This is such a jumbled fucking mess. I don’t care if it’s explained in-universe like, “oh drugged up Lestat is telling things out of order.” The structure is so unpleasant; it’s neither immersive like a traditional TV form or interesting in a faux meta way that mockumentaries are. It’s jumping all over the place like one fifty-minute trailer rather than a season opener. In all the promotional material they were teasing this documentary / concert film format like it was a stroke of absolute genius and they’re like… not even engaging with it? Not really even doing it???
Beyond that, the writing in this episode, as in the literal vocabulary and syntax of the narration is soooo bad. I’m not even talking about the awful, misused colloquialisms (which are sometimes funny. Lestat is a vamp trying to keep up with the kids, I see the intent there). The issue with the narration this season is that they’re trying to mimic LOUIS’ style of narration. LOUIS is a voracious reader and someone who spends a lot of time in his own head and thus he has a robust vocabulary and skillful, at times, poetic speech. Louis even has a certain rhythm to his telling (“let the tale seduce you” is his thesis statement that guides his narrativized version of the events). It makes sense that Louis narrates the way he does. When Lestat tries to make observations about his era, the way Louis does in iwtv, they just sound silly and like Lestat ate a phone with the online thesaurus and urban dictionary tabs open. The most charitable part of me is like “oh, this is in conversation with S1 an S2 and the in-universe book of iwtv . Lestat is trying to be like Louis, he’s following the formula of Louis’ sentences. He’s trying to sound smart and well spoken and observant, but he fails miserably.” But production this season is hellbent on distancing this show from “Interview with the Vampire,” and the gothic, serious tone of 1 and 2, so I can’t even really give them that.
Also, I’m sorry, I need the team here. I need Daniel, I need Armand, I NEED LOUIS! I would love to see Claudia (as I suspect we will). Sam Reid is a great actor but I fear his performance will only be as good as what he’s given and whether or not the creative team has done the right thing and balanced his performance out with more honed, human (forgive me lol) performances from the rest of the ensemble. Every returning character has something really interesting going on and it would be an absolute shame to completely sideline them. You also just like can’t ostensibly denounce Interview With The Vampire and then constantly find reasons to flashback to its best moments. You’re just making me want to turn this off and rewatch the show I actually like.
dededos
stormborns
annaxmalina
snowghoul
yousharknotpass
origamiaround
