Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 1 Review: What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned

Careful storytelling and emotional performances make Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 1, “What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned” an unforgettable season premiere. 

It’s a thoughtful exploration that takes us on the next phase of Louis’s journey and the pain of retelling his stories. Louis reads from Claudia’s journals to tell these tales to Daniel, which forces him to recall details he’d previously forgotten. 

It’s that complexity that makes the story so compelling to begin with. Louis recounts his story to Daniel over again, many years later, correcting details along the way and also realizing that his own memory can’t always be trusted. So, then, what parts of the story are really true?

Armand is also in the room, now blatantly trying to control parts of the interview. Before, he was pretending to be the servant Rashid. Now, he has an entirely different persona that clearly irks Daniel. 

Daniel, meanwhile, is the part of this that’s becoming redundant quickly. His gruff attitude remains the same, and while the points he makes, particularly about the omission of certain details, are valid, his reactions to basically everything are always the same.

Louis’s story remains the real focus, though. Through Claudia’s journal entries and some of his own memories, Louis tells what happened after they left New Orleans and a presumably dead Lestat. 

It’s WWII Europe, and they’re searching for other vampires like them. What they find instead are desperate situations and people whose blood only makes them feel worse.

Yet Claudia remains insistent on searching for a community, and she eventually finds other vampires. These vampires are different, however. These Old World Vampires are more monstrous, ancient, and ultimately a dying breed.

Claudia causes an altercation that leaves one remaining female vampire, who acts as a mother, to put one of them out of her misery before having a real conversation with Claudia and Louis. 

There is real hope in Claudia’s eyes upon speaking with the female vampire.

The woman is haggard, appearing more like a zombie than a vampire, but it’s clear Claudia sees someone who could be like a mother to her. That’s what makes it even more tragic when, instead of agreeing to join Claudia and Louis, she throws herself in the fire. 

Claudia, by the way, is played by a different actress this season. Bailey Bass played the role of Claudia in Season 1, and Delainey Hayles has taken over the part for Season 2.

While that could make the story feel disjointed, Hayles nails the part of Claudia so perfectly that it feels like a seamless transition.  

While Claudia remains intent on finding other vampires like her, Louis grieves for Lestat while being wracked with guilt. This, of course, allows Sam Reid to appear in some capacity, as Louis sees visions of a bloody Lestat nearly everywhere he goes.

As Louis relays details to Daniel, he finds himself in the midst of an existential crisis. He realizes that Claudia could dream, something he’s not been able to do. He likens this to a connection with humanity and having some semblance of a soul.

Knowing this about her provides him with some relief, though it’s painful knowing it’s not something he’s had for himself. 

By the end of the episode, Armand has agreed to go on the record along with Louis to tell parts of their story, which will ultimately add a third perspective. The goal, for them, is to regain control of the interview with Daniel.

Armand feels Louis has allowed Daniel to manipulate it, but he believes “the boy” they met years ago is still, deep down, a part of Daniel. 

So they sit together, both on record, for the next session, and Louis shares what happened next for him and Claudia.

After insisting to Claudia that she should quit feeling sorry for herself, but that also, if they only ever had each other, that would be enough, they head for Paris in their continued search for a community.

That new chapter feels more hopeful than anything else so far.

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Interview with the Vampire airs Sundays at 9/8c on AMC.

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