REVIEW: ‘Interview With The Vampire’ Episode 6 — “Like Angels Put In Hell By God”

Interview With The Vampire has been a thrilling season so far. It’s managed to tackle romance, regret, grief, violence, and the whole spectrum of human action and reaction. Last episode, things came to a head with Claudia (Bailey Bass) rebelling, running away, and returning, straining Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat’s (Sam Reid) relationship in the process. Irrevocably changed by Lestat’s violent outburst, Interview With The Vampire Episode 6, “Like Angels Put In Hell By God,” is a grueling episode to watch. As Louis recounts his story to Daniel (Eric Bogosian) we see him healing from his wounds in the past, shunning Lestat’s advances and trying to move his family forward. When Lestat finally wears him down after a decade of ignoring him, Louis tries to rebuild his family.

Interview With The Vampire Episode 6 tackles domestic violence head-on, and it happens in a way that showcases how a moment of violence can shatter you completely. Louis has to rebuild his body, but he also has to rebuild his mind, and ultimately his heart. As he says to David, pride becomes his armor, and yet, he’s still drawn to the man who left him recovering from his injuries for months. The way that the series has investigated violence isn’t just about showcasing the shock.

Yes, Louis’ face is mangled beyond recognition. Yes, he has to use a cane and can’t even hunt a goat. But the body repairs, especially when you’re immortal. What doesn’t are the wounds inside and how you rebuild who you are after you’ve been betrayed and harmed in such a traumatic way. Yes, Louis ends back up with Lestat, their vampire pairing pulling him to his maker. But at the same time, Louis is different. He’s detached and whatever bit of self he had seems to have died when Lestat dropped him from the side. As Louis enters this part of his life story with Daniel, questions arise as to where the truth is found and what Louis is keeping to himself.

The beauty of this episode comes from Claudia’s fierce protection of Louis. More focused on being siblings with Claudia than a daughter with her fathers, Claudia has matured in some ways while remaining defiant with a drive to fight at the same time. She steps up into a protector role, giving Louis what he needs to survive and a wall between him and Lestat to buffer the pain. It’s heartfelt and beautiful to see her ferocity in taking care of Louis, and that makes her confrontations with Lestat all the more powerful. For her part, Claudia is done enduring and is bringing the series to a head as she plans to end their torment and end Lestat’s control over them.

While Lestat enters into an agreement and Louis dedicates his time to trying to pull Claudia and Lestat together despite their hatred, he is the brat prince and that is showcased to the fullest in Interview With The Vampire Episode 6. While I’ve often talked about Anderson as Louis and Bass as Claudia in past episode reviews, I need to take the time to say how perfect Sam Reid is in bringing Lestat to life. He’s sexy, chaotic, erratic, and controlled by his desires because he has the power to get what he wants. The way that Reid is able to turn on a dime from taunting to a temper tantrum is a special kind of range and one that embodies the best and worst parts of who Lestat is.

Couple his performance in with his backstory and we get the chance to see the trauma beneath the powerful veneer he’s built over time, a little truth to help soothe the lie promises he’ll break. It doesn’t absolve Lestat of his violence but it does add color to it and defines why he has taken the shape that he has.

Each episode of Interview With The Vampire pulls the audience deeper and deeper into Anne Rice’s world while at the same time paying off every single choice made. Embracing the romance and the violence in equal measure, we get the full sense of the toxicity that runs through the love that binds Lestat and Louis together. With the season finale next week, I can’t wait to see how this chapter in the series ends.

Interview With The Vampire is streaming now on AMC+ with the season finale airing next Sunday.