At this point, I am wise enough to admit that maybe it is my fault that I am doing this to myself rather than the team behind What We Do In The Shadows doing it to me. I have let them get away with it, have screamed and debated with myself and others, and have allowed myself to be made a fool of. This is why when I entered season five, I was determined to be objective, take the facts as they came, and not get wrapped up in my hopeless romanticism of what I wished would happen.

It lasted about three seconds, if I’m being honest.

Season four of What We Do In The Shadows was, without a doubt, a masterpiece that consistently blew my expectations out of the water. Even the episodes that I didn’t love were still great. It did a lot to push characters out of their comfort zones and into their desperation points by the season’s end.

Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) mismanages her nightclub because she is drawn by the idea of being her own boss rather than actually being a boss, and instead of coming clean and asking for help, she quite literally burned it all to the ground; Lazlo (Matt Berry) caring for someone other than himself (and Nadja) and learning that he is allowed to love another being as much as he loves himself; Colin (Mark Proksch) going through the literal stages of life as he practically regenerates into a fully grown adult; Nandor (Kayvan Novak) realizing that all the things in the world could not make him happy as perfection is boring, especially in a romantic partner, and he already had everything he needed right in front of him, and Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) taking his transformation into a vampire into his own hands after he finally accepted that Nandor was never going to grant him what he perceived to be the one thing he’s wanted all along.

This is how we entered season five of What We Do In The Shadows – desperate for a fresh start yet riddled with the consequences of actions taken, not knowing how to “fix” them.

Spoilers for season five of What We Do In The Shadows below.

To say that season four set a bar that was unbelievably high would be an understatement. It managed to set up what I consider to be some of the best character development and regression within the interpersonal relationships of the characters, but also within each individual character. Like most sitcoms, the thing of note about What We Do In The Shadows is that as much as we want to see continuous growth season after season, the show’s core remains mostly the same. This is why I knew that walking into season five, I had to keep my expectations low on what I wanted to see versus what I knew I was going to get.

I won’t say season five was bad by any means. There were many moments throughout the season that made me laugh, moved characters and plot forward in an interesting way that enriched the lore of the world and broadened the rules of vampirism. And yet, when the season ended, I felt even more defeated by the reset than I had previously. 

It is common knowledge that while some actions, the big ones, the ones that matter, have consequences, the vampires pretty much get away with everything by the time the episode or season comes to a close. It’s part of what makes the show so appealing, this sense that magic and using it smartly (which is almost never the case) can get these characters out of anything. But when that power is abused, when that deus ex machina is pushed too far, like Nandor just magically being able to turn Guillermo from a vampire back into a human, the stakes and tension fly out the window entirely. 

Vampires don’t have to live with the consequences of their actions, and now that Guillermo is one as well, he doesn’t have to live with them either. 

As painful as it was to watch Guillermo struggle to settle into this life that he thought he’d wanted for so long, and when he had it, he finally realized he wasn’t ready for it, we never got to see him deal with the aftermath of said consequences because becoming a vampire immediately thrust him to the top of the food chain. He was no longer just a “familiar”; he was now a colleague and friend just like them.

It didn’t sink in until my second watch-through of the season, but Guillermo’s personal journey this season, the one he’s been desperate for since the show started, was a perfect glimpse into what could be. Sure, it destroyed every meaningful relationship he had…as a human, but it strengthened and enhanced all his relationships with the vampires in his life. He was finally treated like an equal, respected and cared for, and finally listened to and found interesting by everyone he had been craving attention and respect from. 

Laszlo finds him fascinating, and while he treats Guillermo like an experiment, he also values him as an individual, keeps his secret from Nandor, and, in the end, continues to protect him from the wrath that Nandor wants to inflict. Even Nadja showed him kindness by being concerned for him in “Urgent Care.” She not only took him to get looked at but also rescued him when the doctor suggested they put him down.

While it is interesting that perceptions of Guillermo shift the second that the other vampires realize that he is one of them now, I can’t help but wonder if it was intentional, if his transformation was the one thing that finally allowed the vampires to let go of their elitism and welcome Guillermo as a part of their family how he’d always wanted, or if this is the result of seasons of character growth coming into play when they become confronted by the possibility that they may lose Guillermo due to his poor, poor choices.

I am certain I will get the answers I crave next season, given that by the magic of sitcom writing, Nandor, the only person who could not be consulted, was the one who knew how to revert vampirism all along, granted Guillermo the grace of returning his humanity. That opens another big can of worms, one that is much more heartbreaking since Nandor confesses this season that to him, vampirism is a curse that he wouldn’t wish upon anyone, a wish that, if he truly wanted, he could revoke it for himself as well.

The main storyline aside, season five simultaneously felt splotchy and disconnected while also just a classic WWDITS season. Episodes that stood outside of the main storyline with Guillermo either flourished and were crowd pleasers, or they fell flat or like they were trying too hard. The Campaign (episode four) remains one of my favorite episodes of the season, which is incredibly ironic because who would ever expect an episode about drab and boring energy vampires to be so funny? But the episode just works perfectly. Another example is “The Roast”. Beloved recurring characters come back into the picture for a night of roasting, and secrets from previous seasons are revealed, setting up the stage for Guillermo’s downfall – the episode is dynamic and snappy, keeping the audience on their toes.

Then there are episodes that don’t quite hit the mark for me and felt disjointed from the throughline of the season overall. For example, Hybrid Creatures (episode seven) just came across as a confusing acid trip that I was unfortunately not high enough to appreciate. Moments and gags throughout the season are memorable and hilarious, but they are just that – bits and pieces of much larger puzzles that, when put together, lack a clear, cohesive picture.

I almost forgot – Kristen Schaal is here too! She’s finally a series regular, even added to the main title sequence. But that’s about as much as I have time to discuss today*.

But what makes this season memorable are the details, in the moments of joy, of trying to experience humanity for these vampires. From discovering a mall for the first time to the joys of neighborhood Pride parades to reconnecting with your culture and finding community to trying to make new friends and getting continuously rejected – season five of What We Do In The Shadows finds its power in finally giving Guillermo, and the audience, what it has wanted for so long, and then showing us why sometimes what we want is not what we need. 

Rating: 7.5/10

*Before anyone gets mad, yes, this is a joke. The Guide was perfect, as always. My only complaint is that I would’ve loved to have seen more from her before episode nine. This is yet another storyline that, while understandable, did not have enough time to develop before it exploded.