for all i’ve seen has changed my mind

Armand turning into a caricature of a villain doesn’t work, because he’s not supposed to be a villain. “The books the books the books-“ No. I do not care. They have deviated so much from just the first book that they should have stuck to what they already built. All four of our main characters have both protagonist AND antagonist roles to fill, and it changes depending on who we are following. This TV show version of Armand they built over 2 seasons- yes s1 is included because fake Rashid carries many of Armand’s mannerisms and opinions- it doesn’t make sense that he would do this. Book Armand- idk him completely yet, but from what I have read and what I do know, show Armand was not structured to be a 1:1 adaptation of him. That’s why this feels so ridiculous to many of us, and why it might feel wild af to some without them realizing why exactly.

I know a lot of book readers (not meant to be offensive) wanted to see him go full gremlin mode, but the thing is, his gremlin-antics need to make sense within the context of the character they’ve built. Yes! I would love to see Armand snap and do some violent stuff, but it needs to align with what they’ve shown us of his characterization. Armand randomly motive-info-dumping that he has 1) Planted the Fred Steins 2) Maybe loved Louis and maybe didn’t? 3) Took aesthetic pleasure in the trial** (oh I got some stuff to say about that but maybe in a different post) all feels like bullshit because Armand is actually quite bad at lying and manipulating in season 2 imo. In Dubai, a lot of his overly dramatic responses (heavily sighing, looking away in shame) feel fake and obviously after the SF reveal, both Louis and Daniel don’t buy any of his bullshit. It’s quite fitting that, outside of the “fog of vampiric love” Louis isn’t observant enough in both relationships, and it shows in how both Armand and Lestat easily keep him chained to them. Even if Louis “had a feeling something was off” like, yeah, no shit. He knows that Armand set them up to be captured- he should have never built a life with Armand. Louis knows that Armand can, at the very least, successfully lie to him. Armand is quiet in his manipulation. He lets things happen. He took credit for Lestat saving Louis. He chose the coven because it was easier than wondering if Louis would just run back to Lestat and leave him alone. He’s a survivor. Louis ignored these things about Armand to spite Lestat, which is a huge reason why Armand was successful in his deceit.

I love that Armand wants closure with Louis, and I love their interactions because the actors have such good chemistry- but it would make more sense for him to use Daniel as the link to Louis instead of this whole Regina bullshit. The decapitation as a means to capture him works imo, but to keep him beheaded to get some kind of amends? Like, it doesn’t work because Armand did love Louis at some point, so why would he be delighted to hurt him this way? The trial , I know- I have my opinions about that as well- but let’s be real. If he wanted Louis to hurt, just fucking let him burn on the roof! Why tf would he be so jealous in SF about Louis opening up to Daniel? Because part of him wanted the intimacy of confidence in each other, and Louis so easily gave it to Daniel. Why would he deliberately not relay Lestat’s “I love you, Louis” to Louis if he wasn’t jealous of Lestat? There is no evidence in the first 2 seasons of this supposed Lestat obsession, so it’s not about Lestat. And obviously with the finale, it is about Louis and their relationship, not Lestat.

- Yaoi Manther phase

- “Did you get the autism gift?

- Daniel hissing at Raggedy

- “Girlie.”

- ✨Armends

- “Did I love you? Did I?”

- Louis’ headless body swiping at Armand.

- “My companion.”

- Louis writing out “FUCK YOU”, then just telling Armand “FUCK YOU” when his paper was taken away.

- “Twelve… you were twelve.” Said with so much sorrow.

- Armand looking away while trying to pull himself together, managing to, and completely shutting himself down.

- “Also, yes, I put the Fred Steins in your photo collection just to fuck with your head.”

You’ve probably seen the spoilers around, and we do not find out more about Armand’s motivations. His scenes with Daniel heavily HEAVILY implied that his main goal is to stop the great conversion, but then we got what we got so I guess, he didn’t really give a shit? Which to me, that means when it comes to the DM chapter, maybe they’ve decided to go a different route. In case you don’t know, Armand comes to care about things BECAUSE of his love for Daniel. He literally says that he wouldn’t have cared before. “But now… I don’t want you to die.” He is head over heels, whipped af for Daniel in the chapter. And look, I am wiling to die on the hill of “you should never need to read the original source material to understand an adaptation and if you do then it’s not a good adaptation” because they are NOT meant to be the same. But at the same time, if they aren’t going to use the same motivations for Armand as in the book, then WHY did he approach Daniel about the Great Conversion and tell him he’s “courting great danger with Lestat, Daniel.” It just makes it look like he lied and/or used Daniel to capture Louis and as a bonus, got a chance to chop off Lestat’s head… I guess? Like, if he’s this powerful, apparently- which as an aside, he is but he isn’t and Lestat is but isn’t this powerful, but only when the plot needs it to be- then WHY would he need Daniel’s help at all with any of this? And if he only wanted Daniel’s help and to have him by his side because “it was love”, why send him away with Lestat’s head?

Right and Larry- I have no idea why he killed Larry. If his plans were this “meticulous” and he really had his fingers in most things, then there should be a reason as to why he killed Larry. At this point, imo, there is no reason. If it was meant to break Lestat, well, it had no impact on him as we saw in episode 6. Not really.

Accountability: Lestat took some accountability for the things he’s done, which was sorely needed. Not for everything- but it’s a start. And even though it’s frustrating, I do love a character where it feels like pulling hairs out by the root to get them to admit anything.

Magnus: I actually enjoyed the performance for this guy. He was appropriately creepy and a bit funny. I think he outdid Marius tbh.

Louis: I love when Louis is his asshole self. He’s such a prick and petty and I can’t get enough of it. While the circumstances were not to my liking at all, I liked the substance of his scenes with Armand. I really really wanted it to be Daniel who understands Armand, but if I have to be honest with myself, they aren’t there yet. Louis knows Armand, was in a committed companionship with him for 77 years. I mean think about how well you know someone if you’ve known them for a huge chunk of your life. Of course he understands him. Louis can be so cruel with his words when he’s hurt or when he wants to hurt. He said some hurtful but I think mostly honest things to Armand. Outright saying he used Armand is like, fucking hell, so hurtful. Especially since we now know that he was deliberate in a lot of the pain he caused Armand. And him openly admitting that he is well aware that he profited off prostitutes and that it was a dark cloud over their relationship, and Armand’s past is something he couldn’t think about- it’s just such a parallel to Claudia. I mean, in s2 he can’t bring himself to respond when Claudia is talking about Bruce, so I can see him skimming Armand’s mind during their years together and finding that gaping, unaddressed, excruciating wound in Armand and just… pretending he didn’t see anything.

Lestat: It was a reckoning. I wish there was more ugliness to everything to do with Lestat, but it was nice to see him called out on his BS by his fledglings. Oh, and I LOVED him calling Gabriella a fucking monster at the end. It was haunting for him to realize how much she’s destroyed so many parts of him.

Armand: Oh boy okay I’m going to be positive and mostly praise the substance, not the circumstances because I have nothing nice to say about them at this time. Armand is so broken, so hurt and wounded and very much in need of a specific type of person who is willing to be everything to him, and also have him be their everything in return. God, like, I knew Armand was likely lying or misremembering things at the Louvre when he told Louis some of his past, but to have it confirmed he was twelve years old when he was sold? Holy shit, it broke my gd heart. And to see that crack in Armand’s shields, to see him start to veer into a possible breakdown, jfc I’m both relieved and devastated that we didn’t get a full breakdown from him. Armand snapping and losing it is something that does make sense, and for him to channel a lot of these emotions at Louis is, just, fitting, imo. And when I say that I mean in isolation, not placing it amongst the overall plot.

Acting: This is all going to sound like backhanded compliments because OH MY GOD it’s incredible that Assad Zaman and Jacob Anderson made that mess work. The show is so damn lucky they have them. Both are phenomenal actors. They have amazing chemistry and they both live in their characters so well. I never want to see anyone else be Louis or Armand again. I’ve missed their dynamic all season so to get it now, even if it came about in such a not great way, I’m really happy about that. JA is always amazing, just embodies this version of Louis in ways you don’t see often. And AZ? What is there to say that hasn’t been said? RJ better be tripping all over himself to write more for Armand because if AZ gets better offers and leaves, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves. Sam Reid, of course, is always amazing as Lestat. He was haunting and pitiful and horrifying once the low moaning started. I have to applaud him over all because he really had to do so much work for this season. My backhanded compliment is overall, these guys deserved much more from this season. Ebogo is also a much better actor than he’s allowed to be, with the little to nothing he’s been given this season.