Théâtre Des Vampires
The season 2 finale ends this year’s edition of What We Do in the Shadows in the best possible way. It rounds out all the big story threads we’ve had, ties in nicely to the first season and tops it all off with a wonderful dose of humour that ends this vampire series with an almighty roar and the perfect curtain call. The episode itself begins with Nandor awakening and no Guillermo in sight. A single note in his room reads “Sorry”. A week passes and still Guillermo is nowhere to be found, leaving the vampires to fend for themselves. In his absence, an abundance of dead bodies wind up strewn around the house. The group clearly need Guillermo more than they thought as the vampires struggle to wash their clothes and end up wearing joggers and sport tops. As they try to bring Guillermo back, the group struggle to remember his full name and end up stuck once more. However, things take a positive turn when they’re invited to the prestigious Théâtre Des Vampires. Their happiness is quelled though when they realize they need Guillermo to wash their clothes. However, Colin Robinson decides to go on a “mission” to save them all. That mission comes in the form of the dry cleaners. In the Bronx, ex-familiar Guillermo heads back home but finds himself missing the vampires too much. He arrives back in Staten Island to check on them but finds the house empty save for the possessed doll. As he notices the theatre invitation, he suddenly realizes to his horror that it’s actually from the vampire council. Realizing this means they’re going to be killed, Guillermo races out to try and save them before it’s too late. At the theatre, the four vampires are captured under grounds of killing their own kind. Feigning ignorance, they watch as the play shows the different vampires being killed but, as we already know, most of these were offed by Guillermo – including the family of vampires that Guillermo and the vampire hunters slaughtered several episodes ago. The grand finale comes from the four being marched onto the stage while Guillermo lurks in the shadows, listening. Nandor tells them all he killed his familiar and tries to vouch for him but it all ends up in vain. Just before they’re killed however, Guillermo arrives and fights his way through the crowd, killing vampires as his four friends on stage watch him, dumbfounded. In the wake of slaughtering all the vampires and embracing his heritage, Nandor asks Guillermo if he’s forgetting to tell them something… the laundry. What a lovely way to end the series! This episode does a great job capturing all the big themes and narrative threads of the season and ties them in beautifully with a suitably epic episode. The humour is on point all the way through, each of the characters are given the chance to shine, while Guillermo’s secret is finally revealed. Surprisingly, none of our vampires seem to mind too much but I’d imagine this will become more of a central theme in the inevitable third season. What We Do in the Shadows has been one of the best comedies of the year and the second season has certainly had a lot of really good episodes. Quite what the third season has in store for us remains to be seen but one thing’s for sure – Shadows has a lot more left in the tank yet.
