What We Do in the Shadows: The Grand Opening (4x03)

Sometimes I truly can't believe the shit this show actually puts out into the world. Madness, in the best way.

Cons:

I'm struggling to come up with anything I'd truly call a negative about this one! In terms of the comedy, I suppose I'll say that the scene with Lazlo and young Colin Robinson when they're robbing art from a museum was probably the least funny to me. The stuff with Colin has been surprisingly hilarious so far, but the repetition about the Legos, and Lazlo doing stunts with the lasers, it just felt slightly less inspired than most of the rest of the episode for me. Not bad by any means, though!

Pros:

But Colin's musical theatre references, and his performance at the end, saving Nadja's nightclub, was genuinely so funny. I love how Lazlo and Guillermo are essentially co-parenting this bizarre little nightmare together. Guillermo is offering him encouragement and being such a good dad, and Lazlo is trying to mold him into something he'll never be, until he learns his lesson about accepting his weird son for who he is. It's such a creepy uncanny valley sight, seeing that adult man's face on the body of a child, but it's cracking me up every second.

Nadja and the Guide have to convince their special musical guest star for the grand opening, Richie Suck, to come and perform, and get him away from his jazz-obsessed, over-controlling familiar-slash-manager. Fred Armisen is hilarious in the role of the familiar. The jazz trio, Nadja helping to get the rapper back on his feet after he's been away from the scene for a while, all of this stuff was pretty fun. I love how Nadja is good natured but also extremely determined to succeed; she'll kill who she needs to kill to make this happen. When Richie does ultimately take the stage, it's to try out his observational comedy, which doesn't go over well with the crowd. I was oddly touched by Nandor and Lazlo both rushing to Nadja's aid when the crowd turned on her, but of course it's Colin Robinson who saves the day with a little soft shoe.

There's also an entire subplot in this episode about Nandor using one of his djin wishes to get a bigger dick. This is one of those moments where I despair at the limits of my own abilities, because how can I write about this and explain to you how and why it worked and was honestly pretty hilarious, without just repeating the jokes at you? Somehow, against all odds, this concept, which sounds incredibly juvenile, it works. I mean, don't get me wrong, it is incredibly juvenile. But it quickly devolves into a negotiation where Nandor and Guillermo try and predict any and all loopholes the djin might throw their way in granting Nandor his wish for the biggest penis in the world. Guillermo manages to catch one of the potential tricks, by instructing the djin not to make everyone else's dicks smaller in order to accomplish this, which I thought was funny and clever.

In the end, though, in an absurd turn of events, Nandor ends up with a massive penis, and also the inability to ever use it without thinking about Guillermo, thanks to a slip of the tongue. It's... freaking hilarious. I love how he's apparently all grossed out by this, and Guillermo seems a little offended but mostly just kind of resigned. Like, he's truly reached a place of zen where Nandor's intermittent expressions of disdain don't bother him anymore. You truly love to see it.

So yeah, that's that! Another solid installment. I'd still probably say last week's two episodes were stronger, the jokes a little more clever and fast-paced and wacky, but this episode had plenty to laugh at, and I can't wait for more, as we find out if Nandor and his lady are able to make things work between them!

8/10