Taika Waititi seems to have made his name for himself as a director with the mock documentary What We Do in the Shadows, a comedy about a group of vampires living in modern day Wellington, New Zealand. I’ve seen it, and I really dug the hell out of it. Waititi co-wrote the script there with Jermaine Clement, and Clement created a TV version for the FX cable network about a similar group of vampires living in Staten Island, New York. Can such a concept work as well on the small screen as it does on the big?
I’m actually inclined to think it works a little better. Season two just ended this past week, and I’m already missing it.
Much like the movie, the show is set up as a fake documentary as a crew follows a group of vampires around in their nightly lives. There’s Nandor (Kayvan Novak), a onetime Ottoman soldier; married couple Lazlo and Nadja (Matt Berry and Natasia Demetriou respectively); and “energy vampire” Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), who doesn’t quite fit in with the others and loves every minute of it. Balancing it all out is Nandor’s familiar Guillermo (Harvey Gullien) who does all their errands and keeps the house running in the hopes of being a vampire himself one day despite the fact Nandor is the only one who seems to even remember his actual name.
Season one ended with two big revelations. First, the threesome of Nandor, Lazlo, and Nadja were condemned to death by the Vampire Council for the accidental death of an elder vampire (Guillermo did it by opening the outside door and coming in when the Baron was standing nearby and the sun came in). The three managed to survive thanks to Colin Robinson (you pretty much have to use his full name every time you call him by name). And secondly, Guillermo learned he was descended from Dr. Van Helsing, meaning Guillermo may have a talent for killing vampires. Season two picks up on both of these plot lines as the Council sends multiple vampire assassins to the house, but Guilermo keeps killing them without the undead living there even noticing. That’s not too surprising as they barely notice Guillermo most nights anyway.
Granted, the season as a whole isn’t just that plot line, but it is something that’s running through most of the season. Rather, the vampires go off on various expeditions outside the house, whether it’s exploring what’s up with ghosts, dodging witches, or going to a neighbor’s Superbowl party. One episode shows Lazlo going on the run to escape another vampire (guest star Mark Hamill) who he owes some money with a new alias and a disguise that consists of a toothpick in his mouth and some tight jeans. Oddly enough, the disguise works, but that’s the sort of show What We Do in the Shadows is. The vampires are not overly bright or overly observant, but then again, outside of the put-upon Guillermo–who got some great comedic action sequences this season–most people aren’t.
The entire cast here is great, but I think the stand out is Proksch as energy vampire Colin Robinson. Robinson feeds by sucking emotion out of people, and he does so by being dull or irritating. An episode where he got a promotion at his job and felt his power increase may be a season highlight, and many of my favorite lines for the season are either from him (“Even I don’t know what my deal is.”) or about him (Lazlo says Colin Robinson apparently came with the house they’re staying in).
While the season does not end with either the main characters off the hook for excessive vampire deaths or Guillermo’s side job as a vampire slayer getting him in any serious trouble just yet, there’s still plenty of story to tell with these supernatural oddballs. FX has already renewed it for a third season, so at some point, I know I’ll be seeing more of these characters, and it’s sure to be more fun in the future.
Grade: A
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