It’s part of both the ethos and charm of What We Do In The Shadows that very little that happens on it actually matters. With its focus on immortal characters who are immune to both consequences and all but the most superficial of personal growth, it’s a series that breezily embraces a universe of anxiety-free fucking around, and that’s where much of the joy of watching it comes from. (Also, it’s one of the most sharply written and acted comedies on TV, although you can probably take that as read at this point.) Moreover, this means that when the show does occasionally decide to tap into six seasons of continuity—as it did last week, with the reveal that “Nandor’s Army” was rooted in the fallout from Guillermo’s failed vampirism—it has a lot of stored-up momentum with which it can land the punch.
Tonight’s episode, “Laszlo’s Father,” is, from a structural point of view, a very normal episode of What We Do In The Shadows. We kick off with the introduction of a B-plot of deliberate and exaggerated goofiness (Nandor and Nadja do not know what an Airbnb is, and thus assume the various people rotating through their newly-discovered neighbors’ house must be a pack of vicious shapeshifters), while a more emotionally resonant A-plot slowly builds up steam. The Airbnb plot has a lot of funny stuff in it, including an early belly laugh from me when Guillermo irritatedly corrects himself that he absolutely has told the vamps about the online rental service before. It also features another dose of inventive camera work after last week’s moody showcase, especially when Nadja’s assault on the “enemy” is shot from Nandor’s perspective back at the Vampire Residence. Nothing about it this storyline is especially daring or revelatory, but it doesn’t really have to be: This is the Joke Machine running in fine working order, from the vamps’ eventual embrace of Airbnb home décor to Nandor revealing that his favorite movie is The Incredible Burt Wonderstone to a final cute reveal that the next door neighbor running the Airbnb really is a shapeshifter. It moves fast, it doesn’t linger on any joke for too long, and it leverages a basic Shadows dynamic (Nandor and Nadja enthusiastically flying off the handle while Guillermo half-heartedly tries to keep them reeled in) to great effect.
That leaves us, then, to consider the episode’s main event, as Laszlo contends with the sudden appearance of the ghost of his father, Lord Roderick Cravensworth (a.k.a. The Whispering Swordsman, Scurrilous Bob, The Barkham Bonedigger, The Marquis Of Manchester, The Blackfinger, The Night Dog Of Tresco, etc.). A role like this was always going to need some star power behind it, if only to keep pace/volume with Matt Berry. Shadows goes for an interesting pick: British comedy legend Steve Coogan, who gives a slightly more restrained, if also more salubrious, take on the Cravensworth family bombast. From the moment Roderick appears, provoking instinctive distrust (and a little light flatulence) from his son, you can probably predict how this dynamic will play out: Roderick will eventually charm everybody, Laszlo’s own defenses will start to falter, and then he’ll be revealed to be the shithead Laszlo always said he was. (This is pretty much Sitcom Bad Parent Tropes 101.) The pleasure, then, is in the journey, which not only encompasses Coogan’s character casually propositioning both Nadja and Guillermo, but also the sight of Laszlo breaking out some Victorian ghost-busting equipment—and a surprising focus on the paternal relationship between the younger Cravensworth and Colin Robinson.
It’s always been to the credit of both Berry and Mark Proksch that—despite the show playing the whole thing off as a typically anti-climactic, quickly forgotten joke—the season-long plotline of Laszlo raising Colin back from a baby has continued to leave traces in their performances. You can see it all over the Cravensworth’s Monster plot-line this season, with Colin playing the supplicant to Laszlo’s stern parent, and it comes to the foreground here, as Colin flocks to Roderick’s warm surface paternalism, much to Laszlo’s consternation. (To be fair to Roderick, he did do an amazing job of feigning interest in Colin’s high-security Funko Pop collection. I could have handled another three minutes of Colin walking an old dead British guy through his various vinyl Lizzos.) It all builds up to what is, for What We Do In The Shadows, a pretty climactic showdown, as Laszlo stumbles onto his dad preparing to steal his body for himself and finally calls the old man out for various sins against him—including humiliating him at Wimbledon, fucking his Latin tutor, hiring Rasputin to be his babysitter, and, of course, “Who can forget when you murdered mother?” (Roderick, annoyed: “Oh, not this again! Prove it.”)
It’s exactly the ham-heavy showdown you’d want to see between Matt Berry and Steve Coogan, with Roderick giving an impassioned plea to his son to free him from an afterlife full of poor people and let him have his first orgasm in two centuries. (It’s the one moment where you can see the younger Cravensworth relent, if only for a moment.) It all turns to pyrotechnics in the end, creating a rare “hero” moment for a show that typically prefers to undercut a big action climax. (Well, it’s “hero” moment set to “Night On Bald Mountain,” with a defiant Laszlo loudly declaiming “Prepare to get sucked, Daddy!”) It all leads to a surprisingly gentle denouement between Laszlo and Colin, the two carefully talking past their feelings in a very sweet way. Again, this is never a show that slams its hand down too hard on the “Heart” button, but Berry especially can shade just enough warmth and hesitation into Lasz’s usual bullshitting to make that final conversation feel a lot more impactful than it otherwise would—even as he consigns his father to a new hell of spending eternity locked in a safe with Funko Pops of Amy Winehouse and Noel Gallagher. (That Colin’s collection is entirely made up of real people Funkos—the weirdest of Funkos—probably has more to do with not wanting to clear characters than anything else, but it’s also a very energy-vampire touch.)
“Laszlo’s Father” had me excited when it was first announced simply from the name alone. And it didn’t disappoint. It’s a superbly balanced half-hour, the Nadja-Nandor plot-line getting just enough air, and just enough brush-up with Roderick’s charm, to give breaks from the Cravensworth family drama. (Also, we will now all presumably be telling people, “Bye Felicia… and take Karen with you!”) But the episode also knows where the really juicy stuff is, deploying Coogan’s guest-star power in a way that complements, instead of overwhelms, the show. With just five episodes left in the series, it’s the kind of offering that makes me even sadder to see it leave—but also confident that the people running things to know how to go out on the highest of notes.
Stray observations
- • “The vampires delightedly discover something that has always been just out of frame” is a joke this show likes (see also: Jerry), but that’s okay, because I always like it, too.
- • Also, Nandor is still crushing on The Guide.
- • I wasn’t expecting the best delivery of the episode to come from anyone besides Berry or Coogan either, but Harvey Guillén absolutely nails “I guess I never taught them what an—no, you know what? I did. I did.””
- • Steve Martin is catching strays in the historical depiction of shapeshifters.
- • Roderick got most of his nicknames from the finest man he ever knew, who saved his life in “deepest Sumatra.” He thinks his name might have been Glen or something.
- • “It also coincided with me showing him Ghostbusters II, and a week later, he ‘came up’ with that device.” (Colin Robinson showing people the sequel instead of the original is a low-key great joke.)
- • “What? You fucking did, it was me! I raised you from a baby, Colin Robinson!”
“You keep saying that, and people are gonna think you’re…” - • Roderick deploys a “rotten little soldier” when convincing Laszlo not to bust him.
- • The whole scene of Roderick effusing about his former butler/”psychosexual chess master” Cecil is gold, but Coogan leaning his head back and asking Guillén “Have you ever kissed a ghost?” is a hell of a capper.
- • Nandor and Nadja pull their mission codenames from 1960s Western TV shows (“Lancer” and “Rawhide,” respectively). Also, welcome mats apparently count as invitations.
- • Tonight, in acknowledging the camera crew: Roderick is confused by them, and Nandor shoots Nate the sound guy in the leg with an arrow.
- • “Yes, the British Empire. We plundered the world, but our museums are fucking great!”
- • Roderick, addressing accusations that he wants to steal the Monster as his “meat puppet”: “You think I’d want this wretched homunculus for a body?”
“I right here.” - • “Bananagrams, anyone?”
English (US) ·