Watching S3E1 and the lengths the writers have gone through to show, in just a few brief moments, the breaking of Lestat by the mere appearance of Gabriella… I will be *livid* if we are subjected to yet another mishandling of Armand and Marius’ reunion (as written in QOTD), where there is no acknowledgement of the *intense* and *crushing* trauma that not only Armand suffered through in his human life, yes even under the hands of his maker, but the mind-shattering reality of having your only guardian, the person you trusted the most (for better or worse), turn you into an immortal being, then be BURNED “ALIVE” IN FRONT OF YOU — only to find out not only did that person survive, they NEVER CAME BACK FOR YOU. Never reached out. KNEW that you were kidnapped into a cult, and according to the book TVL, decided that was too much effort to rescue you from, especially since you seemed to be buying into the cult nonsense, **even though you HAD TO in order to SURVIVE**. And then this being that you had built up as a perfect deity in your mind, that you believed you saw die in front of you, whose death you believed was YOUR FAULT… he opens up to this blonde upstart and shows him things he never shared with you?? And then one day, the world is falling apart, and you walk into a room and there he is?? This mythical being?? That you thought died?? But instead just never cared enough for you to even write a letter?? To say he’s at least alive??
Rolin, I beg you, GIVE THIS MOMENT TO ASSAD. Armand deserves to finally have that, to come to terms with that heart-wrenching break, that utter collapse of his entire world… let him cry, scream, explode, LET HIM HAVE THAT. Give him what Anne didn’t! Let our hearts break for him, let us see that child within the man that begs for some kind of reckoning… let us glimpse that broken boy, like you are letting us see in Lestat’s scene with his mother.
Marius, and that traumatic night Armand was ripped away from everything he had known (AGAIN) just as his world was starting to feel stable… these are people and events that undeniably shaped Armand, if not defined him (at least in his own mind), please, PLEASE do not ignore this. Do not do him dirty and just have him blindly accept Marius’ NON-DEATH and surprise entrance.
I just want to see a realistic reaction. Do not sweep his trauma under the rug, or play it off as something that can be waved away, or that he can easily forgive and forget.