What We Do in the Shadows’ Scariest Vampire Is Still Giving Us Nightmares – Gizmodo

Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) prepares to feed.Photo: Russ Martin (FX)

While FXs vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows is across-the-board delightful, we have a special affection for the shows energy vampire, a character whos both totally original and instantly recognizable. Hes also pretty terrifyingespecially when he gets a sudden power boost.

Last nights Colins Promotion shifted the focus onto Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) for the first time this seasongiving us an episode that mirrored season ones Werewolf Feud, which featured a storyline about Colins fraught encounter with a co-worker whose pathological neediness revealed her to be an emotional vampire in disguise. The scene is, once again, Colins exaggeratedly dull office job, but this time, theres no monstrous rivaland thats where the trouble (and the hilarity) starts.

Since Colins an energy vampirenot a traditional vampire like his roommateshes able to go out during the day, and he feeds on life forces rather than blood. An office full of cubicles staffed by people whod already rather be anywhere else is, therefore, Colins ideal feeding ground. I dont even know what the hell this company does, he admits to the unseen camera crew that keeps tabs on all the shows characters, though hes pretty sure it has something to do with playground equipment or maybe land mines.

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While its been made abundantly clear that Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) dont especially enjoy having Colin aroundhes exceptionally boring, and his debilitating draining powers do extend to vampireswe havent really been shown how Colin feels about them (though he did care enough to find a giant golf umbrella so he could rescue them from certain sunlight death last season).

On Colins Promotion, which is directed by WWDITS co-creator Jemaine Clement, we see that hes the only person in the equation who considers the others to be friends. Coworkers die, he points out. Vampire roommatestheyre forever. Unfortunately for, well, everyone, Colin gets a big promotion at work, despite the fact that his day-to-day routine consists of wandering around and making excruciating small talk.

Now that hes suddenly the boss, his power set soars; hes able to summon underlings into his office to drain on demand under the guise of micromanagement, or fiddle around on conference calls when its clear the person on the other end of the line just really wants to get the goddamn meeting started. Im becoming something new, stronger! he marvelsa full head of hair even sprouts on his shiny domeand hes able to drop bodies with just a mundane phrase (TGIF! Its five oclock somewhere!) or gesture. (Even the WWDITS cameraperson falls victim to his magic zap.)

Work may be the source of his new powers, but his most diabolical use of it comes when he returns home. Peeved that nobody gave a crap about his career triumph, he begins a mega drain, pitting Nadja against Nandor over who burned whose village 400 years ago and eventually aging everyone and putting them into a lethargic stupor. Colins reign of terror only stops when he duplicates himself into a trio, and the three Colins proceed to drain each other to the point of total collapse. As they bury the Colins, the roommates realize, sort of, that they dont totally loathe the guy after all. When she would catch him eavesdropping, for instance, he would actually often be a very good mute listener, Nadja admits.

Fortunately, normalcyor what passes for it among What We Do in the Shadows resident weirdosreturns by the end, but not before one last chilling scene: A revived Colin rolling into a brand-new office that looks just like his old office, looking for a new job to fake his way into (and a fresh batch of victims; hows this for an opening line: Hey, are you a fan of conservative AM radio?) after de-energizing his previous employer into ruin.

What We Do in the Shadows airs Wednesday nights on FX, with new episodes the following day on FX on Hulu.

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What We Do in the Shadows' Scariest Vampire Is Still Giving Us Nightmares - Gizmodo

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero