Review: The Vampire Lestat, "Montreal" | Season 3, Episode 6

One of life’s great pleasures is being genuinely surprised. I love it when TV makes me gasp, and oh boy, did the end of “Montreal” make me gasp. Even before the head-chopping surprise, the penultimate episode of The Vampire Lestat is an emotional roller coaster, brimming with memorable moments in a season that has already delivered plenty. 

Set over one night with zero flashbacks and very little voiceover, everything leads to a fiery showdown with Claudia’s ghost on this very special Halloween. Secrets spill before that showdown as Lestat prepares for his one-night-only performance of an album savaged by mortal critics. Old wounds reopen as Lestat and Louis navigate their shared and separate reasons for feeling shame and guilt. But nothing could prepare me for romantic giddiness being quickly replaced by jaw-on-the-floor shock at the swift decapitation, and that Armand and Daniel are the cloaked figures wielding those weapons. Now that is how you pull off a cliffhanger.

Painting characters into corners this close to the end of a season is common. Beheading the two leads, less so. Even though I knew this was the penultimate episode, there was still a brief moment when I sat in silent shock, briefly second-guessing whether this was actually the finale. Thankfully, my brain switched on, and I remembered a very valuable piece of information Fareed shared in the third episode of studies on two “Class B” vampires surviving for several hours after losing their heads. As Lestat keeps pointing out, he has Akasha's blood, and Louis has Lestat's blood, so this will give them more time to live without their bodies. (Not to mention that Lestat was made by the powerful Magnus, already imbuing him with useful skills.) That bit of logic means I can focus on the contours of Louis and Lestat spending an entire evening together—something they haven't done since Daniel’s book came out.