‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Review: Season 4 Is Familiar, But Still Wickedly Funny

Has the newness worn off FX’s comedy “What We Do in the Shadows”? The first four episodes of the fourth season of the critical darling sometimes feel like this show may be approaching a writing plateau. Some of the peaks of the comedy from the end of season one and through most of season two feel in the rearview mirror. However, it’s a tough line to walk critically—just because this adaptation of the film by Jemaine Clement & Taika Waititi isn’t at its absolute best doesn’t mean it’s not still incredibly sharp and often laugh-out-loud funny, which is more than can be said about most TV comedies. While there’s reason for concern to begin brewing in the critical cauldron about how long the writers can maintain this concept before they run out of ideas, they haven’t quite done so yet, and the incredible ensemble helps reduce any sense that the show will jump the shark this season. Even though there may be reason to worry for the first time in this show’s run, these vamps definitely aren’t dead yet.

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While the end of the third season separated our characters around the world, the writers take almost no time at all reuniting them back in Staten Island, where they discover that Laszlo (Matt Berry) has basically let the mansion collapse around him without Guillermo (Harvey Guillen) around to take care of it. It doesn’t help that Laszlo has been distracted by ineffectively raising the baby version of Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), who was spotted at the end of season three. (And, yes, it’s a CGI baby and then toddler with Proksch’s face on it, and it’s creepy as hell.) Refusing to actually call it Colin in the hope he develops into something better, Laszlo tries to ensure that the fast-growing new vampire doesn’t turn out as deadly boring as the energy vampire from whose chest it burst, but he’s a bit distracted by the return of his love Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), leaving the put-upon familiar to do most of the work again. Nandor (Kayvan Novak) returns lonely as ever, determined to find a bride with whom to spend the rest of his immortality.

The first few episodes put in motion what appears to be the season-spanning storyline that involves Nadja opening a vampire nightclub like the one in “Blade.” Of course, this leads to infighting in the group and Guillermo putting out a lot of fires. That’s really been the model for “What We Do in the Shadows” for years now, and it’s starting to feel a little overly familiar at times. This show has been at its best when it’s most surprising, such as in the hysterical “Jackie Daytona” adventure. It’s a tough balance in a comedy when the characters become so entrenched that it can start to feel like they’re spinning their wheels, even if we love them. “Shadows” isn’t quite there yet, but one can sense it on the edges of these episodes, hopefully, pushed away by the rest of the season.

Of course, the cast and writers are smart enough to do exactly that. And there’s evidence of their wit in all four of these chapters, mostly in the arc of Nandor continuing his journey to find meaning in an immortal life. An episode in which he gets basically sucked into a fitness cult features some sharp physical humor, and a bit wherein he uses a djinn to find the lost love of his existence is kind of amazing. The remarkably consistent Novak is the MVP of the first four episodes of this season, once again finding a river of melancholy in his lovable idiot bloodsucker.

Less effective is the “New Colin” arc, even if it does give the amazing Matt Berry some very funny material. Without spoiling, Proksch has been kind of sidelined to start this season, and the absence of a traditional Colin Robinson can be felt. Proksch balanced out the cast in his own apathetic way, often serving as a droll straight man to the other three vampires. So while it’s nice to see the writers try something new with a character, and that kind of risk-taking is what a show needs in its fourth season, it also feels at times like a piece of this TV puzzle is missing.

How does “What We Do in the Shadows” stay fresh four seasons into its unexpected success? Some of the building blocks are already in place. The truth is that what has changed about the show is it seems emotionally richer, allowing the characters to unpack the misery that comes with living forever. Lean into that. Allow the characters to escape their sitcom set-ups and really explore how journeys to better oneself can take hundreds of years. Throw obstacles at the characters that don’t feel like discarded ones from season one (like the nightclub). While the “real” Colin Robinson is missed, the effort to completely dismantle a character and see what it does to the other ones is the kind of risk this show needs to keep taking. Keep that up.

And they probably will. The creators, writers, and cast of this show are still some of the most talented people on TV. And even the best shows have creative dips as they try to figure out their next phase. “What We Do in the Shadows” merely needs to feed on the husks of the stale, boring comedies that still dot the landscape to find its voice again. [B]