I AM THE ANSWER

— I walked into the sun... I'm remembering it now... I walked out into the sun. Pieces of my life, gone. I knew who I was without those pieces. (Interview with the Vampire, Season 2 Episode 5)

without claudia there and without louis saying anything beyond one-liners that go unaddressed, what could've been a really interesting scene that serves as payoff for the previous episodes where lestat kept avoiding confrontation then shifting to lestat finally holding himself accountable, just ends up falling flat. it's the same thing with the apology to enzo, it falls flat bc so much of what we actually needed him to address is just. left as the elephant in the room or swept under the rug. the emotional payoff I kept waiting for never comes. clearly the writers intended the paul moment to be that payoff but there's nothing in the narrative beforehand to make this feel earned. it's egregious to have lestat's dying mind conjure paul forgiving him and thanking him, as if he's made sufficient amends to louis or even sufficiently acknowledged the patriarchal abuse he inflicted on his family in nola. whatever. let the tale piss you off forever 😂😂💔💔