TV Review: ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Season 5, Episode 4
by Frank Martin
It’s no surprise that the What We Do in the Shadows episode that departed from Guillermo’s storyline of being a half vampire is its worst of the season. That’s not to say it’s a bad episode. There’s still tons to love about it. But it doesn’t move the major narrative forward in any meaningful way. Instead, it gave fans a bunch of side stories that may or may not play a larger role later on. It’s just not as obvious as with Guillermo’s storyline whether or not these plot threads will have legs. While two can certainly be dismissed, there was one that was definitely more interesting and, hopefully, will be revisited.
Now that Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) is trying to hide his vampire nature from Nandor (Kayvan Novak), it forces Nandor to go out and look for another friend and companion. He starts this by going to the local gym, where he meets a Jewish man that he’s quite fascinated with. Meanwhile, Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) tries to introduce Laszlo (Matt Berry) to the friends that she made in the neighborhood that came from her Greek village. Laszlo doesn’t start off too well, but it turns out that her culture has a story about a bumbling idiot that brings good luck, so he eventually finds his footing with them. The most compelling part of the episode focuses on Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) as he runs for comptroller of Staten Island. He originally does it to drain people of their energy, but the council of energy vampires implores him to win.
So far, Colin Robinson hasn’t played a tremendously large role in this season, which is strange considering just how big of a part he played evolving in the last season. The reason his character is so compelling is because energy vampires are a bit of a mystery. Audiences are generally familiar with the classical vampire that the others embody. Energy vampires are mysterious, even to Colin Robinson himself. So to be taken to the council of energy vampires and see how they operate is a great development for the show. Hopefully they will expand upon this in future episodes and the secrets behind the energy vampire lineage will be revealed.
What We Do in the Shadows streams Fridays on Hulu.