TV Review: "Interview with the Vampire": "I Could Not Prevent It" (S2, Ep. 7)
In the penultimate episode of the second season, it all comes crashing down around Louis and Claudia as they meet the wrath of both the coven and their old tormentor, Lestat.
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Ever since Interview with the Vampire began I’ve been dreading this episode, because I’ve known how it was all going to end for our beloved Claudia and Madeleine. Even though the show has proven willing to take some liberties with the lore and narratives established by Anne Rice in her novels, the death of Claudia at the hands of the Paris coven is so foundational to the story, and to Louis’ development as a character, that it would be impossible to change it. And, of course, there’s also the fact that her demise has been alluded to again and again by the characters themselves. And so we come at last to the terrible trial, in which Madeleine, Louis, and Claudia face their accuser Lestat.
Santiago, unsurprisingly, continues to act as the master of ceremonies to this ghoulish spectacle, and Ben Daniels is clearly relishing every single moment of his time in the spotlight. Santiago, however, has bitten off more than he can chew, and he soon discovers that if there’s one vampire who is even more of a bitch than he is, it’s Lestat de Lioncourt, who takes this opportunity to strut and stride across the stage, commanding the audience to love him and to feel for him as he tears out his heart and lays it all out before them in all of its grisly and melodramatic majesty.
Through all of this agonizing spectacle, poor Louis is powerless to do anything other than utter strangled protests that Lestat is lying or, at the very least, is twisting the truth so that, as Armand puts it, their story becomes an effigy to the Brat Prince himself. At the same time, there’s also no denying that this whole experience has forced him to reckon with the unreliability of his own memory, and it also forces us as viewers to question just how much of his account we can really trust. Anderson once again perfectly captures the anguish of this very sad and melancholic vampire who has based much of his sense of self on his relationship with, love of, and hate for Lestat (and, to a lesser extent, Claudia). The whole trial and the rehashing of their relationship from Lestat’s perspective is brilliantly-executed Grand Guignol melodrama.
And then there’s the execution itself. Even though I knew this moment was coming, and even though I did everything I could to prepare myself for it, nothing could prepare me for the emotional devastation. The 1994 film was traumatizing in its own right, but at least it was mercifully short. This sequence, however, goes on for quite a while, subjecting us as viewers to Claudia’s obvious agony as the sun pours down on her and she gradually dissolves into ash and dust. She doesn’t even have the comfort of Madeleine for all that long, because her beloved companion succumbs to the killing rays first, a fateful and tragic coda to her loyalty (the moment when she refuses the coven’s offer to join them to embrace Claudia’s fate will forever live in my head). It’s fitting that the last thing Claudia should see would be Lestat, who has been the willing architect of her destruction. The look on his face is the closest we’ve ever seen to regret, as if even he recognizes that something terrible has happened this day.
But what of Armand? What is our most tortured vampire doing during all of this sordid affair? Why, he’s sitting in the box closest to the stage, supposedly held captive by one of the other members of the coven. Now, I know I’m not the only one who raised a skeptical eyebrow when he claimed that there was nothing he could do to save Claudia from the ravages of the sun and the unforgiving justice of the coven. After all, he’s by far the oldest and most powerful of their members, so it strains credulity that a vampire who is able to brainwash an entire room full of mortals into clemency for Louis (such as it is), wouldn’t be able to break free should he choose to do so. As always Armand plays a deep game, and it’s clear that there’s more going on with him than he’s willing to admit.
That said, Zaman once again delivers a masterful performance of despair and sadness, both in the past, where he stares with a haunted gaze at the spectacle before him and in the present, where he clearly still struggles with something, whether guilt at Claudia’s death or what that death did to Louis is unclear. No matter how transparent he seems to be, there’s always something he’s holding back. While I don’t doubt that he’s tortured and tormented by all kinds of guilt, I find myself unable to completely believe or trust him (and it seems that Louis feels the same way).
Interview with the Vampire continues to be one of those shows which gets better and better with each episode. Not only does it peel away another layer to reveal the haunting truth lurking behind Louis’ story, but it also manages to hit ever higher emotional climaxes. Those who’ve read the books know what’s in store for Santiago and the rest of the coven, as they come to find out that Louis isn’t just the passive victim they clearly believe him to be.
What I loved most about this episode is that it leaned into the gothic horror. This has always been a key part of the appeal of Anne Rice’s original novels, and it runs like a current beneath the first and second seasons before rearing up in all of its glory. It’s constantly present in this episode, from the fact that Louis, Claudia, and Madeleine have had their ankles slashed so that they can’t stand up to the glare that Louis and Lestat give one another as the latter recounts their most brutal fight and argument. These are the moments that chill the blood and fill us with fear, terror, and desire, and Interview nailed it with every beat.
And all of this horror works because it’s also imbued with deep and powerful emotions, and both hatred and love run deep in both “I Could Not Prevent It” and the series as a whole. Now that we know that we’re going to get a third season, I’m sure we’ll get to see more of Lestat’s self-serving and deeply egotistical viewpoint. It goes without saying that Sam Reid is his usual transcendent self as Lestat. Playful and sadistic and overwrought and beautiful and oh, so loving, he’s everything the Brat Prince should be and then some.
I can’t wait to see what the finale has in store for us, even as I’m reading the end of another chapter. I wouldn’t have it any other way.