I rewatched the last episode, and while I still think it was a satisfying finale on many levels, I finally understood what was bothering me.
Armand's arc doesn't make sense unless he also wasn't going to let Louis die on the stage - but maybe Lestat acted first or acted better. A hurricane that upset Armand’s plan.
Because, otherwise, if he was ready to see Louis burn, why save him later (and betray the coven) when he had chosen to let him die (picking the coven over Louis)?
Armand would really look like an idiot (maybe it was the purpose, but I don’t believe it, honestly…): first he is an accessory to the trial (at best… you could say he was much more than that) but then he saves Louis’ life after what, a week of agony?
At first, he picks the coven but then he lets Louis kill them all and grovels at his feet? I genuinely don't understand. Armand says “I had complicated feelings” for the coven – so he let Louis take his revenge – but he also adds they were with him for 200 years and he didn’t trust Louis’ love to last – so he picked them over Louis.
?????
There must be some missing pieces that we don't have yet – and ok, I'm 100% sure we're going to learn more about Armand in S3 or later – and his arc in S2 feels incomplete (I absolutely loved everything about Armand and how they wrote until ep. 8) in a way that doesn't give the audience much closure.
In S1 we knew there was stuff that didn't add up regarding Lestat, but his arc felt organic and natural: he had to "die" by the hands of Claudia and Louis. His "death" was earned.
Armand being thrown into a wall and lying there like a discarded sock was consistent with the underwhelming Loumand breakup in the book, BUT it doesn't say anything about Armand and the meaning of his journey in S2.
Armand was S2's "villain" (I know we don't have villains, they're all villains etc etc, bear with me, language has its limits etc etc lmao) the same way Lestat was for S1, but a villain whose motivations are so mysterious… maybe too mysterious.
Said that, I can believe this sense of incompleteness was an artistic choice - Armand is a black hole, Armand is opaque - just not one I particularly loved. The only one I didn't love, in fact, in a season that was, in every other aspect, great.
