What We Do in the Shadows Season 4 Episode 8 Review: Go Flip Yourself
What We Do in the Shadows Season 4 Episode 8, “Go Flip Yourself,” presents a hilarious show-within-a-show featuring home renovation hijinks and a cursed hat. It’s a breath of fresh air from the show’s standard episodic formula.
We’ve seen this season tease Laszlo’s love for the home renovation series “Go Flip Yourself,” so it’s no surprise What We Do in the Shadows infuses a macabre twist into a delightful Property Brothers-style spoof.
NADJA: You will forget that Toby is dead and that he was murdered by me. A girl has got to eat.
The camerawork, direction, and editing are top-notch across the board. Yana Gorskaya, DJ Stipsen, and Dane McMaster deserve hefty raises. It goes against the grain of a typical What We Do in the Shadows episode in terms of the above while retaining the show’s darkly comedic, quirky sensibilities.
It’s simultaneously heartwarming and hysterical to watch a highly invested Laszlo don his “human” clothing to bond with Bran Daltry (RIP Toby). The usually debonair (and initially pompous) vampire has softened significantly over the past four seasons, and it’s lovely to find a surprising amount of depth and humanity in him.
Highlights from “Go Flip Yourself” include the renovation series introducing the vampire mansion, with everyone claiming to hold down jobs as railroad workers or, inexplicably, graphic designers. You see so much of this show’s heart in those few minutes alone.
NANDOR: It doesn’t matter how many changes you make to something. The novelty eventually wears off. But I do like that sign about home being where the wine is.
It’s an instant serotonin boost to watch our vamps morph into giddy school children, ecstatic about the prospect of having a newly renovated home. That said, the Simon the Devious twist is such a genius move. Plus, we get to see the inimitable Nick Kroll return.
It dismantles the episode’s potentially hopeful outcome, sending dreams of a perfect home down the drain (and into the sewers, where Simon used to live). Admittedly, it makes the outing all the more hilarious, given that our core leads spend a lot of time destroying and embellishing the mansion, only for Simon to steal a hat and leave everything incomplete.
Simon the Devious concocted a legitimate television enterprise, ran a show for 150 episodes to establish authenticity, then infiltrated the vampire residence to film an episode for a witch’s hat. Talk about dedication to the long con. We shouldn’t expect anything less from What We Do in the Shadows.
LASZLO: This house is all kinds of Frank Lloyd Wrong.
Matt Berry steals “Go Flip Yourself.” Berry is a comedic frontrunner for Season 4 thus far. His infectious energy in this episode radiates through our screens. Did anyone else get Steven Toast vibes when he turned to the camera to deliver that commercial tagline? Toast of London prepared Berry for Laszlo Cravensworth, and you cannot tell us otherwise.
Overall, “Go Flip Yourself” is a stellar show-within-a-show presentation, parodying home renovation series while doing it with What We Do in the Shadows‘ trademark Gothic flair, sharp-as-a-stake wit, and plenty of horse saddles for Nandor’s (erm, Marwa’s) man cave.
Stray Observations:
- The moments with Nadja, Guillermo, and Nandor in the background trying to do away with Toby’s body are brilliant. It’s reminiscent of the Community episode “The Psychology of Letting Go,” wherein Abed delivers a baby in the background of the action.
- It’s nice to see Laszlo’s Jackie Daytona-esque attire make a comeback in “Go Flip Yourself.” Those jeans and plaid shirt are a surefire sign he’s a regular human guy! Cue Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible.”
- Do you think we’ll see Nandor crack and potentially discard his marriage with Marwa? It’s abundantly clear he wasn’t happy with her before their nuptials, but asking the djinn to make her too agreeable appears to be a choice he regrets. Marwa herself deserves better.
- Nadja becoming obsessed with a gold toilet even though she doesn’t have bowel movements is all of us. It probably has a bidet with 12 different settings.
- “Go Flip Yourself” closes the chapter on Laszlo’s cursed witch’s bumhole hat. Will we see it again? Perhaps not, unless Laszlo lures in Simon the Devious with his version of a home renovation show to steal it back.
- Listening to Simon the Devious introduce every crew member will never get old. Shout out to the newest addition, Adele Dazeem!
- You might remember Jason and Randy Sklar as DJ Squirrely D and Fat Michael from the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode, “The Gang Dances Their Asses Off.” Only right here on Q102, The Q Crew!
What did you think of this episode of What We Do in the Shadows? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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What We Do in the Shadows airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on FX, with next-day streaming on Hulu.
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Melody McCune
Melody loves TV. Maybe too much. Besides being a Senior Writer for Tell-Tale TV, she's the Managing Editor for Geek Girl Authority, an Independent Contractor for Sideshow Collectibles, and a Senior Writer for Eulalie Magazine. Additionally, she has bylines in Culturess, Widget, and inkMend on Medium. To top it all off, she's a critic for Rotten Tomatoes and CherryPicks.