RECAP: ‘The Vampire Lestat’ Episode 1 – “Detroit”

What happens in Detroit should probably stay in Detroit, but for one Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) in The Vampire Lestat Episode 1, Detroit is the beginning of everything. For over 260 years, he’s been stumbling through life and unlife, and two years after the release of Daniel Molloy’s (Eric Bogosian) Interview With The Vampire, the vamp is revisiting his musical roots. With too many zingers to count and Sam Reid’s complete disappearance into the role of the titular Brat Prince, the premiere plunges us right into the fray. 

But first, the scene must be set. Directed by Craig Zisk and written by Rolin Jones and Hannah Moscovich, The Vampire Lestat Episode 1 begins with a somber display. A secret auction is being held over two lot items belonging to Lestat de Lioncourt, and we see some familiar faces in the crowd. Most notably, a visibly annoyed Raglan James (Justin Kirk), a limping Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Andersen), and an eye-patched donning Armand (Assad Zaman).

Lot 1 features the master recording of “The Complete Works of the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt,” including the 2025 self-titled album “The Vampire Lestat,” additional tracks not on the album, the original score, handwritten notes, and more. In a big middle finger to those in attendance, Lot 1 goes up in flames, likely due to Lestat’s, or someone’s, final wishes. Either way, it’s rightfully hilarious.

Sam Reid reminds us why he is the perfect Lestat in The Vampire Lestat Episode 1.

Lot 2 consists of a music box, but not in the way one might think. It’s huge and contains more than expected, including a wine bottle full of his body, his complete works, and audio recordings of the history surrounding the 2025 tour and the catastrophe that followed. The collection is aptly titled “The Failures,” and as the people began to bid, Lestat’s voiceover kicks in, as sassy as ever before The Vampire Lestat Episode 1 goes back in time to the spring of 2025.

Lestat’s narration continues in Detroit, where he is the lead singer of the band formerly known as Satan’s Night Out. He introduces us to the bandmates whilst performing “Long Face,” a song that is comically picked on throughout The Vampire Lestat Episode 1. The lyrics could be stronger, but Sam Reid’s singing voice and full embrace of Lestat’s charisma and flamboyance make it easier to swallow (unlike some other songs featured in the same episode whose lyrics are, as the kiddos say, cringe).

While the song highlights Lestat’s sheer magnetism, it also serves as an introduction to the vampires who will soon swarm him throughout the season. As revealed later in the episode, Lestat’s insistence on going public with his music and his road-tour documentary (a fun visual form of damage control) so soon after Daniel Molloy’s book was released violates the vampiric order. Of course, Lestat reckons with that later on, but, much like Lestat, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Now, in the modern day, visual risks are taken to play around with the format.

The cinematography shifts to black-and-white after the performance, as the documentary portion begins. It is here that we get introduced to Christine Claire (Jeanine Serralles), who is the band manager and basically covers Lestat’s butt whenever things go awry. We’re also introduced to Lestat’s body double, Jarda Klapek, who is used to protect Lestat and make what was written about Lestat in Molloy’s book look more like slander. It’s clear, though, that the portrayal of Lestat in the book bothers the vampire more than he’d like, hoping to prove that he’s more than the “mayonnaise villain with sociopathic tendencies”.

In the meantime, Lestat’s narration paints a picture of how he views the modern world, so quick to move on from trends (something the vampire community seems to forget in their clutching-of-pearls state). To Lestat, he’s a god, and even though the world has moved on from the vampiric truth Molloy unveiled, Lestat refuses to go unseen: “Gods are not swiped.” Yet, this God is incredibly human in his flaws, and with the reveal that Daniel Molloy is interviewing Lestat this time around on the tour, that high opinion may soon crumble.

This first arises when Molloy asks the question of whether the band formed on Halloween. The Vampire Lestat Episode 1 goes back to when he is living in Montreal, still in contact with Louis, and learns that Interview With The Vampire has been published. He gets the novel, and in a hilarious, quick-cut of reaction moments, we see Lestat despair over the portrayal and grow increasingly more frustrated by everything around him. It’s almost Lestat at his most vulnerable, and then a rapid strumming of the F chord prompts a proper crash out. 

Lestat’s hedonism comes into full focus, but so too does his emotionally fragile nature.

Molloy rightfully calls out Lestat for the rationale behind his tour, calling it a “Byronic reaction” to his book. Lestat reasons that his songs are his story and his way of expressing himself. But in a series of voiceovers, we hear that the other vampires are not so keen on him telling his story. Unfortunately, at this point in The Vampire Lestat Episode 1, Lestat is merely getting started. His breaking point comes when his guitarist refuses to use the tambourine, and the vampire has a nervous breakdown on stage. 

This moment might be the most visually striking yet clumsily executed, given how it transitions. His rage collapses under the weight of his own inadequacy. His many muses come to him in this moment, infecting him and his bandmates with song. Yet, it’s not quite clear how the sudden jolt Lestat feels translates into this moment, beyond a necessary shift to where the story needs to go. Either way, it’s as jarring as intended, but may not entirely be for the right reason. 

However, the drug trip he takes after draining a fan onstage is a jolt in no need of explanation. Ecstasy is a heck of a drug, and it offers an additional moment of the supernatural where the spirit of the girl talks to Lestat, warning him of things to come before the worst part of the trip subsides. But for the remainder of The Vampire Lestat Episode 1, Lestat is battling that high in the form of LSD-induced blood poisoning, and it makes him even more hilarious and less aware of how close he is to death. 

All gods must fall, and Lestat’s fall may only just be starting in The Vampire Lestat Episode 1.

The distortions of LSD’s impact on Lestat come out in a variety of ways in this section of The Vampire Lestat Episode 1. Faces and voices morph, including Lestat’s own, and the scenes cut back and forth between the present and the future surrounding his inevitable fight against the two vampires from earlier and the rest of their coven. The fight itself highlights Lestat’s current weakness, requiring Molloy’s assistance before he really blows his cover and reveals his identity to his band, his manager, and everyone present. 

His music was one thing, but as Lestat comes barreling in towards the tale’s end of The Vampire Lestat Episode 1, covered in blood and looking gaunt like death, it’s clear there’s no hiding who he is anymore, and that spells his doom. “This is why gods prefer hiding in the clouds. There is nothing but water waiting to fall,” and instead of falling, he flies off into the sky, back at the motel somewhere in Detroit, with a partially broken neck and looking worse for wear. 

In these final moments at the motel, The Vampire Lestat Episode 1 finally lets us in on who has been texting him throughout the episode. One might have inferred it was Louis, but it wasn’t. It’s the one woman he has loved his entire life: Gabriella de Lioncourt (Jennifer Ehle) in a questionably stiff wig. (Respectfully, could we please offer more hair options for older women, beyond the straight-haired bob/lob shown onscreen?) In this introduction, the answer to Molloy’s question is revealed. Yes, Lestat did stutter and does so around his mother before pulling his mother into a kiss. Cue credits. 

The Vampire Lestat Episode 1 plunges us into the thick of Lestat’s incredibly vocal thoughts, and he’s a delight. His wit and sarcasm are at full blast, unrestrained once unleashed. Sam Reid is Lestat through and through, fully embracing Lestat’s main character energy. While the latter half of the energy is chaotic, with some story shifts faltering in execution, Lestat is just getting started on his journey. With his mother’s return and his identity fully exposed, Lestat has set himself up for some gnarly times ahead, and man, it’s going to be fun. 

The Vampire Lestat Episode 1 is streaming now on AMC+ with new episodes airing every Sunday on AMC.

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