What’s that? We no longer have to guess what. The season 4 finale of What We Do in the Shadows doesn’t give all the answers, but it does break down walls to try. In the vampire mockumentary series, breaking the fourth wall is a running joke, and the show leans back into it for reveals, quick rebuttals, and sad goodbyes.
“Sunrise, Sunset” ends the chapter by getting rid of a lot of what was in it. We can almost hear Nadja’s (Natassia Demetriou) soothing voice telling the audience to forget what they should have remembered.
Like the vampire club Nadja’s, which lost its bite and is now bleeding money and has no nutritional value other than whatever fluids human improv comedy troupes bring from outer space. The montage scenes of the club turning into a place for kids to have fun are funny, but the song Laszlo sings to the crowd is the best part.
Matt Berry turns disdain into a party, but he doesn’t invite anyone. People in the theatre will never forget this show. It sets the stage for years of little fights, which is what vampires on the show love to do. But Nadja might want to forget about it.
When things are bad, you have to do things like send the Wraiths on vacation to Universal Orlando Resorts. In a funny way, this seems like a far too scary place for the servants of death who cause fear. The Guide’s (Kristen Schaal) plan to save the club is also a mix of fear and fantasy, which is a surefire way to fail.
The camera crew of the mockumentary setting is more present in this episode than in “Go Flip Yourself,” where they didn’t get a chance to talk to each other. During the episode, the crew is even chased away in a few scenes, but they never get too far.
The crew captures a significant and deadly club-saving secret. The Guide has the U.S.’s second-largest dead soul collection. The rich computer guy is the biggest holder, but that’s not weird. Superstitious Nadja is undead.
She spits when she finds the Guide has been studying banned witchcraft materials but is thrilled to learn that celebrated deceased individuals can be brought back to life to encourage attendance. Who wouldn’t want to ask Murasaki Shikibu (Yui Ugai), inventor of the novel, where she obtained her ideas?
Leonardo Da Vinci (Felipe Aukai), Scott Joplin (Sam Asante), and Che Guevara (Victor Ayala) are among the reanimated superstars. People or vampires have plans, but the “man upstairs” has other ideas, says Laszlo.
The vampires’ relationship with god is milked for inspired humor, from the time the foul word is crossed out of Are You There, Margaret? to a famous comedy sequence. It’s hardly as obnoxious as having Mahatma Gandhi (Murli Nedungadi) promote steaks.
The initiative collapses because of lost opportunities and miscommunications, like most vampire concepts. Despite their frankness and honesty, vampires are too self-absorbed to send or receive signals.
The thing that crawled out of Colin Robinson’s (Mark Proksch) abdomen at the conclusion of “Freddie” is now crushing hearts like a teenager’s nightmare. Laszlo calls Colin’s age “awkward.” A relative phrase indicating awkwardness.
Colin is withdrawn, uncommunicative, and needy. In many ways, an adolescent, draining the vitality of his most parental figures, Laszlo and Guillermo (Harvey Guillén). Bats are useless. Hammer it!
Nandor (Kayvan Novak) tries “gutter patois” but fails. “I loved rocking out to fantastic sounds like this,” he says as Colin smashes heavy metal. Fair enough, “cool” is cyclical, and what a 759-year-old warlord found trendy in his youth may be hip again, but we know Colin is ranking on Nandor long before the relentless one pulls rank.
Nandor’s discourse regarding soldiers is unmoving. If this got young men to die on the battlefields in his day, they had nothing at home. Colin answers like a modern Eddie Haskell from Leave It to Beaver to his father’s counsel. Respecting your elders and yourself is cool. As cool as spending the next 15-20 years reading.
Teenage Colin is like Charlie X from the first Star Trek in some ways. The angst of that troubled teen drove Kirk crazy before he found out he wasn’t a normal boy, even though he had the same desires. Colin burns the Guide a mix CD at one point in “Sunrise, Sunset.” He says it’s not a big deal, so nothing is made of it, even though the episode seems to move quickly.
Colin’s self-discovery is told in a very clear and effective order. It saves time, money, resources, and the Staten Island vampire house’s overall design. It also follows a What We Do in the Shadows tradition, which is a big turn of events that we should have seen coming because hints have been given to us since the show started.
The relationship between Guillermo and Nandor has had hints of a romantic arc for the past four seasons. Even though both actors were open to the idea, nothing has come of it. As it becomes clear that the familiar-turned-bodyguard-acting-as-best-man is just a hamster running in a wheel, Guillermo turns to the miserable convenience store clerk with a moral code, vampire Derek (Chris Sandiford), to make the final change. It’s just a cliffhanger at the end of the season, so you shouldn’t worry too much.
Berry’s version of “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof takes the place of the usual theme song at the beginning of the show. It makes you feel sad and uneasy. Laszlo’s short sequence of realizing that he won’t be able to help Colin grow up is moving, and Berry puts a lot of emotional capital into it.
Proksh does a great job of capturing the rebelliousness and curiosity of young adults while also capturing the pain of growing up. The last version of the song is also sung straight and with sadness by Proksch and Demetriou.
This season of What We Do in the Shadows was different from the previous ones because it was more like a traditional sitcom than the other ones. There have been more set pieces and montages and fewer sudden surprises that come out of nowhere.
It ends by making the bittersweet tone stronger and making sure you remember it so you can move on. “Sunrise, Sunset” leaves out many of the year’s most important events: The way Nandor’s marriage to Marwa and Guillermo’s relationship with Freddie ended was the same.
Vampire clubs are old news, and energy vampires still stink. This is how vampires do things. They never die, and most of their problems are solved over time. Guillermo usually takes care of the rest, so next season should be full of chaos and nonsense.
Conclusion
“Sunrise, Sunset” is the season 4 finale of “What We Do in the Shadows”. The vampire club Nadja’s lost its bite and is bleeding money. The Guide’s plan to save the club is a mix of fear and fantasy, which is a surefire way to fail. Teenage Colin is like Charlie X from the first Star Trek in some ways. What a 759-year-old warlord found trendy in his youth may be hip again.
Despite their frankness and honesty, vampires are too self-absorbed to send or receive signals. “What We Do in the Shadows” is back on Netflix with a new season. This season’s finale makes the bittersweet tone stronger and makes sure you remember it so you can move on.