David O'Hara

Self indulgent dramatisation of an alleged stalking, told by an unlikeable, irresponsible, spineless melt. The protagonist told the story to inspire empathy towards him, but by the end of it i despised him. He had every opportunity to prevent all the misfortunes around him. Each event was prequelled by a series of warning triggers, that any sane, responsible human would have used to avoid danger. The reckless behaviour of Donny, and inability to do the right thing, left me thinking that although he was narrating as a victim, he actually welcomed the drama that ensued. This left me as confused about the plot as Donnys own sexuality. Oh, and his 'comedy' is absolutely painful. Its worse than a drunk uncle at a child's birthday party in the 80's...

Read the books in my teens, so was very excited to hear the story getting revitalized. Fantastic casting with Lestat, Reid truly captures the Brat Prince! Initially felt there was a woke agenda by casting Louis and Claudia as a different race, and putting a racism arc in the storyline, but it worked well for the story, and made sense for the time period. Disappointed with casting a Bangladeshi looking actor as Armand, as he was a white Ukrainian in the books. I would have thought the writers would have been respectful to the situation in Ukraine, and stayed true to Armand's lineage, as he is a major character later on. Still early days, so hopefully they make it work in the following series. Great chemistry between the actors, and a rich, visual set. As a straight male, I would gloss over the homoerotic parts in the books, as I loved the rest of the story. The vampires in the books were also impotent, so I could appreciate their connection to another male as non-sexual, and I was comfortable in reading on. In the series, I felt conflicted about the visuals of the, sometimes intense, gay scenes. I found them uncomfortable to watch, but it occurred to me, that historically, the gay community have also had to tolerate straight, erotic scenes on mainstream tv. Though I still would have preferred less of the gay intimacy scenes, I cant deny the boldness of the writers/actors for including it, on a story that was never defined as sexually gay. It also allowed me to re-evaluate my own tolerance levels, to appreciate the story, which isn't a bad thing. If anything, it makes sense in today's (slightly) more tolerant society, that they celebrated diversity. Just my own personal viewing preference, that they don't go overboard with it. Looking forward to seeing the future incarnations of the lore.