Interview with the Vampire 1×7 Review: “The Thing Lay Still”

Interview with the Vampire season 1 episode 7, ‘The Thing Lay Still’, offered a very twist-heavy finale and set the stage for what will likely be an incredible second season.

With Claudia’s desire to kill Lestat being on her mind for quite some time now, it made sense for her to go through with her mission in the season finale. Also, with how Lestat treated her, it was understandable why she was adamant about freeing herself and Daddy Lou from under his control.

I liked Claudia’s decision to not share all of the details with Louis. She knew that he and Lestat shared a very different bond than the one she shared with her maker. Asking Louis to keep everything secret from Lestat was incredibly risky and, in a sense, likely impossible. As Claudia stated, the heartbeat of the two vampires would sync up whenever they were left alone together. They were that inseparable.

The writing team has done an incredible job of showcasing a passionate yet toxic queer relationship between the two lead men. I’m not sure whether or not there is queer talent working on the scripts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was. There’s just something very unique when it comes to the queer representation featured in Interview with the Vampire. Even though it is a fictional show about vampires, the relationship dynamic feels “real” for some reason.

Claudia’s plan involved the family throwing the biggest Mardi Gras party in New Orleans before leaving the place for good. As someone who had studied Lestat for years, Claudia knew how to appeal to the darkness (and pettiness) in his nature. Of course, he was going to agree to Claudia’s idea of mocking the residents of New Orleans, the residents who wanted to force Lestat’s never-aging family out while also being intrigued by the possibility of learning the secret to their rumored immortality.

Throwing a party allowed the creative team to show Lestat in drag while also having him put on a public performance that involved biting into the neck of a fake baby and laughing about it. I had been waiting for the party scenes ever since I watched the trailer. And the writers didn’t disappoint. With it being the dysfunctional family’s last night in New Orleans, we also got to see Lestat and Louis kiss in front of their guests. They were queer and everyone else needed to deal with it. The party also involved some nice outfits and a bloodbath. It was so good!

The first twist came when it was time for Lestat to drink from a young man that Claudia had poisoned. According to what we know of this fictional world, there were a bunch of ways vampires could be killed. One of those ways involved drinking from the dead. Claudia had poisoned a young man, that Lestat was eyeing, in hopes that drinking the poisoned blood would kill Lestat in the process.

It was clear that Lestat wasn’t going to fall for such a trick. The tension in the room while Louis and Claudia waited for him to take the bait had me all nervous. I knew Lestat had caught wind of Claudia’s plan. But how?

Enter… drum roll… Antoinette!

Turns out, that Lestat had indeed lied about killing her. Well, in a technical sense. He did kill her, only to revive her as a vampire instead. As someone who was in love with Lestat and had listened to his constant complaining about Louis and especially Claudia, Antoinette was more than happy to act as a spy for Lestat to keep an eye on Claudia. 

The show did drop a hint during the party when Louis heard someone else in his mind. But I wasn’t expecting Antoinette to appear. I really thought a new character was going to be introduced.

Seeing Lestat trying to convince Louis that Antoinette was going to be a far better replacement for Claudia was funny. There was no way Louis would be okay with killing Claudia and having Antoinette, who was basically Lestat’s mistress, be part of the family.

Even though I know that Claudia’s a murderess, I couldn’t help but root for her. I have enjoyed seeing how the writers handled her character (except for one particular creative choice involving sexual assault in episode 5). The way she knew Lestat was on to her and how she had planned for that particular moment during the finale was some good television. The student had indeed surpassed the teacher.

The scene involving Lestat’s death was also beautifully handled. You could feel the hesitation and sadness emanating from Louis as he slit his husband’s throat. It was painful, but it needed to be done for Louis and Claudia to finally be free of Lestat’s control.

But of course, a character like Lestat wasn’t going to stay dead for long. The moment Louis told Daniel that he and Claudia were unable to burn their maker’s body I knew Lestat’s story hadn’t ended. Daniel’s been a very effective audience surrogate, highlighting holes in Louis’ story and asking the tough questions. Daniel was able to connect the dots and conclude how Louis had planned for Lestat’s body, placed inside a coffin, to be sent to the dump where he could regain strength by feasting on rats. Lestat’s still out there and you know he will show up in Louis’ life soon.

As for another one of Daniel’s suspicions, ‘The Thing Lay Still’ revealed Rashid’s true nature. At first, I thought he was some kind of a witch or an immortal being (a Muslim Jinn?) when Daniel remembered Rashid was also in the bar where Daniel and Louis first met decades ago. But it turns out that Rashid’s real name was actually Armand, a vampire so old that even sunlight couldn’t burn him.

While we have seen Rashid take care of Louis during the entire first season, I couldn’t help but side-eye their relationship during the finale. I didn’t believe Louis for a second when he told Daniel that Armand was the love of his life and then the screen cut to black. There’s definitely something going on there. People who had read the books would know better, but at least, the show has shared enough for the non-book-reading audience (like myself) to go, ‘Yup! Something’s not right here!’

Lestat did warn Louis and Claudia about there being far more dangerous vampires walking around in the world. Also, speaking of Claudia, where the heck is she in the present timeline? Is she okay with Louis being with Armand? Hmmm.

Interview with the Vampire has already been renewed for a second season. And I can’t wait to see what happens next, especially when it’s been made clear that Louis is an unreliable narrator.

You can watch my reaction videos for the entire first season over on The Geekiary’s YouTube channel.

What did you think of ‘The Thing Lay Still’?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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