IwtV First Impressions

Thoughts on AMC's Interview with the Vampire Episode 1

Old Daniel is giving Anthony Bourdain vibes.

I'm okay with the framing of the earlier version being some kind of drug-induced fever dream/no one wanted to talk about the truth. As my roommate pointed out, I usually hate that kind of thing, but it usually comes at the end and usually as a way to handwave not having any kind of strong ending/way to fix things.

I'm not sure how I feel about them setting it in 2022 though. In some ways, that's intriguing, but does that mean that everything happening before this in the timeline won't have happened? No Lestat waking up, reading Louis's book, and deciding to become a rockstar? 

Has he been sleeping this whole time then? Will he wake up now and decide to become? What? Still a musician? That won't feel very modern for him. Will he go on Tiktok? Youtube beauty influencer? 

Okay, that could mean we get some kind of big vampire battle between Lestat and Jeffree Star...lots of hissing and ten-inch pink fingernails. 

The winner gets the branding.

Anyway.

The dynamic between Daniel and Louis is very, very good. Daniel is clearly terrified, but he's also old and bitter, and sarcastic now. He's also amazingly good at it. 

The lighting on the show is very good. The camera work is very good. A lot of shows recently and I won't name them here, have been really bad about jarring their sets (and your ability to be drawn into them) with pretty shoddy lighting choices. The showrunners know what they're doing.

I like that we see Louis's family. That adds a nice level of depth to the story, as does his complicated relationship with his faith. Complicated relationships with faith have always been a Rice theme, so we should be seeing it already. 

Everything line of Lestat's dialogue is ridiculous. But don't blame that on bad script writing. Lestat talking that way is canon. 'Overwrought and dramatic' is his default state.

Ohh mentions of Nicki made my heart twinge. I caught at least three. One was outright, the other two more subtle. It always seemed to me that a lot of Lestat's last hold on humanity was tied to his love/mourning for Nicki. Establishing that early on is a good idea.

In every direction, even before Lestat shows up, Louis's situation is impossible. He's miserable. He won't be less miserable with Lestat in his life, but at least the focus of why he's miserable mostly narrows to 'has to be around Lestat' and that will make everything else seem easier.

They did the trope of 'happiest of days and we watched the sunrise before tragedy' but they did it well. It pulled all the right heartstrings, even if you can feel the moves as they happen.

Lestat intruding into someone's funeral march to bitch because he's being ignored is absolutely something Lestat would do.  See, that's the key to this character. The only thing you can do to characterize him improperly is to make him act well-adjusted and reasonable. This is someone who thinks about HIMSELF and maybe a few other people, but only the in context of how they should be thinking about him/watching him/reacting to him. “Ohhh! I hope my beloved mother is well! She needs to continue existence so she can witness all of my adventures!” 

“Gabrielle! Maman! Did you see my review of the new Smashbox lip glosses? I got so many views. Did you comment? Did you watch it? Watch it again. No, no. Turn on your camera so I can watch you watch it. But pretend as if it is the first time you are watching it!!”

The last act of the show was a bit clunky. They need to work on getting their vampirism to look seamless and right now it just really doesn't. The eroticism level wasn't quite there. Close. It's almost, but not QUITE. 

Having said that, the look on Lestat's face right before he bit him was PERFECT.

In conclusion, for the most part, I was pleased. 

Keep in mind that my bar for vampire content is very very low and I enjoy dramatic trashy things in general. 

But for what I wanted out of the show, and by that I mean I wanted a beautiful dramatic sexy vampire romp, the show delivered. I wasn't bored. I wasn't baffled at why everything was so bad. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.