She looked at me at the end, like a child looking to her father. But I was never -

I just did a rewatch of IWTV first and second seasons, and I have to say I saw correlations between them and the incest storyline in VL's season. Lestat does not want to create Claudia, outlines all the reasons why creating her is a terrible idea and even cruel to Claudia herself, but Louis' hysteria carries the day.

But before you know it, they are a relatively happy family unit, and Lestat and Claudia are engaged in a father/daughter relationship even though neither of them calls it that.

In the throes of proud papahood, Lestat decides to further her education by taking her to a lover's lane.

Even Louis is astounded by that choice, and says something along the lines of "You took her where?" But that choice is not surprising when you know that Lestat is a victim of parental incest. He is only trying to bond with her in the only way he knows how - the way Gabriella taught him.

This decision triggers Claudia's identity crisis and sets her on the path of the disastrous relationship with Charlie. Lestat is completely ill-equipped to handle that situation. He cannot view Claudia as a sexual being with needs. She is supposed to be his little girl. She is supposed to reject the sexual part of herself. He falls back on his mother's lesson of the burning witches, or as he sees it, "tough love".

Claudia's furious, "Which one of you is going to fuck me?!?!" had to be triggering, to say the least.

So, their relationship evolves again into Lestat's fury and frustration of Claudia finding his parenting skills wanting and Lestat's suspicion that Claudia is right. Claudia raises issues that Lestat has studiously avoided by embracing Gabriella's abuse.

He is angry he was forced to make Claudia, angry about the limitations Claudia's creation imposes, angry that Louis has a relationship with Claudia that often excludes him, angry that her presence sometimes weakens his relationship with Louis, angry that Louis sometimes wields Claudia as a weapon or uses her as a shield. Angry that Claudia wants to be a sexual being. Why isn't Lestat enough for Louis is really a continuation of why isn't Lestat enough for his mother? Why isn't being Lestat's little girl enough for Claudia is a continuation of why wasn't Lestat being her little boy enough for Gabriella?

Claudia never knows Lestat's full and truthful backstory, but she does know that Lestat's relationship with her is largely not about her and that is devastating for Claudia. Lestat's sneering, "It was never you . . ." is multilayered. Lestat does not know how to have a relationship with anyone without sex being an element. He was never going to sexualize Claudia. Despite this true, decent, fatherly instinct at the core of the relationship, he is confused, uncertain, and unable to engage with Claudia. This confusion, this uncertainty leads to rage.

He does not blame himself, or his history of abuse. He cannot even begin to contemplate his history of abuse. He blames Claudia. And that blame and anger from Lestat spiraled Claudia into a child's plan of revenge. Kill the father and run away. Turn what could have been a loving relationship into a pissing contest.

Which in turn takes Lestat back to his initial mindset of Claudia will never be able to remain mentally healthy, and should not have been made, should not exist. She is a wrong he must right. And only with her destruction can he be safe and move on. The world will make sense again without Claudia.

It is only in her final moments that Lestat realizes that he is, in fact, her parent and that he has truly failed her. And that sets him on a journey towards the Long Table and facing some unpleasant truths about himself - including the fact that he did, in his way, love Claudia. And that he, not Louis, was her favorite.

I am sure I am missing elements - what does everyone think?