What We Do In The Shadows is an adaptation of the Taika Waititi film of the same name, which I haven't actually seen. However, the series manages to do a great job of taking the film's premise of a vampire documentary and expand on it.
What We Do In The Shadows is a mockumentary about a bunch of vampires (Nandor, Nadja, and Laszlo), who are tasked in taking over Staten Island... or the world... Well, actually they're not all that sure, but they have to do it before a Baron sleeping in their house wakes up. The series pokes fun at how out of place the vampires feel in our modern world, meaning that the main cast tends to fail at actually making any headway. While this feels like a good plot to sustain an entire series, the Baron actually wakes up six episodes in and manages to get himself killed. It's a hilarious comedic twist, but leaves the season's actual story feeling a bit aimless for the last few episodes. Thankfully, there are still a lot of great subplots, like a college student named Jenna learning to be a vampire, Nadja reuniting with her reincarnated love Gregor, and the familiar Guillermo trying to get himself turned into a vampire, only for the finale to completely wreck those dreams in the best way possible.
Right from the first episode, WWDITS is a very funny show, partially because of its poking fun at vampire tropes and partially because of its pitch-perfect cast, with the highlight being Matt Berry (Laszlo), whose comedic timing is just fantastic. There are a lot of great instances of irony, subversion, and anti-climax, and the show hardly actually takes anything seriously. However, being a comedy about vampires, WWDITS does also have quite a bit of gross-out and toilet humor, which I've never been a fan of. Those are definitely the weakest comedic moments for me, but the sharp writing and great acting even manage to elevate those parts a bit. Like most comedies, WWDITS does have a bit of a slow start, with the first half of the season definitely being weaker than the second, but the show is still really consistent in its quality to the point where even the weakest episode (Animal Control) isn't all that bad.
While the whole season was great, there are some especially great episodes particularly around the middle:
Baron's Night Out: While the Baron being killed off was a bit of a disappointment plot-wise, it led to a fantastic episode comedy-wise. While the show is already a bit of a fish-out-of-water story, the Baron feels so out of place in Staten Island that he makes the main cast feel like... well.. normal people. I love how Baron almost dies in nearly every other scene, but it only happens when Guillermo (foreshadowing?) opens the door on him.
The Trial: What a lineup of guest stars! Aside from the cast of the original WWDITS film (which includes Taika Waititi), we got Dave Bautista, Tilda Swinton, Danny Trejo, Paul Reubens, and Wesley goddamn Snipes! But even outside of the guest stars, The Trial resolves a pretty massive storyline as the vampires manage to get out of having killed the Baron, and Guillermo accidentally killing two vampires in the course of a day is both great and hilarious foreshadowing for the big finale twist. Unfortunately, this episode is so good that the rest of the season kinda suffers in comparison.
Ancestry: While not as large in scale as The Trail, this finale did have two pretty great twists. First is the reveal that Guillermo has Van Helsing DNA, a brilliant bit of irony and an exciting hook for next season. Second is the reveal that Laszlo is responsible for all of Gregor's deaths, another great twist that ends his storyline on a funny and satisfying note.
Overall, What We Do In The Shadows is great and its first season is a lot of fun. While it has a bit of a slow start and The Trial is a bit of a tough act to follow, the writing is great, the casting is fantastic, and all of the characters are very lovable.
3/5 Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment