Interview With The Vampire season 1 episode 2 recap: “…After the Phantoms of Your Former Self”

This article contains SPOILERS for Interview With The Vampire season 1 episode 2.

Lestat teaches Louis all about being a vampire, where Louis discovers that he and Lestat are very different people.

Catch up here on everything from the last episode!

Daniel looks at Louis’ painting, and the man who works for Louis tells him that he likes rare things. He also mentions that Louis will join Daniel while eating the seventh course.

Daniel wonders how many courses there will be. Louis finally joins Daniel, apologizing for his outburst earlier, and says it won’t happen again.

The interview begins again. Meanwhile, past Louis is adjusting to becoming a vampire, initially feeling pretty bad but quickly recovers.

Interview With The Vampire season 1 episode 2: A new home?

Louis describes how overwhelming everything was for him when he was a new vampire, as his senses were heightened. In the past, Lestat tells Louis to follow his voice and to ignore everything else he sees and hears.

He asks Louis if he’s hungry, and Louis says that he is. As they search for food, Lestat tells Louis that he can now subdue anyone he wants, but that restraint can be his most powerful weapon.

Louis wants to eat a sailor, but Lestat warns him against it. He tells him that since he’s a new vampire, it’s best to let the food come to him.

Lestat turns Louis’ attention to another man at the bar. Both men talk to that man about his daughter and what brings him to New Orleans.

Once they return to Lestat’s place, he tells Louis to go whenever he’s ready and Louis attacks. Lestat teaches him how to suck blood from a person.

After Louis is finished, Lestat talks about what rug they should get next. Louis says he has to go home, but Lestat corrects him by saying this is his home now.

Louis uses his new vampire abilities to shove Lestat against the wall and heads out the door.

Interview With The Vampire season 1 episode 2: Equals in the quiet dark

When Louis is headed home, he starts burning because the sun is out. He yells for Lestat to let him in.

Lestat does and tells him that the life of a vampire does come with some challenges but also some perks. He thinks that New Orleans is the ideal home for a vampire for many reasons, including the culture and the attitude of the local police department.

The police allow everyone to do what they want. Lestat wants Louis to sleep in his coffin with him.

Meanwhile, in the present day, Louis discusses Lestat with Daniel. He says he appreciated Lestat’s desire for him and felt they were equals in the quiet dark.

However, he was haunted by killing the man, and as a new vampire, he did not take to killing. In the past, Louis and Lestat talk to Finn, who wants to manage the new sporting house that Louis and Alderman Fenwick are planning.

Louis tells him to ask Fenwick about it. Lestat reads Finn’s mind and tells Louis that Finn is planning on stealing from him.

Louis wants to know how to read minds too. Lestat teaches him, though he finds that most human thoughts can be boiled down to three desires: food, sex, and going home.

Interview With The Vampire season 1 episode 2: Rage

Louis reads the minds of several people on the street and then asks Lestat to read his mind. However, Lestat can’t read Louis’ mind anymore since he is a vampire.

Lestat tells Louis that he’s not like the humans anymore, that he is chasing after phantoms of his former self. Louis tells Daniel that his unwillingness to separate himself from humanity was a constant struggle for him as a vampire.

He felt it was essential to maintain ties, but it was getting difficult. In the past, Louis and Lestat visit Louis’ family.

Louis’ mother scolds him for not visiting them more often, but he counters that she could easily visit him as well. Louis then talks to his sister Grace, who is pregnant with twins, according to Louis.

Grace missed Louis and feels that he’s a new version of himself, a better version. She also adds that if Louis hides from her for a long time again, she’ll hunt him down and slap him.

Louis meets with Fenwick’s attorney and talks to him about their new business. The attorney offends Louis, which results in him attacking.

In the present, Louis tells Daniel that he had decades of rage inside him, and he finally had the power to do something about it. The man was just an easy target for that rage.

Interview With The Vampire season 1 episode 2: Complicated situations

Lestat scolds Louis for attacking the attorney. Louis says that he doesn’t understand something about America.

Since Louis is a black man while Lestat is white, they have different experiences, and Louis’ situation is complicated. Lestat yells at him because the man was an important one, so the police will be looking for him.

Louis gets upset at being called a fledgling, which results in them fighting. While they’re sleeping in their coffins, Lestat says he doesn’t like to go to sleep angry and wants to know how he can make it up to Louis.

Louis says he wants to buy the Fair Play Saloon, where Lily worked. Lestat comments that its ambitious, but how can he say no?

They buy the place, and Louis ends up paying Lestat back. Louis makes a lot of money from 1912-1917 while being the owner of the Saloon.

He goes to visit his sister Grace, where it’s revealed that he hasn’t met her twins. He does, however, meet his new nephew, Benjamin.

When Grace leaves the room, Louis gets hungry, but it isn’t clear whether or not he ate his nephew.

Interview With The Vampire season 1 episode 2: Family issues

In the present, Louis tells Daniel that he no longer kills. His last victim was in the year 2000.

Daniel wonders what it was that led to Louis killing. Louis says he is now a master of his instincts, and Daniel wonders if other vampires have mastered theirs.

He explains that it is quite the opposite. He tells Daniel about something called The Great Conversion that other vampires are plotting.

Daniel wonders how he knows about it. Louis adds that vampires can send their thoughts to each other over a long distance.

Daniel keeps asking if he ate his nephew, and it turns out he didn’t. In the past, Louis is upset that he almost ate his nephew and confides in Lestat.

Lestat tells him that he can’t keep seeing his family. Louis doesn’t want to stop visiting his family since he will not have one of his own.

Lestat reminds him that he’s, his family.

Interview With The Vampire season 1 episode 2: Murderer, mentor, lover, and maker

Louis tells Lestat that he should throw him in the incinerator and make another vampire. Lestat tells him that he has no twin and that no one is imperfectly perfect like he is.

Lestat wants to go on a trip to Rome, but Louis doesn’t seem too interested. He is still upset about almost eating his nephew.

Lestat says that Rome will have to come to them, as he’s gotten them tickets to see an opera. Louis is initially still upset but eventually smiles when he sees the tuxedos that Lestat had made.

Louis tells Daniel that Lestat had a way about him. He was charming, his murderer, his mentor, lover, and his maker.

He says that, to some extent, he worshipped Lestat. Louis has to pretend to be his valet when they go to the opera.

Lestat tells Louis that the thing he fears most about being a vampire is loneliness, so they must stay together. Louis notes that they can’t be the only vampires.

Lestat responds that there are about 100 vampires in the world, 101 with Louis. Louis enjoys seeing Lestat have some human attachments, as he loved music and anyone creating it was elevated above just food to him.

Interview With The Vampire season 1 episode 2: Beauty of death?

However, the tenor performing in the opera was not very good, which meant that Lestat wants to hunt him. After Lestat attacks, Louis asks him why he does it.

He says he enjoys it, but Louis says he doesn’t. Lestat yells at him, claiming that he doesn’t have to enjoy it but has to do it.

Lestat wants Louis to embrace being a killer. Louis reads the tenor’s thoughts while Lestat is drinking his blood and sees the man’s life through his own eyes.

Lestat tells Louis that if he embraces his new nature as a vampire, he will be full of all the life he can hold and see the beauty of death. They drain the tenor together.

Louis tells Daniel that Lestat was wrong; he would never embrace being a killer. They eat the same dessert Daniel had with his first wife just after he proposed.

Will Louis get out of Lestat’s powerful grip? Will Daniel continue opening up to Louis or not?

Let us know your answers and opinions in the comments below!

Watch new episodes of Interview With The Vampire Sundays on AMC or AMC+.