A Parisian Meet-Cute with a Vampire Transpires in This Week’s Interview with the Vampire

Arrival of Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Claudia (Delaney Hayles) in Paris arouses the curiosity of the town’s local vampire clan, led by Armand (Assad Zaman). The couple tries to integrate despite still running from their past to start fresh with a new story in this week’s story Interview with the Vampire.

In the present, Armand joins Louis’ interview to complete his version of their meeting with Molloy (Eric Bogosian) in “Do You Know What It Means to Be Loved by Death”, an episode directed by Levan Akin and written by Jonathan Ceniceroz and Shane. Munson.

In the present, Armand, Louis and Molloy argue about Paris. While Armand and Louis romanticize the town where they fell in love, Molloy sides with Claudia’s diary that the town sucks. Defensive and very pointedly, Louis brings up Molloy’s memory of discovering that his daughter’s mother, Alice, was pregnant during their visit, which creates some tension regarding the interviewer’s personal history invaded with a low blow.

Returning to the arrival of Claudia and Louis through his diary, they recount his disappointment at being in a place that is struggling to emerge from the shadow of war. They try to fit in and scavenge their prey for money. Armand responds that they broke a cardinal rule of vampires, which is to let the local coven know they were there, but Louis points out that they didn’t know that. Before crossing paths with Armand, Louis takes up photography (provided today by the real Rashid), and Claudia collects some money for a dress that she sees in a window, which leads her to meet her young designer. It’s worth noting that the seamstress is a departure from the book’s dollmaker, another refreshing change to make Claudia not a little girl but rather a reflection of the woman trapped in a teenage body. This is really the first time Claudia has made a friend, or any friend besides Louis, as the town begins to open up to her. Hayles as Claudia really stands out as the spunky person between her and Louis; she struggles to try to move past their sordid history, relying on a gift of blocking that she could be said to have inherited from her creator.

Meanwhile, as Louis walks through a local park, Armand finally decides to confront him. He remembers he could tell Louis was American by the way he walked, almost like a Taylor Swift song if the tortured poet was a vampire. Their first meeting made Louis nervous and he revealed that although Armand looked like a boy, he could sense his old powers and thought Armand was going to kill him. But his first words to Louis were “I won’t hurt you”, and Armand says in the present tense that he never did it… almost Also quickly. We’ll look at that and its definition, because sure, maybe he didn’t hurt him like Lestat did, but hurt can take different forms. Back in the park, Armand invites Louis and Claudia to see his clan at the Théâtre des Vampires.

The gaudy, gauche Penny Dreadful show in Paris, run by Armand’s coven, is a long-running front to attract prey – tourists and fanatical locals – mixing fact and fiction for the unsuspecting. Claudia is immediately won over by it as lead actor Santiago (Ben Daniels) wields his power to make people want to die while the clan preys on the very real victim on stage to the applause of the crowd. It’s a power Claudia has never seen and one that fills her with pride because she finally feels like they’ve found a family. Louis is more reluctant but more interested in Armand, who is very attractive in his own right, so we understand.

When they meet the clan after the show, Claudia sees a portrait of Lestat and asks who it is as if she doesn’t know; Turns out he co-founded the theater coven, because of course he did. Molloy steps in and says it’s a telenovela moment and laughs. To which yes, Armand reveals that he was also with Lestat hundreds years before Louis. The irony seems excessive, but the lovers point out to Molloy that the vampire circles are small. This is how Armand’s clan was able to quickly spot Louis and Claudia, despite them trying to keep a low profile (among their other secrets). When they return to their apartment, Louis gets angry about Claudia pointing out Lestat’s portrait, and the two men agree to rewrite their own story, leaving Lestat out of it to avoid persecution from their new friends. Louis still doesn’t trust them but is hungry enough for Armand to consider the idea of ​​joining their clan, which Claudia is already ready to do.

Haunted by Lestat, Louis wants to confirm the death of his creator with his law firm in France. When he meets the lawyer who handled their finances, he gives him a vague answer about Lestat: “Maybe he’s dead or sleeping.” » And since Lestat cannot be declared dead but enough time has passed, he gives Louis a box addressed to him from Lestat. He sits with this letter that is straight up abuser 101 telling her that he loves her more than anything. The letter is read by Lestat, through the mental manifestation of its creator, read aloud by actor Sam Reid in the play as if he were actually there with Louis. He tells her not to seek revenge on those who separated their love, but to let “the betrayal eat away at them” that is so coded to passively shame him, the abused person, for leaving, and asserts that he is the only being in whom he trusts and “whom he loves beyond his limits”. beyond” himself.

Molloy intervenes again and mocks Louis’ memory of Lestat. Louis in turn evokes the memory of his proposal to Alice in Paris – to which she said no – just to hurt her. Armand appears to interrupt Molloy’s antics as he flashes in his head talking about a memory of his father, but in the play provides a balm to ease the tension by telling Molloy that Alice meant “yes”. There’s something bubbling among the trio here.

The interview continues as the clan takes the couple on a hunting trip to a posh mansion. Armand is dressed to kill and not at all there to spoil this blood crisis like the clan. As the clan breaks in and celebrates, Louis and Armand smoke with the joyous bloodbath as a romantic backdrop. Armand tells him that he felt Louis’ apprehension when the name Lestat has been said, that unlike Claudia, his mind is more open and that he will wait to tell her the circumstances in which he experienced their mutual acquaintance. But so as not to dwell too long on their shared past, he also tells Louis that he knows he has a crush on him and that this feeling is very mutual. It’s very cute when he asks her to call him Armand and not the clan leader’s name – so they are equal on first name terms. You can see that because he knows Louis has no interest in joining the clan, it makes him warmer towards Armand. And so their romance continues as the clan returns and they leave through the night.

Interview with the Vampire airs Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

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