What We Do in the Shadows has returned for a third season, something I never thought I’d see. Based on the 2014 mockumentary film of the same name, the show has surpassed all expectations with two incredibly brilliant seasons. Coming back for a third was always going to be tough and while this season is still very good, cracks are beginning to show.
The third season picks up from where the second season left off, as we discover what became of familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) after he murdered the entire vampiric council to prevent them from killing his friends. He’s been imprisoned by the group while they try and figure out what to do with him. Nandor (Kayvan Novak) is struggling to come to terms with Guillermo’s double life, while Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) and Laszlo (Matt Berry) are all for sentencing him to death. And Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) is, well, just being Colin Robinson.
They eventually decide to allow Guillermo to live and employ him as their bodyguard, to protect them as they go about their business. Thanks to Guillermo’s massacre of the previous council, the group are promoted to leaders of the tri-state vampiric council, assisted by the ever-helpful Guide (Kristen Schaal). Here they cause havoc with Nandor and Nadja clashing over leadership, Colin Robinson searching for answers to the existence of energy vampires as he approaches his 100-year birthday with the help of Laszlo, and Guillermo still failing miserably to get Nandor to turn him into a vampire.
What We Do in the Shadows has been a very successful series, and the problem with this is that it has set itself a very high bar, which makes it much more noticeable when it falters. This season is very funny and full of the humour and clever dialogue that we’ve come to expect from the show. However, one of the things that make the show so enjoyable is the characters sheer irreverence towards virtually everything they meet, and I felt like this was a little lacking in this third season. Nandor spends most of his time feeling melancholic and despairing about life, which is initially funny but soon becomes tiresome. I also felt like we didn’t see as much of Laszlo as we have done previously, and his attitude is usually the most irreverent of all.
This isn’t as bad as it sounds, and it’s still a good season that made me laugh out loud many times during each episode. I especially loved seeing Guillermo exercise his devious nature to outsmart the group, although I’m starting to wonder if the running joke about him becoming a vampire has run its course. He still seems to find the wrong moment to ask the question and there’s only so long that this can carry on, surely. There were also big shoes to fill from a guest star perspective. The first two seasons pulled this off to great success with some rather unforgettable scenes and episodes, but here there isn’t anything that matches up to its predecessors. There are some good surprises on offer here though and some incredibly funny scenarios that the group find themselves in.
Despite the criticisms, What We Do in the Shadows season three is still a funny and very entertaining series. It’s just lacking a little bit of the magic that made the previous two seasons so spectacular. Having heard a fourth season is on the way, I really hope they can recover from these minor blips and return to top form.
8.6
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A contract manager moonlighting as a rather discerning film and book critic, with an almost fangirl appreciation for anything made by Christopher Nolan. When I’m not catching up on my latest read or watch, you can usually find me trying out my amateur baking skills – Bake Off here I come!
