The Vampire Lestat: The Queen of the Damned
In episode 5, “New York,” Lestat strips back his rock-star facade and confronts his memories of Akasha.
Now recording his posthumous album, Lestat is trying to balance artistic expression with giving the people what they want—the people in question being Gabriella and her vampiric allies in the Great Conversion.
“Does that satisfy your request?” he asks her, as the band play a decidedly half-assed song urging their audience to “make more.” Gabriella has made it abundantly clear that she isn’t here out of the goodness of her heart; during an uncomfortable conversation where she complains about the boredom of motherhood, she tells Lestat that she abandoned him because she didn’t need him any more. Making a case for his usefulness, Lestat visibly pivots to seduction and kisses her: “You need me now.”
Musically, however, Lestat is still far more interested in his autobiographical songs than in pushing the Great Conversion’s agenda. Tensions are running high in the studio, whose claustrophobic space Lestat compares to a coffin—much like Louis’ description of his Dubai apartment, where the enclosed space of his and Armand’s shared bedroom was loosely structured around the image of a Mughal tomb.
By definition, perfectionism can never be satisfied, and Lestat has been annoying his band with outlandish demands. He orders them to play the same song dozens of times in a row, and tells TC that her drums need to sound “like death approaching” instead of, you know, like drums. Gabriella dismissively explains that the band are too mortal to understand Lestat's vision, but this claim is debatable. More realistically, the band are struggling because they're mid-rate musicians, and because Lestat is bad at articulating his unreachable goals.
Following the assassination attempt in episode 4, Lestat’s entourage has been trimmed down to the bare basics, with Gabriella (or, as TC calls her, “Yoko Mirren”) replacing Christine as his manager, and Sam Barclay acting as his producer. While Lestat records his album (which his voiceover informs us will be another Failure, trashed by critics upon release), Gabriella is planning The Vampire Lestat’s final show, a one-night-only event where the band’s undead frontman will arrive as a surprise guest.
Daniel has moved on to cover the aftermath of Lestat's “death,” but inside the studio, the band are still acting out rockumentary clichés. Larry eventually quits, and Alex has started drinking again, in a telling footnote to Armand's role as his unsanctioned AA sponsor. It’s entirely consistent for Armand to “help” someone by erasing their memories or manipulating their mind in a way that doesn’t actually solve their root problems. “I can totally stop,” Alex assures his brother, clutching a liquor bottle. OK, buddy!
Lestat, who wishes he could escape his memories, is now surrounded by ghosts at every turn. Visions of Louis, Nicki, and Lestat’s childhood self wander around the studio. Young Lestat is a new addition with a more calming presence, essentially just a kid hanging out in the corner with a book. Louis is similarly non-confrontational—he even seems to ground Lestat—but Nicki becomes so invasive that he provokes Lestat into running outside into the sun with a microphone, utilizing the pain of his burns to record an appropriately agonized level of screaming. (Like so many theatrical attempts to suffer for one’s art, this exercise comes across as a pointless act of self-harm.)
