The second season is a poetic tale of complicated relationships full of unreliable narrators told with amazing style and presence about love, betrayal and deceit and death.
- Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
- Gothic factor: ★★★★★
- Drama factor: ★★★★★
- Psychological factor: ★★★★★
- Horror factor: ★★★★☆
Interview with the Vampire season 2 starts off where we left Louis and Claudia after they killed Lestat. Claudia’s insidious plan to poison him and Louis slitting his throat at a daring dress up party in season 1, succeeded or so it seemed. With a new setting, new characters, new discoveries, new loves and of course betrayal, deceit and a heartbreaking loss, this second season is an intriguing story with a poetic narrative, unreliable narrators and awesome cinematography that acts as a storyteller itself. It is however recommended to watch multiple episodes back to back to really come into the story. It stars Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Delainey Hayles, Eric Bogosian, Assad Zaman. Created by Rolin Jones.
It consists of 8 episodes (48-55min)
You can read my Review of season 1
Plot
After Louis and Claudia killed Lestat Claudia wants to go to Europe in search for other vampires like them. They first travel through a war-torn Eastern Europe where they do not only find people severely affected by it, but also an old female vampire who throws herself into the fire in front of them.
They leave for Paris where the city is trying to rebuild itself. They rent an apartment and come in contact with the Theatre des Vampires. A theater run by vampires and who perform for people who don’t know they are actual vampires and even kill on stage as part of the act. They take Claudia and Louis on a raid to a mansion to kill and eat. While Claudia enjoys it en joins them, Louis stays outside. He is more interested in Armand, an old vampire and leader of the vampire coven.
The arrival and refusal of Louis to join the coven starts to create some cracks, while Armand is very interested in Louis. Claudia officially joins the coven. Santiago the star vampire of the theater is not happy with the affection Armand has for Louis and wants to rule the coven himself and becomes a pivotal part in staged play of betrayal.
When Louis and Claudia find out Lestat was the founder of the theater and once a lover of Armand, they have to lie about their maker and it puts things on edge, leading to the ultimate betrayal and a devastating loss.
Meanwhile Daniel is contacted by the Talamasca, an ancient organization that watches the supernatural world and he regains some images of lost memories. Memories that go all the way back to San Francisco when he first met Louis and Armand. These soon to be recovered memories by Louis and Daniel together have some severe consequences for all their relationships.
Continue reading below this announcement.
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This painting “Teddy Pool” is made with soft pastels. You can buy this fine art print on museum-quality paper in my shop at Printify. Take a look at my other art prints as well.
Short Review
This second season is all about love, betrayal, loyalty, deception and secrets. We already learned that Louie is an unreliable narrator, who only tells his story from his memory and perspective which is not only biased, but apparently also blurred. Games are being played during the interview and games are being played back in Paris.
While Louis was in a toxic relationship with Lestat, he now is in a toxic relationship with Armand. Claudia only wants to belong with other vampires and even makes a human friend in Madeleine. Louis however is searching for something. It feels like he has a hole in his heart that he first wanted to fill with the love of Lestat, whom he didn’t fully love back. Then he poured all his love into Claudia. When she left for seven years, Louis was more miserable and suffering than ever and made Lestat’s life miserable too.
While his story is only focusing on the bad sides of Lestat, he ignores his own shortcomings, has forgotten them and alters what really happened. Something he finds out to his own shock in the final episodes of the season. It also puts Lestat in another daylight.
Lestat was a passionate man, who broke the rules, loved life and humanity, he emotionally manipulates Louie, sometimes even gets physical. To force Louie to stay with him he turns Claudia into a vampire. However the way it really went comes back to Louis and he finds out he was manipulating Lestat himself. Turning the tables around. Louis was already suffering before Claudia and begged Lestat to turn her, so he wouldn’t be alone anymore. Lestat wasn’t enough for Louis, while Louis was enough for Lestat. Louis’ rejection made Lestat seek his comfort elsewhere. Louis has a very destructive personality that shows when he was with Lestat but also with Armand.
Armand manipulates Louis in another way. He isolates him, wants to have him all for himself, quietly manipulates him. Armand has a traumatic past as a human child, sold as a slave and forced to be a prostitute, he felt like a victim his whole life. Even in death as a vampire he is searching for control, structure. We learn more about his life before Louis as he tells Daniel. He turned from victim to a predator. He rewrites history, making Louis believe for 70 years he saved him, while actually it was Lestat who saved Louis. Where Lestat is a force of nature and acts out of pure emotion, Armand acts rationally, cold even, with a carefully laid plan.
When new facts are revealed, Louis finds Lestat and as Claudia describes their relationship as a storm, they embrace while outside a storm rages and the dilapidated house is crumbling apart around them, symbolizing their stormy and destructive relationship.
This whole interview was to write down Louis’ memoirs but it remains to be seen if what he told Daniel, was actually the truth. He remembers things wrongly, he has been lied to, his memory has been erased one time and his own biases and emotional states have clouded his memories of what actually happened. We also remember things differently to protect ourselves and the way we see ourselves. Louis had to uphold a nature of good, kind and intellectual and smart, while underneath it all, he is depressed and destructive and doesn’t know what to do with himself.
Daniel however is more clever than he pretends to be at first. When his memories come back of what happened in the seventies, being recalled by him and Louie together and with the help of the Talamasca and Rashid, the whole interview itself is falling apart, or maybe truly comes together. History and memories are not facts, they are subjective and subject to bias, error and even deliberate deceit and betrayal. These subjects are very interesting and while the conversations between Armand and Louis can be a bit pretentious, the underlying conflict is very interesting.
What I thought was very smart, was when the conversations got a little too pretentious, something over the top happens in the background. This season Lestat is dearly missed, who brought some life to the screen, although he is seen inside Louie’s mind which results in some great scenes. Both Armand and Louis are very serious and even depressing. To counterweight their gravity there’s more humor in a absurd way. Also Daniel’s deadpan sardonic humorous comments are a great comic relief as well.
While everything takes place on a deep psychological level, we learn not much more about the psyches of Claudia or Louis or Armand, only through their actions, their relationships and how they all relate to each other. We do learn more about how memories are created, which is the most interesting part of the whole series.
The series has a wonderful poetic narrative, and has outstanding cinematography that really adds to the atmosphere or livens it up more, offering contrast to the sometimes too serious and depressing mood. The Theatre des Vampires is amazing, and the new characters, especially the charismatic Santiago are a fresh addition. The trial is brutal, but the cartoon film on the screen is amazing. The trial is also very uncomfortable as is the performance of Claudia and her little play and song posing as a little girl. It expresses how she will never be able to grow up, forever will be seen as a child. It’s painful and heartbreaking and her fate is undeserved and cruel. All she ever was, was collateral damage of desperate ways to find happiness and love. It makes her story the most devastating of all.
Interview with the Vampire season 2 is a great story that keeps interesting and adds even more intriguing narratives. With great cinematography, interesting new characters, new perspectives and more humor that balances the heavy atmosphere, this second season is as seducing as the first one.
Read more about Interview with the Vampire:
- Interview with the Vampire season 1 review
- The Vampire Lestat/ Interview with the Vampire season 3 review
Did You Know I Also Make Art and Designs?
you can buy my designs on apparel or stationary, mugs and more. You can learn more about it on my art & design shop page or go directly to one of my shops.