Daniel's memories of Alice being memories of Armand
Daniel first mentions Alice in episode 2 of season 1. He's served a dessert that he mentions he ate after asking his first wife Alice to marry him in Paris (a city significant to Armand). Why are Louis and Armand serving him something that would remind him of Alice? Hmm. He goes on to describe a unique physical trait she had:
I remember finding this a weird detail when I first watched this scene. But after the scene of Armand taking off his contacts to reveal his vamp eyes, I feel like it could be a reference to that. This still felt like a stretch but the proposal scene from today's episode convinced me.
Louis asks Daniel what Alice said when he proposed to her and Daniel suddenly has a memory of Armand from the past.
The timing of this memory as he's being asked about Alice can't be a coincidence. He looks at Armand in confusion. And when he finally admits that she said no. It's ARMAND who replies that she wanted to say yes.
Why would Armand know this? Why would he feel the need to tell Daniel this after seeing him looking wrecked by the memory?
And then there's Louis' remark about Daniel feeling more comfortable holding Alice's hand in Paris than in America:
Earlier in the episode, Louis talks about Paris being less racist than America. I think this line is about him thinking Paris is also less homophobic than America.
It's not the first time Louis hinted at Daniel being bi or gay.
I don't think this memory is about Daniel literally asking Armand to marry him. But pretty much the equivalent when you are a human in love with a vampire. He probably asked Armand to turn him so they could spend eternity together and Armand said no.
Yes, 100% agree with all of this.
Daniel has internalized homophobia and is likely very much in denial about that part of his sexuality still. Which, honestly, fits very much with someone of his generation. The show has hinted about that since Season 1; starting from the first episode and Daniel looking down at Louis' comment about them meeting in a gay bar. Looking down like that is a very cinematic "tell" that a character is hiding something (if not just outright lying).
Daniel came of age in the 1970s and the early 1980s. The early 1980s was when the AIDS epidemic was first being reported on and exploding. Being gay or bi was already stigmatized before that time, but became even more so during the AIDS crisis.
And does everyone happen to know where people in the United States who were diagnosed with AIDS, and had the money to do so, would go to try and get real treatment for it that the US Gov't kept blocking? Yep, Paris France. (Actor Rock Hudson is the most famous of the known people who went there.)
Daniel feeling "freer" to hold Alice's hand in Paris doesn't make sense if Alice is a woman. That was about Armand.
Daniel "proposing" to Alice was, I agree, very much about Daniel asking Armand to turn him so they could be together forever. But the problem was that Daniel had probably asked to be turned before that -- and asked more than once -- because, at first, he just wanted to be immortal. And probably because Daniel saw vampirism as being "freeing" (along with living forever).
And Armand said no. Because he couldn't trust that Daniel actually loved him when he asked, and would really stay with Armand once he gained immortality. And what very likely hurt Daniel was thinking Armand kept refusing to turn Daniel because -- in Daniel's eyes -- Armand actually didn't really love him.
And that is why Louis poking at that specific memory was able to hurt Daniel so much -- and why Louis chose to go after Daniel with it. It was Louis choosing to poke at Daniel's long-ago fear and belief that Armand really didn't love him as deeply as Daniel loved Armand in return . . . and that lack of really loving him being the reason why Armand kept refusing to turn him.
