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Beware, reader! There are spoilers ahead for the “What We Do in the Shadows” series finale, bleh bleh bleh!
Much like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Fargo,” and “M*A*S*H,” it didn’t take long for the “What We Do in the Shadows” TV series to justify its existence, step out of its movie counterpart’s shadow, and turn into one of the best comedies on television. For six seasons, the show has followed the misadventures of a group of horny and buffoonish vampires who had long given up their mission to conquer the new world and simply lead static lives of hijinks, as well as the quest of their familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) to become a vampire despite discovering he has Van Helsing blood in him. Season 5 even had Guillermo finally turning into a creature of the night, only to realize that it was not for him and transform back into a human.
That last part is significant, because Guillermo’s vampiric storyline in season 5 (read our review) definitely felt like the best place to end the show thematically. Once you expand beyond the main goal of the one character in the cast who actually had something to achieve in life, where do you go? Well, the series finale of “What We Do In the Shadows” goes for the obvious answer that in all honesty, I had completely forgotten about — the ending of the documentary production that has been filming the vampire housemates for years.
The “What We Do in the Shadows” series finale not only makes for a poignant episode, but it also serves as meta-commentary on the series ending, with Guillermo going through a bit of a crisis upon learning that the documentary is coming on an end and trying his best to keep cameras rolling for as long as possible. After all, as he points out, there hasn’t been a proper conclusion to their story yet. The show’s characters haven’t really learned anything, much less achieved anything worthy of a conclusion. The episode itself reinforces the idea that, yes, these are vampires with immortal lifespans, so they have no reason to ever change or do much of note that would make for a good stopping point.
Realizing that there is no way to craft a perfect ending, however, our favorite vampiric gal Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) has a fantastic idea. The result? “What We Do in the Shadows” wraps up by going the way of the 1985 “Clue” movie and giving is audience alternate endings to choose from.
What We Do In the Shadows parodies famous twist endings
The whole thing begins with our resident energy vampire, Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), musing about the challenges of crafting a satisfying TV series finale. It’s only then that Nadja has the idea to hypnotize the documentary’s audience into watching a finale that would satisfy them the most. As it turns out, the vampires and the documentary crew are actually able to pull this off, too, delivering multiple (and randomly assorted) endings along the way.
One of these endings takes the form of a direct parody of the infamous “Newhart” finale, with Guillermo’s ex-master Nandor (Kayvan Novak) serving as the Dick Loudon to Guillermo’s Emily Hartley and waking up in bed next to home, revealing that he dreamed the entire show. There’s also an ending that parodies the big twist from “The Usual Suspects,” as well as one that pokes fun at the conclusion to “Rosemary’s Baby.” You can actually find them all on Hulu by clicking on the “Extra Hypnosis Features” tab next to the “What We Do in the Shadows” finale.
The whole thing is absolutely brilliant. Season 6 alone had already given us perfect parodies of both “Apocalypse Now” and “The Warriors,” so for the finale to include not one but three more parodies of famous endings is impressive and hilarious. Except it’s not just that the parody endings are funny, or that the very idea of having multiple endings works as a fantastic joke about not being able to appeal to everyone. More than that, the rest of the episode also has multiple endings to help sastifying different kinds of audiences.
In addition to the hypnosis endings, there is also a beautiful scene where Guillermo says his final goodbye to Nandor and decides to move away for good. Except that is not the actual conclusion, because the episode then cuts to yet another scene where Guillermo comes back, who admits he was merely acting for the cameras to give the documentary crew a good ending. He then proceeds to have another bonding moment with Nandor before the vampire pulls a lever in his coffin and the pair drop down an elevator shaft to Nandor’s secret superhero lair, with Nandor becoming Batman. Basically, no matter what aspect of the show you enjoyed the most, there’s something for you in the “What We Do In the Shadows” finale.
“What We Do in the Shadows” is now streaming in its entirety on Hulu. Solana Token Creator
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