Interview with the Vampire Episode 4 Review: The Ruthless Pursuit of Blood with All a Child’s Demanding
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Beyond the alterations, Bass is enthralling as Claudia, clearly having the time of her life in an undead role with a vast range of emotional baggage to unpack. Scared or scary, kids are dream parts in horror. Claudia almost gets to mature through it, making for an even more diverse character. The actor sinks her prefabricated fangs into it with gratitude, making sure Claudia thanks each and every trolly car driver she kills. Claudia owns the episode as the new pariah in the parish, but Louis has moments where Anderson’s age similarly dissolves to match a much older soul shaken by the wisdom of disappointments. Lestat’s age-old vampire holds back more than secrets, and Reid lets out steam with restraint, but boils over wonderfully in the heat of cold passion.

The episode opens on vampire interviewer Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian), uncertain of how long he will be in Dubai, and explaining how his research uncovered a book, not an article. Well, maybe an excerpt in Vanity Fair, but more like something easily adapted into series TV, after a film or two. And this is before he reads Claudia’s diaries. “Anne Frank meets Stephen King,” the journalist appraises. Dangerous vulnerability is Claudia’s charm, but the diary is her talisman, and as a gloved-Molloy follows the spell, it breaks like a porcelain doll with coiled golden hair.

The first diary entries are from the year 1917, but the ambidextrous Molloy sneaks a peek at a later chapter, in Paris, circa 1945. “My whole dead self feels revitalized head to toe,” the Nov. 14 entry reads. “We might be outsiders to both humans and Parisians, but I do appreciate both now with such fervor!” He skips back a few notebooks to learn World War II POWs made for a horrible feeding experience. Only then does he dive in from the beginning.

The family unit is established very quickly, and ground rules are broken as they come up. Leaving Lestat out of the mind-reading communications between Louis and Claudia begins mischievously, but we know it’s not going to remain fun and games. However, when Claudia goes off for her first kill, and Lestat and Louis discuss how chiffon gives her pleated skirt movement, we know we will not lose the casually biting humor which has become so important to the series. The irony of watching Nosferatu as a comedy is particularly delicious.

There are moments in “The Ruthless Pursuit of Blood with All a Child’s Demanding” where Louis and Lestat even twist the vapid essence of traditional family sitcoms into their response to the hemoglobin-gobbling preteen. Turned while her metabolism is still running full speed, every cop and horn player in New Orleans becomes an eye-rolling problem for the new parents to solve. Each time Louis attempts Father Knows Best-style deliberation, he loses to Lestat’s permissive Married…With Children encouragement. The series mixes silly suspense with serious consequences to subvert family programming. The scene where Claudia is fitted for her own casket could have played on The Addams Family.

Rice’s Lestat and Louis were one of the first same-sex couples to adopt and raise a child, but serve as a cautionary tale as the book progresses. Discipline is as ambiguous as sexuality in the world of vampires, where punishment can be its own reward. The dysfunctional vampire family shares extremely tender moments, Louis’ mortal relations are only torturous. His sister Grace (Kalyne Coleman) judges him at their mother’s funeral, and he cuts the human ties that bind. It comes across like a revocation of the invitation all vampires need to enter a house, according to myths and legends.

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