Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for Interview with the Vampire Season 2 Episode 1.

The Big Picture

• In the Interview with the Vampire Season 2 premiere, Claudia and Louis embark on a European journey during WWII, encountering challenges and hunting together.
• Louis struggles to recall memories accurately in the present-day Dubai interview, and Armand joins the conversation.
• The season premiere sets the stage for a larger story as Louis and Claudia arrive in Paris amid looming threats.

It's been over a year since we last checked in on the night-inhabiting creatures of AMC's hit adaptation Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, which has, thus far, brought only the first part of the late author's novel to life on the small screen — but this week's premiere makes it feel like we've never left. The first episode of Season 2, "What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned," written by Hannah Moscovitch and directed by Craig Zisk, serves as more of a standalone installment. The narrative bridge here is designed to bring us up to speed on what Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) has been up to in both the past and present, while also setting up the bulk of where the season will likely take place once he and Claudia (Delainey Hayles, taking over for Bailey Bass for Season 2) make their way to Paris.

Although the premiere skips over about four or five years devoted to their European trek, the present-day interview in Dubai resumes almost without a hitch — except for the fact that the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman) is now a new participant in the recorded conversation, and has his own plans for dealing with journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) and his increasingly probing questions. While "What Can the Damned Really Say to the Damned" is a steady opener that allows us to get our bearings back with the show again, there's still an ominous mood hanging over everything. Or maybe that's just Lestat's (Sam Reid) ghost popping up when we least expect it to.

Claudia and Louis Are on a European Tour in 'Interview with the Vampire' Season 2, Episode 1

You may not be surprised to learn that Claudia's efforts to track down any Old World vampires are met with a mixed bag of results, especially since she and Louis are trekking across Europe in the midst of World War II. Thanks to a quick ear for languages, Claudia can usually talk them both out of being brought in for any interrogation — but sometimes, no amount of spin can convince these soldiers that there's nothing suspicious about two Black people traveling on foot. That's usually the moment when Claudia makes quick work of any patrols, leaving twisted, broken bodies in their wake. Stumbling upon the aftermath of a battle is another opportunity to both feed on the wounded and rifle through the pockets of corpses for any valuables, but this is far from an ideal situation for either of these vampires to be in.

For one, Claudia hasn't really been speaking to Louis for some time now; he's met with silence even when he tries to engage her in conversation directly, making up her answers himself on many occasions. There's also the matter of Lestat's recurring apparition, courtesy of Louis' subconscious, as his sire frequently returns to him in a manner only Louis can see, still wearing the clothes he had on the night Louis and Claudia killed him. But we know, as does Louis, deep down, that there's the smallest chance Lestat is not truly dead — that he had just enough blood left in him to survive, and that it may only be a matter of time before he's regained the strength he needs to come after Louis once and for all. This ghost version of Lestat is more than capable of playing into Louis' deepest fears, uttering the words that reverberate within his thoughts. He might only be a hallucination, but he has no problem exposing what Louis has been dreading the most since he and Claudia fled New Orleans: that Lestat will seek his revenge, but wait until Louis is at his happiest to exact it.

In the meantime, Claudia and Louis have made their way to Romania, where Claudia's vampy-senses are immediately tingling at the sight of Russian soldiers wearing strands of garlic bulbs, as well as shooting corpses that already appear to be dead. Louis remains more skeptical by comparison, but the two of them are initially given a warm welcome by a local woman named Emilia, as well as her lover, Morgan Ward (Blake Ritson), a British war correspondent for the Daily Herald who's desperate to hear any English, even from Americans. While Claudia is initially dismissed to go play with the village children, a suggestion she complies with after glaring daggers in Louis' direction, she's ultimately dared by the group to venture out into the woods. There, her suspicions are instantly proven right when she encounters a mindless, near-feral creature feeding on a soldier — who doesn't initially respond to her verbal efforts to get his attention. When Claudia calls out again telepathically, the revenant rushes her with supernatural speed, slamming her into a tree and dislocating her shoulder before dragging another soldier deeper into the woods and out of sight.

The timing of Claudia's return couldn't be better; after several rounds of drinking, Morgan has started to sniff out too many inconsistencies in Louis' pretend backstory for the two of them, and accuses Louis of either being a deserted soldier or a Bolshevik sympathizer. Why else would he and Claudia be all the way out here in Romania, supposedly looking for a woman in a photograph printed on paper that's much too old to be in use? Louis brushes off the interrogation as smoothly as he can, taking his leave with Claudia — who, despite her injury, is ecstatic about her discovery, chattering excitedly about the vampire she's found as Louis pops her shoulder back into joint. But Louis' dismissal of Claudia's experience is enough to put a damper on the situation, and in true little sister form, she all but declares every vampire she's met to date has been "the worst" — so can she be blamed for seeking out any others who might be better?

As the two attempt to bed down before daybreak, they're roused by the sound of shouting: Emilia, who had gone out to check animal traps set in the woods, has been attacked, and there's a very suspicious bite on her neck. The Red Army soldiers are adamant that she be shot — but one local insists that Emilia needs to be decapitated. Claudia, vindicated by the evidence that proves she wasn't making up what she saw, leaves the brewing riot in favor of the woods. In the present, Louis declares the event to be nothing more than "human affairs," the past version turning his back to follow even as Morgan begs and pleads with him to "do something."

Unsurprisingly, the revenant who first attacked Claudia is easy to lure out of hiding with a bit of bleeding soldier bait, but as Louis lays eyes on the feral for the first time, he proclaims it to be more of a "catfish with fangs" than a vampire. What proves more unexpected is the revenant's sire, who we later discover is named Daciana. An older woman with matted gray hair and wearing a dress centuries out of fashion, she initially tackles Louis to the ground, beating and clawing at him — but all the fight leaves the elder vampire when Claudia plucks out her child's eyes. Even as Daciana cradles the sooty, mindless creature to her bosom, she still reaches for a rock on the ground nearby to put the revenant out of its misery. "How would he hunt?" she sobs, before wandering off slowly enough that the duo can easily follow behind.

The answers that are soon uncovered smash even more of Claudia's hope in the process. Daciana has been trying and failing to sire more vampires, but with limited success; Louis suspects this has to do with the fact that everyone's blood has been tainted by the despair that war has wrought, but beyond Daciana herself, there are no other vampires left in Romania apart from the one she was just forced to kill. For a moment, Claudia extends an olive branch to the Old World vampire — an invitation to join her and Louis in America, where she can have a fresh start. But Daciana, instead, chooses to leave Claudia with some rather despairing parting words after that initial glimmer of hope — "We own nothing" — before throwing herself into the fire, while Louis and Claudia can only helplessly look on.

Louis and Daniel Are Joined by a Third in the 'Interview with the Vampire' Season 2 Premiere

Louis' recounting of the past, of course, is happening from the present-day portion of Interview with the Vampire — 2022 Dubai, which now has an added, complicated third wheel of sorts in the form of the ancient vampire Armand. Daniel, to his credit, still seems unflappable in the wake of that bombshell reveal, dryly referring to the vampires' towering manservant (Bally Gill) as "Real Rashid" while periodically reminding Armand that his little asides are supposed to be off the record. In the wake of Season 1's revelation that his memory isn't always the most accurate, Louis is increasingly trapped between wanting to push himself into remembering the truth while doubling back and correcting himself on the little details. Knowing whether Claudia was present for a single conversation that happened over 70 years ago might seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but Louis is so insistent on getting the story right that it raises alarm bells for both Daniel and Armand in the process.

Naturally, Armand decides that this means he needs to have an even more involved presence in the interview moving forward, especially after Louis firmly rejects the idea of sending Daniel home. The next day, the two vampires are sitting as a united front, physically entwined on the couch in front of the interviewer — though it speaks to Daniel's strengths that he barely lets the shift faze him, even cutting Armand off when he tries to become a part of the story too early. Right now, this is still Louis' interview to give up until the moment when he and Armand lay eyes on each other for the first time, which seems as though it'll happen in the coming weeks, if not by next episode.

Despite their blatant PDA, it's hard not to reflect on the conversation the two longtime lovers had the previous day at bedtime, in which Armand ominously references "the boy we met in San Francisco," as well as finding a way to bring him back to the surface. We know this isn't the first time Daniel's attempted to get a record of Louis' story, and that Armand was present then too, but the precise details are still murky, and one can't help but wonder what Armand's real plan is — or whether unearthing the past interview is a move that will actually backfire on everyone. Similarly intriguing is the fact that Armand was the one responsible for removing pages from Claudia's diaries, many of which apparently mention him by name, and while he agrees to reassemble them for Louis to read and refresh his memory on, it's a promise that seems to make the older vampire rather uneasy.

'Interview with the Vampire's Season 2 Premiere Sets Up a Bigger Story

After the events in Romania, Claudia is notably depressed, so Louis makes a last-ditch effort to lift her spirits with some "hard words" as well as some "soft words." Through tough love first, he doesn't downplay the fact that it's hard out here being a vampire, and that their lives have been, are, and always will be difficult. The difference is that they have each other, and he refuses to "taste the fire" as long as she exists. The softer side of Louis' promise asserts that it doesn't matter whether there are any other vampires in the world; even if they were the only two, it would be enough for him. His repeated promise to Claudia of "me and you, you and me," delivered like a litany, is somewhat soured by the presence of Lestat's ghost lurking within the frame, slashed throat and all, but there's also an instant in which Claudia actually lets herself believe Louis' sincerity.

Thanks to the promotional circuit for Season 2, however, we already know that there are more vampires yet to be discovered, as Claudia and Louis' travels ultimately take them to France at the end of World War II, where the city's lights are slowly flickering back on. As Louis and Claudia stand on the cobbled streets of Paris and embrace the warm, welcoming glow of civilization and progress, there's a sense that they may have just found their new home. Then again, we can't forget about the promise — or threat — of a new coven (which Armand's brief interjection already teased) lurking in the shadows...

New episodes of Interview with the Vampire Season 2 premiere weekly on Sundays and are available to stream on AMC+.

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