The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 7 Finale Review: Failure, Forgiveness, and Home

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

A fog of love. A lifetime of mistakes. A reunion. A devastation.

If you thought we were going to get out of the first season of The Vampire Lestat without a deeply existential and moving conclusion, then I dare ask what you’ve been watching.

It was always going to end this way. A little rough around the edges, slightly horrific, and casually heartbreaking.

After the events of The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 6, the fallout from Louis and Lestat’s beheadings was of the utmost concern, and The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 7 wasted little time settling us into the strong ramifications of that decision.

Much has been made of the separation between Louis and Lestat this season, and, admittedly, I’ve also had my fair share of frustrations with the distance between them, since their dynamic is so paramount to the series as a whole.

In setting forth a plan to tell Lestat’s story through his own words, you have to take off your shipper goggles, immerse yourself in the experience, and recognize that there’s more to Lestat than just Louis.

There is more to him than the love story, even if that love story remains the axis on which so much of his life turns.

But it’s equally important to remember that when all the noise fades away for Lestat, it’s always going to be Louis standing there at the end of the tunnel with a wry smile, an outstretched hand, and a feeling of home.

I say all this because the finale is very much split between two ideas.

There’s Lestat’s personal journey through his life’s failures with an audience of outspoken critics, and then Louis’s head is stuck on a stick, blood pooling in a pan, while his ex-boyfriend demands an apology that comes from deep within Louis’s separated heart.

Interview with the Vampire is a horror series, but this hour was by far the most horror-like the series has ever been, complete with dissonant strings as Armand stalks around Louis’s head, delivering impassioned monologues that belie the gravity of Louis’s current predicament.

It’s a wildly ambitious endeavor because there are times when it could have easily fallen apart under the weight of that ambition, but it never succumbs to its faults.

Instead, the episode doubles down on its most fantastical instincts, barely leaving you any time to realize you may be falling off the tracks before it rights itself.

“Could be nice.” “Could be.” Hands touch.

That’s the anchor for Lestat throughout the hour, as he travels through various tables in some of the most important and formative places that act as a roadmap for his life.

Beginning with his younger selves, he’s soon catapulted back to Magnus’s tower, with Magnus at the head of the table, and his fledglings spread around, sans Claudia.

As Lestat is actively dying, all those gathered are projections or manifestations he is imagining, which makes it especially interesting to see their behavior throughout the extended tour of his subconscious.

It’s a little jarring to see Antoinette again because it’s been so long, but she’s less than impressed with Lestat, and it’s interesting that’s how he would see her.

It’s also visually odd to see Nicki and Louis sitting together, since it’s just not something you’d ever expect.

The gathering is almost like its own trial, complete with Antoinette taking on the role of stenographer, but it’s less about giving Lestat a chance to defend himself and more about everyone pointing out his faults.

Or failures, as the show reminds us time and time again.

There are several moments in these scenes when Lestat is both intrigued and retraumatized by events from his past.

You know how they say that before you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes? It’s like that for Lestat, but much more comprehensive.

Take, for instance, Nicki. He laments that Lestat gave him the gift rather than say he loved him, something Lestat quickly refutes because it’s categorically false, but it’s what he believes Nicki would say in that moment.

Where Antoinette is cold, Louis is exhausted, and Gabriella is doing her best impression of a mother, which isn’t easy for her.

Several snarky comments are made, especially regarding Lestat and Gabriella’s relationship, and when Lestat recounts his mother making him watch the witches burn, including his own playmate.

You can see the dawning of realization on his face, complete with him reenacting that horrific sound that Nicki made when he died.

The relationship between Lestat and Gabriella has been a major plot point of the season, and their dynamic is a driving force in his life.

The series doesn’t leave much room for ambiguity: Lestat was abused by his mother.

Yes, you’ll hear Lestat somewhat downplay their relationship at times or talk around it throughout this season, but that doesn’t change the reality of it.

He was emotionally and sexually abused, and this hour refuses to look away from the lasting damage that abuse inflicted.

Gabriella forcing Lestat to watch those women burn and framing it as some kind of teachable moment imprinted on him to the point that he did the same thing to Claudia. He inflicted that same pain on his daughter.

In nearly dying, he’s opening himself up to a broader view of his life, one he both never wanted and was unable to do before.

With each changing location, you can see Lestat continue to reconcile with himself, his relationships, and the realities of his entire existence. And it’s a fascinating watch, especially as it becomes clearer what’s transpiring.

One thing I’ll say about this series is that 100 people can watch a scene and walk away with 100 different interpretations, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it probably means there’s an awful lot happening, and the meaning behind it may not always come across as intended.

That’s not the case here.

The entire scene, from tenor Marco’s arrival in the studio to the flashbacks and “When I Call Your Name” blasting throughout, is thorough in its depiction of Gabriella’s grooming, abusive behavior, and Lestat’s recognition of it.

And it’s one of the most disarming scenes of the season.

While all this is happening, Louis is in a butcher shop with Armand, undergoing his own near-death reckoning, except there are no manifestations of his past and current loves.

But instead, a vengeful Armand hellbent on receiving Louis’s penance come hell or severed head.

I’d imagine this whole storyline will have its fierce loyalists and its detractors.

But the root of the issue is two vampires with a long history, reuniting after a brutal detachment, and one of them is desperate for the other to acknowledge that they were also at fault in the complexities of their past.

So, it very much boils down to whether or not you believe that Louis owes Armand an apology.

All of the amends we’ve heard from Armand have been met with massive indifference, disdain, or both, likely because they don’t necessarily read as genuine.

Especially when you come to the end of the season and realize Armand’s had his own agenda the entire time that was about a lot more than saying “sorry.”

His amends to Louis feel honest, especially in that he takes some responsibility and confesses to things he could have easily omitted. It’s as if he decided that the only way to truly get Louis to be vulnerable back was first to exhibit his own form of vulnerability in that moment.

But this is all undercut by Louis’s head dripping blood, and Armand stalking around like Hans Gruber, menacing and cold in his attempts to get from Louis what he feels he deserves.

Louis is about as stubborn as it comes, and his reluctance to give in to Armand is perfectly in line with who he’s always been.

It’s also indicative of the depths of their relationship that Armand conjured up Regina and then pulled her out for one last betrayal when he needed it most.

The Regina reveal was something I never saw coming, and I imagine it was quite the shock for audiences. Though once you hear it, you’re a little upset with yourself for not realizing it was never a coincidence.

Here’s the thing: I’m of the camp that doesn’t think Louis needed to apologize to Armand.

As cliché as it may be, they are the embodiment of “hurt people hurt people,” and the foundation of the relationship was rotten from the beginning.

From their Paris days onward, as Armand pointed out, they lived with this lie that poisoned everything, making their time together fraught with resentments, frustrations, and pain.

Armand is seeking amends because he knows that everything that went wrong between them doesn’t rest solely on his shoulders, but isn’t that the way of the world?

Armand feels entitled to this apology, and in the end, he forces it out of Louis, even though I believe Louis meant it.

I’d be lying if I said that a part of me didn’t audibly say “aw” when Louis admitted that Lestat was the love of his life, because even though that feels like the most obvious thing in the world, it’s not something Louis freely admits.

One of the most significant elements of this entire story is Lestat’s unlovability, especially by Louis. So yes, this is a big deal.

And saying it to Armand feels both backhanded and truthful all at once.

Would Armand be crushed to hear those words from Louis? No. And Louis likely doesn’t feel that either, but it is the truth. In what he believes will be his final moments, he’s expressing his love for the man who makes it all make sense.

Louis’s transition of that confession into a touching, meaningful one to Armand was special.

It’s fine not to think Louis should have had to apologize, while acknowledging that what he did was kind. You could see the effect it had on Armand because it was a level of vulnerability that caught him off guard.

Yes, it’s said under duress, but that doesn’t make it any less truthful, in my opinion.

While Louis is bleeding out, the climax of Lestat’s impending doom comes in the form of his people yelling at him repeatedly while he laughs maniacally and recounts the story of his life.

“Your whole goddamn life, a fucking failure.”

The trip down memory lane is devastating in its intensity, but leave it to Lestat to hop up on that table in front of a hall filled to the brim with those he’s wronged, and not shrinking under his perceived disappointments, but relish in the truth.

He’s accepting himself and freeing himself from the failures.

For it to all come back around to that love he’s been searching for in life and immortality is as brilliant as it is soul-crushing.

As the figure slowly descended upon Lestat, the last person I expected it to be was Paul. But considering that Paul carries so much of Louis’s heart, it makes sense for him to be the one to deliver the message Lestat needed in that moment.

I can’t find it within myself to be at all disappointed that it’s Lestat who Paul gets to speak with and not Louis, because it’s such a cathartic moment for Lestat as death sort of clings to him.

Their love is not perfect, but it’s always there. It’s always going to be there.

It’s one of those moments that makes you want to shake the hands of the writers because it’s so brilliantly executed on every level.

When Lestat wakes up on the tour bus, it’s a cacophony of activity, with the concert looming large and the bus surrounded as if it housed the Beatles circa 1963.

Everything Lestat just went through during that astral plane adventure led to those moments on the bus, both in the tenderness of his reunion with Louis and the venom he felt so confident to spit back at his abuser.

The Loustat reunion was ten seconds long, but what an enchanting ten seconds those were.

Side note: it was such a clever play to have Lestat calling out for Louis, muted, because we all knew he was about to ask for Louis, so not actually hearing it but reading his lips as our brains conjured it up was fabulous.

We’ll get our moments with them eventually. I hope.

Lestat yelling at Gabriella and turning the word monster from a character trait of his into condemnation for her was perfect, and the hour could have ended there, and I would have been content.

Instead, we get a forlorn-looking Lestat, alone, recording his Failures album, and then looking out over the destruction of Montreal while proclaiming that everything was his fault.

I’ve never been more healed and more distressed over a finale in my life.

Keeping in mind that this was clearly intended to be the first half of a two-part story, I’m willing to sit with these feelings (I don’t exactly have a choice) and trust that the second half will bring the emotional payoff this chapter is building toward.

Lestat Liner Notes

• Not bringing Akasha back around, even as a tease, feels like a misstep. Yes, she’ll be back in what we can assume will be another season, but the music was supposed to wake her up, so where is she? Bring back the Queen!

• Lestat tapping on Louis’s coffin will stick with me for a long while.

• Daniel’s head, projecting into the dining room to basically keep telling Lestat he can’t stand him, was too campy for me to enjoy properly. It was giving Freddy Krueger.

• So, the Talamasca was in on it all along? Was that something I would have known if I had watched The Talamasca?

• Ragland mentioning that the soul is real feels like it’s going to be a major thing going forward. Is that also a book thing?

• I’m a little confused about where Alex fits into everything. Was he coerced into working with Armand? Was he secretly working for Ragland?

• Hello, Emmy’s. Hello, Golden Globes. It’s me, Whitney. Asking you to humbly consider the incredible acting within this series when it’s time to make nominations, as this cast is consistently putting out some of the best work across all of television.

It’s been an absolute pleasure covering this season, you beautifully unwell people.

Do let me know your thoughts on this hour and the season at large in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!

Fun fact! You can watch The Vampire Lestat Season 1 in full when it hits Netflix on July 20.