absolutely brilliant! a masterclass in acting as well as writing

Absolutely exceeded my expectations again!

Too good...

It was probably the season's best episode! I cried at the end ... sigh

This recollection of Claudia leaving the world singing the song she detested? That’s ALL Armand… I don’t believe that, I need witnesses! 😂

That’s why it’s hard to know whether to believe him

he thinks we forgot... armand girl you're annoying me 😭

That's why I don't trust him he, has to have orchestrated this

Not even just every member of his coven (and don't forget, some of those members are from the old coven as well. Some of them aren't young Vampires at all)... but he also psychologically froze the entire restaurant they were in, and most likely people out in the street. The way the entire place went dead quiet, until he released them. Didn't even blink about it, didn't faze him at all. Lestat makes 30 or so men leave their house in Nola, and he's bleeding from his ears about to hit the floor. And we're meant to believe that getting a small group of humans to say "banishment" took ALL his strength. We're meant to believe that Sam SAM was enough to stop him from doing anything, when it took multiple of these Vampires to force just Louis off that stage. But 400+ year old Armand, couldn't get past Sam. Like, I'd laugh about it, if I wasn't so enraged.

​@@RowensARTstudiomy question is, why would he lie about this? In the book, I believe he did I because he wanted to separate Louis from Claudia. In this, Louis and Claudia were already separated. They were meeting one last time before they went their separate ways. He didn't need to use the coven to kill Claudia. I don't understand why he orchestrated this, if he did.

It’s so horrible that the last thing she saw couldn’t even be the one she loved. Surrounded by her abusers.

😢😢😢😢😢

Interloping, malcontent, murdering Claudia got what was coming to her. What goes around comes around. You're right about one thing, though. Her beloved chose her over everything. If only the same could be said about Lestat's beloved, who instead chose to go along with Claudia's plot to murder him. 💔

@@SpaceEmos At least Lestat felt some remorse and regret and took no satisfaction in her destruction, which certainly can't be said for her when she and Louis tried to murder him.

@@enchantedboy66to say that when Louis lestat and Armand are RIGHT THERE when she did the least out of all three of them

I think that’s kinda the point? Only a episode or two before we see him clearly show that he has the power to wipe out the entire coven at once, and in this episode he does nothing against them. He wanted Claudia to die, why? Idk, but he definitely wanted it to happen. Maybe he used Lestat as an example of what not to do. Sure Louis had chose Armand over Claudia, but there was still a chance, no matter how small, that eventually Claudia would take Louis from Armand as well. Armand could not allow that. And he clearly hates being abandoned way more than Lestat does.

@@theredmistiscoming609 oh no it definitely was the point i just think it’s funny that he thought it was a convincing lie

I think he was using most of his power to keep Lestat in check, to be honest. He was swaying, looking glazed over anytime he wasn't actively 'performing' - and whenever Louis asked him if he was 'happy' to get his revenge he looked absolutely miserable. That man, for all of his fault, did not want to be there.

@@LadyGreensleeves33 fr like the part where santiago says the “way past our bedtime” line you can see lestat swaying in the background with a totally blank look on his face

I still feel like Armand is lying through his teeth…. Like I get it with Marius, he had no affiliation with the coven that attacked him. Armand however is the leader. Even if the powers he had over those vampires do not apply any longer since Santiago was made leader, he could have worked with Lestat to devise away to save all three of them. Armand was not Lestat’s maker so they could communicate mind to mind. Both of them together would be no match for all of those vampires. I could understand why Lestat didn’t PHYSICALLY try… but Armand… he’s lying…. And this is coming from someone who still very much loves Armand. But nah this is just wrong… 😢

Lestat did it in self defense, stop blaming him for everything Louis should be blamed for

@@Jevjevjevj abuse is self defense now? you’re actually insane

@@JevjevjevjLestat first attacked Claudia, Louis then attacked Lestat to protect Claudia. So in the beginning he was trying to defend himself and get Louis to stop. But that scene when they were in their bedroom, and Lestat asks if Louis was going to leave with Claudia, he doesn’t answer that question directly. Louis was essentially threatening him, that’s when Lestat lost his temper and all of the loneliness, frustration, and rage that he’s been feeling over the past 7 years just came out and he took it out on Louis. Flying up in the sky and letting go of Louis wasn’t necessary. Even if he wanted to scare him a little but he could have caught him halfway down. But he didn’t he just watched. Lestat himself admitted that he didn’t know if Louis would be fine…. So it was not completely in self defense.

@@heretowatchstuff5335 self defense is abuse now? Louis is the one who started it. Where's HIS apology? Where's his apology for mistreating Lestat for 7 years? Where's his apology for letting little manipulative gremlin almost kill his husband? Where's his apology for threatening to kill Lestat and smashing his face into the coffin (unprompted). Where's his apology for saying "you will always be alone" to Lestat when HE KNEW about his severe abandonment issues and fear of loneliness. Yet he still chose to say that. Louis is not a victim. He is THE abuser.

​@@Jevjevjevjthere you all go again...

Most people would consider it being chosen first for one parent to allow you to manipulate them into helping you murder the other, but not perpetual malcontent Claudia. 🙄

@@enchantedboy66 omg shut tf up. We get it, you're crazy.

I personally believe the fight was the way it was shown this episode. I also think that this is one of the examples that we have of Louis possibly descending into madness. Or at least a more coherent version of what Nicki went through.

@@remholloway2579 Personally I feel like both depictions of the fight are true, since like I said they don't contradict each other. That being said I'm not sure if Louis' "madness" is really anything more than a person pushed to the absolute brink and fighting back the only way he can. I cannot on any level believe that Louis is more "mad" than say Lestat or even Armand. It's a matter of framing - like Armand saying Louis "acts out" when Louis reacts with justified anger, or the play's script saying Claudia self-harmed "for attention". Louis is someone who has gone through unspeakable horrors and trauma and him being suicidal and violent when provoked is par for the course for almost any vampire in this story. I don't buy that he is uniquely "crazy" and in fact I think it's a label others (esp. Armand) put on him to dismiss and control him. Just my opinion though, we'll have see what episode 8 has in store for us!

​​@@Hannah-rn2jn... Well I mean both versions of the fight do technically contradict each other by who ends up the most visually bloody.... I mean by the end of it we saw Louis ended up the most bloody but in the first version of the fight Lestat came out SPOTLESS with zero blood on him... Whereas in this newer expanded version Lestat absolutely had wounds on his face that were bleeding. 🤷‍♀️ That's a pretty big difference IMO... But yes, you're absolutely correct that the dialogue that we hear during the fight doesn't contradict what we previously saw. What's different is whether Lestat looks like an untouchable God or Louis fought back and got a couple licks in at Lestat and hurt him as well ...that is different... An important difference for some people, probably But I do absolutely agree with you as well that Louis isn't... Special in his mental health struggles compared to any other vampire. 100%. They're all pretty much equally unhinged, IMO.

@@AnxietyRat That's true re: Lestat being bloody! I guess to me that feels like more of an aesthetic difference, and I assume the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But it doesn't really change anything in a meaningful way, Louis and Lestat essentially agree on the chain of events themselves and about who had the power and was the abuser in the fight and in their relationship.

@@Hannah-rn2jn I think when I am referring to Louis madness I’m not just going off of what is presented in the show, but also of the books as well. This isn’t much of a spoiler I assure you… but in The Vampire Lestat there is a passage there that states essentially, that a large part of why Lestat fell so “fatally” in love with Louis was because he reminded Lestat so much of Nicki. And like Louis, Nicki did struggle with deep depression before he was turned. Which only got so much worse when he did in fact become a vampire. Now think of the circumstances surrounding how Louis was turned…. He had just lost his closest family member (his brother). His mother blamed him for it, logically he knew that was wrong, but deep down I’m pretty sure he did feel deep responsibility for (which is similar to his state of mind in the book) He lost his best friend, the only person that truly knew him without pretense (miss Lily). Add in the deep catholic guilt which is why we find ourselves in the church confessing to the sin of sleeping with a man. A man mind you he had built a deeper relationship with than all the other “experiences” he had with other men up until that point. It was love he felt for Lestat one can assume, or very nearly love which adds to the guilt. Add in the fact said man would not leave Louis alone to process his grief. Louis was full on losing it in the confessional… and still Lestat would not let up. Despite the “romance” of the scene, and the words he may have said the sway Louis, you cannot ignore the absolutely traumatic scene that took place just before, or the in fact dubious consent that underscores his turning. Which Louis, like Nicki blames Lestat for (towards the middle of season 1 episode 3). Also another key element of Louis characterization, at least while he was in New Orleans is the fact that yes he is now a vampire he has lol this power…. But he is still black. I think part of the reason he was “convinced” to turn in the first place is that he thought by becoming a vampire, he could leave his blackness behind, but in fact he took it with him. I think the mental gymnastics you would have to preform to survive in this context is worse. You have access to all this power, the actual ability to bend someone to your will. But you cannot fully utilize this power because if you do your loved ones, your community at large may be in danger… and then when you do finally snap and “act out” the consequences are so pervasive and so dire, that it can cause you to slip further into the mental hole that is your sanity. The fact that he had access to all this power, but he still had to go through someone else (Lestat) to “advocate” for him. Is another layer of this shit pie. After the events of season 1 ep. 3, I think for the longest time Claudia was Louis only tie to sanity… we saw briefly what happened to Louis the first time she left (season 1 ep. 5) and she was not permanently gone, she was just away…. But now that she is dead…. God only knows what will happen. Sorry this is so long… I just love how this show is so deeply layered. The fact that they switched the race of Louis and didn’t have that just be that. This change could have very easily made this show disingenuous and cheap, but the way they made this change fold into the larger story; whilst not a central part of Louis identity, it does inform a lot of the consequences that do take place later on. The writers and show runners keen understanding (or at least the ability to truly listen to) how race slightly or at times majorly skews interpersonal relationships and who people interact with the world is a large part of why I am so enamored with this show.

Like that Claudia encouraging Madeline to take the deal was what almost made me lose it!!! I’m so fuckin sad that the two of them went out even though I knew it was coming. lol before starting this episode I had major anxiety. They did a hellava good job… I couldn’t breathe for half of it… Side note… I think maybe if Claudia and Madeline were have to survive, I think that maybe they would have found the all woman coven that Gabrielle and Pandora were apart of… I think they would have been happy there. Or continue to wander on their own.

Jacob Anderson

@@dyndan19 Thank u

Agreed 1000 percent. Armand absolutely played a hand in this.

They should ALL be nominated for every single award possible in their respective categories and it should be 3-4-5 way ties 😂🔥👏🏽

Same, My Guy Same

I feel like that as well, I feel like he was the puppeteer for all of this

Actually, his role in Claudia finally paying for her misdeeds works in his favor as far as I'm concerned.

I still don't understand why. In the book, he wanted to separate Louis from Claudia. In this, they were already separated. Claudia and Madeline were on their way out of town. They were meeting for one last time. Why use his coven to kill Claudia and almost kill Louis? It doesn't make sense.

@@cullenarthur8879 Maybe He just couldn't stand the idea of Louis loving someone more than him. Maybe that's why he forced Lestat to do the play to prevent Louis from ever going back to him.

We know that controlling mortal minds is a Lestat power (like with the soldiers in season 1) - we’ve seen no evidence that Armand can do that.

You might be on to something! I love this fandom!

I was wondering in the beginning how Delainey would play Claudia's character, replacing the other actress, and she did an amazing job. I was wishing somehow her character would live. This whole cast - outstanding!

yeah louis did not hunt Lestat!! I can't see how anyone would believe this. They clearly did it so that Lestat would look like the victim, it's clearly scripted.

I agree but I don't understand why Lestat lied though 🤔🤔

If you re-watch the season 1 version of the turning Claudia scene... Lestat DOES say some of the dialogue from the new one. You can hear him tell Louis "she's too young" in French but you don't hear the whole scene because Claudia is going in and out of consciousness.... So yeah we have to kind of believe that Louis is correct in Lestats version being the more truthful one. But yeah the whole "Louis was actually the predator and hunting Lestat" that is just the play bullshit script for the human audience. Pretty much every vampire in that room knows that that's NOT how that would play out in reality. There is absolutely zero chance.

lestat is being forced to say that part. any time lestat is being ‘truthful’ or at least saying what he believes is true, santiago and the coven challenge him on it. they didn’t challenge him about louis pursuing him, so it’s likely what they’re forcing him to recite. even the way he speaks during that moment tells you that he’s performing, and you can see that it pains him to see them being punished for what he’s saying.

ese fue el guion de armand que obligo a lestat contar recuerden como de balanceaba lestat como si fuera a desmayar y tenia moretones en las manos estoy de acuerdo en armand estaba usando su poder para dominarlo queria asegurar lamuerte de claudia madelein solo era ra un agregado

👆🏾Exactly! As Sam Reid has stated we have not met the real Lestat yet. We’re still being told a story from either Louis’ or Armand’ POV.

I think it was the show letting us the viewers know… something ain’t right with this picture. Idk maybe I’m giving the writers too much credit… but that’s what I think it is…

@@remholloway2579 I agree. After writing the comment I thought about it and I have that opinion now as well.

Thank you!

It is a sad history. Writing the novel was how Anne Rice dealt with the loss of her child. She had started the short story in college but never finished it. But after her daughter died and she stopped drowning in the bottle; she pulled out the earlier draft and wrote on a therapeutic binge until it was finished. I think the entire thing was written in less than a week.

I know! I’m so happy!

Thanks! Glad you enjoy

The amc schedule says it’ll be 1.15 hour

Well Claudia could still be there if Armand didn't plan all of this tho the great law are just make-up law because armand didn't want lestat dead eventough he made claudia, in the book the first time he fell for louis because he is lestat's fledging, a person armand loves the most is lestat even more than louis, the show just hasn't go there yet, but after he really fell in love with louis, he wanted louis for himself by planning to get rid of claudia since in the book, louis & claudia slowly has romantic feeling towards each other and armand can't take it anymore, the actual reason why armand wants claudia to die isn't because of her age but his insecurity not being able to be louis' priority because later on lestat becomes a rockstar and violating the rules too by showing his existence to human being but still let them live lol

​@@ljk242_but why would Armand want Claudia dead in this? Louis and Claudia were going their separate ways. Her and Madeline were stopping in to see Louis one last time before they separated forever. Why use the coven to kill her?

@@cullenarthur8879 why wouldn't? Armand planned all of this, because the last thing Louis did was burn down the coven like what Armand wanted without getting his hand dirty so it could be just two of them, no one else will disturb, season 2 is based on armand & louis pov, armand wanted to be the hero of louis' story, wanted to be the real love of louis' life by altering his memories while lestat despite his toxicity, is the real soulmate of louis, sam reid even said that ep 7 is not real lestat, I believe we will meet real lestat in last episode since next season would be fully based on the vampire lestat book

@@ljk242_ well at least that's a theory. I remember in the book he just wanted Louis for himself. In this, he already had Louis to himself. I can see him wanting Louis to destroy the coven. But, if he's so powerful, why not do it himself? Accept possibly to keep his hands clean. I can see him wanting to seem like a hero to Louis, but this just seems to be a weird way to do that. He already looks bad for turning him, Claudia, and Madeline over to the coven. This is a strange way to appear as a hero.

@@cullenarthur8879I think for show Armand, Claudia had to die because Louis would always be tied to her as long as she existed. To him it didn’t matter if she left town. I also feel he’s truly pissed that she tried to kill Lestat too. That love/hate thing between Lestat and Armand seems to be is real in the show as well. Claudia’s death in the show still gets Armand every thing he wants which is Louis, Louis blaming Lestat, revenge on Lestat, and the coven will be destroyed.

I think she probably did, because they put her on stage as an accessory and even in that last moment she was defiant and it was a "fuck you" to everyone, because they all knew her from the Baby Lulu play, it's kinda like "oh this is what you wanted", my suffering for your entertainment

I’m definitely considering starting that!

@@WillScarbroughYT I'll absolutely watch if/when you do! It's a slow burn of a show. Not quite as much histrionics (LMAO since there's no Lestat) but ugh, it's so perfect.

Nicki burned himself into the fire because he can't take the vampirism but Armand did chop off Nicki's finger before in the book, Armad hated both Nickl and Gabrielle (Lestat's mother, Armand only wanted Lestat to be his companion)

Lestat kinda hinted about it when he was on stage by implying that Nicky had help going crazy and looking towards Armand. I believe that’s thier beef that lestat didn’t choose Armand and Armand wanted to eliminate his competition, just like he did with Claudia.

Hahah thank you, I plan to stop reacting possibly this year

🫂

That’s the spirit!!! I’ll tell you the books will have you feeling the same way 😂

if they addapt Lestat story in season 3 ( the peak of Anne Rice's books ), then it will top s2

I think Queen of the damned would be crazier because all of the Vampires that we eventually get to know and love all get together for the first time.

Everything you said about Claudia isn't wrong, but she was also more than that. She is an extraordinary character and will be missed. 🖤

@@7n154 She won’t be missed by me. I don’t know how anyone who loves Lestat and/or ships him with Louis could possibly miss her. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@@enchantedboy66 Because yeah, it is a vampire soap opera but there's more to the story than just "shipping". Oh to be young again, when all that mattered in life is 'who is with who'.

@@7n154 Actually, what matters to me almost as much is I won't have to hear any more of Claudia's bitching and moaning. And better yet, she won't be around to interfere in anyone else's relationship and Lestat won't have to worry about any more murder plots.

💔

I hope you can forgive yourself for whatever you’re blaming yourself for. ❤

Lestat will live, sorry to disappoint you. 🙄

Yeah I agree 100 percent

Thank you!! This show is something else

@@WillScarbroughYT YEAH! And I really want the AMC will promoting of this series to become bigger and better in the future. This series is a diamond🔥

Claudia deserved to finally pay for her actions. You're right about Lestat feeling remorse and regret and taking no satisfaction in her destruction, which certainly can't be said for her when she and Louis tried to murder him.

Lestat is not happy because he was manipulated into participating and his daughter died before his very eyes. He was DEVASTATED.

⁠@@JevjevjevjSome people in these comments are being purposely obtuse about this. The only vampires that didn’t want to be in that theater were Madeline, Claudia, Louis and Lestat. It doesn’t matter that Lestat went off script many times to own up to his part in their fight. He even fell on the sword to absolve Louis of any wrongdoing…and then, he went back on script blaming Louis again. But sure, this is Lestat’s big revenge plot 🙄 I understand Louis is meant to hate Lestat even more after the trial, by design. I’m sure our favorite gremlin extraordinaire, Mr. I could not prevent it, had a hand in that design. He was able to get rid of Claudia and drive an even bigger wedge between Louis and Lestat. Kudos to him…for now.

Lestat adored his daughter. He resented her bc of Louis. He knew she was a mistake and always gave her respect. Even insisting they give her her final request. He was literally in a trance right before they gave the death verdict. Rewatch and pause when you see him next to the judges. Hes all loopy like they were hurting and distorting his mind like they were doing to claudia and louis. This was Armands plans all along. Get rid of claudia, make louis officially want nothing to do with lestat, and get out of the coven with no hard feelings.

Thank you for judging the book and the show and their own merits rather than holding fast to the source material and deeming all the changes as wrong or placing the total blame on one parties shoulder. I’ve read too many book readers comments blatantly ignoring what’s being presented on the show and just assume that this version is wrong, or characters or what have you…