Sam Reid's tour de force performance anchors a devastating The Vampire Lestat

A lot of this episode is spent on Daniel and Lestat finally conversing—they’ve got a room full of cameras and crew members, too—with Lestat opening up to his interviewer about his songs. “Long Face,” Lestat tells Daniel, “is an agreement between me and my audience.” He calls it an anthem in which listeners see a performative vampire before getting to know the real thing. Lestat also clarifies again that “Black Licorice” isn’t about oral sex with Louis, it’s about structure, ritual, and making the kill. And then comes the unraveling of “Your Biggest Fan,” a song that is fun at first glance, but beyond disturbing in every way possible. 

“Your Biggest Fan” is written from Magnus’ POV, offering insight into the fucked up way in which Lestat views their connection—he calls Magnus an emancipator and liberator, and is offended when Daniel straight-up calls Magnus an abuser. That’s when we see that when Lestat was still alive, he moved from Auvergne to Paris and reunited with Nicolas. He eventually became an established actor at Renaud’s Theater, starring as Lélio in a play, and he received undivided attention from the old, creepy, and maniacal Magnus without realizing it. Magnus, his biggest fan, stalked him by climbing his windows and peering in on Lestat’s life with a bipolar Nicky. 

Lestat’s career as an actor took off, but Nicky’s as a violinist never did, sending him into depression. One night, Magnus grabbed Lestat by the neck from his bed and took him to his tower—the same one where he had hung up other victims who looked eerily like Lestat. Despite our guy struggling to escape, literally clawing on the wooden floors to get out, and chanting the Lord’s name, Magnus overpowered Lestat and, without his consent, turned him into a vampire. 

It’s a difficult scene to watch, even if The Vampire Lestat packages it as gallows humor with a music video in which Magnus himself sings lyrics like “And that’s me watching as you sleep at night / And that’s me laughing in the darkness as you dream / All of the desperate desires of your life.” This tonal duality highlights how the show is challenging itself and its, ahem, passionate audience when it comes to character observations and development. 

Lestat also admits to Daniel that after becoming a vampire, he then turned Nicky against Gabriella’s advice. She always knew that Nicky wouldn’t be able to handle the idea of eternal life, and she was right because he lost his mind. Unable to stop Nicky’s torment, Lestat requested that Armand handle it, helplessly watching as Armand threw Nicky into the fire. And yet, he remembers distinctly the wailing sound that Nicky made when he died—he even repeats it to Daniel, crying literal tears of blood while doing so. Unfortunately for Daniel, none of it is captured on camera because Lestat told him all of this telepathically. There goes his dream of winning an Oscar for his Vampire Lestat documentary, huh? 

Then there’s Louis, who succeeds in finding and destroying Bruce. After easily eliminating other vampires in Bruce’s house, he confronts the guy (who has just gotten hitched to episode one’s Baby Jenks) for the trauma he put Claudia through. He does this by reading aloud every awful thing she wrote in his diary about her time with Bruce. While we hear Louis in voiceover, Lestat—speeding away from the interview—remembers the cruelty Magnus displayed, passing it off as some form of affection. It’s a twisted, impactful way to remind us that all three of them—Lestat, Louis, and Claudia—have suffered. Only Claudia isn’t here to continue her story. 

Claudia might be gone, but actor Delainey Hayles sure isn’t. She takes on a brand new role, as seen at the very end of “Toronto,” when Louis kills Bruce and drives straight back to the Brooklyn diner where he once followed a woman who looked just like Claudia. And who’s right there, serving him black coffee he won’t drink? A British waitress named Regina, who looks freakishly like his Claudia. It’s nice that The Vampire Lestat has remembered just how vital Claudia is to this narrative—and to both Louis and Lestat. Let’s see what curveballs Regina is about to throw their way next. 

Stray observations:

• • •The concept of the vampire Lestat walking up to a newly married couple on the Toronto waterfront and offering to take photos is hilarious. Of course, as soon as he snaps their pictures, he and Gabriella drain them to death. 
  • •Lestat points out the things that may or may not destroy him: The heat of the sun or intense fire, garotte-weaving carote members, and, funnily, Jefferson Starship. 
  • •”That’s what moms did before there were Legos and Peppa Pig,” Lestat states, justifying why he was taken to watch witches burn at the stake when he was only 9. 
  • •The songs that Lestat compares the ethos of “Your Biggest Fan” to include George Formby’s “Leaning On A Lamppost,” The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” and Eminem’s “Stan.” 
  • •Lestat performs a great new track at the end, aptly titled “Loneliness,” which is a snapshot not just of his existence, but likely what it means to survive for an eternity while almost everything around you lives and dies. 
  • •Armand: “I love you, Lestat.”
    Lestat: “Christ. There’s not enough room in this box for your desperation.” 
  • •There have been a lot of hints about Daniel’s death, and I don’t like it! In this episode, Lestat expresses regret about his treatment of Daniel, who he says “lived a brief, incidental life as a vampire.” Hopefully, now that Armand—going by the name Arun—is back, Daniel will get help from his “father.” 
  • •Gabriella distracts her son by loudly banging his doppelganger, Jarda, during his interview. She’s just such a menace. 
  • •”What can I say? Serving cunt has its consequences.” 

  Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club‘s TV critic.