A (planet hitting the sun)

I think it’s interesting that they are setting up Armand as an antagonist in the present day because in TVL, he’s on pretty good terms with Lestat but I guess since he participated in the book with Louis, he would draw some of Lestat’s ire. I really hope we get some extended flashbacks in the next episode because we only have 6 episodes left to tell so much story.

And what the hell is up with the eyepatch (he still looks so good) but are they giving him the memnoch arc?? And Louis missing a leg??

I mean, the whole thing is kinda weird to me to begin with from a book perspective, because the Fang Gang in QOTD were not part of the crew of vampires who were out to get Lestat and his “cohort.” They were just rogues moving around the country and trying to avoid “city vampires” and coven houses and the like, explicitly because covens and that kind of lifestyle restrict freedom. They’re pretty explicitly people who would not only not give a damn about any Great Laws but would also actively resent them and avoid anywhere and anyone that would try to enforce them. So to have the show iteration of the Fang Gang, seemingly still a vampire biker club (?), be all about The Great Laws and trying to style themselves as a reborn Children of Darkness… well, it’s a choice! I’m willing to see how it plays out before passing judgment of course, but it’s odd to me.

With regard to Bruce/Killer specifically, I have to say I also don’t love that Killer has been conflated with Bruce to begin with. I don’t like the whole Bruce subplot in general, both because it never happened in the books and felt unnecessary in the show and because of how it was spoken about bts (I’d prefer to never again hear any nonsense about rape toughening up a character, ugh). Aside from that, Killer in the books is not exactly a stand up guy or anything (what vampire is lol), but he’s not the monster that Bruce is in the show. He does however have a connection with Armand, namely that he becomes a member of the Trinity Gate coven in the PL trilogy and dies protecting Benji from a presumed-hostile alien who was stalking him, and he dies calling out for Armand to save him (and Armand does come, but too late). So, with this in mind I do wonder if this book connection is the basis for whatever this Fang Gang “Armand told the truth” stuff is, and that it’s just been… twisted quite a bit, to say the least. Who knows, we’ll see.

Anyway, I have to say I didn’t get the sense that they’re setting up Armand to continue being an antagonist in the present day. That wasn’t how I read the opening scene, if that’s what you mean?

“The Vampire Lestat is to be destroyed and with him his mother, Gabrielle, his cohorts, Louis and Armand, and any and all immortals who show him loyalty.”