I loved every fucking thing about this episode. Every fucking thing. 

*SPOILERS*
*TRIGGER WARNING - incest, mass shooting, blood, showers, trolling, murder, etc. etc.

I think, for readers/fans of the books The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned, this episode gave us SOOOOO much. I won't lie, episode 3 was outstanding and I still think so, but this is my favourite episode so far. I've watched it three times in order to try to get my thoughts straight on everything.

The cop and the police dog. Lestat painting the cop with cocaine as if it were face powder. Almost forgetting to confiscate the bodycam (Christine reminds him). Hilarious. The montage of band hedonism before this. As Lestat would say, perfection.

Regina! Learning more about Regina - love her accent. Her seeing right through Louis and his manipulations. Calling him Posh. 

Lestat trying to pronounce Worcester correctly. Kill me now. Hilarious.

Lestat trying to phone Gabriella and it going nowhere.

Lestat and Gabrielle flashback when he finds her fucking the priest. He delivered those lines with so much sadness and disappointment. Incredible acting.

The blood shower and Armand trying to keep his eyes off the 'generous endowment'. Amazing. 

Lestat's pigtails!!! The song, Big Boss, about Armand and the way he spotlit him in the audience. Lestat's moves - those fucking hips. Called himself the show pony as he pranced about onstage. I was eating it UP.

The shooting took me completely by surprise but was so effective.

Armand and Daniel! Armand basically confessing his love for Daniel at the end of the episode.

And finally, Lestat and Gabriella surrounded by all of his ghosts in the bus. Exquisite. They released the song he was playing on his guitar (Hit the Lights) on Spotify and it's so lovely and heartbreaking.

If you aren't watching this series yet, you should be!

*This episode was written by Jonathan Ceniceroz and directed by Craig Zisk.

*SPOILERS*
*TRIGGER WARNING: vampire murder, abduction, sexual assault*

Well, well, well...where to begin? Amazing episode. Outstanding. This was what I was waiting for even though I enjoyed episodes 1 and 2. Sam Reid should win an award for his acting in this episode as it demonstrates an entire range of deft abilities within an hour and ten minutes. 

Beginning with a characteristic critique of the Toronto skyline and the draining of two honeymooners by Lestat and Gabriella, it proceeds through a sit-down interview between Lestat and Daniel, with Gabriella and Jarda getting up to some shenanigans in the next room, then takes a longer look into Lestat's turbulent past. Through Lestat's conversation with Daniel, we are treated to an introduction of Lestat's romance with Nicolas de L'Enfant, and then watch as Nicolas begs for the vampiric gift after Lestat's transformation, Gabriella suggests it's a terrible idea (straight from the book), and Lestat turns Nicki anyway, even though he has started to fall out of love with the young man. We then get to see what a 'disaster' this action was, and how it resulted in Nicki's vampiric demise at the hands of Armand.

I thought this all was expertly portrayed by both Sam Reid and Joseph Potter, with the latter taking his few moments of screen time and turning them into a suitably tragic and heartbreaking turn.

When Daniel presses for the story of Lestat's turning and mentions Lestat's maker Magnus, Lestat regales a romantic vision of what happened the night he was turned in the form of a music video featuring a horrific-looking Magnus against lyrics that portray the old vampire as a super fan and in love with Lestat. Tellingly, in this gilded memory, Lestat smiles as Magnus turns him into a vampire. I thought this was a really cool way to let us know that Lestat is either not recalling the truth or is embellishing/altering it for Daniel's benefit.

The dialogue between Lestat and Daniel was fantastic and the addition of Gabriella's presence effective, as during particular moments she shows concern for her son as Daniel's questions hit sensitive spots. Lestat is both hilarious and vulnerable as he proceeds to tease and torment his interviewer, before relating the powerful tale of Nicki's descent into madness and demise. After the emotional retelling, Lestat starts hyperventilating, claims to be hungry and storms out, but not before telling Daniel: "Unlike your last client, there is no delusion here.".

It is at this point that Daniel tries to watch the footage he captured only to find that there is only footage of Lestat staring at the camera. A brilliant aspect of this episode's script.

Meanwhile, Louis is hunting the Fang Gang, and at first this was an entertaining counterbalance to Lestat's affecting story, as Louis decapitates vampires, interrogates a separated head, and makes himself at home in their lair. It soon becomes a harsher reality when vampire, Killer (formerly Bruce), returns with Baby Jenks and receives payback for his treatment of Claudia (offscreen in season one).

Lestat gets into his car and zooms off as ghostly reminders of Magnus and the corpses appear in his car. He drives erratically as Ghost Magnus taunts him, and the true memories of that night return.

This is where the expertise of the writer, director, and actors truly shines. In what I see as a perfectly executed and genius move, scenes of Lestat's brutal kidnapping, assault, and forced vampiric transformation by his maker, Magnus, are interspersed with Louis' reading from the ripped out pages of the section in Claudia's diary that details what Killer had done to her. Told in a non-graphic but accurately specific way, it becomes clear that Lestat's maker sexually assaulted him prior to turning him, and that this experience was much more horrific and traumatic than he wants to believe himself, or to have others believe. The way Lestat's trauma aligns with Claudia's is heartbreaking to see, and most likely why Lestat was so adamant that he never threatened Claudia with rape on the train.

We then go to Lestat on stage performing his song 'The Loneliness' and seeing images of Nicki and Magnus in the crowd. Ghost Magnus eventually turns and leaves, symbolizing Lestat not being haunted by him anymore having faced the reality of his turning, and ghost Nicki stays whilst enjoying the performance, perhaps showing that Lestat has accepted that Nicki had to die and that it was not his fault. Interestingly, Real Gabriella turns and leaves, echoing Magnus' exit, perhaps indicating that Lestat sees her now as the abuser she is.

Finally, bandmate Alex is baring his soul at an AA meeting in Ohio and the man who decides to share after Alex is...Arun/Armand (!!!), who confesses to being an addict. 

Brilliant, chef's kiss, all the stars. Cannot wait for next week.

*This episode was written by Anusree Roy (an award-winning Canadian playwright) and directed by Claudia Llosa.​
​

Ah, Gabriella...

***SPOILERS***

My criticisms first:

I'm still a bit sad they didn't use Gabrielle's gender-bending in the show because that was a big part of her story for me and likely, for other gender fluid AFAB people who read these books in the 80s.

I also feel like they cheaped out on wigs this season. I don't mind Gabriella's silver bob, but her long-haired wig and the wigs for young Lestat and his brother's were...pretty bad. I also feel like Lestat's family was portrayed as caricatures rather than three dimensional people. However, 19 reminded me that this is all told from Lestat's POV which obviously influenced his perception of these people that he hated.

What I liked:

Loved that they didn't pussyfoot around Gabriella's and Lestat's physical relationship. It's quite clear in the book that after he turns his mother, all bets are off and they quickly form an intimate relationship. Personally, I agree with Lestat's perspective that becoming a vampire changes everything, and one is no longer beholden to the moralistic restrictions of humanity. However, folks on Reddit have pointed out that on the show, Lestat seems to be in an abusive relationship with Gabriella. He tries to pull back from the sexual nature of their relationship and also in the flashback seems to possibly be regretting his and Gabriella's brutal murder of his brothers when their children return to find the horrible scene. It does feel like they are setting this up to be a struggle between his love for his mother and the affects of her selfish manipulations and predatory nature towards him.

I enjoyed Sam's performance after he kills the wolves and his mother is with him dealing with his many wounds. This was well done and right out of the book, including Gabriella's description of her detailed fantasy of going into town and f**cking all the men. Very obviously an inappropriate conversation whilst she is using the excuse of caring for his wounds to touch him in intimate places. Sam was suitably vulnerable in this scene and especially when crying out for his mother when she simply leaves him and tells him to clean himself up and come downstairs.

Really enjoyed Lestat on the bus explaining his vampirism to his bandmates and telling them why it doesn't matter that he drinks blood and sometimes kills people. I also liked the explanation of the Farm as a reliable blood source for any vampires who need it. His casually thrown-out comment about having the blood of Akasha was hilarious, since nobody knows what he's talking about.

Very cool again when Lestat freezes his audience and uses the cloud gift to fly up to Louis and give him his annotated copy of Interview with the Vampire.

The final scene between Lestat and Gabriella in the piano bar, when he sings a song in French to a montage of the two of them killing the rest of the family was both incredibly touching and so macabre. 

*This episode was written by Johnathan Ceniceroz and directed by Craig Zisk.

Well, I did it! I stayed up until 10:15 Sunday night to watch the premiere episode of The Vampire Lestat with my husband and 19. It was...something, lol.

Super fast-paced and frenetic, it was hard to understand what was going on at times, but I was somewhat prepared for it. So many hilarious moments, although I must admit that I'm a little sad that I watched all the teasers etc. because I'd seen quite a bit of it already.

The highlight for me was watching Lestat navigate a crazy high after draining a drugged out groupie (Baby Jenks). The sequence was really well-shot and allowed Sam to shine with his impression of a Lestat not-at-the-top of-his-game and blissed TF out. Also the pink outfit with the corset and blousy shirt was sublime AF. 

Another part I loved was Lestat crashing out on Halloween after reading Interview with the Vampire, and confronting the band across the street with their inadequacies and essentially taking over. There was a moment as he was leaving their apartment building (that I won't spoil) that was so Lestat and hilarious, it made me gasp (as a parent) and laugh out loud (as a viewer).

Shout-out to Ella Ballantine who played Baby Jenks to perfection - I love that this character from the follow-up book The Queen of the Damned was included.

The end of this episode was so unexpected and I loved it. Cannot wait for next week!

*This episode was written by Rolin Jones and Hannah Moskovitch and directed by Craig Zisk.
​

I was so very excited to see a review from Veronica at Joyfully Jay pop up on Goodreads today! I was thrilled when she gave A Flash of Golden Fire a fantastic 4.25 star review last year and truly hoped she would read and review A Hellish Thing. Well, she did:

​A huge thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed an ARC of A Hellish Thing. I can see them piling up over at Goodreads and Bookbub and I am super grateful for all the positive words.

Good reviews help sales but do you know what else they do? They give me life! They make me think that perhaps I’m a half decent writer after all. They make all the hard labour of birthing a book absolutely worth it. Every time I have a book releasing I’m tied up in knots wondering if anyone will actually like it. I honestly do get so stressed every time.

So thank you again to all my readers, especially those who have followed me all these years. You guys are the reason I do this.

xo
Alison