Category: What We Do in the Shadows
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So, it’s a completely fine season finale. And by completely fine I mean, amusing and adequate. It’s intended to close off this season and prepare the next, with lots of plot machinations going on throughout. Until the final reveal, it’s mostly Harvey Guillén’s episode but not a great one for him. Looking back at the…
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“What We Do in the Shadows” might be done with the last episode’s A-plot, but it’s not done with the B-plot, which was Kayvan Novak being sick of being a vampire. This episode continues that subplot, which doesn’t resolve here either, making it one of the show’s longest-running subplots. Novak has decided he will go…
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It’s Stefani Robinson’s first writer credit this season on “Shadows.” She was credited on some excellent episodes last season. And Wellness Center has Yana Gorskaya directing too. So it’s got the right credits… they just don’t translate into an exemplar episode. It’s a perfectly good, very funny episode about Nandor (Kayvan Novak) joining a cult.…
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And it’s another exemplar “Shadows.” Season three’s rise continues, making all my concerns seem very, very silly. Trust in “Shadows.” This episode’s mostly Natasia Demetriou. Whether as Nadja or the doll version of Nadja, who decides she’s sick of being ignored and runs away. So you’ve got this adorable, foul-mouthed little goth doll running around…
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I can’t decide if I’ve actually been bearish on “What We Do in the Shadows: Season Three”—Rona filming and Jermaine Clement leaving the writers’ room being the concerns—or if I’ve just been bearish in general and it infected “Shadows.” Because Escape, the show has cemented its third season. It’d have to crap out in unimaginable…
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It’s a very situational comedy type of episode, with the cast pairing off again for side adventures before coming together at the end. The main plot is Kayvan Novak and Natasia Demetriou’s first time meting out justice at the Vampiric Council. Right after they decide who gets to sit on the throne. It’s a series…
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One of the things about “What We Do in the Shadows,” back in the first season, was the high number of standout episodes. Thanks to the lack of overarching narrative, week after week, the show could deliver these great done-in-ones. This episode is the first (and hopefully not only) great done-in-one for Season Three. It’s…
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I’m feeling a lot better about this season. Or, more accurately, I feel like I don’t have to worry about this season. Given the significant changes—filming during Rona, Jemaine Clement leaving the writers room—I’d forgotten the standard season-to-season change. They’ve been away for a while, the momentum’s slowed, the energy’s changed. But they’re doing just…
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The episode opens with a lengthy, hilarious bit of Harvey Guillén mocking Kayvan Novak’s lack of self-awareness. It’s terrific. And then there’s immediately another strong punchline bit when the cast returns to the Vampiric Council building to get a grand tour. Kristen Schaal’s around for the tour and that second strong punchline—as well as a…
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I wasn’t apprehensive about this season of “What We Do in the Shadows,” but there are a couple changes to this season I couldn’t help but think about as this episode kicked off. First, show creator and original movie co-creator Jemaine Clement isn’t involved in a writing capacity this season, which may take a while…
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Something about the episode having three credited writers (Sam Johnson, Stefani Robinson, Paul Simms) foretold it being a grandiose season finale. I can’t remember there being another episode with three writers. It’s got to be big. And it’s big. It just takes a while to get there. The episode begins with Kayvan Novak waking up…
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This episode is the “What We Do in the Shadows” equivalent of a dick and fart joke episode. Literally in the former’s case—the episode’s about a coven of witches kidnapping Laszlo (Matt Berry) because they want his immortal seed. Turns out they use vampire semen to stay young. Witches, I mean. The show hasn’t gotten…
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Traditional sitcom writer team—seriously, IMDb them (“Frasier” and “Newsradio”—Sam Johnson and Chris Marcil contribute this episode’s script and… well, maybe things make more sense now. Also they don’t seem up on the show because they don’t know how to use Natasia Demetriou at all. Distressingly don’t know how to use her. Anyway, the main plot…
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It’s a team episode—or more of one—with Nick Kroll returning from the first season. Kroll was a posh New York vampire who was in love with one of Matt Berry’s hats. Unfortunately, that hat was cursed and Kroll’s having some very bad luck. He’s living in a sewer with one rapping sidekick Mike Dara and…
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In addition to being the most Matt Berry episode of “Shadows” ever, this episode also has the best Mark Hamill performance since… 1983? 1980? He’s only in the episode maybe five minutes so it’s hard to compare with the Original Trilogy or Big Red One. Hamill’s another vampire, one who Berry stiffed for rent on…
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“Shadows” does a full Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) showcase episode this season (much more of a Proksch-centric episode than the one last season when he got a love interest). Last time he had to share with the love interest, this time it’s all Proksch. He gets a promotion at work and discovers the best way…
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So, remember last time when I was worried about Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) and his subplot with the vampire hunters and then said I shouldn’t be worried about it because I should just trust in “Shadows”? I was right, I shouldn’t be worried about it. This episode’s Guillén subplot has him now trying to infiltrate the…
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This episode leaves me with grave concerns—no pun—over Harvey Guillén’s continuing vampire hunter storyline. Vampire familiar Guillén has not only learned he’s a Van Helsing, he’s also proven himself a master vampire hunter already—killing off the Nosferatu sent after his familiar and his housemates. This episode has him meeting a team of would be vampire…
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Ghosts is a very well-balanced “What We Do in the Shadows,” meaning all three vampires—Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou—get their own showcases and there’s some left over for Mark Proksch’s energy vampire. Not a lot for Harvey Guillén, but he got last episode. The episode starts with the household discovering they’ve got ghosts. Or…
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So, there’s a lot to say about “What We Do in the Shadows”’s return, like how they figured out an amazing way to keep growing Harvey Guillén’s vampire hunter arc (as he is a vampire’s familiar) and how the show uses a time jump (summer is over, so we get some exposition—unclear if the show…
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What We Do in the Shadows is strong from the first scene. An alarm clock goes off at six. A hand reaches over to hit snooze. Only it’s six at night and the hand is reaching from a coffin. Shadows’s a mockumentary (though I sort of want to start calling them docucomedies after this one);…
The Stop Button 