Interview with the Vampire finale review: “The Thing Lay Still”

It all comes down to this, the Interview with the Vampire season 1 finale, “The Thing Lay Still,” and I have to say that the show sticks the landing. That’s not surprising since the entire first season has been excellent overall. While there were a few things I wasn’t thrilled with, Interview with the Vampire has quickly earned its place as one of the best new dramas of 2022.

The finale episode is focused entirely on Claudia’s plan to finally kill Lestat, freeing herself and Louis for good from the king vampire.

SPOILERS ahead for Interview with the Vampire Episode 7

As the audience, we’re primarily kept in the dark throughout the episode as to Claudia’s plan, which makes sense because she keeps Louis in the dark, too. Claudia instructs Louis to act normal with Lestat and let him back into his heart to prevent him from becoming suspicious. Meanwhile, Claudia puts her plan into action.

A decadent party

The plan entails convincing Lestat to throw a big party, a masquerade ball that will also serve as a goodbye to New Orleans. It’s time for the vampire family to leave the city, as their presence has attracted way too much attention over the years.

Even though most residents see the trio as “freaks,” they’re also fascinated by them and their neverending youth. That morbid curiosity will lead them to attend the party, regardless of their personal feelings.

In planning the party, Louis, Claudia, and Lestat bribe Tom to let them use an ostentatious Mardi Gras float. Lestat wants to go out in style, including becoming the Raj, an influential and celebrated position at the helm of a secret committee.

Lestat welcomes his partygoers with typical flair, pretending to devour a live baby on his float before gleefully showing the horrified crowd that it’s merely a doll.

During the gathering, Lestat and Louis do appear in love once again. The trio starves for three days before the party to have a giant feast on all the unsuspecting attendees before leaving town for good. Lightheaded and a little loopy, Lestat and Louis are drunk on love throughout the party. Despite pestering Claudia repeatedly via telepathy for intel on her plan to kill Lestat, Claudia keeps Louis entirely in the dark.

In the meantime, Louis and Lestat take full advantage of the party’s hedonistic ambiance to enjoy themselves, even sharing a dance and a kiss in front of everyone. Given the era, it’s no surprise that the patrons are shocked and appalled by their flagrant display of affection. But they stick around, knowing that the duo might soon share their secret to eternal youth and immortality.

A feast for the ages

When the time comes, the vampires lure their unsuspecting guests to a backroom to show them their secret. Each vampire reveals how long they’ve been alive. Claudia is now in her 30s, Louis in his 60s, and Lestat over 180. Their guests are amazed by their appearances, given their age.

An antsy Tom lunges forward to uncover the silver bowl where Lestat claims they keep the elixir of life. His actions trigger a gory feeding frenzy as the vampires lay waste to the roomful of visitors, ripping into each one with gusto. Even Louis doesn’t hold back despite his previous disdain for violence and eating humans.

It’s one of the goriest scenes of the season, complete with Louis ripping off someone’s jawbone and Claudia gouging someone’s eyeball. But it’s bloody, outlandish vampire violence that’s fun to watch.

When all is said and done, Claudia and Louis lure Lestat into another room where one final victim is waiting. He’s one half of a pair of twins that Lestat had shown interest in earlier in the evening. Claudia mentions they saved him especially for Lestat.

On death’s doorstep

We’re led to believe that this is the guy who Claudia loaded up with arsenic and laudanum. But Lestat is suspicious and chooses not to feed from him. That’s when he reveals the ace up his sleeve: Antoinette. Lestat turned her into a vampire and invited her to the ball, where she was able to read Claudia and Louis’ minds. She heard Claudia telling Louis that she’d done something to this man’s blood, and more.

Lestat grabs Louis to prevent him from intervening as Antoinette attacks Claudia. But wait! Suddenly, Lestat starts gagging and choking, stumbling to the floor. Antoinette and Lestat are understandably shocked. He never fed from the twin; why is he sick?

Well, because Claudia beat him at his own game. She knew Antoinette was at the ball. She’s known Antoinette has been following her ever since the night she boarded the train. “You should have let the train go,” Claudia taunts Lestat.

Claudia led Antoinette to believe she had poisoned the twin, but in reality, Claudia poisoned Tom. During their earlier meeting, he made a petty, dismissive comment about Lestat, which Claudia knew would get under his skin. “Always the petty slights with you, Uncle Lestat.”

Knowing her uncle wouldn’t let the comment slide, Claudia poisoned Tom’s blood instead, and as expected, Lestat fed on Tom first as payback for his disrespect. Once Lestat succumbs to the poison, Claudia turns the tables on Antoinette and stabs her in the heart with a fire poker, leaving Louis to take care of Lestat.

Despite everything, it’s still sad to see Lestat dying as Louis slowly slits his throat and watches him bleed out on the floor. Louis is devastated, and as Lestat dies, he says he’s glad it was Louis to end his life. Yeah, I might have teared up a little.

So… that’s it. The story is over. Louis and Claudia escape and live happily ever after, right?

Not quite.

Pulling back the curtain

In 2022, Daniel calls Louis out for the end of his story. Something doesn’t add up. For starters, there are pages removed from Claudia’s journal, hinting that the two might have had a falling out. Daniel deduces that Louis did not kill Lestat. We see him and Claudia burn Antoinette’s body (while she’s still alive, mind you), but Louis refuses to throw Lestat into the incinerator. Claudia is pissed because it’s the only way to know for sure that he’s dead.

Earlier in the episode, Louis and Lestat discuss ordering coffins that lock from the inside. Louis puts Lestat’s body in one of those coffins and then into the trash, which is taken to the dump, which is full of giant rats. Louis, a former avid rat drinker, would know that. So it’s heavily implied that Lestat would have been able to recover in the dump, escape his coffin because it locked from the inside, and eat enough rats to slowly regain his strength.

Daniel continues pushing Louis on the inconsistencies in his story. He accuses Louis of misleading him again, just like the first time in San Diego in the 1970s. Rashid eventually steps in to make Daniel back off, but Daniel refuses to listen.

Finally, Rashid reveals the truth: he’s an ancient vampire named Armand. Here’s when all the book readers go, “I knew it!” Armand mentions that he won’t “save Daniel’s life” this time if Louis lashes out. And Louis says that there are still things Daniel doesn’t remember from the first time they met all those years ago.

The season ends with Louis stepping toward Armand and holding his hand as he announces that Armand is the “love of his life.”

So what does that ending mean? Based on how everything goes down, it sounds like Louis has been telling himself a false version of the story all these years, perhaps orchestrated by Armand. The way Louis reacts when Daniel points out the holes in his story looks like a man upset at being forced to face the truth: Lestat might still be alive somewhere. If Armand is in love with Louis, it makes sense that he wouldn’t want Louis to be hung up on Lestat, so over the years, he’s made him believe that Lestat is gone, while the truth might be quite different. And what if Armand made Lestat believe that Louis is dead, too?

Season 1 is only part one of this story, and luckily AMC has already renewed the show for a second season. But obviously we haven’t seen the last of Lestat or Claudia.

The ending is a treat because it pulls back the curtain on the show’s narrative. Now we know, without a doubt, that Louis is an unreliable narrator! It’s a fascinating way to shake up the narrative. I’m excited to see where we go from here.

Episode Grade: A+

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