Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 5, “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape,” might be this show’s magnum opus — it’s the true definition of a TV masterpiece.
It is an episode you want to scream praise for across the rooftops. An episode that saw tensions mounting to the perfect third act and got the hell out of the way so these ridiculous theatre kids could cook.
Interview with the Vampire creates a seedy drug den of tension and torment for these actors to lay waste to in just about every prolific, monologue-induced way possible. The effect is a high that only good TV can coax with intoxicating performances and an insatiable need to consume every detail through subsequential rewatches.
If you weren’t questioning the general lack of award conversations around this show, you would be after witnessing Jacob Anderson and Assad Zaman come for each other’s throats like feral reality TV stars who had rent due.
These sequestered play-like installments are always fascinating experiments as they typically involve condemning a group of explosive characters to a single set piece. The most successful execution of this format in recent memory is Mr. Robot Season 4 Episode 7, “407 Proxy Authentication Required,” an episode that fits big stakes and even bigger Broadway theatrics into a confined space.
Mr. Robot and Interview with the Vampire are alike in this way. They celebrated their most significant episodes by giving the floor over entirely to their ensemble of superstar actors. (You know I couldn’t make this connection without acknowledging that Mr. Robot featured stellar work from Christian Slater — the og Daniel Molloy!)
The episode lets all the unsaid seething between Louis and Armand flow freely across the couple’s tongue as the rotting apartment facade and Daniel’s fragile mortality take the brunt of their crumbling companionship.
Interview with the Vampire has found its beating heart in Luke Brandon Field’s Daniel Molloy.
From the moment Young Daniel appears, you can tell this man has studied for this moment and is acing the test. He meets Louis’ charming facade with a crooked smile and eyes alight with boyish wonder. However, his attention to delivery and the tiniest physicality choices capture Eric Bogosian’s Daniel with chilling accuracy.
He has the boyish star-quality swagger that made Slater’s Molloy pop but an arrogance and intensity with all the lived-in loveability of Bogosian’s version.
One of the most enthralling aspects of this momentous flashback episode is how easily it would have us believe this stranger has been built into the fabric of this show the entire time. Field slips effortlessly into this story, becoming the desperately needed bleeding heart of Louis and Armand’s passionate “break up.” He is the stakes and the vulnerability to their spat that drives the tension through the roof.
I really do hope the series finds a way to incorporate more of Young Daniel’s past into the storyline as we explore different perspectives because having the duality of his young, reckless self and wise, bashful persona spar against one another is no less delightful than the prospect of exploring this world through Lestat’s eyes next.
I love that this episode banks on Armand, letting Louis out of his sights for one hour. The outcome is even better because the second Louis has free will to do as he pleases, he uses it to flirt with Daniel and strike up a friendship with him.
It is as comical as it is adorable to see these two men realize that they understand each other in ways that have kept them both alive.
Louis and Daniel’s choice to use their time alone to form the closest thing either of the two men has ever had to a friendship is undoubtedly the highlight. The core relationship of Louis’ story is between him and his interviewer, so it is lovely to see the show refocus on them with that touching toes-in-the-sand bonding moment. For Daniel to realize the advice that has gotten him through every career failure wasn’t fed to him by Armand but by Louis is the final piece of their conversation that needs to slide into place.
Then, Armand walks in wearing a trench coat and shades, looking like a total homewrecker, and it is just perfection. He is not reading room one bit, and it is so rewarding to see this unlikely alliance jump him before he can dial down the swagger.
It is the character equivalent of “it was in this moment that he realized he fucked up.”
The true genius of this episode lies in its timing. Because Armand’s entrance is beautifully timed, the building tensions surrounding this episode’s mere existence were also timed well, and don’t even get me started on the dialogue.
The episode opens with a seemingly innocent tidbit from Louis as he tells Daniel why Armand spared his life. It is chilling to see the episode confirm that Louis has been unknowingly fed lines by Armand, too. Sure, it is hinted at heavily by the juxtaposition of Louis claiming Armand isn’t violent and Armand slamming Daniel into the ground. Still, that final scene really airs the mastermind’s dirty laundry.
Is there any other way to watch Armand unknowingly mimic the same speech Louis gave Daniel at the beginning of the episode than with your mouth agape in shock? The choice to have a clearly jitted Louis finish the sentence for Armand as familiar music swells is brilliant.
It is genius to bookend the episode with the same monologue, the context having completely turned the meaning of Louis’ words on their head. Yet we see the damage of these lies in how Louis is in the apartment with Daniel and how he isn’t himself in Dubai. This man has fallen so far from the vibrant man he was in New Orleans, and it is no coincidence that he spends his days in an environment controlled by Armand.
Interview with the Vampire knows we need a martyr. Season 1 gave us beautiful, vilified Lestat, and now Season 2 has upped the stakes with the far more powerful and mysterious Armand.
Long live Louis and Armand’s apartment fight, for it is seductive, off-the-wall, bonkers entertainment.
Interview with the Vampire is poetry for the petty. It creates a dialogue that is so belittling and ridiculous that you may find similar soap opera entertainment on Riverdale, but never with this kind of commitment. The calibre these actors bring to their delivery sends these scenes into the award stratosphere. When Louis tells his lover that he is incredibly boring, Armand starts mimicking Louis’ accent as he picks a lint off the sofa, and it scratches an itch most dramas cannot reach.
While I fear losing Claudia’s voice in this cast of male actors, I do believe there is nothing that captures the female gaze better than two gay vampires locked in a screaming match over their scrawny boy toy.
But after two seasons of watching Jacob Anderson consume every petty squabble with a rich and righteous insufferability, Assad Zaman is ready to hand it back to him.
We haven’t had the opportunity to see Zaman explore the real Armand, the one hiding under all these lovers’ facades.
The Vampire Armand will do anything and hurt anyone to give himself the validation he so desperately craves from others. Watching him take seventy years of frustrations out on Daniel is haunting. His performance switches up so fast that it is challenging to keep up with his volatile mood swings. We are at his mercy completely.
Watching Zaman move through the apartment, interacting with the furniture and using his projection to stab Louis in the other room is mesmerizing. We don’t come away from this momentous fight rooting for Louis and Armand to work out, but we do desire to see these actors bring their crumbling marriage to its firey, disastrous ending.
When Armand calls up Lestat just to hang up when he starts chanting “I love you” to Louis, that solidifies his place on the throne of pettiness that is this wonderfully toxic empire of unredeemable antagonists.
Interview with the Vampire knows the meaning of its own story. More importantly, it knows the strength of its actors.
—
Looking for more cool content? Follow Us on our socials:
What did you think of this episode of Interview with the Vampire? Share your thoughts in the comments!
coolgirlcritiques.com 