Something i think is really interesting is that we've seen "rage baiting" work on Louis, but not actually Lestat.
The first interaction they have, Lestat pisses Louis off, insults and offends him, and left him wanting to murder and be Lestat.
Obviously Antoinette singing the song was a return to this tactic, pull the same thread of outrage, and here comes Louis across the river after years of gifts and begging did not move him.
Louis talks bad in the interview in 1973, not because inducing rage has worked to draw out Lestat, but because it's worked on him.
And based on what we know, it seems like he's still playing with that tactic, which I think could be very interesting.
The times Louis has said or done things to *intentionally* anger/hurt Lestat ("Here's your death" or "You're always gonna be alone") we don't see Lestat blow up or chase after him. The opposite actually.
We'll have a Lestat who's just read their love story as a hunting, their lives together as a prison, and himself as the monster throughout Louis' story. And a Louis that still thinks poking the bear will get him out of his cave.
It's super interesting, anon, especially because I do think they're motivated very differently in that Lestat baits to try and pull Louis closer, whereas Louis has, generally speaking, done it to push Lestat away or to hurt him when he himself is feeling low. Louis even acknowledges this himself! Twice!
When Louis' tried to get Lestat to do what he wants in their Rue Royale era, he generally went for the charm offensive, but that's clearly not going to work this season if Lestat's gone no-contact with him, which it does seem like he has. Him taking a page out of Lestat's book as a result and trying to force his hand is a really fun switch-up of their dynamic, but you're right that it doesn't usually work with Lestat, who typically goes inwards when Louis' trying to provoke him. Even in that scene from 1.05 with them bickering it ends with Lestat leaving.
There are exceptions though, of course, like the '73 interview which who knows if that would've worked (I tend to suspect not), and Louis hooking up with Jonah, which was less bait, I think, so much as calling Lestat's bluff, haha, and it didn't so much pull Lestat back to him as it did cause him to have a meltdown, which looks like it's more likely to be echoed in the mediation scene to me. Otherwise though, I think it will feel different this season, because Louis doesn't seem like he's necessarily baiting him so much beyond that to me, rather it looks like he might be finding ways to force Lestat to be around him, which is also a very fun shift in their dynamic! I honestly can't wait to see how it all plays out.