The Vampire Lestat Recap: Episode 3, “Toronto”

The Vampire Lestat continues with episode 3, “Toronto.” Our journey through Lestat’s damaged past makes a stop in Paris while Louis gets revenge and makes a new friend. Here is The Vampire Lestat recap of episode 3, “Toronto.”

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The Failures, Album 22, Side A

Lestat (Sam Reid) opens his narration with a snarky opinion of the Toronto skyline as a bride and groom take pictures on their honeymoon. Lestat appears out of the darkness, a stranger who offers to take pictures of the couple (while heeding the bride’s warning that the tower shouldn’t come out of her husband’s head). As he’s snapping photos, Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle) appears behind the couple, who become that evening’s meal ticket. 

As they drive away, Gabriella is draining the bride while the dead groom is in the passenger seat. Lestat’s phone rings. It’s Christine (Jeanine Serralles) demanding to know where Lestat is. (“Where are any of us, really?” he drawls in his satiated post-draining stupor) Daniel (Eric Bogosian) gets on the phone and tells him that he has 40 people waiting for him to do this interview. And in his opinion, Lestat owes him after he saved Lestat’s life from the killer coven. (“Perhaps,” says Fareed (Gopal Divan), who stands nearby)

Daniel hangs up the phone and asks Christine what she knows about Sophia. Christine has no love for Sophia, but Daniel’s already switching gears to ask Fareed what he means. Fareed says that studies have been conducted and vampires can live after decapitation. As he offers Daniel an explanation of the science, Daniel notices something off about Jarda (Reid) and announces that “Czech-Stat has the herps.”

In voiceover, Lestat talks of Daniel’s mortal birth and vampiric rebirth (July 18, 2022) while Daniel goes to the bathroom. Lestat has regrets about Daniel after giving the younger vampire cause to think him shallow. 

Lestat and Gabriella arrive with two dead bodies in the car. Lestat hands off some treats to Christine and asks Jarda what’s on his lip. “Ahoj,” Jarda greets Gabriella, who seems smitten with him. 

Inside, Lestat takes his seat in the interview chair as Daniel explains how the interview will work. This will look familiar to anyone who has seen the early teaser for the show. Gabriella watches her son, but she’s looking at Jarda too. Daniel begins the interview, asking about Lestat’s stutter. As per usual, Lestat ignores him and introduces himself, noting that he’s immortal — more or less. Daniel laughs, which seems to catch Lestat off guard. 

We see the bodies in the car being cleaned up while Daniel asks Lestat about the songs being part of his story. He wants to dig into the songs, starting with “Long Face.” Daniel wants to know about the lyrics, which begin with “ooh ooh ooh, wah ah.” Lestat gives him a straightforward answer about the song being an agreement with the audience, but Daniel persists even though Gabriella is sitting nearby laughing. Lestat silences her with a glance. It’s about being a performative vampire, Lestat notes, giving Daniel answers about the meanings behind “Black Licorice” even though Daniel points out that the band believes the whole song is about “sucking dick.”

When Daniel returns to the stuttering question, Lestat calls for Christine and tells her that Daniel is “entrapping” him with the stuttering question. He doesn’t stop asking questions, prompting Lestat to tell him that he’s been on tour for weeks and no one cares about who he was before. For Lestat, this is a pursuit of expression. When Daniel persists, Lestat starts talking about how embarrassing his stutter is. He becomes agitated as Gabriella looks on until he finally covers his face and breaks down in tears…only to start laughing at his own private joke. 

Louis (Jacob Anderson), in the meantime, is in Detroit with a car full of weapons and photos of the vampires he intends to kill. He approaches the coven house and chops off the guard’s head. He makes some noise drive out the vampires on the first floor while flying up to the second floor window to start his hunt for Killer. Louis heads to the basement and frees the mortals being held captive. 

Daniel can’t comprehend Lestat “the stuttering Wolfkiller.” Lestat says his entire personality is based on his stutter. Gabriella tells Daniel telepathically that Lestat is bored by his questions and he should instead ask about the Great Conversion. Instead, Daniel asks about what happened when Lestat was nine. Lestat tells the story of being taken to see witches being burned at the stake. He looks at his mother while recounting the story, but she’s looking at Jarda. Daniel can’t believe Lestat was watching something like that at such a young age. 

When Daniel asks about what he was doing at 29, Lestat reveals that he heard music. 

We see Nicolas De Lenfent (Joseph Potter) playing violin in the streets of Paris as Lestat describes the “God machine” being played “by an angel.” Daniel asks about Nicky, whom Lestat sings about in the song “Why Do I Have to Feel.” Lestat calls him his first love. 

When they see each other, Lestat says his new last name is “de Valois.” Nicky teases him about trying to fit in with a fur lined cloak. Later, they sit in a tavern. Nicky sees his father’s work in the cloak, revealing that he hasn’t lived at the address his father gave Lestat for years. Lestat stutters as he tries to say the address out loud and Nicky ignores it while Lestat looks uncomfortable but also relieved that his friend didn’t make a big deal out of it. Nicky admits his father’s allowance is barely enough to cover his music lessons and rent. Outside, a carriage full of prisoners rolls by. Nicky asks if his father sent a message. Lestat makes a joke at first, then he admits Nicky’s father wanted him to teach his son to be a man. That innuendo-filled message leads them to fall into bed together. 

Lestat watches his mother interacting with Jarda while recounting how he worked to overcome his stutter. Daniel wants him to watch the song about Nicky, to which Lestat says it was his first love, not necessarily a great love. But he does love the song. Daniel wants to know why he buried himself for over a century for a “not-great love” and only came to New Orleans with a music box to remind him of that not-great love. Lestat says he carried the box to remind himself of what he was capable of. 

Daniel is about to ask a question but they hear Gabriella and Jarda having loud sex in the bathroom. Once it’s over, Daniel asks about the song he performs about his “abuser.” Daniel wants to know if Magnus (Damien Atkins) asked his permission to make him into a vampire. He gives Lestat a rundown of how Louis described the scene. Lestat was starved for a week with a room full of bodies that looked like him. Lestat says he wasn’t in Dubai to correct Louis’ mistaken recollection of the events that led to his transformation. 

Next we hear Lestat singing “Your Biggest Fan” while we see how Magnus stalked him at the theater and at the apartment he shared with Nicky. We actually see Magnus singing the words of the song to Lestat as he steals Lestat away from his bed.

Back in the present, Gabriella walks out of the bathroom as Daniel asks about Magnus killing himself right after making Lestat into a vampire. Gabriella asks Daniel if he’s still boring Lestat with his questions and Jarda emerges from the bathroom. Lestat tries to turn the tables on Daniel by asking if he’s asking about Magnus because of his own issues with Armand. Daniel reminds Lestat that Armand kidnapped Nicky and fed him to the coven. 

Nicky wakes up as Lestat tends to him. He knows Lestat is lying about what happened because he remembers when he’d been dragged from their bed. When Gabriella walks in, it makes Nicky even more upset. 

Daniel jumps on the mention of Lestat’s mother. Lestat is forced to admit that Gabriella was his first fledgling, but he chooses to tell Daniel that she died. Daniel looks at Gabriella and asks about the Great Conversion. Lestat thinks it’s “fucking stupid.”

Nicky wants to know about the ragged man calling Lestat “Wolfkiller.” He wants to know Lestat in this new form. When Gabriella starts speaking Nicky’s thoughts before he speaks them, he tells Lestat that he wants him to love him enough to given him the same gift he gave his mother. When Lestat says nothing, Nicky walks away while Gabriella says he can’t make Nicky into a vampire. Lestat doesn’t want to leave him after driving him mad. Nicky is playing his violin as Lestat closes the door, intent on making him into a vampire. 

At the theater, Lestat and Armand (Assad Zaman) sit in a box and critique Nicky’s playing. Armand invites Lestat to return to the role he played, but the last thing Lestat wants is to be under Armand’s control. Gabriella walks into the box and presses Armand about other vampires around Europe, and about Armand’s maker, Marius. Armand says his maker is dead. As Nicky’s playing gets out of control, Lestat tells Armand to manage him while Armand tells Lestat to be his maker and “make him.” Eventually, Nicky stops playing and tells the crowd that this is the Theatre des Vampires, which leads Lestat to say Nicky was always dramatic. Gabriella knows better, because Nicky was erratic as a mortal. But Armand believes Lestat and says he loves him. “Christ,” Lestat mutters. “There’s not room enough in this box for your desperation.”

Later, Nicky is searching for the letter opener even though Lestat says they don’t get any mail. They want him to take some time away from the theater. As Nicky gets more agitated, he grabs an ax and cuts his hand off. Lestat weeps as Nicky tosses his hand into the fire. Gabriella laughs. “Forgive me,” Nicky weeps against Lestat’s chest. 

Lestat reveals that Gabriella went to her coffin while Lestat and Armand were left with Nicky. Lestat tells Nicky how much he loves him, from the very first moments he saw him in Paris. Daniel is rapt as Lestat says the words were true and not just a kindness. Lestat thinks back to happy memories of Nicky as he thinks about the glow of the fireplace on Nicky’s face. He refused to look at Nicky’s wounds. Lestat couldn’t kill Nicky, but he watched. Blood tears stream down his face as he says Armand pushed Nicky into the fire and made sure he stayed there. Nicky was amused by the fire and he kept making a noise as he burned, “as though he knew that in death it was a nothingness.”

Lestat falls apart as Daniel watches closely, excited. Lestat gets up, frustrated, and tells Daniel they booked an 8000-seat theater but only sold 2500 seats. He thought they’d be further along this deep into the tour but maybe it’s his ego that’s in the way. He storms out and Gabriella follows so Lestat asks how things went with “Czech Me.” He suggests Gabriella leave for Prague instead of joining him on the car ride. 

Daniel is thrilled at their interview. When he goes to watch the footage, he sees that Lestat is staring at the camera, saying nothing. Daniel realizes that Lestat sat there the whole time. The techs say that the two of them sat there in silence for 30 minutes. In narration, Lestat acknowledges that this is only going to make Daniel hate him even more. “Serving cunt has its consequences.” Lestat drives down the road and in the distance the Toronto needle collapses into a pile of rubble. 

Baby Jenks (Ella Ballentine) asks Killer aka Bruce (Damon Daunno) if he’s going to carry her across the threshold. She asks if he’s going to “make her a mama tonight” and he says it doesn’t work like that anymore. When he walks in, the house is quiet. They start to notice the damage. Louis congratulates them and hopes they don’t mind if he joins them on their honeymoon. 

When Killer tries to strike him, Louis lashes out and rips several vertebrae from his back so that he can’t control anything. Louis tosses him into a chair and sends Baby Jenks flying into the next room. Louis sees “Armand told the truth” written across the wall and asks what it means. Killer asks if this is about the Lestat thing, saying that the Gen Z fledglings want to go back to living in sewers. Louis calls Killer “Bruce” and proceeds to pull out the pages from Claudia’s diary. They have a friend in common. 

As he drives, Magnus appears in the car. Magnus says Lestat left out a few details during his interview. Specifically, he didn’t mention how Magnus kidnapped him and how terrified Lestat was, reciting scripture to keep Magnus away. 

Louis reads the pages to Killer, who thinks it’s all hilarious. He’s read the book so he taunts “Daddy Lou,” which only makes Louis angrier. 

Magnus presses Lestat about when he’s going to make an album. Lestat says they’ll do it when they are ready, jerking the steering wheel violently to shake away the apparition in the car. Lestat sees the bodies of his blond lookalikes in the back. 

Louis reads the passage about Bruce raping her as we see Magnus overpowering Lestat against his will. “I just said what he wanted to hear,” Louis reads as Magnus tells Lestat to “ask for it.”

As we see Lestat becoming a vampire in the most violent way possible, Lestat screams. Louis reads that Claudia thought she was the “thing lurking in the shadows.” He ignites the diary page and drops it on Bruce’s head. He screams as he burns.

Lestat gets out of the overturned car, which explodes as he departs. In narration, he says he can’t deny he was in the middle of some kind of psychosis. But the bigger thing about the tour was the fact that he loved the music so much. “Music in its purest expression would make me worse and then make me better.”

Lestat goes on stage and starts singing. He sees Magnus and Nicky staring back at him from the audience. Gabriella smiles at him from the crowd. 

Louis is driving through the night. 

Daniel chases a victim. 

Baby Jenks finds Killer’s ring in the ashes. 

Nicky laughs and laughs from the audience. 

Lemuel (Moses Sumney) calls and asks Louis if he’s safe. Louis says he’ll be home soon. 

Gabriella watches Lestat with a smile before turning to leave. 

Louis goes to the diner and watches as the waitress, Regina (Delainey Hayles), pours him some coffee. 

Lestat plays his guitar and rises into the air as the crowd goes wild. “Perfection,” he purrs.

Alex (Seamus Patterson) recounts the tale of the band blowing up, warning the Ohio rehab group that they’ll hear about the band soon enough. All he wants to do is drink and feel sorry for himself. The next person to share is none other than Armand. “My name is Arun,” he says, “And I am an addict.”

The Vampire Lestat airs Sundays at 9pm ET/PT on AMC and streams the same day on AMC+. Check out my episode guide with information about upcoming episodes, recaps and the release schedule.

The Vampire Lestat airs Sundays at 9pm ET/PT on AMC and streams the same day on AMC+. Check out my episode guide with information about upcoming episodes, recaps and the release schedule.