History Recap / InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E1InThroesOfIncreasingWonder

* LoveIsLikeReligion: Lestat, a HollywoodAtheist, compares his LoveInterest Louis to a saint.
-->'''Lestat''': I had planned to make a new life for myself in UsefulNotes/StLouis. That was to be my destiny. And now I know I was right. Only it turns out the saint is not a city, but a handsome man with a most agreeable disposition.

* OneDropRule: Louis mentions to Daniel that his family is mixed-race, and in former times were somewhat more privileged as free people of color. With Jim Crow, however, racist state laws apply no matter what, even when only one of his grandparents was entirely black. Louis just calls himself "Negro," the term used then, and the laws would have classified him as such.

* SeekingSanctuary: Louis flees to St. Augustine Church in the hope that it can protect him from Lestat, whom he believes is the Devil. However, vampires aren't affected by religious sites or objects, so Lestat (a HollywoodAtheist who resents Christianity) enters the church, sets the pews on fire, murders Father Matthias while Louis was [[{{Confessional}} confessing his sins]], and then kills a second priest before he approaches Louis.

* DespairEventHorizon: Louis [[NotAfraidToDie loses the will to live]] after his younger brother Paul (whom Louis "loved more than anyone on Earth" and promised their dying father to take care of him) commits suicide. Overwhelmed by the profound loss and feeling like a total failure, Louis undergoes a nervous breakdown while confessing his sins and exclaims in anguish "I wanna die!" Lestat grants him his wish by murdering Louis as a human and then turning him into a vampire.

* ExhaustedEyeBags: Throughout the climax, the bags under Louis' eyes are reddish and puffy because he's grieving for his brother Paul, and the loss has pushed him past his DespairEventHorizon. His situation is further exacerbated by the fear and stress brought on by Lestat's NonhumanLoverReveal when the latter savagely murders two priests in front of Louis.

* NonhumanLoverReveal: Louis believed that Lestat was human throughout their friendship and during [[TheirFirstTime their first sexual encounter]]. However, he starts to suspect that Lestat isn't human when the latter incessantly bombards his mind with telepathic demands to "Come to me/''Viens à moi''," and Louis even declares during his confession to Father Matthias that "I laid down with the Devil." Lestat finally drops his mortal façade when he enters the church and lets Louis witness firsthand his bloodthirsty vampiric nature. Although Louis is scared of Lestat, the latter's LoveConfession is both heartfelt and persuasive enough that Louis willingly receives the Dark Gift from Lestat so they can be together forever.

* NotAfraidToDie: Louis suffers from a nervous breakdown after [[DespairEventHorizon the death of his brother Paul]], and while confessing his sins to Father Matthias, it's plain that he wants to follow Paul to the grave. Louis is wracked with guilt and shame over his numerous failures. It's because he's so broken that he later accepts Lestat's offer to kill him as a human and be reborn as a vampire.

* SeekingSanctuary: Louis flees to St. Augustine Church in the hope that it can protect him from Lestat, whom he believes is the Devil. However, vampires aren't affected by religious sites or objects, so Lestat (a HollywoodAtheist who resents Christianity) enters the church, sets the pews on fire, murders Father Matthias while Louis was confessing his sins, and then kills a second priest before he approaches Louis.

* SexualEuphemism: While confessing his sins to Father Matthias, Louis relies on a horticultural analogy when he divulges that he bottomed for Lestat when they had sex, and even hints that his lover has a large penis (which Lestat asserts in [[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E5AVileHungerForYourHammeringHeart episode 5]]). Louis compares himself to the soil while Lestat is the plant that's "sprouting" within him.

** Later during the climax, after Lestat murders a priest by punching right through the latter's head at high speed, some of his victim's blood and brain matter land on the camera lens.

* HatesTheirParent: Lestat detests his father, whom he characterizes as a vulgar man with a temper, for beating and starving him when he was a boy in order to dissuade him from joining the clergy.

* HemoErotic: Downplayed with Lestat because he usually doesn't derive sexual pleasure from drinking blood, but the one big exception is when he feeds on Louis, whom he's in love with. It's evident from Lestat's soft moans that tasting Louis' blood is a very sensual experience for him. Furthermore, when Louis consumes Lestat's blood as part of his transformation into a vampire, Lestat appears aroused with a slack jaw while panting, his gaze fixed on Louis. Lestat clearly enjoys both the sensation and the sight of Louis sucking on his blood. Lestat then collapses on to the floor while still breathing heavily in a manner which resembles a PostCoitalCollapse.

* InTheBlood: Lestat acknowledges that he's cursed with his father's temper.

* LoveIsLikeReligion: Lestat, a HollywoodAtheist, views his LoveInterest Louis as a saint.

-->'''Lestat''': I had planned to make a new life for myself in St. Louis. That was to be my destiny. And now I know I was right. Only it turns out the saint is not a city, but a handsome man with a most agreeable disposition.

* BoyMeetsGhoul: Lestat, a handsome vampire, falls madly in love with Louis, a human, and the former courts the latter for a few months before they share their FirstKiss and TheirFirstTime. A few weeks later, Lestat [[LoveConfession proclaims his love]] for Louis and he proposes that they enter a MetaphoricalMarriage of EternalLove. Louis expresses his assent by kissing Lestat, their OfficialKiss being their final intimate act before Lestat turns Louis into a vampire.

* MeetTheInLaws: Played with when Louis brings Lestat to the de Pointe du Lac home for dinner. The audience knows these two are future lovers. The du Lacs, and even Louis himself, think this is just Louis's new friend. Lestat already views this man as his [[EternalLove eternal]] [[MetaphoricalMarriage "husband"]] and is delighted Louis is inviting him to partake in a couple-like activity. Paul seems oddly astute, playing the classic protective brother role and asking Lestat what his intentions with his brother are.

* HeadbuttOfLove: Immediately after their FirstKiss, Louis and Lestat press their foreheads together to maintain physical contact since their mouths are no longer touching.

* MeetTheInLaws: Played with when Louis brings Lestat to the du Lac home for dinner. The audience knows these two are future lovers. The du Lacs, and even Louis himself, think this is just Louis's new friend. Lestat already thinks this man is his [[EternalLove eternal husband]] and is delighted Louis is inviting him to partake in couple-y tropes. Paul seems oddly astute, playing the classic MeetTheInLaws protective brother role and asking Lestat was his intentions with his brother are.

* MixedAncestryIsAttractive: Lampshaded by Lestat (who is a wealthy Frenchman in an era when France was still an active colonial power, which includes colonies in Africa) when he mentions that he finds what he calls [[StarbucksSkinScale cinnamon skin tone]] -- a mix of African and European descent -- attractive while [[EatingTheEyeCandy gazing seductively]] at Louis, who is biracial and fits in the "cinnamon" category. Louis becomes even more desirable in Lestat's eyes when the latter learns that the former has French ancestry (Lestat is delighted that Louis speaks French and has a French name), so Louis' "exotic" quality is more "accessible" to Lestat. Lestat frequently compliments Louis' looks (e.g. [[PrettyBoy "beautiful face," "pretty head"]]). This also extends to the biracial Lily because Lestat refers to both her and Louis as "misfit beauties." Lestat is madly (even obsessively) in love with Louis, seduces him, and then turns him into a vampire so that they can be companions for eternity.

* DisproportionateRetribution: In 1973, Louis nearly killed Daniel after the latter merely asked to be turned into a vampire (apparently he was under the influence of drugs at the time). 49 years later, Louis is still pissed off about it because he becomes irate after listening to the cassette recording of their argument and the subsequent attack, and he accuses Daniel of being insolent -- as if that somehow justifies his homicidal outburst.

[-Aired October 2, 2022-]