this vampire theater Claudia’s (Delaney Hales) new play debuts, while Armand (Assad Zaman) goes off-script and makes no Kill Louis (Jacob Anderson) last week’s episode of Visit the Vampire.
exist “I Want You More Than Everything in the World” is directed by Levan Akin and written by Coline Abert and A. Zell Williams Script, Armand changes the rules of the assembly for himself, as everyone does. Meanwhile, in the present day, Molloy (Eric Bogosian) continues Claudia’s story in her code-breaking diaries, which chronicle her new friendships with Anne Rice. The original is very different.
For Claudia, playing a little girl in the Vampire Theater got old quickly. It’s like 50 years of group membership bullying requirements, but she got tired of it by the 500th show. The “Baby Show” skit evokes the uncomfortable nature of cake walks and alludes to the exploitative nature of minstrel shows, with Claudia infantilized in upper-class garb as the coven staged violence in an effort to bring her down Skit. It has layers of commentary if it’s intentional, but it’s questionable if it’s not – it’s a careful reflection of Louis and Claudia’s blackness. In the final episode, Louis comments that at least there were no lynchings in Paris, but that the exploitative nature of race and gender in the entertainment industry cannot be completely eradicated. It’s completely hidden beneath the theatrical parody of Claudia as a black woman being punished in the body of a child while the coven believes she can’t transcend her limitations. In the present day, when Molloy calls for infantilization, Armand says she “would” do as she’s asked, while Louise admits she doesn’t like it.
Back in time, Claudia stands up for herself, “I’m a ferocious vampire trapped in the body of a little girl,” she says, while trying to break the part of the contract with Baby Lu, Armand tells her, She’s going to live her life in childish clothes until she finds inspiration to play Baby Lu again. Admittedly, it’s a little disturbing to see punishment meted out to another person who also sees exploitation as a marginalized identity. Santiago (Ben Daniels), of all people, stands up for Claudia, telling Armand he’s being unfair because the show is doing so well, but he doesn’t know that because he’s hanging out in town with Luis , he let Louis go with so much. They’re essentially married at this point; they’re quick to say “I love you” to each other, but still haven’t dealt with the simmering resentment of the group, and Claudia’s anger ensues. The reason for the survival of the man is that fact provided by his computer pen pal Spy Raglan. This made Armand realize that something was wrong. He told Molloy that he had not obtained the information, and the interviewer was quick to say that his research assistant had stumbled upon the event—and that we were preparing for it.
Returning to Claudia’s diary point of view, she recalls Santiago catching her scribbling in violation of Rule 3: “Vampires must devote themselves to writing the history of vampires.” Something worries her, but Santiago is quick to ease her concerns by suggesting the rules are loose guidelines. He admits that he was born in violation of the First Law, was not gifted with darkness by his leader, and often violates the Fourth Law: “No vampire shall reveal his true nature to a mortal, and allow that mortal to live.” Everything feels casual to Claudia, and she begins to trust Santiago and respect him even more. Maybe it’s a plot to drive a wedge between her and Luis, whom Santiago is definitely after, or maybe he does see a reflection of himself in her. At a rally dinner, Santiago uses his other dark talent to parrot his pretentious love of culture and humanity, dragging Luis down, knowing exactly what the New Orleans vampire will say, and he imitating a Cajun drawl, calling him an attempt to hide his true identity. Armand exerts his dominance, freezing time around them, berating them like children, making them back off from each other, while still refusing to hold himself or Louis responsible for their existence as lovers outside of the gathering.
Armand’s mercurial nature also comes to the fore in modern times. When Louis showed Molloy the photographs he had taken during that era, it turned out that the only image he had taken from the folio was that of Armand. Someone went out for gaslighting and the janitor deleted all the photos he took during that time. Armand plays dumb, and when Molloy asks innocuous questions, he quickly projects himself into Daniel’s mind as a terrifying distraction, distracting him from getting too close to Daniel. something. Louis insisted that he did not want to distort his work, that he simply wanted to capture images of his time in Paris, completely no He wanted to be praised as a photographer—even though the curator nearly ate him when he told him his work had only potential. The answer to his quest for approval comes in the form of Lester’s expected appearance, assuring him that artistic notes can be improved – and Armand interrupting him by reciting Shakespeare on the balcony. Sam Reid’s Lestat savors these scenes with wonderful reactions, actually laughing at Armand’s recitation of Romeo’s lines.
To make amends for his behavior at dinner with the gathering, Armand takes Louis to spend an evening at a museum after get off work. There he showed Louis a work of art created by his master Marius de Romanus, who had bought him from a brothel after his parents were deceived into thinking he After being put aboard a merchant ship, he was sold into slavery. He describes living in exploitation, eventually being saved by his master with dark gifts and bathed in his “godly mercy,” until a Roman coven of witches showed up and set fire to his creator. There’s a lot to unpack considering he said “I am the history of what I endure”, but that’s no excuse to treat yourself in a way that puts them through similar experiences – for example, as a marginalized person of color vampire.
Exploring such a subject can be tricky, and things get even trickier when we meet Claudia, who takes it upon herself to form a close friendship with seamstress Madeleine (Roxanne Duran), by bringing her Saved from the gang who painted another swastika on her window. It turns out that she was targeted because she had voluntary sex with Nazi soldiers after the war –once. So, it’s totally okay for her and Claudia to become besties after they did something considered “scary.” Yeah that’s what they’re going to do on the show, I guess it’s cool that Claudia has a more age appropriate friend? The odd choice gives her “I once slept with a fascist, but now I have a black vampire friend” pass. They bond through the hardships life throws at them, and Claudia bonds for the first time outside of Louis and the coven of witches, whom she knows mostly hate her.
Unfortunately, Armand catches her on the way back from the clothing store and threatens her with what he knows she and Louis did to Lester. After returning to the apartment, she and Louis quarreled again. Their relationship nearly fell apart when she accused him of choosing another man over her and recounted what they had done. Louis tries to refute the claim that Armand knew all along, but that doesn’t matter to Claudia – she’s right; he hid from her the fact that the secret had been revealed to the leader of the coven. Louis was too infatuated to realize it was being used to threaten his child and prevent her from making her own connections, but he said she chose the coven over him. It doesn’t change that he chose the other one over her, breaking a promise he made at the end of the season.
It’s so heartbreaking to see, even Lester’s ghost looks like Damn it, “The Wilderness is Our Daughter.” The breakdown in relationships continues as Santiago spies on vampires in New Orleans. Louis leaves and spends a tender moment with Lester, recalling the honeymoon period to avoid falling into new situations, as often happens to those dealing with the trauma of an abusive relationship, ignoring what Armand may be inflicting Another type of abuse. You know he wants Louise, he wants to leave the coven and thinks this will lead to the disintegration of the coven. It’s such a mess to see Armand show up and use his weaponized incompetence to go along with Luis’ idea of giving Santiago more leadership over the coven and sabotaging it for them. But what else can Claudia do besides be seen as another obstacle in Armand’s pursuit of Louis?
The episode ends in the present day with Armand and Louis arguing over the secretly planted photo, with Armand assuring Louis that it wasn’t his doing. Meanwhile, outside the lover’s quarters, Molloy receives an audio file of his first interview with Louis, which sounds like he was attacked by a vampire before Armand showed up to clean things up.
Visit the Vampire airs Sundays on AMC and AMC+.
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