The Vampire Lestat: Hurtling Towards End Times
In episode 4, “The Devil’s Road,” Lestat’s reality begins to fracture as Armand returns with portents of doom.
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Following Lestat’s hallucinatory crashout, the show’s mood is on a downswing, lingering on apocalyptic forebodings and a trio of warped parental relationships.
“Hurtling towards end times,” the tour is now entering its final stage. Over the past three weeks, we’ve seen Lestat transition from a self-aware performance of rock-and-roll excess to an all-too-real psychotic break. Now, his voiceover shifts back to ironic detachment, monologuing about his favorite Bon Jovi guitarists during a montage of tour-bus debauchery. When a cop pulls them over with a drug-sniffer dog, Lestat gestures to a bowl of cocaine and explains, “We are a rock band, and we need it to do our job.” No cliché is safe from Lestat, and his bandmates are happy to go along for the ride.
In the wake of Daniel’s snide remarks about mediocre ticket sales, The Vampire Lestat is finally gaining traction online—partly thanks to viral videos of Lestat levitating onstage, and partly thanks to Talamasca-funded bots. Is anything real anymore? Lestat is a genuine vampire pretending to be a fake vampire, playing at an outdated rock-star stereotype. Hallucinations of his dead lover—replete with a bloody stump where his hand was severed—interrupt his conversations in the real world. Online, his true fans have been joined by a flotilla of fakes, drumming up speculation around his vampiric authenticity. Daniel is still searching for Lestat’s hidden truth, while secretly collaborating with the Talamasca, whose motives remain as shadowy as ever. Meanwhile in New York, Louis is stalking the doppelgänger of his dead daughter, attempting to fabricate a relationship that should not exist.
Last week’s final-act song was a moment of catharsis for Lestat, with his favorite ghost (Nicki) staying to enjoy the show while his tormentors (Magnus and Gabriella) left the room. Now that the euphoria has worn off, this outcome is not so attractive. Nicki’s ghost has become an invasive presence, while Gabriella has vanished, leaving Lestat to furiously double-text her with no reply. The abandonment cycle has begun once again.
It doesn’t help that Daniel keeps asking awkward questions. He hasn’t connected the dots between Gabriella and Sofia, but Lestat’s glib answers about his mother’s demise were enough to trigger Daniel’s journalistic instincts. During their next interview, Daniel focuses his attention on Gabriella’s allegedly brief afterlife in 18th-century Europe.
