What We Do in the Shadows: The Mall (5x01)

We're back!

Cons:

I will say, with this show being a pure comedy without a lot of significant character development for the most part, there are occasionally running plot elements that get dropped or shuffled off very unceremoniously that I wish could have been delved into more. The big example for me going into season five is Colin Robinson being his normal adult self again, with no apparent lasting impact from the time he spent growing up as a kid. I want Lazlo and Colin's relationship to have shifted in some way with the fact that Lazlo is basically Colin's dad now, and I worry that they won't take advantage of the comedic (and heartwarming) fodder that this scenario provides. So far, we don't have any hints of it.

Pros:

I love love love Guillermo de la Cruz, he is one of my all time favorite characters on TV, and this arc for him is already destined to be so hilarious and strange and different. We learn that he did in fact undergo a vampire transition, but so far nothing much seems to be happening. By the end of this first episode, the only hint we have that things might be happening is that Guillermo's eyesight seems to have magically improved to be better than 20:20, and that he seems to be craving a lot of rare meat. But otherwise, he's still fully human. He can go into the sun, doesn't need to drink blood, all that stuff.

And maybe the fact that he can hide his transformation is a good thing, because he finds out that a familiar getting turned into a vampire by someone who is not his master is the gravest insult, and that if Nandor were to find out, he'd be forced to kill Guillermo and then himself, due to the shame of it all. Dun dun dun! This show is so clever at coming up with the most impossibly overdramatic scenarios ever and then leaning into all the absurdist comedy implied therein. I can't wait to see how Nandor reacts when he finds out, depending on how the rest of Guillermo's transformation goes!

The flashbacks to the actual change were appropriately hectic and kind of stupid. Poor Guillermo just wanted a dramatic moment worthy of the gravitas of fulfilling his big dream, but instead he got the vampire in question biting open his artery, nearly killing him, passing out when his own blood had to be spilled, and constantly being interrupted by his manager at work due to clogged toilets. Guillermo spends a lot of the episode trying to downplay what a mess it was as he talks to the documentary crew. He doesn't want to get into the specifics of it all given the humiliation, and the inconclusive results.

This show kind of has to keep Guillermo a human, or at least not let him achieve his full vampire dreams too early, because Guillermo is the one main character with the dynamism to change. Everybody else has been stuck in their roles for so long! So I'm excited to see that they're not chickening out, that he did indeed get bit, but that something strange seems to be happening.

On the comedy front, I think my favorite bits were from Lazlo, he's often the number one funniest character to me. From him calling Guillermo a "bitch" for being upset about his birthday, to trying to explain the mall to the camera crew, having never set foot in one before, to his "concern" for "Gizmo", following him around to learn what's going on, I thought it was all pretty hilarious.

Nandor also has a funny bit going on that I'm excited to see explored more fully, where he's decided to pay better attention to who is, and who isn't, okay. So he's constantly going around telling Guillermo that he's okay, and trying to do nice things for him, but wildly missing the mark. I love the contrast between Guillermo thinking that the documentary would show a sweet montage of Nandor's kindness, and the fact that right now, for the first time maybe ever, Nandor does seem to be making a sustained effort to pay better attention and care for his familiar/friend. And Guillermo's not even in a position to appreciate it, at the moment!

Nadja and Colin both had their moments to shine as well; Nadja accidentally sat on doll-Nadja and is on a quest to get her broken legs repaired and earn her forgiveness. Colin is back in the work force, this time as a waiter, and his routine of energy sucking made me chuckle just like it always does.

Okay - onward to episode two, which is also available now!

8/10