The Vampire Lestat "Toronto" Review
The below review features some plot details but is otherwise spoiler-free
As of right now, The Vampire Lestat is operating in "Vince McMahon meme" levels of upping its quality game each episode. "Detroit" was great. "Toledo" fired on all cylinders. "Toronto?" my god...
Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) has been pressing Lestat (Sam Reid) about his stuttering as a child since the beginning of the season. The man was already questionably ethical as a human, but now all journalistic integrity is out the window. He doesn't want the truth, he wants the story. So, Lestat gives it to him. Or so Molloy thinks.
The two vampires play off of each other for the episode's present, but the rest of the story hurls us into Lestat's complicated past as both a human and fledgling. Wolf killer questions are answered and we get a lot of references to cabbages before we finally get some quality time with Lestat's beloved Nicki (Nicolas de Lenfent, played by Joseph Potter), marred only by the presence of Armand (Assad Zaman).
We'll avoid too much synopsis on that front, but there was an interesting divergence from canon in "Toronto" that's noteworthy enough to call out. After he's turned, we see Nicki continue to lose his grip on reality, as is standard. Later though, we see him cut off his own hand. In Anne Rice's novels, it's Armand who does the amputating, taking both of the violinist's hands so he can no longer frantically play the violin. Whether the team thought it would villainize Armand too much or didn't have the time to spend with Nicki's backstory through the Théâtre des Vampires saga is unclear, but it's a curious change all the same.
His injury in the show could have likely been healed, but Nicki quickly throws his hand in the fire, foreshadowing his fate to come.
With each episode, it seems impossible that Reid's performance as Lestat could get any better yet, somehow, this man is pulling out a new bag of tricks with each passing chapter. In "Toronto," that trick is playing so deep into his manic behavior that everyone he's let in on the bit thinks he's lost it. He has, of course, but that's not why we get Lestat's Greatest Hits from his past. No, that's to play with Molloy, who's gotten far, far too familiar with a vampire who simply does not want to be known by him. Not really. The documentary is a performance as any other for Lestat, and in this week's episode we get a glimpse of what he'll do when Molloy's incessant needling goes too far. Of course, Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle) and her games don't do anyone any favors here, but she remains oh so fun to watch.
Armand's presence in the episode is brief, but enough to remind viewers who he is. His lack of empathy for Nicki's plight does nothing to ingratiate him to Lestat who is, at best, bored with the the Théâtre's proprietor. The Wolf Killer loves her mother in spite of her flaws because she was all she had in a household packed with cabbages. Armand has no such benefit, and while his jealousy is never in-your-face, it does remain apparent. Zaman's performance of one of my least favorite vampires of all time remains impeccable, made evident here by how much he manages to get across in so few scenes.
"Toronto" offers a final "gift" in granting the viewer more snippets of Lestat's creation, giving Damien Atkins' Magnus a brief showcase that is entirely responsible for Lestat behaving even more erratic than usual. In Rice's stories, Magnus turns Lestat, teaches him the rules of being a vampire and then almost immediately sets a pyre alight to kill himself after ordering Lestat to spread his ashes so he cannot return. In The Vampire Lestat, we may be getting hints at deeper involvement from Lestat's fascinatingly fucked up maker, but we'll just have to wait and see there.
There's still plenty of season to go but, as of Episode 3 of its third season, Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat remains the best show on TV.
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