A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart is the fifth episode of the first season of Interview with the Vampire and the fifth episode of the series overall. It aired on October 30, 2022, on AMC and began streaming through AMC+ on October 23, 2022.
Synopsis[]
Claudia's activities and curiosities present continued challenges for Louis and Lestat. Her actions light an explosive fuse that erupts at episode's end.
Plot[]
As Louis feeds on Rashid, Daniel reads Claudia's diary, chronicling all her kills and her victims' final words. A total of 42 pages. Daniel can't fathom what he's reading, to which Rashid questions how his work is any different, revealing to Daniel that when he publishes his book and the other vampires get wind, they will make their way to Dubai and rip Louis apart. Daniel is essentially chronicling a suicide. When Louis finishes, he reads Daniel's mind and reveals that Rashid tastes like honey and pineapple. He stuffs himself with it for days before offering himself to Louis. Daniel then begins to wonder how much Rashid weights, to which Louis reveals he weighs 138 pounds.
Beginning session five, Louis explains that for Claudia, all humans died with Charlie. Louis recalls initially believing that Cláudia was on a hunger strike, leaving wounded pigeons in her room in hopes that she would eat. But when they proved unsuccessful, Louis informed Lestat of his concerns, but he claimed that Claudia wasn't on a hunger strike, rather she was sneaking out to feed when they were unaware. Proving his point, Lestat marched into Claudia's room and lifted the top of her coffin, finding nothing inside but her diaries, which Lestat took the liberty of reading. She spoke of being a virgin and all her kills. Meanwhile, Claudia was out on the prowl, killing an old man outside of a factory, leaving him to bleed out on the ground.
Having read most of the grim details from her diaries, Louis and Lestat awaited Claudia's return, at which point, they confronted her for her absent-minded killing, taking out entire families and parade crews. Lestat demanded to know where the bodies were, also revealing to Claudia that they read the hurtful words she had for the two of them. Claudia reluctantly revealed that she buried the bodies out of town, in Chalmette. However, Chalmette was three feet below the river line, meaning the bodies would certainly be uncovered during the next storm, which was exactly what happened.
Lestat and Louis meeting with Tom
Louis and Lestat met with Thomas Anderson in a private nightclub. He had been tapped on the shoulder by Baton Rouge and would like their financial support in his campaign for the Louisiana House of Representatives. Among them in the private club, as saloons had been shamed into the shadows, was the chief of police, who Louis wanted to ask about the extra police force in the Quarter. Tom revealed that the heightened police presence was due to the floaters in the ninth ward, a total of 56 bodies. And every corpse had a soft part of them lopped off, whether it be a finger, a foot, a toe, and in one case, a woman was missing her left breast. Most of them victims were former inhabitants of the Quarter, so Tom warned them not to be alarmed if police came knocking. It was then that Louis and Lestat realized that they'd been lured out by Tom so that they police could raid their home. Lestat proceeded to freeze time and left a small scratch on Tom's face for his troubles. Louis did the same with the police chief.
Raid at the Rue Royale
By the time Louis and Lestat returned to the Rue Royale, they discovered multiple policemen searching their home. Claudia let them in, but she was also visibly drunk, and so Louis instructed her to head upstairs. The deputies then came across the incinerator. Fortunately, they didn't find the miscellaneous bones inside. Meanwhile, Claudia was doing her best to hide the souvenirs she had taken from her kills, including the lopped off breast of a woman and a half dead man in her closet. After searching the premises, the officers left, but not before warning Louis and Lestat that they'd be watching them.
Claudia outing Lestat
With the law men gone, Louis and Lestat scolded Claudia for her carelessness, bringing the law to their door. However, Claudia was unbothered, mostly due to the fact that she was drunk from having fed on her victim, who was drunk when she attacked hm. Lestat recalled how happy they were before Claudia, referring to her as an anvil tied around their ankle, dragging them down to the ocean floor. Claudia asked who she was supposed to love, the Louis to her Lestat. Who would want her other than perverts or little boys. She began to question why she couldn't make a vampire of her own, revealing to them that she'd attempted to do so a multitude of times. Claudia threatened to go out into the world and find other vampires, but Lestat advised her against doing so, revealing that they'd kill her because she was a child and mistake, much to Louis' disapproval, though Claudia questioned why Louis didn't do more to contest Lestat, who she revealed had two loves, that being Louis and Antoinette, who Lestat previously claimed to have ended his affair with. After Claudia fled upstairs, Lestat confessed to still seeing Antoinette and claimed he would kill her soon.
Louis entered Claudia's room to find her packing a bag. She intended to leave, expressing true disdain for her vampiric nature, recalling the night Louis saved her and asking why he didn't take her to the hospital. If not for him, she could've been living a normal human life. She suggested he think on that before fleeing the Rue Royale.
Admittedly, Louis asked Lestat to make Claudia out of remorse and selfishness, but Daniel isn't sympathetic, even as Louis tries to paint the picture of a lonely young girl locked in the emotional storm of puberty. Daniel compares her to Charlie Manson. She also makes Louis and Lestat look like a couple of whiny, existential queens. She's a goldmine, the girl who moves a million books, Daniel calls her. Louis won't have her exploited, but as Daniel explains, his intentions won't matter once the world gets a hold of her, even with him putting the diaries in proper context, this angering Louis who digs his nails into the table as Daniel explains that once he puts it out there, the world will decide what it is.
With Claudia's night rambles having exposed them, Louis and Lestat discussed having to be more careful moving forward and even considered moving elsewhere, such as New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. Lestat also wanted to dismantle her room, but Louis refused, certain she would be back. Louis explained that there'd be no roaring 20s for the two of them, who would remain underground and inside for the seven years that followed.
Emotionally, Louis was vacant inside, longing and aching for Claudia, sending out telepathic thoughts of remorse in every direction, but she'd shut her mind off to him, so he returned to her old home, desperate for any kind of meaningful connection.
Claudia meets another vampire
Elsewhere, Claudia was leaving a campus library when she was confronted by a male student, who accused her of being a thief until a man on a bike pulled up and came to her defense. The man, revealing himself to Claudia to be a vampire, made friends with her and offered her a ride on his motorbike.
In Claudia's absence, Louis buried himself within the walls of the Rue Royale and ignored his other duties of the role Claudia mocked him for — "the unhappy housewife." Tension and resentment also grew between Louis and Lestat, who Louis blamed for Claudia's departure. Meanwhile, in the outside world, tourist carriages would come whispering by of the weird brothers who encamped inside.
Claudia and Bruce around the fire
As the body of their shared victims burned in the fire, Claudia's new vampire friend revealed that he used to work for Mr. Henry Ford in Detroit until 20 of them were sent to Copenhagen, where he met his maker while walking the harbor one evening. The man then faked his own death and was shipped back home in a coffin. He got to hear his own funeral, but only a couple dozen people showed up. Claudia then asked about the vampire's maker, who was allegedly a strange European. He then asked Claudia about Louis, who he could hear calling out Claudia's name every night. The man was under the impression that he was the only vampire state side and revealed that his name his Bruce. Claudia laughed, remarking that he didn't look like a Bruce. He recalled Claudia liked books and handed her one of his own — a book on etiquette, claiming she could use a touch up on her manners. He then revealed that he'd been following her for so time, about five or six colleges ago. Bruce heard her name in the air thanks to Louis, which was how he found her. Placing his arm around Claudia, he asked how old she was, to which she replied 104 years old. As Bruce became a bit too comfortable, Claudia pushed away and moved to the other side of the fire, only for him to follow her and break her leg, explaining that he didn't want her to run away.
Daniel discovers that four pages have been torn from Claudia's diary, to which Louis replies that he will not exploit her. Still, Daniel pushes to read it, even as Louis insists. As Daniel continues to push, Louis becomes irritated and begins to make Daniel's hand manically bang the table, until Rashid intervenes and explains that Louis occasionally finds it difficult to talk about Claudia. Daniel, still recovering, stands to his feet, approaches Louis, slaps him, and resumes the interview.
In an effort to track Claudia's location, Louis had been reading the papers when he came across an article detailing a rash of killings at various universities. He shared this with Lestat, who seemed less concerned about Claudia and more about Antoinette, who awaited him downstairs.
Grace saying goodbye to Louis
Louis got a call from Grace, who asked him to meet her at the cemetery. She was noticeably taken aback by his youthfulness, revealing to Louis that she and Levi were headed north after the crash cleared them out. Grace was not convinced that the man that stood before her was actually her brother, who she sat across the dinner table from her whole life. She remembered how she hid her fourth grade report card because his was so bad and didn't want their parents to find out. Looking into his eyes, she decided that he couldn't be her Louis. She then placed flowers on her mother's and Louis' grave plot, which read from October 4, 1877 - October 18, 1930. She explained that this was how it had to be and that she was saying goodbye. This brought tears to Louis' eyes as Grace kissed him goodbye and left with Levi. Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched by Claudia, who, in this moment, realized the reason they made her: to be Louis' sister.
Claudia returned to the Rue Royale, where she was embraced by Louis, though Lestat wasn't so welcoming. She'd come to apologize, but Lestat didn't accept her apology. She read a lot of books, starting with Persia and Babylon, the old gods who longed for blood. She also read of a Romanian tract on "vampirs." As well as a strange old Hungarian text, "Masticatione Mortuorum," also known as the "chewing dead." She planned to leave for that part of the world, and she wanted Louis to join her. If he didn't want them to leave, Claudia urged Lestat to just tell her the truth about their kind, but he was reluctant to, only claiming that vampires were cruel, especially those in Europe.
Lestat confronting Claudia
Lestat began ridiculing Claudia, which she insisted was just one of his tactics. She pleaded with Louis to join her, exclaiming that she was worthy of his love, angering Lestat, who chocked Claudia, sending Louis into a frenzy, resulting in an all out brawl between Lestat and Louis that led into the streets below, where Lestat dragged a beaten and blood soaked Louis to the middle of the road and flew him up into the sky above while draining his blood. Lestat had patiently waited for Louis to love him, but now realizing that would never happen, Lestat told Louis to admit that he would never love him. Instead, Louis instructed Lestat to let him go, which he did without hesitation, "anything for you," he said before dropping Louis to the ground below, leaving his bones shattered and broken when Claudia found him.
Cast[]
Starring[]
Guest Starring[]
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Co-Starring[]
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Trivia[]
- The episode title, A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart, is a direct quote from page 89 of the Interview with the Vampire novel.
Gallery[]
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Episode guide[]
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