FX’s What We Do in the Shadows has brought the world of vampires in Staten Island to life for four seasons now, and yet somehow, in season 4, we were confronted with the upset of Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry) once again. At the end of season 3, we saw as he struggled with a dying Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), so when a new being crawled out of the former Colin Robinson, Laszlo took it upon himself to raise the child.
Throughout the entire fourth season, we watched their relationship grow. We saw as Laszlo became Daddy Laszlo and how the two of them became a showbiz duo in a way that just brought a completely new and refreshing light to Laszlo. So, when the finale came and we were confronted with an older Colin and a confused Laszlo, it just felt like a lot to unpack.
**Spoilers for the entirety of season 4 of What We Do in the Shadows lie ahead.**
From the first episode of season 4, we had Laszlo raising Colin. Throughout this journey, we saw Laszlo start to embrace the things about the boy that he didn’t necessarily get (musical theatre being enemy number one to Laszlo but Colin’s favorite thing), and we saw how the two relied on each other. Laszlo took his duty as the boy’s father figure seriously, and while he was still Laszlo about it, he seemed to genuinely care about him.
So when Colin became a teenager who didn’t want to talk to him anymore, he felt like he was a bit lost. It just seemed like the typical teenager/father dynamic at first, so it was hilarious to us watching, but then as the episode went on, Colin discovered clues his former being left for him, and he slowly began to turn into the Colin Robinson of seasons past.
The return of Colin Robinson
Now, it wouldn’t be as horribly sad if this version of Colin remembered his upbringing, but I guess part of being an energy vampire is transforming into your former state of being and completely forgetting the year you spent as a child—which, for Colin, is no sweat off his back. But for Laszlo, it was a year he spent being a father to him, now gone and replaced by a man he put up with and loved in the end.
We don’t get to see Laszlo explore this pain right off the bat because the episodes ends with the reveal that Colin Robinson is back in full swing, their house can get repaired, and Laszlo is off of father duty, but in his questioning of whether or not Colin remembers anything from the last year, it’s clear that Laszlo still cares for the boy he raised.
This arc ended up being one of the saddest things on this season because it gave Laszlo a purpose that he never really had before. Laszlo is one of those characters who is hilarious in the way that he approaches life, but he really could just float from scene to scene with his color commentary and carry on. This season, his purpose was taking care of Colin, and he seemed to love it.
Watching him lose that in a blink of an eye and not having the ability to reconcile with the fact he fought with teenage Colin beforehand hurts, and I wonder where it will take Laszlo into season 5 (which has begun shooting already).
Hopefully, in season 5, we get to see Laszlo take on the role of fatherhood in a different way, because frankly, I would not put it past him to pull an Interview With the Vampire and turn a child just so he could be a dad again.
(featured image: FX)
