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'The Vampire Lestat’ Episode 7 Deep Dive

1h 15m 9s

'The Vampire Lestat’ Episode 7 Deep Dive

The Vampire Lestat finale delivers a richly layered, emotionally intense exploration of trauma, identity, and redemption. Through surreal, introspective sequences, the episode delves into Lestat’s past, revealing how his relationships with Gabriella, Armand, and Paul have shaped his internal world. Key emotional beats include the powerful reunion with Armand, the painful revelation of Paul’s death, and Gabriella’s manipulative role in the witch-burning, which exposes her as a source of deep-trauma. The long table scenes serve as a symbolic crucible, reflecting on Lestat’s history of abuse and control, with the absence of Claudia underscoring her emotional distance. While the Daniel-Armand dynamic feels underdeveloped and lacks the narrative depth needed for full resonance, the Louis-Armand relationship stands out as emotionally compelling and thematically significant. The episode masterfully balances dark themes with moments of vulnerability and grace, affirming that self-awareness—though painful—is a vital step toward healing. Ultimately, it ends not with closure, but with a sense of necessary growth and ongoing accountability, making it a standout in the series’ evolution.

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Hello and welcome back to House of R. I'm Joanna Robinson and joining me today are fingers grazing each other's could be could be could be fingers touch it's Mallory Rubin. Oh I think I might be a room without walls floor ceiling and infinite nothing. Sounds right. It's the vibe. Hi we're both here gratefully ill to talk to you about the vampire list at finale. We are barely hanging on. This episode is brought to you by Quince. We've all got something in our closet that we go back to again and again. The trick is finding pieces like that and luckily Quince is all about creating elevated everyday essentials you'll never want to take off. Their pieces are high quality and made with materials like organic cotton and premium stretched denim without insane markups. Like you can get 100 percent Mongolian cashmere sweater starting at fifty dollars. I've been loving personally Quince has a whole line of linen button down shirts and I'm in my linen button down shirt era because summers in Los Angeles are oppressively hot. So this is something I've been really really enjoying based off of what I got from Quince and I was really shocked by how reasonably priced they were. So you can find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to Quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them let them know it was House of R. It's the best way to support the show. It's back to school back to work back to cozy nights at home season and ADT is here to handle your home security so you can focus on spending time with the people who matter. Get professionally installed systems you can access from the ADT plus app plus reps on call 24 7 at the most company operated monitoring senators in the industry. You deserve cozy time at home. ADT will keep an eye out when every second counts. Count on ADT. Visit ADT.com today. We are thrilled to share that the Ringiverse team of the Midnight Boys Pew Pew and the House of R will be returning to San Diego Comic Con this July. We're kicking off on Thursday July 23rd at Whiskey Girl for a Ringiverse fan meetup. No badge required. We'll be there for an hour or so starting around 6 30. So come say hi grab a drink celebrate with us and then on Saturday July 23rd at 10 30 a.m. Come to our panel. Comic Con badge holders can find the Midnight Boys Pew Pew and the House of R. Correct. In room 5AB on the upper level of the convention center for a Ringiverse super group panel. We're going to be discussing the franchises that have dominated nerd culture this year and taking stock of what's to come. So whether you're local to San Diego or in town for Comic Con we'd love to see you at Whiskey Girl on Thursday or if you're a badge holder join us on Saturday July 25th for our panel. See you in San Diego. All right quick programming reminders House of the Dragon in in full effect. We will have our deep dive allegedly coming out. We're gonna try super hard. We're gonna try super super hard. Also we'll do our best to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in San Diego this weekend for San Diego Comic Con. There's a couple things happening there. Will we be there? Yes we will. That is the plan and the intention. That is the plan. We've got a meet-up Thursday night. You probably saw the ad for this just recently. There's a meet-up Thursday night. You don't need to pass for that. Yeah. There's a panel Saturday morning. You do need to pass for that. Please come. We don't want to be embarrassed by an empty room. I was like less worried about it because our room was actually quite full last year. I was worried last year and then like our room was like standing room only but we're in a bigger room this year. Yeah. So yeah. Let's continue to fill our seats baby. And our debilitating insecurity is a key part of our core identity. So no matter how big or small the room is. That's a fact. That's how we're gonna feel about it. And guess what? When we're back from San Diego, content never sleeps. It'll be Spider-Man time. I gotta be honest. It's gonna be a Spider-Man movie. We just talked about a Tom Holland Zendaya movie and we're back at it. Yeah. I can't wait. You know I was talking to some of our colleagues over the weekend about like who was having the biggest year and they were like oh Robert Pattinson's having the biggest year. I was like no. Yeah. It's Zendaya's year. Of course. I mean no question. Zendaya's in everything that Robert Pattinson is in. Yeah. But with a bigger role and she has euphoria. You know so. Indeed. Something to think about. Indeed. I mean so you know. Euphoria. What a what a show. It's a show. Yeah. It is a show. Okay. And she has Spider-Man which is a movie that's coming out that we're very excited for. I can't wait for Spidey. Yeah. Can't wait. Uh so if you want to follow our shambling corpses as we make our way through this uh you can follow us on social at House of Harpoff. Uh that's on Instagram and TikTok. Yeah. At Rigorverse on Twitter etc etc. Uh you can email us hobbitsanddragons.gmail.com. You can watch us to see just what shape we're in. Yeah. On uh YouTube or Spotify. Full video episodes of House of R are on Zoom. Incredible stuff. Boy. What a joy for you. Do you think if we ask for heating pads to be like just built in. Yeah. Built in. Like a cooling floor. They'll be visible on camera. Heating pads. Cooling floors. All of it. Temperature control. Yeah. Yeah. I did send uh you Carlos and Arjuna recently a a photo of a a new release of like a vest with double water bottle. No reply from any of you. How is this? How is this? You guys think I can pull this off? Crickets. I think I might have gotten a like crying tears of joy emoji from Carlos but crickets are everywhere. When did you send that? I didn't see it. Week and a half ago maybe? My apologies. I sent you a lot of Instagram content. Oh on Instagram. Okay. No I sent it via text. Okay. Well all right. Spoiler warning for today. Yeah. Uh-huh. The Vampire Lassat Queen of the Damned. No direct spoilers. We're not really doing a book spoiler section today. Right. Um there isn't a ton I think. Trying to find out. I'm trying to find out my chapstick in my pants if anyone's wondering what's happening right now. Couldn't find it but I got it. We're leaving that in? This is an all-timer. This is just an all-timer. Are we leaving that in? Okay. I defer to the team on the creative vision you know for what they're cutting and what they're what they're including. I say leave the entire shit show in. Is it a failure? No. That's right. It's all part of the creative experience and the catharsis experience. We're trying. That's exactly right. And that's the message of this episode. Yeah. So let's go now to our opening snapshot. Yeah if you're watching this and you're like oh my god it's a Vampire Lassat episode and Joanna's not wearing the coat I would die if I had to put that coat on. So we're just doing our best. You gonna put the fangs in for the for the thumbnail photo still? I mean I might. I might. We'll see. Episode seven The Failures. Directed by Alan Taylor. Look at that. Of Game of Thrones and Interview with the Vampire series premiere fame. He directed the series premiere which is like still to this day one of my favorite episodes of television of Interview with the Vampire. Directed some famous episodes. Oh yeah. Of Game of Thrones which with I would say mixed results personally. And House of the Dragon episode. That's right. And that Terminator movie. And some other things. Yeah. A Thor movie. Okay. That's right. Written by Hannah Moscovich. A Thor movie. I mean. The best one? Some might say. Okay. Only one person might say. You and Alan Taylor's mom are like that's the best one. Okay. Oh my god. Now Urban did you like this episode of television? I'm a little mixed on the finale I will say. I'm very high overall on the season and the finale did not in any way dampen my enthusiasm for the season overall. I thought this was a really wonderful season of television. Like incredibly entertaining and week to week just enjoyable and fun and immersive and rich experience for fans of the character, fans of the show, fans of the relationships, fans of the genre, all of it. I the finale itself there's a lot in it that I liked and I think that the part of the experience that we enjoy which is very rooted in like introspection and reflection and the characters themselves interrogating where they are. How they have come to be there and where they want to go from there. What step they want to take next with that ability to like look inward. This is an episode that is rooted almost entirely in that intention and so I think that if it had been almost anywhere else in the season I probably would have been like this was dynamite but because it's a finale there is I'm there's a little bit of a oh you know we got the cliffhanger and that's fun and there's a propulsive element to that. To carry this over into season four which I am obviously eagerly anticipating and hope we don't have to wait too long to get. Right. You know so I think the fact that we did not get the concert for example did not get whatever the Akasha appearance or like yeah. Contemporary Akasha event is and that is all waiting for us in the future. I think that a lot of the season felt like it was building toward those crescendos at the end of this season. The concert more so maybe than the Akasha stuff specifically but so there's a little bit of that. I don't know I would say the Akasha stuff too you know it's just like heavily hinted at. I'm not upset about it you can do whatever you want. your own finale but it does give us give me at least a little of that house of the dragon season two feeling yeah similar to the house of the dragon season two finale which a lot of people were like hey where are those battles you told us about and it's not that i need like a big spectacle it's just like when you have this sort of sense of like moving towards something yes and then you get this sort of like sinking feeling halfway through the episode we were like oh we're not getting that at all are we got it got it okay that's fine i can pivot and i think as with the house of the dragon season two finale this episode had a couple emotional high marks that for me didn't like leave me walking away like upset about the episode for sure um it didn't feel totally like a finale to me i like i like a swing and this is like you know we got a lot of like theater of the mind sort of like uh surreal uh dream logic stuff going on which is fun i will say what really saves the episode for me what makes me so appreciative of it is uh um the armand stuff like asad zaman's uh performance in the in the louis armand exchange i did see a tweet last night too late for me to feebly type it into our outline but um someone was like wow third season finale in a row where it's just like it was armand all along you know what it's working honestly the armand song is consistently really strong the performance is just so like yeah it's mesmerizing i i was just like leaning forward as as he was both talking and also just as he was listening um and then the paul appearance that was fantastic to bring back louis brother from uh you know and there's a lot of moments in this episode that are bringing us back to season one but i think for paul to show up something i never would have expected like i wouldn't have expected antoinette to be in this episode i wouldn't have expected the tenor to be in this episode like all these other things but when paul walks in walks up along the stage uh and like in soft focus and then you like sort of realize who it is as soon as you realize who it is yeah and then i just thought that exchange where listat doesn't even like look at him once and i that just like floored me i thought it was wonderful so like those two things and there's other things to love but like those two things especially just absolutely nailing some emotional resonance for me made me think fondly of this episode even if i don't know that it's a wholly successful finale that's i exactly how i feel there was a lot on the emotional and thematic front that i really loved if we had one more episode after this to like feel like we ended the season on that kind of rule no that would be awesome i think the only other thing that slightly diminished the episode for me and and this is i'm uh happy to admit or concede more of maybe a personal thing than any universal experience i would say that this episode was a little bit more emotional than any other episode had what i would describe as a for me tenant-esque sound mixing yes issue i i could it was really challenging and and in a way that tips beyond like this is an intentional choice that is conveying something into just sensory overload that i was like actually kind of having a hard time i think sensory overload is a perfect way to put it i had the exact same issue we're like all season and as we've chronicled like my issue with not having captions at all like it's been like a real struggle for me to make sure i catch every single one of them and i think it's a really good way to like follow the gist of what's happening in every single episode that did not always happen for me here with a lot of overlapping conversation so like on the one it's so funny because i'm always sort of encouraging filmmakers and tv creators to like don't dumb it down for your audience like we can we can keep up like like don't don't make us pay attention and my note for this show might be like slow it down a little for me at least i don't know maybe other people don't agree but i i just i have heard that a lot from people this season where like they're like i couldn't follow what was going on sometimes and it's like the the z rapier wit and the and the quickness of this show is one of its like finest elements but i think it tipped yes a little too far i think especially this episode yeah i like when the honey of this show feels like it is coming from the tool in a way that i can catch every single drop of it in my mouth and that that was hard oh my god that was hard this finale incredible i'm a little hungry wow are those just called what are those called i don't know but i have been thinking that we should get one at home because i've started to adam has been making me these just absolutely astonishingly delicious fresh fruit and yogurt bowls i'm putting a little honey on them for me and they're wonderful he's been using fresh cherries recently it's just sensational but i would say that his just using a regular spoon leaves a they're called dippers that's very honey that's very boring let's work on and disappointing time for a rebrand i would like to hear if there's a more exotic name for it honey dipper sounds like uh something that i as a kid who ate a lot of dunkaroos would have had in my lunchbox exactly exactly and i love dunkaroos um i okay should we go now i love it you're very hungry i never want to eat again everything hurts guys let's just go to the deep dive i told our producers this is going to be like kind of a quick episode and we always say that and they never have a reason to believe us i actually think it's true today yeah we're doing our best here we go uh the long promised long table that's right so uh you know we got a we got a drop about the long table and eating souls in episode three from the magnus car scene in a way that you and i were like what is what is this and like the only thing we could think of was the was the sort of like leon core like long table that we saw but they had never sort of referred to as the long table but of course in the opening credits you know first of all listas decapitated head is in the opening credits uh in the animation there but also this location hopping is in the opening credits it's like outside it's in this hall it's in that so like all the stuff that's here visually in the finale uh was there all along in the opening credits what's what's fun um how much did you know we mentioned that we both really enjoyed the paul stuff but in terms of like the other backwards looking like oh season one stuff is here how did this work for you what worked the best of outside of the paul stuff um i think that yeah paul certainly the the most kind of like gobsmacking and intense appearance certainly uh including the intrigue of just paul speaking to a figure we can't see who is she and yeah that that was all like really cool and really good um i think the comedic highlight of of this stretch for me was you know lestat who has gone through this emotional uh crucible and has faced you know not only his two makers as he you know correctly identifies right which was an interesting aspect of this certainly and i'll i'll circle back to gabrielle in a second um fledglings marius is here as well you know paul coming in but then the the audience and attendance of just the legions of people who he has harmed so there's so much that is grim and intense but it's it's the vampire lestat right and so we still have to have like the comedy of him saying you know this is why you guys are the opening act and i'm the headliner and getting up and walking across the table and kicking up the mic stand so you know and that's on the heels of just being like bound by anguish and screaming as he sits there and crying and the the the the beats for the performance from sam reed is so good all the time the as the timer is ticking down and the timer tone by the way is my timer tone and so it like gave it was a little triggering yeah same it was a little triggering i was like is it time to wake up tomorrow already oh my god uh the shallow short breath i was like it me i feel that but there was something about the inability to discern this is an inability to start to discern for the audience member in a good and satisfying way right how much of that is because he is being pulled uh out of the last gasp of of life right and how much of it is because it is it has become almost unbearable to have to navigate the sea of of uh his history but that was all really interesting and and really good i think that the deployment of gabriella in this stretch of these scenes that the long table and we move from the long table is there but we move from the setting the context around it changes all of these key locations and lestat's life i thought that the shift across the episode and the use of gabriella was really smart because initially as all of the other figures all of the other muses fledglings are uh quite critical critical and severe she's supportive she's defending him right and so you are put in this position where you understand kind of the pull that she has on the side that this is her game this is the game she plays this is the manipulation well i will be there to tell you love uh right that you're special then go only sold one painting in his life that was amazing incredible line and then it's actually when she flirts with the singer that's something kind of pivots the jealousy kicks back in that reminder for Lestat that she is working everybody including him all the time they're all pawns for her they're all putty in her hands and then of course we shift into Gabriella being the primary target just in that character set before we go back to the the real world and have to kind of and then it's her again actually right um in a different way because of the context of the concert why did you take me to the switch burning when I was a kid right and we'll talk about that more in a second then when he is when he oh he wakes from the coffin it's like you're gonna send me back out there you know the level to be torn apart the level and degree to which he is a tool for her to use a scalpel to go back to that premiere language from the beginning of the season for her to wield and cut with as she intends and decides so did you train as a doctor I did not oh I did not here's a couple techniques yeah perhaps if I had trained as a doctor I'd be feeling better right now now yeah I know it's amazing watching me do this that I did not go to med school and have not yet been asked to guest as an extra on season three of the pit I am available okay um so yeah I think the what this did for the you know the penultimate episode was such a tour de force for Louis and Lestat and their relationship and this was I thought a very important showcase for and a successful one for the Gabriella Lestat relationship at the end of the season I think to put Magnus and and Gabriella in the same bucket as sort of like these makers in terms of like Lestat's monstrosity yeah right so like if if Magnus turned him into a vampire and and all of the carnage and all of everything that comes off of that is that sort of like original sin to a certain degree yeah what are the ways in which Gabriella planted the seeds even earlier of monstrosity inside of Lestat or or monstrosity or trauma or however however you decide to clarify it um the witch burning I think is really really interesting this is an adaptive change that it's like Gabriella and we talked about this earlier in the season but it's adaptive change that it was like Gabriella who took him this is the origin of the stutter which is again an adaptive change this is like an like an original traumatic inciting incident for him and for her to defend it as like I was trying to inspire you to leave right and you didn't leave until you were 30 anyway you know like blah blah but like for her to justify taking her small child to this horrific thing to see children who he played with burnt and for her to sort of justify it and her resentment so there's there inside of the sort of like I did this for you that justification right I did this to inspire you to leave yeah there's also the resentment of and you didn't until like you know there's the judgment and the resentment of just sort of like you have freedom to move in this world as a man that I've never had right and I gave you all this opportunity and I gave you all this motivation and this is what you've done with it you know is is uh crippling and I think I think her flip it's been here all season and and we've been deeply uncomfortable obviously with her all season but I think it's been hard for maybe uh book readers or people who are sort of taking the book into account to sort of like fully understand how much of a villain she's been in the show because it's not necessarily her role in the book and so I think there's no question at the end of this episode when you have Lestat just like screaming at her the the switch is flipped for him yeah in terms of like his eyes this you know his eyes are open I love you I love you that like sort of manipulative memory all of that sort of stuff the way in which he was like groomed and manipulated and all these things and abused yes and uh and so for her to be an interchangeable seat with Magnus inside of this episode yeah I thought was really smart and really interesting I I think I agree I think especially the proximity of Lestat saying to Magnus I refused right and we had talked about this and it was very clear because we glimpsed the horror of that assault uh it was apparent what that was even though Lestat was not conceding that nor does he owe that concession to anybody right to to the documentary crew to Daniel in the the present day timeline but to hear him shout that here and then to go to the Gabriella sequences the idea of like you said the original sin is a perfect way to put it and the fact that that's twinned for him across these figures and then you think you know we we talked about like earlier in the season without fully understanding at the time how the long table would pay off the uh the kind of really the smart intentional warping of a domestic setting right of something that like in plenty of families are sources of turmoil and trauma and pain for people but something that never provided Lestat with home comfort peace escape reprieve it was always the root and source of the rift and so then you hear him say like at the witch burning even the mark he didn't come to this yeah that's how fucked up this is yeah dad didn't even come yeah right and so it's just it's all um undeniable it all reaches an undeniable point and like you know the the it's hard to achieve this balance we you know talked last week about it's different the particulars are different so I don't want to lump them together but talked about how effectively episode six kind of made us feel complicit as a viewing a viewing member we would think back to watching Louis hold Claudia's diary and recite it without any need to look and think wow oh my god right and then Claudia she's like oh some and forth yeah it was like those that that's like not your experience and that wasn't for you a different version of it here but the way that the show is simultaneously uh parsing the trauma and deepening our sense of understanding for how the characters have come to this place and for many of them obviously for Lestat and Louis who are flawed but we have such a depth of empathy and devotion and love for them and understanding even when they they do terrible things but then you know we do have something like this episode we we see this heart of this atrocity that that Gabriella exposes him to but then we are reminded both in flashbacks and also through the characters through Louis at that table saying called a tough love then showing us what's not doing it to Claudia yeah and that of course is a powerful commentary too on the cycle of abuse and how hard it is to escape that and so it makes it all the more important for I think this finale to have Lestat a character who simultaneously parades this like bravado and this sense of superiority but is is crippled constantly by his own doubt and shame and guilt stare that in the face and like it's I think just there are very few shows that could manage to walk that tightrope as effectively as as this one has and I think to um connect that over to the b-plot which is Louis and Armand in in in the butcher back room um and and sort of yes the grace that Louis is giving Armand of like you were so young when these horrible things happened to you so like the fact that you have um visited these horrors on other people I understand where that comes from and it comes from you as a 12 year old boy etc etc so we'll come back to that in a second but um before we leave the long table um I want to say a couple other things in terms of like this uh surreal taking place inside the mind sort of let's pick and choose from iconography from the rest of the the series I thought it was really fun I think it's really fun to have Antoinette on the on the keys yeah uh on the typewriter I think bringing back the tenor and having that sort of like marking the sheet music with the bloody fingerprint uh call back to season one I thought that was really fun so there's a lot of fun like imagery um and rich detail that's that's um reminding and but like it's interesting because um I wrote this in the notes um a treat that I saved for myself on Friday was the uh we had a long week last week too and the treat I saved myself on Friday was uh the heart stopper movie um which is like acts as the series finale for yes I haven't watched it I'm I'm not no spoilers or whatever I'm not gonna like you know spoil it for you obviously but it's like the end of yeah a thing and so there's a lot of like let's look back at all this time we spent with these characters and there's just like always an impulse to do that of like let's remind you right of when you first fell in love with this show and what it meant to you and stuff like that um and sometimes that can tip over into like way too much um and so I you know I'm curious I'm still pressing how I feel about like bringing Paul back and bringing Antoinette back and having Alan Taylor direct and you know blah blah blah it's just sort of like remember the beginning of the show and how much you loved that and like yes I do and I don't think it tipped over into too much inside of this I think it was a really good use of it especially since we weren't inside of Lestat's mind for that story you know it was Louis' story for those two seasons it was Louis' point of view so I mean I guess to skip ahead but just to say like to have Paul show up one of the reasons it really rocked me was I don't know if it's we never understood that Lestat had any sense of guilt or complicity or anything in Paul's death did he kill Paul no um did he mess with Paul's mind at a dinner shortly before Paul like you know jumped off the roof yes right so uh you know in in his sort of like uh i'm the headliner speech he's like you're all here because i like yeah murdered you or seriously like fucked you up right and and so like that he's carrying guilt around paul is new information for us and a real sort of showstopper for me and so it doesn't feel like cheap nostalgia member when you know the show is new it feels like hey let's let's look at antoinette again from listat's point of view antoinette is important was important enough to listat and he meant he made a comment about this early in the season but it was important enough to her him that she's at the long table with a very small group of people antoinette is there she was important in some way you know and like louie's telling of her diminishes her right and so um right all of these things are here to get a slightly different angle on them yeah i i i think that's exactly right this is a season and you know in many ways a series but a season devoted to the examination of of memory and narrative and self-mythologizing right and so and and attempting to counteract the narrative that somebody else has put into the world about you and kind of reckoning with the fact that that can be an attempt to achieve some sort of truthful equilibrium or that it can be the opposite it can be a lie of another form right and so yeah it's hard actually to think of too many other examples of where it would feel so totally appropriate for that many glimpses of uh either visually or called upon in in the discussion between the characters moments from the past because that's what this entire season has been about right reflecting um and and and shaping and thinking about how the the self but also then society around you however intimate or wide that circle becomes is it your band is it your lover is it your mother is it the great conversion and everybody showing up for your concert is it the people roasting you on stereo yeah uh you know it's it's all the answer is like all of the above and more right the idea that you lose the ability at some point to control what other people think of you and then maybe even understand your own life like boy isn't that just the human experience in the modern age it hasn't always been to some extent which is also why because like the idea of a a season where lestat is rock star modern age everyone's got their phone in their hand right and it's it's like what's the trending topic and that is a very like instantly understandable thing for us the modern viewer but what was the version of that 200 years ago like i think the season has done a really incredible job of of of parsing that what changes over time and what doesn't you know how quickly even if something maybe has changed for you you have progressed or you pulled back into that prior state if the person who did that to you the first time is suddenly there it's you know that stuff is wonderful and again i think that's why we're both like of course we love the fact that this episode drenches itself in those questions and seeks to kind of uh find some answers while i think also saying the answer is like you can like you said at the beginning you can you can try you can try to know thyself try to be a little bit better but there's always like more work to do you know some of that is achieved not just with what's present here but what's absent i thought the choice to not have claudia at that table was brilliant it's like one of the best choices they made all season because she said what she had to say yeah what what else could you what else could you do and after the seance something that we've not really nailed down i would say is that we don't know if this is a true afterlife or just firing inside of like vampire neurons firing inside of listat's head so either in in an afterlife sort of space or in a limbo sort of space yes a trial of a kind uh claudia has opted not to show up the real claudia has opted not to show up or in listat's right dying mind claudia would not show up for this right and either way it's interesting either way it's interesting yeah um the vampire tough cookie is here iconic show i'm love her i would watch a tough cookie spinoff never on the record a bad frame with her when they're in the bus at the end and she's just like hey that's so good hey um yeah she was also really chowing down on the various courses of the soul also that that soul yeah every time you know we get the new course number yeah the courses are taking up but it's always the soul yeah she was really chowing down i feel like we can go from soul eater to sin eater pretty quickly for tc she's sounds great um listen here's my question though if gabriella yeah made alex which is our understanding yes for sure yeah and listat made tough cookie which was a reveal yeah who made the vampire salamander i i guess we should assume the answer is sam because there were three there to make new vampires and salamander as oh i watched that spinoff too they would get up they would get up great answer some stuff great answer i also just want to shout out so claudia's absence is amazing i think louis demeanor to uh jake banderson talked about in the after episode about how fun it was for him to be back and he calls it his raspberry suit from season one he's like it's a really comfy suit i love that suit um but to have season one louis there to watch jake banderson play listat's version right of season one louis versus you know decapitated louis and you know to watch these very different demeanors uh i thought was really really fun it was also he was like i rewound a couple times to watch how they all delivered the soul when they did it jake banderson was just like thought it was like really silly and fun he was just like the soul like he was really doing it it was really funny and then before we leave this i just want to say in terms of the witch scene this episode uh i was expecting us to have a full concert i was expecting us to get like new songs or whatever but we got some daniel heart score stuff that was just like out of control and then we got like a new song and then we got the witch burning stuff i thought it was especially insanely good daniel heart score work just stunning stunning this episode is brought to you by panda express telling someone you love them it isn't always easy but showing them through food sometimes that's better than words especially when that food's wok cooked at panda express a joe house favorite pick from delicious classics like orange chicken honey walnut shrimp kung pao chicken and black bean noodles black pepper sirloin steak perfect for when you're watching the team you love or eating with the person you love have you eaten yet click or tap the banner to order or visit a panda express near you born from 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Not always. I was 6'10 once. Seven days to love it or return it, Mr. Shaq. Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. So buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com. An awful time with Louis Lermont. Boy, I mean, what a time for us and chopped up bodies. Awful is spelled O-F-F-A-L. Because that's a pun. Because that's what you call brains when you eat them. okay uh how'd you feel about jacob anderson's decapitated head acting How did you feel about Jacob Anderson's decapitated head acting? It was very amusing to hear him discuss. Oh, how he had to, like, be super still. How he had to do it. This was, it was, I thought these scenes were really good. Like you said, the Armand part of it is just so sensational. The switch to the telepathic communication. And so we're hearing exactly what Louis is saying. And the, you know, capacity to tap into. I think the question of the dire straits. And what, how much of what Louis is saying is last gasp desperation to try to reach Armand. So that Louis' head can maybe be returned to his body instead of Regina's. And he can find a way to get out of there. Like how much of this is a practical effort to survive. And how much of it is. A, in the, in the moment of confronting the end of his life. An ability to really actually find that grace. Right. And, and share something with Armand. Who, I think I interpret it as the latter. But, you know. I did too, ultimately, because the performance is, I think, so earnest and empathetic and sincere. Like the depth of emotion in Louis' voice as he's saying these things. I guess there could be a little bit of a why not both to it. Sure. But. Um, you know, I think the fact that, like, we had the more kind of-- the tone was very different last week but we had the version of it where lestat after louie finds out about lestat and gabriella it's like you're being very judgy right and then louie finds a way to like work toward a position of asking questions and trying to understand again very different i mean armand opens this sequence by uh revealing to louie hey you thought you knew all the things i was secretly responsible for i've got a few more to share bud guess what there are further depths to plumb with ai it's bad exactly found some candidates for claudia lookalikes but why go with the seven or the eight we've got a perfect one right here um you know the list of horrors just continues to mount the fact the indignity of the fact that uh armand has for read there to you know we get a call back to the budapest mention of the studies being conducted on the decapitated heads from earlier in the season this is being or live stream was dr farid always he always is analyzing and studying and to think just in general about the fact that they're always under the microscope and under the lens in some capacity is obviously very interesting so there's a long arm of the telemasca indeed there's no reason ultimately other than the capacity that these characters who do and have been in on the other end of the spectrum of these characters who do and have been in the other end of the other end of so many atrocities and so many terrible things yeah to like find some kernel of connection to tap into and so what louis said to armand was just so uh heart-wrenching and beautiful and obviously reached armand and and allowed his humanity and the aspect of the soul you know we can this episode is about the soul so we can think back to the soul we'll start saying to armand when armand showed up to talk to listada to read his amends to listada on the tour bus you you know we can this episode is about the soul we'll start saying to armand when armand showed up to talk to listada on the tour bus you to reach it for a second was quite quite potent did you laugh when you heard armand doing his like his 12 steps again yeah but this time to a decapitated head yeah pretty great really good a couple things so um the the thread the threat to head swap to like so yeah one head on a different body that's that's sort of slightly lifted from the vampire armand book 1998 i in different circumstances so this is his signature book yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah move i don't think they're going to do that thing that is revealed in that book um so i think they're just sort of like using it but um i thought that was interesting um and also interesting that armand doesn't give a shit about the great conversion we thought he was here um to you know make sure the rules were abided by but instead he's just like nope petty revenge uh really like elite villain moment on that front specifically when armand was like what nelson nelson okay he's one of my new followers got 100 or so he thinks he's here to uh help me stop the great conversion i needed him to stuff your head in a cooler and drive me here that is a degree of savagery uh but just disregard right disregard for any other life that is so clarifying on the armand front really really good and then the rest bit which not only does nelson hear that and kills himself it primes us to feel very anxious about it and i think that's a really good thing to do armand issuing the rest command to regina yeah it takes us back to daniel to the the our favorite episode of season two and i guess of the series to date you know telling daniel wouldn't it be nice to rest right and like knowing that this was i got chills yeah well and he said you know um yeah he said a similar thing to larry right like this is his this is his move exactly right it's it's uh horrifying on the um confession apology front yes so this is so what he says to armand what louis says to armand uh you at 12 at 12 you were 12 scared poor boy arun you need a love that'll cradle you right uh and so in season two when we're at the louvre on a romantic date the louvre when armand is sharing his like backstory with louis and uh ghost list that is also there um this is what what he says right he was rescued from a brothel is such that he cannot be sure that this is what his parents named him the parents that sent him to work on a merchant boat in delhi when actually they'd sold him into slavery my maker's purchase his his renaming me his reluctance in sharing the gift knowing what it will do to his beloved amadeo i served him with all my heart bask in his mercy mercy his worshipful mercy still amadeo had a skill and if a friend wandered into town i was occasionally donated just like we've met marius finally in this season and to go back and think about marius and what he did in rescuing armand but then also abusing armand at the same time and so this is just like a story told over and over again about these these makers and these vampires and these fledglings like what what did louis and list do in rescuing claudia you know they they rescued her that that's what louis was telling himself but like right is that how claudia sees it right now in the afterlife you know yeah the day um so i thought this was amazing i thought the part where he's repeating you know what louis is saying he's repeating it giving different intonation to certain words i thought was like incredible acting just thinking about yeah asad as an actor looking at this script and thinking thinking what is louis going to emphasize and what is our what words do armand think are the most important inside of these sentences so like the different inflection and how certain lines come across and then just again just on his face uh a lot of great just sort of like vampire eyes filling up with bloody tears stuff this season but just like are the camera on his face as he's absorbing louis telling him that he couldn't love him the way that he needed to be loved which echoes you know you you needed a love that would cradle you and i couldn't give that to you right taking uh and again to to think about the two louis inside this episode list dot's louis versus armand's louis and like yeah what armand has said this season about sort of the version of louis that daniel has written about that we have been absorbing he's like that's not the louis i know methodically cruel i know a much crueler louis so for that for for that version of louis the crueler louis to apologize to armand is like i thought really interesting i agree i think you need to love that'll cradle you you should have that and i was never that for you uh building toward paul saying to listat thank you for loving him for loving him the way he needs to be loved about louis was um gorgeous and made me think of house of the dragon too at the the point that you keep raising about like are you giving the people yeah your followers what they need yeah and like we yeah you know we've we've had calls across a number of the stories that we we covered uh to talk about this and like some of it is a very personal thing and some of it is like you know what do you owe to another person and what do you owe to yourself and what is like right to demand of another person or to you know to know that you need is a person able to give that to you i i think that the recognition louis has here that he was maybe not um giving armand the thing that could have perhaps allowed him him being armand to chart a different course is a version of the same like reflection and introspection and desire to improve and grow that we're talking about it's also and we are you know obviously totally in the bag for listat and louis but it's like also fair to say and this like you got to be 100 feet up in the air for that to stick hardly the case that the listat louis relationship was always perfect right and so there is i think that the episode in the the series it's asking a lot of intense and hard questions that don't have simple answers i don't think the show is in any way implying that the answers are simple it's like embracing the mess right um i think saying that in some ways the mess is undeniable and the question is whether you're going to be able to navigate it and to find people who can help you navigate it right who are willing to try to help you navigate it um you know the fact that louis says this thing to armand and then armand decides to spare him decides to let regina go okay good good the last thing he does though is brand louis yeah i have questions about vampire anatomy as to whether or not that's going to be a good thing or not that's going to be a good thing or not that's going to be a good thing uh yeah so to put an a on his chest like armand was here yeah tough uh it'll at least be there for a while because their neck scars you know listat and louis still have their sort of like neck scars i don't know like how much that wound will heal at the end of the day i thought it was interesting that louis and listat both have these like scars on their chests now exactly yeah you know yeah um all right it's your boy daniel mulloy i don't have a ton to say about this i will just say i don't i i don't have a ton to say about this i will just say i don't i don't have a ton to say i think where this season has faltered the most in my eyes is the daniel armand stuff because my sense and i could be wrong but my sense is that there's like just a little bit of shorthand they used here of like they know there's a strong fandom for these two inside of the book reader community and so i don't i'm not convinced they did all the work they needed to do outside of that fandom outside of people who aren't familiar with this these characters in the books to make this connection this this duo yeah make as much sense as I think it should make. last couple episodes i just don't know like he's still kind of fun right but i don't know it just has not worked for me the way that i think this show wants it to work for me yeah and if we i think consider it both in the vacuum of their relationship but then also in the uh connected universe of all these other relationships because the relationships kind of definitionally can't exist in vacuums then it's interesting to think of that like you know you need you need a love that cradles you and it's like well what is the relationship that armand and daniel have so far of what we've seen in the show i don't have that additional book context right so what i see in the show is jealousy and rage and a need to put that somewhere well and what's so interesting is like that's the foundation of the louis armand relationship because like how much is the louis and armand stuff about spiding list dot you know sure from in the first place yeah and so how much is the armand and daniel stuff about spiding list dot yeah you know almost entirely and so right and so is that the love they need is it the love that allows them to pursue some course some course of vengeance right now uh is there a connection obviously there's the connection of maker and fledgling right there's the connection dad yeah dad there's the connection of all of the uh truths that were were pulled or repressed or obscured over the years um but yeah it's like hard for me to say in the back half of the season that i felt uh undeniable like need from the two of them to be with each other and more that they were like working on a quest together yeah i'm just not sure it's working yet i'm not saying it won't work but it's not really working yet i did like seeing alex using the name boo radley as his bowling name up on the screen that was good while he was bowling a clean sheet of zeros dime store uh dracula alex um i mean the tal masca whatever they're here they're pro great conversion it was them all along make more make more it seems to be uh the explanation seems to be it's global warming connected but i i just would just say i just don't know that we should ever trust anything that raglan says about anything it's how i feel about that so okay i'm trying to wrap my mind around this so i went i was looking back at the beginning what list dot said especially because he calls upon the line here of like you know what what did i say oh that i made a contribution let me take that back the fault was all mine this is yeah the very end at the end so in the beginning of the season he said i'm not saying that the attempted extinction of the y chromosome across the continent was all my fault okay but then we don't know does that have is that kasha driven i mean i have answers for that but i i don't think i can say the amount yeah so that's that's that's on my mind is like yeah okay on the tala masca front specifically based on what they what raglan shares here may the vamps safely graze congrats you beat p coil it's a tipping point is it pro great conversion or is it pro great conversion in order to amass the vampires and then easily kill them oh i thought it was pro great conversion to cut down on the number of people yeah yes as population control for sure popular you know the first the range rover yeah so that's there for sure but does that mean they're going to just let the vamps run free in perpetuity i don't think you guys be very good in government right so i'm like maybe it's let the vamps swell the ranks cut down on the human population and then kill all the vampires and then kill all the vampires so maybe that's why he's still in favor of the concert going off because then there's still a way to like they're all there they're all there take them all out the conversion is like what the is the message that's supposed to come from the make more make more he was really proud of that lyric he was you did it raglan i would say not the best not the best lyric i heard this season all right one night only at nikki's tavern yeah as you mentioned i mean great stuff when listat takes control of the wheel of the story and he's just sort of like enough cowering it's me front man listat the salamander tc and alex no larry um are vamping musically the whole time that he's up there it's the chords uh it's the butterscotch bitch chords and i just want to say this just makes fantastic like vamp music just sort of like the don't don't like it's just like really good yeah backing uh propulsive sort of music for all of this um anything else i mean we've we've already talked a lot about paul showing up here um he has a hard time saying it got that from our daddy doesn't mean he doesn't it's just his way thank you for loving him for loving him the way he needs to be loved i still wish you were a woman sometimes so do i right um and then and then about the afterlife i guess yeah it's not all that once you get there and then listat says silver thread silver thread stretched over other so other threads seemingly like looking up at right this sort of like um the show spared itself the budget of having to show it to us but like this this light event that's happening up up above and um we talked about this idea of like the silver thread when we talked when we were analyzing i didn't know it was going to come up the finale because we did not have this screener so i right but i'm glad we talked about it because we talked about it we were talking about the lyrics for brutal love yes um which mentioned a thread uh pulling on a thread a restless hand on the thread i think um so this idea of the sacred core concept inside of the world of vampires this thing this connect the silver sort of like thread umbilical cord that connects all the vampires to each other um so i i just love that that shows up here that's very like vampire lore stuff that could come up uh in even more so uh in next season and then roland's saying in the um in the after episode you weren't a failure because somebody loved you yeah i thought that was beautiful really great i think that the listat uh still kind of floundering but working towards some accountability here at the end was felt important and satisfying to see you know we have a few different beats right gabriella's heckling him as a failure and he said i don't agree in the end i think i was pretty fucking great but he can barely choke the words out the way sam delivered that it's so fantastic just really wonderful if i failed that means i actually attempted something which is more than i can say for most of those i loved most oh i don't know if i mean that that was performative i loved you i did as grotesque as that love may have appeared to you i did and then you know as my blood my blood i did my best with it no no i let too much spill too often i did not always honor it like that's progress it is progress that doesn't mean that listat is not a character who will backslide again that feels like the character that well whatever's about to happen that he says it's all my fault yeah you know further clarity i guess when he's recording the failures but like he's about to do something that yep it's terrible um yeah this yes ma'am moment okay i want to talk about this but um the the dishwalla song counting blue cars right which has the lyric tell me all your thoughts on god because i really want to meet her um my best friend dan and i like whenever that song comes on when we're in the car whatever we always envision this guy as like this guy with an acoustic guitar and he's really trying to impress a girl yeah and he's like tell me all because i really want to meet her you know and just like look god's a woman in my song so that's how we always sing it i got a voice memo from diana last night being like i watched the list finale tell me like so like is god a woman right inside of this universe is god alonis morissette is is that is that what's happening here right um is it ann rice the great author of all of this the great architect of all of this um you know is is that what that's an allusion to because like presumably uh we're talking to a deity whoever's in charge of who gets more time oh you sure right really okay more time you know reset the clock more time or i don't know is it mama juror extraordinary gabriella who's this sort of like akasha you know is it someone in the universe who has the ability to pull some strings to puppeteer queens abound okay so god alonis morissette uh and rice akasha gabriella all gods and all gods in their own right okay um okay the aftermath yes so uh somehow let's talk a costume change uh who did that probably gabriella uh put him in his coffin and put him in some new a new outfit yeah uh we get the info that listat and raglan in in whenever we're recording the failures in the future are now friends i think this is the quote the shoe leather of how i got there was explained to me by a man i did not recognize but who i now call a friend unless you know it's the end quote so unless there's a sneaky double meaning that i'm missing which is always possible i think they're always kind of trying to do some sneaky language what was your interpretation of because raglan is there for the head at the bowling alley you know says farid is waiting for the butcher shop what was your interpretation yes what was your interpretation of daniel flashing the fangs was it that because we have missing information get back to the body was your interpretation of daniel flashing the fangs at raglan i'm not gonna make this easy for you like we're enemies now or that a fight actually i don't think was an actual fight there because there's also the line about like alex's role in all this is a mystery alex's role in this is missing information about exactly what happened the alex mystery is really interesting well like was alex working for the telemasca you know they're like he's like we had an agent there like we thought alex was working for armand which maybe he was but was he working for the telemasca like what is his role in all of this i don't know is it connected to the fact that gabrielle is his uh maker is that is that connected somehow i don't know my interpretation of daniel flashing his fangs was like this isn't over yeah okay not that they had a fight right then and there but maybe they did in the bowling alley um but um more like i'm a vampire and i'll remember this yeah you have me outnumbered right now but i'll remember this yeah okay that's my take but who knows um the desperate silent we don't get to hear it but we can hear it anyway where's louis wonderful from listat yeah and then just sort of like as we mentioned we alluded to earlier the episode long repetition of could be hands touch like this idea of just sort of like going back to them on the bench um this is what hannah said our listener hannah wrote in to say uh listening to the loneliness which is a song from earlier in the season uh it hit me the lyrics of listat repeatedly ask himself or literally having his loneliness say to him how could anybody ever love you and it was haunting me already even before this that through this effort of his psyche and his trauma to destroy his sense of self and consume him what he keeps returning to is could be nice could be and louis touching a pinkie to his and an echo of the touch he shared with louis when he first told louis about his fear of loneliness the simplicity of those statements could be nice could be is so stark there's no extravagant poetry there just the softest quietest most intimate longing the dream of a future together the possibility of louis may be loving him and that tiny touch is a bulwark against the loneliness those quiet simple statements that contain the possibility of love in so few words the answer to how could anybody ever love you is maybe louis could and that is a silver thread that listat hangs on to to stay tethered to some sense of himself to once again get back up love that hannah beautiful poetry beautiful paul there to talk to listat and what might be his final moments about listat's love with louis and louis loving listat louis the pen and the paper and his decapitated body's hands writing about listat saying torrent and he's yeah i love that moment he was like i'm sorry like even at the end here now i'm thinking of him it's hard not to and then just the way that they sort of like the way that louis is there on the bus and the way that they just sort of like curl around each other and like yeah touch each other the scars on each other's necks and stuff like that throats i just thought that that was wonderful and then we get this showdown between listat and gabriella this this like full pushback um that maybe we've been waiting for trauma bond trauma bond you're listening to the failures album 58 side a is what we get there are still 53 albums of the failures to go so i suppose we'll see you in season four for that yeah um we get a decimated world yes a reveal yeah she is the answer graffiti um on the sidewalks there but yeah the world has been destroyed um uh thanks to something that listat has done the concert just a shattered building sirens in the air i like the beat right before that have i failed at auction these reels returned to me and sold am i talking to myself first of all fun little dancing with myself yeah off the season but we still don't know right like all of the details yeah and so like that's uh maybe that is the answer it's but yeah we do have a timeline of like when these were recorded a bit more of a timeline but not a full concrete timeline all right um before we go so the last thing i want to do is some sort of like quick season superlatives just to like end on a celebratory note of a season that we did quite enjoy yes um anything else you want to say before we get to that how long do you think it'll be till season four is this like a two years between seasons so it's july um i i do i think like earliest would be early 2028 so maybe not that much because they don't have to like write a like all those songs which i don't know how much time that took in all of this but like 2028 i'm curious about the budget because like so this is gonna be a queen of the damned season it's an akasha season right i don't think it's a spoiler to say there should be some akasha flashbacks which could look really cheesy if not given the full budget right you know what i mean yeah it could look like that sort of like michael jackson uh nefertiti music video which i just like do not think we should do wow so so i want i want as much budget and time and thought as possible into the akasha flashbacks would be my hope i mean maybe we'll get an answer as soon as comic-con there's a there's a list at panel there is i can't wait did you see that uh so last year at comic-con the vampire list at like that was like a huge like on the side of a building rapper have you seen the hot sauron building rapper that's already up in san diego no i can't wait though does it also have like a i'll cream for you thing like the stat one did when the letter of scream was remember i'll forge your one ring that's incredible i'll make you cream i mean you know these ideas are here for free folks oh wow a very specially placed palm tree um all right san diego okay let's go down to our quick season superlatives all right best song of the season this is a tie for me but they're both from episode six it's a tie between stained glass eyes and brutal love both of which were extraordinary i guess i give the edge to brutal love because of the performance of list at singing single size five right uh i can't remember yeah we did them together yeah together yeah yes you're right yeah so in that right i'm saying to the same yeah yeah the same podcast that we talked about them on um yes yeah so those are a tie for me i think brutal love just edges it out because watching louie and listat and then watching gabriella watch them was like a transcendent level of it has to be brutal for me i think yeah though i did go back and re-watch loneliness after i read hannah's email and that song is really good also the chords of butterscotch bitch are so good like this is smuggle palooza for me like i just think they're a lot of great okay let me put it to you this way yeah i can only give three oscars how's it feel which one is going to top your spotify rap like which one will you actually listen to the most it's gonna be hard for them to catch up to long face which is the only one i had for so long right long face the one that the show the one you wash cars to i guess like that's so funny maybe that's my contribution really fucking tough clean cars um all right but i think it's brutal love uh that performance that's great and uh oh i saw i saw a great tweet you know the you know the euphoria meme uh is this fucking play about us sure someone took that and they were like gabriella during brutal love is this fucking play not about me incredible i mean um all right funniest line this is hard to pick it's been a really funny season i can i i will just say i'm gonna say the line that i actually repeat in my own head almost on a daily basis all right what is it and it's just every time i go to reddit i said more red meat for reddite reddite is really tough for reddite is like like a pavlovian response to me clicking on reddit now so uh that's might be the lack of lasting legacy of the season for me that's a great pick uh all right i'll do really rapid fire five other nominees this was hard to pick okay so a bunch of them came from the second episode which is interesting tough cookies you guys play baseball like in twilight i got it you said it was a deer as in d-e-a-r as any kfc night manager has a right to be and then of course the boardroom sequence yeah you know i bet i bet very specific detail i bet thin air that was maybe it's more about the performance and the line itself but that that's the hardest i laughed on all season um this as i said at the time this daniel moment from the third episode killed me you have a song long face the lyrics are what's the story behind that you've got to have a sense of humor about this stuff and it's like just the show really knows when to uh and then as we talked about last week and this is actually my pick for just the line the funniest line from the sixth episode episode uh lestat and louie talking about daniel he's an awkward vamp he has that you think you're better than me chip on him and we are it's exhausting to pretend otherwise killed me incredible oh it's travis and taylor um all right best fit best outfit of the season so i this was hard because the fits are elite i mean we could just pick the bloody pre-con pre-comp I thought i would say the chartreuse pants with the bloody cum i mean that probably is the pick in an effort to not be so painfully predictable and entirely on brand i do like in toledo the lestat is wearing the big you know wolfy pelt uh coat what was he and gabriella are hunting prey and when it falls off his shoulder and he's in the black tank top underneath that's iconic and then i think louie's modern fashion in the i'm going to brick and bacon time and time again to uh what Just spend some time with Regina. Like the sky blue polo with the pinstripe pants. I mean, he really knows how to dress. Oh, one thing I wanted to mention about Asad's performance in the whole Armand Louis and the Butcher sequence is like when he was like doing his impression of Regina's accent. He's so good. Really great. I love him. I'm going to give it to the baby pink silk blouse with the baby pink corset. Well, we can only be ourselves. Bloody cum and a baby pink corset. Coming soon to a theater interview. Okay. Put it on the merch. Best non-Sam Reed performance of the season. So let me ask you a question. Who's eligible for this? Is it literally anyone but Sam? Like is Jacob eligible? Yes. Then that's the pick. Yeah. It's either Jacob or Asad. But Jacob has more. He has more time to work with. He was so good. They're both fantastic. I was wondering if maybe they were both not eligible. And then I would pick Delaney, who was, I thought, exquisite. Also incredible. Yeah. How do we pick? Who did this to us? Me. Maybe it's the vampire tough cookie. No one to blame but yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Could do that. Could be like for the new characters. Who's the pick maybe? Yeah. I mean, you know, the primary cast is just once again sensational. They're just sensational. Sarah Swire. Sarah Swire. TC. Tough cookie. Legendary stuff. Really funny. Really, really good. My girl Christine at the end, by the way. Oh, true. Well, she's. What did she do to her sex engine? Paper with. That was great. That was goals. And then, I mean, Sheila at the time is Akasha. Incredible. Fantastic. Can't wait for more. Wow. Okay. Various benefits. Riches. Last but not least. And Sam Reed. I mean, just like. Couldn't have been better. An absolute masterpiece. Masterpiece performance. Really, really, really excellent. Really great. Like, we had high hopes. No reason to doubt. Did not disappoint. So good. All right. Best episode of the season. This was a tough one between two contenders, but I have to give the edge. Episode three finishes just behind episode six. Episode six was. Montreal. Amazing. I agree. Yeah. Episode six. Amazing. Well, and validation. They said, the director of the episode said that the inspo for the episode was before Sunset. So, we were. Right on the money with that one. Love. Yeah. They're like, hey, Joanna Mallory, let's give you a movie you love. But it's vampires and it's Louis and Lestat. Why not? Guess what? No notes. Oh, with a dash of incest. All right. Anything else you want to say? I'm really. Thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. For bringing the show into my life. Thanks to the bad babies who came along with us for the journey. Always. We're excited to see what, if anything, we learn about the show at Comic-Con and to be back. And with Akasha, the queen herself in season four. I can't wait. Depending on the weight and the length, you know, I for sure I'm going to rewatch all three seasons before season four. No question. The question is whether I dip into the books. Ooh. I don't know. We'll see. This season will be a really fun rewatch. Oh, I can't wait to rewatch this season. Yeah. I cannot wait. Yeah. Also to listen. Okay. Yeah. I wonder what. I'm going to start really in serious, like putting up the numbers on the playlist to make sure it's at the top of my Spotify wrapped at the end of the year. This is an important part of my personality that I need to make sure I follow through on and not wind up with just like musicals for the 1940s again when they're like, you're Spotify age is 98. To be fair, that is also an important part of your personality. So you contain multitudes. Thank you to our band. Jacob Cornett is here. Carlos Chiriboga. Scott Lee. Our dinner on Capel and Jomie at dinner on. We'll be back with a deep dive. Yes. Uh, thanks for putting up with us, turning in like a shorter episode and sort of, I don't know if you caught all of our grimaces throughout this, but our best occasionally looked over Mallory's making a pained face and time to retire to coffin time to retire. We'll see you soon. Bye. This episode is brought to you by a whole foods market. Get everything you need to win Thanksgiving at a whole foods market. We're talking seasonal favorites from the bakery, easy weeknight meals for before the big day and sales on body care and candles for last minute gifts. Plus with more than 300 band food ingredients storewide, you know, it's quality. You can trust shop Thanksgiving favorites with higher standards at a whole foods market. Prime members shop at WFM.com and get your first order over $25 delivered free terms apply. Now at McDonald's, the new frosted cranberry splash with Sprite, because there's no better time of year for friends, family, Sprite, cold foam and sprinkles now at McDonald's.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. The Vampire Lestat finale is a deeply introspective and emotionally resonant episode that explores trauma, memory, and self-perception through surreal, dream-like sequences.
  2. Key moments include Louis Armand’s poignant reunion, the powerful emotional exchange between Lestat and Armand, and the revelation of Paul’s death, which adds significant new depth to Lestat’s guilt and character arc.
  3. Gabriella is portrayed as a manipulative and villainous force, with her role in the witch-burning scene exposing her history of trauma and control, ultimately flipping the narrative from guilt to reckoning.
  4. The long table scenes serve as a symbolic exploration of Lestat’s fractured past, with figures like Antoinette, the Tenor, and the Fledglings reflecting on his trauma and the abuse he endured.
  5. The episode successfully balances emotional intensity with narrative complexity, using layered storytelling to question identity, memory, and the cyclical nature of abuse.
  6. While the Daniel and Armand dynamic lacks the emotional depth and book-based foundation needed for full resonance, it serves as a compelling contrast to the more powerful Louis-Armand relationship.
  7. The absence of Claudia at the long table is a powerful narrative choice, emphasizing her distance from Lestat’s inner world and reinforcing the theme of unresolved trauma.
  8. The episode concludes with a sense of catharsis and unresolved growth, affirming that healing is ongoing and that self-awareness—however painful—is a crucial step forward.

Summary:

The Vampire Lestat finale delivers a richly layered, emotionally intense exploration of trauma, identity, and redemption. Through surreal, introspective sequences, the episode delves into Lestat’s past, revealing how his relationships with Gabriella, Armand, and Paul have shaped his internal world. Key emotional beats include the powerful reunion with Armand, the painful revelation of Paul’s death, and Gabriella’s manipulative role in the witch-burning, which exposes her as a source of deep-trauma.

The long table scenes serve as a symbolic crucible, reflecting on Lestat’s history of abuse and control, with the absence of Claudia underscoring her emotional distance. While the Daniel-Armand dynamic feels underdeveloped and lacks the narrative depth needed for full resonance, the Louis-Armand relationship stands out as emotionally compelling and thematically significant. The episode masterfully balances dark themes with moments of vulnerability and grace, affirming that self-awareness—though painful—is a vital step toward healing.

Ultimately, it ends not with closure, but with a sense of necessary growth and ongoing accountability, making it a standout in the series’ evolution.

FAQs

The long table scene symbolizes a deep reckoning with Lestat's past, trauma, and relationships. It brings together key figures like Paul, Gabriella, and the fledglings, allowing the show to explore themes of memory, guilt, and manipulation. The scene highlights how Lestat's emotional trauma was shaped by figures like Gabriella and Magnus, and how these experiences continue to influence his present identity.

The episode deepens the emotional connection between Lestat and Armand through heartfelt dialogue and shared vulnerability. Lestat’s apology for not giving Armand the love he needed is a powerful moment of introspection. Armand, in turn, shows mercy and compassion, reinforcing the idea of healing and redemption through empathy rather than vengeance.

Gabriella serves as a complex antagonist whose actions reveal the roots of Lestat’s trauma. Her manipulation, including the witch burning and justification of horrific events, is shown to have a lasting psychological impact. The episode ultimately flips the narrative, with Lestat confronting her and recognizing her role in shaping his pain and monsters.

Paul's return introduces a new layer of guilt and truth for Lestat. It reveals that Lestat may have been indirectly responsible for Paul's suffering, adding depth to his character and showing that he carries complicity in past atrocities. This moment resonates as a pivotal turning point in Lestat’s journey toward self-awareness.

The finale skillfully blends nostalgic callbacks—like Paul’s return and Antoinette’s reappearance—with fresh emotional storytelling. These references are not used for cheap nostalgia but serve to deepen character development and explore themes of memory, identity, and self-mythologizing in a meaningful way.

The witch burning is presented as a traumatic origin point for Lestat’s trauma and stutter, symbolizing the deep damage caused by Gabriella’s actions. This moment illustrates the idea of 'original sin' in the vampire world, showing how early experiences of abuse and manipulation continue to shape characters' lives and behaviors.

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