Interview with the Vampire Season 1 Episode 2 Review: After the Phantoms of Your Former Self

Please note this review contains spoilers for Interview with the Vampire Season 1 Episode 2, “After the Phantoms of Your Former Self.” The episode is currently streaming on AMC+.

Louis’ transformation from human to vampire is about so much more than becoming a monster.

Interview with the Vampire Season 1 Episode 2, “After the Phantoms of Your Former Self,” is even more breathtaking than the first episode. It continues to capture the spirit of Anne Rice’s works in a way that’s thought-provoking and timely.

Louis continues to tell his more detailed version of his story to Daniel Molloy over an elaborate dinner in his Dubai home. It actually feels quite a lot like this is Jonathan Harker in Dracula’s castle. 

Daniel seems both impressed and annoyed as each course comes. Louis dines as well — his courses more disturbing each time, including a live rabbit and a willing human. 

The details say a lot about who both of these men are at the present time, and it’s noteworthy, too, that the servants wear masks. The pandemic is key to the current setting.

Louis tells his story honestly, picking up where we left off at the end of Interview with the Vampire Season 1 Episode 1, with the beginning of his transformation.

As Louis begins to understand his new nature, Lestat has the role of mentor and lover all at once. Louis, meanwhile, is almost feral.

Lestat teaches him how to hone his hunting skills and who to look for, leading to some honestly very funny moments, including Lestat’s dry instructions of, “No, you don’t bite the blood. You suck it,” while Louis attacks his first real victim.

Louis is also seeing the world in an entirely new way. The world he sees is brighter, everything like new. It’s actually a shame more time isn’t spent on these details, especially considering how well this adaptation is capturing the spirit of the novel so far.  

It does show that change, though, and we watch Louis’ character evolve along with it. 

The relationship piece is immediately important, too. Louis and Lestat must share a coffin until Louis is able to get his own, a deeply intimate act between the two men.

There’s certainly a love between them, but the toxic nature of the relationship is abundantly clear. Louis has an obsession with Lestat, and he finds himself more and more concerned with not disappointing Lestat either.

However, Louis also recoils at how truly villainous Lestat can be. He details a trip to the opera, where Lestat is offended by one of the performers’ lack of talent. He makes that performer his next victim, but not before emotionally tormenting him first.

It’s cruel, and it’s not the way Louis wants to be. Lestat, though, says he does it because he enjoys it. Once again, it’s just an incredible performance by Sam Reid, who embodies Lestat perfectly with every detail, down to how flippant he is over his actions. 

But Lestat isn’t just cruel — his actions speak to his own character and his emotional struggles. Lestat admits how lonely it is to be a vampire. He also has a strong love for music and the opera, a quality that Louis sees as a true connection to humanity. 

The relationship between Louis and Lestat is far from equal, even as time progresses and Louis learns more about being a vampire. Louis insists there was something of an equality “in the quiet dark” while Daniel points out the absurdity of that idea.

It’s yet another moment where race comes into play, and another instance where Louis being Black in this adaptation adds to the story in a really powerful way.

Lestat’s use of the word “fledgling” finally does hit a nerve for Louis, as does the way one of Louis’ victims speaks to him — surprised at how smart and capable he is.

It’s that moment that brings out Louis’ vampire nature most, which is especially interesting. And as a vampire, Louis becomes less and less willing to take that kind of disrespect. That element is one of my favorite things about this episode about his transformation thus far.

There are so many layers to this story already, and considering that vampires are seeing a real resurgence right now, this particular adaptation proves itself to be incredibly relevant.

Of course, Louis’ transformation also means a detachment from his family. As he becomes more and more wrapped up in Lestat, he has to let go of his former life. 

Not only does his family see that something has changed in him (and not just the fact that he wears sunglasses around them to hide his new eye color), but they’re now in danger from him.

“Did you eat the baby” somehow manages to be one of the funniest and more terrifying lines in this episode all at once, as Daniel becomes almost anxious waiting for Louis to wrap up one particular part of his story. Because Louis does, in fact, almost hurt his own baby nephew. 

There was already a detachment because of what happened with Louis’ brother, but now, it’s just not possible for Louis to be near his family the way he used to be. 

As he loses that piece of himself, he also finds he doesn’t really fit with Lestat either. He doesn’t want to be a killer the way Lestat is, and there’s so much about the vampire life he doesn’t want to embrace.  

Overall, it’s another engaging episode of an adaptation that has me filled with excitement. The series continues to be so much better than I could have hoped for, and it has me falling in love with Anne Rice’s works in a whole new way. 

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Interview with the Vampire airs Sundays at 10/9c on AMC and streams Sundays on AMC+. 

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