A Claudia (Delainey Hayles)-centric episode reveals the fraying edges of the Paris coven as Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Armand (Assad Zaman) grow closer.
Missed A Review? Horror Queers Review of S01 / S02E01 / 2.02 / 2.03
Chapter 11: “I Want You More Than Anything In The World”: The coven questions Louis and Armand’s special relationship; Claudia finds a new friend.
After last week’s fissure, it’s no surprise that Santiago (Ben Daniels) is exploiting Claudia’s lackluster stage performance of “My Baby Loves Windows” to stir up mutiny among the Théâtre des Vampires. By the time S02E04 rolls around, Claudia and Louis have been in Paris for a year and a half, which means Louis’ refusal to join the coven – and even mock them by reading during performances! – has not gone unnoticed. It’s also easily exploitable among the petty theatre performers who are clearly craving either a) drama or b) a less authoritative rule than Armand.
Eighteen months is a long time to uphold the status quo, so it’s not a surprise that Armand is pained that he is “companions” with a man who can’t let go of the ghost of his lover, or that Claudia has grown tired of being, as Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) pointedly observes, infantilized on a nightly basis.
As always, Anne Rice fans will know the importance of Claudia’s burgeoning friendship with problematic dressmaker Madeleine (Roxane Duran), but for now these scenes have an elegant simplicity to them.
Claudia resents being reminded that she’s a fierce vampire stuck in the body of a pre-teen girl, but the reality of her situation is that she remains a young girl who lost her mother in a fire and had to abandon her childhood to become a vampire.
Finding something of a kindred spirit in Madeleine, plus an obvious surrogate mother figure, would be appealing to Claudia, especially since she feels like Louis has abandoned for another M/M affair. It’s cathartic when Claudia finally goes off on Louis because he’s chosen Armand over her, even if the reality is that it’s unfair of her to demand that Louis eschew all carnal relationships to…what? Care for her?
As Louis counters when she erupts on him in their shared apartment, Claudia chose the coven over him when they got to Paris.
Essentially everyone has what they want, but it hasn’t made them happy. And that makes for good television, especially when someone as petty, bitter, and jealous as Santiago is lurking in the wings, quite literally sneaking into Louis’ apartment to find the evidence he needs to take control of the coven.
I’m on record as struggling with the romance between Louis and Armand, and while I’m still not quite there, “I Want You More Than Anything In The World” helps a great deal. From learning Armand’s history of abuse and sex work via Palma Vecchio’s painting “The Adoration of the Shepherds with a Donor” to Lestat fading away in the rain as Louis finally (literally) makes space for Armand, S02E04 put in the work to sell Armand and Louis as a legitimate couple.
Of course, that’s all about to be undone when Santiago ruins everything, but these are problems for another episode.
Other Observations:
- Petition to have “My Baby Loves Windows” remixed into the song of the summer. It’s no surprise that the Parisian crowds ate it up. What a banger!
- The scene when Armand unexpectedly uses his powers to make all of the vampires except Louis and Santiago fall asleep in the frozen restaurant is excellent. Kudos to returning director Levan Akin for crafting an indelible moment.
- Shout-out also to Ben Daniels for matching the rhythm and cadence of Jacob Anderson’s voice/speech patterns as he mimics and mocks Louis at the dinner table.
- Zaman’s performance has thus far been too young for me, so there’s something gratifying about writers Coline Abert and A. Zell Williams clarifying how young he was (27 by my count) when he turned by <drumroll> his maker Marius.
- The Marius references just keep adding up, don’t they? Love Interview With The Vampire laying the groundwork for characters to appear in the future.
- No scene has matched the epic sex scene between Louis and Lestat back in the pilot, but nothing screamed “hot sexual relationship” about Louis and Armand hanging out in their underwear on the bed. Where’s the sweaty make-outs scenes between these two? Or is that the point: the physicality of their relationship is underwhelming, especially compared to what Louis had with Lestat?
- I’m unsure of what to make of Daniel’s latest discovery. He tips his hand that he has access to secret files when he lets it slip that he knows about the fire that consumed the Théâtre des Vampires, but what is he remembering about his initial interview with Louis back in 1973 San Francisco? Is it just that he overheard or saw something and was made to forget? Because we kinda already knew that from the S01 cliffhanger that revealed who Armand really is.
Interview with the Vampire S02 airs Sundays on AMC