‘The Vampire Lestat’ Ep. 5: The Queen Awakens

*This article contains spoilers for “The Vampire Lestat” episodes one through five*

“The Vampire Lestat” episode five finds Lestat and his band in the dirty depths of recording the album that should rock the world. But even more pressing is the one-night concert this is all leading up to. All the concerts before this were child’s play. This seminal show will be played to an audience of thousands of vampires, but first they have to get their sound just right — and a certain queen must be introduced.

Chasing the Magnum Opus

This whole season, Lestat has been at war with himself and his art. He fought the music, and the muses it conjured up in him, at first. But as the tour has progressed, we’ve watched him give over more pieces of himself to the world. Now that the human world thinks he’s dead, where does he go? The answer is straight back into the studio. His circle is reduced to the band, Gabriella, and a familiar face from Paris, the vampire Sam Barclay (Christopher Geary). The problem is, that perfect sound Lestat is reaching for isn’t coming easy. Even running into the sun isn’t enough to drag it out of them and the muses are back in full force. Even dream Louis makes his first appearance.

The struggle isn’t for lack of effort. The crux of it is that Lestat isn’t looking for sticks against cymbals or picks plucking at steel strings. He’s chasing a depth of sound only a vampire could understand. He’s looking for music that captures centuries worth of pain and joy, death and life. The savage garden and the devil’s road condensed into mere melodies. At the same time, Daniel is chasing his own magnum opus. With the documentary up in the air thanks to Lestat’s pseudocide, he takes to the streets searching for sound bites and viral clips. His maker follows, however, and we learn that Armand has been watching Daniel for centuries, an invisible hand guiding him through his life. He offers a real maker-fledgling, mentor-student relationship setting the stage for a new alliance.

The Queen Is Kept

A New Keeper Arrives

As the band continues chipping away at the album, Lestat’s memories transport the audience back to his first encounter with the vampire Marius de Romanus (Christopher Heyerdahl). Marius is Armand’s maker and the one who pulls Lestat out of the ground following his mother’s desertion. Though this version of Marius isn’t pulled straight from the books, I love what they’ve done with the character. Christopher Heyerdahl, who is no stranger to playing vampires, brings an ancient wisdom to the character. That, coupled with a misguided sense of whimsy feel appropriate for someone who has spent years on end being the sole caretaker for two all-powerful ancient vampires. If Akasha and Enkil — Those Who Must Be Kept as Lestat has so cryptically referred to them as since season one — burn, so to do all other vampires.

The Queen of the Damned herself, Akasha (Sheila Atim), has requested Lestat take the honor from Marius. Marius, for one, is more than happy to concede the position. What ensues is years of Lestat entertaining the king and queen with human treasures and stories of the changing world outside. There’s a childlike joy in Sam Reid’s portrayal of Lestat during this time that we don’t see often in others’ perceptions of him. We also get to watch him question his own immortal existence and nature in ways that parallel Louis’s fledgling musings.

The Queen Awakens

Of course, the bliss can’t last forever. There’s a slumbering queen waiting to wake. Just a touch of Lestat’s blood is enough to have Akasha rising off of the slab and biting back. Marius returns to find Lestat mid-air thanks to his newly-found cloud gift and Akasha speaking to everyone and no one. There is nothing to do but tell Lestat to run. This is the performance we have been anticipating all season. In fact since season one, people have been desperate to see how the show would handle the infamous character.

All of my own expectations were blown out of the water. Sheila Atim delivers whole new layers to what is already a beloved character. Her monologue builds from a woman softly questioning her own existence to a vampire queen boldly claiming her own power. The lines she speaks are rich with references to humanity’s changing ways, womanhood, and the vampirism of old, including Amel who is a core aspect of the lore in the books and who Lestat refers to in the episode as well. Akasha, through Atim’s masterful approach, contains multitudes. She is the girl, the god, and so much more.

Don’t Break That Stare

While the queen is awakening in another timeline, Louis is slowly waking from a stupor of his own. Regina is still pretending to be Claudia and they’ve even brought in someone to act as Madeleine alongside her. And what Louis hoped would be healing for him is becoming more unsettling by day. The lines between Regina and Claudia are blurring in all the wrong ways and Louis feels like he’s drowning in it all. So he reaches out to the only person on earth who could possibly understand. Louis can finally confide in someone and Lestat, despite his reluctance, agrees to help Louis. But coming face to face with Regina, who really does look like Claudia, shakes something loose in him that he’s tried hard to bury.

Even as he notices the differences between Regina and Claudia, a heart murmur and a misplaced hip injury, centuries of love and guilt come rising to the surface. He warns Louis to put an end to the relationship with an easy lie, that Regina is nothing like Claudia. Then, he returns to the studio and sits down to write his most truthful song yet. The sound he’s been chasing pours out of him alongside memories of a girl scorned and neglected. In the show, the song is stripped down. Only Lestat’s raw vocals and a piano carry the weight of the words.

The officially released version is filled out more, with strings and female vocals. Both versions are hauntingly beautiful in their own ways. One is raw, a man grappling with grief on his own. The other, with the addition of the female voice, likely Sarah Swire who plays TC, feels almost like Claudia’s voice joining Lestat’s, speaking his own guilt back at him. It’s no wonder Lestat decides to rework the entire album around this new sound. This music isn’t about spectacle or performing for mortals. This is about putting into melodies what it really means to take on the gift and burden of immortal existence.

The Band Regroups

The target audience for the music has changed and the band must follow suit. Despite Lestat’s warnings about the volatility of Akasha’s blood, his band members seem more than willing to bear the burden if it means being able to see the tour through to the bitter end. While the episode ends before they’re turned, it’s likely we’re looking at a trio of fresh fledglings by next episode.

But there’s another change to the band that we can’t skip over. After enduring harsh criticism from Lestat and with the prospect of rerecording the entire album on the horizon, Larry leaves the band. Unfortunately, he runs out of the grasp of one vampire and straight into the hold of another. Armand, who already has a hold of Larry’s brother and fellow band member, Alex, finds Larry at his lowest and offers him rest. Not everyone is as stubborn as one Daniel Molloy and Larry takes to the offer far too quickly. With Larry out of the picture, one can only wonder what Armand’s big plan is. Is it about Lestat, the Great Conversion, or everything rolled into one? Armand works in mysterious ways and I, for one, am both excited and terrified to find out.