Ty Watches "What We Do In the Shadows" Series Premier
/Two weeks ago a show that I have been waiting on for almost a year now finally premiered. "What We Do in the Shadows" aired its pilot episode, and I have to say, it was tremendous.
I was a teeny tiny bit worried, because I adore the movie so very much. But, they knocked it out of the park. I shouldn't have been so wary because both Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi were both attached, and gave their blessing. And man did it deliver. The pilot was pretty much like the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, with some added for TV type stuff. And it was so, so funny.
Right off the bat we meet the four main characters as they gather for a house meeting. The main vampire, the one who holds the meetings, is named Nandor, played by Kayvan Novak. He is so good as the typical fish out of water, that just wants things to run smoothly. He wants to have house meetings. He wants things to look nice for guests. He wants to make sure that the house is cleaned up after they have their feedings. He wants everyone to get along. One of my favorite scenes in the pilot revolved around him going to the store to get decorations for a big visitor, and he keeps calling crepe paper, "creepy" paper. It was hilarious. He also lights a paper skeleton on fire with a snap of the finger because he finds it classless.
We then meet the married vampires, Nadja, played by Natasia Demetriou, and Laszlo, played by Matt Berry. Nadja is a riot. She clearly doesn't like Laszlo, but due to circumstance and situation, it is best for her. She also creepily stalks a guy that she thinks is a reincarnation of a former lover of hers. The way she laughs is also very awkward, but also very funny. Matt Berry is a treasure. I am a big time fan of his, and to see him, finally, on a main stream, network-ish type show is well overdue. He is funny. He is dry and he rules. He also is pretty unhappy with his arrangement, but he accepts it. He loves to go hunt for food at night. He doesn't care for the house meetings, and voices his opinions loudly. And he sure loves to turn into a bat because he can fly instead of walk, which he doesn't care for either. I'm so excited to see where they take his character from here.
We also meet Nandor's familiar, a human that works for the vampire, Guillermo, played by Harvey Guillen. He is so sad and lonely, but Guillen plays it hilariously. To see him talk about why he wants to become vampire, due to a role by Antonio Banderas, was great. To see him clean the house, riotous. And to see him get "food" for his leaders, just tremendous. He is so funny. He clearly just wants to be turned into a vampire, but it seems like it will never come.
We also meet an energy vampire, and this was, in my opinion, the funniest part of the whole pilot. The energy vampire is named Colin, played by Mark Proksch. He is hilarious. To see him explain why he is a vampire made me howl. He talks about being the guy in the office that either talks about nonsensical things until the person is so bored they fall asleep, or to enrage people. To enrage people in the office, they show him jam a pencil into an electronic pencil sharpener over and over again. It was great. The other vampires also despise him. When they have people over to feed one night, they hide him away. But, he ends up talking to the victims, and he has bored them so much that their blood has no nutritional value. Again, it was so funny.
I'm so excited the show is finally on, and that it lived up to my personal hype. I cannot wait to watch the rest of the season, and to see it get renewed, hopefully, for many, many seasons. It is a treat.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He likes to annoy people in his office with demands like eating vegetables and taking naps. It is a good thing his office is his house and the other tenants are his kids. Otherwise it would just be creepy.
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