Review: The Vampire Lestat Season 3, Episode 4: “The Devil’s Road”

Written by Jonathan Ceniceroz Directed by Claudia Llosa

One of the underlying points about the Anne Rice universe is that becoming a vampire heightens everything. Whatever drives and emotions one might have had as a human, those needs and wants are more potent as an immortal. And so is the pain and suffering that comes with deprivation. Much of the monstrous behavior of Rice’s vampires can be traced back to this conceit. Vampires don’t escape the trappings of human psychology; they are even more driven by it.

We saw this play out with Nicolas in the past. His bipolar tendencies went into overdrive when he became a vampire, to disastrous effect. We’ve been watching Lestat deal with his many psychological issues from the beginning, but especially this entire season, as the focus shifted to his perspective. But this episode explores the concept on several fronts.

Take, for example, Daniel’s anger towards Armand. On the face of it, it makes total sense. “The Vampire Bourdain” (yes, Lestat, we were all thinking it) has every reason to be angry at Armand. And yet, I would argue that his tirades are a bit uncentered, lacking focus. Daniel is just a bit unhinged. Does Daniel even know what he really wants? What he really needs? The tragedy is that he might never get the chance to express it, if Lestat’s comments about an untimely end are accurate.

It doesn’t help that Armand plays things so close to vest that even when he’s on a 12-step-inspired apology tour, he still gives only the bare minimum. Does he really understand the grievances of those around him? Not just Daniel, of course. His need to be in control and manage the situation constantly gets in the way, especially since he doesn’t do a particularly good job of explaining himself.

Ironically, Armand is one of the vehicles for progressing the overall plot that is brewing in the background. The Great Conversion is creeping ever closer to reality, and it will be a disaster for literally everyone involved. Lestat is throwing fuel onto the fire in just about every way. Armand seems like the only one taking it seriously, though one can imagine that the Talamasca is monitoring the situation in some fashion. As usual, they have their hands in everything.

If Lestat is supposed to be the catalyst for the Great Conversion, he is wholly uninterested in how he might be fulfilling that role with his music and his antics. He’s too busy pining for Gabriella. Gabriella has a history of abandoning him, ostensibly because he just isn’t as willing to embrace the evil aspects of their vampiric existence. Relatively speaking, Lestat’s too much of a good guy at heart, for all the damage he consistently inflicts. (Armand directly points out Lestat’s “rich character” in his letter.)

As an aside, this is where we once again have to question our perspective. How much of this is a true representation of everyone’s motivations? This is ultimately Lestat’s story. Of course he probably wants to see himself as fundamentally a good guy dealing with insane circumstances. Sure, from what we’ve seen, it makes sense that Gabriella would want to tear the world down. But we are seeing everything through the lens of Lestat’s internal justifications. That the writers manage to maintain that complicated construct is a masterstroke. This is important because everything we see of Gabriella must be viewed from that angle, every aspect of her manipulations.

As usual, Lestat and his increasingly self-destructive band and entourage put it all out there on the stage. Armand is already upset that Lestat is completely ignoring his warning about the frenzy the music and following is cultivating. Being openly called out and mocked adds to the angst. This might be the widest range of emotions we’ve ever seen from Armand. Who knows what he will do next?

And then we have Louis. I was wondering where his scenes with Regina might be going. For her own part, Regina has a long history of questionable activities and choices, so when Louis clues her in on why he keeps coming around, she ultimately sees it as an opportunity. Louis clearly wants Regina to “become” Claudia. Regina is willing to do so for a reasonably high price, one Louis is happy to pay.

This cannot end well. One thing that this season has reinforced is that Louis is capable of extreme violence, and his emotions are definitely suspect when it comes to Claudia. We just got to see that with Bruce. But even if Louis is not the one who might turn on Regina when she isn’t quite perfect as “Claudia”, we also know that Baby Jenks is out there, probably waiting for the chance at revenge. Going after Regina would be the obvious play.

In the wake of a “mass shooting”, one in which Christine is badly wounded, Lestat cancels the tour and breaks up the band. Gabriella convinces him that he needs to continue. Given what we’ve seen of her motivations, her goals are more than a little suspect. And with three episodes left, there is a lot of ground left to cover with the Great Conversion, the oft-mentioned Queen, and the rest of The Failures.