We've been circling in on Armand for at least a few episodes. Buuuuut we're (Daniel, Louis, the audience) trying to outwit a 500 year old incredibly powerful vampire...
@@DSesignDso true!! Armand has had 500 years to perfect his ability to lie and manipulate so even if you already know he's being misleading, you can't be sure what his next move is. He's got all his pieces in place That's at least what I've taken from his character.
I was not at all prepared this season to see just how base and terrifying Louis can be😂😂 All of season 1 was like "oh my goodness...protect our poor baby Louis. I wanna wrap him in blanket and take him somewhere safe and cozy🥺🥺" Now I'm like... "‼️...hold on👀...you're part of the problem too..."
one detail i really enjoyed was how santiago says "everything you're about to see is fake" before claudia and madeleine's deaths, when usually he says "everything you're about to see is real". especially because that really should be a tip-off to the superfans that always lipsync along to his lines.
I'm so glad I found your videos, it's been a frustrating, disheartening experience to try to find people watching IWTV and face so much dismissal of Claudia (and even Louis, though that's a different issue), her feelings and struggles, her place and importance in the narrative. A person can have a lot of love for the source material without it overshadowing the new concepts, textures and interpretations this adaptation brings with its changes. The lack of sympathy Claudia gets in the story is tragic, but seeing it reflected in the real world by viewers is what makes me the saddest. I loved Claudia, both actors made the most out of their time with the character and did a good job emphasizing different aspects of her. I'll miss her so much, but I'm hopeful she'll make good of her promise and come back to haunt the characters as is her right. Thanks for making me almost cry with your recollection of her.
This episode changed COMPLETELY from my first watch to my second watch. First time around, I was *furious* watching the coven mindfreak everyone at the trial, Lestat’s fuckass bob, Armand’s pity party, and ultimately Claudia’s execution. The racial elements of their on-stage “stoning” (read: lynching) underscored the deep, deep tragedy of this Claudia’s story. From her beginning to her end, she is a *black girl* - forgotten, expendable, exposed for our entertainment. RIP Claudia: the People’s Princess The second time around, I was able to see more of the love story. The bitter love, the controlling love, the sacrificial love, the enduring and contradictory love from all three leads to each other. Overall, an incredible and rich episode.
😢😢I dont feel the way you do about them killing Claudia's character because of her color because in the book ,they kill Claudia even tho she is a six year old ....if you want to read a book where Anne Rice gives the most justice to a black young woman and Creole culture ,you should read The Feast Of All Saints ....they also made that into a movie in the 90's with almost a complete black cast 😢😢 it also had LBGT characters
@@whatadollslife This show is an adaptation. It not even based in the same time period as the book. Its interesting that you could understand and accepted the change in time but that you couldn't fully grasp how the change is race would play out in the mock trial where Louis and Claudia where guilty before it even started. It was very much harkening to a lynching for people who are familiar and know the history of events like that. And you are missing out on a multilayered view of the show, as text, by ignoring this attribute of it. Its intrinsic. The writers WANT you to get that. Remember, it didn't have to take place in front of a mob/audience of people. It didn't in the book. The show chose to do that. Why?
I didn't get a feeling that the stoning comment was was a code word for lynching. Anne Rice didn't write racist words and in 1940's France they were more progressive about race.
@@yvettelang1961 and the sliced back of the feet/tendons? These are things that happened in lynchings. You are missing a layer of meaning and symbolism being done by the writers by ignoring race. The story is richer due to its inclusion. EDIT: also, saying France was more progressive in the 40s doesn’t mean it was absent of racism. The people in the audience may not have been racist, but the imagery was meant to evoke a lynching.
I think the second flashback to the fight doesn’t really change much at all for me (Lestat still violently abused Louis and Claudia but Louis actually fought back a bit before Lestat broke him, doesn’t change that he’s a victim), but that first flashback. The way it’s presented in s1 is that Louis only had noble intentions and just “needs her to not die” when he brings her home, and Lestat realizes with a sinister smile that this is how he can babytrap Louis before he turns Claudia. It’s just a shortsighted mistake on Louis’ part that ends up damning her. But this version, where Lestat lays out the entire thing, explains in great detail how he would be ruining her life, and Louis saying he doesn’t care… Dragging her across the ground like a doll, an object, and calling her “our beautiful daughter” when he doesn’t even know her yet. There is so much more intention behind it, he has to beg Lestat who doesn’t want to do it, who uses every excuse in the book including the “great laws” he doesn’t actually care about to not have to do this. Louis doesn’t “discover” how wonderful it is to have a daughter after Claudia was turned, he Wanted a daughter, a family of his own (something he couldn’t have both as a vampire and a Black gay man in the 1910s), and he chose on purpose and with complete understanding to doom this random child in order to get it, and even to the very end he couldn’t admit that truth to her. I’m still ride-or-die for Louis, but whew, him pulling her across the carpet by her arm was one of the most chilling moments of the show for me
I couldn't stand how they had no problems reminding her every chance they had that she was a child but when it got time to bear consequences or whatever, all of sudden, she's an adult. Also F Armand!
The way they hated her as if it was her choice to be a child vampire is what made me so mad at the coven!😫 I get that it's breaking the laws, but her MAKER is the one who broke it, not her. And them skipping Lestat's punishment for turning her shows that they were just being a**holes towards Claudia. I got the impression that the coven acted more as a clique of bullies rather than a functional group that's meant to look after one another. They act like children who want to have their own spotlight and they can't stand anyone else coming in and being the centre of attention for even a minute.
The shot of them picking her yellow dress out of the ashes has stabbed me right in the heart - I've never wanted to be in the vampire diaries universe so badly. Screaming where's Bonnie through my tears 😭
@@sshaerayup and yup. Just watched ep 8 from an Australian mate. Ppl gonna be choking. Literally gagging on their words. Hehe I can’t WAIT to see how stupid they feel!!! 😂😂😂
I think Claudia should have said “ we own nothing” right before she starts to burn instead of follow the bouncing ball. I understand it was for the song, but I think a reminder of the first vampiress they found and her final message to them regarding how cruel life really is, especially for them. And also, for Louis and Lestat and Armand to hear. You can’t own each other. You will never be happy trying to.
I love this show. But your analysis is very on point. I knew i felt a racist feeling of Santiago and also how Armand sometimes felt a companionship with Louis vs the coven but when it comes consequences the POC and the white saviour or conquer is able to drop 💧 They spoke on vampire loneliness and allowed Claudia to be the loneliest of all. The black women in her very nature is a crime but must bear burden of guilt although she is the nost innocent Brava!
One thing I adore about this show is how deliberate and considered these adaption choices are. This episode a lot of those bold choices paid off. Claudia had so much more dignity in her death. Delaney’s more mature performance allowed her to die on her feet fighting. I don’t think you could have achieved this with a toddler. Her speech about being a roof shingle is haunting. She’s completely right this is a book about the horrifying love story of Louis and Lestat; as the audience we know she’s a side character but her acknowledgment of that is chilling. If Claudia’s ghost is present in the future like she is in the books it will be so much more cathartic because of her promise to get vengeance in the afterlife. I think exploring the fallible nature of memories is so well done in the show. It seems in the later books Rice uses Louis being an unreliable narrator to “fix” aspects of Lestat’s likability. But I think this show is doing a great job of setting up how different people are telling different stories because they remember them differently. You can tell Lestat basks in public approval and often glamorizes himself. His racism and his privilege and his narcissism impact his memory. It’s his desire to have Louis love him again that stops him from reading off the script he rehearsed erasing the abuse. And with the alternative perspective on Claudia’s creation you see Louis will ignore harsh truths so aggressively that he re-writes the past. Where the books might imply Louis is a traumatized liar and Lestat is a dick but ultimately a hero; this show implies the truth is in the middle. It’s up to the audience to determine who you trust and what is reality. Knowing before we see these memory contradictions that Armand has altered Louis mind it adds another layer to the debate. What were Armand’s intentions? Can we trust him when he says “I could not prevent it” or that his life was in danger; can we trust him at all? This is really good TV but it’s phenomenal adaptation. In a world of Tom Hoopers Cats and the Wonka musical I feel honored to get to watch something that improves the source material with its changes. I loved this review btw, hit subscribe so fast!
Same here, the writers are doing a great job at telling the different perspectives to evoke new emotions for each character the same way reading each character's book was like. In the first IWTV, Lestat was clearly the antagonist from Louis' perspective. In The Vampire Lestat, you got to see things from Lestat's pov and he because a more likeable character overall, while Armand was more of an antagonist there. In The Vampire Armand, you get to see all the history and details that make up his character and feel a new attachment to him too, hoping for the best for him especially after he and Louis separate. Then on and on until you get them all gathered together and it all makes sense why they act and react to one another the way they do. The choice to make us, the audience, view all of the different perspectives and understand that there is some information that's purposefully being left out is brilliant because it adds to the morally grey nature that all of these characters have. No one is the hero, they're all monsters and victims in someone else's story 🥺
I Love Armand ( he's so weirdly charming ugh ) but he was the real villain this episode. How you gonna pull a "I could not prevent it" when you literally put out the entire coven just saying "ENOUGH" a few episodes ago. I cried when Claudia looked to Lestat for help for naught. As louie said this was difficult.
You know, I've thought about this a bit now and I have 2 ideas. 1. The obvious one is that he just didn't want to save Claudia period. He didn't even look that "drained of his power" after using his mind gift the way Lestat was when he controlled the minds of those soldiers back in season 1. 2. If Armand really was mentally blocking Lestat too, then it makes sense that he couldn't risk using his ability on others too much because Lestat would be a lot more difficult to control compared to anyone else. There's moments that show Lestat wasn't all the way there. In the books, Lestat went straight to Armand first and told him about what happened between him, Louis and Claudia in New Orleans and Lestat was extremely weak and disoriented. He literally had no idea what was even happening and wasn't aware of the vampires going to attack Louis, Claudia and Madeline. And remember that Armand is normally the director for all the plays on the Theatre stage? If he already got the story from Lestat, then he'd be able to produce all of those slides they used in the play to relay the story. I doubt Lestat would have told his story to Santiago and the coven for them to use as a play. That's just my theory 🤷🏽♀️
heartwrenching episode. your commentary on the racial violence being committed towards louis and claudia was really well put... i havent actually been able to stomach a rewatch yet but ill have to get on it before sunday because so much happened during the trial that im sure i missed something
I love how you explicitly talked about how this episode was a masterclass in Misogynoir for Beginners. As much as I like to live in the fantasy world, where Madeline and Claudia DO run off to Belgium or somewhere... Repast is tonight at 6pm on @StruggleReviews 's channel. It'll be a live-stream of like 6 Black Femme Creators (y'all save me a plate, please)!! I'd be there if I weren't teaching a yoga class tonight 😭One of the cousins, @watchwithmeellebee literally made a program for Claudia for her video yesterday, lol. Family is wearing yellow, in Loving Memory😔🙏🏾💕
I got the potato salad for the repast. As a black woman with an ethnically diverse romantic history I over identify with (and unconditionally love) Louis. But there's no getting away from the basic understanding that being black and female makes my wellbeing and existence conditional for most of the rest of humanity. Love these thorough analyses. ❤
Your analysis of Louis and Claudia's relationship breaks my heart bc its so true. Like sometimes you don't get the opportunity to make things up and things end how they end 💔 there was so many layers to the trial with their relationships! Like Louis, Lestat and Claudia had a very complex family dynamic from S1 that the audience didn't really know. I know it was intentional but Louis and Claudia not being able to speak on the stage just got to me. Claudia vowing to come back and take out the audience... I absolutely believe she could! I really hope Delainey is able to return in some way bc Claudia really does impact Louis and Lestat forever. I think it was good that the revisits provided context but doesn't change overall what happens. That fits with the memory is a monster theme. I'll definitely be reading that TVinsider article you mentioned. Thank you for your commentary! ❤
The games they played in their face was crazy. You gotta remember they’re vampires and a fall isn’t anything to them but at the same time 7 years of depression and no sex is reasonable. Y’all ancient and 7 years wasn’t like a week to us humans the games they played! 🤣
i gotta admit, you portrayed the epitome of how Claudia must have felt...Claudia the young black girl ignored and bettayed by everyone...Claudia wrongfully accused and punished...as opposed to other TH-camrs who are also black females lusting after a white man (who is lusting after a black man)...very well done...i really enjoyed your analogy of this episode...
he really said "i could not pwevent it" 😿 "it took all my strength to save louis" PLSSSSSSSSSSSS i wanted daniel to clock it more (hopefully next ep) p.s ur hair is absolutely GORGGGG mashallaahh♥️
This episode was so good. I still love my VampBae Louis and Ima stick beside his depressed, sad, dramatic, unreliable memory self!!!! 😂 Lestat knows he can strut honey!!!! And I love that he told his side of what happened. When he said Louis chased and hunted him and calling out to him saying Come to me, I legit said "Oh hell naw!!" 😂 Cuz if he's a closeted gay man, yea Louis may somehow show up where you are. But calling out to you from his mind!!!!! Did he know Lestat was a vampire and could read minds???????? That's not Louis' fault Lestat can read minds! I'm skeptical of that convo about turning Claudia. Just the part about him saying it's against vampire law to turn her. That sounds too much like right for Lestat. But when Louis dragged Claudia across the carpet begging to turn her, I said "If you dont pick up our not yet daughter sister!!! She already burnt!!!!!! Pick her up!!!!" And was that the only time he brought up the laws? Did he ever bring up the laws to Claudia when she first started her journals? Lestat could've told her/them about the laws during the "good times" Claudia wrote about in her journals. My daughter sister went out like a G!!! Babygirl said she coming back and killing all of them!! And Louis is about to snap!
The bit at around the 40 minute mark where you talked about claudia's lot in life wrt vampiric loneliness had me choking up all over again 😭 claudia was such a great character and every time I remember she's passed my heart physically hurts. Shes not even just character anymore she's so real to me 😭😭😭
Lestat’s Scorpio AND Louis’s Libra were showing like crazy this episode. Louis is addicted to being everyone’s dream girl rather than owning up to his own alleged morals. HEART WRENCHING episode 😭 the scene of Louis begging and dragging burnt up baby Claudia was shocking. Lestat’s apology for the abuse felt mostly like the showrunners trying to redeem him for a very Lestat-forward S3. I’m excited to see what is added to the finale and what will go down in Dubai. I will miss Claudia forever her absence will be felt for as long as the series runs.
Yeahhh the Lestat apology wasn’t doing much for me as far as redemption goes. I’m just glad the show didn’t try to say the abuse didn’t happen or make Louis not a victim of it.
Really my only theory for next week is that louis will ask for his remaining memories back from armand (if there are any - i wouldnt be surprised if there were). I think for a long time he couldn't face himself and how he contributed to claudia's death, but throughout this season we see him really trying to remember "correctly" (as much as that's possible) what really happened. He also admits that lestat's account of her turning is the more accurate account. It seemed to really truly tear at him that he had asked for the memory of his suicide attempt to be wiped (allegedly), and I think he's maybe now ready to take accountability and fully grieve claudia, while also showing that he's outgrown armand's "good nurse" act that he mentioned in ep 6, bc the dubai penthouse is really starting to feel like a padded cell where all objects of potential harm (including his daughter's diaries!) have been taken away and put out of his reach. Idk. Maybe. Who knows!
That's a really interesting idea, how will Louis be if he does get all of his memories back? 🤔 I'd love to know what happens between the end of Paris and San Francisco. How did Louis end up leaving with Armand without Lestat knowing where he is
I think the most important thing was when Santiago says "Remember we are monsters." Yes, you are monsters. I felt so bad for Claudia and Madeline and Louis. Lestat I love as a character, but some of his dialogue felt like yes, he was lying. Being forced to lie by another vampire (Armand) under duress? Yes its wrong to make a child a vampire, but its already done. Even in the books, technically Armand was 17, but picked up by Marius several years earlier as a child and groomed before he was turned. Marius then later on turns other children into vampires to be Armand's companions. This whole trial farce is pretty much ridiculous. They are all monsters and hypocritical.
Claudia has always been the tragic figure. Not only here or in the books, but as well in Anne Rice's personal life, when her own daughter died. Additionally, here in the show this tragedy is portrait in a more ironic way, by showing how the one thing that Claudia wanted the most all her life, to finally have her very own companion, burned away in her hands. Special attention to the detail, that in the books it is Madelaine holding Claudia in her arms but in the episode we see her holding her beloved Madeleine...
Great review as always! Your “Vamps” poster is really cool! I wished you would show it and briefly discuss each of the (6) characters. I can only identify (2) Grace Jones and Aaliyah. 🧛♀️
I can't take Lestats apology at all seriously was like Nancy from The Craft " He's sorry, he's sorry he's sorry" in the tearful apology to Louis the reason it got to that point in the 1st place was that he put his hands on Claudia he never looked at her once on that stage and said I am sorry but he does that for Louis. Louis said, " I will take this hand and wrap it around your scrawny neck just like you did to our daughter". And as a black woman I was Claudia. She is completely right she is still in another round of their stormy romance she is standing still in the eye of the hurricane that is them forever trapped and I wanted both of them all gone.
glad i found an opinion on this similar to mine. People are turning on louis and calling lestat a victim like he didn't start the fight by choking claudia, and then he proceeded to hook his nails into louis neck drag him on the floor and drop him from a height not even planes reach. louis getting a few punches in doesn't make him and claudia any less of a victim.
@@chan-lLestat stood by Louis for seven years while Claudia fucked off and left Louis depressed and broken. Louis emotionally and physically neglected Lestat the whole time, but Lestat stayed with him. Then, Miss Claudia comes strolling in with some half ass apology and tries to get Louis to leave his love and the man who stood by him the whole time she was gone. She sensed their relationship was fragile, and like a good predator, she went in for the kill. She hated Lestat, and wanted to take Louis away from him. She knew Lestat had abandonment issues, and what it would do to him.
@@chan-l did you not remember Louis in season one saying that when Claudia left, he took cheap satisfaction out of provoking and insulting him? When he wasn't flat out ignoring him, he was insulting him. That's emotional abuse. Lestat cheated on him, but he ultimately stayed with him. If this were a wife whose husband treated her like that, no one would blame her for seeking affection elsewhere.
@@cullenarthur8879 uh...yeah no... Lestat was cheating on Louie before Claudia left for college and when Louis spent one night with someone else he couldn't handle it. When Claudia came home before the Lestat attacked her she read him for filth. Shr begged him to give her actual information not just " do as I say, not as I do" . He refused to treat her all anything. Her assessment of him was sound both then, and now and boy did he not like that.
my only prev exposure to iwtv was the 90s movie and i didn’t think i would like claudia. amc has me IN LOVE! i honestly am going to miss her soooooo much. i’m half hoping louis starts hallucinating her too just so we can get more of her. (i don’t actually think he will but GOSH.)
Remember that everything we know about Louis and Lestat in season one is from Louis’ POV. When you tell your own story, you often are never the bad guy. Have you ever had 2 friends tell you about a fight they had and you hear the exact same story, but the fault and the details are switched depending on who’s telling the story?? When we get to season 3, we’ll see how the story is told through Lestat’s POV!!
I didn’t really have many opinions of the fight from Lestat’s POV because the abuse was still pretty clear to me. Louis fighting back didn’t really change much of him and Claudia still being victims of DV imo. Most of my thoughts were on Lestat’s intentions of purposely dropping Louis.
Dude it's like i knew it was coming but...i had some Hope. 😢😢😢😢 This version of Claudia is by far my favorite, like that's my girl! This one hurt..❤ Edit: And I'd haunt their b*tch@ss with her. 💅🔥
People will come to learn as the series goes on that Lestat suffered greatly thru him loving and losing Nicki ........and guess who was also thereback then ....Armand that liar ,lying liar
You have to remember Louis lied during the first interview n the 70's... He's also had multiple memories erased... His recollection cannot be trusted and WE as the audience have seen events unfold from ONLY the perspective of Louis when it comes to his relationship with Lestat and somewhat thru the diabolical Armand when it comes to Claudia because the aforementioned erasure of Louis memories that he begins to regain thru the interview... Louis takes his accountability and responsibility out of the equation and blames Lestat because thats easier to sooth his guilt of the murder of Lestat (another Louis lie) and the death of Claudia... as the Talamaska said, you fear the 500 year old Armand but its really Louis who you should fear. And Armand has stated multiple times he has to protect Louis and the World from himself. As a vampire who has periods of blackout, as a vampire who doesnt deink humans, i can see Louis turning into a demon when he's emotionally compromised and killing a city... He is full of Lestat's blood and Armands training...
@@lenakataeva7525 and you see he gets violent just about every time Malloy catches him in a lie. Which has been, often... why even do the interview with a human who is obviously not as dumb as Louis presumed?? Just continuously spinning his web to seem virtuous and knightly when Louis kno he aint sh&t
@@isessogroup I think Louis lies not fully realising it, subconsciously. He wants to be better in the story, better than he is, so he tells it that way. Of course erased or fixed memories doesn't really help to stay truthful to the facts and except who he became. And maybe he needs someone who would call him out on his lie after all this time, hence the need of the interview. But yeah noone likes to be called out and Louis has a bad temper
I love this show so much but watching this last episode was tough...I might have to take some time before I watch the season finale. Because right now I don't really care if Lestat, Armand and even Louis are wiped from the planet. Daniel is really the only one I like and care about right now. The rest of them can burn for all I care at the moment at least. RIP Claudia and Madeline 😢😢😢😢
Video might be a little bit low so you'll have to crank the volume a bit :)
"I could not prevent it" biggest cap of the season
We've been circling in on Armand for at least a few episodes. Buuuuut we're (Daniel, Louis, the audience) trying to outwit a 500 year old incredibly powerful vampire...
@@DSesignDso true!! Armand has had 500 years to perfect his ability to lie and manipulate so even if you already know he's being misleading, you can't be sure what his next move is. He's got all his pieces in place
That's at least what I've taken from his character.
14:10 The only force in the universe stronger than revenge is matching each other’s freak. Louis and Lestat will never quit each other.
I was not at all prepared this season to see just how base and terrifying Louis can be😂😂
All of season 1 was like "oh my goodness...protect our poor baby Louis. I wanna wrap him in blanket and take him somewhere safe and cozy🥺🥺"
Now I'm like... "‼️...hold on👀...you're part of the problem too..."
one detail i really enjoyed was how santiago says "everything you're about to see is fake" before claudia and madeleine's deaths, when usually he says "everything you're about to see is real". especially because that really should be a tip-off to the superfans that always lipsync along to his lines.
I'm so glad I found your videos, it's been a frustrating, disheartening experience to try to find people watching IWTV and face so much dismissal of Claudia (and even Louis, though that's a different issue), her feelings and struggles, her place and importance in the narrative. A person can have a lot of love for the source material without it overshadowing the new concepts, textures and interpretations this adaptation brings with its changes. The lack of sympathy Claudia gets in the story is tragic, but seeing it reflected in the real world by viewers is what makes me the saddest.
I loved Claudia, both actors made the most out of their time with the character and did a good job emphasizing different aspects of her. I'll miss her so much, but I'm hopeful she'll make good of her promise and come back to haunt the characters as is her right.
Thanks for making me almost cry with your recollection of her.
This episode changed COMPLETELY from my first watch to my second watch. First time around, I was *furious* watching the coven mindfreak everyone at the trial, Lestat’s fuckass bob, Armand’s pity party, and ultimately Claudia’s execution. The racial elements of their on-stage “stoning” (read: lynching) underscored the deep, deep tragedy of this Claudia’s story. From her beginning to her end, she is a *black girl* - forgotten, expendable, exposed for our entertainment. RIP Claudia: the People’s Princess
The second time around, I was able to see more of the love story. The bitter love, the controlling love, the sacrificial love, the enduring and contradictory love from all three leads to each other.
Overall, an incredible and rich episode.
😢😢I dont feel the way you do about them killing Claudia's character because of her color because in the book ,they kill Claudia even tho she is a six year old ....if you want to read a book where Anne Rice gives the most justice to a black young woman and Creole culture ,you should read The Feast Of All Saints ....they also made that into a movie in the 90's with almost a complete black cast 😢😢 it also had LBGT characters
@@whatadollslife This show is an adaptation. It not even based in the same time period as the book. Its interesting that you could understand and accepted the change in time but that you couldn't fully grasp how the change is race would play out in the mock trial where Louis and Claudia where guilty before it even started. It was very much harkening to a lynching for people who are familiar and know the history of events like that. And you are missing out on a multilayered view of the show, as text, by ignoring this attribute of it. Its intrinsic. The writers WANT you to get that.
Remember, it didn't have to take place in front of a mob/audience of people. It didn't in the book. The show chose to do that. Why?
I didn't get a feeling that the stoning comment was was a code word for lynching. Anne Rice didn't write racist words and in 1940's France they were more progressive about race.
@@fizzychizzyEntertainment value.
@@yvettelang1961 and the sliced back of the feet/tendons? These are things that happened in lynchings. You are missing a layer of meaning and symbolism being done by the writers by ignoring race. The story is richer due to its inclusion.
EDIT: also, saying France was more progressive in the 40s doesn’t mean it was absent of racism. The people in the audience may not have been racist, but the imagery was meant to evoke a lynching.
I think the second flashback to the fight doesn’t really change much at all for me (Lestat still violently abused Louis and Claudia but Louis actually fought back a bit before Lestat broke him, doesn’t change that he’s a victim), but that first flashback.
The way it’s presented in s1 is that Louis only had noble intentions and just “needs her to not die” when he brings her home, and Lestat realizes with a sinister smile that this is how he can babytrap Louis before he turns Claudia. It’s just a shortsighted mistake on Louis’ part that ends up damning her.
But this version, where Lestat lays out the entire thing, explains in great detail how he would be ruining her life, and Louis saying he doesn’t care…
Dragging her across the ground like a doll, an object, and calling her “our beautiful daughter” when he doesn’t even know her yet. There is so much more intention behind it, he has to beg Lestat who doesn’t want to do it, who uses every excuse in the book including the “great laws” he doesn’t actually care about to not have to do this.
Louis doesn’t “discover” how wonderful it is to have a daughter after Claudia was turned, he Wanted a daughter, a family of his own (something he couldn’t have both as a vampire and a Black gay man in the 1910s), and he chose on purpose and with complete understanding to doom this random child in order to get it, and even to the very end he couldn’t admit that truth to her.
I’m still ride-or-die for Louis, but whew, him pulling her across the carpet by her arm was one of the most chilling moments of the show for me
All dat! We see Louise and Lestat and each other!
I couldn't stand how they had no problems reminding her every chance they had that she was a child but when it got time to bear consequences or whatever, all of sudden, she's an adult. Also F Armand!
The way they hated her as if it was her choice to be a child vampire is what made me so mad at the coven!😫
I get that it's breaking the laws, but her MAKER is the one who broke it, not her. And them skipping Lestat's punishment for turning her shows that they were just being a**holes towards Claudia.
I got the impression that the coven acted more as a clique of bullies rather than a functional group that's meant to look after one another. They act like children who want to have their own spotlight and they can't stand anyone else coming in and being the centre of attention for even a minute.
The shot of them picking her yellow dress out of the ashes has stabbed me right in the heart - I've never wanted to be in the vampire diaries universe so badly. Screaming where's Bonnie through my tears 😭
I felt personally victimized by how suave he made it look w/that cape work 🤧🥀
F Santiago. He gets an extra helping of revenge.
Same here!! The way Santiago fluffed my girl's ashes off the dress like a it was nothing...😭😭
There’s a lot of evidence that Lestat wasn’t fine, didn’t want to be there at all, and was saying all of that under duress.🤷🏽♀️
Oh absolutely. Him veering off script was just the top of the iceberg
That is his only salvation!
@@culturekitschLestat wasn’t under duress. The only thing Narcissist fear is not having attention and power over others.
@@PrimordialChaos07 it's pretty much canon that he absolutely was tho 😭😭 y'all will see tho ig
@@sshaerayup and yup. Just watched ep 8 from an Australian mate. Ppl gonna be choking. Literally gagging on their words.
Hehe
I can’t WAIT to see how stupid they feel!!! 😂😂😂
Iove when black people reviews this show. Especially love when black women do it you catch all of the subtext
I think Claudia should have said “ we own nothing” right before she starts to burn instead of follow the bouncing ball. I understand it was for the song, but I think a reminder of the first vampiress they found and her final message to them regarding how cruel life really is, especially for them. And also, for Louis and Lestat and Armand to hear. You can’t own each other. You will never be happy trying to.
Ooooh I think I would’ve been inconsolable
I love this show. But your analysis is very on point. I knew i felt a racist feeling of Santiago and also how Armand sometimes felt a companionship with Louis vs the coven but when it comes consequences the POC and the white saviour or conquer is able to drop 💧
They spoke on vampire loneliness and allowed Claudia to be the loneliest of all. The black women in her very nature is a crime but must bear burden of guilt although she is the nost innocent
Brava!
One thing I adore about this show is how deliberate and considered these adaption choices are. This episode a lot of those bold choices paid off.
Claudia had so much more dignity in her death. Delaney’s more mature performance allowed her to die on her feet fighting. I don’t think you could have achieved this with a toddler. Her speech about being a roof shingle is haunting. She’s completely right this is a book about the horrifying love story of Louis and Lestat; as the audience we know she’s a side character but her acknowledgment of that is chilling. If Claudia’s ghost is present in the future like she is in the books it will be so much more cathartic because of her promise to get vengeance in the afterlife.
I think exploring the fallible nature of memories is so well done in the show. It seems in the later books Rice uses Louis being an unreliable narrator to “fix” aspects of Lestat’s likability. But I think this show is doing a great job of setting up how different people are telling different stories because they remember them differently. You can tell Lestat basks in public approval and often glamorizes himself. His racism and his privilege and his narcissism impact his memory. It’s his desire to have Louis love him again that stops him from reading off the script he rehearsed erasing the abuse. And with the alternative perspective on Claudia’s creation you see Louis will ignore harsh truths so aggressively that he re-writes the past. Where the books might imply Louis is a traumatized liar and Lestat is a dick but ultimately a hero; this show implies the truth is in the middle. It’s up to the audience to determine who you trust and what is reality. Knowing before we see these memory contradictions that Armand has altered Louis mind it adds another layer to the debate. What were Armand’s intentions? Can we trust him when he says “I could not prevent it” or that his life was in danger; can we trust him at all?
This is really good TV but it’s phenomenal adaptation. In a world of Tom Hoopers Cats and the Wonka musical I feel honored to get to watch something that improves the source material with its changes.
I loved this review btw, hit subscribe so fast!
Same here, the writers are doing a great job at telling the different perspectives to evoke new emotions for each character the same way reading each character's book was like.
In the first IWTV, Lestat was clearly the antagonist from Louis' perspective.
In The Vampire Lestat, you got to see things from Lestat's pov and he because a more likeable character overall, while Armand was more of an antagonist there.
In The Vampire Armand, you get to see all the history and details that make up his character and feel a new attachment to him too, hoping for the best for him especially after he and Louis separate.
Then on and on until you get them all gathered together and it all makes sense why they act and react to one another the way they do.
The choice to make us, the audience, view all of the different perspectives and understand that there is some information that's purposefully being left out is brilliant because it adds to the morally grey nature that all of these characters have. No one is the hero, they're all monsters and victims in someone else's story 🥺
I Love Armand ( he's so weirdly charming ugh ) but he was the real villain this episode. How you gonna pull a "I could not prevent it" when you literally put out the entire coven just saying "ENOUGH" a few episodes ago. I cried when Claudia looked to Lestat for help for naught. As louie said this was difficult.
You know, I've thought about this a bit now and I have 2 ideas.
1. The obvious one is that he just didn't want to save Claudia period. He didn't even look that "drained of his power" after using his mind gift the way Lestat was when he controlled the minds of those soldiers back in season 1.
2. If Armand really was mentally blocking Lestat too, then it makes sense that he couldn't risk using his ability on others too much because Lestat would be a lot more difficult to control compared to anyone else. There's moments that show Lestat wasn't all the way there.
In the books, Lestat went straight to Armand first and told him about what happened between him, Louis and Claudia in New Orleans and Lestat was extremely weak and disoriented. He literally had no idea what was even happening and wasn't aware of the vampires going to attack Louis, Claudia and Madeline.
And remember that Armand is normally the director for all the plays on the Theatre stage? If he already got the story from Lestat, then he'd be able to produce all of those slides they used in the play to relay the story. I doubt Lestat would have told his story to Santiago and the coven for them to use as a play.
That's just my theory 🤷🏽♀️
Armand is clearly lying. He could have prevented it one way or another. He just didn't want to.
I still love him. He does have smth captivating
heartwrenching episode. your commentary on the racial violence being committed towards louis and claudia was really well put... i havent actually been able to stomach a rewatch yet but ill have to get on it before sunday because so much happened during the trial that im sure i missed something
I love how you explicitly talked about how this episode was a masterclass in Misogynoir for Beginners. As much as I like to live in the fantasy world, where Madeline and Claudia DO run off to Belgium or somewhere... Repast is tonight at 6pm on @StruggleReviews 's channel. It'll be a live-stream of like 6 Black Femme Creators (y'all save me a plate, please)!! I'd be there if I weren't teaching a yoga class tonight 😭One of the cousins, @watchwithmeellebee literally made a program for Claudia for her video yesterday, lol.
Family is wearing yellow, in Loving Memory😔🙏🏾💕
rip to the realest one.
🪦
I got the potato salad for the repast. As a black woman with an ethnically diverse romantic history I over identify with (and unconditionally love) Louis. But there's no getting away from the basic understanding that being black and female makes my wellbeing and existence conditional for most of the rest of humanity. Love these thorough analyses. ❤
let me design those tshirts bc we need a funeral for my girl 💔🕊️
As a November Scorpio, Lestat being a Scorpio makes WAY too much sense.
Wayyy too much sense. lol
Astrology is nonsense.
@@cullenarthur8879Oh shit, really? Okay let me delete my comment. Hold on…
@@cullenarthur8879your comment is nonsense.
Your analysis of Louis and Claudia's relationship breaks my heart bc its so true. Like sometimes you don't get the opportunity to make things up and things end how they end 💔 there was so many layers to the trial with their relationships! Like Louis, Lestat and Claudia had a very complex family dynamic from S1 that the audience didn't really know. I know it was intentional but Louis and Claudia not being able to speak on the stage just got to me. Claudia vowing to come back and take out the audience... I absolutely believe she could! I really hope Delainey is able to return in some way bc Claudia really does impact Louis and Lestat forever. I think it was good that the revisits provided context but doesn't change overall what happens. That fits with the memory is a monster theme. I'll definitely be reading that TVinsider article you mentioned. Thank you for your commentary! ❤
The games they played in their face was crazy. You gotta remember they’re vampires and a fall isn’t anything to them but at the same time 7 years of depression and no sex is reasonable. Y’all ancient and 7 years wasn’t like a week to us humans the games they played! 🤣
True, true, but Santiago looked like he had all the sauce in that outfit baby🫰🏻
Santiago wrote that in the play. They were trying to make Louis look bad.
I hope they get enough seasons where we can see Louis finally propose to Lestat. And they become the Prince and his Consort.
Skipping right to the end😂😂 There's aliens involved too 👀👀
Your videos are the best reviews of the show on TH-cam! I look forward to them! Thank you for your work!
Absolutely!! ❤
i gotta admit, you portrayed the epitome of how Claudia must have felt...Claudia the young black girl ignored and bettayed by everyone...Claudia wrongfully accused and punished...as opposed to other TH-camrs who are also black females lusting after a white man (who is lusting after a black man)...very well done...i really enjoyed your analogy of this episode...
he really said "i could not pwevent it" 😿 "it took all my strength to save louis" PLSSSSSSSSSSSS i wanted daniel to clock it more (hopefully next ep) p.s ur hair is absolutely GORGGGG mashallaahh♥️
Thank you!!
This episode was so good. I still love my VampBae Louis and Ima stick beside his depressed, sad, dramatic, unreliable memory self!!!! 😂
Lestat knows he can strut honey!!!! And I love that he told his side of what happened.
When he said Louis chased and hunted him and calling out to him saying Come to me, I legit said "Oh hell naw!!" 😂 Cuz if he's a closeted gay man, yea Louis may somehow show up where you are. But calling out to you from his mind!!!!! Did he know Lestat was a vampire and could read minds???????? That's not Louis' fault Lestat can read minds!
I'm skeptical of that convo about turning Claudia. Just the part about him saying it's against vampire law to turn her. That sounds too much like right for Lestat. But when Louis dragged Claudia across the carpet begging to turn her, I said "If you dont pick up our not yet daughter sister!!! She already burnt!!!!!! Pick her up!!!!"
And was that the only time he brought up the laws? Did he ever bring up the laws to Claudia when she first started her journals? Lestat could've told her/them about the laws during the "good times" Claudia wrote about in her journals.
My daughter sister went out like a G!!! Babygirl said she coming back and killing all of them!!
And Louis is about to snap!
Omg Bobbi!!! I'm also born November 7!! TRIPLETS, we are! Great video
The bit at around the 40 minute mark where you talked about claudia's lot in life wrt vampiric loneliness had me choking up all over again 😭 claudia was such a great character and every time I remember she's passed my heart physically hurts. Shes not even just character anymore she's so real to me 😭😭😭
Lestat’s Scorpio AND Louis’s Libra were showing like crazy this episode. Louis is addicted to being everyone’s dream girl rather than owning up to his own alleged morals. HEART WRENCHING episode 😭 the scene of Louis begging and dragging burnt up baby Claudia was shocking. Lestat’s apology for the abuse felt mostly like the showrunners trying to redeem him for a very Lestat-forward S3. I’m excited to see what is added to the finale and what will go down in Dubai. I will miss Claudia forever her absence will be felt for as long as the series runs.
Astrology is nonsense.
Yeahhh the Lestat apology wasn’t doing much for me as far as redemption goes. I’m just glad the show didn’t try to say the abuse didn’t happen or make Louis not a victim of it.
Really my only theory for next week is that louis will ask for his remaining memories back from armand (if there are any - i wouldnt be surprised if there were). I think for a long time he couldn't face himself and how he contributed to claudia's death, but throughout this season we see him really trying to remember "correctly" (as much as that's possible) what really happened. He also admits that lestat's account of her turning is the more accurate account. It seemed to really truly tear at him that he had asked for the memory of his suicide attempt to be wiped (allegedly), and I think he's maybe now ready to take accountability and fully grieve claudia, while also showing that he's outgrown armand's "good nurse" act that he mentioned in ep 6, bc the dubai penthouse is really starting to feel like a padded cell where all objects of potential harm (including his daughter's diaries!) have been taken away and put out of his reach. Idk. Maybe. Who knows!
That's a really interesting idea, how will Louis be if he does get all of his memories back? 🤔
I'd love to know what happens between the end of Paris and San Francisco. How did Louis end up leaving with Armand without Lestat knowing where he is
OMG I'm Nov 8th it makes so much sense that Lestat is a Scorpio lolll we're passionate folks 😂
Omg I love that!!!
Astrology is nonsense.
Lestat: "now i get abusing u was wrong"
Louis: " so youre gonna stop?"
Lestat: "lol no 😊"
I think the most important thing was when Santiago says "Remember we are monsters." Yes, you are monsters. I felt so bad for Claudia and Madeline and Louis. Lestat I love as a character, but some of his dialogue felt like yes, he was lying. Being forced to lie by another vampire (Armand) under duress? Yes its wrong to make a child a vampire, but its already done. Even in the books, technically Armand was 17, but picked up by Marius several years earlier as a child and groomed before he was turned. Marius then later on turns other children into vampires to be Armand's companions. This whole trial farce is pretty much ridiculous. They are all monsters and hypocritical.
Claudia has always been the tragic figure. Not only here or in the books, but as well in Anne Rice's personal life, when her own daughter died. Additionally, here in the show this tragedy is portrait in a more ironic way, by showing how the one thing that Claudia wanted the most all her life, to finally have her very own companion, burned away in her hands. Special attention to the detail, that in the books it is Madelaine holding Claudia in her arms but in the episode we see her holding her beloved Madeleine...
burned away in her hands 😭
In the book Claudia is five years old and Madeleine is a grown woman - Claudia really couldn't hold her in that way.
@@MargauxChanning But Madeleine could have hold Claudia in her arms and still it was the other way round in the show. That was my point.
Whew, Bobbi! You said it all!!!
Wonderful recap.
I think the emphasis of the Antoinette's death is a manipulation and is written to feel that way
I was waiting for nonbook readers to see this. Claudia never had a chance 😢
Cant WAIT for your ep 8 reaction!!
Great review as always! Your “Vamps” poster is really cool! I wished you would show it and briefly discuss each of the (6) characters. I can only identify (2) Grace Jones and Aaliyah. 🧛♀️
I can't take Lestats apology at all seriously was like Nancy from The Craft " He's sorry, he's sorry he's sorry" in the tearful apology to Louis the reason it got to that point in the 1st place was that he put his hands on Claudia he never looked at her once on that stage and said I am sorry but he does that for Louis. Louis said, " I will take this hand and wrap it around your scrawny neck just like you did to our daughter". And as a black woman I was Claudia. She is completely right she is still in another round of their stormy romance she is standing still in the eye of the hurricane that is them forever trapped and I wanted both of them all gone.
glad i found an opinion on this similar to mine. People are turning on louis and calling lestat a victim like he didn't start the fight by choking claudia, and then he proceeded to hook his nails into louis neck drag him on the floor and drop him from a height not even planes reach. louis getting a few punches in doesn't make him and claudia any less of a victim.
Well said to you both.
@@chan-lLestat stood by Louis for seven years while Claudia fucked off and left Louis depressed and broken. Louis emotionally and physically neglected Lestat the whole time, but Lestat stayed with him. Then, Miss Claudia comes strolling in with some half ass apology and tries to get Louis to leave his love and the man who stood by him the whole time she was gone. She sensed their relationship was fragile, and like a good predator, she went in for the kill. She hated Lestat, and wanted to take Louis away from him. She knew Lestat had abandonment issues, and what it would do to him.
@@chan-l did you not remember Louis in season one saying that when Claudia left, he took cheap satisfaction out of provoking and insulting him? When he wasn't flat out ignoring him, he was insulting him. That's emotional abuse. Lestat cheated on him, but he ultimately stayed with him. If this were a wife whose husband treated her like that, no one would blame her for seeking affection elsewhere.
@@cullenarthur8879 uh...yeah no... Lestat was cheating on Louie before Claudia left for college and when Louis spent one night with someone else he couldn't handle it. When Claudia came home before the Lestat attacked her she read him for filth. Shr begged him to give her actual information not just " do as I say, not as I do" . He refused to treat her all anything. Her assessment of him was sound both then, and now and boy did he not like that.
loved this review
my only prev exposure to iwtv was the 90s movie and i didn’t think i would like claudia. amc has me IN LOVE! i honestly am going to miss her soooooo much. i’m half hoping louis starts hallucinating her too just so we can get more of her. (i don’t actually think he will but GOSH.)
Remember that everything we know about Louis and Lestat in season one is from Louis’ POV. When you tell your own story, you often are never the bad guy. Have you ever had 2 friends tell you about a fight they had and you hear the exact same story, but the fault and the details are switched depending on who’s telling the story?? When we get to season 3, we’ll see how the story is told through Lestat’s POV!!
I had to pause so much this episode because it genuinely hurt to watch 😭😭😭
Amazing review!!
I really wanted to know your take on Lestat’s POV of the fight before he dropped Louis. Surprised you skipped it…
I didn’t really have many opinions of the fight from Lestat’s POV because the abuse was still pretty clear to me. Louis fighting back didn’t really change much of him and Claudia still being victims of DV imo. Most of my thoughts were on Lestat’s intentions of purposely dropping Louis.
@@culturekitsch That’s true, I agree. Thanks for the reply!
Dude it's like i knew it was coming but...i had some Hope. 😢😢😢😢 This version of Claudia is by far my favorite, like that's my girl! This one hurt..❤
Edit: And I'd haunt their b*tch@ss with her. 💅🔥
48:00
People will come to learn as the series goes on that Lestat suffered greatly thru him loving and losing Nicki ........and guess who was also thereback then ....Armand that liar ,lying liar
Lou-ie (Lu-E)… not Lu-Weee lol
You have to remember Louis lied during the first interview n the 70's... He's also had multiple memories erased... His recollection cannot be trusted and WE as the audience have seen events unfold from ONLY the perspective of Louis when it comes to his relationship with Lestat and somewhat thru the diabolical Armand when it comes to Claudia because the aforementioned erasure of Louis memories that he begins to regain thru the interview... Louis takes his accountability and responsibility out of the equation and blames Lestat because thats easier to sooth his guilt of the murder of Lestat (another Louis lie) and the death of Claudia... as the Talamaska said, you fear the 500 year old Armand but its really Louis who you should fear. And Armand has stated multiple times he has to protect Louis and the World from himself. As a vampire who has periods of blackout, as a vampire who doesnt deink humans, i can see Louis turning into a demon when he's emotionally compromised and killing a city... He is full of Lestat's blood and Armands training...
And Armand's blood too! Louis surely is the dangerous one
@@lenakataeva7525 and you see he gets violent just about every time Malloy catches him in a lie. Which has been, often... why even do the interview with a human who is obviously not as dumb as Louis presumed?? Just continuously spinning his web to seem virtuous and knightly when Louis kno he aint sh&t
@@isessogroup I think Louis lies not fully realising it, subconsciously. He wants to be better in the story, better than he is, so he tells it that way. Of course erased or fixed memories doesn't really help to stay truthful to the facts and except who he became. And maybe he needs someone who would call him out on his lie after all this time, hence the need of the interview. But yeah noone likes to be called out and Louis has a bad temper
I love this show so much but watching this last episode was tough...I might have to take some time before I watch the season finale. Because right now I don't really care if Lestat, Armand and even Louis are wiped from the planet. Daniel is really the only one I like and care about right now. The rest of them can burn for all I care at the moment at least. RIP Claudia and Madeline 😢😢😢😢