Welcome to our weekly recaps of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire Season 2. In case you were looking for an Interview with a Vampire in 2022 or the Interview with a Vampire show, they are indeed one and the same. While the actual title is, in fact, Interview with THE Vampire, you are in the right place. Although, Interview with THE Vampire doesn’t quite make sense, because there are a whole bunch of vampires here, not just one who would reasonably be designated “The.” But in any event, this is where we’ll be recapping the Interview with the Vampire series season 2 each week. Spoilers below!
In Season 1 of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) travels to Dubai to re-interview wealthy vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson). Daniel originally interviewed Louis back in the ’70s. That interview is now understood to be the text of what we read in Anne Rice’s novel. This new interview aims to set the record straight, as it turns out Louis fibbed more than a bit last time.
Louis’s lover, the ancient though youthful-looking vampire Armand (Assad Zaman), would rather Louis not give the interview, and makes interjections from time to time. Meanwhile, we see Louis’s tale play out in flashbacks.
Season 1 ended with Louis and trapped-in-a-teen-body vampire Claudia (Bailey Bass) killing their mutual maker – and Louis’s erstwhile lover – Lestat (Sam Reid), then fleeing their native New Orleans.
Season 2 opens with a note that the role of Claudia will now be played by Delainey Hayles. (Bass is part of the Avatar franchise ensemble cast, which created a scheduling conflict.)
In flashback, Louis and Claudia trek through Europe during and after World War II. Louis describes the blasted landscape as monochromatic – it’s corpse-strewn even before they get there (though they do have some fun decimating whole Nazi Army squads).
Claudia barely speaks to Louis, still angry that Louis refused to burn Lestat’s corpse (maybe Louis doesn’t consciously know where that will lead, but we certainly do), and is also irate that Louis can’t stop thinking about their maker. Claudia is on a determined quest to locate other vampires, hoping to find just one who isn’t “a goddamn bastard.”
In the present, Louis is reading from Claudia’s diary, parts of which have been removed. Claudia’s written contempt for him makes Louis sad.
In flashback, Louis hallucinates Lestat, saying he misses Louis and that Louis misses him. Lestat says he’s waiting to kill Louis until Louis is happy. By now, Louis says, he’s killed 7,000 people, “but Lestat was the only one who felt like murder.”
In a postwar Romanian village, Claudia is thrilled to see garlic and crucifixes on the doors – neither have any effect on vampires, but the villagers believe they do, which means they think there are vampires around.
Louis and Claudia are befriended by the village prefect, Emilia (Stephanie Hayes). She brings them to a communal shelter in a former factory. Most of these shelter residents are villagers; some are refugees who can’t go home. They are here because the place has stone walls and metal doors.
Emilia says there are dangers from unexploded bombs, wolves, Germans who don’t know the war is over, and maybe something worse. Claudia sneaks back out to the woods, where two soldiers are attacked by something moving so fast that even she can’t see what it is until the men are on the ground. Then, the vampire (Dirk Rogers) picks up one of the men and begins feeding. The vampire looks like a Walking Dead zombie, with decaying gray skin and blank eyes. When Claudia tries to communicate with him, he knocks her down and drags off the second soldier.
Louis is dubious that what Claudia saw was really a vampire and wonders what will happen if they should find one (hence the episode’s title).
Louis tells Daniel that he awoke to the sounds of chaos in the shelter. Claudia was sleeping beside him, having a nightmare. Daniel has helped him remember this – even though Claudia wrote that she didn’t dream. With tears in his eyes, Louis thanks Daniel.
The chaos is because Emilia went outside and was found with a deep wound on her neck. Claudia considers intervening, but Louis telepathically tells her this is human business, not their affair. The fearful mob decapitates Emilia.
In the forest, Louis and Claudia tear open a soldier’s thigh, using him as bait. When the vampire shows up, Claudia tries talking to him again, but he still shows no interest. Louis denies this is a vampire: “This is a catfish with teeth!”
Louis is attacked by an old woman vampire (Diana Gheorghian), and then by the male vampire. Claudia leaps to Louis’ defense, ripping out the male vampire’s eyes. He lies wailing on the ground. The woman cradles him and says in Romanian, “Mama’s here.“ Then the woman vampire bashes the zombie-esque vampire’s head in with a rock, screaming in anguish. When she’s done, the woman turns to the horrified Claudia and says, “How would he hunt?”
Although the old woman vampire is angry, she wants Claudia and Louis to follow her to her home, a hidden old castle where a fire is roaring in the hearth. The woman sings to the convulsing second soldier as she gives him her blood, so that he can now become her “child.”
Claudia tells the woman they’ve been looking for her for five years. The woman says, “We own the night, yes?“ Claudia and Louis agree. It seems to the woman that humans don’t want life anymore. Claudia translates Louis’ theory from English to Romanian for the woman: the blood is bad here; there’s too much sadness.
The soldier is still convulsing. The old woman pronounces him, “Another one like a burnt tray of bread,“ and slits his throat with her fingernail.
Claudia offers the woman blood from her wrist. The woman pronounces Claudia’s blood “like cream.“ Claudia invites the old woman to come with them. The woman says yes, she’ll grow strong again, tell them her story, and hear theirs. She introduces herself as Daciana. For a beat, it seems like there’s hope. Then Daciana says, “We own nothing,“ and commits suicide by throwing herself in the fire.
And that, Louis tells Daniel, is how they met the Old World vampires.
Alone with Armand, Louis asks to see the pages they removed from Claudia’s diary, promising not to share them with Daniel. Armand says they can get Daniel to say what they want by doing it together, just as they’ve done everything for the past seventy years.
Holding hands, Armand and Louis come to see Daniel, who is surprised by Armand’s new willingness to be part of the interview.
Louis explains that Claudia was entirely broken after Daciana killed herself. He thought Paris, “the mother of New Orleans,“ would be a good new destination. The postwar world is coming back to life. Louis tells Claudia that their lives have been shit for a while, but a shit life beats no life. If he sees her trying to kill herself, he’ll pull her back. They’ll find others of their kind. But it would be enough for Louis if Claudia were the last vampire on Earth. Then, his imagination conjures Lestat next to Claudia. Louis says, “You and me.“ And Claudia finally says, “Okay.”
So, Season 2 starts off with intrigue, though there are no huge punchy moments. Louis’ visions of Lestat seem primarily designed to keep Reid and his character onscreen until Lestat returns in the flesh, which is understandable but feels unnecessary. We learn there are different kinds of vampires and that a diet of morose humans makes for despondent bloodsuckers. We wonder just what it is Armand is so determined to hide, and we’re relieved that Claudia has, for now, stopped sulking.
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire Season 2 premiered May 12 on AMC & AMC+, with new episodes available every Sunday.
