how many seconds in eternity?

i was struck recently by how often armand cries during the devil's minion chapter. armand generally tries to present himself as cold and disaffected, and when he has emotional outbursts, they're usually angry ones. he tries to keep up this attitude with daniel somewhat (his whole 'oh i didn't even notice you gone' type routine when daniel returns to night island), but it seems like he really can't quite pull it off in the manner he normally does. he gets affected by daniel's words in a way he's not used to.

the description of his crying being uncontrollable, like he's awakened a lost side of himself he can't handle, is so interesting. armand was isolated for so long - he was enslaved and then a cult leader, he goes from one extreme situation to another. and when he and louis fell in love, he sabotaged their relationship so thoroughly in a way there was no need to argue, because they went straight from the top of the world to rock bottom. there was nothing really to say, just resignation. even when they break up armand just walks away in a manner where louis thinks he's coming back later. their passionate love affair had become cold and sterile. whereas daniel and armand are on a roller coaster ride, 'misery and ecstasy united by love' all wrapped up in one relationship. and the ups and downs made both of them emotional - prone to heated fights and dramatically reuniting.

i don't think armand knew how to handle the hot and cold of it all. if daniel were only ever cruel, he could close himself off and try to shut off his feelings (i think this is kind of eventually what happened during their tva era break up), but daniel also loves him and makes armand's life exciting and puts up with his insane questions and experiments. he can't turn off the vulnerability he had to have to enter into the relationship - making daniel his guide to modern life, trusting what he said about how things work and being willing to look foolish. as a result, daniel's insults actually sting, and he can't just stop worrying about daniel when he storms off or is self destructive.

he also cries tears of laughter during the chapter.

this time daniel isn't really responsible for the tears. but i think it speaks to how emotionally free he was during that time (like i don't think he was crying tears of laughter with the children of satan, you know?). and the fact that he had home to watch it in, technology he knew how to operate, a companion who would watch it with him over ave over... that's a result of the life he had with daniel.

and so he cries when daniel's dying and cries when he turns daniel. because either way, that life has come to an end.

daniel sees it as the beginning of their life together, and is baffled armand would be upset now they can finally be together forever. but to armand, it's the end of this disastrous, messy period of time that reawakened his heart after being so closed off. and he knows it will never be the same. but he does it anyways, he breaks his one rule even when believing it spelled certain doom for them, because that's how much he'd come to care after everything. and in the moment of truth, the depth of his true feelings - the fact he could care so much, that after years of misery he actually wanted to live now, and he only wanted to live if daniel did - that still surprises him.

gutted

old patreon exclusive from 2024, wanted to post the full thing since it's from 2 years back now

I only saw hatred as well, like maybe he intended for it to come across like a love/hate thing? But it does not show on screen to me at all. If you have not read the books it 100% comes across like Lestat hates Armand and doesn't want anything to do with him at all, Lestat literally tells him to kill himself! Even in the paris flashbacks Lestat was so mean to Armand, I just don't see any love at all.

Ngl it does seem like because Sam is so attached to book canon he has kind of filled in the gaps of the writing with his own headcanons lmao, like yes these are the reasons Lestat is like this, but we the audience are not mind readers so we can't know what he's thinking so it dosen't come across to the viewers at all.

And to me the hatred Lestat has towards Armand also seems soooo one-sided since they've removed practically everything horrible that Armand did to Lestat (didn't chop off Nicki's hand, didn't forcefully drink his blood, didn't starve him, didn't push him off a building, didn't force him to participate in the trail, didn't lie about louis being dead), so it just comes off as Lestat hating for absolutely no reason.

Where does the bullshit start, Armand, Amadeo, Arun?

I genuinely think the writers did shit like making Armand walk in the sun in previous seasons for no greater reason than because it looked cool and was a shock plot twist. But to then double DOWN on that by making DANIEL walk in the sun and making every vampire and their grandma be able to fly? At that point it is not just a lack of foresight, it feels like the writers are taking the piss. What the fuck is "having the blood of Akasha" even going to mean for Lestat, actually, when everyone else is already so damn powerful? What difference will it make? How will they portray Akasha as so much more powerful than everyone else without making it seem like everyone just forgets to use their own powers?

Altering the timeline of the Great Burning this much from book canon is legit a MAJOR plot CRATER. Lestat should be TOAST. He should be dead and reduced to dust and ashes. Speaking of ashes! What the hell was the point of the instruction of only feeding TWMBK ashes? Why make up the plotline of Lestat being the Keeper (WHAT btw. Why even have Marius in the show at this point actually if this is how his role is going to be treated) and by extension the "worthy" judgement if not to explicitly bind the last one to whether he is allowed to drink Akasha's blood in the first place? By HER? Why have Akasha specifically request Lestat as her Keeper when he has done jack shit that would be remarkable to her at that point in time? When the playing of the violin is not even his idea? Why does show!Akasha not just squash Marius like a bug or order someone else to be her Keeper?

Above all, the way they shot Akasha's monologue drove me up the wall. The actress is doing an amazing job but the episode is doing everything to undermine the performance by distracting you with other bullshit - Lestat is yelling, Marius is yelling, Marius is putting down Akasha for a statue nap as if she is a child and Lestat is still floating in the air in a way I cannot remotely take seriously. It is too frantic to leave an actual lasting impact on the viewer!

Akasha should be imposing. She should be TERRIFYING. We should instill a boundless fascination with her in Lestat as a queen, as a goddess, as a lover, because what else is the point! TWMBK and Marius' lair should have been a bottle episode with a laser focus on that location and storyline in the vein of 2x05, full stop. But NO, we get interrupted with modern band bullshit.

It's not like they had to be dead: babystat and Louis aren't spirits of the dead. Claudia in 3x05 was the memory of her, not a manifestation of her.

Armand, always in the corner, "unwanted," yet Lestat can't seem to stop carrying him around. A juxtaposed fascimile of the Armand that IS still wandering around and on his own path.

They always say it was the budget cuts that prevented them from doing flashbacks, but the muses were right there. They could have shown us what happened on a modern stage on the sets they already had. Gothic mirrors and parallels can occur in physical locations, as well.

It's not like they decided not to fixate on the past in order to move the narrative forward--TVL is absolutely drowning in the baggage of earlier seasons. And not only that, the vast majority of this season's narrative development occurs in the past, and the points that do occur in the present often feel underwritten/unearned and again rely heavily on past events which we sometimes don't even get solid information on (the fumbled DM anyone?)

So you have this bizarre situation where the show is arguably over-reliant on past seasons without engaging with any of the critical and as-yet unresolved moments that defined them (the trial, Lestat's treatment of Claudia, Armand in general).

spied a potential tank top under that shirt and alas, i am but a weak mortal...................

---

in a short film called the saint of southhall here

in east is east by signing up for a subscription of ntathome here (there are links to watch it without paying but i can't provide that rn)

watch him as florizel in an rsc (royal shakespeare company) production of the winter's tale here (downloadable) he also played a few small roles in an rsc production of coriolanus that you can rent from digital theatre here or with a subscription to marquee tv here

he was in about 5 seconds of the show 'cucumber' which you can watch on channel 4's online player here. this may require a vpn if you're outside the UK. he's in episode 6 (content warning: this episode shows assad's character dying from AIDS and ends with a Black character being violently murdered by a white man in a homophobic hate crime)

he was in one of the 'small axe' films directed by steve mcqueen for the bbc, 'red white and blue' starring john boyega which you can watch here (requires a vpn outside the UK and a content warning for racism) he was in s4e3 of 'our girl' which you can watch here

he was in a couple episodes of a bbc show called 'apple tree yard' that isn't currently available on bbc iplayer but you can watch some clips of him here this youtube channel also has some supercuts of his appearances in other shows (such as 'vera' here) and stage productions, as well as behind the scenes videos, and his lines from a poem here (full video has since been taken down but he looks very beautiful in the clip so watch it anyway) and this classic

he was in a movie called 'we work for the dead' also known as 'this is the night mail' which looks like it's available to rent or buy from amazon in the US here it also appears to be free with ads on youtube (for countries that aren't mine lmao)

if you're going to be in england any time soon you can watch him in a recording of zadie smith's 'white teeth' held in the v&a's video archive. this requires contacting the v&a beforehand to make a request and book an appointment here. you can watch the trailer for that production here

anyway ''we work for the dead' can now be watched outside of the US here