The Mall – As this episode of What We Do In The Shadows begins, Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry) suspects something is wrong with Gizmo lately. Laszlo intends to find out what it is. Guillermo de la Cruz (Harvey Guillen) is asked whether he paid his friend Derek to turn him into a vampire, but he doesn’t want to talk about that right now. When everyone is together, Guillermo tries to tell them something. They keep interrupting though. Nandor (Kayvan Novak) says a lot has changed since they last saw him. A book he found in Laszlo’s library taught him to focus on what is really important and what isn’t. Gizmo says he wants to talk about vampire safety.

He argues that they’ve become sloppy about hiding their vampirisms in public. Nandor questions what the big deal is since they can just hypnotize whoever notices. Gizmo worries that the hypnosis is making the borough dumber. Laszlo says no one will notice because they live on Staten Island. Nadja doubts Guillermo will ever understand since he isn’t a vampire. Guillermo warns them that he won’t always be there to protect them before storming out of the room. Once they’re in private, Guillermo admits to the interviewer that he asked Derek to make him a vampire 16 days ago. Before Derek (Chris Sandiford) can bite him, he is told that the customer toilet is clogged again.

Derek agrees to bite him first. Nandor storms into the room before Guillermo can finish telling the story. He claims they know why he has been acting so odd lately. As Guillermo begins worrying, Nandor says they’re mad at themselves for forgetting his birthday. Gizmo is told to change and meet them at the restaurant. Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) says he is back in the workforce. He ends up serving Laszlo and the others when they arrive. Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) talks about the time she sat on her dolly. The doll with the spirit of a deceased spirit complains about Nadja crushing her lower body. Laszlo tells the others that he can’t get something out of his mind about Gizmo saying he won’t be around forever. They laugh at the idea of Gizmo becoming a vampire.

Gizmo returns to the story of Derek turning him into a vampire. He tells Derek that he still wants to be a vampire even though he didn’t think it’d happen like this. Out of the blue, Derek bites his neck and blood begins spewing everywhere. Gizmo needs to drink Derek’s blood because he is losing so much. Derek admits that will be a sticking point for him because he faints when he sees his blood. In the present, Gizmo arrives at the Red Rock Steakhouse. Once Gizmo joins the others, he is told they were laughing at the idea of him becoming a vampire. Nandor promises he’ll be turning him into a vampire when the time is right, but it is still a funny image. Gizmo throws out the idea that he could turn into a vampire before that.

The others do not think that is a laughing matter. Laszlo says that is the greatest humiliation a familiar could bestow upon his master. Nandor says he’d have to kill Gizmo and kill himself if that happened. After dinner, Nadja says they’re going to try to blend in better as Gizmo’s birthday wish. Gizmo mentions the mall and that gets their attention. He asks them to stay put only for them to begin wandering through the mall. Laszlo still wants to know what Gizmo is up to. He begins following him. Gizmo returns to the story with Derek and how he had to consume his blood. He passes out. Derek wakes up after fainting and finds Gizmo passed out. Gizmo wakes up having changed. He thought the transformation would be faster.

He hasn’t drunk blood and can still eat human food. His appetite for very rare meat is ravenous. It has been 16 days and that is why he has been keeping it a secret. The doctor comes out to tell him that he doesn’t need glasses. His eyesight is better than 20/20. He asks for a pair of glasses without the prescription so he won’t look different. Back at home, Gizmo asks Nandor if he would actually kill him if he accidentally got turned into a vampire by someone else. Nandor believes he’d still have to kill him. He wants a bedtime story. Gizmo says he watched a movie about a guy who got turned into a vampire and realized he wasn’t ready for it. Nandor tells Gizmo about the birthday present he got him.

Gizmo doesn’t think being a vampire is any different than being a human. After all, they’re all just doing whatever it takes to survive.

 

What We Do In The Shadows Review

The premiere episode of the fifth season of What We Do in the Shadows was good in some regards since it created an interesting premise for the remainder of the season. Guillermo will have to worry about being killed because he became a vampire before Nandor wanted him to. The relationships are strong enough to carry the series and the characters are somewhat relatable despite this being a comedy.

Truthfully, this’ll probably be one of those seasons that people either love or hate depending on what type of comedy they prefer. Personally, the humor didn’t really work for me although other viewers may love it. More could’ve been done at the mall to create numerous funny scenarios with the characters running into humans though.

Almost everything else is done well enough, but the humor didn’t hit the target. That’ll be a problem if it doesn’t work with other viewers. If I had laughed once or twice during the episode, I probably would’ve liked it a lot more. It scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of What We Do In The Shadows can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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