Season 01, Episode 02 - Maps and Legends

Season 03, Episode 07 - Dominion

You know, the thing that pisses me off the most about the Enterprise finale is not Trip’s terrible death, or that the crew doesn’t even have a proper POV during their finale episode. Sure, these things makes me very angry, but the one thing that makes me see red, you know what it is?

It’s the presumption that if the franchise were to be given a goodbye to a not known lenght of time, the ones who had to send it off had to be the TNG crew and none of the other series deserved this honor, as if the other ones - even the Enterprise crew, the one show doing the goodbye - were not worth it.

I’m having a similar feeling watching the third season of Star Trek: Picard, considering they wrote off the entire cast of the series, with the exception of Raffi and Seven. It does feel like once again the TNG crew is kicking out the cast of the original show to insert themselves in there at the end.

But it’s not the same because it’s a Picard series and Picard was the main TNG character!

Yes, I see this point, somewhat agree with it but. It’s not the same. Because this is Picard twenty years after his captain years, and it’s about who he is now. We saw him make new friends, a new family in the two previous seasons, and this is now all cast out, as if it was all worthless.

And you see, I’m not actually against the inclusion of the TNG crew in Picard’s last season. I think it makes sense to include them; they are Picard’s family, after all, and Nemesis left several loose ends. What I’m against is the exclusion of the original cast, when they should have been kept IN ADDITION to the TNG crew being brought back.

But it’s too many characters to write about!

Deep Space Nine had NINE main characters (Sisko, Dax, Kira, Bashir, Odo, O'Brien, Quark, Jake, Worf), three main antagonists (Dukat, Winn, Female Founder) and a TON of supporting cast (Garak, Damar, Leeta, Rom, Nog, Morn, Keiko, Kasidy, Ziyal, Martok, Weyoun, Vic Fontaine…) and they managed to juggle it all just fine. More than fine.

But they have to work with much less episodes!

I see this point. It’s true; only ten episodes it’s not a lot of time when there used to be 26 episodes per season, but you know what? It’s still a body of work with almost ten hours of duration. This is just a little less than the hours of the LOTR trilogy, and see the size of the universe and the storylines you’re capable of creating with roughly the same timeframe.

If they focused on what matters and if they were to write it well, it is more than possible to juggle many characters and do a good work while you are at it.

Elnor should have been in this season; he could be a foil to Jack, since he sees Picard as a father figure. So should have been Soji, especially now that Data is back; I think he deserves to know he has a daughter. They never should have gotten ridden of Rios. Borg Queen Agnes is very plot relevant, but she’s nowhere to be seen.

I’m glad that Raffi has been in this season and its a joy to see her with Worf, but it leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth that her romance with Seven seems dead to me. Trek has a terrible record with queer characters, and Seven and Raffi are the first lesbian couple in the whole franchise (and the only main ones apart of Jennifer and Mariner in Lower Decks), and even if they had highs and lows, at least season two bothered to give them time together and interactions. They barely were in the same room together during this season.

The constantly barbs to the early seasons like the way Troi and Riker talked about their home life, the way they ignore Borg Queen Agnes whole existence… this season seems do disdainful of its predecessors, and even if they were full of flaws, this seems so unfair to me. Especially when this season have such a a weak plot being held together only by the talent and the charisma of the TNG crew, it’s really not a good look. The story is weak, it’s repetitive, it doesn’t make sense when you think about it for too long.

And you know what it’s sad? Man, I LOVE the TNG crew. In fact I love TNG; apart from Deep Space Nine, it’s my favorite Star Trek series. I prefer it even over TOS. It makes me sad to see them being brought together again so messily, and in detriment of everything the Star Trek: Picard series had previously established, especially when you can see the ways it could have been good.

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

Lestat and his constant protectiveness/worry over Louis in the books

I saw Gabrielle break through the side door before the car hit the ground. And she and I were both rolling over on the grassy slope as the car capsized and exploded with a deafening roar.“

Louis!” I shouted. I scrambled towards the blaze. I would have gone right into it after him: But the glass of the back portal splintered as he came through it. He hit the embankment just as I reached him. And with my cape I beat at his smoking garments, Gabrielle ripping off her jacket to do the same. - The Vampire Lestat

What was she doing? Assessing their power? Looking from one to the other, and then back to me. A stranger looking down from some lofty height. And so now the fire comes, Lestat. Don’t dare to look at Gabrielle or Louis, lest she turn it that way. Die first, like a coward, and then you don’t have to see them die. - The Queen of the Damned

“Ah, Louis, forgive me.” The dark neglected hallway. I shuddered. “I came here because I was so concerned . . . about you.”

“No need,” he said considerately. “It was just a little pilgrimage I had to make.”

I touched his face with my fingers; so warm from the kill.

“She’s not here, Louis,” I said. “It was something Jesse imagined.”

“Yes, so it seems,” he said.

“We live forever; but they don’t come back.” - The Queen of the Damned

“All right,” he said despairingly. “I hope you discover the man’s seduced you with a pack of lies, that all he wants is the Dark Blood, and that you send him straight to hell. Once more, let me warn you, if I see him, if he threatens me, I shall kill him. I haven’t your strength. I depend upon my anonymity, that my little memoir, as you always call it, was so very far removed from the world of this century that no one took it as fact.”

“I won’t let him harm you, Louis,” I said. I turned and threw an evil glance at him. “I would never ever have let anyone harm you.”

And with this I left.

Of course, this was an accusation, and he felt the keen edge of it, I’d seen that to my satisfaction, before I turned again and went out. - The Tale of the Body Thief

Oh, yes, I had asked for it, as mortals so often declare. And I had done this despicable thing of letting loose the Body Thief with my powers. True. Guilty again of spectacular blunders and experiments. But had I ever dreamed of what it would truly mean to be stripped utterly of my powers and on the outside looking in? The others knew; they must know. And they had let Marius come to render the judgment, to let me know that for what I had done, I was cast out!

But Louis, my beautiful Louis, how could he have spurned me! I would have defied heaven to help Louis! I had so counted upon Louis, I had so counted upon waking this night with the old blood running powerful and true in my veins. - The Tale of the Body Thief

I thought then of Louis’s rejection, and that I would very soon see him again, and an evil satisfaction rilled me. Ah, he would be so very surprised. Then a little fear came over me. How would I forgive him? How would I keep my precious temper from exploding like a great wanton flame? - The Tale of the Body Thief

No scent of a mortal signaled an intruder. In fact, I knew the step that was approaching. I had heard it so many times in my life both mortal and preternatural. Yet I didn’t dare to believe in such a rescue from my misery, until the unheralded figure appeared in the courtyard, his velvet coat dusty, his yellow hair tangled, his violet eyes looking at once to the grim and appalling visage of Louis:

It was Lestat.

With an awkward step, as though his body, so long unused, revolted against him, he made his way closer to Merrick, who turned her tearstained face to him as if she too were seeing a Savior come in answer to her directionless prayers. - Merrick

Lestat seemed to be considering these things. How could he not? Once, he himself had gone into the sunlight in a distant desert place, and, having been burnt again and again, without release, he came back. His skin was still golden from this hurtful and terrible disaster. He would carry that imprint of the sun’s power for many years to come.

Straightaway, he stepped in front of Merrick, and as both of us watched, he knelt down beside the coffin, and he moved very close to the figure, and then he drew back. With his fingers, quite as delicately as she had done it, he touched the blackened hands, and he left no mark. Slowly, lightly, he touched the forehead, and once more, he left no mark.

He drew back, kneeling up, and, lifting his right hand to his mouth, he gashed his wrist with his own teeth before either Merrick or I knew what he meant to do.

At once a thick stream of blood poured down onto the perfectly molded face of the figure in the coffin, and as the vein sought to heal itself, again Lestat gashed it and let the blood flow. - Merrick

“Come now, enough of these ‘things,’ ” he said with a tone of remarkable weariness. “New Orleans waits. Louis waits. And if he hasn’t come down to New Orleans as you asked, I say we go to New York and get him.”

He had mentioned Louis countless times in the last six months, but the strange thing was, I didn’t trust him with all these mentions of how I needed Louis, and ought to write to Louis, and ought to pick up one of the many telephones around me and call Louis. I had some deep fear that he was in fact jealous of Louis, but I was ashamed of that feeling. Now he was saying, Let’s go, let’s find Louis.

[…]

This troubled me, and I wasn’t sure quite why. What if he suddenly wanted to hurt Louis? What if he became jealous of Louis—of my affection for Louis?

“Nonsense, go to him,” he said. Calm voice. Manly voice. “Am I jealous of your son, Viktor? Am I jealous of your beloved daughter, Rose? You need Louis and you know it, and he’s ready now to surrender. - Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

And so it was done. Louis was putting on his jacket and scarf. I was unhappy. I watched him pulling on his gloves. I couldn’t imagine how this could end productively or happily. I didn’t want Louis to be humiliated, but what could Fareed and Seth say to talk of the silver cord? If they became impatient and short with him, I’d be furious. - Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

I knew that the monster had other resources. We all do, the clever ones, who don’t wish to move through eternity like tramps. He had gold and jewels in hiding places. He had wealth undreamt of and unrecorded. And dwellings perhaps of which no one knew.

And now he had taken my Louis, my helpless Louis. Penetrated our most fortified refuge, and taken Louis away.

[…]

Again, I was not thinking. I was merely knowing—and knowing that Louis, Louis the most vulnerable of us all, was in the grip of that monster—or already dead. - Blood Communion

“In all these centuries,” said Cyril, “never have we known one whom we could see as our champion. You can’t really know, boss, just what you are now to the others. You think you know, but you don’t, and that’s why I’ll be right outside your door again sleeping in the passage, sleeping here so nothing and no one can get at you or hurt you—as long as I live and breathe.”

Then I was alone in the chilling darkness—with the villain Armand despised, and the son who had not protected his mother, and the lover who had never protected Louis from himself or others, and the miserable pupil of Marius who had so misjudged Rhoshamandes that now Marius was dead. - Blood Communion

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

Lestat and his constant protectiveness/worry over Louis in the books

I saw Gabrielle break through the side door before the car hit the ground. And she and I were both rolling over on the grassy slope as the car capsized and exploded with a deafening roar.“

Louis!” I shouted. I scrambled towards the blaze. I would have gone right into it after him: But the glass of the back portal splintered as he came through it. He hit the embankment just as I reached him. And with my cape I beat at his smoking garments, Gabrielle ripping off her jacket to do the same. - The Vampire Lestat

What was she doing? Assessing their power? Looking from one to the other, and then back to me. A stranger looking down from some lofty height. And so now the fire comes, Lestat. Don’t dare to look at Gabrielle or Louis, lest she turn it that way. Die first, like a coward, and then you don’t have to see them die. - The Queen of the Damned

“Ah, Louis, forgive me.” The dark neglected hallway. I shuddered. “I came here because I was so concerned . . . about you.”

“No need,” he said considerately. “It was just a little pilgrimage I had to make.”

I touched his face with my fingers; so warm from the kill.

“She’s not here, Louis,” I said. “It was something Jesse imagined.”

“Yes, so it seems,” he said.

“We live forever; but they don’t come back.” - The Queen of the Damned

“All right,” he said despairingly. “I hope you discover the man’s seduced you with a pack of lies, that all he wants is the Dark Blood, and that you send him straight to hell. Once more, let me warn you, if I see him, if he threatens me, I shall kill him. I haven’t your strength. I depend upon my anonymity, that my little memoir, as you always call it, was so very far removed from the world of this century that no one took it as fact.”

“I won’t let him harm you, Louis,” I said. I turned and threw an evil glance at him. “I would never ever have let anyone harm you.”

And with this I left.

Of course, this was an accusation, and he felt the keen edge of it, I’d seen that to my satisfaction, before I turned again and went out. - The Tale of the Body Thief

Oh, yes, I had asked for it, as mortals so often declare. And I had done this despicable thing of letting loose the Body Thief with my powers. True. Guilty again of spectacular blunders and experiments. But had I ever dreamed of what it would truly mean to be stripped utterly of my powers and on the outside looking in? The others knew; they must know. And they had let Marius come to render the judgment, to let me know that for what I had done, I was cast out!

But Louis, my beautiful Louis, how could he have spurned me! I would have defied heaven to help Louis! I had so counted upon Louis, I had so counted upon waking this night with the old blood running powerful and true in my veins. - The Tale of the Body Thief

I thought then of Louis’s rejection, and that I would very soon see him again, and an evil satisfaction rilled me. Ah, he would be so very surprised. Then a little fear came over me. How would I forgive him? How would I keep my precious temper from exploding like a great wanton flame? - The Tale of the Body Thief

No scent of a mortal signaled an intruder. In fact, I knew the step that was approaching. I had heard it so many times in my life both mortal and preternatural. Yet I didn’t dare to believe in such a rescue from my misery, until the unheralded figure appeared in the courtyard, his velvet coat dusty, his yellow hair tangled, his violet eyes looking at once to the grim and appalling visage of Louis:

It was Lestat.

With an awkward step, as though his body, so long unused, revolted against him, he made his way closer to Merrick, who turned her tearstained face to him as if she too were seeing a Savior come in answer to her directionless prayers. - Merrick

Lestat seemed to be considering these things. How could he not? Once, he himself had gone into the sunlight in a distant desert place, and, having been burnt again and again, without release, he came back. His skin was still golden from this hurtful and terrible disaster. He would carry that imprint of the sun’s power for many years to come.

Straightaway, he stepped in front of Merrick, and as both of us watched, he knelt down beside the coffin, and he moved very close to the figure, and then he drew back. With his fingers, quite as delicately as she had done it, he touched the blackened hands, and he left no mark. Slowly, lightly, he touched the forehead, and once more, he left no mark.

He drew back, kneeling up, and, lifting his right hand to his mouth, he gashed his wrist with his own teeth before either Merrick or I knew what he meant to do.

At once a thick stream of blood poured down onto the perfectly molded face of the figure in the coffin, and as the vein sought to heal itself, again Lestat gashed it and let the blood flow. - Merrick

“Come now, enough of these ‘things,’ ” he said with a tone of remarkable weariness. “New Orleans waits. Louis waits. And if he hasn’t come down to New Orleans as you asked, I say we go to New York and get him.”

He had mentioned Louis countless times in the last six months, but the strange thing was, I didn’t trust him with all these mentions of how I needed Louis, and ought to write to Louis, and ought to pick up one of the many telephones around me and call Louis. I had some deep fear that he was in fact jealous of Louis, but I was ashamed of that feeling. Now he was saying, Let’s go, let’s find Louis.

[…]

This troubled me, and I wasn’t sure quite why. What if he suddenly wanted to hurt Louis? What if he became jealous of Louis—of my affection for Louis?

“Nonsense, go to him,” he said. Calm voice. Manly voice. “Am I jealous of your son, Viktor? Am I jealous of your beloved daughter, Rose? You need Louis and you know it, and he’s ready now to surrender. - Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

And so it was done. Louis was putting on his jacket and scarf. I was unhappy. I watched him pulling on his gloves. I couldn’t imagine how this could end productively or happily. I didn’t want Louis to be humiliated, but what could Fareed and Seth say to talk of the silver cord? If they became impatient and short with him, I’d be furious. - Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

I knew that the monster had other resources. We all do, the clever ones, who don’t wish to move through eternity like tramps. He had gold and jewels in hiding places. He had wealth undreamt of and unrecorded. And dwellings perhaps of which no one knew.

And now he had taken my Louis, my helpless Louis. Penetrated our most fortified refuge, and taken Louis away.

[…]

Again, I was not thinking. I was merely knowing—and knowing that Louis, Louis the most vulnerable of us all, was in the grip of that monster—or already dead. - Blood Communion

“In all these centuries,” said Cyril, “never have we known one whom we could see as our champion. You can’t really know, boss, just what you are now to the others. You think you know, but you don’t, and that’s why I’ll be right outside your door again sleeping in the passage, sleeping here so nothing and no one can get at you or hurt you—as long as I live and breathe.”

Then I was alone in the chilling darkness—with the villain Armand despised, and the son who had not protected his mother, and the lover who had never protected Louis from himself or others, and the miserable pupil of Marius who had so misjudged Rhoshamandes that now Marius was dead. - Blood Communion

Lestat and his constant protectiveness/worry over Louis in the books

I saw Gabrielle break through the side door before the car hit the ground. And she and I were both rolling over on the grassy slope as the car capsized and exploded with a deafening roar.“

Louis!” I shouted. I scrambled towards the blaze. I would have gone right into it after him: But the glass of the back portal splintered as he came through it. He hit the embankment just as I reached him. And with my cape I beat at his smoking garments, Gabrielle ripping off her jacket to do the same. - The Vampire Lestat

What was she doing? Assessing their power? Looking from one to the other, and then back to me. A stranger looking down from some lofty height. And so now the fire comes, Lestat. Don’t dare to look at Gabrielle or Louis, lest she turn it that way. Die first, like a coward, and then you don’t have to see them die. - The Queen of the Damned

“Ah, Louis, forgive me.” The dark neglected hallway. I shuddered. “I came here because I was so concerned . . . about you.”

“No need,” he said considerately. “It was just a little pilgrimage I had to make.”

I touched his face with my fingers; so warm from the kill.

“She’s not here, Louis,” I said. “It was something Jesse imagined.”

“Yes, so it seems,” he said.

“We live forever; but they don’t come back.” - The Queen of the Damned

“All right,” he said despairingly. “I hope you discover the man’s seduced you with a pack of lies, that all he wants is the Dark Blood, and that you send him straight to hell. Once more, let me warn you, if I see him, if he threatens me, I shall kill him. I haven’t your strength. I depend upon my anonymity, that my little memoir, as you always call it, was so very far removed from the world of this century that no one took it as fact.”

“I won’t let him harm you, Louis,” I said. I turned and threw an evil glance at him. “I would never ever have let anyone harm you.”

And with this I left.

Of course, this was an accusation, and he felt the keen edge of it, I’d seen that to my satisfaction, before I turned again and went out. - The Tale of the Body Thief

Oh, yes, I had asked for it, as mortals so often declare. And I had done this despicable thing of letting loose the Body Thief with my powers. True. Guilty again of spectacular blunders and experiments. But had I ever dreamed of what it would truly mean to be stripped utterly of my powers and on the outside looking in? The others knew; they must know. And they had let Marius come to render the judgment, to let me know that for what I had done, I was cast out!

But Louis, my beautiful Louis, how could he have spurned me! I would have defied heaven to help Louis! I had so counted upon Louis, I had so counted upon waking this night with the old blood running powerful and true in my veins. - The Tale of the Body Thief

I thought then of Louis’s rejection, and that I would very soon see him again, and an evil satisfaction rilled me. Ah, he would be so very surprised. Then a little fear came over me. How would I forgive him? How would I keep my precious temper from exploding like a great wanton flame? - The Tale of the Body Thief

No scent of a mortal signaled an intruder. In fact, I knew the step that was approaching. I had heard it so many times in my life both mortal and preternatural. Yet I didn’t dare to believe in such a rescue from my misery, until the unheralded figure appeared in the courtyard, his velvet coat dusty, his yellow hair tangled, his violet eyes looking at once to the grim and appalling visage of Louis:

It was Lestat.

With an awkward step, as though his body, so long unused, revolted against him, he made his way closer to Merrick, who turned her tearstained face to him as if she too were seeing a Savior come in answer to her directionless prayers. - Merrick

Lestat seemed to be considering these things. How could he not? Once, he himself had gone into the sunlight in a distant desert place, and, having been burnt again and again, without release, he came back. His skin was still golden from this hurtful and terrible disaster. He would carry that imprint of the sun’s power for many years to come.

Straightaway, he stepped in front of Merrick, and as both of us watched, he knelt down beside the coffin, and he moved very close to the figure, and then he drew back. With his fingers, quite as delicately as she had done it, he touched the blackened hands, and he left no mark. Slowly, lightly, he touched the forehead, and once more, he left no mark.

He drew back, kneeling up, and, lifting his right hand to his mouth, he gashed his wrist with his own teeth before either Merrick or I knew what he meant to do.

At once a thick stream of blood poured down onto the perfectly molded face of the figure in the coffin, and as the vein sought to heal itself, again Lestat gashed it and let the blood flow. - Merrick

“Come now, enough of these ‘things,’ ” he said with a tone of remarkable weariness. “New Orleans waits. Louis waits. And if he hasn’t come down to New Orleans as you asked, I say we go to New York and get him.”

He had mentioned Louis countless times in the last six months, but the strange thing was, I didn’t trust him with all these mentions of how I needed Louis, and ought to write to Louis, and ought to pick up one of the many telephones around me and call Louis. I had some deep fear that he was in fact jealous of Louis, but I was ashamed of that feeling. Now he was saying, Let’s go, let’s find Louis.

[…]

This troubled me, and I wasn’t sure quite why. What if he suddenly wanted to hurt Louis? What if he became jealous of Louis—of my affection for Louis?

“Nonsense, go to him,” he said. Calm voice. Manly voice. “Am I jealous of your son, Viktor? Am I jealous of your beloved daughter, Rose? You need Louis and you know it, and he’s ready now to surrender. - Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

And so it was done. Louis was putting on his jacket and scarf. I was unhappy. I watched him pulling on his gloves. I couldn’t imagine how this could end productively or happily. I didn’t want Louis to be humiliated, but what could Fareed and Seth say to talk of the silver cord? If they became impatient and short with him, I’d be furious. - Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis

I knew that the monster had other resources. We all do, the clever ones, who don’t wish to move through eternity like tramps. He had gold and jewels in hiding places. He had wealth undreamt of and unrecorded. And dwellings perhaps of which no one knew.

And now he had taken my Louis, my helpless Louis. Penetrated our most fortified refuge, and taken Louis away.

[…]

Again, I was not thinking. I was merely knowing—and knowing that Louis, Louis the most vulnerable of us all, was in the grip of that monster—or already dead. - Blood Communion

“In all these centuries,” said Cyril, “never have we known one whom we could see as our champion. You can’t really know, boss, just what you are now to the others. You think you know, but you don’t, and that’s why I’ll be right outside your door again sleeping in the passage, sleeping here so nothing and no one can get at you or hurt you—as long as I live and breathe.”

Then I was alone in the chilling darkness—with the villain Armand despised, and the son who had not protected his mother, and the lover who had never protected Louis from himself or others, and the miserable pupil of Marius who had so misjudged Rhoshamandes that now Marius was dead. - Blood Communion

 I spoke about this before in my liveblogs, but I do think that, as sad as it is to witness it, the estrangement of the TNG crew does make sense, in-universe.

In the Trek universe, the two most tight-knit crews imo are the TOS and the TNG. These are the ones who stuck longer together - decades - and had very impactful relationships with each other.

And then we see them again in Picard, and they have this air of estrangement from each other, like they really didn’t get together for a long while, and I get why.

It’s because they lost Data.

Data’s essentially immortal nature was talked about several times in TNG. It was a constantly worry of his, that he would outlive all his human friends and stay alone. Everyone expected Data to be the last one standing, and suddenly they had to face the reality that he was the first one of them to go.

Grief can sometimes pull people closer together so they can share the pain together, but the problem here is that, well, this is not in Picard’s nature.

He blamed himself for Data’s death. Almost two decades later and he kept dreaming about Data, wishing their time together wouldn’t end.

He’s haunted by Data’s death, and spent over twenty years feeling this way.

And ultimately, he was haunted by the guilty of Data sacrificing his life for his own.

And in true Picard fashion, what all this guilty, all these feeligns of grief made him do?

It made him pull away from everyone who had essentially become his family for twenty years.

We saw bits of it before. He couldn’t even remember well the first time he saw Will and Deanna’s firstborn, and apparently he only saw him twice since his birth and him being five.

In this season, we learned that he and Beverly spent over twenty years having zero contact with each other, and Worf also remarked recently about Picard’s distance:

When he first saw Geordi’s daughter, it had been so long that he didn’t even recognized her.

And having Picard distance himself from them like this obviously made something shatter involving everyone else. First they lost Data, and Picard, everyone’s surrogate dad, pulls away; this is the family breaking up.

Will and Deanna had their son and his disease to worry about; Beverly was afraid of having her son involved with the trouble that follows Picard everywhere and pulled away from everyone else in her fear.

Geordi had lost his best friend of well over twenty years and resolved to dedicate himself totally to his work and his famly, too afraid to lose this family like he lost the other one.

It all goes back to Data, and how his death utterly shattered the sense of family they gained over the years, how it made Picard feel guilty and distance himself from everyone else, and how the literal loss of a member and the emotional loss of another made this once tight-knit crew become strangers to one another.

(mentions of episode five from the Interview With The Vampire show, so warning for mentions of domestic violence and general violence)

I recently noticed two parallels between the show and random moments in Anne Rice books. Mind you, I’m not thinking it’s intentional right now but it did make me go Uh.

The first one is not from the Chronicles actually but from the book The Witching Hour. It’s the only explicit mention of domestic gay violence in Rice books I can remember, happening between Julien Mayfair and one of his male lovers (who was a black man):

For context, Suzette was Julien’s wife.

Mind you, this paragraph is sort of a footnote - both because Victor doesn’t appear a lot, and because Julien is so fucked up (dude makes Marius look almost normal) that the narrative doesn’t linger on it, but it did caught my attention as an example of domestic gay violence that made me think of episode five on the spot as soon as I read this part.

The other one is from Prince Lestat and The Realms of Atlantis; I had forgot until recently that there’s a bit where Lestat grabs the character Kapetria and flies around with her without her permission, for her absolute horror.

The context for this is that Kapetria was forcing his hand in doing something that could potentially get Lestat permanently killed, and she was not being very nice about it. So the whole grabbing her and taking her places is a dick move to show off his power, but even then he’s aware of her fear and how terrified she is despite not being human.

And despite being a dick move to scare her, he also is not actually being cruel to her, despite how hostile things are between them and she being virtually a stranger to him, not someone he actively loves.

I don’t think these two scenes inspired the scenes we saw on show (unless the writers are playing random patchwork with Rice’s books and being real bad about it), but I always do like noticing little parallels that make me go Uh.

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

I can’t stop thinking about that thing where the writers had to say that no sir, they absolutely Did Not get inspiration for TNG’s Sub Rosa in Anne Rice’s Witching Hour, nuh-nuh so I decided to rewatch it to see how much it actually resembles it, so here we go I guess, starting with a shot of the wannabe Lasher leaving Beverly’s grandma funeral

The set is all in this Scottish-like planet, as Picard remarks:

Scottland is where it all starts, where Suzanne Mayfair comes from, the place Deborah was born and the place Suzanne was burned at the stake

Like a certain emerald necklace, I guess?

Lasher is known for causing violent storms every time one of his favorite witches died, and Grandma Howard has just died, so…

Presenting this without comment lmao

This is literally five years before Deborah’s canon birth date like why are these dates so close

This is LITERALLY the plot of the Witching Hour. Literally.

Ned Quint was trying to stop Ronin and trying to keep him away from Beverly, an Ronin killed him. Not unlike Lasher drove Petyr van Abel to madness and to his own death when he tried to get between him and Charlotte.

Ghost sex? Sounds really familiar…

Ronin can raise the dead and use their bodies, very much like Lasher raised the dead of an entire cemetery and used their bodies to pursue and terrify Petyr van Abel

Final conclusion: if Sub Rosa isn’t a blatant rip-off of Witching Hour, i really don’t know what it is

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

I can’t stop thinking about that thing where the writers had to say that no sir, they absolutely Did Not get inspiration for TNG’s Sub Rosa in Anne Rice’s Witching Hour, nuh-nuh so I decided to rewatch it to see how much it actually resembles it, so here we go I guess, starting with a shot of the wannabe Lasher leaving Beverly’s grandma funeral

The set is all in this Scottish-like planet, as Picard remarks:

Scottland is where it all starts, where Suzanne Mayfair comes from, the place Deborah was born and the place Suzanne was burned at the stake

Like a certain emerald necklace, I guess?

Lasher is known for causing violent storms every time one of his favorite witches died, and Grandma Howard has just died, so…

Presenting this without comment lmao

This is literally five years before Deborah’s canon birth date like why are these dates so close

This is LITERALLY the plot of the Witching Hour. Literally.

Ned Quint was trying to stop Ronin and trying to keep him away from Beverly, an Ronin killed him. Not unlike Lasher drove Petyr van Abel to madness and to his own death when he tried to get between him and Charlotte.

Ghost sex? Sounds really familiar…

Ronin can raise the dead and use their bodies, very much like Lasher raised the dead of an entire cemetery and used their bodies to pursue and terrify Petyr van Abel

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e:

I can’t stop thinking about that thing where the writers had to say that no sir, they absolutely Did Not get inspiration for TNG’s Sub Rosa in Anne Rice’s Witching Hour, nuh-nuh so I decided to rewatch it to see how much it actually resembles it, so here we go I guess, starting with a shot of the wannabe Lasher leaving Beverly’s grandma funeral

The set is all in this Scottish-like planet, as Picard remarks:

Scottland is where it all starts, where Suzanne Mayfair comes from, the place Deborah was born and the place Suzanne was burned at the stake

Like a certain emerald necklace, I guess?

Lasher is known for causing violent storms every time one of his favorite witches died, and Grandma Howard has just died, so…

Presenting this without comment lmao

This is literally five years before Deborah’s canon birth date like why are these dates so close

This is LITERALLY the plot of the Witching Hour. Literally.

Ned Quint was trying to stop Ronin and trying to keep him away from Beverly, an Ronin killed him. Not unlike Lasher drove Petyr van Abel to madness and to his own death when he tried to get between him and Charlotte.

Ghost sex? Sounds really familiar…