(Warning: The following contains HUGE spoilers for Interview with a vampire Season 2.)

Any list of the “Best Episodes of 2024” would be incomplete without Interview with a vampire‘s Season 2, Episode 5 (actually, Season 2 episodes 5, 7, and 8 should all be included). “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape” is a highlight of the AMC drama’s widely acclaimed second season.

It’s the first and only episode in the entire series that doesn’t include a flashback to New Orleans or Europe, focusing instead on vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac’s (Jacob Anderson) interviews with journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian and Luke Brandon Field) in 1973 San Francisco and 2022 Dubai. Assad Zaman’s Armand was there, too, and he’s the only one of the three who remembers every detail of that fateful week in California—an issue that’s addressed head-on in the following episode. Before the season two premiere, I asked Zaman about his favorite part of “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape,” an episode that fans are still raving about on social media months after its release.

The episode, marked by the dredging up of repressed memories, ironically opens with Louis declaring, “We had it figured out, didn’t we?” No, Louis. You didn’t. This line referred to the dynamic of his and Armand’s relationship, which was clarified in Episode 4, but still serves as a perfect foreshadowing of the revelations to come. Dubai Armand spends most of the episode on an elaborate hunt that, as Louis describes it, ends with his victim “begging for death” within the hour. Daniel takes advantage of the 514-year-old vampire’s absence by asking Louis to fill in the gaps in his memory of what really happened between them in San Francisco. These gaps were revealed by an enhanced audio recording secretly provided by Raglan James (Justin Kirk) of the Talamasca.

The series of events that followed reveals two important things: an emotionally distraught Louis attempted to end his life but was stopped by Armand, and Armand gave Louis and Daniel the exact same memory alteration afterward. Everything Louis and Daniel remember in Dubai plays out in flashbacks, and what happened was a horror show. Armand left Louis writhing in pain for who knows how long after his suicide attempt. While he begged for relief, Armand terrorized Daniel, using his ancient powers to control Daniel’s body, move objects with his mind, and communicate telepathically with Lestat (Sam Reid), who was across the country in New Orleans.

Armand’s ability to get angry is clearly evident. Louis calls him the “softest, beigest pillow in the world” compared to the “fascinating” Daniel. Zaman says Armand’s switch from calm to anger “happens in the blink of an eye.”

Larry Horricks / AMC

“When you love someone, you often say the worst things to them. Sometimes we can be really cruel to the people we love,” Zaman explains. “Armand already has built-in insecurities about himself and Louis knows exactly how to poke at them. And at that point, when he turns the tables, it’s like he’s saying, OK, this is what you think of me after so many years? This is the impression you have of me? That I mean nothing to you? So I’m going to show you a whole different side of me that I’ve carried inside me, controlled and hidden from you for so long. And let’s see what you think about it. Is this what you want? Is this what you want? The boring for you? But I think even then he’s in turmoil. Even his threat is a chaotic threat of turmoil. He still wants Louis’ approval.”

“And then there’s this other element, this man who was able to open up Louis in a way that Armand never could,” Zaman says of Daniel. “There’s anger, frustration and contempt for this boy who accomplished things that I never accomplished.”

These feelings manifest themselves in cruel punishments for Louis, whose pain he ignores, and for Daniel, whom he tortures and tries to drain. Armand does not need to feed as often as other vampires due to his age. For this reason, and as a theater director, he adds a dramatic touch to his hunts, instilling a dark sense of peace in his victims with phrases like “I am the calm you have longed for.” His words are like a terrifying lullaby, and the most terrifying part is that he may not even need to use his supernatural powers to make people beg for death.

The preparations to kill the “fascinating boy” were Zaman’s favorite scene from Episode 5, the first episode filmed for Season 2.

“When I read episode 5, I thought, this is genius. We live in these romantic eras full of culture and life for four episodes and season 1, but then suddenly we’re thrust into this bottleneck that’s really quite claustrophobic because we don’t leave the apartment in San Francisco. It’s such a different tone. It’s so fascinating,” says Zaman, choosing his words carefully.

“We knew we were going to revisit San Francisco. We knew we had to, but none of us knew how intense it was going to be. And I think that’s a testament to Rolin (Jones, showrunner) and Hannah (Moscovitch, writer/executive producer) and all the other writers, who are just geniuses. Just so clever. It’s just so beautiful,” he continues. “For me, one of my favorite parts about Episode 5 is the final moment with Daniel and how I kind of bring him into his resting phase before I kill him. That was such a real, really interesting depiction of how Armand, especially as a vampire, kills his prey and how that’s almost like singing him to sleep and saying, ‘This is what you want, this is what you need.’ It’s so scary and dark.”

“To let you die, to let you die, want “It,” emphasizes Zaman, is Armand’s most impressive talent.

That and his ability to build his life on a seismic lie for 77 years.

Experience “Don’t Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape” and all Interview with a vampire on AMC+. Season 1 will also be available to stream on Netflix on Monday, August 19.

Interview with a vampireSeasons 1 and 2, available now, AMC+