For a show's second season, there are two routes the writers can take. They can expand on the show's world and take the characters to entirely new places, or they can just keep doing more of what they do well. Season 2 of WWDITS is very much the latter, which isn't entirely a bad thing.
Plot-wise, Season 2 of What We Do In The Shadows is pretty heavily focused on Guillermo. After learning that he has Van Helsing DNA, Guillermo spends the season dealing the fact that he might be destined to kill the vampires, as well as becoming more aware of how mistreated he is as a familiar. Most of this season's episodes have some sort of subplot relating to this storyline, as Guillermo joins a vampire hunter's club, briefly switches masters, and in the finale, leaves Nandor for good. It's a really strong throughline for the season and gave the show a bunch of great emotional moments. However, the heavy focus on Guillermo means the rest of the cast doesn't quite have the same balance of screentime, as the season lacks the many subplots that the first season had. The finale does bring back the Tribunal, but that's pretty much it.
Thankfully, in terms of the comedy, Season 2 is far and away an improvement on the first. For starters, it doesn't have the slow start that most sitcom first seasons do, managing to maintain a high standard right from the premiere. Once again, I think the best episodes are around the middle, but the overall level of quality is just a little bit better than Season 1. In addition, I think this season does a better job of experimenting, from having episodes focused on characters like Colin and Laszlo, to introducing a bunch of new species like ghosts, zombies, and witches. I wouldn't exactly call it world-building since many of the species are one-offs, but it does add a nice level of variety to the show that I really enjoyed. I also think this season had a lot less gross-out humor than the first, no projectile vomiting sequences this time around.
Once again, most of the episodes are great, but there are some highlights:
The Curse: This episode really just had two great storylines that it managed to balance between incredibly well. On one side, there's the vampires receiving one of those "you're cursed" emails and thinking they're actually cursed, with a genius premise executed very well. But even better is Guillermo spending time with the vampire hunters club only for them to end up having gone on a disastrous mission that leaves half of them killed.
On The Run: This episode was absolutely hysterical, by far the best in the series. It's a showcase of Matt Berry's brilliant comedic timing that's so bizarre you can't help but love it, from the toothpick gag, to Mark Hamill as the bad guy, to the bar fight, On The Run is just nonstop hilarity. But my favorite thing about it is how it feels like the best unintentional Ted Lasso parody you could possibly make.
Nouveau Theatre Des Vampires: While not one of the show's funniest episodes, this was a great finale that changes the status quo in some pretty massive ways. The vampires know pretty much all of the secrets Guillermo has been hiding from them all season. They know about the assassins, all of Guillermo's kills, and after watching him slaughter most of the Vampiric Council in the course of a few minutes, they know he's a vampire hunter. Granted, they don't really seem to care, but I doubt they're going to let it slide.
Overall, while its overall plot is still a bit lacking, Season 2 of What We Do In The Shadows is just as fun as its predecessor, with even stronger writing, funnier comedy, and a finale that shows a lot of potential.
4/5 Stars
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