the first episode of the series (including iwtv) that feels impossible to *not* criticize. lestat’s childhood is brief but so cinematic, it feels like such a loss to breeze past it the way they did. this episode does do a lot to show how lestat’s childhood affected him though, so it’s quite interesting in that way. not to say the writing for this season isn’t clever, it most surely is, but i really do miss the numerous poetic lines from the previous seasons. for more of my review, read on at https://thephrasemaker.com/2026/06/16/the-vampire-lestat-episode-2-the-apples-rotten-to-the-core/