The undying joy of ‘What We Do in the Shadows'

I’ve never much cared for vampires. Or werewolves, or zombies, or a lot of what fits into that general wheelhouse of creepy folkloric creatures that make for easy Halloween costumes. I had a yearlong Twilight phase in high school but that’s because I too fell prey to the captivating (problematic) story, but never the mythic beings at its center.

But TV comedies are a different story. Netflix stole my heart with Santa Clarita Diet, the show about undead Drew Barrymore and her family simply trying to get her from one meal to the next, and FX did the same with What We Do in the Shadows, an endlessly warm, witty, and surprising series based on the 2014 film by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement.

Like its feature-length predecessor, What We Do in the Shadows is a mockumentary about a coven of vampires, now living in the exotic land of Staten Island, New York. Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and Nadja (Natasha Demetriou) scratch the itch for their species’ Eastern European archetype with frills, accents, and centuries of bloodshed in their past; English Lazslo (Matt Berry) is just happy he can have sex until the end of time, and Colin Robinson (Matt Proksch) is an energy vampire who drains the life from anyone around him by being the most dry, boring, and arguably human of all of them.

Nandor tries kickball to impress a girl.
Credit: russ martin / fx

The beating heart of What We Do in the Shadows — not least as its sole human character — is Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) the vampire’s familiar (assistant) whose role has grown and stretched magnificently since Season 1. Guillermo’s his meek adoration of his employers was endearing enough in Guillén’s hands, but by Season 3, “Gizmo” is a full-fledged vampire hunter, tired of taking orders and eager to earn back the vampires’ trust… even if his chosen method of doing so is, in fact, to follow more orders.

This season has the vampires exploring leadership roles within their community, Nandor searching for love, a very enjoyable team-up of Lazslo and Colin Robinson, and an eventful trip to Atlantic City. Kristen Schaal joins as The Guide, to help the squad with their duties on the Vampiric Council, and the show continues to mine its fish-out-of-water premise for situational comedy gold with a pitch-perfect cast.

Much like the blood of our heroes’ victims, the jokes flow freely, from failure to remember Guillermo’s last name (again) to an exceptional bit about a The Big Bang Theory slot machine. The creepy doll containing Nadja’s ghost remains a highlight, deployed sporadically enough that I can forget her completely before the camera quickly zooms in on her tiny, terrifying body for an aside that I miss because I was giving a standing ovation in my living room. This is my Bob Odenkirk in Little Women, and I love it.

Guillermo Greenberg de la Cruz!
Credit: russ martin / fx

Like the best TV mockumentaries, What We Do in the Shadows plops you into its bizarre world and makes you feel like part of the family — whether that family is committing random murder, driving a car through a wall, or holding its own son hostage and sifting through his poop for hidden messages. They might slumber in the day, feast on human flesh and energy, and randomly turn into bats, but the residents of that ornate Staten Island mansion are as dysfunctional and desperate for love as any of us.

What We Do in the Shadows airs Thursdays on FX and Fridays with FX on Hulu.