Escape Velocity

A curated Collection of Fantasy and Science Fiction Media

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What We Do In The Shadows is a mockumentary style series, following three vampires and one energy vampire who are roommates living on Staten Island, New York. As the show progresses, we are given a glimpse into what it’s like to be an ancient vampire living in a modern world. Meanwhile, vampire familiar Guillermo tries to help the vampires survive while hoping that one day, he will be turned into a vampire himself.

Gosh, this one is quite hard to review.

Let me begin by saying this: the first two seasons are a solid 5 stars for me. I really loved them. Seasons 3 through 6 get 3 stars if they’re lucky. There’s the occasional funny moment but a lot of the magic is gone at this point. Overall, a “fair” rating for the show as a whole would be closer to 3.5 stars. However, the first two seasons are so incredibly worth watching that I bumped it up to 4.

I really loved Nadja in the first few seasons. She was easily my favourite character of the bunch. Out of the “regular” vampires, she’s the mature one, but she’s also really fun! Unfortunately, in the later seasons she becomes absolutely insufferable. I’m not expecting vampires who have lived for hundreds of years to “grow” per se, but I’d like them to at least be consistent.

The moment I realised the show had “changed” was when they started using CGI, specifically for the “original“ vampire. The CGI doesn’t look good, but it’s a nice little metaphor for the rest of the show. Being a mockumentary, What We Do In The Shadows feels quite “realistic” at first. The premise is “what would the lives of vampires be like if they lived in the present (and specifically on Staten Island)?”. The show explores situations like Laszlo being caught by animal control while in bat form, what vampire law and order might be like in modern America or even just “the vampires organise an orgy”. If I’m not mistaken, these first episodes of the show could easily be watched and enjoyed by someone who’s never before heard of the show. Everything starts and end with the framing device: the fact that these vampires are being followed around by a mockumentary crew.

Eventually, the writers seem to stop using this framing device as a starting point, but more of a feature that’s tacked onto the show. The show loses a lot of the “rawness” it used to have. You see it in the writing, but also the costumes and the overall production value. Everything looks much smoother and “nicer” near the end of the show, in a way that takes away from the mockumentary format. Something that really bothered me personally was Nadja’s hair. In the first two seasons it looked real, but in the last few seasons she wears some truly horrific wigs.

I finished seasons 4 through 6 mostly to write this review, but my heart really wasn’t in it. It’s such a shame, because What We Do In The Shadows started SO GOOD. Please watch the first two seasons, but once you notice the quality drop, don’t expect it to ever go back up.

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