Interview With The Vampire 1×02: “…After the Phantoms of Your Former Self”

When Interview With The Vampire 1×01 ended, Lestat (Sam Reid) had just seduced Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) into becoming a vampire. The scene where du Lac was turned was bloody and gruesome, and probably should have come with a bit of a gore warning: this show is not for the weak stomached. Interview With The Vampire 1×02 picks up with du Lac wining and dining Daniel (Eric Bogosian) as they continue the retelling of du Lac’s journey into vampirism. 

We’re quickly flashed back to du Lac’s first moments of vampirism. Lestat is teaching Louis how to hunt as they explore the depths of Louis’ new powers. Feeding requires more skill than one would imagine, and that pesky sun proves to be a hindrance to movement as well. 

Louis has much to learn about that vampire way of life. Initially we were going to wait till the show had aired completely and do a single write up of our thoughts. However, we got so invested in this queer story that we’ve decided to bring you weekly updates as the show airs. 

Here is our full review of Interview With The Vampire 1×02.

The beginning of Louis and Lestat’s relationship

We were completely unprepared for the hilarity of the evolution of Louis and Lestat’s romance. Episode one was not funny, but rather documented Louis’ journey into Lestat’s world. However, in Interview With The Vampire 1×02 the writers take a turn down comedy lane as these two idiotic fools start to build their lives together. 

As Lestat walks Louis through the do’s and don’ts of hunting, and the specifics of feeding, the banter that plays out between them is belly-achingly funny. When Lestat finally takes Louis home after a hard day on the job to rest, Louis is utterly scandalized by their sleeping arrangements. 

Lestat sleeps in a coffin – because of course he does – and Louis is not about that coffin life. There’s only one though, so they’re going to have to bunk in together, which only seems to scandalize Louis even further. 

But don’t worry, Lestat is generous and tells Louis that he can be on top, if he wants!

Louis isn’t acclimating very well to the vampire lifestyle and he needs Lestat to kind of hold his hand and walk him through the way of all the things. After killing a man to feed, Louis freaks out and winds up running out into the sun, only to find that he can’t do that anymore. Hot diggity damn, this vampire life is tough! 

Initially, Louis seems completely disturbed by the fact that he can now read the minds of those around him and leans heavily on Lestat for the emotional support he requires to make it through this trying time. 

Louis just doesn’t want to let his humanity go. 

When an important business associate uses a racial slur to ‘compliment’ Louis, the new vampire loses his temper and kills the guy. Lestat is angry that Louis didn’t think his kill through rationally and the pair argue like an old married couple about the nuances of the situation. They throw the body in the furnace to properly dispose of it,  and head to bed angry. 

Coffins and bedtime conversations

In Interview With The Vampire 1×02 there is no funnier moment than the scene where Lestat and Louis are laying with the lids closed on their respective coffins (which are laid out side-by-side) as Lestat attempts to make amends for their fight in the previous scene. 

We howled the house down as Lestat makes attempts to temper his lover’s emotions. 

“I don’t like going to bed angry,” says Lestat as he pushes his coffin lid open so he can take a look at his lover’s box. 

Big, bad, and scary vampire? Lestat clearly don’t know her!

The hilarity of this scene encompasses the very essence of the relationship that exists between these two characters. In this version of this story, these two men are not scary, nor are they unrelatable characters. Loverboy Lestat wants nothing more than to please Louis and the fact that they are immortal beings with all kinds of powers doesn’t negate the fact that they also operate on love, just like the rest of us. 

The domesticity of this moment seems entirely out of place in a story about vampires and their primal urges. However, the writers of this adaptation have done an outstanding job of ensuring this aspect of their characterization remains at the front and center of Interview With The Vampire 1×02. 

Lestat and Louis may be blood sucking fiends, but they’re idiotic blood sucking feinds who are slaves to their lovesick emotions for each other at the same time. 

We can’t wait to see how this vulnerability plays out between them in future episodes. 

His murderer, his maker, his mentor, and his lover

Look, we got the gay memo about this show before we watched, but we didn’t expect it to be so stupidly romantic. The way Louis talks about his relationship with Lestat in the first few years of his vampirism is just lovely. 

In Interview With The Vampire 1×02, it’s with glazed over eyes that Louis tells Daniel how much Lestat meant to him during that phase of his life. With reverence, he explains that Lestat was his murderer, his maker, his mentor, and his lover and the connection between the two of them is undeniable. 

Lestat is supposed to be this eternal, big bad vampire, but at the end of the day, all he really wants to do is make Louis happy and give him a long and loving immortal life together. 

There is no ego between them, no power at play. Just love and soft, squishy romance that will undoubtedly make fans swoon. 

The bond, the love, and the relationship that plays out between these two vampires is, by far, the very best part of this show.

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You can stream Interview With The Vampire now on the AMC Plus app, or wait for it to go live every Sunday night on AMC through your local cable provider. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff.