Rottenwalrus

*insert really super duper cool text here*

the narrative seems not only spiteful and uncompassionate to its own established characters and audience but almost apologetic for having demanded that viewers hold empathy for black leads during s1-s2, for asking them to center black characters as protagonists and care about their interiority- the brutalization and humiliation of jacob and delainey's characters isn't just the nonblack writers engaging in a gratuitous fantasy of torturing black bodies and "humbling" black characters who've reached too far above their station, but also a way to restore the status quo that asserts the "proper" role of blackness is to be a site of inherent pain and mortification. racist viewers who rejected the show when jacob was cast in 2021 or at any point during s1-s2 bc the idea of getting invested in messy black leads put them off can now comfortably tune back in, assured that the show will never ask them to care about a black person more than a white person or think a black person's material suffering could matter more than a nonblack person's feelings and reputation ever again. the cruelty is the point, in many ways.

(tags via @leblogestunmonstre) right like when you look at the roles jacob, delainey and assad are playing, they aren't continuations of where their arcs left off at the end of s2 as much as the show trying to redo the same character beats in s2 in a way that asks less empathy for black characters from the audience and is a lot blunter and more flanderized.

s2- louis is consumed by grief for claudia while being gaslit by armand in the present day, as armand destabilizes louis' perception of reality and what happened in paris to conceal his true involvement in the trial. claudia enters armand's employ as an actress while unaware of the true danger of the paris coven and armand's own capacity for antiblack violence. near the end of the season, louis and claudia are lynched in a humiliating public spectacle that it's later revealed armand directed.

s3- louis is consumed by grief for claudia while being gaslit by armand in the present day- except this time armand just gloats about how much he was gaslighting louis. regina enters armand's employ offscreen as part of armand's elaborate scheme to fuck with louis' head while unaware of armand's capacity for antiblack violence. near the end of the season, louis and regina are lynched in a humiliating public spectacle where armand just straight-up personally tortures them this time.

and even the main "original" plot of the season, present-day gabistat, is just a structural copy of the same way they added loumand to the present day in s1-s2-

in the book, the main narrator (louis in iwtv, lestat in tvl) talks about his story alone, after he's already parted ways with a past companion who only shows up in flashbacks (armand in iwtv, gabrielle in tvl). in the show, this companion is an active part of the present-day story, has the 2nd most screentime of the season and is portrayed as more of a sinister antagonist who has the material power in their relationship with the main narrator and manipulates him and his effort to tell his story (louis' interview, lestat's tour) for their own ends. in the final episode of the season, the main narrator realizes their companion is evil(tm) and rejects them.

Can't stop thinking about how the only times we've seen Armand lose control over his facial expression is when he is being rejected, and how he tries to force a smile each time 😭😭

tw! a little suggestive :р

Sir it's time

A savior in desperation

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