Aging Trash

Rubber (2010) dir. Quentin Dupieux

US

I don't think show Gabriella would have done that either if Lestat was still 20 years old and full of life, and she still had hope that he'd escape their shared imprisonment.

Aging up Lestat is something that was done in season 1, and it had ripple effects on EVERYTHING that led up to his turning. In the book, he's 20 years old, and he's still full of hope and joy and EMOTION. And Gabrielle still has hope for him, and it's part of why she keeps trying to get him OUT before that part of him can be killed.

In the show, he's in his 30s. He's grown cold like his mother because he saw it was the only way she survived. He's miserable and probably the only triumph he has is that he's resisted marriage and family. He and Gabriella have been trapped together for over a decade as adults in this bleak and horrifying situation.

Lestat has lost hope, and Gabriella has lost hope for him. And she knows she's dying. It's bleak, but trying to provide him a quick death as opposed to leaving him to suffer the abuse by himself as she once did WAS a mercy, and it was an act of love. And yes, Gabriella's love is really fucked up.