Confessions from a Hater (who is willing to be wrong)
Ok listen. I was feeling so mid about about this whole show. I’m 33 and have been a fan of Anne Rice since I was 14. Because of how damn dramatic the text is, you can expect the people who love it to match that freak. What I mean to say is that many of us are super haters of anything that deviates from the word of our Problematic Queen, Anne Rice in a particularly passionate way that only us elitist hipster goths can be.
Yes we know we are this way, deep down, we know. Anyway. I went into this show with a lemon shoved my ass about how it wasn’t going to live up to my expectations, no matter how much I publicly claimed I was ‘going into watching it with an open mind’; as I did not want to seem too overly concerned about the show.
I watched it, blank faced, giving half hearted replies about it but generally trying to forget the shows existence after the end of the first season. I considered not watching the second season at all but I thought, eh what the hell? I’ll admit I was bored in the first few episodes but then episode seven happened.
The spirit of Anne Rice was there in that episode ya’ll.
Oh my god though. This was art. People, This was one of the most beautifully gothic things I’ve ever seen. The depth of character and acting from everyone on that stage was incredible.
While of course Claudia’s death scene was different, the agency they gave her there and the love story they built with Madeline was incredible in this show. She had Louis bottomless of love and Lestat’s indomandable passion. I could not look away from the screen. I believed I was watching vampires putting on a trial play.
“My coven is Claudia” oh my GOD. That’s all she ever wanted, to be put first. To be loved first.
All season Santiago has stood out. The second he appeared, I could not take my eyes off of him. His hate that others are doing things he cannot allow himself to do. I want his backstory. The was he said “We’re monsters”. chills.
Louis. Oh messy, too human, Louis. I wasn’t sure about him in particular this whole time. I need to rewatch and give Jacob Anderson an actual fair viewing. He’s so elegant even in the depths of his pain. This is a vampire who feels too much.
And then my love….Lestat has always been one of my very favorite character, ever. No could ever be him I thought. Then, Sam Reid. Sam Reid is Lestat. He looked through the screen and snatched my soul in the only the way book Lestat ever could. I truly believe that’s how Anne would have wanted him to be. The way he moves, the arrogance, the beauty. This is the vampire who will wake Akasha, the mother of all vampires. God, the way he moved through the audience. ‘Where lies their disgust now?’ His voice. He’s amazing. That’s an Emmy worthy performance.
“You can’t script a hurricane” holy shit
I’m glad there is one more episode but I almost wish the ended it there for the hook of that tension and horror and made us wait.
I felt the fear, the love, the horror. My god they felt like actual vampires so much more and real than us mere mortals.
I will rewatch all of this.
