Interview With the Vampire Season 2 Episode 7 Recap With Spoilers: “I Could Not Prevent It”

Season 1 of Interview With the Vampire ended with Louis and Claudia breaking free of Lestat by trying to kill him so that they could head off to Europe to find their origins and now, their sins have come back to haunt them. At the end of last week’s episode, Armand sold the pair out to Santiago and the Paris coven who took them into custody and this week, they are put on trial for their crimes against their maker — and Lestat is set to take the stage as the prosecution’s key witness. Here’s what happened in “I Could Not Prevent It”, the penultimate episode of Interview With the Vampire Season 2.

Warning: Spoilers for Interview With the Vampire Season 2, Episode 7, “I Could Not Prevent It” beyond this point.

The interview picks up after Louis, Claudia, and Madeline were taken by the coven. Louis is being kicked and beaten and claws his way out of the sack they have him in in time to see Claudia being shoved into the rat box at the theater. Louis is powerless to help her. They then end up on stage, dazed, with their ankles slashed so that they cannot get off the stage. The trial has been set up as a scripted play, but every time Claudia and Louis try to speak, the others mess with their minds, torturing them. Madeline is in a trance. Santiago makes a show out of reading Claudia’s diaries to the audience. Lestat arrives on stage as the star witness.

The play trial commences, fully produced and complete with animations. Lestat starts by telling his own sad story of difficulties in love, though his version of things is a little different than Louis’s and Lestat frequently goes off script. Louis says that Armand was forced to watch everything transpire and claims that Armand was trying to figure out how to save him. At one point, a member of the audience objects to Lestat’s love story. Lestat reacts by confronting the man and shaming him for his cowardice during his military service.

As the show trial continues, Santiago keeps Madeline hypnotized and Louis grows more and more emotional. Lestat speaks of his loneliness when Louis withdrew from him and goes into the audience, taking the hand of one of the men and letting them feel firsthand what vampire loneliness feels like. When Lestat gets to the point of the story where Claudia was made, he tells a very different version of the story. In Lestat’s version, he objected to creating Claudia because of her age but Louis begged and pleaded. Louis tries to make her himself but isn’t doing it right so Lestat ultimately gives in, especially after Louis said he would do anything to get Lestat to do it. In the present, Louis admits that that is really how it happened. In the past, however, Louis reassures Claudia it is all lies.

Lestat continues sharing his story and how Louis’ depression impacted him and how that lead to Antoinette. Lestat also gets to the big fight with Louis that turned so violent and it’s hard for him to talk about. His perspective is that Louis was just as violent, threatening to kill Lestat and he was going to leave with Claudia which prompted Lestat to snap. Retelling the story, Lestat is clearly moved and impacted by his actions. He objects to the idea that Louis was fine after being dropped from the sky. Off script now, Lestat admits he did it to hurt Louis and apologizes for it. Claudia isn’t buying it.

Claudia gets up and confronts him. She confesses to what they did to Lestat and demands to know if she gets to apologize, too. Madeline comes out of her trance briefly but his picked up and put back in her place. Claudia says none of this has ever been about her and that she’s just a shingle that blew off the roof of their house. When Madeline asks her if they are on trial, Claudia tells her it’s not a trial but a stoning. The show trial continues from there scripted and without a hitch. The audience finds them guilty and it’s on to sentencing. Madeline, who did not actually commit any real crimes, is given the choice to renounce Claudia and join the coven or die. Madeline chooses Claudia. Claudia is also sentenced to death, but she also threatens the jury, asking for a final request. After asking for a man to remove his hat so that she can see all their faces, she swears that if there is an afterlife, she’s going to come back and kill all of them — and even if there isn’t she will still find a way.

Then it comes time for Louis’s sentencing but instead of getting death, the audience pauses. They end up going with banishment and it’s shown that Armand was mind controlling them en masse in order to spare Louis. Armand claimed it took all his strength but that he could not save Claudia. Santiago is enraged by the punishment, but quickly recovers. Louis is hauled away and imprisoned in a coffin where he is meant to starve to death. Back on stage, Madeleine and Claudia are exposed to the sunlight. Santiago tells the audience it is fake, but the vampires know it’s not. Claudia and Madeline are burned by the sun with Claudia singing “I Don’t Like Windows” to the audience. Madeline succumbs first and then Claudia is ash as well, turning to look at Lestat before her final death. As the audience leaves, Santiago comes out and picks up Claudia’s dress from the ash.

New episodes of Interview With the Vampire air Sundays on AMC.