Interview With the Vampire season 2 episode 1 recap and review: Give Jacob Anderson his Emmy right now

Interview With the Vampire season 2 premiered on AMC this evening, pulling viewers back into the addicting world created by author Anne Rice. The TV adaptation, led by showrunner Rolin Jones, did a fantastic job in its first season introducing viewers to protagonist Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) and his love story with Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), a hundred-plus-year-old vampire who falls for Louis and turns him into one, too. The series chronicles Louis' life as a vampire as he recalls his story to journalist Daniel Molloy in the year 2022.

As someone who hasn't read Rice's Vampire Chronicles novels — but absolutely loved the 1994 film adaptation growing up — I have somewhat of an idea as to what's coming next in the second season of the AMC series. But nothing could've prepared me for the emotional masterpiece that is the season 2 premiere, "What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned." Anderson is at the top of his acting game in an episode that is deeply heartfelt.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Interview With the Vampire season 2 episode 1.

The season 2 premiere begins with Louis and Daniel reading through Claudia's diaries as a way to recall what happened next after leaving New Orleans. Remember, Louis and Claudia killed Lestat in the season 1 finale (or did they?) with plans to travel to Europe to find other vampires. Louis tells Daniel that Claudia never dreamed when she slept, something that perplexed him greatly.

Bailey Bass, the actress who portrayed Claudia in season 1, is recast by Delainey Hayles in season 2. As much as I loved Bass' performance and was sad to see her depart the series, Hayles does a great job bringing new life into the character in the season 2 premiere. As jarring as recasts can be, this one works.

Louis and Claudia are off to find other vampires

Louis remembers their adventure across the globe while they traveled across Europe, sleeping underground as World War II raged on. In flashback scenes, they find dead and severely injured bodies everywhere as they pass by battlegrounds, and they begin to notice the war is impacting people's blood. Louis and Claudia have trouble getting warm, and their bodies hurt even after feeding.

Louis and Claudia are also stopped by soldiers in many locations they travel to, and in one scene we see them confronted by German soldiers. Claudia speaks to them in Ukrainian, and Louis explains that through their travels, Claudia has the locals teach her their languages so they can get by. They end up killing these German soldiers and continue on. Beyond the negative impact of the war, Louis and Claudia's relationship is very strained because of what happened with Lestat. Louis refused to burn his body in the season 1 finale, making Claudia feel like he's still holding onto him. He is, isn't he?

As they continue to travel through Europe, they can tell no vampires have been around in a long time; war and other events have driven them away. Claudia is determined, however, to find some sort of trace of them. Out of frustration, Louis suggests they should just go back home. This angers Claudia, who believes he wants to go dig up Lestat's body.

In the current timeline, Louis thanks Daniel for helping him recall more memories, though Daniel still feels like he's withholding from him. Daniel also believes Lestat is more important to Louis than he's letting on; Claudia even said as much in her diary.

Louis can't shake the ghost of Lestat

Louis begins seeing visions of Lestat, out in the open with his throat still slit. He tells Louis he's in purgatory before declaring that he's going to kill him. Louis tells him that if he were actually alive and wanted him dead, he would've done it already. But Lestat explains he's waiting for Louis to be happy to kill him. Louis tries to call Claudia, but she does not see Lestat standing there. He's not real. Louis explains that despite killing thousands of people, Lestat's death is the only one that feels like murder.

Louis and Claudia arrive in Romania by the time the war is over, and Claudia believes there have been vampire sightings. There are crucifixes and garlic on every door, plus soldiers are shooting up graves. Louis is skeptical, but Claudia is sure of it. A woman named Emilia takes them in, giving them a place to sleep with others at a factory. Louis and Claudia take on new identities, pretending to be father and daughter looking for their wife/mother. Claudia spots garlic around the soldiers' necks, feeling more sure than ever that vampires are around.

An English man approaches Louis and Claudia at the factory and introduces himself as Morgan, a correspondent for The Daily Herald who's in a relationship with Emilia. He's happy to hear people speaking English and wants to get to know them.

Daniel continues to press Louis and Armand, believing they're hiding something from him. He's confused as to why they would invite him into their home if they don't want to give him the full truth. He begins picking on the real Rashid, hoping to break him and get some information out of him. It doesn't work, at least not yet.

Claudia is sent off to play with the children at the factory and she ends up walking out into the woods to see what's out there. She hears a loud rasping sound as two men are attacked. She approaches, believing the creature in front of her is a vampire, but he looks far more like a monster than something that used to be human. Claudia tries to talk to him and uses telepathy to reach him, but he doesn't want to make friends. He slams her up against a tree and runs off, leaving Claudia feeling more amazed than horrified at what just happened.

Louis can finally relax and has a great time drinking and hanging out with Morgan and Emilia, though Morgan knows they've been lying about who he and Claudia are. Because he's a reporter who takes his own photographs, he can tell that the photo they've been showing of Louis' alleged wife has to be about 30 years old. (It's an old photo of Louis' sister.) He says that would make the woman in the photo 60 or 65. Louis seems to get nervous but is relieved when Morgan barely makes a big deal about it. He suspects them of going AWOL and gives him advice.

Old World vampires are living in Romania

Claudia comes back and tells Louis what she saw, incredibly excited. Louis is hesitant to believe her, however, thinking it was probably an animal. Claudia is angry with Louis that he doesn't want to find more vampires and brings up Lestat. She wants to find others like her that aren't completely terrible.

After he and Claudia go to sleep, he's awoken when he notices Claudia dreaming. And not just dreaming, but having a nightmare. Anderson has an incredible scene here when he recalls this moment to Daniel, explaining that she wrote in her diary that she couldn't dream but it wasn't true. As he recalls this memory, Louis becomes more and more emotional, saying he can feel Claudia there with him. He welcomes in the intense rush of emotions and loses himself to the feeling. It's an incredibly strong scene that had me tearing up.

Claudia wakes up from her nightmare as she and Louis hear yelling from the factory. They go see what's going on to discover Emilia has been bitten by something, and everyone is trying to figure out what they should do. Morgan wants her to get medical help, but as they pull the bandage off of her and reveal the bite mark, everyone is scared. A soldier points his gun at Emilia, but a person nearby says they have to cut off her head. Morgan sees Louis and begs for his help, but Louis doesn't want to help humans. A soldier takes an axe and chops Emilia's head off to the audience's horror, as Louis and Claudia leave quickly.

Louis and Claudia go out to the woods to try and lure the vampire, which works. They approach him and try to talk to him, and Louis is disturbed by his appearance. Another vampire arrives, this time a woman vampire, and she attacks Louis. Claudia tries to go after her but the man vampire throws her off. Their fight continues for a few moments before Claudia jumps up behind the man vampire and pulls his eyes out. It's revealed the woman vampire is the other one's mother, and suddenly, she picks up a rock and beats her son to death. She tells Louis and Claudia that he can't hunt without his eyes. Claudia and Louis are shocked by what just happened all so quickly.

They follow the woman vampire through the forest, desperate to know more. She must be an Old World vampire, something they've been trying to find for years now. They follow her into a house with half-dead bodies lying about, finding her in a room where she's singing and feeding a soldier her blood. She tosses him to the floor and turns her attention to Claudia and Louis. They explain to her that the blood is bad there; there's too much pain. When Claudia asks how many vampires are left, she's shocked by the answer she gets: They killed the last one in the forest.

The woman vampire agrees to go back to America with Louis and Claudia, but just after she introduces herself as Daciana, she throws herself into the fire, killing herself. Louis and Claudia are taken aback, with Claudia in particular being devastated.

As Louis and Armand lay in bed together, Louis asks to see the pages they removed from Claudia's diaries — this is what they've been keeping from Daniel. Louis promises he won't share them with Daniel, but he just needs to read them to remember. Armand agrees but tells Louis that he should just end the interview and send Daniel back home. Louis says no, and in this scene, we find out how long they've been together: 70 years.

Armand agrees to let Daniel interview him on the record, as Louis continues recalling what happened next. He and Claudia went west to continue their travels, but Louis says Claudia was broken after what happened, leaving a part of herself in Romania.

Louis and Claudia start over again

The ending of the episode is another emotional scene, one that cements Anderson as one of the best actors working in TV today. Louis explains that the world was ready to restart after the war, like a new beginning, and he was ready to start fresh with Claudia, too. As we watch them travel in a flashback, he tells it like it is with the "hard" and "soft" truth. The hard truth is that she's going to have to stop feeling sorry for herself because life isn't going to get easier. But the soft truth is what really gets to Claudia. Louis promises he will never kill himself as Daciana did so long as she's alive, and he promises they will find other vampires. "We can't be the only good ones out there," he says.

Despite his promise, Louis declares that even if Claudia was the last vampire on earth, she would be enough for him. It's in this moment where I couldn't stop the tears from flowing! It's such a great scene between these two characters. Claudia accepts, and Louis sees a vision of Lestat sitting with them. The final shot of the season 2 premiere sees the two arrive in France, ready for their next chapter. What they're expecting to find beyond another vampire, I'm not sure, but I'm certain they'll encounter many surprises.

Anderson and Hayles lead a fantastic continuation of the Interview With the Vampire story in "What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned," successfully keeping viewers engaged with new characters and storylines that feel organic, and as I mentioned, highly emotional.

The first season of Interview With the Vampire didn't get any love from the Emmys or Golden Globes — the horror genre is typically shut out from such prestigious awards — but if the season 2 premiere is any indication, this new installment is going to be even more impactful than the first. I know it's only the first episode, but if Anderson doesn't get an Emmy nomination for his performance as Louis this time around, it'd be a terrible snub.

New episodes of Interview With the Vampire season 2 release every Sunday on AMC and AMC+. We'll be recapping the new installment and covering the latest updates on the show here at Show Snob!