Line #139 Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E2AfterThePhantomsOfYourFormerSelf


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iwtv_s1e2.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"[Lestat] had a way about him."]]
3
4	!!! Aired October 9, 2022
5
6	Beginning his life as a vampire, Louis learns the rules of vampirism from his maker and companion Lestat. Louis discovers increasing differences between himself and Lestat. In Dubai, Louis reveals more of his modern-day vampire lifestyle to Daniel.
7
8	----
9	!!Tropes:
10	* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: After Louis joins Lestat in feeding on the blood of the tenor, Lestat tenderly holds Louis' head as a gesture of intimacy.
11	* AllGaysLoveTheater: Off-screen, the bisexual Lestat takes his gay boyfriend Louis on a date to see the play ''Theatre/ADollsHouse'' ("They'll seat us late, and we'll miss Nora's entrance with the Christmas tree"). Later, they also attend the ''Don Pasquale'' opera together.
12	* AllGirlsLikePonies: The tractor salesman mentions to Lestat and Louis that his daughter Maggie wants a Palomino horse, and he's working hard so he can afford to buy one for her. Daniel then lampshades this trope when he points out that Louis was heartless for exsanguinating the man because Maggie lost both her dad and her dream of owning a horse.
13	-->'''Daniel''': You robbed a daughter of her father, maybe a pet pony.
14	* AssholeVictim: Louis feeds on the racist Mr. Carlo (Alderman Fenwick's assistant), which results in the latter's death, after Carlo subjects Louis to an extremely condescending case of YouAreACreditToYourRace.
15	* AtTheOperaTonight: Louis and Lestat see ''Don Pasquale'' at an upscale, formal venue (they dress in tuxedos instead of suits) and the latter pays for a private box, but the big downside is that black people are barred from entering unless they're a servant of a white person, so Louis must pose as Lestat's valet. Although they were impressed by the soprano Sofia Consoli, their date was marred by the tenor who portrays Ernesto, whose singing was out of tune throughout the show. Lestat decides to [[DisproportionateRetribution punish the tenor by making a meal out of him]].
16	* BeneathTheMask: Towards the end of the honeymoon phase of their relationship, Louis was concealing from Lestat the full extent of how uncomfortable he was with vampirism.
17	-->'''Louis''': And I was still very much under [Lestat]'s power. We would drain the tenor for hours that night. Lestat completely enthralled. Myself, pretending to be. Afraid to disappoint. Lestat was wrong. I was never going to be a natural. I was never going to savor the aftertaste. I was a shame-ridden second, a... a fumbling, despondent killer, a botched vampire.
18	* BilingualBonus:
19	** After Louis says "Fuck you" to Lestat, the Frenchman's reply is "''Va te faire foutre aussi!''", which means "Go fuck yourself, too!"
20	** Damek asks Daniel in Russian, "So, are you new to Dubai? Been here before?"
21	* BridalCarry: A same-sex variation occurs when Lestat carries an [[WeakenedByTheLight injured]] Louis bridal-style up the stairs of what is now their home (the townhouse is owned by Lestat, but Louis becomes its second resident after Lestat transforms him into a vampire). The bridal carry obviously symbolizes that they're [[MetaphoricalMarriage essentially married]], [[ForbiddenLove as much as two men can be in 1910]].
22	* CallAHumanAMeatbag: The vampire Lestat's designation for humans is "the meat" because he hunts them every night, so naturally he views them as his "savory inferiors." He also compares human prey to red wine grapes (he occasionally [[AGlassOfChianti serves human blood in wine glasses]]), and his descriptions of them are meat-like:
23	-->'''Lestat''': A young Tempranillo, fleshy and tart. A Primitivo, hints of iron, rather plain otherwise. A pair of oak-aged Cabernet [Sauvignon], thick-skinned and chewy.
24	* CallingOutForNotCalling: After Louis moves into Lestat's townhouse, he seldom visits his family at their mansion, which annoys his mother. However, he does point out that she could visit him in the French Quarter, but she chooses not to.
25	-->'''Florence''': Move half a mile away, don't come see your family for half a season. ''(sighs)'' Don't come back fragile, son.\
26	'''Louis''': Haven't heard a knock on my door. It's a half-mile both ways, Mama.
27	* CantLiveWithThemCantLiveWithoutThem: Lestat tells Louis that he's very difficult to live with and it drives him nuts, but he wouldn't change a single thing about his lover.
28	-->'''Lestat''': No one as angry, as stubborn, as unaccommodating, as maddening--\
29	'''Louis''': Sound like trash to me.\
30	'''Lestat''': As loving, as dedicated, as thoughtful, as imperfectly perfect as you've become. You're a challenge every sunset, [[AffectionateNickname Saint Louis]], and I'd have it no other way.
31	* CaptainObvious: Just after Louis [[VomitDiscretionShot pukes]] as he adjusts to his new vampire body, Lestat unnecessarily adds, "And then there's the retching."
32	* CarpetRolledCorpse: After Louis is done feeding on the tractor salesman, Lestat rolls up the dead man inside a red carpet rug that he'll later discard as he ponders on a replacement.
33	-->'''Lestat''': For our next carpet, I'm thinking Persian. Arabesque maybe. Certainly need a more efficient way of ridding the waste.
34	* CasualKink: DownplayedTrope. When Louis uses his SuperStrength to push his lover Lestat away from him, the latter flies across the room and hits the wall. Lestat lets out a pleased, surprised gasp and is mildly aroused by his newborn fledgling exerting his vampiric force against him, which hints that Lestat is into UsefulNotes/{{BDSM}}. It foreshadows Lestat's masochistic side when Louis [[InterplayOfSexAndViolence manhandles]] him in [[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E6LikeAngelsPutInHellByGod episode 6]].
35	* CigaretteOfAnxiety: At the bar of the opera house, Louis is apprehensive while puffing on a cigarette as he watches Lestat lavish fake praise on the tenor. Louis dislikes killing humans, so he dreads the outcome that Lestat will eat the man for dinner later that night.
36	* CompartmentShot: The camera is inside the incinerator when Lestat opens the lid just before he and Louis toss Mr. Carlo's corpse inside.
37	* ContinuityNod:
38	** The scar tissue on Louis' left hand means that it still hasn't fully healed from his SelfMutilationDemonstration to Daniel in [[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E1InThroesOfIncreasingWonder the previous episode]].
39	** Finn's arm is in a sling because Lestat had injured it in the series premiere after the former prevented the latter from harassing Louis in the funeral procession. Lestat smugly inquires, "Is it healing properly? You might need a proper doctor, my friend."
40	* CoordinatedClothes: Because of institutionalized homophobia, Lestat and Louis [[ClosetGay can't be too blatant about the fact that they're a couple in public]], but Lestat subtly defies society's restrictions by having identical tuxedos made for himself and Louis, so any observant spectator at the ''Don Pasquale'' opera can [[TransparentCloset easily deduce that the two men are together]] based on their matching attire.
41	* CouldntFindAPen: Lestat scratches his own index finger and uses his own blood to mark the places on his ''Don Pasquale'' music sheets where the tenor sings off-key.
42	* CrammingTheCoffin: Lestat stuffs one of the two dead priests that he has killed into a sarcophagus at St. Augustine Church's cemetery.
43	* CulturalPosturing:
44	** PlayedWith when the Frenchman Lestat brings up that he used to despise the English language, but he later became enamoured with it.
45	--->'''Lestat''': When I first started learning English, I abhorred it. Every word felt like a doorknob falling out of my mouth. ''Chapeau'' is a hat, ''étoile'' was a star... But when I started dreaming in English, that's when I embraced it. And now, I have English consonants to thank for this [[ProudBeauty astonishing jawline]].
46	** Later, Lestat -- who is a great admirer of European classical music and opera -- has a mocking facial expression when he tells Florence (an African American) "I see you have a banjo band in your front yard," so he considers banjo music (the banjo was invented by African Americans) to be inferior.
47	* DisapprovingLook:
48	** Florence has a displeased facial expression because she doesn't like how Louis presents himself, as she believes it's a telltale sign that he's gay.
49	--->'''Florence''': ''(in her mind)'' Look at his nails. He's getting his fingernails done. And the glasses? Some fashion certain men like him do. Lord. ''(sighs out loud)''
50	** Later, at the posh opera venue where black people aren't permitted inside unless they're a servant, an elderly white couple look down (both literally and figuratively) on Louis from the upper floor because they're racist and don't like seeing non-Caucasians in their midst.
51	* DisproportionateRetribution: Lestat murders an Italian opera singer simply because he sang poorly, and humiliates him first to boot, which Louis dislikes.
52	* DoubleEntendre:
53	** Lestat informs Louis on the latter's first day as a fledgling vampire that he needs to rest during the daytime, but there's only one coffin in the townhouse. Louis initially refuses to do so, but then Lestat strips naked and allows Louis to get an eyeful of his body before entering the coffin. Just before Lestat lies down, he adds, "It's okay. You can be on top."
54	** Later, Louis is surprised to learn that vampires are telepathic, so he asks Lestat in a playful tone, "And you gonna sit on that skill for how long? You gonna make me beg?" The naughty smirk on Lestat's lips indicates that he's imagining Louis begging him in their boudoir for a different type of skill (they're in a LoverAndBeloved relationship after all, with Louis as the subordinate partner).
55	* EpisodeTagline: Louis says "He had a way about him" thrice to underline to Daniel how he was very much under Lestat's power in their LoverAndBeloved romance.
56	* {{Fainting}}: The anemia variety occurs when [[VoluntaryVampireVictim Damek]] faints after Louis drinks his blood.
57	* FantasticDrug: Vampire blood has drug-like qualities. Louis vividly elucidates to Daniel (a former substance abuser) the sensations he felt on his first night as a vampire with his maker's blood coursing through his veins.
58	-->'''Louis''': Lestat's blood was giggling inside me, teasing my senses, illuminating the district with overwhelming detail, as if I had walked my entire life as a dead man, and now dead, could finally receive the secrets of existence.\
59	'''Daniel''': You were fucking loaded.\
60	'''Louis''': Beyond articulation.
61	* FatteningTheVictim: Lampshaded by Daniel when he's surprised to learn that he'll be served a seven-course meal for dinner in the home of a vampire.
62	-->'''Rashid''': Mr. de Pointe du Lac will join you at course seven.\
63	'''Daniel''': Seven? Wait, but how many courses are there? Fattening me up for the inevitable end?
64	* FlashStep: From the perspective of the tractor salesman, Lestat appears to teleport from the living room to the front door, which blocks the salesman's path. He tries to punch Lestat, but his fist ends up hitting the door because Lestat has instantaneously moved to the staircase. Unbeknownst to the salesman, Lestat is a vampire with SuperSpeed.
65	* FoodPorn: The seven-course meal that is served to Daniel and was prepared by Louis' personal chef looks absolutely gorgeous and delicious. They're the type of fancy dishes that you'd find at a ''very'' expensive restaurant.
66	* ForeignCussWord: Lestat yells "''Va te faire foutre aussi!''", which is French for "Go fuck yourself, too!"
67	* FurnaceBodyDisposal: Lestat's solution to "We certainly need a more efficient way of [[DisposingOfABody ridding the waste]]" is to buy an incinerator to cremate the remains of his and Louis' human victims, and the resulting ash makes it easy for them to get rid of the evidence of their crimes. Mr. Carlo's corpse is torched in this manner.
68	* GayEuphemism:
69	** The homophobic Florence has inferred that her son Louis is in a TransparentCloset with Lestat, and she derides the latter's style while barely tolerating his presence.
70	--->'''Louis''': You remember Lestat.\
71	'''Lestat''': Madame de Pointe du Lac, all the kindness for the invitation.\
72	'''Florence''': I don't remember inviting him, but please, take your overdressed self and have a fine time.
73	** She's also judgemental about Louis' appearance.
74	--->'''Florence''': ''(in her mind)'' Look at his nails. He's getting his fingernails done. And the glasses? Some fashion certain men like him do. Lord. ''(sighs out loud)''
75	* AGlassOfChianti: Lestat slits the tenor's wrist while holding a gold-rimmed wine glass underneath it to collect the dripping blood, and then he takes a sip like he's savoring a LuxuriousLiquor.
76	* AGodAmI: Although Lestat is [[HollywoodAtheist a steadfast atheist]], he regards vampires --- who are immortal beings with superpowers -- as god-like. He attempts to impart this belief to his fledgling Louis.
77	-->'''Lestat''': If you'd listen to me, if you finally submit to your nature, you will be filled, Louis, with all the life you can hold. You will see death in all its beauty, life as it is only known at the very point of the death. You alone, of all creatures, can see death with that impunity. You alone, under the rising moon... can strike like the hand of God.
78	* GrandRomanticGesture: Lampshaded by Louis when Lestat agrees to lend him a large sum of money to purchase the Fairplay Saloon: "It was a grand and loving gesture on Lestat's part."
79	* GratuitousRussian: Although Damek hears Daniel speak English with an American accent when he enters the dining room (and therefore he should've inferred that Daniel is an American), Damek asks him a question in Russian. Daniel doesn't understand, so then Damek chats with him in English.
80	* HatesBeingAlone: Lestat [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-IQr5bKMLs opens up]] to Louis about how terrified he is of being alone over long stretches of time.
81	-->'''Lestat''': There is one thing about being a vampire that I most fear above all else... And that is loneliness. You can't imagine the emptiness... A void stretching out for decades at a time. You take this feeling away from me, Louis. We must stay together and take precaution, and never part.
82	* HeadbuttOfLove: In the wide shot of Louis and Lestat exsanguinating the tenor together, Lestat leans towards his lover so that their foreheads are touching, and he reinforces their physical closeness by [[AffectionateGestureToTheHead cradling the back of Louis' head]]. They're doing the vampire equivalent of SweetheartSipping, so Lestat is reassuring Louis that he adores him in spite of their bickering earlier.
83	* HealingFactor: When the vampire Lestat is [[ShirtlessScene bare-chested]], we can see that his back is perfectly healed (there isn't any scarring) from the multiple stab wounds that were inflicted on him by Louis a few hours earlier in [[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E1InThroesOfIncreasingWonder the previous episode]].
84	* HeartbeatSoundtrack: The newly fledged vampire Louis is famished for human blood, so as he's staring at the tractor salesman's neck at the bar, his SuperHearing becomes fixated on his prey's pulsing heart rate.
85	* HideYourOtherness: Louis doesn't want his family to know that he's a vampire, so he dons sunglasses when he visits them at the mansion to conceal his green vampire eyes (they were brown when he was human).
86	* HoldingHands: Averted when Lestat is unable to join hands with Louis at the opera even though he really wants to, but the rampant homophobia in 1916 means that all he can do is brush his pinky finger against Louis' for a few seconds.
87	* HolyHalo: [[https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/053/371/472/large/pixoloid-studios-interview-prop-tintoretto-painting-pixoloid.jpg The painting]] by Marius de Romanus which hangs in the dining room of Louis' Dubai penthouse depicts Christ with rays of light around his head.
88	* HorrorHunger: Louis is pretty repulsed after being turned and drinking blood. He's especially appalled at nearly having fed on his infant nephew due to his thirst.
89	* {{Hypocrite}}:
90	** A bloodstained Lestat lampshades this after he butchered two priests: "I recognize the hypocrite I am, emphasizing cleanliness after I overindulged."
91	** Later, Lestat denigrates humans for their primitive mindset: "Every human thought boils down to three things... I want food, I want sex, I want to go home. [...] Dull, monotonous [...] the petty musings of [[CallAHumanAMeatbag meat]]." However, Lestat himself is engrossed by food (he enjoys hunting, torturing and eating humans), sex (he's so lecherous that [[ReallyGetsAround he's habitually banging someone]]) and home (which he equates with Louis, whom he's besotted with) on a daily basis. As a vampire, Lestat is higher up on the food chain, but his psychology is just as simplistic as his "savory inferiors."
92	* IKissYourHand: Lestat (an old-fashioned Frenchman) kisses Florence's hand when he greets her on the front porch of her home.
93	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Bruno Battisti D'Amario's "Omaggio a Giuliani (Capriccio 700)" is heard while Daniel is being served the first four dishes of the seven-course meal, and it initially seems to be part of the show's soundtrack, but then Daniel requests the music be turned down after Louis arrives at the dining room to continue the interview.
94	* LensFlare: When Louis beholds Lestat with his new vampire eyes at the cemetery, the glare of the streetlight is so [[https://64.media.tumblr.com/b7e69f893e263a5da9c5631811aead91/f05e9938c2ec8c08-52/s540x810/8c9a7f870a8555ad848aa6b06651d6d41c9584b7.gif bright]] that it almost washes out Lestat's facial features.
95	* LikeAGodToMe: In the first scene of the episode, when Rashid tires of Daniel's line of questioning, he simply asserts that his vampire boss Louis is a deity whom he's happy to obey.
96	-->'''Daniel''': Did you always work for [Louis]? Sign an NDA? I mean, is it only work [[SleepingWithTheBoss or are you and he...]]?\
97	'''Rashid''': I serve a god. It is my honor to serve.
98	* LivingLieDetector: Because vampires are telepathic, they can sense when someone's lying. Lestat informs his new fledgling Louis (who doesn't yet know how to tap into this skill) that Finn is deceiving him.
99	-->'''Lestat''': He's lying, you know.\
100	'''Louis''': He'll figure I'm a bean counter.\
101	'''Lestat''': No, he wants the job so he can steal from you. Overcharge for drinks and women. Not enough for you to notice, but enough to make him "good extra," he calls it.\
102	'''Louis''': And you know that 'cause you got in his head just now?\
103	'''Lestat''': Vampires can read minds, ''mon cher'' [[note]]the masculine form for "my dear" in French[[/note]].
104	* LondonEnglandSyndrome: Lestat proposes a vacation to Rome. A shocked Louis asks, "Rome, ''Italy''?"
105	-->'''Lestat:''' Would you prefer Rome, Wisconsin?
106	* LoveIsLikeReligion:
107	** Invoked by Lestat (a HollywoodAtheist) when he addresses his boyfriend as [[AffectionateNickname "Saint Louis."]]
108	** During the honeymoon phase of their relationship, Louis (a lapsed Catholic) felt a religious-like reverence and adoration for his lover Lestat.
109	--->'''Louis''': There was present a kind of worship on my part. The earth beneath me always felt liquid.
110	* LoverAndBeloved: Louis describes Lestat as his mentor and lover, and this episode focuses on Louis' experience as a fledgling vampire with Lestat (who is much older than him) as his teacher in vampirism while also being involved in what Lestat calls a "vampire romance."
111	* MaamShock: Grace is stunned when her older brother Louis addresses her as "ma'am."
112	-->'''Grace''': Did you even meet the twins?\
113	'''Louis''': No, ma'am.\
114	'''Grace''': Ma'am? I look that old to you?
115	* MadArtist: Lampshaded by Louis when describing Lestat, who treats murder like an art form.
116	-->'''Louis''': For in bringing death, Lestat was an artist. He had cut the man tenderly so that he could not call for help, but also so that his death was slow, meditative.
117	* MillenniumBug: Lampshaded by Daniel after Louis declares that he hasn't committed a homicide since the TurnOfTheMillennium.
118	-->'''Louis''': I no longer kill. My last victim was in the year 2000.\
119	'''Daniel''': Some Y2K disagreement?
120	* MissKitty: After Louis purchases the Fairplay Saloon and revamps it as the Azalea, he promotes Bricktop Williams (formerly a prostitute) as the madam his new establishment.
121	* MyCard: The gullible tractor salesman offers his International Harvester Farmall business card to Lestat, unaware that the two potential customers are actually vampires who have selected him as food for the newly fledged Louis.
122	* NavelDeepNeckline: When Lestat attempts to make amends to Louis after an argument, the former's robe is almost fully open, so much of his well-built torso is exposed. He presumably does this to try to tempt Louis into having sex with him.
123	* NotAfraidToDie: Louis is so profoundly upset and disgusted at himself after he almost ate his nephew that he's shedding TearsOfBlood, and he encourages his lover Lestat to burn him alive and replace him with someone else.
124	-->'''Louis''': You should just throw me in the incinerator and make another [vampire companion].
125	* {{Overcrank}}: The beginning of the scene where Louis and Lestat walk the streets of New Orleans shortly after the former is turned into a vampire is slowed down to convey that Louis is high on Lestat's [[FantasticDrug vampire blood]].
126	* PedophilePriest: ExploitedTrope by Lestat when he says the two priests he had killed won't be missed because people will just assume they molested children and were subjected to VigilanteExecution.
127	-->'''Lestat''': A couple of parish priests go missing, people say, "Fine, most likely kid-fiddlers."
128	* PrettyBoy: Lampshaded by Lestat when he describes the most attractive human man at the bar as "the prettiest girl at the party," and he understands why Louis wants to target the sailor because "I admire the aesthetic."
129	* ProudBeauty: Lestat brags about his "astonishing jawline" during the car ride with Louis.
130	* PsychoStrings: [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8l3jjj?playlist=x7nyow Staccato violin notes in a minor key]] stress that Louis has cast aside all rational thought by succumbing to both his vampiric thirst for human blood and his wrath at Mr. Carlo's patronizing YouAreACreditToYourRace treatment by exsanguinating him to death. Lestat would later admonish Louis for his recklessness in murdering an alderman's assistant.
131	* PsychoticSmirk: Lestat grins while [[SarcasticClapping sarcastically applauding]] at the end of the ''Don Pasquale'' performance because he knows he'll relish [[DisproportionateRetribution tormenting and devouring the tenor whose lousy singing spoiled his date night with Louis]].
132	* ReadyForLovemaking: Lestat anticipates consummating his MetaphoricalMarriage to Louis, so he quickly strips off all of his clothing, lets Louis appreciate his nude, muscular figure for a moment before settling down inside his coffin, and then entices Louis to come over with "It's okay. [[DoubleEntendre You can be on top.]]" Louis confirms to Daniel that he and Lestat made love in that coffin.
133	* SarcasmMode: When Louis asserts that he and Lestat were equals, Daniel doesn't buy it because he recognizes that they shared a LoverAndBeloved relationship, which by its nature is an UnequalPairing, with Louis in the subordinate position due to his age and race.
134	-->'''Louis:''' I got in that coffin on my own free will. In the quiet dark, we were equals.\
135	'''Daniel:''' ''(sarcastically)'' White master, Black student, but equal in the quiet dark.
136	* SarcasticClapping: Lestat is extremely disgruntled throughout most of the ''Don Pasquale'' performance because of the tenor's subpar voice, but he "leapt to his feet in mock appreciation" and claps at the end of the show with a PsychoticSmirk. Lestat's evening has been ruined, so he decides to have fun by [[DisproportionateRetribution hunting the tenor for his dinner]].
137	* SecretRoom: In Lestat's townhouse, the coffin room is adjacent to the master bedroom, but it can only be accessed by pressing a hidden button on the fireplace.
138	* ShirtlessScene: Lestat removes his shirt and waistcoat as he leads Louis through what is now their master bedroom, and is half-naked as he unveils the [[SecretRoom secret coffin room]] to his newborn fledgling.
139	* SickeningCrunch: Viewers hear the sounds of bones cracking when Lestat [[CrammingTheCoffin crams a dead priest into a sarcophagus]] that's too short for the corpse.
140	* SimpleScoreOfSadness: [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8kzn3x?start=24 A slow, melancholic version]] of Daniel Hart's "The Drum Was My Heart" is heard during the final two scenes, which has a lone violin for the melody and a piano for the bass. In 1916, this musical cue represents the end of the honeymoon phase for Louis and Lestat's CommonLawMarriage because cracks have begun to appear, while in 2022, the dessert is the same one Daniel had when he proposed to his first wife Alice, and his tone of voice while he's reminiscing suggests that he misses her (or at least misses how happy they were at the start of their engagement).
141	* SleepingWithTheBoss: At the beginning of the episode, Daniel has no evidence of any inappropriate behaviour between the personal assistant Rashid and his boss Louis, yet his journalistic instincts sense that they may be in a sexual relationship, so Daniel invokes this trope when he asks Rashid, "I mean, is it only work or are you and he...?" Rashid's answer is cryptic because it's neither an affirmation nor a denial: [[LikeAGodToMe "I serve a god. It is my honor to serve."]]
142	* SuddenlyShouting:
143	-->'''Lestat''': Well, I like to do it. I enjoy it.\
144	'''Louis''': Well, I don't. You don't have to humiliate him.\
145	'''Lestat''': WELL, I DON'T SAY THAT YOU HAVE TO ENJOY IT!
146	* SunglassesAtNight: After his transition into a vampire, Louis always sports sunglasses during the evenings when he visits his family at the mansion to hide his vampiric green irises (his eyes used to be brown when he was human).
147	* TableSpace: Daniel conducts the interview with Louis in the latter's dining room, and they sit at opposite ends of a long table while eating dinner and dessert. [[SymbolicDistance The distance between them is symbolic]] of Daniel being naturally wary of a vampire who nearly drained him to death 49 years ago for merely being a VampireVannabe while high on drugs.
148	* TearsOfBlood: Louis sheds a bloodied tear when he's consumed with self-loathing after he nearly exsanguinated his nephew. Lestat wipes it away with a handkerchief.
149	* TitleDrop:
150	-->'''Lestat''': You're not one of them anymore, fledgling. You chase '''after phantoms of your former self'''.
151	* TransparentCloset: Louis' mind-reading of his mother reveals that she's well aware that he's gay in spite of him being closeted. His sister's words later indicate she knows as well. Presumably living with Lestat and spending so much time with him would have made them realize if nothing else.
152	* UnkemptBeauty: Even after Louis is [[WeakenedByTheLight partly charred by the sun]], Lestat still finds him [[PrettyBoy attractive]] because he hasn't lost an ounce of his enthusiasm to consummate their MetaphoricalMarriage.
153	* VampiresSleepInCoffins: Because Louis has learned the hard way that vampires are WeakenedByTheLight, Lestat introduces his newborn fledgling to the habit of sleeping (and having sex) in a coffin during the daytime.
154	* VoluntaryVampireVictim: Damek permits Louis to drink his blood directly from his neck.
155	* VomitDiscretionShot: The newly fledged vampire Louis vomits off-screen because, as Lestat explains, his body is confused because he's dying as a human while simultaneously transitioning into a vampiric state.
156	* WeakenedByTheLight: Lestat initially fails to mention to his newborn fledgling that sunlight is fatal to vampires, so Louis is covered with severe burn scars after spending about a minute outside when it's sunny. Fortunately, he returns to Lestat's townhouse in time, and eventually recovers.
157	-->'''Lestat''': ''(holds the injured Louis in a BridalCarry while walking up the stairs)'' The sun gives life to everything but us. I should have taught you that.
158	* WhatWereYouThinking: Said verbatim by Lestat when he rebukes Louis for throwing caution into the wind by murdering the assistant of Alderman Fenwick.
159	-->'''Lestat''': This was your man's esquire, sent in his stead.\
160	'''Louis''': I was hungry.\
161	'''Lestat''': Stone's throw from your place of business! What were you thinking?!
162	* WhiteShirtOfDeath: Subverted. Louis ruins his swanky white suit when he murders [[AssholeVictim Mr. Carlo]] for uttering [[YouAreACreditToYourRace offensive and racist "compliments"]]; this results in the latter's blood being smeared all over the front of his outfit.
163	* WritersCannotDoMath: Lestat asserts in 1916 that "I have two centuries walked this Earth," but he was born in 1760, so he has been alive/undead for just over a century and a half.
164	* YouAreACreditToYourRace: The bigoted Mr. Carlo, Alderman Fenwick's assistant, assumes that all Black people are unintelligent, so when Louis exhibits a high degree of business acumen, Carlo compliments Louis' cleverness in a manner which is ''extremely'' condescending. After being constantly patronized by rich Caucasian businessmen whom he had to display deference to throughout his human lifespan, Louis -- who is now a vampire -- is so pissed off that he consumes Carlo's blood and kills him.
165	-->'''Carlo''': Oh, you really do have a mind inside that head of yours, don't you? [...] You're bright and industrious, huh? ''(taps Louis on the head)'' Now, I must say, I had my doubts, but you really have earned your 15%. You truly are an exceptional Negro.\
166	'''Louis''': ''(in 2022 narrating to Daniel)'' "Exceptional Negro." "Thank you, sir." It was the call and response of my entire life. I had let them talk to me like that for so long, I stopped hearing it. "Yes, sir." "Of course, sir." Subject, verb, agreement, "sir." Smile, nod, "yes, sir." They all came from the same organ inside me, an organ unknown to science at the time. Because what scientist would look for an organ found only in Black men who use their weakness to rise? But I wasn't a man anymore. I was something else. I had powers now and decades of rage to process, and it was both random and unfortunate the man picked that night to dabble in fuckery. If not him, would have been the next man.
167	* ZombifyTheLiving: This episode features the vampirism variety where the transition from living to undead occurs while Louis is on the threshold of death, and therefore he's technically still alive (albeit barely). He doesn't lose consciousness after he consumes Lestat's vampire blood, and thus he never becomes an inert corpse. Louis details how it felt for his human body to adapt to vampirism:
168	-->'''Louis''': ''(in 2022 narrating to Daniel)'' Bliss was merely a stage in my transformation. Pain followed, a seizing and unrelenting pain, through which I would pass before my apprenticeship began.\
169	'''Louis''': ''(in 1910 while struggling to walk)'' What's happening?!\
170	'''Lestat''': Your body is confused. Your lungs feel like water, your heart, fire. You feel as if you're dying, because you are.\
171	''(Louis [[VomitDiscretionShot vomits]])''\
172	'''Lestat''': [[CaptainObvious And then there's the retching.]]

Context Recap / InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E2AfterThePhantomsOfYourFormerSelf