What We Do in the Shadows Season 4 Takes Advice From Fred Armisen

This can probably be lain at the feet of Dr. Tom, played with a magnificent mix of passive aggression, guilt, and misplaced narcissism by Fred Armisen, who specializes in diluting past indulgences. He is the all-too-familiar familiar to Richie Suck. “You let him talk to you like that,” Nadja gasps. 

Suck and the doc are playing out the Brian Wilson and Eugene Landy dynamic. The Beach Boys’ main songwriter was at the top of his artistic game when he began therapy and disappeared into his soundless era. Richie Suck hasn’t put out a new record in two years, and everyone is expecting it to be the greatest thing since sliced veins. But it’s not what the doctor orders, which makes the whole sequence a comedy of artistic restraint, cool jazz and observational humor.

The workplace comedy aspect of the episode is fraught with usurping twists to gainful employment. If a Wraith is in danger of being killed by a vampire guest, for example, it must request a replacement at its post. The Guide (Kristen Schaal) is a wonder at keeping it all together while always on the edge of falling apart. She ain’t no cop and she ain’t no narc, but she can’t be trusted not to steal a scene. Schaal shows this exceptionally well when listening in on her bosses’ most intimate discussions and trying to keep a professional poker face.

As we knew would happen, trouble is brewing in Nandor’s (Kayvan Novak) paradise of impending marital bliss with Marwa (Parisa Fakhri). An earlier discussion over the perfect ass teeters on vaudevillian turf but, and it’s a big but, Nandor’s own quest for self-improvement twists it into contemporary retro. What We Do in the Shadows succeeds in subverting expectations in almost every scenario.

Of course, Nandor’s big takeaway to relationship hardship is the need for the biggest penis in the world. Nothing else would occur to him to improve, everything is perfect, he was a mighty warrior, and it is completely consistent with the characteristic vampiric self-centeredness. This is exactly why the Djinn (Anoop Desaigenie) would encourage such a gripping entanglement, and the ultimate genie curse is unambiguously impeccable in several ways. It is a masterpiece of frustration, with double the kick, because it feeds into a very familiar desire. Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) makes a very good point: “It’s not yeesh.”

Guillermo is not only almost a match for the Djinn’s contractual trickery. He is also the first to note how quickly Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) is developing, and there appears to be a bonding between the two. “Oh no,” exclaims Laszlo (Matt Berry). “What hath the dark lord wrought?” The most devastating blow of the evening comes not from rockstar excesses or lasting large penile impressions, but from the “lowest of all entertainments. Gutter pantomime, performed by half-wits in painted faces, enjoyed by lower wits.”