The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 3 Review: Seriously…Are We SURE Sam Reid Isn’t Actually Lestat???

The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 3 “Toronto” is the best episode of the series so far and one of the best episodes of TV this year. That is one hundred percent down to Sam Reid’s performance as he continues to fully embody all of Lestat de Lioncourt’s layers so perfectly well, it’s impossible to see where Reid ends and Lestat begins. The only time it’s possible to accept that this is, actually, just an actor doing his job very well is when he steps completely out of Lestat and becomes the goofy, awkward body double character just as easily. Or maybe Lestat’s just using his Mind Gift to convince us that guy exists. Who can say?

In this latest hour, Daniel Molloy witnesses, firsthand, every single way Lestat’s arrogance and mockery, his melodramatics and cheap games at others’ expense, his easily performed shallowness are all there as defense mechanisms—a coverup, an act to mask centuries of love, and loss, and angst, and shame. From the moment he arrives (fashionably late) to his interview with Daniel, as he perches just so, the perfect portrait of pride, Lestat seeks to be in control of that narrative. But Daniel brings up the stutter. And Lestat slips. Blink, and you’ll miss it, but just there beneath the surface, the hurt flashes in Reid’s eyes. His preternatural calm suddenly meets tension, Lestat willing himself to stay under control and remain in control of a situation that’s already outside of his grasp.

Even after taking a beat to shove all that emotion down, the forced smile doesn’t reach his eyes. The “evening Daniel. Happy to be here” is anything but happy. And at this point, The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 3 is barely just getting started. The same goes for Reid and his performance quality. The hour is nothing if not a masterclass from Sam Reid, or Lestat de Lioncourt, or whatever his name is. (If they’re really two separate beings, both absolutely nail their performances in “Toronto.”) And as viewers learn about Nicki, and Magnus, and even get little glimpses of Lestat’s time with Armand, it’s just impossible not to be completely sucked into this world. Enthralled, even.

MORE: Everything we know about The Vampire Lestat Season 1.

Lestat fights against his own truth in The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 3

In The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 3, our Brat Prince is every bit as difficult and pouty, as much a closed book (and kinda an a—hole), as Louis described him as in Interview with the Vampire. And Daniel Molloy, no matter how many times he tries to cut through the Brat’s BS, is completely out of his depth. The most obvious proof of this is when Daniel learns everything he thought he’d gotten on camera—the rare, precious few moments of Lestat revealing a naked, vulnerable grief over what happened to Nicki, blood tears and all—was all a trick. Lestat used his immense power to bare his battered soul…for Daniel’s eyes and ears only. No one else will see those blood tears; no one else will hear that raw emotion. Not now, not ever.

And, of course, there’s the wildly hilarious and entertaining way Lestat pretends to open up earlier on. He has a total meltdown, urging the camera to come ever closer and “let them see” as he exaggeratedly screams and whines his way through complaints about his “40! Shows. In forty-three F**KING nights!” Reid is all wild gestures, shouting, loudly sobbing “no one cares!!” In the terrible silence, he over-acts, crying alligator tears, covering his face as if he’s weeping more. And then, just as suddenly as the fake tantrum began, he’s cackling. It’s a sort of sharp, barked laughter that is just as much a performance to cover how he really feels about the stutter, the tour, his history—all of it—as it is a show to get his mommy to notice him. If she can’t love him, then she can at least enjoy the show. She does.

That smirk. The deep sigh. And then, he’s pitying, condescending, as he pretends to be “the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac, undone by your relentless questionings, Mr. Molloy.” Which is, of course, to say he is most definitely not.

As Daniel presses Lestat on the meaning behind “Black Licorice,” or his mother laughs more at his expense than with him, the tiniest tells break through that mask of confidence our hero wears so well. A caressing of the chair, rubbing his thumb and first finger together a certain way, that particular movement as he tilts his head just so, a warning glare aimed at the camera—all the more power when we actually see the camera monitor’s actual view.

Reid tenses up in measures, holding himself ever more carefully. Certainly, viewers can feel the effects of that change. But do we actually see him move? Does his expression actually change, or does the Mind Gift convey all we need to know to us directly, as Lestat sits there, still as a statue? I’m going for the latter. So, just to beat a dead horse here: Someone should check on whether or not this guy actually has a thirst for the Little Drink or an ability to rip a body apart before we even know he’s moved.

MORE: The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 2 explored Lestat’s, um, mommy issues.

The backstory

And yet, underneath all the things that might make a fellow vampire want to be rid of him once and for all, there are plenty of answers to the question of why Lestat is like this. In The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 3, viewers see some of those gaping wounds of his. We also see one very simple truth: Some wounds are never going to heal, no matter how powerful Lestat’s blood is. He can bury them all he wants, but they’ll always find a way to rise again. The pain is as immortal as the vampire himself.

So, yes, Lestat is every bit the Brat Prince in this hour. At times, he doesn’t have a single care in the world. For most of the episode, it’s like he refuses to take even the retelling of his own story—his own opportunity to be in the spotlight he so craves and adores—seriously. But he’s also the victim of a childhood as an outsider in an idiot-stuffed home in Auvergne, always yearning for freedom but never quite obtaining it. He’s the lover of music, especially when played by his dear, ill-fated Nicolas de Lenfent. As we watch that sweet, smitten, stuttering version of the character begin his romance with the violinist, Reid brings a certain vulnerable presence to him that we’ve not quite seen yet. Then, when the love story goes horribly, maddeningly wrong, it’s impossible not to ache right along with him.

And yes, Lestat’s the Wolfkiller, parading around in his red cloak, lined with the fur of the eight—eight?!—wolves he slayed. But that, along with his “stardom” at what he calls a “second-tier theatre,” leads to the Dark Gift being forced on him. Stalked from afar by the shabby devil Magnus and dragged, kicking and screaming, he becomes everything readers and/or viewers have known him to be ever since.

Although Daniel emotionlessly reads a watered down version of events back to a Lestat who’s avoiding the issue by any means necessary, we don’t see the worst of it. Or, rather, near the end of the episode, we see a lot of the worst of it…still not all. I’ll admit I had a certain morbid curiosity about how The Vampire Lestat might have been able to bring Rice’s words, about those corpses in the tower that all looked like Lestat himself, to life. There’s something sick and shocking about that particular scene that marries the character’s love for being the center of attention with his hatred for truly being seen.

But Lestat’s total crash out when he’s away from prying eyes and ears, as he’s tormented by the ghost of his maker and forced to relive an uglier, darker, more traumatic version of events than he revealed to Daniel or told Louis years ago—edited in parallel with Louis’ reading of what Bruce did to Claudia, no less—is tragic and horrifying in all the right ways. So, the series manages to not replace what’s missing, necessarily, but at least fill in the gaps.

As a surprise to no one at this point, Reid nails everything, past and present—the love story, its gutting end, and most certainly a Lestat spiraling out of control. He expertly weaves in those hints of self-consciousness and insecurity long before Lestat gets to his most vulnerable, weeping those blood tears as he describes the death of his first love. (Eh. Second love, if you count Mommy Dearest. Whatever.) The actor has always shown an understanding of those hidden, broken parts of the character. Now, he gets to reveal them all…and every corner of that bleeding heart.

There are uncountably many moments of brilliance throughout this episode. Some are small and subtle; others are just huge. Easily the best parts come when Lestat drops the act, reveals his true self. His true self is the one who loved and lost, who desperately prayed to a God who never answered as a monster took everything from him—who tries to drown out the memory as he shouts yet more unanswered prayers and tries to quite literally speed away from the memories—and so much more.

MORE: Here’s what we thought of the season premiere.

“And even still, all of the bad things happened that bad men do…”

While Lestat is equal parts avoiding and reliving his traumas, Louis is off on a bloody, revenge-fueled mission to find closure for him and the tragically-departed Claudia. But it doesn’t work that way, not really. Even so, this casually dark and violent version of the character that Jacob Anderson brings to The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 3 is remarkable in its own right. In fact, what Anderson does as Louis taunts his first victim about a tattoo, or casually sits and waits for Killer aka Bruce (aka Ashes After This Hour), or picks off vampires one by one to even get to the waiting point, adds so very much to what it is already such a strong episode.

Just as Lestat carries his own ancient pain that can never be healed, Louis will always feel the loss of Claudia. When he reads her diary entry about Bruce, dragging out the inevitable end of that particular vampire, Anderson plays Louis’ intense grief as if Claudia were sentenced to death by The Théâtre des Vampires now, here, today. Not years ago in Paris. Because it’s always that day for him, always that place.

Instead of one, stagnant outpouring of emotion, the pain just gets deeper and deeper…all as that anger, that hatred for the one who hurt her before that coven ever did, becomes a raging inferno as well. And then, at the end, it’s like all emotion has just drained out of him. Passionlessly, detached, he lights the match, drops the page, and leaves.

The images of Louis, the splattered blood of all his victims worn like a badge of honor—at least it would be if he could feel anything at all in the moment—is stunning. This is, of course, a huge difference from what we see in that diner at the very end. As Lestat sings back on stage with his band, having gotten out of his own fiery situation, Louis just sits. And stares, longingly, hopelessly at the woman who reminds him of her. To answer Lemuel’s question, no, he didn’t get what he needed out there. (Anderson plays that half-hearted “yeah…yeah” in response as well as anything).

He’ll never be able to get what he needs. Because what he needs is to go back in time, to save her, to let her have some joy in her far-too-short life—immortal or otherwise. And, well, he can’t. Just like Lestat can’t save Nicki, can’t get Gabriella to stay by his side and actually care for him the way he needs, Louis can’t have the one thing he craves more than the Blood itself. But hey. At least he can seek out a deadly sort of justice and prevent anyone else from unwittingly crossing “Killer’s” path.

MORE: In the episode detailing Claudia’s death, Anderson gave a performance so good, we couldn’t help but want to watch it over and over—no matter how painful the story was.

More The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 3 reactions

• Ok. I get it. You like to show vampires peeing blood. Enough.
• “He found me shallow. I gave him every reason to.” If Lestat didn’t add “I have regrets when it comes to Daniel” here, he could’ve been talking about anyone from Louis, to Armand, to just about anyone else in his personal history. Amazing.
• Mommy Gabriella with the cackle, the “ciao,” the little wave, and the blood just still dripping from those fangs. Not a care in the world.
• She should be breaking gender norms with her attire, though. That’s…kind of a big thing to leave out.
• Going to say it: Promise you don’t need Daniel correcting Lestat on an iconic intro from Rice’s book. Just let Lestat Sam Reid cook.
• “I am the Frontman Lestat.” (Daniel: “The Vampire Lestat.”) “I’m immortal. More or less. The light of the sun, the sustained heat of an intense fire, [added by show: Jefferson Starship, garrote-wielding coven members]—these things might destroy me.” The series omits the “but” before this next sentence… “Then again, they might not.” The humor toward the end of that, the sort of flippant “more or less,” all of it. Reid’s perfect. Lestat’s perfect. You don’t mess with perfection.
• Watch how he just…melts from that smug humor to a certain intensity after that introduction. Just stellar.
• “Must be important if I repeat.” “Or it’s a doorstop because you don’t want to talk about yourself.” Lestat? Doesn’t want to talk about himself??? Have you met his ego?
• (This is correct. He doesn’t want to talk about the painful, embarrassing parts of himself. His true self.)
• It’s the way he just lures us into the story for me.
• Every single closeup is a work of art. Beautiful shots of a beautiful performance for the ages.
• “Is it a question if you merely put ‘yeah’ at the end of a sentence?” Look at the barely-contained anger in those baby blues.
• “You’re confused about the pursuit, Dan.” It’s the way he points that one finger in “Dan’s” direction for me. “It is not about a**es on seats or streams on Pandora. It is about. pure! expression!” And now, that same one finger is held up (like the number one) and oh, so sharply jerking around.
• “No, don’t do that. Just…think it. I’m a vampire. Just like you.” Love the little moment where Louis gestures toward his fangs. Just amazing. And then, this insult to literal injury: “…except. I didn’t disrespect my face like you done…what is that? Is that…Jar Jar Binks dunking a basketball? What?”
• That shadow standing at the top of the stairs before Louis goes down and frees the humans. Wow. Gorgeous. And so good at showing how much darkness is in Louis in moments like these.
• “I had a pistol, a rifle, a dagger, and Mastiff.” Tag yourself. I’m the one losing it over how he pronounces “dag-gerrrrrr” and “Mast-eeef.”
• Everything about this delivery is exquisite: “Stuttered. I. stuttered. Yes. And every kill I have made is a response. My entire psyche is formed from a deformity. It’s like being strapped down in a dentist’s chair, opening your mouth wide, only to have the dentist say, ‘I’m not a dentist,’ as he lubes up a thick rubber glove. So. You be gentle. Dan.” All those put-upon gestures toward himself, the sarcastic tone with just that bit of self-deprecation floating in…all of it.
• Also, the whole dentist’s chair bit is good for him to bring up, considering getting him to reveal anything is like pulling teeth, as the saying goes.
• The way Reid widens his eyes and turns away as Lestat talks about going to see the witches burned…guy’s trying so hard not to cry and embarrass himself all over again.
• “Teenage girls with the resonant voices of men, screaming and thrashing for hours til their jawbones fell and the devil could sing no more.” My God, the tone on “screaming” like…the way he loathes this to this day. And that little shrug, trying to play it all off (failing) on Daniel’s “and you were 9.”
• Book: “He ripped into the song. He tore the notes out of the violin and each note was translucent and throbbing. His eyes were closed, his mouth a little distorted, his lower lip sliding to the side, and what struck my heart almost as much as the song itself was the way that he seemed with his whole body to lean into the music, to press his soul like an ear to the instrument.”
• Show’s shortened version: “Eyes closed, mouth distorted. What struck my heart was the way that his whole body leaned into the music.”
• “Had I the ear I have now, I would’ve found it pedestrian. But I was an ape from Auvergne. And it sounded like a god machine, played by an angel.”
• The awe all over him as he walks up to Nicki!
• Check out that head tilt and sort of…warning side-eye at Gabriella as she’s grinning away and cozying up to the body double.
• Joseph Potter and Sam Reid are so good at showing how much Nicki and Lestat are simply drawn toward each other. That tension between them, ready to snap as they just stand and stare.
• Valois!
• My bashful, crushing angel. “He said, um…’tell him I love him. And that I’m proud of him.’” When the only way you can tell him you’re in love is to pretend that’s a message from his dad…
• “Are you gonna teach me to be a man, Lestat de Valois?” The hunger and adoration there…just a totally different version of Lestat. And yet. The only version of him, as well. He’s all these things! A deeply developed, deeply flawed hero.
• The beautiful music just totally cutting off and the flashback of their lovemaking just totally snapping to the present day with Lestat just deada** staring into the camera. A moment. Again, he’s avoiding something painful. “That goes where you think it goes. All the old tropes and trapes of tortured and forbidden love. Blahblahblahhhh. Bipolar boyfriend. Blah blah.”
• “It was a…first love, not a great love.” That flashback says otherwise, buddy. (Which is the point.)
• Am I seriously going to have to spell it like Nicky? Meh. It’s Nicki.
• “Buried yourself in the ground for a century over a not-great love…only thing you carry with you to New Orleans is a music box reminder of a not-great love.”
• Check out his eyes, shining with unshed tears, when they stop because of the, uh, noise. And you can watch that mirthless smile just melt away to reveal the pain. Like, he’s trying to pretend that’s not his mom, that he’s not desperately (inappropriately) in love with her. That this doesn’t hurt him. So, he smirk away, as if to say, “ah, how cute! The loud f**king doesn’t bother me at all!” But when Daniel’s distracted…PAIN. Incredible.
• “Does that even sound like me, Daniel? Where’s the artful turn of phrase…”
• I’m of two minds about how “Biggest Fan” gets used here, and how we get the sequence of Magnus lusting and stalking after Lestat before, ultimately, forcing the Dark Gift on him. I think it makes him clownish in a way that, on the page, he isn’t—and shouldn’t be in adaptation. On the other hand, it works in an off-kilter, twisted kind of way. First, that’s because, as I’ve mentioned a few times in this review, Lestat’s trying to distance himself from painful things. Second, any time we get to hear Sam Reid singing on this series is a gift. And third…there’s a modern-day sort of horror to it that wouldn’t work in The Vampire Lestat (the book) but does makes sense here. Being a fan of something or someone is great! But when you start to see them through the lens Magnus does with Lestat…bad things happen.
• “I understood my maker. If I had seen 19 straight performances of my Lelio, I would’ve abandoned all decorum, too.” In which we rush through the “Lelio Rising” section of the book through musical methods.
• “Armand got that part right in my book. He confronted you on the street, abducted Nicki, fed him to his coven—and yet, you hid your vampirism from him, yeah? Question mark.” Molloy may be out of his depth with Lestat and all, but he’s still going to be the sassy, condescending f**k we all know and love. This callback to Lestat’s earlier tantrum about adding “yeah” at the end of sentences is great.
• My God, the horrible expression on Lestat’s face as he has to carry Nicki.
• Jennifer Ehle is such a disarming, looming presence in so many of these scenes—spot on for what the character is to Lestat. And when he toys with her about, possibly, revealing that she’s alive to Daniel before taking that mocking swerve…that tiny hint of fear in her warning look is absolutely everything. Everything is so small so as not to draw attention, and yet, it’s undeniable if you’re looking.
• Every. Single. Closeup. On. Reid.
• Just his eyes at one point! Gorgeous. Emotional. Perfection. Iconic. The Vampire Lestat, folks.
• That shot of Gabriella, just glancing out of the corner of her eye through the curtain of her hair. Again, “disarming” is the word that comes to mind. Mysterious, even, to an extent.
• Potter just selling all that powerful emotion on Nicki.
• “I WANT YOU TO LOVE ME ENOUGH TO GIVE IT TO ME!” The desperation, the, pain. For both of them! ANGST. Delicious ANGST.
• Whatever you do, don’t think about what this means for why he gives Louis the Dark Gift and then, after a time, pushes him away.
• “I have driven him mad. And now, I leave him to this madness.” The violin playing throughout this??? Diabolical use of the score here. (Keep it up.)
• “Is there evil older than you? Your maker Marius?”
• It’s super book-to-screen adaptation time! The book: “A loud piercing laughter erupted from him. His chest shivered with it, his arms and legs quaking with it. And then he lowered his head and he screamed: ‘I GIVE YOU THE THEATER OF THE VAMPIRES! THE THEATER OF THE VAMPIRES! THE GREATEST SPECTACLE OF THE BOULEVARD!’” And that’s what we see play out! Thank you!
• I can’t get over how well Potter nails that increasing madness throughout this hour. So good.
• But still, nobody’s doing it like Reid/Lestat.
• “Gabriella went to coffin. Leaving us. And Armand…I told Nicki that I loved him. From the seconds I saw him in Paris. That I was drunk with his love. I was engulfed by it. Your maker would tell you I was being kind, but…in the moment, the words were true. I think.” The almost whisper on parts of this because he’s fighting the emotions??? Even when he tries to lighten it up/downplay the feelings on that “in the moment,” the depth of his voice gives away how much he’s hurting.
• And again. Look at every single gorgeous, emotional, vulnerable shot here. Just incredible. I don’t know what else to say, but I know a lot more needs to be said about Sam Reid in this role. Especially this hour, right here. Like, plot??? What plot??? Watch the performance. That is all!
• (He’s really Lestat. Period.)
• Him making that sound with that faraway expression on his face, and drawing it out, and the gasps for air????
• THAT is a place I’m more than happy to have a change for the TV adaptation because it brings THIS out of Reid.
• You can actually see the hate for Armand shining through all those blood tears and all that grief??? Genius.
• “Unlike your last last vampire, there are no delusions here. Arduous, this tour. My ego. But still, it’s not what I hunt. Never say I didn’t give you anything.”
• (Spoiler: He gave Daniel nearly everything. And yet, he offered nothing Daniel could actually use. I cackled.)
• Eric Bogosian, nailing Daniel’s reaction to getting played. Angry, stunned, mildly impressed almost…about to eat some people for not pointing out the 30 minutes of vampiric stillness sooner…
• “He was crying f**king blood tears! Did no one see that?” My name is now No One.
• The shot of him in pure stillness? Again. Are we sure this isn’t actually Lestat de Lioncourt????
• “…a mean-spirited telepathic prank, a price paid for amusing my muses. It brought poor Dan to his knees and seeded a hate for me inside him, there to be watered in the sunlight later.”
• “But what can i say? Serving c**t has its consequences.”
• They…cut off the IWTV score…interesting.
• That long pause before “you and I have a friend in common.” Every terrifying thing about this version of Louis, amplified to the Nth degree because Anderson knows how to take his time.
• “No more of that in my presence!” See, now, this is Magnus.
• “When! We! Are! READY!!!!!“
• “And I hope one day he feels this. Small and cornered. And crushed like a can…”
• We need to talk about how Reid and Anderson both know how to just…narrate. Read lines. Deliver. I could just listen to either or both of their voices, all day, every day.
• These parallels…beautiful (hideous) blend with that writing and editing. Bravo.
•  “Ahhh, child. All the light’s gone out of your blue eyes, as if all the summer days are gone.”
• Or, Rice’s version: “’You’re dying, Wolfkiller,’ he said. ‘The light’s going out of your blue eyes as if all the summer days are gone…’“)
• His maniacal, high-pitched cackling…that abruptly stops when Magnus taunts him with Clau-diaaaa. Just phenomenal on every level.
• Spoiler: I prefer him being called Wolfkiller, not “child.”
• Lestat’s SCREAMS.
• “…looked like he won. And he did win. Because I want nothing. To be. Nothing. And say. Nothing. And do nothing. You know what is stupidest of all? Dear diary? I thought I was the thing lurking in the shadows. I thought I was…” The pauses that I tried to punctuate here…such smart choices from Anderson. And when his voice simply breaks, it’s possible everyone watching should break, too. A thousand times over.
• But again: This, after all those horrifying scenes of Lestat’s actual transformation…what a devastating conclusion to the Brat Prince’s receipt of the Dark Gift. Which, again. Yeah…spot on.
• THE SCORE for that whole sequence with the diary and Lestat’s crashout…WOW.
• Those slow-mo steps to the stage.
• Now, that’s a ballad performance. Because Lestat’s finally letting himself feel it. He can’t escape it anymore.
• “You can’t escape this loneliness…” The TL;DR of The Vampire Chronicles.
• “Don’t hide it away. Don’t bury those feelings,” as we see Louis with his head bowed in that diner, all alone. Gorgeous.
• Y’all know I love a good Armand reveal. (If you didn’t before, you do now.) And that camera taking forever to show him, to the point where we hear that voice first? Chef’s kiss, yet somehow also an attack on me, personally.
• “My name is…Arun.” !!!!!!!!

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of The Vampire Lestat Season 1 Episode 3 “Toronto”? Leave us a comment!

New episodes of The Vampire Lestat release Sundays on AMC and AMC+.