The memory of their beginning is rubbing off on present loumand hard because the way the stilted performance of last episode melted off so seamlessly I was astonished. They fell back into rhythm quickly and their reminiscing was kinda melancholic in some parts? In spite of all the mess that went down between 1945 and 2022 they're still longing so bad for what they once had but to acknowledge that is to confront being authors of said mess so here we are

Daniel is so funny to me he's quite literally in the lions den with his head in the lions mouth but his subconscious belief in his own social power over louis (whiteness and masculinity) is so strong like he'll get scared for his physical safety or get reminded that louis is actually super rich and powerful for a while and obviously a lot of the condescension is him being an abrasive ass in general but you can tell over the course of the interview he does not see louis as a rational actor . the stockholm syndrome reference. he's like well he's a girl lion

Armand's version of everything that happened with Lestat obviously isn't entirely accurate but i don't think it's entirely inaccurate either... "Lestat would never do this" Yes he would and in some cases canonically does. Like that theatre scene is hilarious but Lestat cheating on his beloved boyfriend in front of him and mocking him is something that literally happened in season 1. I think Armand's story is more likely just embellished rather than made-up

can't be the only one who genuinely gets a pang of fear every time armand and louis start to question daniel and their whole demeanor shifts into a very dangerous zone

that loumand fight scene tho

New iwtv episode was fucking awesome!!!!!!!!! Paaaaain!!!

seeing anyone draw or reference armand as a creepy red headed white kid is ssosos ossooo fucking scary to me it’s literally like a jump scare

honest to god I would LOVE to see armand stage manage in a contemporary theatre setting

*remembering how anne had me thinking rhoshamandes killed gabrielle, louis, and marius* you got me good anne you got me good

I just made an essay about why Armand stayed in the Children of Darkness cult for my university and now my 68 year old teacher has to read about a teenage vampire with daddy issues 😀

could everyone stop giving the poor detective mini heartattacks when dealing with crazy stuff?

Jamie & Armand:  Obsessiveness

The core part of Jamie and Armand’s relationship is the fact they are completely, and utterly obsessed with the other.

They have quite a mad scientist and experiment/creation type dynamic at play---with Armand being struck by the sheer capabilities Jamie demonstrates, he wants to explore every possible avenue to see how far Jamie’s body can be pushed.

At the same time, you also have a notorious shut-in of a deckhead, and an overly aggressive Maelstrom chromejock; they’re not exactly social butterflies.  This fucked up relationship is the closest thing they’ve had to intimate, close human contact in a long time.  And if either of them are presented with a risk to lose the other, god help Night City.

Armand’s obsessiveness is characterized through his obsession with gaining knowledge and information; he wants it just to have it.  It doesn’t matter how small or trivial it is, Armand will file it away for later.  Plus, you never know, may fetch a pretty penny for it.

Jamie, on the other hand, can be summed up by a sort of god complex coupled with extreme aggression.  He’s obsessed with pushing the limits of humanity, and what it means to be human, and optimizing his strength as much as possible.  After all, if he’s the strongest, then there will be nobody left who can threaten him.

Armand wants to see, firsthand, the human body pushed to the absolute limit by a subject that shows... exceptional capabilities.  Record changes, try to curb cyberpsychosis as much as possible.

To Jamie, Armand is the answer he was looking for.  The one who will take him to where he needs to be, to make him a god.  And he doesn’t want to lose that opportunity, even if it means he has to kill.

Armand's podcast chiarobscuro on obscure art history is just him speaking in a monotone for 1 hour about 1 page of 1 illuminated manuscript nd it's coincidentally number 1 trending on pods because people use it as a sleep aid. but then sometimes in the middle of it he'll say something incredibly disturbing and a cult (haha.) following starts claiming there are hidden subliminals in it which are allegations Armand never acknowledges and which people on twitter roast but reality shifters on tik tok get increasingly into. Daniels podcast by/line is beat out consistently by pod save America which is totally fine and not contributing to his alcoholism or his divorce or his psychosexual obsession with armand. he won't listen to armands podcast as a point of principle except for when he puts it on to fall asleep and then gets weirdly turned on and then pavlovs himself into arousal every time he hears armands voice. one sided psychological torture. Armand's cult (haha.) following continues to grow until lestat's podcast lestat (self-titled) filed in culture & the arts blows up and usurps him even though its an hour and a half one-man monologue about quite genuinely nothing at all, though worryingly often, his mother. and Louis? well Louis isnt privy to any of this because he has a child to raise and zones out whenever lestat starts talking about renting out a bigger recording studio for his podcast so that he can have guests on and invest in sound equipment FOR CLAUDIAS FUTURE, OF COURSE. her college fund Louis! the dividends will go toward her college fund. ahaha. what is the definition of this: dividends. Louis gets curious and listens to lestats podcast but gets distracted by recommended for you: chiarobscuro, finds it interesting enough that he doesn't fall asleep, and mentions it offhandedly to lestat after telling him lestat (self-titled) is cute. lestat is distracted by the high of being told Louis likes his podcast but wakes up in the middle of the night sitting straight up in bed when he remembers Louis said "chiarobscuro" in passing at precisely 7:46am this morning. lestat who has armand in his phone represented by the 🕴🏼emoji from college (Louis doesnt know he knows him, lestat has never once mentioned him) calls him from the bathroom at 4am and demands he immediately end his podcasting career. armand who of course answered at 4am counters that they meet in a neutral location to discuss terms. at 5am lestat and armand meet at a park. lestat rages, scaring off several sunrise joggers and their dogs. armand allows this to happen in silence and then says look across the pond. at which point lestat does and sees a bedraggled 50 year old white man plodding along with bodega coffee. you needn't worry about your Louis, says armand. I have a different project. I have been implanting subliminal messages in my podcasts in order to lure Molloy into my thrall. lestat, grudgingly impressed, concedes and stops to get coffee for the family before going back home. Louis and claudia are delighted by the impromptu breakfast and lestat is offered a special shower time reward. before disrobing, and working quickly, he hacks Louis' phone (passcode claudia's birthday) and in a fit of true selfless sacrifice deletes not just Louis' subscription to chiarobscuro, but his podcast app as a whole--damning his own podcast to never again be heard by Louis but removing armand permanently from their lives forever. he joins Louis in the shower, stunned by his own genius. perhaps he will have that worm molloy on his show in order to thwart armands plans. lestat 2 armand 0. it's almost enough to ease the burn of armand telling lestat in their audio production class in college that he's too dumb to start a podcast

For all the vampire media I consume, the Interview with the vampire show is the only one that really, deeply makes me feel like vampirism is a curse. Lestat had a bright future ahead of him before being turned, Louis was loved by his family, Claudia was 14 (!!!!) and Armand was a 17 year old boy. Those people all had their lives spoiled and stolen by becoming vampires. All that they could've been, seen and experienced has vanished and crushed in an instant. They're cursed to be seen as monsters and yet they spent the eternity they have searching for the most human thing ever ; connection. They're simply scared of being alone, all of them. It's just so sad.

It makes me happy that the writers and Assad seem to be very aware of how everything Armand does and how he perceives the world has been heavily influenced by his past trauma, and that they intend to explore it. In the books Armand's character was clearly shaped by his long history of sexual abuse and abandonment too, but i felt it was rather poorly handled and largely unaddressed. The show, on the other hand, seems to be approaching all this unflinchingly and you can infer from interviews and from what we've seen so far that even though the show Armand was older than in the books when he became a vampire, his backstory is still likely very similar to the original. In the same interview Assad also said that under his facade of power and stoicism Armand is a scared child looking for support and care, and i think that describes him very well and i'm happy that this show understands that it's an essential part of his character