Actually relentlessly thinking about Lestat and Louis' total acceptance of Claudia's fury and grief as one of the realest acts of love we've seen on this show. So much of this story has been about chasing the idea of her and making her something palatable or twisting her to fit their lives or their memories or making others wear the costume of her, and none of it works, because none of it is her. They render her a slip of life, when she was a full bodied, full spirited woman, and no song or doppelganger can ever truly capture her.
The beat where Claudia knocks Merrick forwards, knocks out her front tooth, and both Louis and Lestat lean forwards, lean into it - - it's a heartstopper, because they know, we know, it's actually her. The killer down in New Orleans who clogged the Mississippi with corpses, the girl who slit one of her fathers' throats, who wore the ring of his mistress, who goaded her other father to Europe and nearly left him in No Man's Land, who ridiculed him long, long before this episode (and in similar terms). This fanged and ruthless woman who they love enough to welcome at her worst. They don't want her filed down, they want the spark in the dark, in her eyes as Louis said two episodes ago.
Claudia's anger makes her real to them, and no door closes here. The circle's broken. They want her back, they're gonna have her back, and the undercurrent of this episode to me is that Louis and Lestat actually won't be mad about that because they really do fucking love her. They love and miss the worst parts of her, not just the best, and now that's what they'd bring forwards to the point they won't let her rest. They will have her miserable and as a malevolent spirit and they will call her daughter regardless, and none of her fury will ever actually matter so long as they can throw their heads back and laugh and commiserate with one another about her because they do love her, but they love her second to each other.
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