REVIEW: The happening vampires return in WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS season four – Comics Beat

The first four episodes of the fourth season of What We Do in the Shadows were watched for review.

In the fourth season of What We Do in the Shadows, the unconventional undead family weve come to know and love return for a season fueled by the unholy desire possessed by Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) to open the hottest vampire nightclub this side of Blade. With more supernatural creature cameos and references to the on-site documentary crew than you can shake a stake at, fans of the previous three seasons will be more than satisfied with the vampires newest round of adventures.

While Nadja had previously departed for London in order to join the International Vampiric Council, she loses interest when she learns the position wont help her accomplish her personal goals. This is a fantastic storyline for the season: they are, after all, vampires! How would you want to spend your afterlife: sitting through an eternity of boring undead dudes talking about administrative nonsense, or serving as the host of the hottest vampire hangout this side of New Orleans?

Returning to assist with the establishment of the club is The Guide (Kristen Schaal). Suffice to say that in addition to a continuation of the excellent sense of style The Guide possessed in the second season, she is given a supernatural retinue and an appropriately depraved backstory here.

Meanwhile, with Nadja and Laszlo (Matt Berry) at a pretty stable situation relationship-wise, the ongoing sexual tension between Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and Guillermo de la Cruz (Harvey Guilln) serves as the main romantic subplot not to mention serves as a seemingly limitless source of laughs. While the queer relationship between the two has always played an important role in the series, it is foregrounded in these episodes in a way we havent really seen before, which only makes it more interesting.

Elsewhere, while Nadja works on the club, an ongoing subplot continues to explore the relationship between Laszlo and the entity that crawled out of Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch). After seemingly dying at the age of one hundred in the previous season, an infant with Colins visage clawed its way out of the energy vampires corpse.

If you think this is weird, just wait until you see the diminutive energy vampires arc this season. Wherever the decision to paste the adult Colins face on a rapidly aging childs body came from, it results in a bizarre (but frequently hilarious) dynamic. Over the course of the third season, Laszlo and Colin had an interesting subplot, and seeing that dynamic stretched to unexpected limits by a new father-son style relationship leads to some very engaging material.

But while Colin may be enjoying a second (?) childhood, What We Do in the Shadows is less appropriate for children than ever. Sure, the casual horror-style violence has always been played for slapstick, but the explicit sex, bawdy humor, and use of curse words has all been amped up to eleven for the latest outing.

Dont mistake this for a criticism: theyre pansexual vampires! What need to they have for decorum or modesty? Kudos to FX for leaning into the 18+ elements, and lets hope the series only gets dirtier moving forward.

The production values on the series continue to be top notch. You already know that the Staten Island vampire house is one of the best sets on TV, and this season adds additional recurring and one-off locations. This also means that the vampires world gets even further expanded, with loads of supernatural background characters appearing in certain scenes, and several memorable guest stars appearing in the first four episodes (presumably with more to follow as the season progresses).

And speaking of the shows high production value, the costumes by Laura Montgomery continue to prove outstanding. Pay close attention for sartorial allusions to the previous season, and although it goes without saying, prepare for some truly outstanding outfits from Nadja, who somehow has to top her usual lewks in order to garb herself appropriately as club manager.

What We Do in the Shadows remains one of the better interpretations of vampires, not only because it allows its undead protagonists to indulge in their sensual desires, but also because it leans on the fourth wall in its delivery (as all the best vampire stories do).

Thanks to its great cast, excellent production value, and willingness to go to some hilarious extremes for a joke, What We Do in the Shadowsseason four does not disappoint. After watching four episodes, its clear why this show has already been renewed for a fifth and sixth season.

The first two episodes of What We Do in the Shadows season four will air on FX Tuesday, July 12th, 2022 at 10:00 PM, and will be available for streaming on Hulu the next day.

Related

More here:
REVIEW: The happening vampires return in WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS season four - Comics Beat