Few exhibits on TV love a reset button greater than What We Do In The Shadows. It’s inherent to the cartoon logic that lets the sequence go fully bonkers as wanted: You possibly can ship a character into space, flip one other into a toddler for a yr, or in any other case deform your fundamental solid for shits and giggles, as a result of the present is so prepared to handwave the entire thing away as quickly because the joke has run its course.
Guillermo’s transformation right into a vampire was all the time going to be a trickier beast, although—whether or not the present ended up sticking with it, or, because it does in tonight’s fifth-season finale, “Exit Interview,” finally decides to stroll it again. Gizmo’s want to be a vampire isn’t some one-episode joke, or perhaps a single-season story arc like Child Colin was final yr. It’s a elementary aspect of his character and his relationships with everybody else within the Vampire Residence. Simply as importantly, it’s all the time added a darker shading to a personality who would in any other case be in occasional hazard of crossing the road from candy to saccharine; he can quibble over the small print in his talking-head chats all he needs, however Guillermo has shed a lot of blood in pursuit of what he’s all the time believed was his coronary heart’s deepest want. Reckoning with all that, and re-asserting the established order, was all the time going to be a tall order.
And, amazingly, “Exit Interview”—the most effective episodes of this season, and one in all WWDITS’ greatest “plot” episodes, interval—really pulls it off: undoing the largest shift this present has ever made to its solid dynamics, with out making the entire thing really feel like Lucy is pulling the narrative soccer away from Charlie Brown for the billionth time.
GRADE FOR SEASON 5, EPISODE 10, “EXIT INTERVIEW”: A
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However earlier than we are able to dive into all that heady stuff, we should, sadly, eat our greens—which is to say that we have to contact not less than briefly on “A Weekend At Morrigan Manor,” the different part of tonight’s two-part finale and likewise, apparently, some sort of divine punishment for all of the instances we’ve expressed out hopes of listening to extra from The Information this season, now that Kristen Schaal is formally within the present’s fundamental solid.
And look: There’s nothing inherently unsuitable with dropping the vamps into an Agatha Christie homicide thriller parody in a creaky outdated home. (And the episode does get occasional kicks from enjoying into these tropes, most notably with Colin Robinson’s more and more Branagh-esque Poirot beard.) However thriller parody has to work both as a thriller or as a sequence of jokes about them—and ideally, each—and “Morrigan Manor” does neither. It’s apparent from the second The Information exhibits up on the fancy mansion the crew has been invited to for the weekend that she’s behind the sequence of karmic traps that swiftly befall them, however the episode doesn’t attempt to play that obviousness for laughs till it’s approach too late.
The massive challenge, actually, is The Information herself. Kristen Schaal is a genius, answerable for a few of the funniest, and most heartbreaking, TV moments of the final decade. However throughout this whole season, The Information has had one joke, informed advert nauseum, to her identify: She meekly makes a press release about eager to be included; the opposite vamps ignore her; she shoots a tragic take a look at the digicam. That’s it, and “A Weekend At Morrigan Manor” tells the one joke so aggressively, so usually, and with so little variation, that it begins to really feel genuinely baffling that the present thinks the gag has this a lot endurance.
It’s not all joyless: The sequence the place Laszlo is trapped by an rising sequence of ambulatory fencing dummies is a real hoot, with Matt Berry reveling in tossing off swashbuckling puns whereas his stunt double provides his greatest Errol Flynn. And as soon as The Information reveals her precise intentions for the weekend, the episode picks up steam—not least of which as a result of Schaal is 100 instances extra enjoyable when she’s deploying precise aggression, versus the passive form. (The sequence additionally lets her co-stars play off of her as an alternative of simply ignoring her, for as soon as; Natasia Demetriou is very good as she tries to wheedle her approach again into The Information’s good graces from throughout the silver cage she’s been dropped in.) Finally, Laszlo manages to sweet-talk the crew out of their indefinite imprisonment by displaying off footage from the documentary of the vamps praising The Information (revealed, within the episode’s post-credits scene, to be an try and screw with Colin Robinson). By then, although, the actual injury has been executed: Nandor finds out Guillermo has been reworked right into a vampire by his buddy Derek, and, simply as everybody promised, he’s now on the warpath over the humiliation.
Which brings us, blessedly, again to “Exit Interview,” which opens with Gizmo holed up in a fleabag resort whereas hiding out from Nandor’s wrath—setting the scene for a sequence of surprisingly candy one-on-one conversations with the opposite residents of the home, every tipped off, in a method or one other, to the place Guillermo has been hiding himself. (Derek is not individual to be reliant on for clandestine endeavors, it seems.) Nadja, Colin, and Laszlo every swing by to say goodbye in their very own approach—which is to say that Nadja and Laszlo each get promptly distracted by their libidos, whereas Colin can’t assist however get in some bureaucratic needling within the type of the titular interview. Nevertheless it’s key to WWDITS’ tiny, black coronary heart that every one additionally manages to provide some semblance of a heartfelt farewell. We know What We Do In The Shadows isn’t going to kill off Guillermo. However “Exit Interview” treats the characters’ emotions in regards to the scenario as real, just about each step of the best way, and it’s a giant motive the episode works in addition to it does.
In the meantime, Nandor goes full Batman mode, perching on rooftops and staking out the Panera Bread the place he and Guillermo first met, sure he’ll ultimately return (“like a gazelle to a watering gap”). Kayvan Novak clearly has lots of enjoyable enjoying Nandor’s dumber and sillier sides, however he’s genuinely nice as a model of this character out for blood: targeted and good, with out sacrificing the character’s basic means to misconceive most any trendy scenario. And he will get a terrific foil tonight, when he errors a Panera-loving passerby for Guillermo—solely to disclose that he’s captured comic and actor Patton Oswalt, enjoying himself. (“Have you learnt John Slattery?” is one in all Nandor’s first questions upon discovering he’s snagged himself an actor.)
As the primary of a complete bunch of superstar cameos that dot “Exit Interview,” Oswalt is a enjoyable presence, gently advising Nandor not to homicide his good friend—after which offering a lesson in remorse after annoying the vampire into kicking him off a roof. That second of reflection results in a genuinely scary scene, as Nandor calls Guillermo utilizing his mother’s cellphone, having manipulated his approach into her condominium to look over child pictures/current an implicit menace. Novak and Harvey Guillén play these moments with actual animosity, as Nandor pushes on the one boundary that may genuinely provoke Guillermo into killing him. As an alternative, although, he reveals he’s merely there to reconcile: Guillermo can be accepted into the home as a full vampire as a result of, finally, Nandor loves his acquainted greater than his personal satisfaction. He even is aware of defeat that pesky Van Helsing blood that’s been slowing the transformation: feed Guillermo some human blood (the type of apparent answer that WWDITS likes to throw at a supposedly intractable drawback).
Somewhat than a cheerful ending, although, what proceeds from here’s a sequence of deft feints, because the present teases us with a number of methods Guillermo’s transformation may finally play out. At first, he appears to go full Lestat (or, in Colin Robinson’s phrases, a vampire “Cornholio”), levitating off the bottom and calling for his new brethren to assist him conquer the evening. The reduce to a restaurant that’s been completely savaged by the vamps, corpses throughout, suggests Gizmo may even have gone on a full kill frenzy. (Additionally, has Colin Robinson ever appeared extra sinister than he’s right here, casually draining a lady to demise with boring small speak whereas she’s surrounded by a sea of blood?) However no: Guillermo can’t convey himself to truly kill his would-be sufferer, regardless of Nandor helpfully bumping him on the pinnacle—citing, in one in all Guillén’s greatest speeches on this present to this point, the best way the scent of the man’s shampoo made him understand he’s just a few dude making an attempt to reside his life.
When he realizes Guillermo’s having second ideas, Nandor initiates the second huge feint within the episode’s bag of methods: pulling out final season’s magic lamp and summoning Anoop Desai’s Djinn for a welcome (however transient) return. There’s no wishing issues again to their outdated form right here, although, since Nandor’s out of needs—sending the ever-annoyed Djinn proper again within the bottle. With Plan A extinguished, Nandor’s pressured to get intelligent, of all issues, arranging a pretend “transmogrification” ritual with two functions: 1.) forcing Guillermo to confess that, deep down, he doesn’t actually need to be a vampires, and a couple of.) getting Derek in place so that everyone can kill him—revealing, within the course of, what really occurs if a vampire’s sire will get dusted. When Guillermo can’t drive the stake in himself, Nandor grants the mercy of doing it for him, restoring his acquainted’s humanity within the course of. We finish on a shot of a abruptly human-again Guillermo sitting beside Derek’s corpse, pressured to replicate on the prices his egocentric wishes have wreaked on his poor, dopey, largely harmless good friend.
Besides What We Do In The Shadows isn’t actually that present. So we get yet another surprisingly candy Gizmo-Laszlo scene to spherical out a season filled with them, as Lasz helps his little buddy drag Derek’s physique to Wallace the necromancer (a returning Benedict Wong), who raises the poor man as a zombie. (This comes full with a cheerful help from Haley Joel Osment’s Topher, who’s apparently adjusted very nicely to undead residing within the three years since we final noticed him in season two’s “Resurrection.”) The tip result’s a really specific type of What We Do In The Shadows completely satisfied ending: Derek won’t be speaking a lot, however he’s lastly acquired some new pals; Guillermo isn’t a vampire anymore, however he appears fairly okay with that. And no person needed to die! (Apart from all of the individuals the vamps murdered in that restaurant, and which they’re murdering on a regular basis.)
Wanting again over the fifth season of What We Do In The Shadows, it turns into more and more clear that, whereas the present clearly enjoys toying with these forays into long-form storytelling, it’s additionally by no means going to be a grasp of them. “Exit Interview” is the payoff to a complete season of teasing, however as pleasant as it’s, it may’t essentially justify, nicely, a number of half-hours of being fruitlessly teased. (In truth, you’ll be able to view tonight’s erratically paced two-parter as a microcosm for the present’s long-form pacing points as a complete: a complete lot of ready earlier than the present feverishly unleashes the good things.)
Kudos are to ensure that all concerned, although, for locating that rarest of issues: a sublime reset button, one which feels each earned and emotionally resonant. And all of those critiques have to come back within the context of What We Do In The Shadows itself, which continues, yr in and yr out, to characteristic a few of the strongest, funniest characters in TV comedy at the moment. Just about each character in “Exit Interview,” big-name cameo or no, will get a second that’s laugh-out-loud humorous, whereas the story zigs and zags in unpredictable methods. What We Do In The Shadows just about solely ever seems to be dangerous compared to itself, and when it really works—which it did as a rule this season, and particularly tonight—there’s little or no that’s as fearless or as humorous current within the comedy panorama.
Stray observations
- Vampire socialite Perdita Morrigan apparently holds a “Met Ball after-party so unique, nobody is invited.”
- “Shades of Bacchus!”
- Nadja, when requested to “soak up” The Information’s portraits: “Aw, you recognize, I noticed some artwork final yr, so I’m good.”
- Nandor considering Guillermo is a literal bloodhound, full with barking, is formally the “Nandor too dumb” bridge too far.
- “Aw, fuck it, these can’t all be intelligent.”
- “I believed you actually appreciated us!”
“I did…deeply and desperately.” - Sorry, Colin: Calling out the present doing a clip present doesn’t really justify doing a clip present.
- Oh, and the hex wasn’t actual, simply The Information screwing with Nadja. A few of you for certain referred to as that.
- Matt Berry does some nice bodily performing from his cage, Laszlo giving more and more anxious head shakes as individuals embark on dangerous conversational selections in his presence.
- “One other thriller solved!”
- “Perhaps if I wrote him a letter…”
“Yeah, should you wrote him a suicide notice, and really adopted by way of on it, then that would most likely cool him down.” - “Aaaand she’s joined them.”
- “How did you discover me?”
“Nicely, I simply took a map of Staten Island and laid it over a grid and seemed for any motels that shared a sq. with an Arby’s, a celebration retailer, or a sweater store.” - The Information introduced a few of the hybrids by to say goodbye to Guillermo; they’ve not gotten any much less disturbing.
- Guillermo’s first profitable use of vampire hypnosis: stopping his mother from staking Nandor when her hunter instincts kick in.
- Nandor explains that, relatively than dying, killing Derek will simply trigger Guillermo to “get a month older actually rapidly.”
- Out of all the cash Guillermo gave Derek, he “solely spent like $250 on ‘vampire garments’ that he acquired from Scorching Subject.”