date with Louis for them? He seemingly was friendly with Dee, but is never seen talking to them again after episode 1.
It just doesn't feel like he was written with love. That's what's missing.
Where is my journalist-turned-vampire? Where is the guy who lives on other people's stories? Why don't we see him trying to get into people's heads, why doesn't he know all the hot gossip in the band?
If you're gonna make a journalist a vampire, actually do something with it. He could have been a key to breaking down Lestat's unreliable narrative, but instead they just set him up to go bowling with Lestat's head and didn't even commit to THAT.
Armand really did have everything on display this episode. Sliding in and out of accents admitting a complete lack of stable identity, how he spoke to Regina as a fellow sex worker even after centuries. The way his voice broke, repeating someone else’s account of his trauma because he could not do it for himself, because he can only believe in himself reflected by other people.
The petty, immature little jabs in his “Armends.” Imposing his will onto others in truly frightening ways. Forcing Louis to validate his pain in the most sadistic way possible. The inability to internalize that his rage is not at Louis but an injustice too big for him to name.
I wanted to rush across the room and hold him. I wanted to run away from him screaming. I wish we got more of Armand this season but goddamn, Assad Zaman killed it in every scene. Bravo.
VLADIMIR: what do they say?
ESTRAGON: they talk about their lives.
VLADIMIR: to have lived is not enough for them.
ESTRAGON: they have to talk about it.
i do graphics for our student activism group pretty often and now everyone thinks i have actual graphic design knowledge meanwhile i usually just frankenstein together everything i make with a unholy combination of canva and clip studio paint v1
Now that everyone is discussing Nolan's Odyssey movie, I feel like it's a good time to let non-Italians know that the production dumped plastic props into the Italian sea. Weirdly enough I could not find any article in English about it but it's a fucking problem nonetheless.
I might translate this article later today. This one was the most complete one, even in Italian news it's not talked about that much.
Non è la prima volta che la produzione solleva un vespaio in Sicilia. A Lipari una squadra di sub sarebbe però già impegnata a bonificare i
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