Recap / Interview with the Vampire (2022) S1E1 "In Throes of Increasing Wonder…"

"Be my companion, Louis. For all eternity."

Aired October 2, 2022

Louis de Pointe du Lac lives in 1910 New Orleans as the executor-in-charge of his family's fortune. When he meets the vampire Lestat, Louis' life begins to unravel in otherworldly ways. In 2022, Louis tells his story to journalist Daniel Molloy.

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Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Lestat outlines to Paul how his father had beaten and starved him simply because he had studied religion at a monastery and wanted to become a priest.
• Adaptational Location Change: In the Interview with the Vampire novel, Lestat transforms Louis into a vampire at the latter's indigo plantation outside of New Orleans, but in the TV series, this event takes place in the city proper at St. Augustine Church.
• All Gays Love Theater:
  • The bisexual Lestat is a big fan of the opera, and he takes his Love Interest Louis on a date to watch a live performance of Iolanta.
  • Louis enjoyed the show, but he acted dismissively and disinterested about it to his family when Lestat brings up that they attended the opera together — to a brief surprised expression from Lestat. Louis is firmly closeted and in denial of his homosexuality, so he deliberately tries to avoid this trope's implications. Louis and Lestat discuss it after the dinner.
    Louis: You sayin' I got shame?
    Lestat: The lie you told about leaving the opera house early. You were near weeping when the curtain fell. Why hide that from your family?
    Louis: Don't everybody need to know what I do.
    Lestat: Dishonesty breeds dishonesty.
    Louis: They sit in judgment. Paul is the only one to say it to my face, but I know my ma and Grace think it, too.
• At the Opera Tonight: The first opera Louis and Lestat attend together is Iolanta. Louis is so dazzled by the performance that he was "near weeping when the curtain fell," while Lestat prefers to study his date despite being an opera aficionado.
• The Beard: Before meeting Lestat, Louis tries to maintain his straight credentials by seeing a prostitute named Lily.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Grace is so sick and tired of Louis and Paul's daily arguments at the breakfast table that she wishes she could have a quiet breakfast. She gets exactly that in the worst way possible because both of her brothers die by the end of the episode — Paul to suicide, Louis to vampirism. Being an undead vampire means that Louis can never join Grace for breakfast ever again because sunlight would destroy him.
• Beneath the Mask: Because Louis is a gay African American in 1910, he has to put on a different façade depending on whom he's interacting with, and having to do this on a daily basis is detrimental to his mental health. Lestat is infuriated that Louis is whittling himself away by pretending to be something he's not.
  Lestat: This primitive country has picked you clean. It has shackled you in permanent exile. Every room you enter, every hat you are forced to wear — the stern landlord, the deferential businessman, the loyal son — all these roles you conform to and none of them your true nature. What rage you must feel as you choke on your sorrow.
• Berserk Button: Mentioning God, Jesus or Christianity in general is a major one for Lestat, who's a Hollywood Atheist with a grudge against his raised religion. When Paul brings it up, Lestat drops his manners and gets genuinely angry, and he later becomes furious at Louis for trying to seek salvation through his faith. Lestat's response is to burn the pews at St. Augustine Church and murder the two priests present in grisly fashion.
• Big Brother Bully: Lestat explains to Paul that part of the reason why "there's an ocean between Christ and myself" is because his older brothers had beaten him after they kidnapped him from the monastery when he was a boy.
• Big Little Brother: Louis is the eldest of the de Pointe du Lac siblings, but his younger brother Paul is slightly taller than him.
  Paul: You remember the day I got taller than you?
  Louis: Always bringin' that up.
  Paul: Shot up like a Nuttall oak. Daddy said I was gonna look down on you for the rest of days.
  Louis: Yeah, yeah. Half an inch.
  Paul: That was a good month, that month.
• Bilingual Bonus: Louis threatens Paul with "I'll bleed ya like a cochon ^note misspelled as "kochon" in the official English subtitles," which is French for "pig."
• Bite of Affection: At the end of Louis and Lestat's Official Kiss in the church, one can see that Lestat's lower lip is being tugged slightly as he's about to pull away, so Louis had bit him gently there.
• Boy Meets Ghoul: Lestat, a handsome vampire, falls madly in love with Louis, a human, and the former courts the latter for a few months before they share their First Kiss and Their First Time. A few weeks later, Lestat proclaims his love for Louis and he proposes that they enter a Common Law Marriage of Eternal Love. Louis expresses his assent by kissing Lestat, their Official Kiss being their final intimate act before Lestat turns Louis into a vampire.
• Bullet Time: In the climax, Lestat's vampiric Super-Speed is illustrated by him walking normally while everything around him moves at a snail's pace; in particular, the priest appears to be running in slow-motion from Lestat's perspective.
• But Liquor Is Quicker: Because Louis was a Closet Gay when he was mortal, he could only overcome his internalized homophobia by getting drunk before having sex with men (he refers to this as "floating-on-a-sea-of-vodka type encounters").
• Call a Human a "Meatbag": After draining Father Matthias to death, Lestat belittles him as a mere "pig vessel."
• Camera Abuse:
  • Lestat pounces on a lamplighter and his prey's blood splashes on the camera below.
  • Later during the climax, after Lestat murders a priest by punching right through the latter's head at high speed, some of his victim's blood and brain matter land on the camera lens.
• The Caretaker: Louis is responsible for his mentally ill younger brother Paul after promising their dying father he would look after him.
• Climactic Music: In The Climax, the unsettling notes of Daniel Hart's "Permanent Exile" echo Louis being very disturbed when Lestat unveils his true vampire nature for the first time; the latter butchers and exsanguinates Father Matthias with his fangs, and then he slaughters a second priest by ramming his fist at Super-Speed through the man's skull.
• Closet Gay: Louis had to stay closeted in 1910 New Orleans, and notes how while you could be many things openly then, a gay black man wasn't one of them.
  Louis: My business and my raised religion were at odds, and the, uh... latencies within me, well, I beat those back with a lie I told myself about myself — that I was a red-blooded son of the South, seeking ass before absolution.
  Daniel: And you maintained this delusion how exactly?
  Louis: A particular woman who worked for the competition.
• Closet Key: The handsome and charming Lestat is this for Louis, who was in denial of his homosexuality until Lestat seduced him. Unlike his prior "floating-on-a-sea-of-vodka type encounters" with other men, Louis wasn't drunk when he and Lestat made love, and he was forced to concede that he had developed romantic feelings for Lestat.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Louis is the caretaker of his brother Paul, who is mentally ill and believes that God communicates to him through the "birds" inside his mind.
  Daniel: Your brother sounds like a pain in the ass.
  Louis: Fragile. Stubborn. Indulged. I promised our father on his death bed to look after him. But when Paul's mind was right, he was no burden. Point of fact, I loved him more than anyone on Earth.
• Compartment Shot: The camera is inside Daniel's mailbox when he unlocks it to take out the package that Louis had shipped to him.
• Confessional: Shortly after his brother Paul's funeral, the Catholic Louis is falling apart at the seams and seeks sanctuary at St. Augustine Church because he desperately needs solace from his faith, plus he thinks that Holy Ground will shield him from the Devil (his lover Lestat is actually a vampire, but Louis doesn't know that yet). Louis then confesses his sins to Father Matthias in the booth.
  Louis: The Devil is in New Orleans.
  Father Matthias: Calm down, son. Catch your breath.
  Louis: (panting) Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. Grievously sinned.
  Father Matthias: Sign of the cross, son.
  Louis: (performs the sign of the cross) I'm a drunk, Lord. I'm a liar. I am a thief, Lord. I profit off the miseries of other men, and I do it easy. Drugs, liquor, women. I-I-I-I lure them in and grab what they got, Lord. I take daughters with no homes and I-I put 'em out on the street, Lord, and I lie to myself, saying I-I'm giving them a roof and food and dollar bills in they pocket, but I look in the mirror, I know what I am — the big man in the big house, stuffing cotton in my ears so I can't hear their cries. And Lord, I dragged my family into this mess with me. I shame my father. I f— I failed my brother. I lost my mother and sister, and rather than fix it like a man should, Lord, I run like a coward. I run to the bottle. I run to the grift. I run to bad beds. I-I laid down with a man. I laid down with the Devil. And he has roots in me, all his spindly roots in me, and I can't think nothin' anymore, but his voice and his words! Please, help me! I am weak! I wanna die!
• Content Warnings: The episode ends with a list of suicide prevention resources because of the scene where Paul purposefully falls to his death.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Lestat murders Lily after Louis avoids him for an extended period of time in order to isolate him emotionally, therefore making a vulnerable Louis more receptive to the idea of becoming Lestat's immortal companion.
• Cultural Posturing: The Frenchman Lestat outright calls America a "primitive country." He regards his homeland to be more civilized, cultured and sophisticated because (by European reckoning) it's far older than the New World. The Kingdom of France was founded in the year 987 ^note although one can go back even further to the establishment of West Francia in 843 as the birth of the French nation, while the USA became an independent country in 1776, plus France was still a colonial power in 1910, whereas America wouldn't attain superpower status until after World War II.
• Despair Event Horizon: Louis loses the will to live after his younger brother Paul (whom Louis "loved more than anyone on Earth" and promised their dying father to take care of him) commits suicide. Overwhelmed by the profound loss and feeling like a total failure, Louis undergoes a nervous breakdown while confessing his sins and exclaims in anguish "I wanna die!" Lestat grants him his wish by murdering Louis as a human and then turning him into a vampire.
• Disapproving Look: In the first shot of the dinner scene, Paul glowers◊ at Lestat when he observes him smiling at Louis. The homophobic Paul suspects that Lestat's affection for his brother goes far beyond mere friendship (and his instincts are spot-on — Lestat intends to seduce Louis after the dinner).
• Disposable Sex Worker: Before meeting Lestat, Louis has been appearing to carry on an affair with a prostitute named Lily. Lestat kills Lily as part of his effort to draw Louis towards him.
• Disproportionate Retribution: In 1973, Louis nearly killed Daniel after the latter merely asked to be turned into a vampire (apparently he was under the influence of drugs at the time). 49 years later, Louis is still pissed off about it because he becomes irate after listening to the cassette recording of their argument and the subsequent attack, and he accuses Daniel of being insolent — as if that somehow justifies his homicidal outburst.
  Louis: (hostile tone) You were disrespectful.
  Daniel: I was high.
• Double Meaning:
  • Lestat tells Louis and Lily that he disembarked in New Orleans because of the music and dancing, "but then there was food." While the local cuisine was served at this public gathering, as a vampire, Lestat would've eaten a couple of humans that night for his meal.
  • Because of the homophobia which existed in 1910, Lestat can't overtly flirt with Louis during their first meeting, but he still conveys his interest in roundabout ways. Lestat is outright leering at Louis and speaking with a sultry voice while recounting how he had "sampled" many New Orleans women, including those with "cinnamon" skin tones. Lestat is subtly expressing his desire to "taste" Louis because the latter is a "cinnamon" Creole. Later, when Lestat says that he and Louis are "Destined to be very good friends," what he really means is that they're "Destined to be lovers."
  • Whenever Lestat and the topic of home (e.g. "I said to myself, 'Lestat, unpack your trunks, you're home'"; "Yes, I feel quite at home here") or New Orleans (e.g. "[Lestat] was in love with my city and wanted to know everything he could about it) are mentioned together, it indirectly points to Louis — not New Orleans — being Lestat's beloved home.
  • While reminiscing about a young violinist he once knew, Lestat describes him as "a boy of infinite beauty and sensitivity" as he looks Louis straight in the eye and hands him a drink. It's apparent that Lestat deems Louis to be equally beautiful and sensitive as the violinist.
• Dramatic Pause: The dinner conversation at the de Pointe du Lac mansion comes to a halt after Paul demands to know what Lestat's intentions are towards his brother Louis. As Lestat struggles to think of a reply that would diffuse Paul's homophobic intimation, the only sound that can be heard is the faint chirping of the crickets outside.
• Dramatic Thunder: The Climax of the episode takes place inside a church while a thunderstorm rages outside. The thunderclaps imbue the scene with a foreboding ambience, which is an apt setting for Lestat to murder the three people present (two priests and Louis, although the latter is revived as an undead vampire).
• Driven to Suicide: Paul commits suicide by jumping off the roof of the family mansion on the morning after Grace's wedding.
• Drowning My Sorrows: A forlorn Louis drinks from his flask after Paul's funeral and orders a Sazerac at the Fairplay Saloon.
• Due to the Dead: The de Pointe du Lac family arrange a jazz funeral (which is traditional in New Orleans) for Paul, and the procession walk along the streets of the city until they reach the St. Augustine Church cemetery, where Paul's body will be interred in the family mausoleum. It's followed by a wake, although this is not shown on-screen.
• Eating the Eye Candy: There are plenty of moments when Lestat is devouring Louis with his eyes like his Love Interest is the most delicious-looking dessert.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Based on his dinner conversation with Florence, the evil vampire Lestat adores his mother and fondly talks about her ("...she gave me every advantage in life as a young man: my first mastiff, first flintlock rifle, the means to make my way to Paris").
• Even the Guys Want Him:
  • The bisexual Lestat is enthralled by Louis and praises his good looks, telling him that he's "a handsome man" with "such a pretty head" and a "beautiful face."
  • Lestat describes a young male violinist he once knew as having "infinite beauty."
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French:
  Lestat: Seul l'impossible peut faire l'impossible. ^note "Only the impossible can do the impossible."
  Lily: I don't know much what you're saying. But it sure sounds nice.
• Exhausted Eye Bags: Throughout the climax, the bags under Louis' eyes are reddish and puffy because he's grieving for his brother Paul, and the loss has pushed him past his Despair Event Horizon. His situation is further exacerbated by the fear and stress brought on by Lestat's Non-Human Lover Reveal when the latter savagely murders two priests in front of Louis with his vampire fangs and lightning-quick punch.
• Eyebrow Waggle: Lestat wiggles his eyebrows after he psychically asks Louis, "And do you think two pair will win the hour?" It's his playful way of letting his Love Interest know that he'll help Louis win money from the racist jerks at the poker table by Fixing the Game with his Time Stands Still powers.
• Eye Colour Change: As part of Louis' transformation into a vampire, his brown eyes become green.
• Eye Take: In the climax, Louis' eyes almost look like they're bulging out of their sockets because he's so shocked and horrified by the gruesome sight of Lestat mangling Father Matthias while consuming the latter's blood.
• Falling-in-Love Montage: Downplayed Trope with a montage of the dates Louis and Lestat go on. They hang out in a park, go shopping for clothes, and go to the opera. Homosexuality was a criminal offense in 1910, so Lestat's courtship of Louis had to be masked as friendship.
• Fantastically Indifferent: Louis is curious about Lestat's Telepathy and Time Stands Still abilities, but he's otherwise unfazed by these impossible feats, believing them to be mere parlor tricks that Lestat had picked up in France. These supernatural skills should've been a dead giveaway to Louis that his new friend isn't human, yet this thought doesn't cross his mind.
• Feeling Your Heartbeat: After Lestat heals the wounds on Louis' neck from his Kiss of the Vampire, Louis slowly moves Lestat's hand across his bare chest until it rests over his heart. Combined with their Held Gaze, having Lestat feel Louis' heart beating enhances the tenderness shared between them after Their First Time.
• First Kiss: The first time Louis and Lestat lock lips together also coincides with Their First Time. Louis is a Closet Gay, and after months of suppressing his feelings for his best friend, he launches himself at Lestat (they're both already nude at this point) and kisses him fiercely, pushing Lestat against a wall. They're both holding each other's faces tightly to deepen the kiss, and lovemaking soon follows.
• Fixing the Game: Lestat aims to ingratiate himself to his Love Interest Louis by cheating at poker. He puts the game on "pause" by freezing time, then he takes the Jack of Hearts from Tom Anderson and passes it to Louis so that the latter now has a full house (three Jacks and two 9s) instead of a measly two pair. In exchange, Louis gives away the useless 6 of Clubs to Lestat, who then places it in Tom's hand. Time then resumes its normal flow, and Louis ends up winning a lot of money.
• Flames of Love: Lestat's living room is partly lit by a fireplace and candles, and their flickering glow illuminate Louis and Lestat's naked bodies as they make love for the first time. The flames heighten the romance and eroticism inherent in Lestat's seduction of Louis, who wishes to keep his new lover warm in more ways than one: emotionally (he wants Louis to feel loved), physically (Lestat wishes to provide Louis a beautiful hearth and home where they can live together), and sexually (he wants Louis to feel desired).
• Flowers of Femininity: Invoked twice by Lestat when he equates the prostitute Lily with flowers.
  Louis: We met already.
  Lestat: In front of a florist, wasn't it? We both wanted the last bouquet of lilies. ^note It's a euphemism for Louis and Lestat's first meeting at the Fairplay Saloon (a brothel) where they bid for Lily's time.
  • Later, Lestat invites Louis to come into his home for a nightcap, and his hospitality also includes a "present."
    Lestat: I bought you a gift.
    Louis: A gift?
    Lestat: A flower. (glances up at Lily standing on his balcony)
• Forced Sleep: While in a threesome with Louis and Lily, Lestat uses his vampire powers to put Lily to sleep so that he can have Louis all to himself.
• Foreign Culture Fetish: Lampshaded by Grace when she reminds Louis that "Mother loves European" as a reason why he should invite his French friend Lestat to their home for dinner.
• Foreign-Language Tirade: When Paul inadvertently sets off the staunch atheist Lestat's Berserk Button by inquiring about the latter's Christian background, Lestat's diatribe eventually switches to French as an indicator of just how pissed off the Frenchman is, although Louis interrupts him before Lestat can finish his sentence.
  Lestat: J'espère que cela satisfera les oiseaux perchés dans le cage de votre es[prit]—! ^note The direct translation is "I hope this will satisfy the birds perched in the cage of your mind!", although the on-screen caption has "I hope that satisfies the birds perching in your mind's cage!"
• Frequently Full Moon: The full moon is in the night sky when Louis and Lestat's backs are facing towards the camera as they stroll towards the latter's townhouse, and it becomes brighter as the clouds drift away. Moonlight is romantic and vampires are nocturnal, so it's fitting that on the evening the vampire Lestat has chosen to seduce his human Love Interest Louis, the moon is at its most luminous, shining on their blossoming Boy Meets Ghoul romance.
• Frozen Fashion Sense: When the French vampire Lestat arrives in New Orleans, his outfit is noticeably out-of-date compared to the American men's fashion of 1910, like he's still stuck in the previous century. Louis (a snazzy dresser) later helps him to update his wardrobe.
  Lestat: New to the... the New World, I am.
  Louis: That explains the clothes.
  Lestat: (chuckles) A 19th-century man at heart, yes.
• Gayngst: When he was human, Louis struggled with his homosexuality because same-sex relationships were unlawful in the late 19th and early 20th century, not to mention his Catholic faith deems it as a grave sin. His internalized homophobia ran so deep that he was in total denial about his attraction to men.
  Louis: It bears repeating, I did not consider myself a homosexual man at the time. I mean, I've had experiences. Guilt, shame, floating-on-a-sea-of-vodka type encounters.
• Girls Stare at Scenery, Boys Stare at Girls: There's a same-sex variation◊ when Louis is looking straight ahead because he's enraptured by the live Iolanta performance, whereas Lestat is gawking at Louis, who's seated next to him — it should be noted that Lestat is a huge opera fan, yet his attention is laser-focused on his Love Interest instead of what's happening onstage. Louis is oblivious that his friend is smitten by him.
• Good Shepherd: Father Matthias is a kindly priest who's attentive to his parishioners. It's even more notable that he's white with a mostly black parish, and shows no signs of racism toward them in 1910 Louisiana.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Grace, an upper-class Proper Lady, wears two different purple dresses in this episode: the first is when she eats breakfast with her family, and the second is when she and Louis discuss their brother Paul while relaxing at the gazebo in their backyard.
• Gray Rain of Depression: It's pouring rain after Paul's funeral, which matches with how heartbroken Louis feels from the death of his brother.
• Hates Being Alone: Lestat reacts very poorly when Louis ignores him after the first time they make love. Lestat inappropriately brings up a lover's spat during a funeral procession for Louis' brother of all people, being totally inconsiderate of the fact that Louis is in mourning, so the last thing the latter wants is to deal with Lestat complaining about feeling neglected.
  Lestat: I wait on my balcony every night. You've been avoiding me. [...] And I don't take kindly to being avoided.
• Hates Their Parent: While responding to Paul's question about his Christian upbringing, we learn that Lestat detests his father, whom he characterizes as a vulgar man with a temper, for beating and starving him when he was a boy in order to dissuade him from joining the clergy.
• Headbutt of Love: Immediately after their First Kiss, Louis and Lestat press their foreheads together to maintain physical contact since their mouths are no longer touching. Although they're engaging in foreplay, this affectionate gesture stems from emotional intimacy, so it's understood that they're in love in addition to lusting after each other.
• Heal It with Blood: After Their First Time, Lestat instantly heals the two bite marks he left on Louis' neck by applying his own vampire blood on them.
• Hearing Voices: Paul experiences auditory hallucinations which make him think that "birds" in his head are talking to him, imparting God's will. His father put him in a mental hospital to treat this, but he only got worse.
• Held Gaze: After their first bout of lovemaking, Lestat and Louis stare deeply into each other's eyes, which conveys that they both felt a profound emotional bond beyond the physical act. The pupils of Lestat's vampire eyes are blown wide, and he's gaping at Louis with pure, unadulterated awe, as if Louis was the most beautiful creature who has ever walked the Earth.
• Hemo Erotic: Downplayed with Lestat because he usually doesn't derive sexual pleasure from drinking blood, but the one big exception is when he feeds on Louis, whom he's in love with. It's evident from Lestat's soft moans that tasting Louis' blood is a very sensual experience for him. Furthermore, when Louis consumes Lestat's blood as part of his transformation into a vampire, Lestat appears aroused (orgasmic, even) with a slack jaw while panting, his gaze fixed on Louis. Lestat clearly enjoys both the sensation and the sight of Louis sucking on his blood. Lestat then collapses on to the floor while still breathing heavily in a manner which resembles a Post-Coital Collapse.
• Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: After Paul inquires about the nature of Lestat's relationship with Louis, Lestat hesitates for a full seven seconds before he can formulate an answer. 1910 was a very homophobic era, so Lestat can't reply truthfully that he has been wooing Louis these past few months.
  Paul: And what exactly is the nature of your relationship with my brother, Monsieur Lioncourt?
  Lestat: …Your brother and I have been discussing a few investment opportunities.
• Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: During Lestat's (a Frenchman) first meeting with Louis (a Creole who knows French), he speaks a few sentences in French which are for Louis' ears only, so Lily doesn't understand the parts of the conversation that Lestat wants to keep private between himself and his new Love Interest. Lily asks Louis for a translation, but he refuses.
• Hollywood Atheist: After having been educated by monks, Lestat had lost all faith in God when his father and brothers kidnapped him from the monastery as he'd wanted to join the clergy, which they beat and starved him for, saying Jesus never coming to his aid caused him to turn his back on religion (although becoming a vampire probably didn't help later). He is shown as contemptuous of Christianity when he's asked. In the climax, he denies God exists in front of Louis, a Catholic.
  Lestat: I can give you that death you begged your feeble, blind, degenerate, nonexistent god for.
• I Kiss Your Hand: Louis kisses Lily's hand at the Fairplay Saloon, which is an unusual gesture for a john to do to a prostitute. However, he's a Closet Gay who's paying her to be his beard, so their interactions are platonic and he treats her more like an acquaintance.
• The Immodest Orgasm: Before Lestat puts Lily to sleep with his vampire abilities, he ensures that she experiences an orgasm with his Psychic Powers, and possibly clitoral stimulation through her undergarments (at least based on the position of his hand in one brief shot). She moans loudly a few times before slipping into slumber.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: Lestat has sex with Louis while also drinking his blood with his fangs pierced into his lover's neck.
• Intertwined Fingers: Louis and Lestat lace their fingers together with both hands immediately after their First Kiss, which adds an extra layer of intimacy during foreplay. The fingers of Louis' left hand and Lestat's right hand remain entwined as the latter initiates gravity-defying sex.
• In the Blood: After his outburst at Paul, Lestat acknowledges that he's cursed with his father's temper.
• It's All About Me: Lestat exhibits his supreme selfishness when he accosts Louis during Paul's funeral procession. Lestat is only concerned with how upset he is that Louis had ghosted him after Their First Time. He is utterly insensitive towards Louis, who's preoccupied with the grave emotional turmoil of grieving for his brother. It's an early red flag that Lestat has the profile of a Domestic Abuser.
  Lestat: Mes condoléances. ^note French for "My condolences."
  Louis: Pas ici. ^note "Not here."
  Lestat: An elegant coffin. Would you tell me where you purchased—
  Louis: Move on.
  Lestat: I wait on my balcony every night. You've been avoiding me.
  Louis: I have been occupied.
  Lestat: Miss Lily proved herself a poor substitute. And I don't take kindly to being avoided.
  Louis: It's my brother's funeral!
• I Want My Beloved to Be Fashionable: During Louis and Lestat's Falling-in-Love Montage, one of their dates includes Louis (who is a Sharp-Dressed Man) bringing Lestat (whose outmoded garments from Europe are relics of the 19th century) to his tailor so that the Frenchman will have trendy new suits befitting an upper-class man in 1910 America. Costume designer Carol Cutshall has stated in this interview that Lestat learning from Louis how to modernize his attire is an early source of bonding in their budding romance.
  Cutshall: When they first meet, they have very distinct looks, and then Louis pulls Lestat into the present day. They have this moment — it's like their first honeymoon moment — of their friendship where Lestat is very influenced by Louis' fashion and he's going to Louis' tailor. They really feel in sync.
• Killed Offscreen: Lestat kills Lily, a prostitute, but this isn't shown, only mentioned in dialogue.
• Kiss of the Vampire: Louis finds Lestat biting him pleasing. However, this only applies to un petit coup ("the little drink"), as Lestat calls it, where he doesn't drain the person completely and heals the wound afterwards. Louis notes that it awoke feelings of intimacy within him despite the significant physical toll on his body.
• Late Coming Out: Because of both institutionalized and internalized homophobia, Louis only accepted his homosexuality at age 33 ^note keep in mind that the average life expectancy for an American man in 1910 is only 48.4 years, so 33 is fairly "old" when he entered into a committed relationship with Lestat.
• LOL, 69: During the poker game, there's a subtle visual gag when Louis holds both the 6 of Clubs and the 9 of Hearts next to each other, so together they form "69." Lestat was ogling at Louis earlier while taking a long drag of his cigarette (which is a phallic symbol, and the cigarette holder makes it look thicker and longer), so it's easy to imagine what the dirty-minded Lestat was fantasizing about doing with Louis...
• Love at First Sight: Lestat is utterly entranced when he first sees Louis, staring intensely at him. Lestat later discloses that he was captivated by Louis' beauty and noticed the sadness embedded in his features.
  Lestat: The first time I laid eyes on you, your beautiful face, I saw that sorrow. I did not know how it got there or why it was so voluminous. I can take away that sorrow, Louis.
• Love Confession: Near the end of the episode, Lestat reveals his feelings for Louis.
  Lestat: I love you, Louis. You are loved.
• Love Floats: Lestat, who's very much in love with Louis, levitates himself and his lover off the floor while they're having sex.
• Love Is Like Religion:
  • Lestat, a Hollywood Atheist, compares his Love Interest Louis to a saint.
    Lestat: I had planned to make a new life for myself in St. Louis. That was to be my destiny. And now I know I was right. Only it turns out the saint is not a city, but a handsome man with a most agreeable disposition.
  • Later, when Louis and Lestat make love, their hands are clasped in a prayer/supplication pose, and the Catholic Louis' eyes are raised to the heavens, which emphasize that Their First Time feels sacred to them.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: During Louis and Lestat's first meeting, the former briefly appears to be "bewitched" by the latter, and Louis tells Daniel that it felt like he was unable to move. It's never clarified if Lestat had utilized his vampiric Psychic Powers on Louis for part of their conversation, or if Louis was simply intrigued by Lestat's good looks and charm. It's worth noting that Louis perceives the live piano music as being distorted after Lestat says "cinnamon" (which indirectly refers to Louis' skin tone), and then it's reduced to an indistinct humming noise after Lestat speaks the word "frère" ^note French for "brother". The music only sounds normal again after Lestat slams the table, which breaks the "spell"; Louis abruptly gulps in a lot of air because he doesn't realize that he has been holding his breath. Later, Louis recognizes that Lestat has put Paul into a trance and orders him to stop, so it's possible that Lestat did the same thing to Louis.
  Louis: I couldn't move. My body was seized with weakness. His gaze tied a string around my lungs, and I found myself immobilized.
• Meet the In-Laws: Played with when Louis brings Lestat to the de Pointe du Lac home for dinner. The audience knows these two are future lovers. The du Lacs, and even Louis himself, think this is just Louis's new friend. Lestat already views this man as his eternal "husband" and is delighted Louis is inviting him to partake in a couple-like activity. Paul seems oddly astute, playing the classic protective brother role and asking Lestat what his intentions with his brother are.
• Metaphorical Marriage: The climax of the episode is a wedding-like scene between Lestat and Louis. It takes place at the altar of a Catholic church. It involves something rather like a vow — Lestat declaring his love and asking Louis to enter this union with him. The vow is followed by a kiss. The solemnization of their "nupitals," though, is Lestat turning Louis into a vampire, exchanging blood instead of rings.
  Lestat: You just have to nod your beautiful head and say yes. I love you, Louis. You are loved. I send my love to you, and you send it back round to me. And this circle, this home we barely had a glimpse of, I know it frightens me as much as it does you. Be my companion, Louis. Be all the beautiful things you are, and be them without apology. For all eternity.
• Mind-Control Eyes: When Lestat halts time at the poker game, the humans under his spell have cloudy eyes.
• Mind over Matter: In the climax, Lestat closes the gates with telekinesis to prevent the priest from escaping.
• Miss Kitty: Miss Carol is the madam of the Fairplay Saloon.
• Mixed Ancestry Is Attractive: Lampshaded by Lestat (who is a wealthy Frenchman in an era when France was still an active colonial power, which includes colonies in Africa) when he mentions that he finds what he calls cinnamon skin tone — a mix of African and European descent — attractive while gazing seductively at Louis, who is Creole and fits in the "cinnamon" category. Louis becomes even more desirable in Lestat's eyes when the latter learns that the former has French ancestry (Lestat is delighted that Louis speaks French and has a French name), so Louis' "exotic" quality is more "accessible" to Lestat. Lestat frequently compliments Louis' looks (e.g. "beautiful face," "pretty head"). This also extends to the biracial Lily because Lestat refers to both her and Louis as "misfit beauties." Lestat is madly (even obsessively) in love with Louis, seduces him, and then turns him into a vampire so that they can be companions for eternity.
• Mood Whiplash: The touching heart-to-heart talk between the two de Pointe du Lac brothers abruptly switches to abject horror for Louis when Paul throws himself off the roof without warning and kills himself.
• The Muse: A young male violinist of "infinite beauty and sensitivity" was the inspiration behind the song that Lestat wrote which plays in his music box from France.
• My Card: When Louis demands to know Lestat's name during their first meeting, instead of responding directly, Lestat pulls out a card with his full name printed in fancy gold letters and hands it to Louis.
• My Greatest Failure: Although Louis believes he's a failure in many ways, the one that haunts him the most was his inability to keep his promise to their dying father to look after his younger brother Paul, who committed suicide in front of Louis' eyes.
  Louis: What was Paul's life worth to [Storyville]? What was my life worth? The big man of Liberty Street, trailing the satin-lined evidence of his failure.
• Mysterious Mist: After Lestat is struck by Cupid's arrow when he first beholds Louis, a mist abruptly appears behind him with an audible whooshing sound. This shot is imbued with a mildly ominous atmosphere, and it imparts to viewers (especially those who aren't familiar with either the source material or the 1994 movie) that this Mysterious Stranger (Lestat's identity isn't spelled out in this scene) isn't human and is dangerous.
• Mysterious Stranger: Lestat is initially presented as one to the audience. We don't see his face in our tantalizing first glimpse of him because he's filmed from the back, which is then followed by a shot of his hands flipping through a Storyville blue book (a guide to prostitution for visitors to the district), so this item establishes him as an out-of-towner. When he's on-screen again a few minutes later, his visage is finally revealed when he removes his hat and turns towards the camera as his enamoured eyes follow Louis walking past him. Although this currently unnamed blond, blue-eyed man remains enigmatic at the end of the scene, his Frozen Fashion Sense and the Mysterious Mist behind him hint that he's a vampire.
• Non-Human Lover Reveal: Louis believed that Lestat was human throughout their friendship and during their first sexual encounter. However, he starts to suspect that Lestat isn't human when the latter incessantly bombards his mind with telepathic demands to "Come to me/Viens à moi," and Louis even declares during his confession to Father Matthias that "I laid down with the Devil." Lestat finally drops his mortal façade when he enters the church and lets Louis witness firsthand his bloodthirsty vampiric nature. Although Louis is scared of Lestat, the latter's Love Confession is both heartfelt and persuasive enough that Louis willingly receives the Dark Gift from Lestat so they can be together forever.
• Non-Standard Kiss: Blink and you'll miss it, but just before Lestat turns Louis into a vampire, the former very briefly gives the latter an Eskimo kiss (i.e. rubbing the tips of their noses together).
• Nostalgic Music Box: One of the few items that Lestat had brought over from France is an ornate music box which carries a lot of sentimental value for him. The tune it plays was written by Lestat and it's dedicated to a young man he adored.
  Lestat: I composed it for a young violinist I once knew, a boy of infinite beauty and sensitivity.
• Not Afraid to Die: Louis suffers from a nervous breakdown after the death of his brother Paul, and while confessing his sins to Father Matthias, it's plain that he wants to follow Paul to the grave. Louis is wracked with guilt and shame over his numerous failures. It's because he's so broken that he later accepts Lestat's offer to kill him as a human and be reborn as a vampire.
  Louis: I'm a drunk, Lord. I'm a liar. I am a thief, Lord. I profit off the miseries of other men, and I do it easy. Drugs, liquor, women. I-I-I-I lure them in and grab what they got, Lord. I take daughters with no homes and I-I put 'em out on the street, Lord, and I lie to myself, saying I-I'm giving them a roof and food and dollar bills in they pocket, but I look in the mirror, I know what I am — the big man in the big house, stuffing cotton in my ears so I can't hear their cries. And Lord, I dragged my family into this mess with me. I shame my father. I f— I failed my brother. I lost my mother and sister, and rather than fix it like a man should, Lord, I run like a coward. I run to the bottle. I run to the grift. I run to bad beds. I-I laid down with a man. I laid down with the Devil. And he has roots in me, all his spindly roots in me, and I can't think nothin' anymore, but his voice and his words! Please, help me! I am weak! I wanna die!
• Oblivious to Love: In 1910, Louis (a Closet Gay) had no idea that Lestat was romantically interested in him throughout most of their friendship; to be fair, Lestat couldn't be too brazen with his wooing due to institutionalized homophobia, yet Paul was able to sense right away that Lestat desired Louis as much more than a friend. In 2022, Louis reflects on these events and now recognizes that Lestat's pursuit of him was predatory in nature.
  Louis: I was being hunted. And I was completely unaware it was happening.
• Official Kiss: It's the second kiss between Louis and Lestat which marks their Relationship Upgrade, and it's depicted as being more romantic than their First Kiss because the latter was partly fueled by repressed lust, whereas the former was done purely from their hearts. After Lestat declares his love, he proposes that Louis become his eternal companion and lover. Louis nods his head in assent, reaches out to cup Lestat's face, and then moves forward to kiss him.
• One-Drop Rule: Louis mentions to Daniel that his family is mixed-race, and in former times were somewhat more privileged as free people of color. With Jim Crow, however, racist state laws apply no matter what, even when only one of his great-grandparents was entirely black. Louis just calls himself "Negro," the term used then, and the laws would have classified him as such.
• One-Hit Kill: Lestat literally defaces a priest with a single Super-Speed punch through the latter's head, and the resulting Gorn includes some of his victim's blood and brain matter hitting the camera.
• Overcrank: In the climax, the priest is running away very slowly from Lestat's Super-Speed perspective.
• Platonic Prostitution: While alive, Louis regularly employed the services of a high-class prostitute named Lily so he could be seen having a relationship with a woman. Once in her room, though, he just talked to her, using her as some kind of a therapy session. However, when the two are alone with Lestat in his living room, Lily does give Louis fellatio until Lestat makes her go to sleep.
• Popping Buttons: Jokingly lampshaded by Louis after Paul lists all the food that he ate during Grace's wedding.
  Paul: Five pieces of checkered cake, the Pompano fillet, three boudins, dirty rice, beef, green beans, five, six wines.
  Louis: Eat anything else, the buttons on your vest gonna pop off like cannon balls, take down the neighborhood.
• Post-Coital Collapse: After Their First Time, Louis and Lestat collapse on the sofa while breathing heavily, both experiencing the afterglow from their orgasm.
• Pretty Boy:
  • Lampshaded by Lestat when he says that a young violinist he once knew was "a boy of infinite beauty."
  • Lampshaded by Lestat when he tells Louis that he has "such a pretty head" and a "beautiful face."
• Production Foreshadowing: Paul mentions that there are "plenty of brooms down at the Mayfair sisters' home" as a tie-in to AMC's adaptation of Lives of the Mayfair Witches; in the original script, Louis greets three members of the Mayfair family as he passes by their manor.
• Product Placement: The General Electric logo is visible in a close-up of Daniel's cassette player boom box.
• Quaking with Fear: In the climax, Louis is visibly trembling with terror when Lestat growls, "I'm not the Devil. You were wrong about that." Louis doesn't understand yet that Lestat is a vampire, but he still knows that he isn't human, and Louis being Catholic means that he naturally assumes that a supernatural creature who mauls a priest to death with his fangs must be demonic.
• Questionable Consent: Louis doesn't seem wholly cognizant when Lestat has sex with him during Their First Time because Lestat is also drinking his blood, which has been shown to be intoxicating. Louis compares the petit coup/"little drink" to the best drug-induced high that Daniel has ever experienced, but "multiply it by miles, to the rings of Saturn and back." While Louis did consent to have sex with Lestat, he didn't explicitly consent to any blood play, but by the time Lestat had sunk his fangs into Louis' neck, the latter couldn't object even if he wanted to because his mind was in a haze. However, it's worth noting that in the present day, Louis doesn't see the petit coup as a violation, and that it in fact gave him a feeling of intimacy with Lestat.
• Red Light District: In 1910, Louis owned several brothels in Storyville, the former red-light district of New Orleans. In 2022, his second interview with Daniel opens with them discussing this trope.
  Louis: So it followed the only place in New Orleans a gentleman of my complexion could do a righteous business was a neighborhood called Storyville.
  Daniel: That was the old red-light district, yeah?
  Louis: 20 blocks of drinking, gambling, and gluttonous whoring.
  [...]
  Daniel: You were a pimp.
  Louis: The product was desire, and it came in as many forms as there were ways to move it. Of the two dozen sporting houses on Liberty Street, I owned eight of them. Modest in proportion to the venues on Basin Street. What they lacked in size and elegance, they more than made up for in efficiency and reputation.
• Relationship Upgrade: Louis and Lestat were close friends for a few months before they made love. However, they don't become an Official Couple until Louis agrees to be Lestat's immortal companion, which results in Louis being transformed into a vampire.
• Replacement Goldfish: Disturbingly subverted with Lily, a prostitute whom Lestat spent more time with when he realized that Louis was avoiding him after he and Louis had sex for the first time. While Lestat places Lily in the same category as Louis in terms of their looks (they're both biracial "misfit beauties," as he calls them), he must have found her personality sorely lacking because in his words, she "proved herself a poor substitute." Louis later discovers that Lestat had murdered her.
• Sarcasm Mode: Because Lestat regards Lily as nothing more than a Disposable Sex Worker, he believes her death isn't worth shedding a tear over.
  Louis: You killed Lily.
  Lestat: (sarcastically) Cut short that magnificent life she was living. What a tragedy.
• The Scapegoat: Florence blames Louis for Paul's suicide even though Louis didn't do or say anything that would make Paul jump off the roof.
• Scars Are Forever: Daniel has a round scar on the right side of his neck which remains visible 49 years after Louis had bit him there and nearly exsanguinated him to death for being "disrespectful" while high on drugs.
• Secretly Dying: Daniel has a sub-variant of Parkinson's disease. Only his family and doctor know about it, so he's irked that Louis has somehow learned of it.
• Seeking Sanctuary: Louis flees to St. Augustine Church in the hope that it can protect him from Lestat, whom he believes is the Devil. However, vampires aren't affected by religious sites or objects, so Lestat (a Hollywood Atheist who resents Christianity) enters the church, sets the pews on fire, murders Father Matthias while Louis was confessing his sins, and then kills a second priest before he approaches Louis.
• Self-Mutilation Demonstration: Louis exposes his arm to the bright Dubai sunshine, which immediately scorches his skin, to remind Daniel (whom he hasn't seen in 49 years) that he's a bona fide vampire.
• Sexual Euphemism: While confessing his sins to Father Matthias, Louis relies on a horticultural analogy when he divulges that he bottomed for Lestat when they had sex, and even hints that his lover has a large penis (which Lestat asserts in episode 5). Louis compares himself to the soil while Lestat is the plant that's "sprouting" within him.
  Louis: I-I laid down with a man. I laid down with the Devil. And [Lestat] has roots in me, all his spindly ^note which is a synonym for "long" roots in me!
• Sitting on the Roof: Just before dawn breaks following Grace's wedding, Louis and Paul climb up the pillars of their family home to sit on the rooftop to watch the sunrise.
• Smoky Gentlemen's Club: Tom Anderson hosts an informal one at the Fairplay Saloon in the form of a private poker game where he invites a handful of (mostly) white, upper-class businessmen and politicians to discuss commerce as they smoke, drink and bet while playing cards.
• Stalker with a Crush: It's heavily implied that Lestat had stalked Louis after being mesmerized by the latter's beauty, and he basically admits to doing so ("I've been watching you for some time now, Louis"). It's not a coincidence that Lestat had arranged to be in Lily's company, as he's aware that she acts as The Beard for Louis. Lestat kissing her, running his hands along the seams of her dress, and outbidding Louis for her time were done deliberately to provoke him. Lestat also must have heard Tom Anderson inviting Louis to a private poker game because Lestat managed to get a seat there, which provided a second opportunity for him to socialize with Louis. At Paul's funeral, Lestat warns Louis that he doesn't take kindly to being avoided, and when the latter tries to find refuge at the church because he wants to be free from the Devil's voice inside his head (which is actually Lestat's repeated telepathic attempts to summon Louis to him), Lestat pursues Louis and directly confronts him in person. Lestat clearly doesn't respect Louis' wish to be left alone and won't take no for an answer. In 2022, Louis describes himself as the prey while Lestat was the predator who was hunting him, a sentiment that any victim of stalking can relate to.
• Starbucks Skin Scale: Lestat's term for biracial (black/white) skin is "cinnamon," which he fetishizes.
• Suicide is Shameful: Louis' family is Catholic, and when Paul kills himself in front of him, his mother says he must be in Hell now (per Catholic belief at the time) while their priest tries to pass his fall off as accidental instead so they can avoid thinking this.
• Super-Toughness: Louis stabs the vampire Lestat several times in the back, but this doesn't stop or even slow down the latter in any way. This scene establishes that vampires are immune to physical attacks by humans.
• Sword Cane: Louis owns a cane with a concealed knife that he unsheathes twice in this episode. He intimidates Paul by placing the blade against his brother's chest, and in the climax, Louis stabs Lestat several times in the back.
• Tear Off Your Face: In the climax, Lestat's Super-Speed punch through a priest's head results in a large, empty hole where the latter's face used to be.
• Tears of Blood: The episode ends with a bloodied tear running down from Louis' left eye after he recounts to Daniel how he died as a human and was reborn as a vampire.
• Their First Time: After wooing Louis for a few months under the guise of friendship, Lestat invites his Love Interest to enter his home and join him for a nightcap, and they engage in passionate lovemaking soon after. During their post-coital bliss, they share a Held Gaze that silently communicates their love for each other.
• Three-Way Sex: A MMF variant occurs briefly with Louis, Lestat and Lily. Both men are nude while she's topless and is sandwiched between them, but their foreplay doesn't get very far because Lestat activates his vampire skills to make Lily fall asleep. After she dozes off, Louis and Lestat continue having sex on their own.
• Thunder Equals Downpour: Thunder suddenly rumbles at the end of Paul's funeral which is then quickly followed by torrential rain as Louis walks towards the Fairplay Saloon.
• Time Stands Still: During the poker game, Lestat stops time with his vampire skills so that he and Louis can have a private conversation. (While Lestat does have Psychic Powers, this is not a case of People Puppets because the whiskey being poured into a glass is "frozen" while the poker chips are suspended in mid-air.)
• Title Drop:
  Louis: I saw [Lestat] sitting a length away from me... radiant. And we sat there for some time... in throes of increasing wonder.
• Trying Not to Cry: Lestat's eyes are slightly red and wet when he recalls the physical abuse he suffered at the hands of his father and brothers when he was a boy.
• Understatement:
  • Lestat informs Tom Anderson that "I came to my wealth honestly and at great sacrifice." We learn in episode 6 that the vampire Magnus had kidnapped the human Lestat from his room in Paris, imprisoned him a tower full of corpses that resembled him physically, fed on his blood nightly for a week before transforming him into a vampire against his will, and then gestured to a large pile of money which served as an informal inheritance to his newborn fledgling before committing suicide by tossing himself into a fire.
  • Lestat is enraged that Louis had ghosted him after Their First Time, so he warns his lover, "I don't take kindly to being avoided." Lestat murders Louis' beard Lily, intrudes on the funeral procession for Louis' brother Paul, breaks Finn's arm when he intervenes to separate Lestat from Louis, sets Louis' Catholic church on fire, and kills two of its priests so that nobody (not even God — Lestat is a Hollywood Atheist) can stand between him and his beloved Louis.
• Unusual Euphemism: Lily refers to Louis and Lestat's one-upmanship as "The gentlemen are swappin' andouille sausage recipes."
• Vampires Are Sex Gods: The sex Louis had with human men pales in comparison to the sex he experienced with the vampire Lestat. Louis describes the pleasure he received from Their First Time as being 1.586 billion ^note the distance between Earth and Saturn is 793 million miles, so the return trip is double that number times better than the high one gets from black tar heroin. 112 years onwards, Louis reminisces about Lestat's seduction like it's the best sex he's ever had in his 144-year existence.
  Louis: When you were using drugs, Mr. Molloy, do you remember the best you ever had?
  Daniel: Berkeley, 1978. Some Mexican black tar [heroin] that Carly and Pedro were slinging.
  Louis: So imagine that flowing inside your veins again. Now multiply it by miles, to the rings of Saturn and back.
• Vampires Sleep in Coffins: Averted with Louis in his Dubai penthouse because its shielded windows block sunlight.
  Daniel: That's the sun out there. Where's your coffin?
  Louis: You're standing in it.
• Visual Innuendo: Lestat sensuously inserts his cigarette (which is encased in a cigarette holder, so it appears thicker and longer) into his mouth and puffs on it deeply while mentally undressing Louis with his eyes as the latter sits down at the poker table. To put it bluntly, Lestat is conveying non-verbally his desire to suck on his Love Interest's "appendage," as he calls it.
• Visual Pun: Lestat succeeds in seducing Louis and sweeps his lover off his feet... literally.
• Voiceover Letter: When Daniel reads the letter Louis had sent to him, the latter's voice is heard narrating its contents.
• Weakened by the Light: Because Louis is a vampire, the morning sunshine sears his skin when he places his arm in front of an unshielded window.
• Wedding/Death Juxtaposition: Paul kills himself the morning after Grace's wedding.
• Whole Costume Reference: Grace's purple dress in the gazebo scene is the same as Ruth DeWitt Bukater's in Titanic (1997) (although the lace collar is slightly different).
• Wipe the Floor with You: After Father Matthias is attacked by Lestat, there's a trail of blood which leads from the confession booth to the pews, so the latter had dragged the former across the church's floor before lacerating his prey's neck with his vampire fangs.
• Zero-G Spot: Lestat and Louis have sex while the pair are floating vertically just above the ground.

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