Breaking Down ‘The Vampire Lestat’ Season Finale

Oh, were you expecting an apocalyptic rock concert? Think again, cabbage! The Vampire Lestat’s season finale may not have summoned Akasha, the Queen of the Damned, just yet. It just summoned some big ideas, bigger questions, and gobsmacking acting performances we’re gonna be begging the Television Academy to remember in a year, NBD. Is that not enough?That said, if you’re still processing *all that* let’s break down what did and did not happen in that episode. Spoilers ahead for The Vampire Lestat season finale. The penultimate episode of Interview with the Vampire’s third season was shocking enough. Armand (Assad Zaman) and Daniel (Eric Bogosian) beheaded Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat (Sam Reid). Why?! For fun!? The season finale of The Vampire Lestat a.k.a. “The Failures” addressed the cliffhanger and opened up so many possibilities for the future of this franchise. It served up two intimate, theatrical storylines and a third thing. One of them was a fantasy and the other was a science fiction horror show. And no disrespect to the third thing. I loved the third thing!How did Louis and Lestat survive being beheaded?There were a few hints earlier in the season that vampires can, at least temporarily, survive without their head attached. That’s just part of the lore. Because Lestat has the blood of Akasha in him—maybe you’ve heard—and is rather old, he has several hours on the clock. As his fledgling, Louis has time to spare as well. But the clock is ticking.While Louis is conscious during this crucial time, Lestat turns inward.What is the “Long Table” and why is Lestat stuck there?Lestat’s head is in a bowling bag. His mind is on an Alice in Wonderland meets Twelve Angry Men fantasy trip. His maker, his mentor, and his fledglings (Magnus, Marius, Gabriella, Nicolas, Louis, Antoinette, and TC, but not Claudia) have gathered at a long table to discuss the contents of his soul and his life’s many failures. Sounds awful. They recap his entire life, one blunder and fumble after another from artistic ventures to romantic relationships.After hearing them out, Lestat tries to hold a concert in the fantasy sequence. This is not the one that infamously summons Akasha...we don’t even get there this season. This concert is for his victims, fledglings, and other significant people. As he crashes out contemplating his failures, the band repeats the intro over and over. (Hey...hey...did you know that’s called vamping? Do you get it? Vamping!)Time is running out and his vitals are declining. With seconds left, he’s visited by Paul, Louis’s brother, whose death lead to Louis’ turning. Paul thanks him for loving Louis the way he needs, even though Louis has trouble saying the words. It’s enough.What was the point of this extended It’s a Wonderful Life homage? It gets Lestat to reject his mother’s manipulative love and reaffirm his love for Louis–which is not a failure. It confronts his own bratty hypocrisy in a way that’s weird and entertaining. It also, in a roundabout way, gets Lestat to admit responsibility for Akasha’s return.Sophie Giraud/AMCWhy did Gabriella take baby Lestat to the witch burning?There’s an extended sequence in Lestat’s long table daydream that takes us back to the witch burning Gabriella dragged him to as a child. He’s been asking his mother, over and over, why she took him there. We see the brutal scene in more detail now. She wanted him to understand how terrible, unjust the world was and leave their suffocating small village. For example, she points out that one of the women accused had accused a teacher of sexual assault and the teacher.And he lived at home until he was in his 30s, like some kind of millennial! Failure!Sorry...Armand was responsible for the Regina storyline??Meanwhile, at a butcher shop across town, Armand reveals to Louis’s decapitated noggin what he’s actually been up to this season. Was he really making amends, or “Armends” in his words? Kind of. Was he trying to break up Lestat’s band? Yes, absolutely. Was he trying to stop the Great Conversation? Eh, not really.He planted Regina! Armand has been searching for the perfect Claudia doppelgänger to mess with Louis as revenge since Dubai. Or, perhaps, also to force Louis and Lestat back together so that he could behead them together... cute! He found Regina, a perfect match with a criminal background, in East London. He spent over a year getting her set up in New York City and trying to arrange a meet-cute between her and Louis. Once they connected, he stepped back and let her take the wheel. In the words of Armand’s companion, I should have seen that coming. There was something just a little too ’80s movie cliché about Regina as a down-on-her-luck diner waitress.Armand apologizes to Louis for the Paris trial and for lying about it after. He then asks Louis to apologize to him and tortures Regina as motivation so that they can both move on with their lives. Oh! Armand says that Louis wasted almost a century of his time on a relationship they both knew, on some level, was based on a lie. Not to mention he used him to get back at Lestat, who was also Armand’s ex if anyone cares. Oh, Armand. May he never learn the meaning of a proportional response.Louis does apologize for never loving Armand the way he deserved. Under pain of death, of course, he shows saintlike compassion. One of the reasons he says they couldn’t connect is because Armand was sold into sex work as a young child; and confronting that side of his companion’s history would force Louis to confront his own dark history procuring sex workers “on the other shore.” The distance made Louis cold and possibly pushed Armand towards his eviler instincts.This breakthrough affects Armand profoundly. He lets Regina go. He leaves Louis to be re-headed by Dr. Fareed, who had been running tests on his vitals and livestreaming the results to Eastern Europe. Totally. He carves an easy “A” into Louis’s chest before he disappears into the day with the swoosh of a long jacket. That’s the last we see of him.Sophie Giraud/AMCMeanwhile, at the bowling alley...Daniel doesn’t watch Lestat’s head for long. First, Alex shows up. He’s gone almost totally nonverbal. The jury’s out. Then Raglan James arrives with some of his cronies. He tells Daniel that the Talamasca is actually pro-Great Conversion, and that they need Lestat’s head so that they can make him do the concert. He also says that they’re very interested in how a vampire’s ability to be removed from their head proves the existence of the soul.Daniel bears his fangs at Raglan. That’s the last we see of him. Raglan, Alex, and Lestat’s head end up in the same place later... but not Daniel. Did Armand rush to his side? Feels likely, but unclear.Can Daniel and Armand DTR, please?While I’m on the subject, the heck is going on with these two crazy kids? Armand told Daniel that he was in love with him, stalked him for five decades, and now confidently refers to him as his companion. Daniel says that he’s seeing someone, lowkey refers to Armand as his wife, and claims to be in his “daywalker yaoi manther phase.” None of those words are in the Bible. But we haven’t actually seen them, like, together together. Not even a handhold.The devastating, unflinching way that Armand reacts to Louis telling him that he needs a love that’ll cradle him does not lead me to believe that everything is sunshine and roses at the Molloy household. Just sunburn, at the moment. Maybe it was once. There’s definitely room for it to be in the future. But not yet.Funny thing, actually. As you may know, the source material for this dastardly duo is the fourth chapter of the third book in Anne Rice’s series, Queen of the Damned. It begins by detailing the days leading up to that Lestat concert that unleashes Akasha (just like the end of TVL...) from different POVs. The chapter, all about Daniel a.k.a. “the Devil’s Minion,” asks the audience, Hey, remember Daniel? Oh, you don’t know who that is... he didn’t have a name before. So, he’s the boy from Interview with the Vampire. His full name is Daniel Molloy and he’s with Armand now. Confused? Let’s back up.The way I see it, The Vampire Lestat has served up a version of those circumstances and overall disorienting vibe on a silver platter for the next season. For that and about a dozen other reasons, let’s get moving on that next season ASAP!!Where was Lestat at the end of the episode?Lestat wakes up in his coffin on the tour bus, head well and attached. They’re parked in a field. The concert is supposed to start at any minute. He finds Louis. He calls his mother a monster, finally, and refuses to take the stage. OFC, we know that doesn’t happen.Then, we flash forward to Lestat recording “The Failures” spoken-word albums at an undetermined point in the future. He’s seemingly alone in his Montreal apartment. The city is in ruins, presumably in the aftermath of Akasha’s attack. This is when he takes responsibility for that, too.Also, at this undetermined point in the future, Lestat can walk in the sun. Surprise!Sophie Giraud/AMCUnanswered questions I have after The Vampire Lestat finale. Before you start accusing me, this is not a criticism. We don’t need all the answers! It’s good to still have something to talk about at the end of a season, even a final season. We have a lot to talk about.Is Daniel alive?Where did Armand go? (Those two are probably related, let’s be real.)Who is Alex loyal to? Does it matter?What was Rashid doing outside of the butcher shop?Did Regina make it safely out of the butcher shop?Seriously, what “protocol” did the Talamasca follow w/r/t Daniel and Armand?Where is Lemuel? Does it matter?Where is Marius in the present day?Who was watching Fareed and Armand’s livestream?Why is Raglan so concerned with scientific proof of souls? (Those two are also probably related.)Can Armand drive?Did Louis reintroduce himself to Gabriella?What, or who, makes Lestat do the concert?