the light side of the moon

Where as Lestat is uplifting her memory by wearing her make up and performing on stage as her, he’s giving her the true success and love she would’ve had if she was still performing an alive. He’s humiliating the man who humiliated her and putting him on blast. Not lying next to him in bed even if he only believed Armand sold them out. That would’ve been enough for Lestat to walk away etc.

Would you agree with that? For me I’m still waiting on how they do the lesclaudia plotline this season to really speak on their relationship. While I think there’s some small truth to these things I would say it’s largely unfair. The comments seemed to agree with this take

people have been saying these "hot takes" for years. it honestly feels so reductive that i don't even wanna engage with it. i'll present it like this: was daniel actually someone who loved louis the most because he sat down with him to listen to his story instead of trying to put him in a "box of love" like lestat did? because unhealthy codependency surely can't co-exist with love, right? i truly don't understand why we even watch this show instead of reading daniel+louis fanfiction. what if the world was made out of pudding?

surely claudia without doubt would wanna her abuser dress in a parody of her costume that was created to retraumatize her every night in the first place. surely she'd be proud of him singing stupid song to armand as a "revenge" for her. after he... showered in front of him... and armand looked at his dick for a while. discussing lestat as a secretly good loving parent is such a tired thing in this fandom that it makes me feel bored more than angry.

one day we'll be able to acknowledge that everyone in unholy family loved each other in some way without trying to throw one of them under the bus. and the fact that it's usually louis who gets thrown should one day make people realize that their brains are fried by antiblackness. one day people will also realize that "love" is useless as shit when you don't wanna do the work. like, does anyone care if their abusive parent "loved" them the most?

this ask is from may 29th.

Some other screeners are saying it’s not a retcon but new ‘lore’ added for context so I’m expecting them to bring up Amel or even Akasha’s as a reason why the drop happened which is still VERY problematic and still abuse apologia. There’s absolutely no need to add framing that there was something else influencing Lestat unless it’s to divest him of some of the responsibility and offload some of the aggression and violence onto someone or something else

This is sickeningly close to the real life DV abuser excuses.

‘Something came over me’

‘I wasn’t acting like myself’

‘I lost control. I couldn’t stop until it was too late’

‘I felt possessed. I don’t know what possessed me to hurt you’ (A line we’ve already seen Lestat pull btw)

The writers chose to put this moment on screen and the only thing left for them to do is for Lestat to acknowledge full responsibility for it, apologize for it and make amends for it as best he can. He has done two of those at the trial but it still has yet to be addressed in a situation where Louis can respond openly with his feelings about it and Lestat’s reaction to the book has shown some backtracking on his accountability for the abuse he committed

Throwing in lore that acts as any kind of excuse or reason for it (and compulsion or influence from an outside force would be that) would just go to show that they are STILL not taking the abuse they chose to commit to screen seriously

Amel or Akasha aren’t reasons. They are abuse apologia and I honestly don’t trust these writers not to go there

i think it depends on the framing. if it's something like "lestat was directly influenced by amel/akasha to do this", yeah, i'd agree that it would be abuse apologia. if it's something like "lestat was more impulsive because he had akasha's blood in him", i wouldn't say that it's exactly the same. a lot of things influence how people think, react and behave. a lot of people act aggressively when they're influenced by alcohol or drugs or, hell, even hormone imbalance. it doesn't excuse the abuse because we're people who can control ourselves. if it's some kinda "cycle of violence" thing, i also wouldn't see it as abuse apologia, unless lestat's feelings would be centered and put above what he did to louis and claudia. which this team of writers obviously could fuck up easily.

there are ways to touch on the subject with sensitivity while giving it more context because lestat is also a complex character in the story that still technically counts as gothic fiction. it's okay if they add some "lore" which would make us understand lestat better. it's not okay to use the "lore" to excuse his actions. if anything, the fandom has been doing it much more than the show itself.

let's say it like this... the fact that i understood exactly where heathcliff's behavior stemmed from didn't change the fact that he was abusive as hell to a bunch of kids. but many fans of wuthering heights completely ignore this fact. it's not really the book's fault. but sometimes it is the writing problem, and to me the difference is obvious. we just have to see it first before we can discuss it.

Hopefully, these are VERY false but people sensitive to DV might want to be prepared for abuse apologia and potential triggers just in case it’s true

all i'm gonna say is that 1) the source for these rumors is the blog that has been using any opportunity to shift the blame for the drop 2) do you really think rolin jones would retcon such a poignant apology scene performed by sam reid? he probably rewatches it every day.

https://variety.com/lists/best-tv-shows-of-2026-so-far/

https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/tv-shows/best-tv-shows-2026/

People seem very excited about episode 6. I've liked the season more than you have, so I'm looking forward to the next two.

I’ve seen through Episode 6, and it’s the best episode either incarnation of the series has delivered so far.

i unfortunately don't trust the reviewers anymore, because professional criticism is dead. journalists are more interested in maintaining the hype and doing damage control for the networks, so they could get access to the screeners & bts stuff next time. iwtv/tvl is a show with very dedicated fanbase, so it's profitable for them to maintain hype and positivity since people are actually reading the articles. i witnessed it happen with the pitt just a few months ago.

i hope you'll enjoy the rest of the season! or at least find things that you'll enjoy. as i said in my pinned post, you'll see very little from me other than doom & gloom.