While I love WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, there are a few episodes that don’t quite stick the landing. Unfortunately, I think THE CASINO is one of them.
The episode starts strong – I mean, casinos are the best possible place for vampires! Yet somehow, I feel like this episode fell a bit short. Coming off of the excellent GAIL last week, which fully leaned into the satirizing vampire mythos, I was expecting another home run.
The vampires seemed a little too mean, and it wasn’t particularly interesting seeing them “without their powers” – I mean, they’re vampires! While it was sort of funny, it got old, quick. Also, the episode wasn’t even that interesting before the power-loss debacle. Nadja’s bit about knowing The Rat Pack was pushed a little too far (I mean, can’t she do the math?), plus Nandor’s Big Band Theory obsession felt a little forced. There’s also some randomly shocking gore that feels so out of place, even for a show about blood-sucking creatures of the night.
There are some great bits though, and they all came from Colin Robinson. While I complained a lot above, there are still some great one-liners, and Guillermo’s trip collecting ancestral soil from across the world was fun to watch.
The new episode of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS is available to stream on Hulu.
