Interview With the Vampire Part 2

Hey everyone and welcome, today we will be talking about Part 2 of the show Interview with the Vampire. Fun fact, in the finale they put cement board underneath the floor and behind walls because they were lighting fire in a wooden building and it helped with fire prevention. Part 2 came out in 2024 and stars Jacob Anderson, Eric Bogosian, and Assad Zaman, and was developed by Rolin Jones. So without further ado let’s get right into it.

Part 2 continues Louis's interview with Daniel Molloy and we learn about how in the past he and Claudia sought out other vampires and came across a coven in Paris after killing their maker Lestat. At the end of part 1, we learn that Armand who was pretending to be Rashid is actually a vampire who in the past led this coven that Claudia and Louis came across. We see what role Armand played in Louis learning more about vampire life and also the role he played in whatever happened with Louis and Molloy in the 70’s in San Francisco.

Interview with the Vampire is a dramatic supernatural show. It has similar vibes to Interview with the Vampire the movie, True Blood, or The Haunting of Hill House.

I found out about Interview with the Vampire from word of mouth and I really liked part 1, the cast had me captivated and I was just so curious to see this story unfold. I was super excited for part 2 and it really didn't disappoint. I love how the show is about vampires and while it highlights the supernatural aspect it focuses on the character’s relationships and not necessarily having them use supernatural abilities to stop a villain which makes it stand out from other supernatural shows. There were some questions I had at the end of part 1, some were answered in this part while some were not but also just made me more excited for more parts.

Louis De Pointe du Lac is played by Jacob Anderson who really shines in this show. In the present day, we see him trying to recount some memories from the past but we see that there are gaps in his memory which we come to find out are from Armand. In the past, we see how he does what’s best for Claudia, and he is interested in finding more vampires but not so interested in joining a coven. Louis doesn’t understand a lot about vampires and vampire rules but he still tries to find a bit of happiness in his everlasting life. Louis is a lover and unfortunately for him, he ends up loving the wrong men each time and always seems to figure it out a little too late. One thing I admire about Louis is that while there are things he doesn’t know about vampires he seems to pay attention and learns pretty quickly.

Louis and Claudia killed Lestat at the end of part 1 and while Lestat is not physically there most of part 2, he is there as Louis's subconscious. They had a twisted relationship that did have lots of love but was very flawed and Louis talks to this version of him in his head which helps him to justify certain actions and figure out what is best for him. There is one episode where Louis stops talking to this subconscious Lestat in his head and as much as I hated Lestat, it was a sad moment because I thought that would be the last we saw of his character.

Louis carries the pain of Claudia, literally and mentally. When he was buried alive he had these rocks in his coffin and his wounds healed around those rocks. When he escaped this burial he refused to remove the rocks and it served as a reminder of the events that led to Claudia’s death. I noticed in the final episode as well that the room where he was sitting in Dubai had rocks that resembled the same ones they buried him with. It’s a subtle reminder of what he has been through, the guilt he feels, and how he lost someone who is deeply important to him.

In the episode that recounts the events of San Francisco, we see not only how everything went down but how Louis attempted to commit suicide. At the moment I was a little confused as to the exact reason, but as I watched the show and thought about it, even though he loved Armand he lost so much to get where he was and after all these years it still weighed on his heart. I thought this was an interesting topic to incorporate, vampires get sad and depressed which can be worsened with drugs and sometimes they kill themselves or attempt to. It is a dark moment for Louis and something that was hidden from him by Armand and after finishing part 2 it makes sense why they hinted at this in part 1 but didn’t show us what happened.

Throughout both parts, we see Claudia, a child vampire created by Lestat in part one who also is the one that helped kill Lestat. At the beginning of part 2, she seems annoyed with Louis and really wants to find more vampires and it seems like she’s searching for this sense of belonging. We see towards the end why child vampires should not be made and how it’s hard to control them and it seems like they go through a type of puberty where they are just killing a lot and how Louis knew and didn’t care. This is something we saw after Claudia was first made in part one when she couldn’t control her hunger and how she kept souvenirs from her victims. Delainey Hayles takes over the role in this part and I must say she killed it figuratively and I guess literally. One thing about Claudia that comes up a lot is how she likes being a vampire but hates being stuck as a child and this is highlighted even more when she joins the coven and they make her star in a play where she plays a child.

In both parts of this show, Claudia has seen how time and time again Louis has chosen a man over her and she makes it known how much it irritated her, and she is right but it’s not just Louis it was also with Lestat. In part 2she finds Madeleine with who she forms a special bond but I knew that relationship was doomed. She feels comfort with Madeleine and when Madeleine is attacked she kills the people who did it showing that she is a vampire. Madeleine accepts this and wants to join her as well and for as much as Claudia and Louis clash, he is the only one willing to help her.

We see a lot of scenes filmed in what is the present and the one recurring question I had was what happened to Claudia? In this part, they finally gave me that answer when we see Claudia, Madeleine, and Louis being put on trial for Lestat’s murder and the audience thinks it’s just a play but it’s real for the vampires. It’s just a sad moment in the show and with the lack of Claudia in the future I had a feeling that this was going to be the end of her.. We see how Claudia didn’t go down quiet and was angry and made it known before she was killed and the saddest part to me was her staring at Lestat as she burned up. The one piece of solace was that she found happiness in her last moments as someone, Madeleine, picked her over life itself which is something she was always mad about, being passed over for someone else. Claudia was such an interesting character and I was glad we got to see what happened to her and how it affected Louis over the years.

Madeleine is a character who Claudia has feelings for but because of her looks, keeps her distance and slowly becomes her friend. I loved how close they became over part 2 and how Claudia found her person even if it was for a short time. The backdrop was the later years of WW2 and I was wondering why ppl kept drawing swastikas on Madeleine’s shop, I thought they were nazi sympathizers. During her turning, we find out that she slept with a German which was frowned upon for obvious reasons during that time, and as the war was dying down women who slept with nazis had their hair publicly cut off and we see her hair cut off and she is embarrassed on the street. The show did a great job of making you interested in her story with Claudia and how in the end she proved that she loved Claudia by refusing to join the coven and instead sharing the same fate as Claudia.

Armand, Armand, Armand, saying he let me down would be an understatement. He is played by Assad Zaman and at the end of part 1 we see how he was secretly a vampire pretending to be a servant which should have been a hint that all he does is lie but he does it smartly. At the beginning of part 2, he doesn’t want to participate in the interviews but eventually, he decides to.  I think what makes him so interesting is that he is so old and has much more knowledge of the politics behind the vampires and introduces us to these cool abilities that vampires can do but he’s also withholding a lot. I think he was so good at lying because he wasn’t telling giant lies, he would be telling mostly the truth with a lie weaved in that made it seem like what he was saying was the truth.

When Armand started to participate in the interview it was interesting to see how vampires used to live like second-class citizens and how Lestat came in and changed their perception of what they could be. This was a cool way to tie in how Lestat changed both of their lives, for Louis, it was by changing him to a vampire, and for Armand showing him that the vampires could be actors and use the plays as a ruse to kill humans. Armand and Lestat seem to bond as they talk about their experiences with Lestat and he seems protective at first and then early in the season, he tells Louis he will never harm him, which shockingly is a lie. Later in the season, we learn that Armand’s name is Amadeo and he was sold into slavery to a vampire and a coven in Rome gave him his name and he killed his maker. This scene was sad and emotional and really showcased Assads great acting in this role. I loved learning more about Armand and as we were talking about Louis's story I wondered where he came in and I love how they showed how they met but also Armands past to see where he came from.

In the end, we find out Armand lied about his role in Claudia’s death and we see how he was the mastermind behind the “trial” and told Louis it was all Santiago and Lestat. It was a jaw-drop moment and also a moment where someone finally caught him off guard. It was crazy that at the beginning of part 1, he said he would never hurt Louis but he lied and did just that. I do think the coven was trying to oust him as leader and he knew he couldn’t kill them without suffering the same fate so when he gave Louis his blood I think he knew Louis would try and get revenge and that his hands would remain clean. It’s crazy how much he was a master manipulator and how he was able to keep this from Louis for so long but the one thing he didn’t account for was loose strings. I do wonder why he didn’t attempt to kill Louis and if there was some twisted reason behind keeping him alive but one thing I also was thinking about is when he was caught, the name Talamasca didn’t seem to phase him which led me to believe he has had encounters with them before. . His character was written so well and even though there were multiple betrayals, I was still caught off guard by the final one.

Santiago or Francis is played by Ben Daniels and he did a great job of showing this character who is a certified hater and one who tries to undermine Armand. Throughout the season we see how he sews seeds of distrust amongst the other coven members in an attempt to take over. He made me so mad because he was so nosey and while I do think he had ill intentions, I do think that Armand was the real puppet master. I love how in the end all that hating and thinking he was one step ahead of Louis and everyone else led to him getting his head chopped off.

Daniel Molloy, the interviewer is fantastically played by Eric Bogosian who is a very courageous interviewer to know the risk and still go into this interview and ask the hard questions. Eric’s acting was on point and throughout part 2 I was like wow Malloy is such a great interviewer, I felt he just always asked the right questions. He clashes with Armand, I think because he asks these deep questions but also because he has info that wasn’t given to him by Armand so Armand can’t control the interview as much as he wishes he could. At the end of the interview, Louis burns his computer and offers him 10 million but Molloy still writes the book and it becomes a best seller.

Through Molloy, we meet the secret organization the Talamasca and they don’t give you much about who they are but from watching the end of the episode behind the scenes we see that they are a secret organization that keeps tabs on the supernatural. They really want Molloy to survive and release his book and they provide him with information that is being hidden from him. While they can’t guarantee his safety, they try to help him out as much as they can. It was interesting to see Molloy keep this from vampires who were way smarter than him and figure out how he would use the information given to him to expose Armand but it was so great once we saw it all come together and Molloy had the receipts and the look on Armand’s face is priceless. In the end, Louis tells Armand not to kill Malloy and he does listen but out of spite turns him into a vampire which was something we see he asked about in San Francisco but was turned down.

Lestat is a character I love but also hate and I feel like he is expertly played by Sam Reid. Sam Reid is Australian but while watching this show I really thought he was a French man. At the beginning of Part 2, he was there as Louis's subconscious because it is assumed he did perish after Louis and Claudia attempted to kill him. One Jaw-dropping moment is when he returns and this time it’s not a figment of Louis's imagination but instead the actual Lestat. It was a moment that caught me off guard because there was not a hint that I saw that he was even remotely alive.

It is shown early on that the Lestat showed Armand and the coven how to be vampires out in public and I just feel like that makes sense. Lestat was smart in how he hid his secret but I always felt that he loved theatrics. It’s like every time he walks into a party or a social event he is performing and he sees himself as the main star. Even after years of not being on the stage, he struts on the stage to plead his case and just owns it and makes the play his own while also making himself seem like the victim. He has the crowd hanging on every word he says and even worse most of it is lies but they eat it up. As much as he displays his theatrics and how mad he is at Louis and Claudia, he still has a moment that makes him stumble when he remembers the fight he had with Louis when Louis wanted to leave and Lestat dropped him from up in the sky and it looked like he had some remorse. However, it doesn’t last long and he’s back again saying whatever to get the crowd going, it’s like he feeds on humans but also feeds on attention.

Another shock for me was after Louis got revenge for Claudia and Madeleine's deaths, he spared Lestats life. I was shocked because of their past and the part Lestat played in Claudia’s death but then remembered that in his play he talked about loneliness and how it’s one of the worst things a vampire can feel and I think after the failed killing, Louis decided to have him feel a different pain where he’s alive but miserable and worse since Louis is with Armand he has no chance with him. Throughout this entire interview, I thought Lestat was dead so it was shocking to find out that he’s actually alive and maybe even more shocking that he didn’t come after Louis but after seeing him again we learn that it’s basically because of what he did.

In the final episodes, we see how the coven was destroyed and how Claudia died and Armand takes a page out of the Lestats book and makes it seem like he was the victim. As you might have guessed another shock to me we find out that Armand not only didn’t save Louis but that he was the director of the play and it was all his idea and he had no plan to save Louis or Claudia. We find out that the person who saved Louis was Lestat and he basically had to choose because he couldn’t save both him and Claudia, which also proves her point about always being pushed aside. Louis leaves Armand, after almost shoving him through a wall and he finds Lestat who is living in squalor. in New Orleans While Lestat isn’t innocent he is still deeply saddened by what happened to Claudia and his role in it. We have seen the bond between maker and fledgling and It’s a heartbreaking scene to see Lestat talk about how she looked in his eyes before she died like a child looking for her father. I felt like this was one of the few times where I saw Lestat emotional and it was interesting to find out vampires cry blood and how because of the guilt of it all he never went after Louis.  I still hate Lestat but this was a sweet moment with Louis and I wonder if they will get back together or be friends.

The episode about San Francisco had been hinted at since Part One and I needed to know what happened. We learn that Louis and Daniel went back to the room and did drugs and they were doing an interview but Daniel was inexperienced and Louis was not in the best headspace and to top it off they are both on drugs. So much happens but Louis thinks of killing Daniel but lets him live and we see Armand letting him live but also torturing him for a couple of days before changing his memory. Louis and Armand have a big fight in which harsh things are said where Louis says Armand is too sad about his past and Armand says Louis talks about Lestat too much and Louis tries to commit suicide. It was interesting to see how this situation was all a blur for Louis and Molloy and how eventually they use each other to jog their memories. Armand kind of apologizes to Louis after this but Daniel doesn’t trust Armand and for the rest of the interview, he doesn’t hide his feelings. Later on, we find out that during this time Armand did contact Lestat about Louis while he was healing from his attempt after Armand lied about not speaking to the man.

This show has some cool sets that we see from all the places we go. In the modern day, they are mostly in Dubai and we see this lavish house that Armand and Louis live in that is fit for a vampire and then we also see this sleek, modern-looking restaurant that Molloy visits, and it all screams upper class, rich, wealthy, which if you have been around that long id hope you have some money. in the past, we spent most of our time in Paris but it’s as World War 2 is ending so it looks a bit rundown. The playhouse is nice but the coven all live there together and Louis and Claudia have an apartment which is a cool space for them to have. Madeline has her shop with living quarters above which was interesting to see with the big window to display products. The sets not only helped distinguish the time amongst other things but also show how things have changed financially and technologically to make living as a vampire easier.

The outfits, hair, and makeup were also something they nailed. I love seeing the different outfits from the past and mirror styles of the time. I love to see how over time they have adapted to the time to blend in and how their style evolution has changed.

My favorite piece of part 2 was when Lestat returned and we learned about what happened to Claudia. I think with Lestat it was a pure shock that he was still alive while with Claudia I really wanted to know what happened to her and seeing her end and what led to it was interesting and sad but also proved how good of an actress Delainey is. I’ve spoken about both of these events already so I won’t add much more but they caught me off guard in the best of ways and had my full attention.

Interview with the Vampire Part 2 is a finely executed show and I feel like it flies under the radar mainly because it’s on AMC and that’s not a service a lot of ppl have or at least people I know. The show is an interesting format with drama in the past as well as drama in the present and you are just in your seat getting all antsy trying to figure out what’s going to happen. Whether I love or hate the character I think every cast member pulls their own and pulls out the reaction that they want from the viewer which is not an easy feat.