WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS S3 REVIEW 🤩

What’s your verall S3 grade plus season rankings?

TARUSH:

1. S3 🤩
2. S2 🤩
3. S1 😊

AARON: +1 on your rankings. The same for me.

Favorite Episode and why?

AARON: S3E9 A FAREWELL is not only the best episode of season 3, but it’s also the best one in the series. The episode has a few A+ guest stars with Donal Logue, playing a real vampire because he liked playing one so much in BLADE and David Cross. Yet, this episode soars because audiences get the entire season arc for Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) and Lazlo (Matt Berry). And this arc magically transported from 😂 -> 😢 -> 🤢 all in the same sequence. To paraphrase a quote from the show, “I’ll remember this episode, even if it wasn’t written on a piece of paper that I keep at all times.”

TARUSH: S3E6 THE ESCAPE, but coming in at a close second is the subsequent S3E7 THE SIRENS. I loved THE ESCAPE for its combination of comedy, world-building, and heart. We get a broad glimpse of the vampire world, internal politics, and diaspora, all while getting great jokes, both visual and story-wise. The ensemble cast shines in this one, and there’s even a fair bit of special effects. All in all, THE ESCAPE is a near-perfect episode of WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS. 

Least favorite episode and why?

TARUSH: S3E4 THE CASINO was underwhelming – I considered giving it a 🤮. There was so much potential in this episode – casinos are the perfect place for a nocturnal, blood-sucking beast. Yet the vampires spend a majority of the episode sitting in their rooms. On top of that, they were just a little too mean (which they always are, but usually with a bit of human redemption). 

AARON: I agree that THE CASINO was a weak episode, but some of the one-liners in that episode made it work a bit better than my weakest, S3E5 THE CHAMBER OF JUDGEMENT. The Guy Pillow hawking bit, which takes up most of the episode, just wasn’t funny. I also wanted to laugh at the Agatha Christy-style board game Colin brought to the party, but instead, I was in for a disappointedly different metaphorical pillow-fight.

Who’s the season MVP? 

AARON: Can we give it two characters? Colin Robinson and Lazo’s relationship was the MVP this season. Their bits go from comedy gold in S3E3 GAIL to the heartfelt reveal in S3E9 A FAREWELL. It’s the reason I don’t want there to be a “super slumber” between S3 and S4. 

TARUSH: Yeah, their relationship is so good. For me, it’s a close one between Colin Robinson and Laszlo, but Laszlo narrowly pushes ahead due to the revelatory events of the season finale. That being said, the shenanigans the unlikely duo got into was the comedic backbone of S3. And on top of his odd kinship with Colin, Laszlo brought Shaun, a scumbag and his best human friend, into the fold, which is a driving force behind a few of the earlier episodes this season.

What’s your favorite S3 quote?

AARON: 

Collin: “I have my trail mix, not to eat, of course, but to shove into the crevices of the seats.”

TARUSH:

Nandor: “It’s gonna be a real eat, pray, love kind journey for me.” 

Guillermo: “What do you mean? You’re gonna pray?” 

Nandor: “Well, how am I gonna eat if I don’t prey on people, dummy?”

Can you predict what comes next?

TARUSH: I have a feeling that there’ll be a decent time skip. It would be awesome to have part of a season set abroad though, but for some reason, I would be surprised if it happened. Expecting a certain vampire to literally grow up through a montage sequence, but we’ll see. This season had a bit of a melancholy air to it, so I’d be curious if that carries over into the next season. 

AARON: More world-building has to happen. Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) both want change. Change equals a new story for the audience. I think the group will be more fragmented next year, and the story won’t just take place on Staten Island. 

What are your final thoughts?

AARON: You don’t need a “f*cking guide” to say the word “bat” out loud and transform into a fan of one of the funniest shows on TV. 

TARUSH: As I mentioned, there’s a specific formula that makes this show unlike any I’ve seen. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS is one of my favorite movies of all time, and the show carries the torch with a perfectly concocted blend of humor, heart, and humanity (ironically). The vampire fad is long over, but the WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS series proves that there’s more to be sucked out.