I Watch TV: What We Do In The Shadows (Season 3)

What We Do In The Shadows (Season 3)

Having been ambushed by the council of vampires at the end of the last season and surviving thanks to Guillermo revealing his vampire slaying abilities there’s a reset – Guillermo is being kept in a cage in the basement (that he is able to escape at will and goes out to tidy up around the house). Later they let him out and promote him to bodyguard. The slaughter at the theatre leads to them being appointed to lead the local vampiric council, with Nadja and Nandor taking on co-leadership roles as Lazlo doesn’t want to and Colin Robinson’s Energy Vampire deal is something different.

I would say that this drives the plot(s) of the season but that’s not quite true. Often half an episode is about either a problem with the local vampiric council or alternatively something they find in the archives they want to check out, but that is often the B-plot (even if it does have some amazing setpieces, such as when Lazlo discovers his confiscated car in the archives and the attempts to get it out take up their entire run time before an hilarious conclusion). The other parts are about trying to be a vampire in Staten Island, including a couple of episodes where they are visiting some human friends and neighbours, and later when Nandor has doubts about this whole vampire thing.

The use of celebrity cameos continues to be excellent, with Donal Logue playing Donal Logue (turned into a vampire after Blade 2 because he liked the style) in two episodes, in each case filling what would otherwise be a generic bit part with a great sense of weirdness. Does it not quite cohere as well as the previous two season? Or rather does it gesture at having a season long arc and instead zig and zag about? This is a minor criticism, and the ending on a cliffhanger is also one because I have every confidence that it will be resolved in an unexpected and ridiculous manner.

Watch This: Absolutely hilarious vampires adrift in the modern world comedy perhaps only overshadowed by the clever character work
Don’t Watch This: Vampires aren’t funny and mockumentaries should get in the sea