im skipping bjj to watch this which is unfortunate but I really want to be caught up by tomorrow
fucking harrowing opening. louis and claudia seperated, isolated, tortured. they beat louis and threw claudia to the rats. louis powerless to help claudia, and claudia overpowered and assaulted by the people who once were her companions...it's horrifying
the blackouts and flashing in and out of conciousness - very effective horror. GOD
and santiago did mind tricks on Madeleine...tragic as it is, we don't know how sincere any of her words on stage are. maybe if she was in control of herself, she would have chosen survival instead. or maybe not
daniel tries to interrupt and louis doesn't let him. I'm telling this story! daniel apologizes for once. armand sits quietly in his shame in the back
daniel said you were characters? louis said We Were Props. for the play. as an early example of the racist fictio that they were about to be subjected to, they were reduced from three-dimensional, living breathing people with histories and loves to just objects to support the story and the nonblack cast
using claudia's private diaries against her (great writing, love you claudia)...handing those diaries to the humans! having them gasp and boo and laugh at louis and claudia
slashing everyone's ankle tendons to the bone...mentally terrorizing them when they try to speak in their own defense...oh GOD. layer after layer of humiliation and disempowerment! when louis tried to get up and defend claudis and fell...💔
oh my god SET DRESSING NAILED TO THE FLOOR
AND the fact that its a trial. all the white judges. christ
I've been a little easy on lestat this season as he's dead but he did this too. he fully participated and helped in this. FUCKING lestat. who louis can feel btw. he's nauseous with it
lestat walking out all leonine and sexy and getting cheers when HE'S THE ONE WHO PUSHED THEM TO DO ALL THAT. FUCKERRRR
all these shots are SO good and dense with meaning I'm literally five minutes in btw
lestat opening with jokes and shit for the crowd. 'haha its changed so much' the audience loves it bc lestat's the co-founder. man fuck you
'IT'S THEIR TURN TO HURT' ????? MAN FUCK YOUUUUU
also...idk if the book that lestat swears on is actually the one claudia wrote his last words in, but the projected words are NOT hers. they were messier and in french. lies!
and then santiago is like tell us of this tale of brutality and lestat is like um its a love story actually. of course lestat. its a love story
the animations are really quite ugly. lestat speaks fondly of the tragic nicky but didn't he cheat on him w armand w nicky watching? whatever that was what armand said anyway
some of the guys in the crowd are like ????? over the gay shit. oh brother just you wait
louis is like it's so heartbreaking....they were keeping armand prisoner he had to watch. and it's fucking sam with a prop scythe. and daniel's like....UH HUH. I would never call louis stupid I think he simply believes what he needs to in order to function. but like it's crazy. armand is 400 years old. claudia and madeleine were already gone. he could have said louis it's dangerous here, let's get out immediately, etc. at least claudia and madeleine would have been okay. christ
did lestat rly bury himself in dirt for a hundred years. that's insane
I just realized santiago's wearing a slutty mesh long-sleeve for his judge outfit. lmao?
okay he's at NOLA. and he turns and stars at louis and louis gives him this agonized, even pleading look...and lestat coldly turns and names him as a horrible antiblack caricature is projected on the screen
they're trying to lie in the record and lestat stops them, which makes the judges pissed. 'I'm about to kill this guy' and all that. yeah now you know how claudia felt
this retelling is so disgusting. the surface facts abt louis marginalized by racism and alienated by his sexuality are true, as are the circumstances of lestat first seeing and meeting him, and yes he did own brothels and was involved in small crimes. but lestat is casting louis as a one-dimensional caricature, a violent and disturbed man, as the predator, as the violator, as the one who won't leave lestat alone when in reality louis was a complex person with hidden depths of sensitivity and a great deal of love for his family and people, struggling with the weight of his family obligations, who formed a strong mutual bond with lestat, and who LESTAT preyed on, whose mind lestat invaded and whose place of sanctuary lestat violently destroyed and violated in louis's time of grief. switching around the 'come to me' was so disgustingly hypocritical I'm actually breathless. no wonder louis tried speaking out. no wonder he's so angry!
I think lestat also knows how fucked this is and might have needed to take a second to recover from this scene, and that's why he froze for a second. (why didn't sam give him the line telepathically? did lestat make sam?). this observation is not intended to exonerate lestat, but it's there for a reason
current working theory is that lestat was pissed about being killed but way more pissed at claudia than louis. he's here to kill claudia and get revenge on her, and he's happy to make louis suffer for it too, but ultimately he wants louis to walk away from it. bc he's insane about louis and could not ever actually kill him just like louis couldn't kill HIM
his next lines were so stiff and lifeless too. lestat NOT mentally here for this line
how does 'this human called to me from within a church and then I killed two priests and offered myself and vampirism to him' make any sense in the storyhe was telling. how does the human have the power here
omg I can't DO THISSSSSS louis crying to hear some of the most important and private and beautiful moments of his life exposed for ridicule and judgement and recontextualized to paint him as some bestial monster. what the fuckkk. lestat even seems reflective about it. naturally those are important moments for him too. wtf are you DOING dude
oh and lestat interrupting the lynching to scold that guy for being homophobic. crazy scene.
TRANSCENDENT LOVE BETWEEN TWO VAMPIRES OF THE SAME SEX. not to derail but I always enjoy extremely powerful immortal gay ppl nailing in how beautiful and important their relationships are to puny little straight humans. the old guard did this. cultivators can do this too like wx could have done it. anyway we see where lestat's priorities are. no wonder he's a popular tumblr figure
oh and this is in defense of THE CHURCH SCENE. this is an immensely important moment to lestat! the transcendent love he's referencing is between him and LOUIS - no wonder he's defensive
the fact that the trial emphasizes that it was in a church...it's not even heavyhanded bc this episode is an intentional metacommenentary on the audience reception to the show itself and the antiblackness involved in the treatment of the unreliable narration. mwah
15 mins in btw I've been watching for over an hour
everyone laughing at louis for not wanting to eat people??? claudia trying to defend him!!! louis crying!!!! FUCK YOU!!!! he's so wounded and vulnerable this entire trial
and then the 'ohh he threatened me with loneliness' bullshit. lestat getting all the sympathy and compassion and context and louis not even allowed to SPEAK!!! yeah he did say lestat would always be alone and it's bc lestat was being an awful partner and nobody is obligated to stay w you if you're acting like a shit!!! MOTHERFUCKERS
armand like 'lestat was defiling louis's life' he sure was!! you got that right armand! we'll get to armand, I know he's deflecting blame but for now in public lestat IS hurting and humiliating and lying about louis
the claudia rewrite....jesus christ okay
so right off the bat I understand why ppl don't believe this is true but for several reasons I am inclined to think at least parts of it are
for one, past lestat is acting in perfect characterization. you don't know this girl, human affairs have nothing to do with us. you're not at fault for whatever was done to her home. this is a mistake. you're doing this wrong! he knows about the great laws, and does tell louis more than once. why wouldn't he? why wouldn't it come up later? maybe lestat didn't say all those things, exactly, but I believe that he stood to the side arms crossed and refused
and for louis...this unhappiness and desperation is also in-character for him. it just seems like it was a lot more extreme than he presented it in s1. but he WAS always calling claudia HIS redemption, HIS grace. saving her was about Him. and he cried so to hear her call him an angel. and ANGEL!!! he was DESPERATE for that kind of love, that kind of faith from someone. for a daughter, a child. I see no reason this version isn't true. he has to deny it. to claudia.
and I see why the louis of even present-day s1 would be too guilt-ridden and humiliated to convey it all - his abject desperation and pleading, his selfishness, his lack of care for what she's going to go through. and we know lestat has abandonment issues. maybe the promises never to leave him, horrifying as they are, are what worked
I hate that shot of him dragging claudia. I HATE it. I don't think I believe that happened. I would prefer if his guilt invented it bc that's how he was thinking of her. but I just don't know
the other resson I think this actually happened is that lestat describes it in the trial with relatively neutral and blame-free language. he says, I told him she'd be 14 forever, but louis waa panicked and claudia was near death. he felt so guilty he lost the use of reason. this feels...very light for the situation we saw? contrasted to the other situations in the episode where louis's actions were villainized and exaggerated, this one seems different, and louis himself says this one is different
and...while this sham trial as a whole is supposed to manipulate audience perceptions and paint him as a villain, in the actual show he's an extremely complex character whose done both bad and good in his very long life. personally I feel that one situation turning out to louis look rather worse offers him even more complexity than just 'he was wronged the whole time' bc that obfuscation and guilt and shame are also a part of his character, which contribute to his complexity
but of course he couldn't face claudia and tell her he knew. and of course a vampire of lestat's experience knew - the s1 scene was far too simplistic and romantic, wasn't it?
and lestat praising claudia, praising their family unit, IN the interview room...wow...
