#positive!!

Lestat!!! I thought the way they built towards the witch burning through showing his deep discomfort when children are hurt/killed throughout the season was so impactful. Lestat’s difficulty reconciling his monstrous vampiric nature with his humanity was ultimately the character’s journey here. Throughout the whole season, there’s the “I have the blood of Akasha in me” thing and Lestat so badly wants to believe that the blood/Amel is the source of his violent nature, he wants to blame external evil for his wrongdoing. He constantly calls himself a monster. What Louis said in e6, while corny and they laugh about it, is really meaningful: “It’s what you do with the blood.” Having a moral compass, being able to curb the monstrous impulses, is what makes Louis, and Lestat, more human than monster. Gabriella is monstrous, in her indiscriminate murdering and her treatment of her son, while Louis is Lestat’s human morality, his compass. In remembering his mother’s cruelty, he comes to an existential realization. Lestat repeats Nicki’s groan to emphasize how much this realization disrupts his understanding of his relationship with his mother and how he passed on that cruelty in his relationship with Claudia. More elaboration on this monstrousness vs humanity conflict when Lestat takes over the narrative and in his last moments, he hopes that whoever the recipient of Enzo’s package was received their gift. Lestat realizes that he wants to embrace his humanity over encouraging monstrousness, embracing the great conversion. This all leading to him finally standing up to his mother, calling her a monster to her face.

Louis & empathy ❤️ he was so wrapped up in his own issues for so long; it was exhilarating to see how his earlier confrontations with Lestat & Claudia led to his (forced but still seemingly genuine) acknowledgment of Armand’s trauma. Not a ton to say else about Louis but I think he is coming to terms with how his actions affect others in a really poignant way for the character.

Armand being destabilized was always going to lead to complete gremlin mode. I mean, he turned Daniel out of spite (edit: based on something I think I remember Assad saying, Armand’s impulse was to basically destroy Daniel to the fullest extent, but I def think he had an unconscious/subconscious need to tie Daniel to him and keep Daniel alive forever) and against his will for exposing his secret, of course he’d be out for revenge against his ex who (from his perspective) trapped him in a loveless marriage for 77 years. From an objective standpoint, it’s easy to say that he was the true villain for killing Claudia, hiding his role in the play etc. but I don’t think he really feels much guilt about that, in his warped and self-righteous mind he was the wronged party. Wronged by Lestat who meant to torture him by not revealing the truth in the tower and Louis who used their relationship to punish him. To say he was some big bad villain is to a) not understand his character/motivations and b) not understand that this is above all a work of horror.

The acting this season has been phenomenal across the board. Assad in particular shined this episode, his callousness and cruelty breaking to reveal the vulnerable child who just wants to be seen. I think Jacob’s work here is also excellent, especially given Louis’ predicament and how incredible he has to be to pull off those scenes with any realism. His jaw movements were especially brilliant. Sam is so so so incredible, I don’t really know what to say that hasn’t already been said. Delainey really blew me away too, as she always does. I’m really impressed by how distinct she made Regina from Claudia, it’s so apparent after watching ep 6. I was really impressed by how torn Regina was between her fear of Armand, her remorse towards Louis, and her general revulsion at seeing Louis in that state. Also shoutout to Eric who has been so unfairly maligned this season. His pettiness and bitterness was on full display, I understood how his loneliness + Lestat’s dismissiveness would lead him to beheading him.

Relationships: I was really impressed with the handling of Loustat in this season. I am so relieved that they handled their relationship with such tenderness amid the Horrors. It wouldn’t make sense for them to go all out with sexuality given 1. they’re reconnecting, 2. blood sharing > sex, 3. Lestat coming to terms with Gabriella’s and Magnus’ abuse of him. The way they touch each other’s matching neck scars took my breath away. As for the DM of it all, I get that so much happens offscreen but it seems like elements are going to be circled back to next season (ex. Daniel’s turning). At the end of the day, Lestat is telling us this story, and we really only needed to know enough to justify them working together, and confirmed companionship is just a cherry on top. I just hope Daniel‘e love is able to cradle Armand 💔

Seeing Paul broke my heart. I think there’s some misunderstanding of what the Lestat long table/performance scenes were. It’s not some kind of purgatory/literal depiction of spirits Lestat is meeting. Those scenes entirely crafted by Lestat’s psyche to reflect on his failures. We know that two of his fledglings are still alive (Louis & TC), and Marius pulled up too. During the performance, Lestat is looking over the crowd at those he has killed, wronged, or traumatized (just to be clear, he didn’t kill Paul). I’ve seen some people who think Paul’s spirit actually appeared to Lestat, I think he’s Lestat’s mental construct, like everyone else we see in those scenes. I think this vision of Paul serves two purposes: to allow Lestat to finally accept that Louis does love him even though he doesn’t say it, and as a representation of Lestat’s relationship with religion as he knows he’s approaching the end. I don’t think he’s actually seeing heaven, I think he thinks that having embraced his humanity, he deserves to go to heaven.

Lingering questions:

Will Baby Jenks come back? I assume they’re saving her for QotD, given her chapter in the book.

Daniel’s fate?? All of the Raglan talk about the soul has me feeling like there may be some imminent Daniel body swapping. I don’t think they’d outright kill him given Louis’ convo with Armand.

What’s up with Alex? Armand mindfuck, Daniel body swap, triple agent?

Did the Talamasca bring Gabriella back into Lestat’s life? Seems like they’re on the same side.

Why did Armand abandon Daniel? I don’t think they’ve really shown that discussion yet?

Aughagahhhh!! My clip on ears arrived today. My wolfman nose should be here by next month. I'm so excited to be able to put together myself after everything gets here.

Seeing my human face morph into my wolf face is something I want so near and dear so being able to get the items to properly see that is. So exciting.

"I'm so glad I have you."

Or