'The Vampire Lestat’ Episode 7 Deep Dive

Summary

‘The Vampire Lestat’ Episode 7 Deep Dive – House of R Podcast Summary

Podcast: House of R, The Ringer
Episode: 'The Vampire Lestat’ Episode 7 Deep Dive
Hosts: Joanna Robinson (A), Mallory Rubin (B)
Date: July 21, 2026

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Episode Overview

Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson gather for a signature “House of R” deep dive into the finale of The Vampire Lestat season 3, episode 7, "The Failures." While battling a cold, the duo brings their wit and warmth to an introspective discussion, analyzing the emotional, thematic, and stylistic choices of the finale, its treatment of trauma and narrative memory, the performance powerhouses at its center, and where the show leaves fans ahead of a presumed Akasha- and concert-centric season 4.

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1. Opening Thoughts on the Finale

[07:32]

• The hosts found themselves with mixed feelings on the finale, praising the season overall but noting the finale’s unconventional, introspective focus.
• Mallory Rubin:

  “I’m a little mixed on the finale. But I am very high overall on the season… The finale itself—there's a lot in it that I liked… if this episode had been almost anywhere else in the season, I probably would have been like, this was dynamite. But because it’s a finale, there’s a little bit of: oh.” ([07:42])

• The lack of anticipated climactic moments—no concert, no full Akasha appearance—left them feeling slightly unmoored, but deep emotional resonance, particularly in the Armand threads, carried the episode.
• Joanna Robinson:

  “It didn’t feel totally like a finale to me. I like a swing. And we got a lot of theater-of-the-mind sort of surreal logic stuff going on, which is fun… What really saves the episode for me is the Armand stuff. Assad Zaman’s performance in the Louis-Armand exchange… mesmerizing.” ([09:24])

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2. Highlights and Memorable Performances

[10:54], [12:47]

• Assad Zaman’s Armand and the Louis/Armand confrontation are universally praised as the episode’s standout.
• The return of Paul (Louis’ brother) in the surreal long table sequence was “gobsmacking and intense,” adding a layer of new guilt and nostalgia for Lestat.
• The multitude of callbacks to season one scenes and characters (Antoinette, the tenor, Paul) reinforce the motif of narrative memory and cyclical trauma.

Joanna Robinson:
“When Paul walks up along the stage… you sort of realize who it is, and then that exchange where Lestat doesn’t even look at him once—floored me. I thought it was wonderful.” ([11:38])

Mallory Rubin on sound mixing issues:
“This episode had, for me, a Tenet-esque sound mixing issue. It was really challenging… sensory overload.” ([12:47])

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3. Deep Dive – The Long Table and Memory as Motif

[15:26]

Structure & Imagery

• The “long table” scene places Lestat before figures from his past—a trial in limbo, toggling through key locales and relationships.
• The sequence is visually and narratively foreshadowed in the opening credits.

Return to Roots

• Bringing back Paul, Antoinette, and others “reminds us when we first fell in love with the show” ([28:13]).
• The presence of past victims and relationships raises the stakes of Lestat’s psychological trial.

Gabriella as Villain and Traumatizer

• Gabriella’s role is solidified as villainous, intertwined with Magnus as formative abusers:

Joanna Robinson:
“If Magnus turned [Lestat] into a vampire and all of the carnage… that’s sort of like original sin… What are the ways Gabriella planted the seeds even earlier of monstrosity inside of Lestat? The witch burning… for her to justify taking her small child to this horrific thing… and her resentment, I think, is crippling.” ([21:00])

• Gabriella shifts from seeming ally to manipulator as the scene unfolds, brilliantly using the vampire’s mise-en-scène to deepen the cycle-of-abuse theme.

Theatrics and Humor

• Sam Reid’s performance is praised for balancing anguish, comedy, and rockstar bravado—particularly his “headliner” moment ([17:38]).

Mallory Rubin:
“This is why you guys are the opening act and I'm the headliner.” ([17:38])

• The Vampire Tough Cookie character provides comic relief, with her enthusiastic “soul” devouring and overall charm ([34:02]).

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4. Trauma, Cycles of Abuse, and Forgiveness

[26:48], [33:11]

• The show draws explicit parallels between generational trauma and its vampiric metaphors, positioning Gabriella and Magnus together as “makers.”
• Emotional highlights include Lestat’s confrontation with his own creation and legacy of abuse, culminating in raw, emotionally complex exchanges.

Claudia’s Absence as Statement

• Notably, Claudia does not appear at the long table—a conscious, powerful narrative choice as “she said what she had to say” ([33:11]), reflecting her closure in the story’s cycle.

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5. Louis and Armand: Grace and Final Kindness

[37:41], [44:05]

• The “decapitated Louis” butcher shop sequence is praised as a showcase for both Jacob Anderson and Assad Zaman’s acting:

Mallory Rubin:
“The performance is so earnest and empathetic and sincere… The depth of emotion in Louis’s voice as he's saying these things.” ([39:09])

• Louis’s ultimate act—granting grace to Armand—is interpreted as genuine, not a survival strategy.

Joanna Robinson:
“[Louis says] ‘You were so young when these horrible things happened to you…’ This is just like a story told over and over again about these makers and these vampires and these fledglings. Like, what did Louis and Lestat do in rescuing Claudia?… They rescued her, that’s what Louis was telling himself, but is that how Claudia sees it?” ([44:46])

• The conversation is a masterclass in subtext, trauma revisitation, and failed attempts at healing, culminating in Armand brutally branding Louis with an “A” on his chest ([48:21]).

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6. The Talamasca, The Great Conversion & Conspiracy Threads

[51:20]

• The hosts riff on the murky alliance between Talamasca, Raglan, and the vampires—populations, politics, and possible extermination plots.
• The idea that “make more, make more” (the concert’s message) is possibly a global-warming-inspired population control plot—though both hosts note any explanation from Raglan should be taken with heavy skepticism ([52:46]).

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7. Finale’s Surreal End and Questions of Divinity

[54:33], [58:02]

• Lestat’s death-rebirth is scored by Daniel Hart’s extraordinary music; scenes of a decimated world suggest terrible fallout from the un-seen concert.
• The "silver thread" motif recurs, referencing the sacred cord binding vampires—a theme from previous episodes and songs (“Brutal Love”).
• In a striking, ambiguous moment, Lestat bargains for “more time” with an unidentified feminine god figure:

Joanna Robinson:
“Is God a woman inside of this universe? Is it Alanis Morissette? Is it Anne Rice, the great author of all of this? Is that what that's an allusion to? Because presumably we're talking to a deity, whoever’s in charge of who gets more time… Could be Akasha. Queens abound. All gods in fashion.” ([58:02], [58:18])

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8. The Aftermath & Season Four Hints

[58:25], [62:46]

• Lestat and Raglan are now “friends” in the future. Mysterious gaps remain about Daniel, Alex (Boo Radley, bowling), and the aftermath of the choir room massacre.
• The final world is decimated (“She is the answer” graffiti appears), confirming the concert had catastrophic, possibly global, consequences.
• Gabriella and Lestat’s new dynamic is set for further confrontation.
• The possibility of Queen Akasha and major flashbacks is teased as the likely focus of season 4, with the hosts hoping for sufficient budget and creative time to give it justice ([63:43]).

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9. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On trauma and the cycle of abuse:

  "It’s a story told over and over again about these makers and these vampires and these fledglings… That's what Louis was telling himself, but is that how Claudia sees it?” — Joanna ([44:46])

• On nostalgia and finale structure:

  “Let’s remind you of when you first fell in love with the show… but it doesn’t feel like cheap nostalgia.” — Joanna ([28:13])

• On Lestat’s climactic self-reflection:

  “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…” — Lestat/Sam Reid ([56:04])

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10. Superlatives & Season Favorites

[65:24]

• Best Song:
  “Brutal Love” (Ep. 6), with “Stained Glass Eyes” as runner-up.

• Funniest Line:
  “More red meat for Redit.” — Joanna’s personal standout.
  Other nominees: “Do you guys play baseball like in Twilight?” (Tough Cookie), and the lyrics to “Longface”.

• Best Outfit:
  “Chartreuse pants with the bloody come” (Joanna’s pick), Louis’s blue polo and pinstripe pants, and Lestat’s pelts in Toledo.

• Best Non-Sam Reid Performance:
  Jacob Anderson and Assad Zaman; Sarah Swire (Tough Cookie) also highlighted.

• Best Episode:
  Episode 6 (“Montreal”), followed closely by episode 3.

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11. Closing Reflections & Next Season

[72:03], [73:12]

• The hosts express great appreciation for the acting, music, writing, and the showrunners’ ambitious, sometimes messy but always “introspective and empathetic” storytelling.
• They eagerly anticipate news of season four (potentially to be teased at San Diego Comic-Con), hoping for Akasha flashbacks and a worthy adaptation of "Queen of the Damned".
• Plans to re-watch the whole series are stated, as well as hopes to see the show climb their Spotify playlists.

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12. Timestamps for Key Segments

• 07:42 – Initial reactions to the episode and season overview
• 11:38 – The Paul long table moment and emotional impact
• 15:26 – Deep dive into the long table sequence and memory/narrative themes
• 21:00 – Gabriella’s villainous role and trauma analysis
• 26:48 – Cycles of abuse, forgiveness, Claudia’s absence
• 37:41 – Louis and Armand’s decapitated butcher shop exchange
• 44:46 – Vampire trauma, fledgling/maker dynamics, forgiveness
• 51:20 – Talamasca, great conversion, conspiracy discussion
• 54:33 – Decimated world, silver thread, and concert aftermath
• 58:02 – The “female god” moment (identity of higher power)
• 62:46 – Season 4 and Akasha speculation
• 65:24 – Season superlatives: Best songs, lines, fits, performances, episodes

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13. Final Thoughts

Mallory Rubin:

“We’re both like: of course, we love the fact that this episode drenches itself in those questions and seeks to kind of find some answers—while also saying: you can try to know thyself, to be a little bit better, but there’s always more work to do.” ([30:41])

Joanna Robinson:

“Thank you so much for doing this with me… excited to see what, if anything, we learn about the show at Comic Con and to be back with Akasha, the queen herself, in season four.” ([72:11])

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Listeners are left with an evocative, bittersweet finale—as much an emotional reckoning for its characters as for its fans—with promises of revelations, reckonings, and rock opera grandeur on the horizon in The Vampire Lestat’s next chapter.

Transcript

[A]

Hello and welcome back to House of R. I'm Joanna Robinson, and joining me today are fingers grazing each other's.

[B]

Could be, could be, could be. Fingers touched.

[A]

It's Mallory Rubin.

[B]

Ooh, I think I might be. A room without walls. Floor, ceiling. An infinite nothing. That sounds right. The vibe.

[A]

Hi. We're both here gratefully ill to talk to you about the vampire list at finale.

[B]

We are barely hanging on.

[C]

This episode is brought to you by Boar's Head. What if we told you the taste of deep fried turkey is now available at your local deli? Well, Boar's Head just did that. Bursting with flavor, perfectly seasoned with that indulgent taste that usually means planning your whole day around it. Presenting the Friar's turkey breast only from Boar's Head, a backyard tradition now available behind the counter. Visit your local deli today. Discover the craftsmanship behind every bite. Boar's Head. Committed to craft since 1905, this episode is brought to you by Searchlight Pictures. More than ever, America needs a laugh. Enter the Super Troopers to the rescue. The cult comedy classic returns in the most offensive installment yet with super troopers 3. A debaucherous bachelor party, an over the top wedding, a dangerous drug smuggling ring. All of them are threatening the troops future. Fill your liter of cola and roll up to the multiplex with Super Troopers 3 only in theaters August 7th. Get tickets. Meow.

[B]

We are thrilled to share that the Ringiverse team, the Midnight Boys, Pew.

[A]

Pew.

[B]

Pew. And the House of R will be returning to San Diego Comic Con this July.

[A]

We're kicking off on Thursday, July 23rd at Whiskey Girl for a Ringerverse 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.

[B]

And then on Saturday, July 25th at 10:30am come to our panel. Comic Con badge holders can find the Midnight Boys. Pew, Pew. And the House of R. Correct. In room 5 AB on the upper level of the convention center for a Ringerverse supergroup panel. We're going to be discussing the franchises that have dominated nerd culture this year and taken stock of what's to come.

[A]

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 25 for our

[B]

panel, see you in San Diego.

[A]

All right, quick programming reminders. House of the Dragon in full effect. We will have our deep dive allegedly come out.

[B]

We're gonna try Super Hard. We're gonna try super, super hard.

[A]

Also, we'll do our best to be bright eyed, 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.

[B]

And the intention.

[A]

That is the plan. We've got a meetup Thursday night. You probably saw the ad for this just recently. There's a meetup Thursday night. You don't need to pass for that. Yeah, there's a panel Saturday morning. You do need to pass for that.

[B]

Please come. We don't want to be embarrassed by an empty room.

[A]

I was, like, less worried about it because our room was actually like quite full last year. I was worried last year. And then like, our room was like, it seems last year, standing room only. But we're in a bigger room this year.

[B]

Bigger room. Yeah.

[A]

So, yeah, let's continue our seats, baby.

[B]

And our debilitating and security is a key part of our core identity. So no matter how big or small

[A]

the room is, that's a fact.

[B]

That's how we're gonna feel about it.

[A]

And guess what? When we're back from San Diego, content never sleeps. It'll be Spider man time.

[B]

I know.

[A]

A Spider man movie. We just talked about a Tom Holland Zendaya movie and we're back at it.

[B]

Yeah, I can't wait.

[A]

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.

[B]

Of course. I mean, no question.

[A]

Zendaya's in everything that Robert Pattinson is in. Yeah, but with a bigger role. And she has euphoria, you know, so something to think about.

[B]

Indeed.

[A]

I mean, so, you know, euphoria.

[B]

What a show.

[A]

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.

[B]

I can't wait for Spidey. Can't wait.

[A]

So if you want to follow our shambling corpses as we make our way through this, you can follow us on social@houseofarpod. That's on Instagram and TikTok, Riggerverse on Twitter, et cetera, et cetera. You can email us hobbitsandragonsmail.com you can watch us to see just what shape we're in.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

On YouTube or Spotify, full video episodes

[B]

of House of Are available for you to consume Incredible stuff.

[A]

Boy, what a joy for you.

[B]

Do you think if we ask for heating pads to be like, just built in? Yeah, built in.

[A]

Like a cooling floor.

[B]

Be visible on camera. Heating pads, cooling floors, all of it. Temperature control. Yeah, Yeah. I did send you, Carlos and Arjuna recently a photo of a new release of like, a vest with double water bottle. No reply, Mrs. No reply from any of you guys. You guys think I could pull this off? Crickets. I think I might have gotten a like, crying tears of joy emoji from Carlos, but crickets from everyone else.

[A]

When did you send that? I didn't see it.

[B]

Week and a half ago maybe.

[A]

My apologies.

[B]

I did send you a lot of Instagram content, didn't you?

[A]

Oh, on your Instagram.

[B]

Okay. No, I sent it via text.

[A]

Okay, well, all right. Spoiler warning for today. Yeah. Uh huh. The vampireless sack. Queen of the damned. No direct spoilers. We're not really doing a book spoiler section today. Right. There isn't a ton, I think.

[B]

Trying to find my chapstick in my pants. If anyone's wondering what's happening right now. Couldn't find it, but I got it.

[A]

We're leaving that in. Are we leaving that in? Okay.

[B]

I defer to the team on the creative vision, you know, for what they're cutting and what they're including.

[A]

I say leave the entire shitshow in. Is it a failure? No.

[B]

That's right. It's all part of the creative experience and the experience we're trying.

[A]

And that's the message of this episode. 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 vampireless setup. So Joanna's not wearing the coat. I would die if I had to put that coat on. So we're just doing our best.

[B]

You gonna put the fangs in for the. For the thumbnail photo?

[A]

I might.

[B]

I might.

[A]

We'll see episode seven, the Failures, directed by Alan Taylor.

[B]

Look at that.

[A]

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 of Game of Thrones, which with, I would say, mixed results personally. And House of the Dragon episode.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

And that Terminator movie and some other things.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

A Thor movie. Something to think about. Okay.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Written by Hannah Moskovich.

[B]

A Thor movie. I mean,

[A]

the best one.

[B]

Some might say.

[A]

Okay. Only one person might Say you and Alan Taylor's mom are like, that's the best one. Okay. NY Ruben, did you like this episode of Television?

[B]

I am. 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. 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 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'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 Akasha appearance, 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.

[A]

I don't know. I would say the Akasha stuff too. You know, it was just, like, heavily hinted at. I'm not upset about it. You can do whatever you want in your own finale, but it does give us. Give me at least a little of that House of the Dragon Season 2 feeling similar to the House of the Dragon Season 2 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, and then you get this sort of, like, same halfway through the episode where you're 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 2 finale, this episode had a couple emotional high marks. That, for me, didn't leave me walking away upset about the episode for sure. It didn't feel totally like a finale to me. I like a swing. And this is like, you know, we got a lot of, like, theater of the mind sort of, like, surreal 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 the Armand stuff. Like Assad Zaman's performance in the Louis Armand exchange. I did see a tweet last night. Too late for me to feebly type it into our outline, but someone was like, wow, third season finale in a row where it's just like, it was Armand all along.

[B]

You know what? It's working. Honestly, the Armand stone is consistently really strong.

[A]

The performance is just so, like, it's mesmerizing. I was just, like, leaning forward. It's mesmerizing. As he was both talking and also just as he was listening. And then the Paul appearance, that was fantastic. To bring back Louis Brother from, 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, like, when Paul walks in, walks up along the stage in, like, in soft focus, and then you, like, sort of realize who it is as soon as you realize who it is.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then I just thought that exchange where Lestat doesn't even, like, look at him once, and that just, like, floored me. I thought it was wonderful. So, like, those two things, and then 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

[B]

a wholly successful finale, that's 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 oh note, that would be awesome. I. I think the only other thing that slightly diminished the episode for me, and this is, I'm happy to admit, or concede more of maybe a personal thing. Than any universal experience. I would say that this episode had what I would describe as a, for me, tenet esque sound mixing issue. It was really challenging and in a way that skips beyond, like, this is an intentional choice that is conveying something and into just sensory overload that I was, like, actually kind of having a hard time.

[A]

I think sensory overload is a perfect

[B]

way to put it.

[A]

I had the exact same issue where, 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 line. I go back and I go back and I go back, but usually, even if I'm not catching every single word, I can, 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 conversations. 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 hold our hands. Fine.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

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 zingy rapier wit and the. And the quickness of this show is one of its, like, finest elements. But I think it tipped.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

A little too far, I think. Especially in this episode. Yeah.

[B]

I like when the honey of this show feels like it is unspooling 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.

[A]

What an incredible language. Wow. Are those just called. What are those called?

[B]

I don't know. But I have been thinking that we should have known, because I've started to. Adam has been making me these just absolutely astonishingly delicious fresh fruit and yogurt bowls and 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 technique, just using a regular spoon leaves a.

[A]

They're called dippers. That's very honey dipper. Very boring. Let's work on it. And disappointing.

[B]

Time for a rebrand.

[A]

If there's a more exotic name for

[B]

it, obviously Honey Dipper sounds like something that I, as a kid who ate a lot of Dunkaroo sticks and Dunkaroos would have had in my lunchbox. Exactly, exactly. Man, I love Dunkaroos.

[A]

Okay, should we go now? I love that you're very hungry. I never want to eat again.

[B]

I just have so much fun everywhere. Everything hurts.

[A]

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. The long promised long table.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

So, 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 this? And, like, the only thing we could think of was the. Was the sort of like, Leoncour, like, long table that we saw. But they had never sort of referred to it as the long table. But of course, in the opening credits, you know, first of all, Lestat's decapitated head is in the opening credits, in the animation there. But also this table sort of location hopping is in the opening credits. It's like outside, it's in this hall, it's in that. So all the stuff that's here visually in the finale was there all along in the opening credits. What's fun? How much did you know? We mentioned that we both really enjoyed the Paul stuff, but in terms of the other backwards looking, like, oh, season one stuff is here. How did this work for you? What worked the best outside of the Paul stuff?

[B]

I think that, yeah, Paul certainly the most kind of like, gobsmacking and intense appearance, certainly including the intrigue of just Paul speaking to a figure we can't see.

[A]

Who is she?

[B]

Yeah, that was all, like, really cool and really good. I think the comedic highlight of this stretch for me was, you know, Lestat, who has gone through this emotional crucible and has faced, you know, not only his tombakers, as he, you know, correctly identifies. Right. Which is an interesting aspect of this, certainly. And I'll, I'll circle back to Gabrielle in a second fledglings. Marius is here as well. You know, Paul coming in, but then the audience in 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.

[A]

The.

[B]

The. The beats. The performance from Sam Reed is so good all the time.

[A]

The.

[B]

As the timer is ticking down.

[A]

And the timer tone, by the way, is my timer tone. And so it, like, gave me. It was a little triggering.

[B]

Yeah, same. It was a little triggering. I was like, is it time to wake up? Yeah, tomorrow already. Oh, my God. The shallow, short breath, that was like, it me. I feel that. But there was something about the inability to discern. This is an inability to discern for the audience member in a good and satisfying way. Right. How much of that is because he is being pulled out of the last gasp of life. Right. And how much of it is because it has become almost unbearable to have to navigate the sea of his history. But that was all really interesting and really good. I think that the deployment of Gabriella in this stretch of these scenes at the long table, as Emily moved from the long table, is there. But we move the setting, the context around. It changes all of these key locations in 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

[A]

quite critical.

[B]

Critical and severe.

[A]

She's supportive.

[B]

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, Right. That you're special. Van Gogh only sold one painting in his life. That was an incredible line. And then it's actually when she flirts with the singer that 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 Gabriela being the primary target just in that character set before we go back to the real world and have to kind of. And then it's her again, actually. Right. 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. He wakes from the coffin, he's like, you're gonna send me back out there, you know, the level. And 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.

[A]

Did you train as a doctor?

[B]

I did not. Oh, I did not.

[A]

Your technique, your scuffle technique.

[B]

Yeah. Perhaps if I had trained as a doctor, I'd be feeling better right now.

[A]

No.

[B]

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. So, yeah, I think 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

[A]

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. Right. So, like, if. If Magnus turned him into a vampire 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. What are the ways in which Gabriella planted the seeds even earlier of monstrosity inside of Lystat or monstrosity or trauma or however you decide to clarify it? The witch burning, I think, is really, really interesting. This is an adaptive change that. It's like Gabriella, and we talked about this early 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 original traumatic inciting incident for him and for her to defend it as, like, I was trying to inspire. Inspire you to leave, and you didn't leave until you were 30 anyway, Kabage, you know, like, blah, 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.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's also the resentment of. And you didn't until late. 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. 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 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 book readers or people who sort of taking the book into account to sort of like, fully understand how much of a villain she is in the show, because that'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 switch is flipped for him 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.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And so for her to be an interchangeable seat with Magnus inside of this episode, I thought was really smart and really interesting, I think.

[B]

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. It was apparent what that was, even though Lestat was not conceding that, nor does he owe that concession to anybody, right. To the documentary crew of Daniel in 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, and we, we talked about, like, earlier in the season without fully understanding at the time how the long table would pay off.

[A]

The.

[B]

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 Marquis didn't come to this. Yeah, that's how fucked up this is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Dad didn't even come. Yeah. Right. And so it's just. It's all undeniable. It all reaches an undeniable point. And like, you know, the. It's hard to achieve this balance we 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 member. We think back to watching Louis hold Claudia's diary and recite it without needing to look and think, wow, oh my God. Right? And then Claudia, she's like, oh, summoned forth. Yeah, it was like, 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 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 do terrible things. But then, you know, we do have something like this episode. We see this horror of this atrocity that Gabriella exposes him to. But then we are reminded both in flashbacks and also through the characters, through Louis at that table, saying, call it a tough love, then showing us what, giving it to Claudia. 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 crippled constantly by his own doubt and shame and guilt, stare that in the face. And I think just there are very few shows that could manage to walk that tightrope as effectively as this one has.

[A]

And I think to connect that over to the B plot, which is Louis and Armand in the butcher back room and sort of 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 visited these horrors on other people, I understand where that comes from and it comes from you as a 12 year old boy, et cetera, et cetera. So we'll come back to that in a second. But before we leave the long table, I want to say a couple other things in terms of like this surreal taking place inside the mind. Sort of pick and choose from iconography from the rest of the series. I thought it was really fun. I think it's really fun to have Antoinette on the keys, on the typewriter. I think bringing back the tenor and having that sort of marking the sheet music with the bloody fingerprint. Callback to season one. I thought that was really fun. So there's a lot of fun imagery, enriched detail that's. That's reminding. But, like, it's interesting because I wrote this in the notes. A treat that I saved for myself on Friday was the. We had a long week last week, too. And the treat I saved myself on Friday was the Heartstopper movie, which is like, acts as the series finale for Heartstopper.

[B]

I haven't watched it.

[A]

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 the 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. And sometimes that can tip over into, like, way too much. And so, 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. 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 we never understood that Listat had any sense of guilt or complicity or anything in Paul's death. Did he kill Paul? No. Did he mess with Paul's mind at a dinner shortly before Paul, like, you know, jumped off the roof? Yes. Right. So, you know, in. In his sort of like, 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 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 Lestat's point of view, Antoinette is important. Was important enough to Lestat, and he made a comment about this earlier in the season, but it was important enough to him that she's at the long table with a very small group of people and Twinette is there. She was important in some way, you know, and like Louis telling of her diminishes her. Right. And so all of these things are here to get a slightly different angle on them.

[B]

Yeah, 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 memory and narrative and self mythologizing.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And so. 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 alive, 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 either visually or called upon in the discussion between the characters, moments from the past. Because that's what this entire season has been about, right? Reflecting and shaping and thinking about how 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, 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? And hasn't it always been to some extent? Which is also why traveling through time, I find that really interesting because the idea of a season where Le Sade is rock star modern age, everyone's got their phone in their hand, right? And it's like, what's the trending topic? And that is a very instantly understandable thing for us, the modern viewer. But what was the version of that 200 years ago? I think the season has done a really incredible job 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 and 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 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

[A]

what she had to say.

[B]

Yeah. What else could you. What else could you do after the seance?

[A]

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 neurons firing inside of, like, vampire neurons firing inside of Lestat's head. So either in. In an afterlife sort of space or in a limbo sort of space, a trial of a kind. Claudia has opted not to show up. The real Claudia has opted not to show up. Or in Lestat's dying mind, Claudia would not show up for this. Right.

[B]

And either way, it's interesting.

[A]

Either way, it's interesting. The vampire Tough Cookie is here.

[B]

Iconic showing once again.

[A]

Love her.

[B]

I would watch a Tough Cookie spin off everybody on the record.

[A]

Never a bad frame with her when they're in the bus at the end and she's just like, ay.

[B]

Like, so good.

[D]

Hey.

[B]

Yeah. She was also really chowing down on the various courses of the soul. Also that.

[A]

The soul.

[B]

The soul.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Every time, you know, we get the new course number, the courses are ticking up, but it's always the soul. She was really chowing down. I feel like we can go from soul eater to sin eater pretty quickly. For tc she's ready to report for D Eater.

[A]

Sounds great. Listen, here's my question, though. If Gabriella made Alex, which is our understanding.

[B]

Yes, for sure.

[A]

And Lestat made Tough Cookie, which was a reveal.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Who made the vampire Salamander?

[B]

I guess we should assume the answer is Sam, because there were three there to make new vampires.

[A]

Sam and Salamander. As. Ooh, I watched that spin off too.

[B]

They would get up to some stuff. They would get up.

[A]

Great answer to some stuff. Great answer. I also just want to shout out. So Claudia's absence is amazing. I think Louis demeanor to Jake B. Anderson 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. But to have season one Louis there to watch Jacob Anderson play Lestat's version of season one Louie versus, you know, decapitated Louis and you know, to watch these very different demeanors 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. Jacob Anderson was just like, thought it was like really silly and fun. He was just like, oh, soul. Like he was really doing it.

[B]

It was really funny.

[A]

And then before we leave this, I just want to say in terms of the witch scene this episode, 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 Hart score stuff that was just like out of control. And the witch burning stuff, I thought it was especially insane. Insanely good Daniel Hart score work. Just stunning.

[D]

Stunning Evening. Buyer's remorse. Buy a new car. I'll be moving in. Let's get started.

[B]

Sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana.

[D]

You what?

[B]

Yeah, Great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it. So there's no, no, no buyer's remorse. More like buyers rejoice.

[D]

I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it.

[B]

Buyers rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana. Limitations and exclusions may apply.

[A]

See our seven day return [e-mail] Howdy shoppers.

[D]

Fire up that propane grill and settle in for a new season of Hulu's hit animated series King of the Hill. Hank and Peggy are staying active in retirement.

[A]

That's a dog. You will not have to lift a finger.

[D]

Bobby and Connie hard launch their relationship.

[B]

Now that we're dating, it's important you're paying. Parents know I'm a man.

[D]

And the alley guys are. Well, they're still the alley guys.

[C]

Yep.

[D]

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[A]

An awful time with Louis and Armand.

[B]

Boy, I mean, what a time for us. And chopped up. Chopped up bodies.

[A]

Awful is spelled off. Because that's a pun. Because that's what you call brains when you eat them. Okay. How do you feel about Jacob Anderson's decapitated head acting?

[B]

It was very amusing to hear him discuss how he had to, like, be super still having 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

[A]

is

[B]

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 share something with Armand, who.

[A]

I think I interpret it as the

[B]

latter, but I did too, ultimately, because the performance is, I think, so earnest and empathetic and sincere. Like the depth of emotion in Louis's voice as he's saying these things. I guess there could be a little bit of a why not both to it. But, 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 Louis finds out about Lasat and Gabriella, it's like you're being very judgy, right? And then Louis 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 revealing to Louis, hey, you thought you knew all the things that I was secretly responsible for. I've got a few more to share, bud.

[A]

Guess what? There are further depths to plumb with AI. It's bad.

[B]

Exactly. Found some candidates for Claudia. Look alikes. But why go with the seven or the eight? We've got a perfect one right here. You know, the list of horrors just continues to mount. The fact. The indignity of the fact that Armand has Farid there too. 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 live streamed.

[A]

What is Dr. Farid always he always

[B]

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.

[A]

So there's the long arm of the Talamaska. Indeed.

[B]

There's no reason ultimately other than the capacity that these characters who do and have been on the other end of so many atrocities and so many terrible things to like find, find some kernel of connection to tap into. And so what Louis said to Armand was just so heart wrenching and beautiful and obviously reached Armand and allowed his humanity and the aspect of the soul, you know, we get this episode is about the soul. So we can think back the soul. The soul. Lestat's saying to Armand. When Armand showed up to talk to Lestat, to read his amends to Lestat on the tour bus, you don't have a soul. But like he does still. And for Louis to reach it for a second was quite potent.

[A]

Did you laugh when you heard Armand doing his like his 12 steps again? Yeah. But this time to Lou's decapitated head. Yeah, pretty great. Really good couple things. So the, the threaten. The threat to head swap. To like sew.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

One head on a different body. That's. That's sort of slightly lifted from the vampire Armand book. 1998. I in a different circumstance.

[B]

So this is his signature move.

[A]

I don't think they're going to do that thing that is revealed in that book. So I think they're just sort of like using it. But I thought that was interesting. And also interesting that Armand doesn't give a shit about the great conversion. We thought he was here to make sure the rules were abided by but instead he's just like, nope. Petty revenge.

[B]

Really 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 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. 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 Armand issuing the rest command to Regina. But 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.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And like knowing that this was.

[A]

I got chills yeah, well, and he said, you know. Yeah. He said a similar thing to Larry, right? Like, this is his. This is his move.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

It's.

[B]

It's horrifying.

[A]

On the confession. Apology. Friend. Yes. So this is so what he says to Armand, What Louis says to armand. You at 12. At 12, you were 12. Scared. Poor boy. Arun, you need a love that'll cradle you. Right? And so in season two, when we're at the Louvre on a romantic date, at the Louvre, when Armand is sharing his, like, backstory with Louis and Ghost, Lestat is also there. Um, this is what. What he says, right? He was rescued from a brothel when he was 15, named Arun. Then I think. I cannot be sure the abuse in the 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 actuality, they'd sold him into slavery. My maker's purchase.

[C]

His.

[B]

His renaming me.

[A]

His reluctance in sharing the gift, knowing what it will do to his beloved Amadeo. I served him with all my heart. Basket.

[B]

His mercy.

[A]

Mercy. His worshipful mercy. Still, Amedeo 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 Lestat do in rescuing Claudia? You know, they. They rescued her. That. That's what Louis was telling himself. But, like.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Is that how Claudia sees it right now, in the afterlife? You know, end of the day? 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.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Asad, as an actor looking at this script and thinking, what is Louis gonna 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. A lot of great. Just sort of like vampire eyes filling up with bloody tears stuff this season. But just like, 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 needed a love that would cradle you, and I couldn't give that to you. Right. Taking. And again, to think about the two Louis inside of this episode. Lestat's Louis versus Armand's Louis. And, like, 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.

[B]

Methodically cruel.

[A]

I know a much crueler Louis. So for that version of Louis, the crueler Louis to apologize to Armand is, I thought, really interesting.

[B]

I agree. I think you need a love that'll cradle you. You should have that. And I was never that for you. Building toward Paul, saying to Lestat, thank you for loving him, for loving him the way he needs to be loved about Louis was gorgeous and made me

[A]

think of House of the Dragon, too. The point that you keep raising about, like, are you giving your people, your followers what they need?

[B]

Yeah. And like, we. Yeah, you know, we've. We've had calls across a number of the stories that we cover to talk about this. And some of it is a very personal thing, and some of it is like, what do you owe to another person and what do you owe to yourself? And what is right to demand of another person or to know that you need? Is a person able to give that to you? I think that the recognition Louis has here, that he was maybe not

[C]

giving

[B]

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 Lestat and Louis, but it's, like, also fair to say. And this episode reminds us tonally in interesting ways. Like, you got to be 100ft up in the air for that to stick. Hardly the case that the Lestat Louis relationship was always perfect.

[A]

Right.

[B]

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. I think saying that in some ways, the mess is undeniable. And the question is whether you're going to be able to, like, to navigate it and to find people who can help you navigate it.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Who are willing to try to help you navigate it. 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.

[A]

Yeah. I have questions about vampire anatomy as to whether or not that scar would stick, but it seems like it probably will.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So to put an A on his chest like Armand was here.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Tough. It'll at least be there for a while. Cause their neck scars, you know, Lestat 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 Lestat both have these, like, scars on their chests now. Exactly. You know. All right. It's your boy, Daniel Malloy. I don't have a ton to say about this. I will just 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 just a little bit of shorthand they used here of they know there's a strong fandom for these two inside of the book reader community. And so 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 these characters in the books to make this connection, this. This duo.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Make as much sense as I think it should make. And Daniel, in the last couple episodes, I just don't know. Like, he's still kind of fun.

[B]

Right.

[A]

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.

[B]

Yeah. And if we, I think, consider it both in the vacuum of their relationship, but then also in the 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.

[A]

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 spiting Lestat, you know, in the first place? And so how much is the Armand and Daniel stuff about spiting Lestat, you know, almost entirely. And so.

[B]

Right. And so is that the love they need? Is it the love that allows them to pursue some course of vengeance right now? Is there a connection? Obviously, there's the connection of maker and fantastic fledgling. Right. There's the connection.

[A]

Dad. Yeah.

[B]

Of dad. There's the connection of all of the truths that were. Were pulled or repressed or obscured over the years. But, yeah, it's, like, hard for me to say in the back half of the season that I felt undeniable, like, need from the two of them to be with each other and more that they were, like, working on a quest together.

[A]

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.

[B]

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.

[A]

Dime store, Dracula, Alex. I mean, the Tal Moscow, whatever. They're here, they're pro great conversion. It was them all along. Make more. Make more. It seems to be. 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 is how I feel about that.

[B]

So. Okay, I'm trying to wrap my mind around this. So I went. I was looking back at the beginning what Lestat said, especially because he calls upon the line here of like, you know, what did I say? Oh, that I made a contribution. Let me take that back. The fault was all mine. This is I'm says 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.

[A]

Does that have.

[B]

Is that Akasha driven?

[A]

I mean, I have answers for that, but I. I don't think I can say the mountain.

[B]

Yeah. So that's. That's. That's on my mind is like. Yeah, okay. On the Talamasca front, specifically based on what they. What Raglan shares here. May the vamp safely graze. Congrats. To beat peak oil. It's a tipping point. Is it pro great conversion or is it progray conversion in order to amass the vampires and then easily kill them?

[A]

Oh, I thought it was pro great

[B]

conversion to cut down on the number of people.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

As population control for sure.

[B]

Populate control. You know the range, the Range Rover. So that's there for sure. But does that mean they're going to just let the vamps run free in perpetuity? Don't think you guys would be very good in government. Right. So I'm like, maybe it's let the vamps swell the ranks, cut down on

[A]

the human population, kill all the vampires,

[B]

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.

[A]

The conversion is like, what is the message that says to come from the concert?

[B]

Make more. Make more. He was really proud of that lyric.

[A]

He was.

[B]

You did it, Raglan.

[A]

I would say diablo forever. Not the best. Not the best lyric I heard this season. All right. One night only at Nikki's Tavern, as you mentioned. I mean, great stuff when Lestat takes control of the wheel of the story. And he's just sort of like, enough cowering. It's me, front man, Lestat the Salamander. TC And Alex. No, Larry are vamping musically. Vamping the whole time that he's up there. It's the chords. It's the butterscotch bitch chords. And I just want to say this just makes fantastic, like, vamp music. Just sort of like the dun, dun, dun. It's just like, really good backing, propulsive sort of music for all of this. Anything else? I mean, we've. I already talked a lot about Paul showing up here. 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 woman sometimes. So do I. Right. And then. And then about the afterlife, I guess.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's not all that once you get there. And then Lestat says, silver thread. Silver thread stretched over other. Other threads, seemingly, like looking up at. At this sort of like 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 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.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Which mentioned a thread pulling on a thread. A restless thread. Hand on a thread, I think. So this idea of the sacred core concept inside of the world of vampires, this thing, this connect, this silver sort of like thread umbilical cord that connects all the vampires to each other. So I just love that that shows up here. That's Very like vampire lore stuff that could come up even more so in next season. And then Roland sang in the. In the after episode. You weren't a failure because somebody loved you. Yeah, I thought that was beautiful.

[B]

Really great. I think that the Lestat 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? Gabrielle is heckling him as a failure, and he says, I don't agree. In the end, I think I was pretty fucking great. But he could barely choke the words

[A]

out the way Sam delivered that.

[B]

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 he's continuing to fade. 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 Assad is not a character who will backslide again. That feels like the character.

[A]

Well, whatever's about to happen, that he says it's all my fault, you know, further clarity, I guess, when he's recording the failures. But, like, he's about to do something that is terrible. Yeah. This yes, ma' am moment. Okay. I want to talk to you about that. I think I've told you about this, but 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. My best friend Dan and I. Like, whenever that song comes on, when we're in the car or 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 your thoughts on God, 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 finale. Tell me all, like. So, like, is God a woman inside of this universe? Is God Alanis Morissette? Is that what's happening here? Right? Is it Anne Rice, the great author of all of this, the great architect of all of this? Is that what that's an allusion to? Because presumably we're talking to a deity, whoever's in charge of who gets more time. Oh, are you sure? Really? Okay. More time. You know, reset the clock. More time.

[C]

Or.

[A]

I don't know. Is it momager extraordinaire? Gabriella, who is this? Sort of like, is it Akasha? You know, is it someone in the

[B]

universe who has the ability to pull some strings to puppeteer?

[A]

Queens abound. Okay, so God. Alanis, Morissette, Anne Rice, Akasha, Gabriella.

[B]

All gods in fashion.

[A]

All gods in their own. Right, Right. Okay. The aftermath.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So somehow Lestat got a costume change. Who did that? Probably Gabriella. Put him in his coffin and put him in some new. A new outfit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We get the info that Lestat and Raglan 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 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.

[B]

What was your interpretation of. Cause Raglan is there for the head at the bowling alley, you know, says Farida 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 about what transpires, how the heads get back to the body, was your interpretation of Daniel flashing the fangs at Raglan? Like, I'm not gonna make this easy for you. Like, we're enemies now, or that a fight?

[A]

Actually, I don't think there was an actual fight there.

[B]

Cause there's also the line about, like, Alex's role in all this as a mystery.

[A]

Alex's role in this feels like we're all a mystery.

[B]

Information about exactly what happened.

[A]

The Alex mystery is really interesting. Well, like, was Alex working for the Talamasca? You know, 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 Talamasca? Like, what is his role in all of this? I don't know. Is it connected to the fact that Gabrielle is his 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, but more like, I'm a vampire and I'll remember this. Yeah, you have me outnumbered right now, but I'll remember this.

[B]

Yeah. Okay.

[A]

That's my take. But who knows? The desperate silent. We don't get to hear it, but we can hear it anyway. Where's Louis Wonderful. From Lestat.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

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. This is what Hannah said. Our listener Hannah wrote in to say listening to the loneliness, which is song from earlier in the season, it hit me. The lyrics of Lestat 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 pinking 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 maybe 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 Lestat hangs onto to stay tethered to some sense of himself. To once again get back up.

[B]

Love that, Hannah. Beautiful poetry. Beautiful. Paul there to talk to Lestat and what might be his final moments about Lestat's love with Louis and Louis loving Lestat. Louis, the pen and the paper and his decapitated body's hands writing about Lestat saying to Ron and I love that moment. He was like, I'm sorry. Like, even at the end here, now I'm thinking of him.

[A]

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, 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 Lestat and Gabriela.

[B]

This.

[A]

This, like, full pushback that maybe we've been waiting for.

[B]

Trauma Bond.

[A]

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

[B]

season four for that.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

We get a decimated world. A reveal.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

She is the answer. Graffiti on the sidewalk there. But, yeah, the world has been destroyed thanks to something that Lestat has done.

[B]

The concert shattered building sirens in the air. I like the beat. Right before that. Have I failed at auction? These reels returned to me. Sold. Am I talking to myself? First of all, fun little dancing with myself this season. But we still don't know, right? Like, all of the details. Yeah. And so, like, that's. Maybe that is the answer.

[A]

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, before we go. So the last thing I wanted to do is some sort of quick season superlatives just to end on a celebratory note of a season that we did quite enjoy.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Anything else you want to say before we get to that?

[B]

How long do you think it'll be till season four? Is this a. Two years between season?

[A]

So it's July. I do. I think earliest would be early 2028, but maybe not that much because they don't have to, like, write off, like, all those songs, which I don't know how much time that took in all of this. But, like. But then I'm curious about the budget because, like, so this is going to 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. You know what I mean? Yeah, it could look like that. Sort of like Michael Jackson Nefertiti music video, which I just, like, do not think we should do. So. So I want. I want as much budget and time and thought as possible into the Akasha flashbacks would be my hope.

[B]

I mean, maybe we'll get an answer as soon as Comic Con. There's a. There's a Lestat panel.

[A]

There is.

[B]

I can't wait.

[A]

Did you see that? So last year at Comic Con, the vampire Lestat, like, that was like a huge, like, on the side of a building rapper. Have you seen the hot Sauron building wrapper that's already up in San Diego?

[B]

No. I can't wait, though. Does it also have like a I'll cream for you thing? Like the Lestat one did when the letter of scream was.

[A]

Remember, I'll forge your one ring.

[B]

That's incredible. I'll make you cream. I mean, you know, these ideas are

[A]

here for free, folks. Oh, wow. A very specially placed palm tree. All right, San Diego. Okay, let's go down to our quick seasons superlatives. All right, Best song of the season.

[B]

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

[A]

Lestat singing Single Size five. Right.

[B]

I can't remember. Yeah, we did them together. Yes, you're right. Yes. So in the. Right. I'm saying to the same episode because of the. The same podcast that we talked about them on.

[A]

Yes, yes.

[B]

So those are a tie for me. I think Brutal Love just edges it out because watching Louis and Lestat and then watching Gabriella watch them was like a transcendent level of it has to

[A]

be Brutal Love for me. I think, 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 are so good. Like, this is Smuggle Palooza for me. Like, I just think there are a lot of great.

[B]

Okay, let me put it to you this way. Yeah, this is a real test.

[A]

Three Oscars.

[B]

Yeah. How's it feel? Which one is going to top your Spotify wrapped? Like, which one will you actually catch you the most?

[A]

It's going to be hard for them to catch up to Longface, which is the only one I had for so long. Longface, the one that. The show. The one you wash cars to.

[B]

I guess. Like, that was so funny. Maybe that's my contribution.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Or clean cars.

[A]

All right. But I think it's Brutal Love, that performance.

[B]

That was great.

[A]

And, oh, I saw. I saw a great tweet. You know, the. You know, the Euphoria meme. Is this fucking play about us?

[C]

Sure.

[A]

Someone took that and they were like Gabriella during Brutal Love. Is this fucking play not about me?

[B]

Incredible.

[A]

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 going to say the line that I actually repeat in my own head almost on a daily basis.

[B]

All right, what is it?

[A]

And it's just every time I go to Reddit, I said, more red meat for Redit.

[B]

Redit is really talking about more red

[A]

meat for Redit is like a Pavlovian response to me clicking on Reddit now. So that might be the lasting legacy of the season for me.

[B]

That's a great pick. 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 cookie. Do you guys play baseball like in Twilight Iconic. You said it was a deer. As D E A R as any KFC night manager has a right to be. And then of course the boardroom sequence. You know, I bet, I bet Very specific detail. Pluck out of thin air. That was. Maybe it's more about the performance and the line itself, but that. That's the hardest I laughed all season. 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 oo oo oo wah wah ooh ooh ooh wah wah. What's the story behind that? You've gotta have a sense of humor about this stuff. And it's like just the show really knows when to. 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. Lestat and Louis talking about Daniel. He's an awkward vamp because that you think you're better than me. Chip on him. And we are. It's exhausting to pretend otherwise. Killed me. Incredible.

[A]

Oh, it's Travis and Taylor. Um, all right. Best fit, best outfit of the season.

[B]

So I. This was hard cuz the fits are elite. I mean we could just pick the bloody pre. Pre comp pants.

[A]

Might. In fact I thought you might. If I had to put money on it, I would say the chartreuse pants with the bloody come.

[B]

I mean that probably is the. 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, wolfie pelt coat as 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 Louis modern fashion in the I'm going to Brick and Bacon time and time again to just spend some time with Regina. Like the sky blue polo with the pinstripe pants. I mean he really knows how to dress.

[A]

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 doing his impression of Regina's accent. He's so good.

[B]

Yeah. Really great.

[A]

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 come. And a baby pink corset Coming soon to a theater. You okay?

[B]

Put it on the merch.

[A]

Best non Sam Reid performance of the season.

[B]

So let me ask you a question. Who's eligible for this? Is it literally anyone but Sam? Like, is Jacob. Is Jacob eligible?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Then that's the pick.

[A]

Yeah, it's either Jacob or Asad, but Jacob has more time to work with.

[B]

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.

[A]

Also incredible. How do we pick who did this to us? Me. Maybe it's the vampire. Tough cookie.

[B]

No one to blame but yourself.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah, you could do that. Could be, like, for the new. The new characters. Who's the kick? Maybe. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, the.

[B]

You know, the. The primary cast is just once again, sensational. They're just sensational.

[A]

Sarah Swire, tc. Tough cookie.

[B]

Legendary stuff.

[A]

Really funny. Really, really good.

[B]

My girl is Christine at the end, by the way.

[A]

Oh, true. Well, she's. What did she do? And then she. I mean, Sheila. Tim is Akasha. Incredible.

[B]

Fantastic. Can't wait for more.

[A]

Wow. Okay. Various men, enrichments, enriches. Last but not least. And Sam Reed. I mean, just, like, couldn't have been better. An absolute masterpiece.

[B]

Performance really, really, really excellent. Really great. Like, we had high hopes. No reason to doubt. Did not disappoint.

[A]

So good.

[B]

All right.

[A]

Best episode of the season.

[B]

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.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Episode six.

[B]

Amazing.

[A]

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.

[B]

Love.

[A]

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.

[B]

Why not? Guess what? No notes.

[A]

Oh, with a dash of incest. All right. Anything else you want to say? I'm really good. Thank you so much for doing this

[B]

with me, for bringing the show into my life.

[A]

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 with Akasha, the queen herself, in season four.

[B]

I can't wait. Depending on the weight and the length, you know, I. For sure I'm gonna rewatch all three seasons before season four. No question. Question is whether I dip into the books. Ooh, I don't know. We'll see this season will be a

[A]

really fun rewatch, I think.

[B]

Oh, I can't wait to rewatch this season.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. I cannot wait.

[A]

Yeah. Also to listen. Okay. Yeah. I wonder what I'm gonna start really in serious, like, putting up the numbers on the playlist to make sure it's at the top of my Spotify raft 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, your Spotify age is 98.

[B]

To be fair, that is also an important part of your personality. So you contain multitudes.

[A]

Thank you to our band. Jacob Cornett is here. Carlos Chiraboga, Scott Lee, our generic Powell and Jomi Adinarun. We'll be back with a deep dive. 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.

[B]

And that's time to retire to coffin. Time to retire to coffin.

[A]

We'll see you soon.

[C]

Bye.