The Vampire Lestat: "The Devil's Road"

After a rocky and unsatisfying start, The Vampire Lestat is finally coming into its own. Episode 3 established that the show was capable of achieving something remotely similar to the levels of greatness it achieved in its first two seasons when it was titled Interview with the Vampire, and episode 4 continued that trend, proving that after a disappointing first two episodes, the show is now findings its footing and is on its way to telling the story we all hoped for. Episode 4, “The Devil’s Road”, is my favorite of the season so far. 

For quite some time, it has been clear that Lestat has some serious abandonment issues. Never has this element of his character been on fuller display than in this episode, where his modern-day abandonment by his mother is paralleled by the very first time she abandoned him on the coast of 1800s Italy. We watch Lestat be consumed by a spiral of anxiety, initially sending frantic texts of “Where are you” and eventually full-on crash out voice messages to Gabriella that receive only occasional vague responses. Paired with the flashback to his past, we fully understand why Lestat has such an anxious attachment style and how that stems from centuries of being abandoned by those he thought and desperately hoped could love him.

Because so much of the meat of this episode revolves around Lestat’s trauma stemming from his incestuous relationship with his mother, this is the first episode of the season in which Gabriella’s inclusion feels significant and impactful rather than awkward and unnecessary. Whereas in previous episodes Gabriella frequently felt cartoonishly out of place, "The Devil’s Road" allows her to feel like the manipulative, menacing vampire that she truly is. 

In the aforementioned flashback, before leaving Lestat behind on an Italian beach, Gabriella expresses her desire to unleash evil upon the world and wreak never-before-seen levels of destruction upon humanity. This gives us as an audience some much needed insight into Gabriella’s driving wants (beyond fucking her son) and gives her a direction in a story she has more or less been meandering through with no clear goals of her own until this point.

Gabriella is not the only character whose episodic arc brought me satisfaction. Armand is given the most screen time he has had since the season began and every moment spent with him is delightful. After getting some therapy via AA meetings, Armand embarks on an apology tour. 

Kicking off his tour, he visits Daniel, who is bowling alone. Daniel barely lets Armand get through a sentence before making him stop reading and launching into an anger-fueled monologue about how much he despises his maker. 

Armand visits Lestat next. Unlike Daniel, Lestat allows Armand to read his apology letter in full, for all the good it does him. While Armand reads his letter, Lestat strips fully nude and showers in front of Armand. This scene is an excellent showcase of how Lestat is accustomed to being valued solely for his body and his sexuality and in turn how he uses those to his advantage. Lestat uses his nudity to destabilize Armand’s focus. The act of seductively showering in front of someone, while it is a very vulnerable thing to do, in this instance is used to do the exact opposite. Lestat uses his physical body to defend himself, deflecting from actually having to engage in any kind of real, meaningful conversation with Armand over his apology or their shared past. 

While no one listens or cares for the scripted apologies Armand reads them, it is supremely entertaining to watch the tension and complex dynamics between characters manifest in these interactions. Armand is captivating in his patheticness and desperation. He is fascinating. Just as he sought to be in the stand-out episode of the series "Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start The Tape." 

Following a performance by Lestat that is a public humiliation and diss track of Armand, Armand exits the venue, followed by Daniel. Daniel lunges at Armand and pins him to a wall, spouting more angry dialogue. When Daniel lunged at Armand, I fully thought he was going to kiss him. I know it would have been completely out of left field, but my Devil’s Minion heart is desperate and thankfully, though there was no kiss, the scene we got did not disappoint in the slightest. The chemistry between Daniel and Armand is palpable, the entire exchange crackles with pent-up energy. Their conversation ends with Armand dropping the singular line that’s been dominating my thoughts since I heard it: “It was love.” This was our first in-universe, direct, not deeply subtextual acknowledgement of Devil’s Minion as a romantic pairing. I am beyond excited to see what the future has in store for these two. 

One more note on the Devil’s Minion dynamic (and then we’ll move on, I promise): the way Daniel continually refers to Armand as his father and himself as Armand’s son makes their relationship more unsettling while also tying their relationship to the show’s broader theme of incest, a dominant force this season. 

On the topic of being unsettled this season, it’s time to talk about what I consider the most uncomfortable dynamic of all this season: Louis and Regina. Since his vampire murder spree last episode, Louis has been frequenting a diner, finding comfort and pleasure in the company of waitress Regina, who bears a striking resemblance to Claudia, his dead daughter. It does not take Regina long to pick up on Louis’ interest in her, though she at first mistakes his interest as sexual. They each do a fair bit of digging into each other’s pasts, resulting in Regina reading Daniel’s book and coming to the correct conclusion that the reason Louis is seeking her companionship is because she reminds him of Claudia. Louis offers her a significant amount of money to improve her life circumstances, which she initially refuses. Then, she asks for more money, which he agrees to give her, and in exchange she agrees to pretend to be Claudia. The entire situation is incredibly creepy and uncomfortable. I had a visceral reaction to the final moment of the episode when Regina, speaking in a perfectly Claudia-esque accent, stares directly at the camera and asks, “What now, Daddy Lou?” 

Perhaps my favorite detail-for-the-keen-eyed in this episode is the set dressing of the diner. Its walls are adorned by posters that read ‘Gold Diggers of Broadway’ and ‘Glorifying the American Girl’, accompanied by pin-up style illustrations of women. Thus, the set ties directly into the themes of the show, highlighting the ways in which women are objectified and used by men for their own personal means. It was something Claudia had to endure all her life, and now her replacement must suffer the same. As the season enters its latter half, it will be interesting to see if the other prominent female characters Gabriella and Akasha will continue this show’s purposely-uncomfortable exploration of this theme or if their inclusion will explore different facets of the female experience.

The Vampire Lestat is finally beginning to feel like on some level it could justifiably contend with the sheer brilliance that was the first two seasons. With three episodes left in the season, only time will tell if Lestat will continue on its course toward greatness or if it will crash and burn. After experiencing "The Devil’s Road", for the first time I am feeling that we may be watching something that has the true potential to be outstanding.