Two Goths and a Coffin

“Don’t be afraid, just start the tape” Recap and Review: Spoilers Ahead

Season 2 of Interview With The Vampire just keeps building on itself and getting better and better! There’s a reason why so many critics tuning in are raving. Episode 5, “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape,” is one of the best examples of why it deserves all the praise. The mid-season episode is filled with so much richness that we had to watch it multiple times to let it truly wash over us, and I still feel like I’m reeling with every watch. Everything we’ve seen in Dubai in the past episodes comes together, and we can see how it will shape the remaining episodes of the season. 

At the start of the episode, we are back in Dubai following the argument between Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Armand (Assad Zaman) that ended the previous episode. However, it seems that the two of them are back on the same page,  sharing affectionate gazes and lovingly finishing each other’s sentences as they recount Paris after the monumental scene on the bench. “A dreamy kind of balance,” Louis says, describing that period in Paris. I come back to this quote as the episode progresses. We start to see that perhaps they’ve created an illusion of balance between themselves that is not quite the reality. Dreamy indeed.

For the first time, we get a peek into Armand’s eating habits when Malik (Elander Moore) walks in. Malik has agreed to the hunt; however, the details around serving as Armand’s next meal have been left out of the conversation. Louis describes Armand’s hunting tactics, saying, “his methodology is never violent….” This quote is explored  throughout this episode as we examine their definition of violence and harm.

Meanwhile, Armand’s hunt leaves Louis and Daniel (Eric Bogosian) a moment alone in the penthouse. Memories are bubbling up for Daniel, as we’ve seen over the past couple of episodes, with bits of images and words popping up into his psyche. Without Armand’s hovering presence, Daniel finally asks the question that has been hanging over us since episode six of season one: What happened between them in San Francisco?

We’re then transported back to that night in after their fateful meeting at Polynesian Mary’s in 1973 with Louis and Daniel, played by Luke Brandon Field, returning to Louis’ abode. Louis’ narration starts with an air of seduction as slow, slinky jazz plays in the foyer. Daniel disappointedly learns that they did not sleep together, but something far more interesting happened between them. As Louis puts it, Daniel “offered something off the menu.” The recurring theme of vampire loneliness finds its way here, as Daniel comments on the fact that Louis was lonely and eager to have someone to open up to. What Daniel offered was beyond a one-night tryst but an emotional connection that allowed Louis to spill the contents of himself and the repressed resentment he held for Lestat. There’s also an acknowledgement of Louis’ pull toward humanity here. Daniel proves to be a conduit for the human connection that Louis has longed for but has always been out of reach.

While the chat is a welcomed release for Louis, it does go off the rails. After a full night of conversation, Louis expresses how he felt back in that moment when Claudia got on the train in episode six of season one. The thought of returning to Lestat that night is unbearable after Claudia leaves, and Louis is left on the bench contemplating suicide. Daniel makes little of that feeling. He doesn’t understand the complexities and nuances around vampire-hood and comes across as arrogant, to which Louis reacts by attacking him.

The episode’s tone shifts from here as Armand rushes in, yanking Daniel away from Louis and carelessly throwing him against the wall. The following scene is an argument between lovers that feels like bitterness has been stewing and festering for some time now. It’s nasty, raw, and full of emotion. The remarks are precise, cutting each other deep, the kind of sharpness that can only be honed from knowing each other so well. 

Jacob Anderson and Assad Zaman could write a masterclass in acting the way that they play off of each other here, escalating the tension with each biting remark.  There’s a theatricality to it in both the ways that they deliver their lines, how they interact with each other, and how they interact with the environment around them. Their acting and how this scene is filmed make them feel very real. This is a real couple trudging through a low that they can no longer ignore. 

During the argument, Louis exclaims that Armand is boring, comparing his years with Armand to the “fascinating” time he had with Daniel that night. This comes back as Armand holds onto this particular comment more than anything in their verbal exchange, continually referring to Daniel as the “fascinating boy.” The argument reaches a tipping point when Armand tells Louis that Claudia didn’t love him. This specific remark strikes Louis hardest.This reveals that Claudia remains a sensitive subject for Louis, sending him into a spiral. With the drugs running through him removing any life-preserving inhibitions, the intense feelings send Louis out of the room, running up the stairs to the roof. The intentionally shaky camera effect adds to the emotional turmoil flowing through him as he rushes up the stairs.

What comes next is heart-wrenching. It’s extremely emotional to watch Louis walk out the door with no way back in, his intent clear. Just a moment before, Louis talked about his desire to end his life back on that bench in New Orleans, and now we watch as that has come back around as Louis embraces the sun in an attempt. He screams in agony, and all we can hear are his desperate protesting cries as Armand pulls him back inside.

His attempt is extremely sobering. He’s charred, burned all across his body, and is in excruciating pain. In the midst of all this, Louis desperately attempts to apologize to Armand for the things he said in their argument, but doesn’t satisfy him. “Meaningless,” he says. Louis’ words and the idea that Louis has found a meaningful connection with Daniel have rubbed Armand’s insecurities raw. 

In response, Armand turns cruel. He tortures Daniel in front of Louis, flinging him up and down while sarcastically assuring Louis that everything is fine. The music turns sinister, and the show reminds us that it’s not just a beautifully written drama but also a gothic horror. The horror elements come alive in this episode. 

While Armand psychologically tortures Daniel in the other room, Louis pleads through cries of pain for him to be spared. It’s reminiscent of episode five of season one during the harrowing, violent last scene. In these tumultuous moments of abuse by his partners, Louis seeks to protect the third person caught in the web of these relationships. In the first season, Louis attempts to reassure Claudia through the fight, and in this episode, Louis continuously begs for Daniel’s life. 

It also calls to mind the cycles that are happening within this narrative. We see the cycle of Louis entering these relationships with these powerful vampires whom he loves, who are also carrying their own traumas. Instead of breaking the cycles they’ve found themselves in, they repeat them. With Lestat, we watched him embrace a very patriarchal type of control and abuse similar to what he experienced from his own father to both control Claudia’s movement and keep Louis at his side. And in this episode, if you’re familiar with the books, Armand repeats a similar cycle of punishment he received at the hands of Marius. By punishing Louis through Daniel, Armand begins to mirror when he was forced to watch another young boy be punished for his actions. While we can’t be sure if this is an event that will remain the same in the show, we can see how intentional the show is in exploring the dynamics of power and abuse and how each person individually carries the trauma that comes with it.

As Daniel and Louis’ new alliance has them working to put together their fragmented memories, we reach a point in the episode where the pain has become unbearable for Louis. He begs Armand to place him back in his coffin, and Armand relents, picking him up in a bridal carry. Playing both roles that Louis called him out for earlier in their argument, that of the good nurse and the gremlin, he also finally offers Louis his blood. There’s a bitterness there, and Armand laments his role of being an “empathetic prison” for Louis. He offers that if that’s no longer what Louis wants, he can take his leave, but first, he presents Louis with one last act of service. But this is not a kind gesture on his behalf. Armand offers Louis words from Lestat (Sam Reid) serving as his voice as he telepathically communicates with Lestat on the other end. As Louis protests against this connection, this “gift” feels more like a threat and a dubious reminder.

Throughout this scene, Zaman amazingly captures the complexity of Armand’s character. Armand has turned rather cruel in this episode, but there are strong motivations for this cruelty that stem from deep-seated insecurities. in every scene, even as we are filled with this very visceral feeling of shock and witnessing what feels extremely sinister, there’s such a clear expression of Armand’s vulnerabilities laid bare that Zaman captures brilliantly. 

This also circles back to my previous comment on what Armand considers to be violence. Louis says that his methodology is never violent. Armand says that he has never harmed Louis, and yet in this episode, harm is being carried out. Armand never physically harms Louis, but he does deny Louis care and carries out emotional punishment. Does Armand continue to claim he’s never hurt Louis because he’s never physically hurt him? Or was it because he was hoping Louis wouldn’t remember?

What’s most interesting about this episode is that it proved to be such a deep exploration of these characters, their motivations, and their feelings. We learn so much, even though it is a very isolated episode. The writers did not come into this attempting to excuse behaviors or flatly portray these characters.  Instead, they feel filled with dimension, peeking into their vulnerabilities and their internal selves and seeing how they manifest in their relationships with each other.

In the final scene in San Francisco, Armand is ready to call Daniel to a restful death. Before Armand can carry out this final cull, Louis makes one last plea to spare Daniel. Louis also once again takes on most of the burden of softening his partners after a display of power and violence, taking responsibility for how Armand feels wronged and asking for Daniel as a show of the strength of their companionship. Armand concedes and re-engages the roles they previously agreed on back in Paris on the bench, calling Louis maître. But now we’ve already seen how that dreamy balance is really just that, a dream. Louis still holds no material power, and we clearly see what is offered to him can be revoked.

This episode’s final highlight is the catharsis in Louis and Daniel’s relationship. The two have circled each other since season one in an antagonistic dance, but this episode reveals how intertwined they are. This episode finds them working together on the same playing field to retrieve what they lost, and we conclude with the realization that Daniel has been holding Louis’ words with him since that fateful night throughout his entire life like a light guiding him. I particularly enjoy this adaptation of their relationship and how you can go back and see exactly where the writers have been threading the significance of their relationship since the first episode.

Unaware of what has just transpired between Louis and Daniel, the episode ends with Armand returning from his hunt and immediately being confronted. Louis explains that they were discussing why Armand spared Daniel back in San Francisco, to which Armand eerily replies in verbatim the same explanation Louis recites earlier in the episode. I’m nervous but excitedly anticipating the outcome of this reveal and seeing how this episode builds the foundation for the remaining episodes in this season.