RECAP: ‘The Vampire Lestat’ Episode 6 — “Montreal”

It’s been a season of chaos, with Lestat reckoning with his past whilst speedrunning his way towards self-destruction. However, in The Vampire Lestat Episode 6, “Montreal,” the brakes get pumped, slowing things down to a near-crawl for the vampire. It gives time for things to breathe, and even when the episode reaches its climax, reconciliation and peace are on the horizon. That is, until the episode’s final minutes upend everything with a mighty cliffhanger. 

In a marked turn from previous episodes, The Vampire Lestat Episode 6 doesn’t jump around wildly between different characters, instead choosing to focus on one night, more specifically, Halloween night with Lestat (Sam Reid) and Louis (Jacob Anderson). Time has passed since the events of the last episode. Lestat’s album has finally been released to minimal fanfare, and despite its lack of success among the human population, it’s been making waves among the vampires, stoking the fires of those in favor of the Great Conversion.

Now back in Montreal, Lestat is in a form of meditative stasis. He’s made his album. His vampiric band is proceeding with preparations for a concert. Larry’s death, though, has left a pall on everyone, with his brother Alex (Seamus Patterson) rendered mute. Whatever bond they all have is wavering, but for all intents and purposes, it’s business as usual for the band in The Vampire Lestat Episode 6. 

The Vampire Lestat Episode 6 gives us Lestat and Louis together before the big night.

It would be business as usual for Lestat, but it’s not. Louis’s presence in Lestat’s life guarantees it. And what they have planned for midnight that night is set to rattle anyone. With Claudia’s doppelgänger, Regina, appearing this season, book fans might have suspected the emergence of Merrick Mayfair (Sarah Afful), and The Vampire Lestat Episode 6 verifies it. The path to the pivotal seance in this episode is a winding one, as Lestat and Louis spend the night running errands.

These two vampires together give off major old-married-couple energy, even though they’re exes, and it never lets up. They bicker and take jabs at each other, and it’s equal parts endearing and frustrating because these two truly can’t help themselves. Sam Reid and Jacob Anderson both share an ease and comfort with each other that’s palpable in the way they volley off one another onscreen. It’s their chemistry that makes this slow-burn episode delightful. All you need is these two together to keep the focus drawn.

The first item on their list of things to do is dinner with Daniel (Eric Bogosian). Most notable is that it seems to be primarily attended by vampires, as everyone stands and claps when Lestat arrives. They serve blood to the guests, among other things. Daniel, who is noticeably tanner, is there, hoping to get an ending for his documentary. Lestat mentions, “It was enough that he showed up,” a line that speaks volumes after episodes exploring his connection to abandonment and betrayal. 

Daniel initially says that’s enough, but Louis knows him better than that. Daniel is wondering whether “the fog of love” is what kept Louis and Armand (Assad Zaman) from picking up his gotcha questions. Louis tells him he tried to respect Daniel’s privacy by not reading his thoughts, something that, given the episode’s final moments, will come back to bite Louis hard. 

Louis finally meets Sofia, and things go decidedly weird.

The conversation then turns to what Lestat will do after the Great Conversion concludes. Lestat mentions going into a forest to seek solace, which is another refreshing spark of candor for the vampire before he adds a more flippant addition. Of course, Daniel can’t help but mention Sofia (Jennifer Ehle), now knowing that Sofia is Gabriella, Lestat’s mother, and asks whether Louis has met Sofia yet. He hasn’t, but he will later in the evening.

Eventually, the two make it to the concert venue, where Louis does, in fact, get to meet Sofia. There’s initially an ease between the two until the conversation turns to the concert. Sofia mentions that Louis doesn’t want Lestat to go through with the performance, but Louis points out that Lestat will do whatever Lestat wants. “Maybe you should not go,” she says, “You have many admirers, but also others…” The enemies Louis has collected over his life are many, and his actions in Dubai and Detroit didn’t help. So, the warning is warranted.

It’s a rare moment of concern expressed by the vampiress, who acknowledges that if something were to happen to Louis, Lestat would be hurt. With a wry smile, she offers to protect Louis, and then they turn back to Lestat, who is performing. An emotional rendition of “Brutal Love” is performed, with Lestat making eye contact with Louis. Jacob Anderson’s face during this performance is evocative, speaking volumes with just his eyes. 

Daniel’s affinity for drama hits new levels in The Vampire Lestat Episode 6.

Things wrap up, with an hour left until the two have to start their séance. Louis waits outside while Lestat and Sofia converse. The vampiress is positively giddy for the impending vampiric apocalypse, discussing plans for the two of them to watch out the end days in Cardiff. Lestat doesn’t seem to be feeling it and parts with her to join Louis in the car. Unfortunately, thanks to a link that was forwarded to Louis featuring a recorded intimate moment between Sofia and Lestat, things are about to hit the fan.

Of course, Daniel Molloy is behind it, with the clip announced as being a part of his upcoming documentary. Even more shocking in this exclusive clip is that Daniel is interviewing Armand, not just in broad daylight, but Armand reveals the truth behind Sofia’s real identity, thus outing the taboo relationship between mother and son. We all knew Daniel was a colossal drama stirrer, but with this publicly released clip, Daniel basically shot a rocket to try to torpedo Lestat’s reputation.

The argument that ensues between Lestat and Louis with this revelation is expected. Not just because Louis finds the kind of relationship abhorrent, but because Lestat has kept this part of him a secret for decades. Louis points out how this is Armand-levels of deceit, despite the circumstances being markedly different since Lestat hasn’t been purposely manipulating people’s minds or anything. Yet the hurt is real and remains, and the ever-complicated emotions between the two vampires only deepen from here in The Vampire Lestat Episode 6.

Sarah Afful is absolutely phenomenal in the brief time she’s onscreen.

The Vampire Lestat Episode 6 is a masterclass in acting for both performers, and this argument takes them to new levels. Sam Reid is explosive as Lestat before the emotions take over, his body doubling over in a panicked frenzy when everything becomes too much. And we see more of Louis’s flaws as Lestat throws it back in his face that he continues to judge and be selfish, even though Louis, not too long ago, was stalking a woman who reminded him of Claudia. 

These two are a colossal storm when emotions run high, but quickly fall into calm in a bar not long after their argument. There, they talk things out more rationally. A funny moment of Lestat adding his blood to Louis’s beer offers some levity, and the two arrive at some agreement. Time is ticking, however, and the séance looms over their heads. What is to come marks the most volatile part of The Vampire Lestat Episode 6.

This is where we finally meet Merrick Mayfair, the witch who will be conducting the seance. While we only get this episode with her, Sarah Afful is absolutely great, and I’m curious to see if we might get any more moments with her moving forward. Merrick notices, as she’s about to open the gates, that there is tension between the two vampires and separates them. We are reminded of the salt’s importance as the camera pans over the circle, and in her first attempt to bring Claudia up, the spirit slams Merrick down.

The reconciliation with Claudia doesn’t go as expected.

On the second attempt, Claudia is channeled, and her rage is undeniable. Her spirit imbues the dress she was burned in, and she appears before her fathers. With each sentence Louis utters, she rebukes him, ripping apart the words he tells himself to justify his self-pity. Delainey Hayles infuses her Claudia here with such hatred and malice that it radiates, and the shift in Jacob Anderson’s approach to Louis in the scene, from initially sorrowful to spiteful, pointing out how she should thank him, is almost chilling.

After making contact with Louis, Claudia’s spirit returns to Merrick, and Claudia metaphorically hammers the nails into any sort of closure Louis might have. “I hate you to the pit of all things,” she declares, using Merrick to look Louis dead in the eye as she says so. “Burn the diaries. Burn this dress. STOP. SAYING. MY. NAME!” Then the salt circle is broken, but this is not the end.

Once free of the circle, Claudia focuses on Lestat and, after giving him what for, asks where Madeline is. This moment marks one of the starkest of The Vampire Lestat Episode 6. Her love for Madeline still keeps her searching in the afterlife, and the two have yet to find each other. “The one good thing in my bleak black life,” Claudia cries out. “I don’t know where she is.” Screaming out for Madeline, Lestat and Louis look on in tears, before Claudia’s spirit peters out. It is a haunting final note before Merrick closes the circle and the séance ends.

If anything is certain, it’s that Louis realizes how much Claudia despises him now.

Silence looms between the two vampires as they walk to a nearby park. There are no easy words afterward, but they acknowledge that they’ve been spared the ambiguity of knowing where things stand. The one thing that lingers is the idea that she doesn’t have Madeline. She can’t rest. Louis brings the conversation back to Sofia, and Lestat acknowledges that, somewhere in his self-destruction, he wanted Louis to know her, yet he’s not sure why.

“Why do I actively, manically pursue failure?” Lestat asks. “Maybe it’s just a vampire’s burden,” Louis answers, pointing out how, without death as an end, what else is there to motivate? Things seem to be settling into a kind of amicability between the two until they spot Alex watching them from across the way. Of course, things can’t end well for them. Just as they are distracted, the two vampires are decapitated, potentially signaling the end for the two unless their heads are reattached.

The Vampire Lestat Episode 6 ends with a mighty cliffhanger.

Who did the deed? Well, it’s revealed in the final moments of The Vampire Lestat Episode 6 that they are Armand and Daniel. It’s a shocking end to an arguably calmer episode, yet it speaks to the importance of the Great Conversion’s prominence. With Armand so anti-turning and using Alex’s and Daniel’s negative emotions toward Lestat to his advantage, it’s no wonder all three have teamed up for this brutal act right before Lestat is set to perform.

With that ending setting the stage for a high-stakes finale, The Vampire Lestat Episode 6 is easily best described as the calm before the storm. The complicated nature of the post-Interview relationship between Lestat and Louis is thoroughly explored, with the Claudia storyline potentially coming to an end now that the two vampires know how she really feels about them. With only one episode left and various other elements at play in this story, it’ll be interesting to see how the concert goes, given Lestat’s lack of a head.

All episodes of The Vampire Lestat are playing now on AMC+ and AMC.

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