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Relationship rage comics1/7/2023 ![]() Rather than dragging along the audience and teasing the sexy bloodshed that is to come, the first episode effectively and efficiently submerges you into the intimate and untameable world that awaits. Instead of falling into the “will they won’t they” trap, Louis and Lestat almost instantly get together and Lestat turns him into a fellow with fangs. We've already witnessed Louis’s racial and sexual identity crisis, met his family, and seen a significant portion of his interview with Daniel. Even though it was just the beginning, the pilot felt like a completely satisfying journey. A pilot could make or break whether we decide to stick with the show, and given the overwhelming amount of content being handed to us every day, it’s even more tempting to jump ship before we give the characters and story a chance to find their footing. ![]() There's a lot of pressure riding on that first impression. “For the first time in my life, I was seen.” He succumbs to his desire and agrees to be turned into a vampire, and Lestat does so with pleasure. “The first time I laid eyes on you, your beautiful face, I saw that sorrow… I can take away that sorrow, Louis.” Louis even admits to Daniel that he can’t articulate how Lestat’s words managed to cut into him. “What rage you must feel as you choke on your sorrow,” Lestat wonders aloud to Louis in his soap opera-style monologue. The episode hurtles toward its epic ending once Lestat bursts into the church and sucks the blood and life from the priest. Ashamed of his behaviors and the lies he tells himself, he confesses to a priest with a shaky and uncertain voice that he needs help. Because of this sexual experience and Lestat’s ability to get inside Louis’ thoughts, Louis skips out on his brother’s funeral services to grieve on his own. Showing such a romantic and grand scene between the two leads in the pilot is an incredibly bold creative decision that continues to heighten the story. This was all part of Lestat’s grand plan to seduce and consume part of Louis, and boy did it work. Right when the two seem like they are going their separate ways, Louis agrees to Lestat’s offer for a nightcap. Why hide that from your family?” Lestat asks. You were in there weeping when the curtain fell. “The lie you told about leaving the opera house early. In fact, Louis bends the truth about their excursions. Lestat even comes over to meet Louis’ family, though he brushes off their intimate friendship and blames it on similar business interests. We see the pair go shopping and enjoy the night sky on a bench where they share their innermost feelings. Louis and Lestat’s increasingly close relationship is showcased rather quickly when it could’ve easily been stretched out over the course of several episodes. It wasn’t Lestat’s fangs that were piercing Louis (yet), but his optimistic and seductive eyes. “I had come there for Lily, but I left thinking of only him.” And just like that, sexual tension fills the air. “Emasculation and admiration in equal measure,” Louis growls to Daniel. ![]() Since Lestat has been observing Louis from afar, he knows what buttons to press. He’s forced to confront his sexual desires when he notices that a smooth-talking, chiseled-chinned vampire named Lestat de Lioncourt has the attention of the woman he typically is involved with (or at least likes to be seen with). He reveals to Daniel that he frequented a certain high-end, predominantly White club to keep up his status and reputation. The episode also swiftly ignites a conversation about what is consuming Louis the most: his sexual identity. But, as I alluded to before, you couldn’t look weak,” because “you never knew who was watching.” “Did I want to pull a knife on my brother? No. This even includes his troubled younger brother Paul ( Steven Norfleet), who repeatedly inserts himself where he doesn’t belong to speak the word of God. You had to be if you wanted to survive.” Louis’ explanation to Daniel worked as narration to the audience, who watched a calloused Louis do his best to control his threatened narrative by coolly dismissing others. “I was, admittedly, a rougher thing then. The harsh reality was that despite the slow steps toward equality, a Black man was definitely not going to be taken seriously, which Louis knew. He might appear to be outwardly confident as the successful owner of brothels in Storyville (New Orleans’ red-light district) and as the charming, beloved son of a deceased wealthy man, but this could not be further from the truth. Pre-vampire bite Louis in 1910 is as deeply complex and tortured (if not more so) as he is after he turns. In the first episode, we're immersed in the gloominess and unpredictability of both eras.
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