What We Do in the Shadows: Private School (4x05)

Ha, this was a lot of fun!

Cons:

I think they could have wrung even more out of the concept on this one, I really liked the bits of Nandor/Lazlo, and all the different flashes of the different family configurations, but when it got to the part where they were flashing through the different setups, I was bummed out that we didn't get to see more of some of them, especially Guillermo partnered with each of the three vampires. Guillermo/Nadja? That could have been hilarious, and they didn't really go in for all the potential jokes they could have done there.

That's more a complaint about what we didn't get, as opposed to what was on the screen, though. I overall really liked this episode, but I will admit that young Colin Robinson is starting to wear kind of thin on me. He's not as funny as adult energy vampire Colin Robinson, and I hope that we get him back when this weird creature is fully grown.

Pros:

But as I said, this was so much fun! One of the gifts of this show is their ability to take an absurd premise and run with it. This week, it's all about getting Colin into school, so they invite the headmaster of a private school over with the help of Sean, their neighbor, and then spend the whole day constantly wiping his mind and starting over with different family setups and gimmicks in order to win Colin a spot in the school. I'm not going to just sit here and list jokes, but suffice it to say, a lot of this made me chuckle. Lazlo and Nandor's explicit sex talk, coupled with the episode button at the end that revealed that it wasn't entirely a lie, was pretty funny. Guillermo stepping in and being Colin's "single dad", while Nandor looks on in irritation, and also Guillermo being the only one who knows actual information about Colin, is really funny to watch. Lazlo's delight about being partnered with Sean, his disgust about being partnered with Guillermo, the switch when the headmaster is suddenly supposed to be one of Colin's parents... all of this was pretty clever and ridiculous.

Meanwhile, the djinn is still around and granting Nandor wishes, causing him to look like he's had a lot of bad plastic surgery as he attempts to make minor improvements to his physical appearance. I love the building suspense of how many more wishes Nandor has left, and when he's going to run out... I can't wait for the punchline.

And then, for maybe my favorite part of this episode, the reveal that Guillermo has been embezzling money from the night club! I just adored this reveal, where we see him helping his family to move, using money he's taking without telling anyone. But honestly! Guillermo deserves to be paid. The way he says he has two families, and he's just trying to look after them? That was bad-ass. I love Guillermo being just like a straight-up bad person in so many different ways, and how much I still completely and utterly root for him no matter what he's up to. It's such a fun vibe for the show!

I love how much character we sometimes get out of the people behind the cameras, it's always fun when they find new ways of incorporating their core gimmick into things. The fact that they followed Guillermo, apparently just out of curiosity, and then refused to take Guillermo's bribe, is kind of fascinating to me. I wonder what the "endgame", so to speak, is going to be with the mockumentary setup, if in fact they decide to do anything with it at all!

So that's that. We end with the unsurprising revelation that Nadja is also stealing money from the club, so we'll have to see how long they can keep things rolling when so much of their money is disappearing...

8.5/10