“Kiss. Grope. Aftercare. Onward.”
-Lestat
Last week’s episode was a wild trip. This week we dived into more of what Lestat dubbed as failures. The band’s next stop was in Toledo. While there, Lestat and his mother have a proper reunion and think back on their human years. Louis and Daniel finally sat down and talked, but there were strings attached. Emotions ran high and spite was rampant, but there was definitely that little twinkle of reminiscence.
Let’s review!
Band Members Only Meeting
After Lestat’s (Sam Reid) exit in 1×01, everyone in the band had questions, but only Alex (Seamus Patterson) got off this wild ride. The rest: Larry (Noah Reid), TC (Sarah Swire), and the enthusiastic Salamander (Ryan Kattner) had their questions and discomforts, but overall wanted to continue on tour. Lestat was more than willing to share what it meant to be a vampire, and so did his mother, Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle), who now joined the band on the road.
We look forward to seeing if and when the band asks to be turned, and who may do it? There are three vampires on that tour bus now. We guess that it’ll be Salamander asking first. He embraced Lestat and vampires as a whole pretty quickly compared to everyone else. His enthusiasm matches our own.
Mother Dearest
Or as Lestat put it, “vampire incest incident.”
We got a deep look at Lestat’s human life during this episode, which really pinpointed where Lestat’s “Failures” began: at home with his family. His father and two brothers are cruel and selfish beings, whereas Lestat is more emotionally driven. He wasn’t raised in the same manner as his brothers. His stutter had been picked at, as had the interest in reading he shared with his mother. As he got older, their relationship did start to take a V. C. Andrews kind of turn.
When his mother challenged him to go kill the wolves threatening the local village, Lestat sought to do something meaningful, not just for himself but for life. His mother shares in this as she shares in Lestat’s vampirism when he returns from Paris later in the episode to transform her. Together, they had shed their human lives and trauma by eating and disembowelling them.
In the present, not much has changed. The two reunite and spend most of the episode on a hunt together. There are worse ways to spend time with your family. Thanksgiving, for example.
The Ex is Back
Louis’s (Jacob Anderson) jealousy-driven pettiness is an absolute delight, especially through not only Lestat’s eyes, but Daniel’s (Eric Bogosian) as well—or rather through Daniel’s book. Close enough, right? It’s quite the plot twist for Louis. But, maybe he’s been secretly missing the destructive intoxication only Lestat can give.
Daniel and Louis finally sat down to talk. They haven’t seen each other since Daniel was turned and the book was published. Louis was understandably touchy about the book since he didn’t agree to it being released, yet he hasn’t really challenged Daniel about it. The world didn’t take it too seriously (well, until Lestat revealed everything in 1×01). What truly hurt Louis was that he came across as selfish and broody, but his reappearance offered him an opportunity to understand it through Lestat’s eyes.
On a side note, Daniel’s unique relationship with his sire, Armand, did stir up some curiosity for us. Apparently, Armand has been keeping a close eye on Daniel. Daniel has noticed his presence even when he can’t see him, which isn’t common. We wonder if this is only a hit at seeing Armand again, and if we’ll get to see how Armand loses his eye and how Louis ends up using his cane. We’re confident that it’ll have something to do with Akasha, but we’re open to other possibilities.
Raglan (Justin Kirk) of the Talamasca couldn’t help but stick his nose in this affair. Interrupting Daniel’s dinner with Louis, he proposed that Louis clean up the vampire mess in Detroit. Louis was more than happy to say no until he heard that the vampire leading the Fang Gang was Bruce, the vampire who had attacked Claudia years ago. This cemented Louis’s emergence from solitude and left us tingling. Now, we’re waiting impatiently for him to avenge Claudia.
What did you think of the episode? Let’s chat in the comments below!
