With today’s reveal that Louis ordered Armand to keep tabs over Daniel I’m curious to know if you think that Louis knew/was suspicious that Armand was in love with Daniel?
Nowhere did Episode 5 tell us that Louis ordered Armand to keep tabs on Daniel. All it told us is that Armand was keeping tabs on Daniel of his own volition because he was fascinated by and falling in love with him, then going home and telling Louis about it. To me, this is consistent with the relationship dynamic that Armand and Louis kept going for so many years wherein Armand, determined to spend the rest of his life making Paris up to Louis, decides that it’s only fair if he tells Louis what he’s doing (even if it’s just for himself) as a form of transparency and/or self-debasement. I imagine that Louis perhaps used that information Armand was recounting to him as one more piece of leverage in the act of guilt-tripping Armand in perpetuity, too.
Do I think Louis knew that Armand was in love with Daniel? Perhaps. He must’ve at least strongly suspected it. It would be on-brand for him to tolerate Armand doing something like this, knowing Armand would periodically come back home to tell him what the fuck he was up to. You could argue that the cruelty comes in like this: Louis is more than willing to sit back and watch Armand get progressively more miserable, over half a century, because he’s unable to leave his relationship with Louis for one with Daniel. Louis might’ve set terms where it’s like—I don’t care what you do for those long periods you disappear, but remember that I expect you to come back. I still don’t think he’d order Armand to tell him what he’s been up to, though; that just feels like an Armand self-debasement special to me, offering up his shame for Louis to use against him. The “I was a coward” line takes on so much additional meaning the more I think about it in the context of this adaptation.
