iwtv ep6 spoilers. big rape/sa trigger warning

The wolves' scene was cut short. Why was it during spring and not winter? Show the bleakness of the landscape, Lestat is all alone with his two dogs, trying to save a town that didn't care about him. You didn't even need to show wolves on screen to show Lestat was hunting them--sound effects would have been effective if the budget was that bad. The fact that Lestat only went after them because his mommy told him to, which was NOT in the book, removes all of his agency during this scene. Horrible.

Gabi was done so dirty and as a result both her and Lestat suffered. Yes, Gabi physically/mentally abused Lestat. But Lestat has not been able to talk about how it's affected him this season. The new episode had him crying and throwing up but that was not actual dialogue. He just brushes past the abuse and I feel like the writers did not know how to handle this with the tact that they had in the first two seasons. Instead, they reduced Gabi to a horny mustache twirling villain that has no redeemable or human qualities. Anne Rice wrote very deeply flawed characters, but no one was ever "pure" evil. The writers certainly made a choice in removing Gabi's agency--all she does is bang Lestat every 5 seconds--and she has no personality beyond horny mom.

Nicky! In the book, Nicky GAVE Lestat the wolfkiller cloak. They changed it so Nicky's dad gave it to him, which does Nicky AND Lestat a disservice. I am forever PISSED about Lestat (the writers) brushing Nicky off as "teehee Bipolar Boyfriend". Why aren't more people angry about this blatant ableism? There wasn't even any buildup for Nicky to be bipolar in the first place. Nickistat scenes this season were, what, 10 mins total? There was no explanation, no buildup to the inevitable downfall of Nicky. One second they're laughing and having fun and the next, Nicky cuts his hand off. Why did Nicky cut his hand off? In the books, Armand did it as punishment because Nicky was roaming the streets out of madness and drawing attention to vampires. What was the point of this change? Just to show teehhee Nicky was just ~~~crazy~~~? Nicky continues to haunt Lestat this season by spouting gibberish that makes no sense just to refute yes, Nicky was always teehee craaaaaazy. Horrible.

See, the trial wasn't Lestat's fault it was actually ALL Armand and Sam's fault. Lestat was dragged to Paris by Armand/Sam and forced to kill Claudia and Madeline teehee. I am of the belief that the trial was making, as Santiago put it in an earlier episode, EVERYONE complicit. Armand was complicit--he gave stage directions, didn't tell Louis/Claudia about their impending execution. Sam was complicit; Santiago had him write up a script and star in it. Lestat was complicit; he got on a boat and traveled to Paris to perform on stage. Armand/Lestat had many opportunities to prevent, undo, or stop the play but they did not. There is not a single person who is at blame--all of them are at blame. Except Louis/Claudia/Madeline, obviously, just going to say that before someone thinks I'm blaming them too. They were innocent.

Lestat/Armand was an important relationship for both of them. It's not the endgame ship (sorry Lesmand fans) but it was still a great stepping point for both of them. Lestat had his mom (ugh) and Nicky, who was human at the time and didn't understand what it meant to be a vampire yet. This was the first relationship he had where he was on a equal footing--dating a vampire who was not related to him or thought he was human. On the other side, Armand only had Marius. This was also an important relationship for him to feel more comfortable in. Again, it was an equal footing for him. Lestat wasn't his maker or older than him. If anything, Armand had slightly more power in the relationship because he knew vampire skills Lestat didn't know. Armand still freely shared the information (as a way to bargain his usefulness, sadly) and they became closer as a result. The writers think this relationship was stupid and brushed it off, but they're fucking morons, pardon my french. It was essential for Lestat and Armand's realization that they can have love and flourish in its afterglow. They really should have kept Armand cutting Nicky's hands off to help push Lestat away from Armand. This is Armand's nature as a gremlin, wanting to take control through violence. Alas! Lestat just dropped Armand for Gabi for no discernable reason, I guess. Again, Lestat chosing to leave Armand because of how Nicky was treated would have given him agency. No, Gabi yoinked him away, no agency needed!

Claudia. What was the point of the s2 finale with Lestat sobbing about Claudia? Claudia was nonexistent this season, according to Lestat. IMO she should have been haunting Lestat from day one. He helped kill his own daughter--who was very much similar to Lestat. Could've had great parallels of Lestat and Claudia's behaviors but no...Nicky haunts Lestat more apparently? I love ya Nicky, don't get me wrong, but I feel like you should have been sharing haunting time with Claudia.

And on one hand it is so painful watching him Really Earnestly Trying and watching everyone respond with rage.

On the other hand, in their own way Daniel and Lestat are both telling him to be sincere, and those apology notes were not sincere: they were classic fawn response "everything is my fault forever" and didn't actually apologize for THE THINGS DANIEL AND LESTAT ARE MAD ABOUT.

In Daniel's case the anger is straightforward: Daniel wants sincerity, Daniel wants the truth, Daniel wants to break people down and see the seething belly beneath. He met Armand at a moment where Armand was fully unhinged and hiding nothing, and since then (as far as he remembers) Armand has always been putting on a show. And after two years of Daniel miserably pining for him, Armand shows up with yet another show. Of course Daniel's going to be furious, and of course Daniel's going to push every button he can find because that's what Daniel does.

In Lestat's case it's easier to see his acts as purely hate-driven, but on third watch I actually think he too is demanding sincerity. "Be yourself" is a real statement. "Big Boss" is clearly catty and petty and all over the place (Armand having a bad hair day, since when) but the actual accusations are pretty clear: you want to control the narrative, you think you and you alone have the right to decide who is good and bad, you killed Claudia.

And Armand didn't apologize for any of those things, in fact Armand is still trying to control the narrative and still trying to decide who's good and bad, he's just moving himself to "bad" and moving Lestat to "good."

(side note gosh Lestat you sure do have a thing for controlling judgy self-flagellating men maybe you should explore that about yourself)