Posted in: AMC, Review, TV | Tagged: amc, anne rice, episode 6, interview with the vampire, Review, season 2
Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Ep. 6 Review: Art Imitates Death
AMC's Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire S02E06 was heartbreaking excellence - and definitely didn't win Armand any new fans.
AMC's Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire S02E06: "Like the Light by Which God Made the World Before He Made Light" (directed by Emma Freeman and written by Hannah Moscovitch & Shane Munson) was the calm before the storm and the storm itself. This episode was beautifully romantic and dark. It was so wonderfully written my eyes were tearing up at times because we get a blissful moment of happiness – before everything took the turn that we knew was coming, but it was still horrific to see play out on so many levels. And then, we see who the "expert witness" is waiting in the wings…
Once again, we are back in the present, and this time, Daniel (Eric Bogosian) is having dinner with the "real" Rashid (Bally Gill) and asking about the tapes. Well, I initially theorized what if Rashid is Raglan James (Justin Kirk), but my question was answered. Rashid does work for Talamasca – and the plot thickens. Daniel admits to wanting to live once this is all over, to which Rashid advises (in a darkly humorous moment) that, naive, he should not have opened the package in the first place. There is one thing Raglan says to Daniel that has piqued my interest more than anything: that he should not be scared of Armand (Assad Zaman) but the "other one" instead. Who is the other one he is referring to? Louis (Jacob Anderson)? While I do think there is much more to know about Louis than what we do, I think that is to way of an answer, and he must mean someone else.
Anyway, back to the interview, and it is clear there is a big elephant in the room. The tension throughout the episode is palpable. The Vampires at the Théâtre des Vampires slowly rise against Armand, and Louis becomes more dominant toward Armand. The atmosphere is charged with this foreboding feeling that things are about to not go well. Are we concerned about what Armand's intentions are? Most definitely…
We see Madeleine (Roxane Duran), who gets attacked by drunkards who are painting hate symbols on her windows once again. As she is about to be sexually assaulted, the perpetrators are killed – and Claudia's (Delainey Hayles) secret is exposed. I loved how their companionship was handled and how Louis understood. Understanding at the same time he was losing Claudia to Madeleine. Armand has a great interview and still declines to turn her, leaving it up to Louis and Claudia. It was a fantastic scene, very intimate and filled with so much passion and very little dialogue. However, Louis' narration and what we see of Madeleine's memories were enough to put so much feeling into this. I think the budding companionship between Claudia and Madeleine was represented so beautifully and handled as such, too. Even with the bittersweet knowledge that this is how she leaves Louis.
In the present, we see Armand confronted with what he calls his biggest act of cowardice. He mentions to Louis back in the past about how he could not fight back and was given a choice. However, what exactly was the choice he had to make as we see how things went down? Some time after turning Madeleine we see her and Claudia have come back to meet with Armand and Louis. They seemed happy, and my heart felt so full seeing her finally happy. As Claudia thanked Armand for believing in her, I cannot help but think he never truly did considering he expects her to jump into the fire. I also like how protective Louis still is if Claudia, still seeming somewhat questioning of Madeleine. That said, she seems to have exposed his true feelings to Armand, who seems uncomfortable.
We shortly find out why Santiago and other coven members ambush Louis, Claudia, and Madeleine in the middle of the restaurant and take them away in bags. I swear, I am starting to take it personally how they seem to want me to hate Armand. But I was definitely not ready for what came next: a matinee show. They are prosecuting Claudia, Louis, and Madeleine for violating a number of vampire "laws" – including the attempted murder of Lestat (Sam Reid). And guess who's getting ready downstairs and has ten minutes to go before hitting the stage? I was not ready for that – leaving me obsessing over those "immortal words" that Daniel loves so much, "And then what?"