No show is doing it like Interview with the Vampire.
Setting and casting changes be damned — the second act of this sexy, insufferable soap opera thrives in the ugly underbelly of its usual over-the-top theatrics while drinking in the intoxicating gothic gloom of a Europe engulfed in war.
Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 1, “What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned,” reintroduces us to Louis’ tragic march through the supernatural underworld with an assault of contradicting narratives and hypnotic storytellers. As the characters fight for a slice of humanity, the conflicting wars between memory and mankind take this show to heights that hardly make us miss those lively New Orleans streets.
Indeed what a feat that is to change the setting and not even miss a beat.
The series that made a name for itself under the glamourous guise of lavish cobblestone crimes and deadly dinner parties creates just as much appeal in the muddy, body-laden trenches of Romania. There’s hardly a sense of loss — not like the ache that still follows Outlander fans into each season that isn’t set in the lush highlands of Scotland.
Interview with the Vampire doesn’t need the city of the damned to make the damned appealing. It has a cast of heavyweights to do that.
Jacob Anderson is chomping at the bit to unleash his acting calibre in this new setting, and once he does, Louis is an unstoppable force. He has honed the imperfections and haunting humanity at the heart of Louis, and slipping back into his narrative feels like a warm embrace. Louis isn’t as poetic or deceptive as Lestat, which makes his monologues enticing in their directness.
He’s blunt and beautiful with his plea to Claudia, reassuring her that when she is the one to fall from the sky, he will be there to catch her. The speech recenters this series on their relationship with the promise that Louis is content with her as his immortal companion.
However, the unseen forces in the room toying with his emotions throughout the speech suggest this isn’t the last time Louis will let us down with his cowardice. These hints that Season 2 will delve into the mental health issues that followed Louis into immortality are promising as he reveals his unreliable memory is more than just a byproduct of time.
Delainey Hayles makes this transition a relative breeze. She faces this recasting head-on with smoking-gun determination, a toned-down accent, and sure-footed maturity that plays into the narrative that Louis struggles to remember Claudia as she was.
That final shot of Lestat next to Claudia with Louis looking between them is a chilling foreshadowing of what’s to come for this trio.
Additionally, the sick tongue-in-cheek humour this horror gothic has honed has only sharpened between seasons.
What could come off as a very cheap gimmick continues to bring charm and ostentatiousness to the otherworldly drama. Only Interview with the Vampire could have us kicking our feet in the air and giggling in delight at the most horrific exchanges. Horror that has this much fun is something I can get behind time and time again.
It’s a stylistic choice to announce Bailey Bass’ departure from the role of Claudia as if one were in a live theatre production. But there is a performative coyness to the announcement, too, that makes for a good chuckle before we dive into the season.
And Eric Bogosian’s Daniel Molloy never disappoints as the interview’s comedic voice. His fixation on “Fake Rashid” is particularly great because he refuses to drop it, going as far as to declare he will break him just to get further under Armand’s skin.
When it comes to this ridiculous beef between the ancient vampire and an arrogant journalist, I have never been more seated.
And no one does the ostentatious better than Lestat, so why bench your star chaos maker when you can get him back in the game? Enter Dream Lestat, the perfect tool to explore Louis’ unreliable mind and utilize Sam Reid’s lively persona in a land void of personality.
It’s all the chaos and entertainment of Season 1 Louis and Lestat without fearing that the blonde terror will appear and undo Claudia’s hard work with one violent tantrum. His presence allows Claudia’s silent treatment time to simmer while Louis plays off someone else.
Between the unreliability of our narrator and the reveal that Lestat is somewhere bidding his time, we cannot be sure the ex-lover is entirely a figment of Louis’ imagination. Could the telepathy that evades Louis and his maker still manifest in other ways of projection? Could the bird flying out of Lestat’s neck be a sign he is reaching out from his decaying state?
The episode doesn’t entirely ignore this plausibility, but it does toy with the idea of Louis’ sanity by having Lestat mimic many of his mannerisms and vocal choices. Regardless of intention, it is good to have Lestat take his place back in this trio in any capacity.
Adapting this series in a more “modern” period continues to be the right move. It aided Louis’ story immensely in Season 1 as he shed the white plantation owner persona for something much more fitting of our 1910 Louis. For Season 2, it’s the choice to have Louis and Claudia experience the war first-hand rather than just travel from village to village.
It adds another layer of emotion and intrigue to the townspeople’s hysteria about vampires. Plus, the realization that war, grief, and loss taint the very blood of the people suffering and that, in turn, has poisoned the ancient vampires is a fascinating tidbit of lore.
This premiere also refocuses our attention on the interview format by constantly having unreliable narration cut the scene off at its knees and start the flashback again. It’s an excellent way to make us feel Louis’ disorientation as he claws through these memories.
That said, I’m not entirely sold on the flow of the interview this time around.
As Armand enters the picture, the motives of these sessions become difficult to decipher. Some of the conviction is lost in murky storytelling that holds too much back.
Yet, as far as season premieres go, you don’t get much better than what we witnessed here. This adaptation of Anne Rice’s seductive supernatural universe knows how to craft an entrance worthy of the theatre — that’s for sure!
Brava Interview with the Vampire! Brava!
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