What We Do in the Shadows Season 5 Episode 4 Review: The Campaign
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, What We Do in the Shadows being covered here wouldn’t exist.
What We Do in the Shadows Season 5 Episode 4, “The Campaign,” shines the spotlight on Colin Robinson’s campaign for Staten Island comptroller while bringing a familiar face back into his life. Series veteran director Yana Gorskaya helms the episode from a script by Max Brockman and Shana Gohd.
“The Campaign” finally gives Mark Proksch a platform to showcase his comedic talents this season. We haven’t seen much of Colin Robinson since he grew back to his normal size last season. While Proksch is hilarious as always, Colin Robinson tends to be funnier when paired with one of his roommates or other humans (like in “Colin’s Promotion”).
LASZLO: I can play any instrument, apart from the bagpipes. They sound f**king terrible to everyone.
Vanessa Bayer reprises her role as Evie Russell, a character that can only be watched in small doses. Evie’s shtick grows stale after a while. It loses its potency incredibly quickly when you put her with Colin Robinson, whose feeding methods are too similar. Their near-identical personas drain the audience’s collective energy.
Despite that aspect of the story not landing, other elements of “The Campaign” work beautifully. Colin Robinson feeding on the crowd during the debate is funny, while Laszlo meeting Nadja’s found Antipaxos family is as amusing as it is endearing.
Additionally, props must be given to Brockman and Gohd for bringing the energy vampire council into the fold. They successfully simulate how humans feel around energy vampires while subtly playing with the very dry humor in their scenes. That’s where the Colin Robinson arc really shines — when he’s surrounded by other energy vampires.
GUILLERMO: Master, you know I would do anything for you, but I’m not gonna circumcise you.
What We Do in the Shadows keeps the narrative fresh by introducing this council and expanding the exciting mythos of this universe. Even though “The Campaign” is not the show’s strongest outing and currently the weakest of the season, planting new storytelling seeds like this will undoubtedly yield fruit in future episodes.
Nandor and Guillermo’s relationship continues to be one of the most fascinating parts of the series. While Nandor befriending Alexander is the B plot in “The Campaign,” the writers give us some development on the Nandermo front. Kayvan Novak, as usual, leans into the outrageousness of Nandor the Relentless with gusto.
Novak also plays with the complexities of Nandor’s unspoken feelings for Guillermo to great effect. This show is giving us the slowest of slow burns. With Guillermo and Nandor on speaking terms again, only time will tell how long the peace will last until Nandor discovers his familiar is a half-vampire (or whatever he is).
LASZLO: I can speak 14 languages, as long as they are all English.
“The Campaign” won’t make any “best episode” lists for What We Do in the Shadows, but even a tepid outing is still more entertaining than most sitcoms nowadays. Mark Proksch gets plenty of hysterical comedic beats (and that Zoom call scene), with the Supreme Council of Energy Vampires making their monotone debut and Laszlo proving he can befriend anyone as a master, ahem, cocksman.
Stray Observations:
- It’s the return of Barbara Lazarro! I can’t help but be reminded of when Laszlo put a pile of dead raccoons on her porch in Season 1. Oh, how far we’ve come.
- If you look in the background of Evie’s support group, you’ll see a BELIEVE sign on the chalkboard. Ted Lasso even influences fictional worlds.
- Laszlo is a fashion icon. I don’t make the rules. “The Campaign” seals the deal. That blue bucket hat alone launches him into the upper echelons of the fashion world.
- Few things are more romantic than a partner willing to learn new music to impress your found family. If I were Nadja, I’d jump Laszlo right then and there. On another note, their matching pink highlights are the epitome of adorable.
- So, Guillermo did end up circumcising Nandor. We’ve got proof that he will do anything and everything for his
loverMaster. - Will Kristen Schaal ever get her own episode as The Guide? For being part of the main cast now, she’s still underutilized.
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 Thursdays 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.