I care about Vampires a little too much

And then people take this scene and go “yeah Armand is the perpetrator of racial violence and he upholds those systems because he’s like a horrible racist” like even when the show is saying look at how Armand is a victim of racial violence and genuinely believes that the only way to survive within these systems of oppression is to endure them and not fight the injustice because it will only make it worse and he’s trying to teach this lesson to Claudia because he genuinely believes that by thinking she deserves any better then the minimal amount of abuse she has to take for a guaranteed life of safety that she is being insane and looking a gift horse in the mouth for no reason. Like the point is that Armand is so horrifically traumatized that he can’t even begin to conceptualize the reality that abuse is never warranted and it’s actually incredibly reasonable for someone to decide that they deserve better then to be put through degrading acts and humiliation no matter how “good” they have it.

Also the heartbreaking fact that at no point Armand thought Claudia would be able to make it. And not in an arrogant way, but calling it a shame, because he sees her as what she is, maybe the only who does, l but knows in this world there is no place for people like her.

And in spite of this, he still tries to teach her, shows her the only chance he thinks she has: to succumb to the role everyone wants her to play, at least enough to satiate them.

I mean Armand only survived as long as he has because at some point, he bowed his head to his would-be killers, shifted himself to their liking to be kept alive. Eventually he even finds himself in power. But he's still in the coven, still has not dared to rebel. And Claudia is so much weaker than him, she would never be able to best them by strength, so submission is the only way he can imagine for her. And even worse, if it pains her so much to conform, then ending this existence wouldn't be the worst outcome for her.

So really it's some fucked up self fulfilling prophecy.

AL

PACINO

Avoiding falling into racist stereotypes like the angry black man trope is a good thing but completely "feminizing" and taking away all consequence of a characters actions is maybe not the solution here. Louis is a complex layered character, we don't need to reduce him to such a flat one instead. Jacob Anderson himself said he loves being able to portray this kind of problematic complex monster, finally.

Also kinda wild to see how lost the degrassi school of social justice crowd is with this. Yall consume so much ya/childresn content (which im not judging for theres some great stuff out there, but it's just a lot simpler, less nuanced, good or bad type stuff) so now you'reunable to judge a toxic relationship between two dark skinned man cause damn have we ever seen that before? We don't have a template for that.

Oh my god I forgot completely about this 😭

I think it's a good show of how desperate for companionship Armand has to be, to overlook this and be fine with a partner using a childhood name (one of the last crumbs of his past) & Maitre (Master) to dom him in and out of bed.

I ship Loumand! Less like a Tumblr shipper and more like they're two stars crashing into each other and I'm a little guy stargazing going "woah" but I do. Cause the dynamic is fascinating! Absolutely toxic, but great!

It's easy to not notice why Armand fell for Louis in the first place. It's easy to say Armand is evil and weird because Armand is prone to remorseless killing of other vampires and this is the vampire show.

But.

But! Every vampire kills, most of them nightly. When Armand says they're monsters and shouldn't exist, that's not a weird religious take, it's him watching other vampires brutally kill an innocent person every night onstage and noting it as fucked up. Armand hasn't been on that stage once, himself.

He falls for Louis cause Louis is similarly disgusted by the theatric murder. He likes how Louis "withholds." He thinks hell yeah someone else actually putting a value on human life! Someone good to follow cause Armand cannot exist without following someone. So that's nice! Louis is a good guy. He can open up. Tell him his trauma and worries.

Except; sike! Louis doesn't have good morals he's just prideful and self righteous.

Louis judges the theatre but bashes in a random guy's head. He ran brothels for years, long after he had to, long after he openly said he was aware how he was harming these women who have no other choice.

And let's not forget it's like a 1920s American brothel of mostly woc with white patrons. You know the shit happening there was awful. Not that Louis cares. He cares about having power.

And knowing Armands trauma gives him power. And Armand plays along, even when he sees the victim Louis brutally murdered, even when Louis starts treating him like a slave, almost giddy about his trauma.

And then Madeleine happens. And Armand says no. Cause that's his biggest moral imperative, more vampires means one more murder a night for potential eternity. He says a very loud and clear no! And Louis tries to make him do it anyway. Uses the name Armand was called when the csa happened. That's the final nail in the coffin, when Armand said he decided to betray him after the turning of Madeleine I instantly got why.

And God the way Louis punches him through a wall, threatening to hit him again, calling him Rashid so naturally. Making him a servant. Np wonder Jacob Anderson was worried we'd hate Louis after this. And Armand could defend himself, but he doesn't, he leaves his home and goes God knows where.