"[Lestat] is a lot. It's not perfect." (Not shown: Lestat spying on Louis and Jonah.)
Aired October 16, 2022
Louis continues his life as a businessman of Storyville. When an old friend comes to town, Louis' relationship with Lestat is tested. Louis' business intertwines with growing tensions in New Orleans, leading to a new chapter in Louis' vampire life.
Tropes:
- Always Identical Twins: Grace's two daughters are identical twins, and they both wear matching dresses on their birthday to further accentuate their sameness.
- Anguished Outburst: A jealous Lestat is both furious and heartbroken because Louis had hooked up with his Old Flame Jonah the night before.Lestat: I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING!!
Louis: You watched the whole thing like some creeper!
Lestat: AND THEN I WATCHED YOU PULL OVER AND DRAIN A DOG, AND RUN DOWN AN ALLEYWAY FOR TWO MORE RATS!! THIS IS NOT A LIFE!! - Asshole Victim: Louis slaughters and consumes the blood of the bigoted Fenwick mostly for approving laws that destroy colored businesses in Storyville, but also for his racially prejudiced opinions on Louis.
- Call a Human a "Meatbag": Lestat dubs the human thief that he has incapacitated in an alleyway as a "criminal biscuit."
- Captain Obvious: Invoked by Jonah after Louis notices his military uniform.Louis: You're enlisted?
Jonah: Ain't you good at noticing what's plain? - Childhood Friend Romance: Louis and Jonah are Childhood Friends, but their bond became much more intimate after they began having sex when Jonah is 16 years old. As gay African American men in the late 19th century, their longtime connection means that they trusted each other and felt safe exploring their feelings and sexuality in an era of profound racism and when homosexuality was punishable by law. Although things cooled down between them after Jonah moved away for work, when they see each other again in 1917, their camaraderie remains easy and close despite the passage of time (Louis is 39 years old note , so his romantic affection for Jonah has lasted for at least 20 years). In fact, Lestat instantly becomes jealous the moment he sees Louis cheerily greeting Jonah because he can sense the underlying sparks between them. Not surprisingly, Louis and Jonah later share a moonlight tryst at the bayou, but their relationship doesn't go any further because Jonah will soon head off to France for World War I.
- Childhood Friends: Louis and Jonah met as kids and were best friends while they were growing up. Even though Jonah later left New Orleans to find employment, when they cross paths again years later, the warmth of their rapport is still evident.
- Closet Gay: The homosexual Jonah must keep his fondness for Louis under wraps when they're in front of others. They greet each other as old friends, not as former lovers, which contrasts Lestat openly necking his mistress Antoinette. When Louis asks Jonah, "You ever think about those old days when we were kids?", Jonah visibly becomes tense and stays silent because he knows that Louis isn't just talking about when they were innocent children, but also when they had a romantic/sexual relationship as teenagers. They later go to the bayou for a tryst because it's secluded and very dark at night (and thus it's unlikely they'd be spotted by prying eyes — well, other than Lestat's), and it's hinted that it was routine for the adolescent Jonah and Louis to come here to have sex.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Lestat is insanely jealous of Jonah, an Old Flame of Louis whom the latter continues to harbour some feelings for based on Lestat's observation while he was stalking them, "I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING!!" (Probably the only reason why Lestat didn't Murder the Hypotenuse is because he knows Jonah will be shipped off to France for World War I soon, so he figures Jonah will likely die there.) The sheer possessiveness of Lestat's love for Louis is unhealthy, and this quote sums up the former's mindset.Lestat: I did it for Louis. I do everything for Louis.
- Cultural Posturing: While reading a newspaper article at Jackson Square, the Frenchman Lestat idealizes New Orleans when it was under French rule, but Louis, a black Creole, points out to his boyfriend that France was just as terrible as the United States in terms of how slaves were treated.Lestat: There's a column in here about the history of this lovely square. It says that the man who designed it did so after the Place de Vosges in Paris. I can see that. Used to be called the Place d'Armes. I prefer that, don't you? The Louisiana Purchase was signed here. Penny-wise, franc-foolish.
Louis: Say anything about how they used to take runaway slaves, cut their heads off, and pike 'em on the iron gates as a warning?
(Dramatic Pause)
Lestat: I'm only halfway through, let's see. - Dangerous Workplace: Jonah had quit his job at a Delaware gunpowder mill because the co-worker next to him had lost three of his fingers in an explosion.
- Dead Guy on Display: After murdering Alderman Fenwick for endorsing laws that led to the closure of colored businesses in Storyville, Louis strings up his victim's gutted corpse on the gates of St. Louis Cathedral. Lestat, a Mad Artist, later compliments Louis on his work: "That garish display of his body, like some public art piece."
- Decapitation Presentation: Lampshaded by Louis when he asks Lestat if the newspaper article he's reading mentions that the heads of executed slaves were piked on the iron gates of St. Louis Cathedral.
- Declarative Finger: After Daniel makes the assumption that "1917 doesn't sound like it was such a bad year," Louis raises his right hand and lifts his index finger to caution the journalist not to jump to conclusions because it was "Rigged to burn, Daniel."
- Disapproving Look: Louis scowls at Lestat and Antoinette fooling around because he's understandably resentful that his insensitive boyfriend is seducing a woman right in front of him.
- Dramatic Pause: Both the Background Music and the dialogue stop for two seconds after Louis informs Lestat that Jackson Square used to be the site where runaway slaves were decapitated and their heads were placed on the iron gates as a warning.
- Ear Ache: Louis severs the ear of Alderman Fenwick with his vampire fingernails in revenge for supporting laws that target colored businesses in Storyville.
- Europeans Are Kinky: It's lampshaded by Jonah, a gay African American, who has heard that Europeans display more liberal attitudes towards sex.Jonah: And most of why I signed up is I kept hearing something about something they call "European sensibilities." They care less what you look like or who you're lookin' at.
- Fade In: The episode starts with a black screen which then Dissolves into a scene with Lestat and Louis reading on a park bench at Jackson Square.
- Fingore: Lampshaded by Jonah when he recounts to Louis that he had witnessed his co-worker lose three digits in a workplace accident.Jonah: A gunpowder mill in Delaware. Fella working next to me blew off three fingers. I saw enough.
- Forgets to Eat: Louis is so preoccupied by the chaos caused by City Ordinance 4118 (which are laws that shut down colored businesses in Storyville) that he doesn't consume any blood, animal or otherwise. Being a Vegetarian Vampire means that Louis is already on a very restricted diet, so now he's starving himself. He later caves into his ravenous hunger by mauling Alderman Fenwick.Louis: The state I was in, I was what... I was manic. [...] And the hubris on display caused me to neglect my thirst. And in neglect, my thirst grew harder, my temples throbbed, and finally, I could not stand it any longer. And I was through struggling. Rats, cats, dogs would no longer suffice.
- Get Out!: Grace yells this after she and her two daughters are almost hit by the front door when Louis kicks it open with his vampiric Super-Strength.
- Good-Looking Privates:
- At the beginning of the episode, Lestat is briefly distracted from the newspaper article he was reading when two soldiers walk by, and he stares at them appreciatively.
- Louis admires his Old Flame Jonah in military garb: "Good fit, this uniform."
- Lestat, who had stalked Louis and Jonah and heard the abovementioned line, expresses his jealousy the following evening by inviting a few dozen soldiers to their home. (Lestat's attitude towards Louis in this scene can be summarized as, "So you like men in uniform? Now you have more than you can handle!")Louis: (angry) What are you thinking?
Lestat: Well, I thought we could have an orgy. You can fuck them, and I can eat them.
Louis: Get 'em out of here.
Lestat: Well, now that I know you have a type, I thought you'd be pleased.
- Gutted Like a Fish: Louis disembowels Alderman Fenwick and then exhibits the latter's corpse on the gates of St. Louis Cathedral with the intestines drooping loosely.
- Hair Flip: Lestat flips his shoulder-length hair
◊ while playing the piano onstage at the Azalea because he relishes being theatrical. - Heartbeat Soundtrack: Louis begins to listen closely to Alderman Fenwick's erratic heart rate after the latter deprecatingly says, "And your pale lover, with his seemingly endless supply of capital." The sound continues for the rest of the scene, and the rhythm varies depending on how the fearful Fenwick is reacting to Louis.Louis: Why is your heart beatin' so fast?
- The Heckler: Because Lestat is frustrated by Louis' decision to become a Vegetarian Vampire, he interrupts Jelly Roll Morton's piano playing at the Azalea to cause a scene in order to rile up Louis, and the crowd doesn't appreciate the disruption to their entertainment.Lestat: Mr. Morton, you have played the same melody, the very same way, for two weeks now. Your talent is immense, but your mind is elsewhere.
Man: Think you could do better, Jack?
Lestat: Well, I'm not being paid a small fortune on top of that tip jar to perform. My skills are irrelevant.
Morton: People didn't come to hear you jabber, Mr. Lioncourt.
Lestat: Well, they didn't come here to hear you play, either. Otherwise, you'd be in a concert hall and there'd be fewer prostitutes!
Man: Shut the hell up and let [Morton] play!
(Lestat stands up from his seat and is about to head towards the stage)
Louis: (grabs Lestat's right arm to stop him) This ain't your kinda music.
Lestat: You can pretend you're a vegetarian. I can pretend the fool. - Humans Are Bastards: Lestat thinks it's absurd that Louis wants to be picky about which humans they eat based on their prey's accomplishments because in Lestat's opinion, humans are fundamentally evil beneath the veneer of civilization.Louis: The ones you admire — the poets, composers, the thoughtful man who designed this park you love so much — shouldn't we spare them the randomness of our killing?
Lestat: Every one of them is capable of abomination, even the ones worthy of admiration. Shakespeare, Brahms, this naturalist that fogs your mind. [...] Thrust them into circumstance, whisper to them their Lord, God and Savior is not listening, and you will see all kinds of depravity. - Hypocrite: Lestat is having an affair with Antoinette and admits that he likes "a little variety." Louis is angry and hurt ("Aren't I enough?") by his boyfriend's promiscuity, and he clearly prefers to be in a monogamous relationship, but he's willing to accept this arrangement as long as he can sleep with others as well. Lestat reluctantly agrees (it's obvious from his facial expression that he's NOT okay with it), so Louis has a sexual interlude with Jonah, his Old Flame. The next day, an infuriated Louis discovers that Lestat had followed them and watched them be intimate. Lestat then confesses that he doesn't like sharing and pathetically attempts to defend his own infidelity with "It's different. I don't have feelings for her." Lestat tries to depict Louis being with Jonah as intolerable because they still share some emotional connection, and he's hysterical when he shouts, "I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING!!", but the fact of the matter is that Lestat doesn't want anyone to go near Louis.
- Icarus Allusion: Lampshaded by Alderman Fenwick when he derides Louis for being foolish like Icarus, which is why he believes Louis deserves to "drown" in the figurative ocean after aiming too high for a man of his race.Fenwick: Storyville is a sinking ship, and naturally, you are the first to drown. But that's your problem, Louis, always has been. You're arrogant. You haven't accepted your place in this world. And your pale lover, with his seemingly endless supply of capital, and the weird goings-on in your Sodomite townhouse won't change the fact that you're a tiny man flying too close to the sun. And that's what I am, Louis — the sun.
- Immortality Promiscuity: Lestat is a proponent. He wants Eternal Love with Louis, and argues that an open relationship is a practical way to help them stay interested in each other over the long-term. The irony is that they've been together for just over six years note when this starts.
- Immune to Bullets: Alderman Fenwick shoots his gun twice at Louis, who doesn't even flinch, and the only thing that's damaged is his chic purple suit.
- Implied Death Threat: Louis indirectly states to Alderman Fenwick that if the latter's wife and daughters were present, Louis would've killed them.Louis: (reads Fenwick's mind) You're thinking about your wife and your two daughters and how fortunate it is that they're away in your winter home. It is fortunate.
- Indirect Kiss: In their courtyard, Louis and Lestat share a "cigarette kiss" by touching the ends of their cigarettes together.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Lestat is both amazed and turned on by his fledgling Louis' grisly evisceration and murder of Alderman Fenwick.Lestat: I must confess, I'm very proud of you, Louis. It goes against much of my teaching, but you managed to execute it with such aplomb. [...] That garish display of his body, like some public art piece [...] Did you not smile when he begged? Did you not feel pleasure as you carved him up? [...] You did what you did because it gave you pleasure. (holds Louis' hand against his chest) Companion of the dark gift, finally. (caresses and cups Louis' chin while whispering sensuously) We should make this our anniversary.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Daniel provides the perfect summary for the show when he tells Louis that the latter's revision of his romance with Lestat sounds "like you were locked in some fucked up gothic romance."
- Man Hug: Louis and Jonah greet each other with a hug because they're Childhood Friends who haven't seen each other in years.
- Military Salute: The last soldier in the townhouse salutes to Lestat before he departs, although it's unclear if he did it of his own volition or if he was under Lestat's Mind Control.
- Mind Control: Lestat psychically forces a few dozen soldiers to leave his house.
- Mistaken for Gay: Antoinette is initially surprised when Lestat hits on her because she has heard gossip from the Azalea employees that he's with Louis. He makes it clear in circuitous, euphemistic language that he's bisexual (her reply "I like soft hands" indicates she herself might be, too).
- Mixed Ancestry Is Attractive: Antoinette (a white American woman) has a flirty expression and smiles at Louis when she divulges, "I like burnished note complexions."
- Ms. Red Ink: Tom Anderson invokes the stereotype that women are irresponsible with money when he says that Louis has an unorthodox business mind because he "lets a woman count his coin" (referring to the fact that Bricktop Williams, the madam of the Azalea, is also its bookkeeper).
- New Old Flame: A jealous Lestat suspects that Jonah was "an old love" of Louis, although the latter attempts to downplay it by claiming that he and Jonah had "a few early fumbles." However, it's later revealed that Lestat had secretly followed them, and he cries out to Louis in anguish, "I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING!!" When a vampire is in love, the rhythm of their heartbeats become synchronized with that of their beloved's (this happened to Louis and Lestat in the first episode), so this indicates that Louis has residual feelings for Jonah.
- Obviously Not Fine: Lestat proposes an open relationship with Louis. Louis asks if this arrangement works both ways. Lestat — a Crazy Jealous Guy — tries way too hard to convince both himself and Louis that it's fine with him.Lestat: From time to time, I like a little variety.
Louis: So I can fuck whoever I want?
Lestat: Of course. [Beat] Of course. [tries to sound upbeat] Of course! As long as you come home to me. Of course. - Open Relationship Failure: Lestat initiates an open relationship because he believes "a little variety" will prevent his and Louis' eternal romance from going stale (never mind that they've only been together for barely six years when he makes this suggestion). Both men end up being very jealous about their partner's other paramours.
- "Open!" Says Me: When Levi attempts to stop Louis from entering the mansion, the latter simply kicks open the front entrance.
- The Peeping Tom: Louis has an inkling that Lestat might have spied on him and Jonah when they were at the bayou together (where Jonah had performed fellatio on Louis) when he spots Lestat's muddy boots at their home. Lestat admits the truth the next night by repeating what Louis had told Jonah about their relationship ("[Lestat] is a lot. It's not perfect.").Lestat: What can I say? I'm a lot. I'm not perfect.
Louis: (scoffs) I knew it. I knew you were there.
Lestat: Yes.
Louis: You're jealous?
Lestat: Yes. I don't like sharing.
Louis: What about Antoinette?
Lestat: It's different. I don't have feelings for her.
Louis: He did me some face, and I drove him home.
Lestat: I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING!!
Louis: You watched the whole thing like some creeper! - Playing with Fire: After Daniel drops the 1973 cassette tapes of the first interview into a trash can, Louis lights them on fire with his vampire abilities.
- Polyamory: After Lestat openly flirts with and then seduces Antoinette while Louis watches and they sleep together off-screen, he (hesitantly) grants Louis permission to have sex with other people. However, once Louis does, Lestat reacts with deep jealousy.Lestat: [pitching the concept] We'll be together 10,000 nights, 100,000. What we're doing is hard. Anything that wards off the dungs of the everlasting road we walk.
- Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Lestat places a couple of fingers against his temple while implanting a telepathic command to a few dozen soldiers simultaneously to vacate his house. It's a crutch to aid with his concentration.
- Psychic Nosebleed: Not a nosebleed, but there's blood pouring out of Lestat's ears after he employs his Mind Control abilities on a few dozen soldiers all at once, which is extremely taxing for him.
- Reunion Kiss: It's revealed that Louis and Jonah had a Childhood Friend Romance when they were teenagers, but later on, the only jobs Jonah could get were outside of Louisiana, so they lost touch for years. When they briefly reunite in 1917, they share a long, tender kiss at the bayou.
- Sarcasm Mode: Because he believes Humans Are Bastards, Lestat thoroughly disagrees with Louis' insistence that they should limit their diet to human criminals in order to be morally superior to their prey.Louis: You gonna take it serious or not?
Lestat: (sarcastically) Wait. What's that I hear? Ah, yes, it's the angel of salvation passing over us. - Screaming Woman: A female pedestrian shrieks at the top of her lungs when she sees Alderman Fenwick's eviscerated corpse hanging from the gates of St. Louis Cathedral.
- Sexual Euphemism: After being Mistaken for Gay by Antoinette, Lestat alludes that he's bisexual and promiscuous with music terminology. She then implies that she also shares his sexual orientation and is attracted to women (alongside men).Lestat: Still, what do you imagine confines us to a single note? Why not a chord? Why not a cluster?
Antoinette: Oh, see, I'm the same. I like all sorts. I like soft hands. - Sexy Discretion Shot: Lestat kisses a topless Antoinette while holding her thigh when the scene cuts.
- Shirtless Scene:
- Jonah is shirtless when he performs oral sex on Louis at the bayou.
- Both Lestat and Louis are bare-chested as they're getting ready for bed (well, coffin), and they both choose not to wear an undershirt or a pyjama top underneath their robe.
- Simple Score of Sadness: Daniel Hart uses a solo violin with a piano bassline to convey sorrow for the track "My Very Nature That of the Devil". Louis is haunted by his mother's belief that he's the Devil as his remaining links to humanity are forcibly severed. His family are scared of his strange comportment and unearthly powers, so they want nothing more to do with him, and his businesses have ceased operations because of the enforcement of City Ordinance 4118.
- Smoky Gentlemen's Club: Louis takes up the mantle of hosting the private poker game after he buys the Fairplay Saloon from Tom Anderson and changes its name to the Azalea. As before, Louis discusses business with several affluent and influential white men as they smoke, drink and bet while playing cards.
- So Proud of You: Lampshaded by Lestat to his pupil Louis, as he's impressed by how his fledgling had gruesomely carved up Alderman Fenwick so that the latter's entrails are exposed and dangling, and then displayed the corpse on the gates of St. Louis Cathedral like a public art piece.Lestat: I must confess, I'm very proud of you, Louis. It goes against much of my teaching, but you managed to execute it with such aplomb.
- Split Screen: There's a brief split screen◊ where the left side is Lestat playing the piano onstage at the Azalea, while the right side is Louis watching him from where he's seated among the audience.
- Stalker with a Crush: Lestat had covertly followed Louis and Jonah to the bayou and proved himself to be a peeping tom.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Thanks to his Super-Speed, Louis seems to appear out of thin air when he turns up at Alderman Fenwick's house. Fenwick is so startled that he gasps and drops his glass of Atherton whiskey.
- Suddenly Shouting:Lestat: It's different. I don't have feelings for [Antoinette].
Louis: [Jonah] did me some face, and I drove him home.
Lestat: I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING!! - Talent Double: Ethan Uslan is a ragtime pianist who serves as Lestat's hand double when the character plays the piano at the Azalea. Uslan himself had arranged the "Ragtime Minuet in G" piece that Lestat improvises.
- Title Drop:Louis: When your mother sees the Devil in your eyes, it's a hard assessment to abandon. Am I from the Devil? Is my very nature that of the Devil?
- Tranquil Fury: Inwardly, Louis is seething with homicidal anger at Alderman Fenwick for outlawing colored businesses in Storyville, but outwardly, he's cool as a cucumber when he confronts the racist politician in the latter's home, right up until the moment he cuts off the man's ear. Louis is also completely nonchalant when Fenwick shoots him twice in the chest, and he even says, "I'll let you reload."
- Transparent Closet: Antoinette let it slip that the employees of the Azalea gossip about Louis and Lestat being a couple. Alderman Fenwick has figured out that the two men are together because he refers to Lestat as Louis' "pale lover," plus he has heard that there are "weird goings-on at their Sodomite townhouse."
- What the Hell Are You?: After Alderman Fenwick discovers that Louis is Immune to Bullets and can slice off his whole ear with just his fingernails, he recognizes that Louis can't possibly be human.Fenwick: (terrified) What — what are you?!
Louis: I'm a vampire. - Wrongfully Attributed: Lestat mistakenly ascribes Johann Sebastian Bach ("...the man had 20 children in his lifetime") as the composer of the "Minuet in G Minor" piano piece that he's performing onstage at the Azalea; it was in fact written by Christian Petzold.
