[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Interview With the Vampire Season 2.]
Any “Best Episodes of 2024” list will be incomplete without Interview With the Vampire‘s Season 2 Episode 5 (truly, Season 2 Episodes 5, 7, and 8 should all be included). “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape” is a standout among the AMC drama’s widely acclaimed second season.
It’s the first and only episode in the entire series not to involve a New Orleans or Europe flashback, instead focusing on the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac’s (Jacob Anderson) interviews with journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian and Luke Brandon Field) in 1973 San Francisco and 2022 Dubai. Assad Zaman‘s Armand was there too, and he’s the only one of those three who remembers all the details of that fateful week in California — a problem that the subsequent episode addresses head-on. Before the Season 2 premiere, I asked Zaman about his favorite part of “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape,” an episode fans are still raving about on social media months after its release.
The episode defined by excavating repressed memories ironically begins with Louis saying, “We had it figured out, didn’t we?” No, Louis. You did not. This line was referencing his and Armand’s relationship dynamic settled in Episode 4, but it nonetheless serves as a perfect precursor for the revelations to come. Dubai Armand spends most of the episode away on an elaborate hunt that will end, as Louis describes it, with his victim “begging” for death within an hour. Daniel takes advantage of the 514-year-old vampire’s absence by asking Louis to fill the holes in his memory of what really happened between them in San Francisco, holes revealed by an enhanced audio recording provided in secret by Raglan James (Justin Kirk) of the Talamasca.
The series of events that follows reveal two key things: the emotionally distressed Louis tried to end his own life but was stopped by Armand, and Armand gave Louis and Daniel the same exact memory edit afterwards. Everything Louis and Daniel remember in Dubai plays out in flashback, and what happened was a horror show. Armand left Louis writhing in pain for who knows how long following his suicide attempt. As he begged for relief, Armand terrorized Daniel, using his ancient powers to control Daniel’s body, move objects with his mind, and telepathically communicate with Lestat (Sam Reid) who was across the country in New Orleans.
Armand’s capacity for rage is on full display, triggered by Louis calling him the “world’s softest, beige-est pillow” compared to the “fascinating” Daniel. Zaman says Armand flipping the switch from calm to rage “happens on a dime.”
Larry Horricks / AMC
“When you love someone, you often say the worst things to them. Sometimes we can be really cruel to the people that we love,” Zaman explains. “Armand already has inbuilt insecurities about himself, and Louis knows exactly how to prod them. And at that point when he flips it, it’s like, OK, this is what you think of me after so many years? This is the impression that you have of me? That I’m nothing to you? So I’m going to show you a completely different side of me that I’ve held, that I’ve controlled, that I’ve hidden from you for so long. And let’s see what you think about that. Is this what you want? Is this boring for you? But I think even then he’s scrambling. Even his menace is a chaotic menace of scrambling. He still wants acceptance from Louis.”
“And then there’s this other element, this man who’s been able to open Louis up in ways that Armand has never been able to,” Zaman says of Daniel. “There’s anger and frustration and disdain there for this kid who’s been able to do what I’ve never been able to.”
These feelings are expressed through cruel punishment against Louis, whose pain he ignores, and Daniel, whom he tortures and tries to drain. Armand doesn’t have to feed as often as other vamps because of his age. Because of that, and theatrical director that he is, he gives his hunts a dramatic flare by coaxing his victims into a dark sense of peace with lines like “I’m the quiet you’ve been longing for.” His words are like a terrifying lullaby, the scariest part being that he may not even have to use his supernatural powers to get people to beg for death.
Preparing to kill the “fascinating boy” was Zaman’s favorite scene to film from Episode 5, the first episode filmed for Season 2.
“When I read Episode 5, I was like, this is genius. We live for four episodes and Season 1 in these eras that are romantic and that are full of culture and life, but then suddenly we’re thrust into this bottleneck that is really quite claustrophobic because we don’t leave the apartment in San Francisco. It’s such a different tone. It’s so fascinating,” Zaman says, choosing his words wisely.
“We knew that we were going to revisit San Francisco. We knew that we had to do it, but none of us knew how intense it was going to be. And I think that’s a testament to Rolin [Jones, showrunner] and Hannah [Moscovitch, writer/executive producer] and all the other writers who are just geniuses. Just so clever. It’s just so beautiful,” he continues. “For me, one of my favorite parts of doing Episode 5 is the final moment with Daniel and sort of soothing him into his lull before I kill him. That was such a real, really interesting depiction of how Armand, particularly as a vampire, kills his prey and how this is almost like singing him to sleep and going, ‘This is what you want, this is what you need.’ It’s so creepy and dark.”
“Making you want death, making you want it,” Zaman emphasizes, is Armand’s most chilling talent.
That, and his ability to build a life on a seismic lie for 77 years.
Relive “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape” and all of Interview With the Vampire on AMC+. Season 1 will also be available to stream on Netflix on Monday, August 19.
Interview With the Vampire, Seasons 1 & 2, Available Now, AMC+
