There’s one thing about Louis and Armand’s relationship that sticks out the most through the course of Interview with the Vampire. When it comes to manipulation, Louis does it with softness, like the person you can never imagine betraying you, but they do. And Armand, even at his most cunning, has this almost brutish distinction to himself. Lucky for Daniel, they might actually end up at each other’s throats. Episode 6 of Interview with the Vampire shakes the entire power dynamic up between Louis, Armand, and, well, Lestat. The puppeteer chair is up for grabs.
Spoiler Alert
Is Rashid A Talamasca Agent?
You didn’t think that Louis would just charge at Armand with questions about his edited memories, did you? That wouldn’t be very Louis and Armand. Why have it out when they can have a passive-aggressive exchange over what to put on a wall in their Dubai penthouse? Daniel’s not a part of this, though. He’s off to dinner with Rashid, who is chaperoning his meeting with Raglan James. Don’t say I didn’t already tell you that Raglan’s working for Talamasca, the agency that keeps supernatural beings in check. And from this meeting, it looks like Daniel’s now aware of the agency that’s funding this covert operation against Louis and Armand. All they want is for Daniel to pepper the interview with a couple hundred questions of their choosing, and Daniel would have the book that he’s wanted to write ever since San Francisco. And why’s Raglan so dismissive of the fact that Rashid’s there? Well, that’s because Rashid’s seemingly on Talamasca’s payroll. And he’s got quite the mouth on him, telling Daniel that if he wanted to live so badly, maybe he should’ve destroyed the tapes and moved on.
Why did Louis turn Madeleine?
A misunderstood understands a misunderstood. Or maybe Claudia’s rule-breaking and threat-defying affection for Madeleine came from the fact that they understood each other. A bunch of hoodlums breaking into Madeleine’s store to assault her didn’t expect a fanged knight in shining armor to come to her rescue. And Claudia had all the patience in the world to clean up the bloody mess while Madeleine came to terms with the idea of loving a vampire. When did their friendship take a romantic turn? Well, like I said, they saw through each other like no one else has ever done. Madeleine is no monster. But she’s survived the abusive gestapo, the suicidal hopelessness that got the better of a lot of people after the Second World War, and the guilt that comes with such a desperate, almost ruthless survival. Does that mean she was a fitting candidate for Armand to turn so that Claudia could have a companion she could call her own? That wasn’t necessarily a question that occupied Armand’s mind when he went in to interview the aspiring vampire. He’s never turned anyone in his 500 years of existence. Louis only went ahead with the process because that was his only way to effectively end Claudia’s loneliness. And in the spiritual journey between death and rebirth, Louis absorbed Madeleine’s memories and feelings, finding the reassurance that she indeed loved Claudia the way she deserved.
Did Armand sacrifice Louis and Claudia?
Armand isn’t quite the liar he thinks himself to be. The look on his face is almost always a dead giveaway. But what makes Armand’s lies pretty effective despite that is the fact that he’s quick to think up something very reasonable to say. He’s already wondering if Daniel and Rashid are up to something. And that anxiety is only aggravated by Louis getting increasingly more direct with his hints that he remembers everything Armand wiped from his memories. What’s the most believable lie to tell in a situation like that? You turn it around on the one accusing you. Armand gets his control back by making Louis think that he was the one who begged him to subdue his memories of those San Francisco days. And this sounds all the more convincing when Armand throws in a losing-his-cool act by coming clean about removing some pages from Claudia’s diary, something he holds Louis equally responsible for. And what can Daniel say about it when Armand puts himself in a pitiable position by making it about his grave shame about what he did all those years ago? He’s apparently been repenting for what he did to Daniel ever since. Daniel can’t just go ahead and tell him off now, can he?
But what comes in the Paris chapter at the end of episode 6 of Interview with the Vampire is a treasure trove of questions for Daniel to ask. Armand blames his love for how blind he was about the rebellion that was brewing within the heart of his Paris coven. But more than that, he blames Louis’ “lead with a velvet hand” policy. Santiago and his vampire rebels were on top of everything. Claudia’s diaries were devoured for any clue they might have held about where Lestat was. How else would they know to go to Pierre Roget, Lestat’s finance guy, to fish out Monsignor de Lioncourt’s last known location?
The final strike was so much more than the mindless crimes they went around inflicting on the city of Paris. But were they actually as mindless as they might’ve seemed at that time? A telescopic lens stolen from the Observatory at Meudon. “Porte D’Orient’s” set losing its color film stock. A flock of drunkards made to hang from the Eiffel Tower and mumble, facing south by southwest. It sounds like a bunch of things they’d do to summon Lestat and prepare to keep something immortalized in film. Madeleine’s proved to be the perfect companion for Claudia. Louis was prepared to let her go. But the connection made between the creator and his fledgling proved to be a good thing. Madeleine could feel Louis’ love for Claudia. And that’s what brought them back together. But the happiness was fleeting as a guilty-faced Armand saw Santiago and his crew capture Claudia, Madeliene, and Louis. Louis was under the impression that Armand left his coven and chose him instead. But even though Armand did make a choice in front of his coven, I don’t think it was that loving or benevolent. Santiago’d planned some devilish entertainment for the coven’s first-ever matinee show. The depraved crowd making up the audience would feast on their pain as Claudia, Madeliene, and Louis are put on trial for breaking the Great Laws. Lestat was holding on to decades of grievances against the two people he once loved in his wicked ways. Not many can say that they advocated for themselves at their own murder trial.
