Ahhhh!!! I discovered this show during quarantine and I am so excited to be back with new episodes.
Cons:
Nothing really to report, here! More just a general wish list of things I hope we can explore later. There's this part of me that wishes season four had broken with the formula a bit more, and played around with the diaspora... the fact that we start with Nandor, Nadja, and Guillermo all returning home, and don't really get to see them having their adventures, is maybe a little disappointing? But that's maybe more a pie in the sky wish of what I wanted, as opposed to a judgment on what we actually got.
Pros:
Where to begin? I always find writing about comedies to be particularly challenging, because a lot of what was great about this episode were individual funny lines and moments, and it's not exactly fun for me to just list jokes and say they made me laugh. Suffice it to say, a lot of these jokes made me laugh!
Guillermo is the best thing about this show to me, so I love that his role here is that he's moving on but not really. It's such a funny tension for his character, to have him no longer hung up on Nandor and desperate to become a vampire all the time. He's got a boyfriend, he's not jealous of Nandor's quest for a wife, he's chill. But... he's still hanging around! He's got to take care of baby Colin Robinson and stop the house from falling apart. These vampires would all be lost without him, and he's going to keep helping them, grudgingly, even though his heart doesn't seem to be really in it right now. I love this more jaded, self-assured version of Guillermo.
I love how much the internet wants Guillermo and Nandor to be together, and sure, I think it would be an interesting turn for the story to at least explore, but honestly it's just the sheer comedic potential of them that makes me smile every time. I think it's just that the bar is so, so low here. In this episode, we get Nandor rescuing Guillermo from drowning, saying his first and last name correctly, defending him and sticking up for him a bit with Lazlo and Nadja, and you're sitting here thinking "wow! this is such a step up!" but it's so funny because literally just knowing his first and last name is all that it takes to improve on the behavior of the other vampires. Literally Guillermo deserves so much better, and yet we are seeing Nandor put in some measure of effort. So delicious.
I've got to say, the creepy baby Colin Robinson was the one aspect of this season I wasn't sure was going to work for me, but it's so funny so far. Just the thought of Lazlo trying to raise him to be the opposite of boring old Colin Robinson, the way everyone refuses to call him Colin except Guillermo, and instead keep saying "he's the thing that emerged from the corpse of our dead friend Colin Robinson", all of his destructive and bizarre shenanigans... so fun to see Lazlo of all people take on something of a parent role, and then Guillermo swoop in to do all the actual work, as usual.
Nadja got a glow-up in terms of self-confidence, as she returned from the Vampiric Council regretting that she hadn't made more big moves, and decides to open a Vampire Night Club! The Guide is against turning the lair of the old council into such a place, but Lazlo steps in with some psychoanalysis to help get her past her objections. They discover that in her past, the Guide was a bad vampire who had sex with a vampire killer! The solution? Send Guillermo to seduce her. Brilliant therapy work there, Lazlo. This scenario is so bizarre and impossible to fully describe. It really highlights my personal struggles with reviewing joke-heavy TV comedies. I don't know what to tell you, it was really funny! Lazlo saying that Freud got the concept of "penis envy" from him, the two of them digging through nested boxes in the Guide's mindscape, all of it had me laughing!
Nandor's wives... honestly, I can't say enough about how great this show is at managing to take a scenario that sounds good to begin with, and then spin it out into avenues I never would have considered. First of all, Nandor calling the men he was once married to his "guy wives" is absolutely legendary behavior. Secondly, the genie being there to... mercy kill? All the people Nandor decides not to choose? So funny. He's so bored. "You don't look like a djin." "You can't say that." "I just did." Contender for one of the funniest jokes in these first two episodes.
I could go on, but as I said, it feels fruitless to just start listing jokes I enjoyed. It's funny! This show, it turns out, is really really good! I can't wait for more.
9/10
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