In its final season, What We Do in the Shadows can’t stop looking back at the past. In the three episodes available for review, the FX vampire comedy series fixates itself on old fights, old projects, old wishes, and long-forgotten old friends. At one point, it even finds its characters caught in a supernatural loop that sees them act, briefly, as if they’ve never met each other. Instead of using that opportunity as a chance for a do-over, the show makes it clear that even the blankest of slates won’t change who Laszlo, Nadja, Nandor, Colin, and Guillermo are. What We Do in the Shadows has always had a difficult time adapting to change, and even in its final hours, the show seems dead-set on keeping things static—if not entirely stale.
It’s been clear for years now that What We Do in the Shadows was at its sharpest in its early seasons, when series creator Jemaine Clement regularly expanded upon the world he and Taika Waititi created in their uproarious 2014 comedy film. Clement left the show after season 2, and the show flailed a bit more after his departure, steadily turning its characters—and its comedy—stupider, meaner, and more stubbornly cyclical. There have been some high points since then (baby Colin Robinson somehow turned Mark Proksch’s energy vampire from the show’s most irksome character to its funniest), as well as some low ones (the less that’s said about Nandor stealing Guillermo’s boyfriend, the better), but above all else, the show lost its sense of forward momentum along with its original creators.
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When Clement left, he told Entertainment Weekly that the writers would have to figure out what to do with Van Helsing descendant Guillermo (talented breakout star Harvey Guillén). They never really did, and watching the writers spin their wheels with the sweet familiar for three more seasons, reinserting him into tired and toxic patterns again and again, has been the show’s inarguable low point. The final season at least seems poised to remedy this, as the first three episodes take Guillermo down an entirely new path while finally releasing him from the position of house lackey. He’s not entirely separate from the vamps he knows and loves, but they’re not treating him as a doormat either.
Still, character development among most of the remaining housemates is limited; while Nandor (Kayvan Novak) is more conscientious than usual, Laszlo (Matt Berry) and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) continue to be driven mostly by immortal boredom, and Colin by a keen sense of self-interest. It seems more likely than not that What We Do in the Shadows will close out the show with a Seinfeldian we’ve-learned-nothing loop, and that’s fine. The show’s faults don’t prevent it from being funny, and the new batch of episodes earn quite a few laughs. There are few flashy guest stars, but there are some great bits, from Laszlo’s penchant for leaving bags of guts around the house to the group forgetting about a previously unmentioned key character for several decades.
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The series also shows signs of life when it comes to its mockumentary framing device. Just as The Office started to deconstruct its docuseries premise in its final season, What We Do in the Shadows makes more mention of the camera crew in the sixth season, questioning its purpose and limiting its access in ways that make me curious about how format will factor into the series’ endgame. If it has a specific endgame, aside from supernatural hijinks, series writers are keeping it close to their chest. So far, the final stretch of episodes isn’t bad, but they don’t feel particularly like anything approaching an ending.
Still, maybe it’s enough to see these actors really nail the roles they’ve made famous one more time. Everything fans love about these roles is still there: Laszlo’s wild libido and even wilder pronunciations, Nadja’s girlboss aspirations and no-nonsense viciousness, Nandor’s sensitivity and misplaced confidence, Colin’s expertly off-putting mannerisms, and Guillermo’s brilliantly beating heart. It’s Guillén who gives the show its neverending sense of potential, and it’s Guillén who makes it tough to turn off our brains and enjoy it as a bit of dumb fun when his soulful, sincere performance makes us hope for a story that can match what he’s bringing to it. Whether or not the show will rise to the occasion remains to be seen, but season 6 has just enough going for it that we’ll stick around to find out.
Summary
While the last season of ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ is, so far, full of laughs and great performances, it also feels a bit stale (at least in the first three episodes).
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