i think partly why a lot of people r struggling so much with 2.08 is because theyre wrongfully interpreting it as the start of some sort of "redemption" (empty word) for lestat but thats so surface level. he does not even come out of these episodes looking good at all . regardless of whatever remorse he now feels he participated in and was the figurehead for his daughter’s lynching after years of abusing her then abandoned louis to armand out of … what? self pity? he knows armand (at least helped to) kill his last lover! they'd just been practising a show that would put louis to death! he knew the sort of abuse he would be leaving louis vulnerable to. and ppl see the final scene as lestat being rewarded for these transgressions when honestly it doesn’t have anything to with lestat as a character or his “redemption” at all its about louis. he forgives lestat whether its earned or not for himself so that HE can draw a line in the sand and go on to try and live honestly as he says . "i came to thank you [...] for the nights in front of me" its about him moving forward alongside his history and his grief. the season puts forward the question of who and what can i be when i carry such immense trauma in me? are you broken louis? and this is him saying no in front of the only person left who could possibly understand what that no means... he is born a vampire in the confessional box and returns to it now with lestat only this time he walks away by himself as his own companion its so great