Reginald the Vampire Season 1 Episode 1 Review: Dead Weight

Reginald the Vampire is not like other vampire stories, and that’s a good thing. On Reginald the Vampire Season 1 Episode 1, “Dead Weight,” we get a glimpse of a loveable vampire that is about to be sucked into a world he doesn’t understand. 

Reginald Andres (Jacob Batalon) delivers a sympathetic and relatable performance as he embraces an easy-to-love character who is about as everyman as you can get. He’s the man who wishes he could fit in, he’s awkward, stuck with student loan debt and a dead-end job.

Then to top it all off, he can’t get up the courage to ask, Sarah (Emily Haine) out. While the series might start sounding like a teenage or new adult romcom, Reginald gets an unlikely assist when he meets Maurice Miller (Mandela Von Peebles).

It’s the chemistry between Peebles and Batalon that makes this an enjoyable premiere, as Maurice helps Reginald by being an undead wingman. The way that suave Maurice helps Maurice get the date and then follows through to help him strike out when he finds out it’s his first date is the kind of friendship we should all strive for. 

But of course, this wouldn’t be a vampire story without Reginald getting turned. 

Very quickly, it’s clear that Reginald the Vampire is not looking to recycle and repurpose the old vampire tropes, but instead, turn them on its head and use it as a way to look at society.  

The exceptional writing turns some of the elements of vampire lore that may be cringy onto its head as we explore glamors and the creation of new vampires through the lens of a bromance. The lore is explained through Reginald finding out about his powers, but it also focuses on creating limits to the powers. 

MAURICE: The enhances of every vampires are relative to the condition they’re in at the time of the change, because the body they die with is the body they’ll have forever.
REGINALD: Woah, wait! What? I’m like this forever and I can’t do anything about it and you didn’t say anything until now.
MAURICE: Yea.
REGINALD: Dieting isn’t an option. 
MAURICE: Was it ever?

Reginald the Vampire is comedic in its approach to the subject matter, but it’s also clear that it wants to be more. While Reginald and Maurice will crack jokes, we get a glimpse into a vampire hierarchy that Maurice lets on may not be welcoming.

It’s sure to bring up interesting questions as we further explore the world and Maurice realizes that he may have created a misfit vampire who can’t live in the human world or be accepted in the vampire community. Reginald is going to have to spend a few episodes looking for his new normal, but he has a new friend beside him and that’s going to make all the difference.

As far as a first outing goes, “Dead Weight” does not feel like an hour-long opener. The episode is paced well enough that the hour flies by with quips and jokes, and enough glimpses at side characters to keep us intrigued. 

Stray Thoughts:

• I already liked Reginald, but then I saw that one of his enhancements when he became a vampire, was speed reading. Now I love him even more because he’s a geek!
• The opening scene where Maurice goes after the guy in the car who just called a woman a skank is one of the best intros to a character that I’ve seen. Take the mythical being who you think is the predator, and make him go after a real predator. 
• We only saw Claire for a few minutes, but I love that child and no harm better come to her. 
• I really hope we get more flashbacks of Maurice as a new vampire.

What did you think of this episode of Reginald the Vampire? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Reginald the Vampire airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on SYFY.

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