This blog is multi-fandom, and there are also plenty of posts regarding feminism/sexism, health, and other political or social issues. My current main fandom is IWTV/Devil's Minion. You can find my fic for that and other fandoms on AO3.
Also, not to be petty on main, but can we now at least agree that we were right when we said the lack of Armand content in promo was because there was going to be very little actual Armand in this season?
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Was that the episode that was supposed to shock and tear apart the fandom? Because DH's scene aside, it was just...boring, predictable (how long have they been telegraphing the [spoiler] at this point?) and completely underdeveloped (so much talking this season, not enough showing). I guess we just had to have another minutes-long ballad instead of...you know...plot and characterization.
Also, I sure hope that AZ and EB are still getting paid regular salaries instead of whatever the day rate for extras is. Has AZ even had more than 15 minutes of screentime this whole season? And they've definitely short-shrifted EB too.
The pros:
Delainey was amazing, and I loved Claudia saying everything she deserved a chance to say. A million Emmys for DH. I guess that didn't turn out the way you thought it would, huh, Louis? Although...Madeleine sob. (ETA: I'm seeing and reading the criticism, and I don't disagree with or dispute it. Not least of which: there is quite a bit of racism in it and it does flatten out some complexities or even rewrite things. I'm not convinced, however, that what she was saying was necessarily 100% the truth or how she felt about the two of them in life. I feel like seances or ghost encounters in entertainment media are never supposed to be taken as fully truthful or even really "them"?? Maybe that's a cop-out, but it could explain some of the things she said.)
Lestat's physical reaction clearly showed that he knows the relationship with Gabriella is NOT OK and he doesn't want it and it can't be explained away as a Vampire Thing. That's something, at least.
The end scene was a good cliffhanger. Like I said, to me, it wasn't particularly surprising in retrospect since they foreshadowed it. But it was still kind of cool and gasp-worthy in the moment. I don't understand why anyone should or would get mad by it though because obviously they're going to bring them back with the help of Mad Scientist Fareed and they're doing it as part of a plan or attempt to stop the Great Conversion, which we the audience should want so...?? Anyone who can't see and understand that is not paying attention. (Although to be fair, it would have been nice to have one or two scenes showing how they got there but...it's already been established we can't have nice things this season.) I mean, IDK that Louis needed to be included in the slicing and dicing, but I suppose he would go ballistic if he wasn't so it keeps him out of the way.
"Everyone loved Tom Anderson. Topeka!" Glad everyone in the book club had one correct opinion.
"I have some work to do on myself." No shit to both of you.
The huh?
"I don't have an ending for my doc." Uh, Daniel? I feel like the concert would be the ending...
"I tried to respect your privacy." Was that what Louis was doing when he pulled out extremely personal memories of rejection and then laughed in Daniel's face about them?
The cons
No, seriously, I found most scenes to be kind of boring. It feels like L/L have lost chemistry somehow? It could be the dialogue or directing, obviously, but I just wasn't feeling a lot of their scenes, to be honest. Except for the freak-out over Gabs, I guess. The scene with Daniel was particularly boring, IMO. Line. Smirk. Line. Smirk. Line. Smirk. The 2 against 1 was better with Armand in Dubai, sorry.
JE's fucking accent (always and forever).
Again...the music at the expense of everything else. These last couple episodes in particular have just felt like their pitch for an Original Music Emmy instead of a coherent television show.
Just this last week, I was saying I wanted to be more positive about this season because I WANT to like it. I just wish they didn't make it so hard to do so... I really do feel like they took everything the fandom was begging to see in a continuation of previous seasons and they exclaimed about how excited they were to be the first to adapt TVL onscreen and then just...threw it all away out of spite or pettiness or something.
Also, I definitely feel they are bitter about the fandom latching onto AZ and DM and are punishing us for it. How dare we not all just worship at the Altar of Sam Reid and the Loustat show? I used to not want DM to be told separately because I didn't want it to be treated as lesser vs. the main show. But seeing how they've done it here so far, please please please, I hope people are right in thinking that any Night Island series could be a TVA/DM thing. And that it's run by people who actually like, understand, and can write the characters involved.
the crazy thing is, i didn't hate show!lestat before this season. i disliked him at most. how do you give a character so much victimhood and still make him the least sympathetic character imaginable? well, they accomplished it. i feel nothing.
they literally could've cut out all the concert & rockstar bullshit and they would've had a big enough budget for the important story beats. why is sam reid rotating his hips more important than all the character work in the books. it's so frustrating. they had the formula right there. make a documentary and let lestat talk in front of a camera with daniel and then flesh out the flashback scenes like in season 1 & 2. they had gold at their disposal
Prediction for comic con: "There was some criticism over the name change, and you're right. The name TVL just doesn't work. So, season 4 will be called..."The Queen of the Damned."
Pipe dream for comic con: "Also, won't you join us for a little trip to Miami?" (Look, I don't agree with the absolute certainty among some in the fandom that any NI show would be about DM, but I certainly wouldn't be opposed if it did, at this point.)
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Based solely on the looks Raglan gave Armand and Louis at the auction, I think it’s Lestat in there. We don’t know how far in the future this is (and/or how quickly other things unfolded). I’m sure I’m not the first or only person to propose this, but that’s my theory.
The body-swapping with Alex and/or de-aging to LBF theories to get rid of Old Maniel get wilder and more convoluted every time I see them. Look, I'll eat crow if any of that turns out to be true, but there are two things I'm pretty damn certain of:
No matter what proportion of the fandom has glommed onto the nearly blank framework of Random White Boy #2, Alex will not survive the season.* Maybe Armand will take him out when he's no longer a useful stooge, maybe Akasha will explode him, IDK. He's a redshirt. (*Unless they need the band to return, perhaps in flashbacks, for anything they do when adapting QotD.)
Even if there is an ambiguous cliffhanger or temporary plot twist or something, no matter how much "tee hee Daniel's going to die fake-out foreshadowing" they're giving us, well-liked and most likely contracted actor Eric Bogosian will return for any season 4 there may be.
I see many people (including maybe show people but I can’t think of any specific interviews/quotes) talking as if the TVL book will be split into two seasons just as the IWTV book was. I seem to remember saying months ago that I couldn’t actually see that being the case and now that we’ve had most of the season, I still don’t see how.
The main plot points of the book are: awakening and forming of band, early life, Nicki and Paris, turned into a vampire, Gabrielle’s turned into a vampire, Armand & his merry cult, traveling around, Marius blathering on for what felt like 10,000 pages, the briefest addressing of IWTV, walk with Louis and final concert, cliffhanger with Akasha.
Considering how fast and shallowly they ran through most of that list, there’s absolutely no reason they can’t get through the rest of it in the next two episodes even with the (tiny) additions they brought in for the others to have something to do. In fact: next episode - IWTV trial/Louis stuff, last episode obvious cliffhanger ending for the season to have the concert and Akasha take Lestat.
The options for a season 4 that I could see would then be: 1) do a *record scratch* “no, wait, this is how it really happened” and then go back and retell TVL again but actually develop and explain all the parts they skimmed right over with full respect for the story and other characters (ahem) or 2) go forward and start adapting the QotD book. As much as I might like #1, that would just be absolutely ridiculous pacing and narrative structure. #2 seems like the clear next step, especially given the “prologue” and repeated references to QotD plots.
So again…why does it seem accepted or perhaps just assumed that this season is just “part 1” of the TVL adaptation? Or is it just confusion/conflation of the two books?
(Please if you can, answer this without spoilers as I am trying to be as spoiler-free as possible.)
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Found with the rest of the hoard, the handaxe pictured above was probably found either while digging his own hole for the treasure or maybe earlier in a precious bout of hoarding by some Romano-Briton who thought it was cool enough to bury along with all of his coins and Juliane's bracelet, because cool rock. This was absolutely the correct move.
Thinking so hard about that, "Prove it," in the park scene and why Daniel reacts so strongly to Armand's fucked up little love confession.
Daniel Molloy has driven away everyone who ever loved him, and he knows it.
By the time we see him in S1, he's been divorced twice, he's estranged from his children, and he has no friends to speak of. All he has is his career, which he holds onto as the one thing he did right in his life. He even tells Louis: I was bad at everything else, but I was a good journalist. He has accepted this about himself. He knows he was the problem in all his relationships - the choices he made and the hurt he caused are the reason he's alone. That is a HEAVY pill to swallow, especially when you're in your 70s and staring down the barrel of a terminal illness.
Then suddenly, he's a vampire. He's not dying anymore. Now he's going to live forever. What's he gonna do with all that time? The only thing he knows how to do is be a journalist, so that's what he does. He throws himself into making his documentary because it's literally all he has. He's not like Louis, whose mortal family still loved him and wanted him around even after he turned, or Lestat, who quickly made fledglings of the people he loved so they could spend eternity with him.
Daniel tells Louis: "Vampire loneliness - I get it now."
Daniel doesn't have people who love him. He ruined all that. All he's got is his career as a journalist. So that's what he spends his eternity on - he's gonna make his documentary and wring some truth out of Lestat, because it's a distraction from facing down eternity as an immortal who is not just alone, but who has lived a long life and come out if it with the conclusion that they are fundamentally unlovable and its their own damn fault.
And now here's his maker again. Fuck this guy, right? Armand is the one who gave him this immortality, which he's now going to have to spend alone and unloved. And to top it all off, Armand left Daniel too. At least this one time, Daniel can say that it wasn't his fault, and he can pour all his anger and frustration out on the one person who left him when he didn't deserve it.
And then Armand says, "By the way, I love you."
"I've been here the whole time. You thought you pushed everyone away? You didn't. I'm here. I've always been here."
"Do you remember all the times you were a bad husband? I was there and I still love you."
"Do you remember all the times you were a bad father? I know about that. I still love you."
"Those awful, shitty things you've done? I know about those too and I'm fine with them. You aren't repulsive to me. I still love you."
"I've cared for you at your worst, and I still love you."
"I know you need your career to give your life meaning. I'll even support you in that if you let me. Because I love you."
"You're tattered, and you're broken, but I still want you to be mine."
I've heard through the grapevine that it might become DM shippers vs. the rest of the Fandom; And I just want to say that I'm ready to fight alongside you all, and I love you all deeply.
Wait are we going to get Halloween in Ep 6 with Lestat dressing up but no DM dressing up like they do in the book 😞😞😞 Im not normally a book purist but come on, Daniel and Armand in matching sailor costumes while Armand gives the kids silver dollars and Daniel is like a delusional fledgling on his arm is literally the best imagery & vibes ever . And then the Talamasca is secretly whooping ass in the lobby. And then ancient vampires are on the second floor slowly touching each others hands and saying they won’t attack each other like two dogs sniffing each other at a dog park 😞😞😞 and Khayman finds a worn out copy of IWTV and calls it emo garbage. Literally chapter of all time
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
I honestly think Gen-Z and younger simply does not understand how recent widespread smartphone adoption is.
I am not that old, and I didn't have a smartphone until probably late high school. For most of my life, many if not most people were not walking around with a magic internet machine in their pocket that they pulled out and used constantly for everything.
On Akasha’s side because if I were stuck as a living statue forced to listen to Marius de Romanus talk on and off for nearly two thousand years while he periodically touched me and kissed me, I’d want to kill every man on earth too.
jacobvanloon
snowghoul
dailybridgerton
ellievsbear
theartofmadeline
discoholicmusic
vaporwave
