Right. After Seeing The Teaser And The Buzz On The Internet.

THE CHICAGO POLICE HAVE ARRESTED JUSTIN COSBY AND ARE LYING ABOUT HIS LOCATION

Hi! I don't know if this has been asked before (it feels like it will have been) and my apologies if it has but:

If Louis recovering his memories from Armand's mind control thing... Why is Armand allowing this second interview to go ahead? Especially when Daniel is obviously able to get to Louis?

Hey! :)

well... for one I think it needs to be differentiated what "control" is... Like, canonically Armand spellbinds Louis on several occasions in Paris. For example. That... is for more selfish reasons, I would say, we will see how they will spin it in the show.

Later on though, when he seems to have "tinkered" (as Assad called it) in the show... that was likely done in an effort to "help", imho - because he does love Louis. And Louis suffers. The things Louis will remember now... will not be pretty. On the contrary, it will be beyond painful what will be uncovered.

And then, of course, there is the aspect of "the Devil's Minion" having happened in the past (as I am quite sure we will get to see at least parts of in the upcoming seasons)... Armand loves Daniel, Daniel who book canonically becomes his only fledgling.

So, with that in mind...

We know Daniel was kept track off, the package with the tapes arrives in his post box without an address on it (for example), his medical status is known, and there is medicine for him there, which was prepared, and which is not what they claim it to be (the side effects don't match, as noted by others).

I think Louis might have... come to the conclusion at some point that a few things do not match, and I think... that he leveraged the idea of redoing the interview, in an effort to get Daniel to Dubai, and in an effort to slay multiple dragons at once:

Redo the interview. Find out what his subconscious is telling him, what Armand might be hiding (possibly hidden with Louis knowing !- that is also a possibility, that he asked for the memories to be taken away, but has doubts now?! We'll see^^)

Reunite Armand and Daniel, because he does not want Armand to be alone after... because Louis is tired. And if Claudia's diaries are used as I think they will be (as the catalyst they were in the books), then this season will end rather... cataclysmic.

Find a way to at least prolong Daniel's life. As noted above the medicine Daniel gets had to be prepared, and Fareed's presence is no coincidence, it hints at... certain things. (Fareed is the physician/scientist of the vampires in the later books).

Armand... Armand "allows" this because he needs to prolong Daniel's life, wants to see him again, and... loves Louis. And there is also the aspect that what he is keeping from Louis and Daniel - if deliberately or by promise - must weigh quite heavily on him.

I think there is at least a tiny part of him which looks forward to it all being revealed, because being the only one to know the truth... must be a heavy burden.

... ultimately I think it's not clear cut. "Decisions are made of kneaded feelings" (to quote Hannibal here) and all that.

There are a lot of aspects playing into it all. And a lot of them have to do with potential (and very real) emotional hurt.

Which is also (I think) why he decided on a role play at first - to protect his heart, more than anything else.

I get the weirdest Deckerstar parallels in my head sometimes: Now, on Talk Like A Pirate Day, it’s Kermit as Captain Smollet for Chloe and Lucifer as Miss Piggy in Muppet Treasure Island. What is up with my brain?

If I have an A level in a foreign language, do I need to go to language school as an AU pair?

all this talk about how weaponizing the fold will only increase anti-Grisha sentiment when it's already been established in canon that they're still undergoing heavy persecution is so strange to me. they're already being sold out to the enemy by their own countrymen as well as experimented on and burned alive overseas...how much worse can it possibly get? they're already balancing on the knife edge of being at risk of genocide. (sidebar: I hate how this show attempts to justify their persecution by laying the blame at Aleksander's feet. that conversation with Baghra where she tells him he's responsible for the 'war on Grisha' even before the creation of the Fold is so awful.)

if Alina and the gang had just let Aleksander usurp the king I'm inclined to believe the situation for Grisha in Ravka could only have been improved. and for all that I see claims of Aleksander's belief in Grisha supremacy, I've yet to find any support or evidence for that in the text. if he wanted to enslave all otkazat'sya or get revenge on them surely that would have come up at some point? instead he's a loyal patriot to the country of Ravka and is more interested in cleaning house of the corrupt Lantsov regime.

if I'm wrong please feel free to correct me, because I actually would be interested in seeing if there are passages in the books where the Darkling goes full Magneto.

Someone put red paint on the "Serve and Protect" sculpture at the Salt Lake City police building and it is such a powerful statement.

"Good art should disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed." -C.A.C.

people really go “I want a story where the female lead...” and then say something that already happened on the cw’s “crazy ex girlfriend”

Chronological Canon Compliant Rec List

For ‘A Meal to Remember’ fanfic appreciation event <3 A list of canon-compliant (and canon adjacent) fics!

Avoiding too many double-ups here so see the Loumand list for more Loumand-centric fic recs (plus a bingo card!)

Pre-IWTV Paris

To Pluck Gently At Strings (M) by @iwtvdramacd18 (Nicki x Armand in Paris!)

IWTV New Orleans

among the wildflowers (T) by ipsilateral (Pre-show, beautiful Louis character study)

all the blood involved in love (M) by @gayvampiredivorce (Ep 1, Louis’s memories of the early days of Lestat’s courtship)

the harrow, the tiller (E) by @baberainbowao3 (Ep 2, Louis's first night as a vampire, fever dream in the best way possible)

grab the rings of saturn (E) by verseau (Ep 2, Louis and Lestat consummate their marriage)

pietà by @enterprisery (Ep 3, Grace and grief)

Babyfather (T) by @nlbv (Ep 4, Louis character study, Claudia's first night in the coffin)

Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart (E) by @prouvaireafterdark (Ep 4, coffin sex)

Roadkill (E) by @baberainbowao3 and @nlbv (Ep 4 era, a family trip to the circus, insane)

After the Storm (E) by Anonymous (Ep 6 reunion scene, mind the tags)

Scenes From a Marriage series (E) by @nlbv (Truly harrowing post-ep5 scenes, sex as character study, brilliantly written, they make me want to claw the wallpaper off the walls and sob)

Paris

ad infinitum (E) by peripheralaudio (adaption of the iconic tower scene)

vanishing point (E) (loumand motorcycle sex!) by @knifeeater

Interlude: Post-Paris, Pre-Dubai

Dirges (E) by @wordforworldisforest (iconic loumand work, has never left my brain, a seminal work)

Prey Drive (E) (unhinged loumand roleplay) by @iwtvdramacd18 and selfsame (E) (glory holes) by @vampdf aka insane loumand at its best

thy fearful symmetry (E) by mothmaiden (Daniel, Armand, and Louis threesome before the interview)

long live the car crash hearts (M) by exastris_scientia (Daniel and Louis crash a car)

a ghost is a memory (T) by @quensty + a memory is a ghost (regret, regret) (M) by @enterprisery (Daniel and Louis meetings remixed)

In a similar vein, middle aged Daniel getting re-seduced by Armand before being made to forget: Perfection (E) by @bandedbulbussnarfblat , i love you like an alcoholic (E) by @quensty and all i got left (is my bones) (E) by @enterprisery

Dubai

a memo from human resources by nestorius (human Rashid!)

And for every kind stranger , there is one who would break you (G) by ABigScaryBat (Armand watches Daniel sleep)

nothing but teeth series (G to M) by @gayvampiredivorce (series of oneshots and fics related to the interview, great character studies, written while the series was airing)

A trail of honey (M) by @butchybats (Armand and Daniel have sexual tension in the kitchen feat. a little knifeplay)

Grouse (T) by @iwtvdramacd18 (Louis eats a bird!) and Alluvium (E) (oral sex and geomorphology) by @knifeeater aka fics inspired by this piece of Pink's gorgeous art

out of cape cod tonight (E) by exastris_scientia (Armand and Daniel play mind games)

And he was mine (E) by watertiger (Louis and Daniel dance)

Post Season 1 Dubai

Lethe series (E) by @knifeeater (Daniel in the Loumand torture labyrinth of Dubai (where he belongs))

little kidnaps in the dark (M) by @gayvampiredivorce (Dubai trio longfic, phenomenal character work, plotting, and more!)

— Victoria Erickson

Since I see this word thrown around causally on here, this is a reminder that the Darkling does not commit genocide. He’s a mass murderer, but genocide has a specific meaning.

Criticise him for what he does - murdering civilians, mutilating Genya, assaulting Alina, but don’t call him genocidal.