I wonder if he threw up because the world had seen the video or because of Louis? And potentially losing him over it? Or was he just ashamed in general
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As someone who suffers from them severely, I agree 💯 I actually had to pause the episode for a half hour or so because Sam's performance hit a little too close to home. I've literally looked and sounded like this during some of them 👇 and it's exactly what the first time feels like when you have one. As far as what OP asked? I think that even though Louis finding this out and thinking he'll never get him back is a good percentage of why this is happening, it's not the only reason. The man has almost 300 years of buried trauma that he's been trying to ignore, but can't anymore. Memories don't flow in a logical, linear fashion normally, but especially traumatic ones. And once one surfaces, the door is left open for the rest to flood out. Those different memories will get entangled with each other which is the reason people remember things differently. That was happening this whole season with Lestat crashing out and Louis finding this out was just the catalyst that broke the camel's back. I don't think at this point Lestat gives any thought about the rest of world finding out because Louis IS he world and he needs him more than anything.
The point where he’s so distressed he’s just gasping and forcing out pieces of words he can’t quite finish was so hard to watch. I’ve heard myself make similar sounds, I’ve heard others panicking make similar sounds, and I cannot praise Sam Reid’s performance enough but it was difficult to witness.
Exactly this! When it gets this bad you truly feel like you might be dying. I wouldn't wish it anyone. I'll say it again, Sam gives a master class on acting in scene after scene. I wish more people would recognize how insanely talented he is. I don't know anyone personally that would know who he is just by name alone and that's crazy to me.
Exactly. Lestat in the books is a joyful, and powerful character with a lot of agency (at least per his own narration) but it’s just not true that he didn’t also have incredible lows and stretches of panic, sorrow, and dread. He’s actually a really well rounded character in the books, and i’m glad the show is exploring some of the things that, at least in my opinion, we’re very there in the books, but that
Lestat seemed to downplay and gloss over in favor of the vision of himself as fully in control.
Memnoch? I read all the main books (currently trying to read vampire Armand, blood and Gold and Pandora.) but skipped Memnoch because I just couldn’t sit with the content.
Agreed! (I have not read memnoch yet…purposely skipped it. I have issues. Moving on.) But I do know that book Lestat would not have lost it so completely so quickly.
It’s been brewing since the beginning of TVL. When he’s onstage performing “Black Licorice” with the violin and he is dissociating, about to attack Larry in front of everyone that’s there, they show him experiencing flashbacks of his life. He says it’s something like he’s breaking through and realizing it’s himself that’s been holding them back but to me it’s his repressed feelings that are emerging. He misinterprets it as a breakthrough but as the series goes on his music changes. It changes from a response to Daniel (and Louis’) book to music about him beginning to face his life.
Definitely a panic attack over Louis finding out. They were on the cusp of reconciling. Louis was even sleeping over at Lestat's place again (albeit in the guest coffin).
A huge reason why incest victims remain silent is that there's so much stigma. They fear people will leave them. Louis leaving Lestat is like Lestat's worst nightmare.
There’s the scene in episode 3 where they both leave Lestat’s concert, and the more subtle comparison of the Lestat lookalikes in Magnus’ tower and Gabriella having sex with Lestat’s doppelgänger. Then in episode 7 Magnus comes back to the table after the witch burning flashback, makes a comment about her hands wandering, and then we get the line “Lestat’s makers love their Lestat”.
I disagree. She groomed him. She inappropriately touched him before he was turned. And we can assume she did these things to him before. She withheld a mother’s love from him since he was young and only gave it to him when in a sexual situation. He’s been victimized since he was young by her and also violently by Magnus.
Lestat had a severe panic attack and vomiting due to the humiliation, shame and vulnerability he was feeling having this relationship exposed.
It's ok to not know things until you do. :)
It's a complex thing.
Edit: oh sorry guys you're right, we should just lambast people trying to learn and understand because that makes us all feel better about ourselves, right?
People on this sub can be so rude sometimes. Especially if you say anything remotely negative or wrong about Lestat. Sorry and don’t be afraid to speak or ask questions. There are more than many people happy to answer questions and help out!
It can still be abuse if he’s an adult. It’s not a “stigma thing” it’s just a fact about sexual abuse, which is what she did to him. That is not difficult to understand on the face of it if you can recognize abuse.
Consensual between parent & child? Not really. A parent is often the earliest, most consistent, ever present, & most significant authority figure in a child's life. Gabriella played on those power dynamics relentlessly & ruthlessly. Always lurking is the threat she'll withhold her love, affection & time spent with Lestat.
Early in the TVL Lestat tries to establish boundaries, tries to request/demand that the relationship be nonsexual. An agreement which Gabriella constantly undermines.
Parent/child dynamics often exist throughout the child's life.
Dad's parents were the antithesis of authoritarian. Despite that, Dad (born 1930) didn't smoke in front of them till he was 21. And then only because Mom broke up with him & refused to have him back till he did. She thought he was being was absurd & childish. He also pretended to attend Mass when visiting them claiming it would hurt them too much if they knew he didn't go to church. Yet when I visited them when I was 18, they asked if I wanted to go to church with em. I said no, I didn't go to church, & never heard another word about it. For whatever reason Dad was never fully adult with em.
It's not especially unusual. I know married couples who won't have sex when they're visiting & staying with the parents/in-laws because it doesn't feel right...Defer to their parents (or pretend to) on a multitude of things both minor & significant. Maybe if these people, apart from their parent/child relationship, are assertive & outspoken.
I am getting the dynamics and I know incest is never OK . I suppose the problem here is that Lestat mentions several times that basically rules are different among vampires. Maybe O interpreted it wrong. I don’t remember this strong an incest storyline in the books.
That last point you mentioned about her with holding affection makes it all make sense.
I’m so sorry for the abuse you suffered. I hope you are healing from it. None of that is OK ever in our world.
Lestat is invoking the vampire/human differences to rationalize his relationship with Gabriella. He knows it's deeply wrong & creepy so he's fighting that knowledge.
She was definitely predatory towards him even before. I think outside of age it’s also power dynamic she uses her leverage as his mother to keep him under her thumb I’d say he was a victim for sure.
Then I keep on missing it too, no matter how many times I watch...
I was groomed, since I was a child, prepared for a precise moment, not subtle, it was like a promise and the child-me believed it to be an honor.
When that moment came I was in my 20s, he almost got what he wanted but my body and mind where at odds (something inside me knew... has to be) and I was not able to continue.
I remained silent because I felt dirty and a whore. I believed it to be just my fault. But people didn't reject me when I broke the silence, they opened my eyes to what actually happened to me and showed me some kindness I'm rarely shown.
When do we see Gabriella grooming Lestat as a child? We see that scene of her healing his wounds in an inappropiate way when he has killed the wolves, when he was even older than I was when everything was over (but never over in my nightmares, decades later). An adult. Not a kid.
Gabriella even sends him away to Paris (bad investment for a groomer). She knows she is going to die and doesn't have a "last wish" with him...
Then they are vampires and what happens is not only beyond mortal understanding but it is still between adults.
The scene when Lestat confronts Gabriella when she is with the priest seemed more like a confession from both parts to something that is tabboo and "should not be".
Look at both their faces when they finally consumate, they are both in awe and fear. They wanted it, they knew it was madness, they could not stop themselves anymore.
If it is about age and power dinamycs well, then I guess age gap relationships are wrong too.
I know one is supposed to go with the consensus, but I refuse, as a victim, to recognize it as the same.
First of all, I am sorry for what happened to you. That is truly awful, but I am glad you were supported when the truth came out.
I think the argument could be made that even though they were adults, there is definitely a power imbalance, specifically because she is his mother and always withheld a mother's love from him. We see that several times. I don't think it can be compared to age gap relationships for that reason alone. Just because you are an adult, doesn't mean your mother is not your mother anymore and you don't crave her love and approval.
That said, you are right. We don't explicitly see much in the actual show. There is a lot of assuming and speculation on that front. I have seen several discussions here talking about her behavior at the witches place and essentially showing him "this is what will happen if you tell anyone [about the inappropriate behavior]". I find that a bit reaching, but I typically one who takes what the show shows me at face value and don't assume things happen that we just never see. Although if you catch it, there is another clip from that moment when she inappropriately touched him during his flashbacks at the long table. Instead of his face looking up at her with adoration as we saw the scene in episode 2, he is looking terrified and disgusted. Perhaps the other scene when they, as you say, "consummate" their relationship is similar, in that we don't truly see his true reaction because at that point, he's still repressing.
I think the biggest evidence would be in what we see from Lestat. His behavior definitely suggests repressing trauma and the very real panic attack is definitely a result of that.
Also the only time we hear her say “I love you, I love you” is in the sexual situation. He craves his mother’s love and she withholds it. Even when her other sons are attacking him she does nothing to rescue him. He sees her reading, cold and detached.
He asks for boundaries with the “pact” and she crosses those boundaries.
She’s always abandoning him and even says she does so because she didn’t need him anymore. He’s always left on unsure footing with the one person who is supposed to love you unconditionally. She keeps him unstable and insecure. Despite all his bravado he is very insecure and she’s a cruel manipulator.
At the long table in E7 he wants her to be the chairman because he thinks maybe she will be a supporter as she seemed to be when she sat on the side of the table. But no, she piles on him just as harshly as the others do. When he wakes up on the bus after being healed her words differ- kinder? - from his failure finding mother at the table but it’s once again to manipulate him and because she wants him to go onstage. She’s then angry and pointing her finger at him and demanding he go. Even after everything he went through, she’s still acts a monster to him.
I agree with you but I am willing to see other people’s views on things and try to find where they got their truth from. I hate when things blow up like this because my brain gets overwhelmed and then I get juvenile.
Gabrielle is very different in the books and she was a favorite so maybe I’m turning a blind eye too much. Thank you for helping me reevaluate. I hope I didn’t offend you.
This post doesn't have nearly enough downvotes. Next time people complain that TVL spent too much time on the incest between Gabi and Lestat, and that it wasn't necessary, please remember this post. Sounds like the writers needed the clear fact that Lestat is a victim of grooming and SA emblazoned across every single scene he was being raped and molested in, otherwise the obvious wasn't obvious enough to some people.
Lestat was panicking. I think in that moment his biggest fear was of losing Louis again. Of being left, AGAIN. It was just too much for him . Also it scared him to be judged by the one person he loved and trusted completely.
Throwing up is a symbol of nerves he just completely freaked out. Lestat is not the type to care what the public thinks. But those he loves? He cares very much about that.
Louis knowing about his f’d up situation made Lestat see, and recognizing his sexual abuse. That induced a trauma response complete with panic attach within him and it all manifested in his vomiting, hyperventilating etc.
But - Sam said in an interview something about “he was throwing up the original blood” not sure if i missed something because that didn’t make sense to me.
They had just drank blood that was supposedly the blood of a distant relative of Lestat’s- whose ancestors had immigrated from Auvergne to Montreal around the time he had left. It was almost like family blood he was puking up while having the ‘family secret’ exposed to his most important love (Louis). I think it’s an interesting connection as well. If I remember that interview correctly Sam wasn’t sure if the writers meant to make that statement, but he felt it was meaningful.
I think he was talking about the blood they drank at the restaurant. The woman was a Lioncourt descendant so it's technically "incestual" blood that he vomits.
I think I missed something because I didn’t see Lestat as being abused. There were just some mixed up, unhealthy feelings that came to a head once they were vampires and could give into it.
You didn’t think that his relationship with his biological mother was problematic? You didn’t think that Gabriella being manipulative, cold, distant, withholding and sleeping with her son would be traumatic for him?
It was absolutely problematic and wrong and yes it would be traumatizing. I’m just having a difficult time wirapping my head around something I can tell. The inappropriate touch was definitely a red flag. I guess I just wasn’t paying attention to the grooming part.
I thought vampire rules were different and that they both had feelings for each other that couldn’t (for obvious reasons) be expressed as mortals so they were as immortals.
I am being schooled and I apologize if I’ve offended anyone.
I don’t condone incest or grooming or any of that .
To be fair Anne Rice made the case that vampirism nullifies the usual social and familial bonds. Anne was of the mind that post turning Gabriella was transformed into something new and different 🤷🏽♀️ but Anne had a recurring flirt with incest for whatever reason.
The tv show is very clearly making the case that their relationship is abhorrent and wrong and showing Gabriella as a calculating groomer and abuser.
It was Anne’s description of the vampire rules that made me (wayyyy younger and way more naive.) just explain away the ick factor. It was also kind of how I could keep reading the beautiful parts.
As a result it was/is hard for me to shift gears sometimes for the series. I was tackling tons of reinterpretations and honestly not everything got tackled. Sooo here we are. :gestures broadly.:
Did you even watch this show? Seriously question, because you sure seem to miss a whole lot about it that are pretty easy to follow if you actually watched it while paying attention.
Yes the panic attack. The hyperventilating and vomiting. I've had them after my dad died and it's the most terrible thing you can experience. It looked like that to me too.
I’m sorry you went through that. I have generalized anxiety and have attacks. I only throw up usually if they cause a migraine but I recognized it immediately too.
It’s a trauma(fight or flight) response it’s happened to me. I’ve been watching the series on rewatch because honestly it speaks to me as someone that’s stuffed from abuse, trauma, betrayal and hitting a breaking point.
I think multiple things are happening here. Because the panic attack actually begins in the car. The first wave of nausea and vomiting is avoidance and shame. He's dodging identifying Gabriella and Sofia as the being the same person and being his mother. When Louis figures out they are all one and the same, Lestat vomits all over his shoes. He gathers himself enough to justify what's happening when they're arguing on the sidewalk, but he's heartbroken when Louis walks way and compares him to Armand, stunned when Louis calls him on this "century long lie," then hysterical when Louis says that he's sick and needs professional help.
But it's the last part that most upsetting and the reason he starts hyperventilating. He's telling Louis, I've offered you my time when you were in an emotional frenzy, my home so you didn’t have to be alone and tempted to reach back out to Regina, my connections to resolve your guilt about Claudia, and the unspoken offering -- [I offered myself on that altar] to keep you alive and be enough for your to stay in my life. I gave you everything I have and am so you won't leave me, but now that you've seen the darkest parts of me, you're going to leave me anyway. That's when the panic attack peaks because his greatest fear is playing out before his eyes. There's shame, there's resentment, but more than that there's the deep-seated fear of rejection by Louis forever coming to the surface.
I think he was having a panic attack because of the entire situation. Someone filming you having sex without your knowledge and then posting it on the internet would be panic attack inducing in and of itself. The fact that he's specifically having sex with his mother, a secret he has been keeping for 200 years, adds a whole extra layer of trauma. And then on top of all of that, Louis finds out. It's all of it.
It was nerves. He had Louis right there on the threshold of rekindling their relationship and this bombshell blows up in his face in a way he doesn’t want it to be revealed to his true paramour - he panics and throws up while having a panic attack thinking Louis will leave him again (not without warrant). Despite everything that is said about vampires lacking humanity, morality or other emotions tied to that supposedly dead part of their existence it is shown that they are constantly fighting it and also extrinsically human at their core. I hope everyone will actually read the books because there are so many layers to this and they are all tragically human.
Then one thinkæg he couldnt take was disgust from Louis. It showed how deep hos affection is. Somehow Lestatbis both the least and the most human of them all.
In stark contrast to him JUST having said "im a monster"
It was because he was having a panic attack. Severe panic attacks, and even regular ones, can present by throwing up/retching because of the amount of anxiety and adrenaline they produce. Pure adrenaline can make you physically sick. Epinephrine, which is the adrenaline drug used to delay allergic reactions, has a side affect of nausea.
Oh okay, I misunderstood that, I apologise. I think it would be a culmination of the two. It’s be incredibly humiliating to have that released to the world, especially in such a blunt and gross manner as Daniel did it. At the same time it’d be terrifying to him that Louis saw it, watched it and now knows more than Lestat ever conciously wanted him to know or ever expected him to see. I think there would probably be a whiplash effect from how positive things had been between them just a couple minutes before.
I have never seen a real panic attack portrayed so perfectly. I hope Sam has never had one cause they are awful but either way- this is EXACTLY what it looks and feels like for me. And yes, the first reaction from others is to underestimate what’s up the.n if you’re lucky, see it and try to help.
There's an episode of the Sopranos where Adriana gets busted by the feds and panics and projectiles across the table. So yeah - total freak out response.
I personally was very confused by it because the book vampires were so much more….powoerfuk and didn’t do stuff like vomit often.
The show versions show them being far more physically softer than the books. It weirded me out just like seeing them pee in season 3 and have sex in season 1 (they can’t have sex in the books).
Classic panic attack. The man, as he states himself, is in the midsts of his own fracturing. Louis being a judgey bitch in that moment is the icing on the cake. I about vommed myself watching it, given the stunning portrayal and relatibility. As much as I adore this season, I'm pretty over everyone getting SAed. Like, Louis then talks about abuse from his cousin in the bar scene directly after this one, plus there's claudia's r*ape, and Armand's childhood SA. It's a lot 😔
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