What We Do in the Shadows – The Campaign

By: Gladys Luna

Colin Robinson Embarks on a New Adventure

The episode opens with some sad news as we are informed that unfortunately, Sean (Anthony Atamanuik) who we know as the vampires’ neighbor, is no longer eligible to run for Staten Island Comptroller. Apparently and, according to the state rules, a candidate should not have more than nine DUI’s, completely keeping him from running. As it is expected, the friendly neighbor does not take this in a good way and decides to go and destroy as many posters as he can of his opponent Barbara Lazarro (Marceline Hugot). On the bright side, we are also informed that given that he holds quite a flawless record, Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) has been chosen to take Sean’s place. While in the Staten Island Comptroller headquarters Colin sees an interview of Barbara talking about his non-existent experience in the government – something that apparently makes him a weak opponent in her eyes. However, this does not seem to cause any single impact on the vampire given that he could not care less about winning the elections since his only goal behind this is to make it to the debate stage so he can perform a massive drain of energy. Therefore, with this great objective in mind, Colin Robinson hits the streets of Staten Island trying to interact with as many people as possible to continue feeding off of them while using the excuse of campaigning. And although everything seems to be working as planned, he realizes that there might be something missing on his path to achieve his goal which is to have the perfect wife to walk next to him through this (apparently, this continues to be an accurate strategy). Therefore, he goes in search for the perfect solution which is to find an old flame that turns out to be none other than Evie Russell (Vanessa Bayer), an emotional vampire (who made her debut back in Season One) who ended up breaking Colin Robinson’s heart. So, here he goes, finding his former lover in a “Staten Island Break Up Support” meeting where she has been giving herself a feast. He enters the room and faces Evie, who is surprised to see him there; the emotional vampire sees this as an opportunity to drain some energy from the participants in the meeting and says that she didn’t think she would seem him again after he walked away leaving her under the most horrid circumstances. Colin Robinson, who has no clue about emotions and how to address this properly, has decided to get her back and convince her to help him by using random quotes of different rom-coms which, luckily for him, works wonderfully on her. And to seal his performance, he gives her a replica of the necklace that Rose wore in the movie Titanic and kisses her. Both vampires decide to leave the place and while waiting outside the building for their uber ride they are kidnapped and taken to an isolated place where they are faced with the “The Supreme Council of Energy Vampires,” which happens to be a terrible mess until the whole situation is controlled by The Chairman (Martha Kelly). She informs the couple that Barbara Lazarro’s bureaucratic campaign has become a threat for the energy vampires, so Colin Robinson is trusted with the task of finding a way to beat her in the elections. At first, he seems to be reluctant to do it, but then he is subduing to some type of punishment that makes him change his mind. Now, the energy vampire is working with every inch of his being to win the election, but deep inside he hates it. So, he comes up with the idea to show himself naked while being on a Zoom call with the voters. Sadly, this causes Colin Robinson to have to withdraw his candidacy but also get broken up with again by Evie – who goes on to win the election for herself.

Nandor Makes a New Friend

Nandor (Kayvan Novak) continues questioning himself about Guillermo’s (Harvey Guillén) behavior towards him and recalls a few times where he was trying to have a one-on-one conversation with his familiar but failed at it. So, here he is spending most of his time at a new gym for the lack of having anything better to do and taking the opportunity to hunt for a new companion. While exploring the place, he makes conversation with a Jewish man named Alexander (Robert Smigel), who immediately draws the vampire’s attention placing him as a new target that he hopes to turn into a friend. Later, he meets with the gang at the mansion eager to tell them about Alexander and how they have planned to go to the movies later. No one seems to care about his activities except for Guillermo who is quick to ask him for more details making Nandor believe that he might be jealous. Once at the movies the experience cannot be any further from awkward while Nandor tries to make some conversation with the human who doesn’t seem to be so sure about why he accepted the vampire’s invitation in the first place. While the man speaks to the crew about how they met, Nandor takes the chance to use his hypnotic abilities to get as many boxes of popcorn as he can. While watching the movie the vampire cannot help but to talk until his friend and everyone there asks him to be silent. Time has passed and Nandor hasn’t heard back from his friend, which makes him believe that maybe their differences are what are keeping them apart as Alexander is Jewish. Therefore, he is compelled to make a tough decision and asks for Guillermo’s help to circumcise himself. Obviously, the newly turned vampire refuses to do it until he is left with no other choice. The next day Nandor goes back to the gym and waits for Alexander to show up; once he sees him walking into the locker room he rushes to show him what he has done – something that makes the other man leaving in horror. That was probably the shortest friendship ever. Later that night Nandor invites Guillermo to the movie. While there Nandor applies what he has learned and asks him to be silent.

Nadja is back to her roots and Laszlo turns “The King of Pigs”

Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) is still looking for a way to reconnect with her roots and decides to go to the Little Antipaxos neighborhood where she spends most of her nights with a family that owns a restaurant and has welcomed her as though she was one of their own. She even helps them waiting tables while getting herself immersed in the culture. According to the vampire this makes her feel almost human again and, even better, it might help her to get rid of the curse that has been haunting her all along. Everything seems to be working smoothly until Laszlo (Matt Berry) comes into the picture. The family has been showing interest in meeting him and Nadja is a tad unsure since her partner is not from the same culture. On the other hand, Laszlo does not seem to be opposed to meeting his lover’s family since he believes that courting her is as important as courting the entire family. So, he puts on his best Staten Island attire and shows up at the restaurant. However, much to his surprise, the family does not seem to sympathize well with him. Laszlo starts to make a fool out of himself and Nadja has to excuse him by saying that he was dropped as a baby and that is the reason of his awkward behavior.

Since the first meeting didn’t work as planned, Laszlo decides to use another trick while playing and singing for the family. However, he winds up singing the battle hymn of their foes. The vampires’ performance is cut halfway by the others punching him and throwing things at him for such a sign of disrespect. That’s strike two for our British vampire. Finally, the third attempt to be in her lover’s family good grace is when Laszlo decides to come back carrying roses and giving a speech saying that even though he is very different from them he is proud of who he is, talks about his battles and everything he had overcome. To add the cherry on the pie, he throws one more offense at them. He thinks this will make them mad; however, the family thinks that the vampire could be the incarnation of an ancient spirit that travels from body to body bringing luck and good fortune to the families. It is for that reason our dear Laszlo is officially welcomed into the family.