After stumbling out of San Fransico, nearly blinded by the light of that sublime episode, it can be challenging to imagine Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 6, “Like the Light by Which God Made the World Before He Made Light,” topping such a spectacle.
And yet, here we are with another perfect episode on our hands.
This imperative hour for our Paris vamps is painfully hopeful and healing as it works toward the ideal happy ending for a monster just so it can rip them from our grasp with the cruellest of smirks. Sadly, these complicated, selfish beings will never break the cycle they created for themselves — no matter how much we want them to.
It is challenging to comprehend Interview with the Vampire slowing down after the breakneck pace it has set for itself this season.
Yet, this episode does slow down the insanity to take in Madeleine’s transformation, as well as Louis and Claudia’s, as they reach a point where they have outgrown each other. That groggy pacing isn’t a drag. In fact, it is nice to stop and smell the immortal flowers every once in a while.
The chance to see Louis and Claudia contemplating happiness apart from each other requires us to stop and soak in the emotions of what that means for their strained companionship. For once, the story would lead us to believe the two are choosing what is best for each other, and there is something peaceful in the finality of their arc.
The outing could have leaned into the coven’s scheming and shined a spotlight on Armand’s behind-the-curtain bargaining with them. Instead, the series demonstrates how its dedication to presenting the show through Louis’ eyes pays off big in such moments. His rose-tinted glasses and foolish idea of power make for an overly romantic, sentimental goodbye to Paris.
Rather than waste our time with the coven’s ego trips, Interview with the Vampire chooses to keep their cruelty in the shadows until the sun sets low on this love story.
A highlight of the season is the tender beauty of Madeleine’s transformation scene. It is gorgeous to watch unfold and is nothing like the violent endings we are used to.
We’re so acclimated to the gore and brutality of Claudia and Louis’ transformation that seeing a woman transition into immortality as if she is coming into herself and her love story is a beautiful, heartwrenching contrast. Learning that this act allows Louis to glimpse parts of Madeline’s past in her final moments alive is rewarding lore from a show that has always been stingy with vampire anatomy lessons.
Additionally, the parallels between monsters and sexuality as Madeleine stares down Armand in his interrogation are a poet’s dream. This is a woman who sees vampirism as no worse a fate than that society has condemned her to, and she is happy to embrace her nature if it means finally having what she craves.
Throw in Claudia’s confession to Louis that Madeleine is the one thing she wants for herself after years of being Louis and Lestat’s third wheel, and this is one downright poignant and esquist start to their brief love story.
The fact is, if the scene has Madeleine in it, it’s a knockout. Louis and Claudia’s dynamic has always worked better in a trio, and having this sweet but defiant new presence for them to play off is exhilarating. Not to mention, it works overtime to make us fall for the idea of Madeleine and Claudia just in time for us to lose them.
Armand has become one of the most enjoyable parts of this season’s back half, not because he outdoes Lestat’s villainous theatrics or because we are rooting for him to win Louis back.
Armand has been made, at least the version he presented in the interview has. He has his back against the wall, and despite the clear hostility between him and Daniel, Armand does some of his best work under a microscope. He is no longer concerned about salvaging the interview for Louis’ sake. No, he is only concerned with saving his victim persona.
It is particularly entertaining to watch him take Louis’ concerns and spin them in real-time, to Daniel’s exasperated huffs of astonishment.
Armand entered his villain era well before his devastating betrayal at the end of the episode. Still, he doesn’t see himself as an antagonist, and that can be tricky to navigate. He is as much Louis’ villain this season as Lestat was last season, but in an entirely new and terrifying way because he is the one Claudia and Louis don’t see coming.
What fascinates me the most is the choice not to have Assad Zaman sell us Armand’s innocence.
After it is revealed he chose to give up Claudia to the coven, Armand makes his case, and at face value, it is believable that he had no choice; he was overpowered by his followers. However, Zaman plays the tone of his voice off-key enough, his frustration superficial enough to suggest this is a role in a very long play for Armand.
To have Daniel dispute the “Louis asked me to wipe his memory” line on our behalf acknowledges this show wants us to see the false god before us and get angry. Interview with the Vampire wants us to invest our anger in this plot, and Assad is the actor to make it happen. Give this man his flowers because it takes skill to be this compelling of a gaslighter.
We cannot forgive Armand, but we can respect him as the valiant adversary he is.
This episode is a testament to how well the show can weave together unreliable narrators and time jumps to create a cohesive story. The payoff to this difficult balance of plot tools is undoubtedly that cafe scene.
This devastating tableau of love and betrayal will haunt me long after this season ends. It is a perfect dagger to the heart in storytelling. A rollercoaster ride that drops your heart into your stomach even when you see the plunge coming. The best stories make us feel something, and Interview with the Vampire makes us feel it all in this singular scene.
After nearly 2 seasons of turmoil and wallowing, for a brief moment, we see Claudia and Louis find pure, blissful happiness in their immortality.
They finally have the comradery, love, and acceptance they craved in their search for other vampires. And we absorb every smile and silly adlib from Louis as he pokes fun at Armand. We see Madeleine awaken a pride inside Louis as he gets to pass on his wisdom to the vampire he made without the lesson having to be painful.
And then, right at the peak of this beautiful moment, Armand steps out of the warm, sunbaked lights and into the bleak spotlight of realization that he would never allow Claudia to have her happy ending at the cost of his own.
The ability to build up this scene of blissful emotions and slash it down in seconds as chaos erupts is bone-chilling spectacular.
It is devastating to see that moment of realization dawn on Louis’ face as the crowd around them stills and his instinct to reach for Claudia first. This scene is manipulative, magnificent torture with tender pacing, lighting, and blocking that echo the prolific gothic artistry of intoxicating grief displayed throughout this season.
You are devastated by the outcome, and by Armand’s betrayal. Yet, if given the option to take this scene back and let these four vampires have their happily ever after, there is a strong urge to outright refuse.
Deep down, the sorrow this scene makes us feel for these flawed fictional characters and the love this episode makes us feel for the story is worth more than anything in a world of surface-level entertainment.
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