Don't Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape

This episode was gripping and was so suburbly written and acted, I had to watch it twice just to pick up on all the twists and turns it introduced.

Every series has a turning point where it is so gripping and captivating and the acting so good that reaches cult status and for me this episode has elevated the show to exactly that.

If Jacob Anderson doesn't win an award for his tormented and varied portrayal of Louis de Pointe du Lac this season then there is no justce in the world.

I also was really impressed with Luke Brandon Field who played the younger version of Daniel Molloy. He got the characteristics spot on and the reveal at the end of the episode has me hanging for next week to see where this goes. To say the stakes have been substantially upped would be understatement.

This episode encompasses everything that makes amc's interview with the vampire so great. The pacing, the dialogue, the acting, everything is deliciously executed and makes for a truly spectacular viewing experience. IWTV has always managed to balance entertainment for the unbaptized viewer and for the seasoned book reader and this episode is no exception. The tagline of the season is "memory is the monster" and this episode really delivered on that theme. Watching Daniel and Louis try to piece together what happened in San Francisco while trying to do the same as a viewer is nothing short of thrilling and engaging. I loved every minute of it.

As much as I loved Season 1 of IWTV, the second season has raised every aspect of the show by several notches: acting, production design and above all: writing and direction.

It's such a pleasure to see such a fully realised world executed so well, and with real adult writing, rather than the perennial teen-age soap-opera that inflicts so much horror-themed TV.

The two Daniels must have worked closely to realise the synchrony of event and memory we see here. If there was one episode to re-watch this season (so far) then this would be it. I am only sad that Anne Rice did not live to see this masterful re-interpretation of her work.

Knowing this week was a slow down episode and kind of a stand alone I presumed it would be a bit slower, boy was I wrong !!

As Armad heads out for lunch, Daniel wants to dive deeper into San Francisco and what happened in his first meetings with Louis way back. They both try to uncover lost memories and it paints a frightening picture.

The episode is very good, it confirms suspicions I have been having for a while. The earlier story was definitely tampered with. I don't want to say too much about the episode as one thing leads to another but all I'll say is that there is something much darker beneath the surface, 9/10.

An astonishing piece of television, probably beating the very first episode as an example of flawless conceptual design, writing, characterisation and performance.

I was always a fan of the book by Anne Rice, and was very dubious about this show when it was in development, but I don't think I've ever seen a greater example of excellent source material being transformed into something far greater by show-makers who - unlike the majority of Hollywood-style content makers - really, truly know what they are doing and how to do it perfectly.

Saying anything else would be simply padding, but padding is what IMDB wants, so a few more words were apparently necessary. These were those.