The things is, I get what they’re trying to do with Armand and Louis is episode 7. The creators said they were going to move the events of Lestat’s past and the relevant arcs to the present. So they took the past conflict between Lestat and Armand and transposed it onto Armand and Louis instead, since the fall out of that relationship is still a fresh wound for Armand.
The problem is, Armand’s current circumstances are not the same as his circumstances back when he met Lestat. Lestat was a revelation to Armand. He upended everything Armand knew and simultaneously showed him a new way of living. It makes sense that Armand would be so desperately attached to Lestat, not just out of love, but because Lestat was a raft when Armand was lost at sea.
The writers are seemingly trying to show how deranged Armand can get when he has nothing solid to give him a purpose or to keep composure. How does Armand behave when everything falls apart? But that’s the thing, Armand does have a new purpose. Multiple. He’s made his first fledgling ever- one he’s in love with. The great conversion is unfolding in front of him, and he once again has a cult following. Armand, who needs purpose to survive and to feel a sense of stability, is currently rich with purpose. And sure, we’re shown those things do matter to Armand, at least to an extent, but the way his actions are framed in the final, they’re all playing second fiddle to his need to lash out in anger towards Louis. All the narrative build up with none of the pay off.
What’s so frustrating is that there’s a lot I like about the Louis and Armand scene. The concept of Armand being filled with this ravenous resentment, this feeling of emptiness he can’t satisfy, this anger he can’t control of completely understand, is genuinely compelling, and with better build up, it could have worked really well. With a few more scenes, we could have better established Armand’s mindset and why he feels so compelled to go after Louis despite everything else going on his life. Instead they hide most of what Armand’s doing this season, seemingly to set up the twist that he’s the one who brought Regina into Louis life, but it’s ultimately an empty twist, devoid of any emotional satisfaction.
There was so much care spent setting up the reveal for season 2, and it worked because it revealed to the audience a part of Armand he had been hiding while still staying true to his motivations and interiority developed throughout the season. This season, we get none of that context. What purpose did this twist serve beyond confirming what people already knew about Armand? What feeling is it supposed to invoke in the audience except a smug satisfaction that Armand is as cartoonishly villainous as many of them thought? What did we actually learn about Armand from this?
What little narrative momentum and sense of interior we get for Armand this season is completely overlooked for the sake of telling us something we already learned about Armand last season. How much more satisfying would it have been if we got to see Armand struggle between the pain and anger caused by his failed relationship with Louis and his new found sense of purpose. How thrilling would it have been to watch Armand spiral into the inevitable conflict between him and Louis in the final. How much more gratifying would Louis empathy towards Armand have felt with just a bit of set up.
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