Interview with the Vampire
Dec. 6th, 2022 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schneefinkDD and I watched "Interview with the Vampire" when it aired, and it only took me a couple of weeks to get around to writing down thoughts about it. (Sidenote, I still automatically think "Interview with a vampire" first, probably both because of the German translation and because it flows better.)
Background: DD has read the books (I think all of them, definitely many) and started watching the show, and after the first two episodes she told that we should watch them together because they're actually good. (Unlike the books. I've since found out that the beginning of "The Vampire Lestat" reads like a vampire AU of My Immortal.) I was politely skeptical at first, especially because I can do without a large amount of gore in things I watch, but then we watched the first three episodes together and I was hooked. It's a fascinating show about very fucked-up relationships and also serial killer vampires.
The set-up is clever: the events of the original interview from "Interview with the Vampire" book still happened, but now it's twenty years later and Louis contacts the journalist, Daniel, about doing another interview. And this time the story is different. So in addition to what's happening in the present time and the story of what happened in the past you now have the extra layer of how that story changed in the past twenty years and why. I couldn't fully appreciate it because I still haven't read the books, but I got some of the highlights via DD. The different timelines worked very well for me because every time I wanted a break from the story in the past, especially in the beginning, the show switched to the present time.
All the actors were great, especially the main characters: Louis, Lestat, Daniel, and Claudia were wonderful.
Making Louis black was a great move, it already made him an outsider to the society he aspired to belong to, and of course it makes his relationship with Lestat even more suspect in the eyes of everyone else, especially Louis' family. Louis' relationship with his birth family was well done and very painful.
I really liked Claudia, and I think making her a young teenager was a good choice. The scene with Lestat stopping her from escaping on the train was one of my favorites and genuinely shocking and horrible. For a while I even thought Lestat might have sent Bruce after her to teach her a lesson. They did a great job showing Claudia feeling trapped by Lestat and her affection for Louis even as she knows that Louis is tragically attached to Lestat. She has hope that Louis' love for Lestat will eventually reach a breaking point, no wonder she did not take it well at all when Louis refused to burn him.
I loved Daniel calling Louis out on obscuring that, their relationship is great and so intriguing. The fact that Louis could be reading Daniel's mind the whole time (and so could Armand) is a great extra layer to all their conversations. I also really liked Louis reminding Daniel that Daniel begged him to turn him, but Daniel changed his mind in the last twenty years. And I liked Daniel constantly trying to figure out what is up with Rashid, who seems suspect but is able to withstand sunshine. Having him show up in the flashback with Daniel and Louis twenty years ago was a great moment for the viewer, and of course then the reveal for Daniel. I only know Armand from what DD told me, but even in the show he already seems, uh, not the most trustworthy, and I suspect him of similar possessiveness as Lestat's.
Speaking of Lestat – damn, the more I think about it the more I think I probably really should read the books to properly appreciate what they changed and how Louis' portrait of him changed… He was great, both extremely charismatic and genuinely scary, both very much in love with Louis but also there's some compromises he refuses to make. Their conversations about not-cheating! And then the actual betrayal with Antoinette, and also the physical attack – their relationship is so fucked up, and yet it's believable how Louis can't quite tear himself away even though he tries. Louis never quite commits, and yet it's hard to blame him. Same when it comes to food: yeah, his lover and his daughter are murderers and he hates it, but they're also the only people he really has in this world, and he too murdered people but the will to survive is strong. Have I mentioned that they are all very messed up?
I'm really looking forward to the next season! Especially to what's going to happen in the present tense, and I really hope we'll get more hints about what happened in the last twenty years. I got some spoilers from DD from the books so I know that Lestat is alive but Claudia dies eventually, which is sad but otoh I cautiously hope they'll manage to make it not feel terrible. Maybe. I don't know anything about how she dies so fingers crossed.
I feel like I had more thoughts on this but a) it's been weeks and b) a lot of it was mostly flailing so maybe not.
Currently I'm mostly watching various Minecraft streams that I don't need brain for, but I'm really looking forward to watching "Andor." I heard it's great, but it sounds like something I want to actually pay attention to. Hopefully in the not too distant future.
Background: DD has read the books (I think all of them, definitely many) and started watching the show, and after the first two episodes she told that we should watch them together because they're actually good. (Unlike the books. I've since found out that the beginning of "The Vampire Lestat" reads like a vampire AU of My Immortal.) I was politely skeptical at first, especially because I can do without a large amount of gore in things I watch, but then we watched the first three episodes together and I was hooked. It's a fascinating show about very fucked-up relationships and also serial killer vampires.
The set-up is clever: the events of the original interview from "Interview with the Vampire" book still happened, but now it's twenty years later and Louis contacts the journalist, Daniel, about doing another interview. And this time the story is different. So in addition to what's happening in the present time and the story of what happened in the past you now have the extra layer of how that story changed in the past twenty years and why. I couldn't fully appreciate it because I still haven't read the books, but I got some of the highlights via DD. The different timelines worked very well for me because every time I wanted a break from the story in the past, especially in the beginning, the show switched to the present time.
Hey look I can do the cool new cut for spoilers now - click here for spoilery thoughts.
All the actors were great, especially the main characters: Louis, Lestat, Daniel, and Claudia were wonderful.
Making Louis black was a great move, it already made him an outsider to the society he aspired to belong to, and of course it makes his relationship with Lestat even more suspect in the eyes of everyone else, especially Louis' family. Louis' relationship with his birth family was well done and very painful.
I really liked Claudia, and I think making her a young teenager was a good choice. The scene with Lestat stopping her from escaping on the train was one of my favorites and genuinely shocking and horrible. For a while I even thought Lestat might have sent Bruce after her to teach her a lesson. They did a great job showing Claudia feeling trapped by Lestat and her affection for Louis even as she knows that Louis is tragically attached to Lestat. She has hope that Louis' love for Lestat will eventually reach a breaking point, no wonder she did not take it well at all when Louis refused to burn him.
I loved Daniel calling Louis out on obscuring that, their relationship is great and so intriguing. The fact that Louis could be reading Daniel's mind the whole time (and so could Armand) is a great extra layer to all their conversations. I also really liked Louis reminding Daniel that Daniel begged him to turn him, but Daniel changed his mind in the last twenty years. And I liked Daniel constantly trying to figure out what is up with Rashid, who seems suspect but is able to withstand sunshine. Having him show up in the flashback with Daniel and Louis twenty years ago was a great moment for the viewer, and of course then the reveal for Daniel. I only know Armand from what DD told me, but even in the show he already seems, uh, not the most trustworthy, and I suspect him of similar possessiveness as Lestat's.
Speaking of Lestat – damn, the more I think about it the more I think I probably really should read the books to properly appreciate what they changed and how Louis' portrait of him changed… He was great, both extremely charismatic and genuinely scary, both very much in love with Louis but also there's some compromises he refuses to make. Their conversations about not-cheating! And then the actual betrayal with Antoinette, and also the physical attack – their relationship is so fucked up, and yet it's believable how Louis can't quite tear himself away even though he tries. Louis never quite commits, and yet it's hard to blame him. Same when it comes to food: yeah, his lover and his daughter are murderers and he hates it, but they're also the only people he really has in this world, and he too murdered people but the will to survive is strong. Have I mentioned that they are all very messed up?
I'm really looking forward to the next season! Especially to what's going to happen in the present tense, and I really hope we'll get more hints about what happened in the last twenty years. I got some spoilers from DD from the books so I know that Lestat is alive but Claudia dies eventually, which is sad but otoh I cautiously hope they'll manage to make it not feel terrible. Maybe. I don't know anything about how she dies so fingers crossed.
I feel like I had more thoughts on this but a) it's been weeks and b) a lot of it was mostly flailing so maybe not.
Currently I'm mostly watching various Minecraft streams that I don't need brain for, but I'm really looking forward to watching "Andor." I heard it's great, but it sounds like something I want to actually pay attention to. Hopefully in the not too distant future.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-07 07:05 am (UTC)I put off starting Andor as well since I was having Tired Brain, and wanted to give it my full attention. Hopefully after Christmas. And I've heard nothing but praise, though it's not the joyful adventurous romp kind of SW, more aligned with Rogue One (which obviously makes sense lol).
no subject
Date: 2022-12-07 09:40 pm (UTC)Iirc opinions on Andor became very positive after episode three or so, I try not to have too high expectations because that can only lead to disappointment but the reviews are very encouraging :)
no subject
Date: 2022-12-07 01:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-12-07 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-12-08 05:52 pm (UTC)Same here, really!! :D
Still haven't found a decent way to watch the show here in Germany... well-intending friends link to links to links on Insta which link to Telegram links? and I'm like, ugh, looks a bit fishy. 😭
no subject
Date: 2022-12-09 06:05 pm (UTC)Unfortunately I can't help with where to find the episodes to stream, DD somehow ~acquired the episodes.