REVIEW: ‘Interview With The Vampire’ Episode 12 — “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start The Tape”

Interview With The Vampire Season 2 has spent much of its episodes focusing on Louis de Pointe du Lac’s (Jacob Anderson) and Claudia’s (Delainey Hayles) Parisian journey. However, across two seasons now, Daniel Molloy’s (Eric Bogosian) own history in relation to Louis has barely been explored. An opportune moment in Interview With The Vampire Episode 12, “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start The Tape,” allows both Daniel and Louis to reflect back on their first meeting and put together the pieces of their fragmented memories.

Armand (Assad Zaman) has been a persistent presence, always supervising and cultivating the interactions between Louis and Daniel. But even with the gifts that advanced vampiric age has given him, the man has to feed. This brief excursion for the vampire gives Daniel one or two hours tops with Louis alone and unfiltered. For the older gentleman, prompted by the newfound files on his laptop and flashbacks of Armand’s face in his memory, he prefers to go back into the past. Louis follows with him.

It is here in Interview With The Vampire Episode 12 that we go back to where it all began for Daniel and fans alike. Louis is bubbling with volatile emotions, trapped in his perpetual victimhood and needing someone new to tell it to. He finds the young and eager, albeit drug-obsessed, Daniel (Luke Brandon Field) with his tape recorder ready to hear his tale. Something about the boy fascinates Louis, something indescribable, and it puts a target on his back.

Daniel is oblivious to the danger in front of him, something present-day Daniel looks back on with the wisdom that comes with age. Back in the past, the youthful Daniel rightfully points out to Louis that he has been given a gift. The vampire is so fixated on his misery that he can’t see what he has in front of him. But this isn’t what Louis wants to hear. Instead, he lashes out and almost kills Daniel.

From here, Daniel becomes both a catalyst and witness to Louis and Armand’s deteriorating relationship. A couple of decades after the life-altering events of Paris, it is clear the chasm between these two lovebirds is growing larger. It becomes clear in Louis’s drug-addled rage; his words drive the dagger into Armand’s soul deeper and deeper as he transforms into something undeniably cruel. His words stoke the fire of Armand’s lingering insecurities.

In Interview With The Vampire Episode 12, we see yet another powerhouse performance by Jacob Anderson, exploring the darker sides of Louis in the past. He is the aggressor in his argument with Armand, becoming someone unrecognizable in the process. But Assad Zaman’s performance matches in kind, presenting a more empathetic front before taking a darker turn. All hope crumbles to ash when Louis makes a catastrophic, impulsive decision.

Scenes cut from past to future as present-day Louis and Daniel try to figure out what happened after Daniel’s recording ends. The aftermath of their discovery in Interview With The Vampire Episode 12 propels them to realize the depths of Armand’s manipulations. Even under the guise of maintaining Louis’s happiness, Armand’s actions in the discovery of the truth highlight a question for the audience to ponder: How far are we allowed to go to maintain a person’s happiness?

For Armand, happiness may just be the excuse. Back in the past, Armand’s hurt turns to rage. While his performance is quiet, Zaman plays with the subtleties of subdued rage. Each movement and question is intentional as he manipulates Daniel’s body. In these scenes between Armand and Daniel, we see the monster lurking behind the veil of empathy Armand aims to project. Zaman’s Armand, in his calm, otherworldly stillness, is truly frightening.

The cold splash of water to Armand’s rage is the reiteration of the love between Louis and Lestat. The internal conflict Armand feels resonates; torn between protecting his suicidal lover, protecting himself, and hiding the existence of vampires, he does only what he thinks is right. But this action has him course correct. Armand refuses to bolster Louis’s connection with Lestat. Even if it means the continuation of a relationship that seems destined to fail.

Inevitably, the duty and familiarity of Louis’ destructive routine propel Armand to make a decision, one foreshadowed at the beginning of Interview With The Vampire Episode 12. Again, Daniel is face-to-face with Death, but a kinder, painless variation. It is Louis’ intervention that saves him, and both Daniel and viewers get an idea as to why. Much to Armand’s annoyance, sparing Daniel is a testament to their relationship’s strength and tenacity.

This blast to the past in Interview With The Vampire Episode 12 leads present-day Daniel to where his memory resurrects itself. Despite his personal failures, Daniel realizes Louis’s words continue to propel him to success as a reporter. However, the biggest takeaway for Daniel and Louis has been the slow, gradual understanding that Armand has manipulated them.

This becomes clearer when a now-sated Armand re-enters the room and reiterates Louis’s words from the beginning of Interview With The Vampire Episode 12. The manipulation of mind and memory involves a breach of privacy and trust. For a vampire like Armand, it is nothing. But in the context of Louis’s relationship, it begs the question of what else Armand is willing to do to hold onto a relationship haunted by the ghost of the past.

The relationships in Interview With The Vampire have never been what one would describe as healthy. Toxicity is the fruit that lures the audience in. In Interview With The Vampire Episode 12, resentment rears its ugly head again, this time between Louis and Armand. The art of letting go is not something vampires in this universe are capable of doing.

Through Armand, we see a different kind of partner. One who aims to accommodate, save, and do anything they can for their partner. But in the same breath, these actions are what condemn him in Louis’s eyes as “boring.” It is the final blow and all it takes for empathy and kindness to be twisted into something cruel and selfish. This also provides an additional layer of insight into Armand’s thought process as we learn more about the tragic events of Paris.

In its exploration of a more recent past, Interview With The Vampire Episode 12 opens up the floodgates for what will come in Paris. It also shifts the perspective of Armand, who, for book readers, will be familiar with his hand in what happens next. No longer a savior and the caretaker of Louis’s heart, Armand is set to ensure viewers as arguably the most fascinating character of the series yet.

Interview With The Vampire Episode 12 is streaming now on AMC+ with new episodes airing every Sunday on AMC.