TV Review: ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ Season 5, Episode 9 — A Minor Character Shines
by Frank Martin
It feels good when a series starts to culminate towards an inevitable plot line. That’s exactly what happened in this installment of What We Do in the Shadows. The episode was also structured in the classic format of a murder mystery and it was nice to see the show take a tired trope and put their own vampiric spin on it. It also did a good job of taking a minor character and pushing her into the spotlight. The Guide (Kristen Schaal) has more or less been window dressing this season. She started off mainly as a guest. Now that she’s been promoted to series regular, she’s largely been pushed aside. This week’s episode changed all that.
The episode begins with the Guide wanting the others to attend an art gallery she is in, which they show no interest in doing. Instead, they get an invitation to a party hosted by a famous vampire. But when they get there, they realize that nobody else has arrived. One by one, the vampires get picked off, revealing that it was actually the Guide who set up the whole thing to get back at them for ignoring her. After this confession, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) finally reveals to Nandor (Kayvan Novak) that he is a vampire. This sets Nandor off and the episode ends with Guillermo getting a head start before Nandor tries to kill him.
Throughout the season, the Guide has really been pushed aside. It’s easy for audiences to just write that off as poor storytelling, but this episode is a payoff for something that has been happening in the background of the show. The Guide is able to step up and prove herself as a character in her own right. The fact that it happens alongside the culmination of Guillermo’s storyline makes this a particularly strong episode. Of course, it ends on a cliffhanger, so fans will have to wait until next episode for the big payoff.
What We Do in the Shadows streams Fridays on Hulu.
