The Vampire Lestat Recap: Episode 4, “The Devil’s Road”

The Vampire Lestat continues with episode 4, “The Devil’s Road.” Lestat deals with being abandoned while Daniel learns something new about his maker and Louis goes down a dangerous path. Here is The Vampire Lestat recap of episode 4, “The Devil’s Road.”

The Vampire Lestat recaps and photo galleries:

The Vampire Lestat episode 1 recap and photo gallery
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The Vampire Lestat episode 3 recap and photo gallery

Lestat (Sam Reid) opens episode 4 in narration, talking about life on the road and how every rock star has a song about the road. The thing is, the songs aren’t necessarily reflective about the realities of the road. As he talks, we see his band and entourage engaging in “life on the bus” rituals. This mostly means sex, save for Fareed (Gopal Divan) reading a book.

Thanks to their performance in Toronto, The Vampire Lestat was trending. Footage of Lestat flying was going viral, but he was more focused on a muse, namely memories of Nicolas (Joseph Potter) and the disappearance of Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle). Most of the social media hits, he notes, were bots paid for by the Talamasca.

At that point, as the band and entourage enjoy their newfound fame, Lestat is in his “grand brat phase” as the number of concerts completed outweighed the number still ahead. The bus, he adds, never stops for gas. “We ran on bots and abandonment,” he concludes. 

At one point, the bus is flagged down by a police car and there’s a mad rush to dump the drugs before the officer and his dog board. Christine (Jeanine Serralles), prepares to meet him but Lestat jumps in, offering that the bowl of white powder is, in fact, cocaine. The officer wants them all to step outside, but Lestat gets into his head and has him take a set while he sweet talks the dog, Delilah. “Delilah was right. It is cocaine,” Lestat says. “We are a rock band. And we need it to do our job properly.” Lestat proceeds to dust the officer’s face with cocaine while telling him how he does a very hard job. They paint his face and take his body cam. After the officer leaves, Christine and TC (Sarah Swire) cheer and, Lestat says in narration that TC thought for the first time that she could be a vampire. 

And somewhere out there, a manifesto waited for them.

“We were on the devil’s road now,” he said, “hurtling towards end times.”

The Failures, Album 33, Side B

We see the diner, with Regina (Delainey Hayles) inside serving customers while Louis (Jacob Anderson) sits in a booth working on a computer. Lestat notes that Louis is “more feared than wanted now,” which gives him the ability to go where he pleases and work from anywhere he wants. So he chooses the diner where he can be with “her.” It gave him more satisfaction than killing Bruce. 

Regina offers Louis some advice on how to eat the burger, adding that the chef doesn’t like it when food gets sent back. Louis manages to take a bite, for her, but she only wanted him to do it because it proves the food is terrible. She’s seen him there three times in five nights. When he asks about her accent, it leads to more questions. When she mistakenly thinks he’s there to flirt with her, he holds up his phone with the lockscreen photo of he and Lemuel, she realizes he’s gay. “Gay, gay, gay,” he confirms with a smile. She teases him about being cheap and rich with his cashmere sweatsuit and home in the posh part of England.

On the bus, TC and Salamander (Ryan Kattner) tell Lestat about the song they’re writing while Larry (Noah Reid) is on the phone. Lestat offers some advice about the song to TC before getting up. As he passes Christine she reveals she’s on the phone with an industry bigwig, but Lestat has no idea who it is. 

Once upstairs, Daniel (Eric Bogosian) is ready to continue the interview and the documentary crew is ready to record. He asks about Sofia, but Lestat hasn’t seen her. Daniel says he was going to make a move but Jarda got there first, and he’s still upset about the car being destroyed. Daniel asks why Lestat doesn’t just use telepathy but Lestat, who is in the middle of getting an IV from Fareed, plays it off while revealing that Sofia is getting waxed in Bar Harbor but she’ll meet them in Albany. 

Daniel wants to talk about Lestat’s mother. Nicolas (Joseph Potter) appears behind Daniel and reminds Lestat that Gabriella was a great love, but not his first love. 

Lestat makes up a story about Gabriella reacting poorly to her conversion, but as we return to the past we see an animated Gabriella talking excitedly about adopting new lives. They can be whomever they want in this world. “We can be whoever we want,” she says. 

He crafts a story about how his mother was “vibrant” as a mortal but completely helpless as a vampire. Back in the present, Nicolas tells Lestat he’s a “mama’s boy.” Lestat asks Fareed about his mother, who died, and then he asks Daniel about when he was made into a vampire. It unsettles Daniel. 

Lestat walks downstairs, where Alex (Seamus Patterson) has rejoined the band. Everyone is glad to see him. “You were missed,” Lestat says, his tone genuine. 

The Failures, Album 37, Side A

Daniel is at a bowling alley and he’s doing pretty well. Suddenly, everyone disappears and the sounds get muffled. He ignores Armand (Assad Zaman) when he greets him. When he finally does acknowledge him, he tells him to go far, far away and fuck off. Armand, nonplussed, reads from his letter and Daniel realizes that his maker is “doing the Steps.”

Armand is ready to speak, but Daniel interrupts and gives his maker his interpretation of the apology he wants to hear. Armand doesn’t try to stop him, instead allowing Daniel to blame everything that’s happened in his life on what happened in San Francisco half a century ago. Daniel storms off, leaving Armand speechless.

Louis is at the diner watching footage of Lestat flying on stage. Regina has been doing some research on Thomas Pitt and he’s one of the richest men in the world. “Am I?” Louis asks with a grin. When he asks about her situation, she reveals she’s living in a crumbling apartment with financial insecurity holding her back, and yet he’s there “watching [her] like [she’s] Netflix.”

When Louis tries to change the subject, asking about the mice problem, Regina asks what’s wrong. She can tell he’s dealing with something, too. She guesses that maybe she reminds him of his sister or something, but he says she’ll never guess the truth of it. As he pays the tab, he leaves a massive tip, his way of trying to help her out. 

Regina doesn’t back down on her quest to understand what’s bothering Louis. Eventually he cracks and pulls up the website with the book, asking if she’s familiar with it. She’s seen it, she thinks. He tells her it’s real, and that there’s a girl in it. Regina asks what happened to her. Louis is quiet for many moments, then he signs the receipt and hurries out.

In the past, Lestat and Gabriella are in a tavern and he asks how many hearts she hears in the building. He corrects her when she counts wrong; when he notes the couple in the basement she miles and says they’re “in flagrante delicto,” which makes him smile before looking away quickly. He asks if she was ever there as a girl, btu she only passed through in her carriage, draped in shrouds. A villager approaches and says she looks like a member of the Vecce family that they all used to watch. She stood out because of her blond hair. Gabriella asks him where this woman is now, and the villager gets nervous and says she’s likely with God or in “undeserving” France. 

“I’m not a Vecce anymore,” she tells Lestat. “Not a marquise, not a wife, not a mother, not a woman.” She tells her son she’s a fever that comes overnight and kills by morning. There’s a man watching them from a corner. 

Back in the present, the band is at a party and a record producer is there. Daniel presses Lestat about his mother and Lestat guesses that Daniel’s still upset about the interview. He tells Daniel that what he shared was a gift between two vampires. He asks if Daniel is missing the “psychodrama” of Dubai and asks if he should allow Daniel to think he’s two steps ahead of him, like Armand did. This gives Daniel pause. 

Meanwhile, Larry asks Alex about his “sponsor” from his group. Alex isn’t using that word, but he talks to him every other night and says “he’s like a god.” Alex credits his sponsor for helping him let go of so much. “This guy erased it all.” He doesn’t tell Larry his sponsor’s name. 

Daniel gets up after Lestat presses him about Armand. The record producer tells Lestat that he’d never heard of the band before a few days ago when the videos went viral. Lestat half-listens, dialing Sofia’s number but she doesn’t answer. All Lestat can do is think of Sofia. 

He leaves her a frustrated message as he thinks back to walking in on his mother having sex with the man from the village they’d spotted in the tavern. She quickly kills the man as she finishes with him. Lestat claims to be annoyed by the noise, but she isn’t convinced that it’s just annoyance. He tells her that when she tended his wounds, “we were mother and son.” She whispers that she loves him. He climbs into bed with her. 

The Failures, Album 40, Side B

Lestat wakes up to find Armand in the bus. He says Armand did more damage than the Queen could ever do. 

Armand gives Lestat the same story about “enduring intense conversation” with himself. He has a letter for Lestat. Armand says Lestat’s dynamic personality drew him in when he should have been more structured with him. 

Lestat turns on his shower playlist and starts to strip, which also serves to distract Armand. “I artlessly assumed companionship,” Armand continues, but he concludes that this was “wish-fulfilling delusion rooted in childhood conflict.” Lestat, now naked, showers in blood and corrects Armand as he talks about his role in the theater production that led to Claudia’s death. Armand knows that Lestat could have told Louis what really happened in Paris, to which Lestat replies that this was intentional because he knew it would torture Armand by having to walk on eggshells with Louis, always terrified of being exposed. 

Lestat tells him that he’s having fun now, but seeing Armand makes him realize that the good times might be over because Armand is a “fuck cloud.” Armand leaves the letter there, but before he leaves he wants to tell Lestat something. Lestat already knows — he’s putting himself at great risk and the other vampires are upset. Lestat assures him that he’s getting bored and with only five shows left he might move on to something new anyway. 

At the diner, Regina hurries in. She’s late and her boss is upset. Louis is waiting for her. She’s read the book and she knows that she looks like Claudia. “This is a lot,” she says. Louis has to leave soon because it’s almost morning, but he just wanted to know she was ok. He offers her some money for the service, but she ushers him outside and asks what the money is for. 

Louis explains that he looked her up. Found her Only Fans and rap sheet from various petty crimes all over Europe. “I can help you,” he tells her. He can clean her record and pay off her debts. Regina thinks he wants her to play his dead daughter.

Lestat asks his audience if there are any readers there. He says they’re the “tribute band” spawned by the book. He tells the crowd there’s a very special guest in the audience: Armand. Alex sees Armand and realizes that his sponsor lied to him. Lestat says he and Armand are friends, and that Armand did something very important for him once. 

People in the crowd who are familiar with the vampire laws yell that “Armand told the truth” and one man’s voice yells out that no vampire should ever reveal his true nature and let the mortal live. Armand watches Lestat from the crowd. Then he kicks off a song written especially for him — “Big Boss.” Lestat jumps down into the crowd as Daniel looks at his maker with sympathy in his expression. 

Armand leaves the concert and Daniel follows him. As he walks, Armand sends people moving away from him with a casual wave of his hand. Soon the street goes quiet and everyone disappears. Daniel tells him to stop it, but Armand says he has no control of it. It happens to him, too. Daniel wants him to get out of his head, but Armand reminds him that he’s his maker and he can’t get into his head anymore. It’s their vampire bond, he thinks. “That’s fucked,” Daniel says. 

Daniel wants to know why Armand is there. Armand says he’s courting danger being with Lestat. The Great Conversion is happening and Lestat is going to be the leader and that puts Daniel in danger. Daniel asks about Dubai and whether Armand was pretending not to know what Daniel was up to. Armand admits that he did what he did in Dubai for love, and it wasn’t for Louis. Daniel is stunned. 

Nicolas is writing messages in blood with his stumpy hand while Lestat tries to call Gabriella. He asks if he’s third in line after Louis and Gabriella. He wonders if he beats Antoinette. Lestat ignores him and leaves Gabriella a message, letting her hear the fans outside still calling for him after leaving the stage 12 minutes earlier. 

Outside the dressing room, Lestat vapes as he walks out to greet the fans. He poses for a picture as the man who asked for his autograph in Detroit calls out to him. He has a gun and he shoots at Lestat, hitting Christine as well. Everyone screams as the shooter says that vampires are real and everyone needs to wake up. 

On the bus, Fareed tends to Christine, who is screaming. Lestat is covered in blood and he’s staring at the hole in his hand, thinking about his mother. They shared a night together on the beach looking at a ship docked nearby. Gabriella wants to know where they’ll be in 50, 100 years. She talks of “an evil that answers goodness.” She wants to go after everyone, ruling as devils. Lestat cuts himself and draws a line of blood over her finger. They hear shouting coming from the ship. “Dinner.”

Louis parks outside the diner and watches Regina, who waves him away. He gets out and goes inside instead. “Can’t stay away?” she asks. She tells him to order chicken parm. He apologizes for their last meeting. She wants money. Half a million, and she’ll play the role. “What now, Daddy Lou?” she asks. 

The shooter’s manifesto gets published online. Federal agencies are being asked to investigate the validity of the claim that vampires exist. 

The bus, is empty now. Lestat sings to himself, thinking about waking up on the beach, alone. He finds Gabriella’s hair and jewelry in her grave. She’s gone. 

Suddenly, the bus stops and the driver gets out. Lestat watches as Gabriella returns. “You called, I came.” Lestat says he’s heading home to Montreal, where he’ll take up “crafting or coding or whatever will sail [him] through the coming robot apocalypse.”

Gabriella asks how Armand reacted to the diss track. When Lestat says he is done, she wants to know about his fans. He’s furious that she abandoned him for nine days. “Grow up!” she yells. She sits down and says she was “with the voices.” 

As Lestat tunes in, he can hear the other vampires talking about him. “He was teaching us how to be ourselves, how to be free.” 

She knows he can hear them. His music was reaching them. “Your music speaks to them,” she tells him. “Eight wolves.” 

In narration, Lestat calls it a “poignant tableau” of a “conspiring mother” trying to offer consolation to her distraught son. He could have ended it there, but she convinces him to keep going. As the camera pans back, we see Nicolas and Young Lestat and Louis and Claudia all sitting on the bus with them. 

Then, we see Lestat in a recording studio with the band. Gabriella smiles as she watches her son singing. 

The Vampire Lestat airs Sundays at 9pm ET/PT on AMC, with episodes available to stream the same day on AMC+.