Early in the pandemic, season two of What We Do in the Shadows was very much a welcome relief from, well, everything. There may have been a lot of confusion and uncertainty, but spending a half hour or so with a group of comedic vampires filming a documentary about their lives in Staten Island sure was fun. I won’t say it fixed everything, but it was fun and funny and made me feel better.
Now that season three has ended and vaccines are available in many places, does that mean the show was any less welcome? Not at all! But I do write reviews here, and this season I finally got at least one friend to catch up, so that made this year every bit as memorable in its own way.
Now, you’d think Guillermo’s (Harvey Guillen) killing a large number of high ranking vampires to protect the others from execution would have gotten the lot of them in even more trouble. But not so much. Seeing a vacancy and since game recognizes game, the World Wide Vampire Council promotes the main characters to being in charge of the region themselves while promoting Guillermo from “familiar” to “bodyguard”. While that does suggest a power vacuum between the main characters, it mostly comes down to Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) continually contradicting each other. Nadja’s husband Lazlo (Matt Berry) meanwhile starts spending more time with energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) for reasons that eventually become clear. Colin Robinson himself is mostly a bit curious about his own kind, following up what felt like a throwaway line from last season that not even he knew what his whole deal was with a storyarc this season, though not one he personally stays focused on as much as he could given all the time Lazlo is spending with him. And while Nadja seems to be thriving as a leader of the Vampire Council, Nandor is sinking into a bit of a funk over what looks like a mid-life crisis spurred in part by an unfulfilled love life.
Such is the lives of the main characters, but that’s not generally what the show is about. For the most part, each episode features the character either going through some aspect of being a vampire or interacting with the other supernatural beings in the area, including the Vampire Sire and founder of their kind, talking gargoyles, that pack of werewolves they always seem to run afoul of, and even a siren. We get to see more of Kristen Schaal as “the Guide,” a vampire messenger who explains how the Council thing works and summons them when big things are afoot, but part of that seems to be an excuse for her to shoot around in smoke form. There’s a hellhound and the return of the Nadja doll that holds Nadja’s human ghost in it because vampires don’t have souls and the souls have to go somewhere. And while none of this season’s guest stars reach the comedic heights of Mark Hamill’s Jim the Vampire from season two, we do get at least one unexpected return.
As far as overall plot goes, there is character growth, particularly from Guillermo. My friend the new fan speculates Guillermo is smitten with Nandor, and while she is prone to making those guesses fairly frequently, this may be the first time I can possibly agree with the assessment as Guillermo is either in love with his master or he’s so invested in becoming a vampire that he really has nothing else in his life, even as he continues to serve his undead masters while they debate what to do with him in the season premier. I tend to think of Colin Robinson as the consistently funniest character on a show full of consistently funny characters, but Guillermo might be starting to catch up, even as Lazlo and Nadja still seem to think his name is Gizmo.
The season finale ended with the characters in uncertain places, scattered, and in ways that are bound to create comedic drama between the housemates when they reunite. Season four is reportedly being filmed as I type this, and I know I am looking forward to see where they go next with this wild and sometimes darkly funny show. For this season, the highlight was easily the vampire’s trip to Atlantic City, something that was somewhat recognizable to anyone like myself who actually grew up in New Jersey. Granted, then you toss the undead into the mix with their at best partial understanding of the humans they feed on, and we end with a boxing match and a bit of gambling as Lazlo attempts to help his human friend and neighbor Sean a little too well. In the meantime, I will just patiently wait for the series’ return sometime in 2022.
Grade: A
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