Comedy, spookiness, shenanigans, great costumes: What We Do in the Shadows has it all! This FX comedy series, created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and based on the movie of the same name, follows the exploits of a houseful of clueless vampires living in Staten Island, New York. There are tons of great moments in this series, and an amazing number of celebrity guest appearances, but here are the 13 very best episodes, ranked.
13. “A Weekend at Morrigan Manor” (season 5, episode 9)
The vampires have been invited to Morrigan Manor, one of the most exclusive getaways in the entire supernatural world! Too bad the Guide is feeling resentful about how cliquish the group can be. This episode contains plenty of of laugh-out-loud moments, like a fencing match gone awry. Plus, Nandor finally finds out about a secret that Guillermo’s been hiding from him all season.
12. “Go Flip Yourself” (season 4, episode 8)
The hosts of a popular home renovation reality show appear at the vampires’ doorstep, ready to give their crumbling gothic mansion a makeover. Of course, chaos immediately ensues, with people getting eaten, renovations going haywire, and tempers flaring. The end of this episode is as bizarre as it is hilarious.
11. “On the Run” (season 2, episode 6)
Laszlo’s past comes back to haunt him when Jim the Vampire (Mark Hamill) hunts him down and demands that Laszlo pay back rent on a place he rented from Jim 167 years ago. Laszlo flees and takes on a new identity in Pennsylvania, that of “Jackie Daytona.” Watch this episode if you want to see Mark Hamill as a curmudgeonly vampire.
10. “Ghosts” (season 2, episode 2)
There’s a ghost haunting the vampires’ home, so they hold a seance to get rid of it. As soon as the ghost is dealt with, though, the vampires begin to wonder about the spirits who inhabited their bodies before they became vampires. Could the ghosts of their old selves be haunting them? They decide to find out through more seances. If you jumped into this show in later seasons and wondered why there’s a creepy talking doll who looks like Nadja, this episode will explain it.
9. “Manhattan Nightclub” (season 1, episode 4)
The vampires try to form an alliance with Simon the Devious (Nick Kroll), who owns the biggest vampiric nightclub in New York. Nick Kroll as a sleazy vampire is great enough, but what makes this episode really laugh-out-loud funny is Laszlo’s hat made from the skin of a witch. The thing is cursed and causes nothing but trouble for whoever possesses it, but Laszlo and Simon still spend the entire episode fighting over it.
8. “The Escape” (season 3, episode 6)
After Nadja and Nandor become co-heads of the Vampiric Council, Nadja puts Nandor in charge of feeding the Sire, a gargoyle-like monster who’s the living ancestor of all vampires in existence. Nandor, of course, completely spaces on doing it, and eventually the Sire gets so hungry that he tunnels out of his cell and flies around terrorizing the city. This is a huge problem, because if a vampire dies, then all the vampires that vampire sired will also die—so if the Sire gets himself killed while on his ravenous killing spree, then every vampire in the world is toast. Not only do we get to see the vampires going on a vampire hunt, but we also find out what happened to Baron Afanas after he was exposed to sunlight.
7. “The Casino” (season 3, episode 4)
The vampires’ neighbors Sean and Charmaine convince them to go on a trip to Atlantic City. At first, everyone has fun, except Sean, who has a gambling problem and loses all his money. However, when they return to their hotel room to sleep the day away, the vampires discover that Housekeeping has vacuumed up all their ancestral soil, which they need to spread under their beds in order to maintain their powers. They don’t have a backup supply, so they steal Sean’s credit card and send Guillermo on a trip to Europe and the Middle East to gather soil from England, Greece, and Iran.
6. “The Night Market” (season 4, episode 4)
Thanks to Nadja’s latest scheme to turn the Vampiric Council headquarters into a nightclub, she finds herself dealing with a reluctant labor force. Incensed that the wraithes who perform the club’s upkeep are unionizing and demanding fair wages and more time off, Nadja and the other vampires head to the Night Market, a demonic open air market where Nadja can barter for a secret weapon against the wraithes. While she’s shopping, Guillermo and Nandor find themselves in a Streetfighter style brawl to the death while Laszlo tenderly mentors the reborn Colin Robinson.
5. “Werewolf Feud” (season 1, episode 3)
Laszlo finds out that werewolves are peeing on his pornographic topiary, and he leads the other vampires in a feud against the pack. Meanwhile, Colin discovers that he has competition at his job when his new coworker, Evie, turns out to be an emotional vampire. While the werewolf feud itself is funny, the real gold in this episode is Colin’s battle for supremacy against Evie as she wrings endless pity and sympathy out of her coworkers, robbing Colin of his prey.
4. “The Campaign” (season 5, episode 4)
What does an energy vampire do when he feels like draining the life force of an entire borough? Why, run for Staten Island comptroller! Colin Robinson launches a campaign, aided by the emotional vampire Evie (Vanessa Bayer). However, when things start to go off the rails, the two of them are dragged before the council of energy vampires, which is made up of some of the most hilarious deadpan comedians working today. It’s weirdly satisfying to watch Colin gets his energy drained by vampires even more formidable than him.
3. “The Wellness Center” (season 3, episode 8)
Nandor is feeling down and out about his endless existence as a vampire, and to cheer him up, the other vampires send him to collect about a century’s worth of unpaid vampiric council dues from a vampire named Jan. When Nandor gets to Jan’s place, though, she tells him that she’s no longer a vampire. Nandor decides that he wants to be mortal again, too, so he joins her cult of ex-vampires, who call themselves the “Formerly Fanged.” It’s up to Guillermo and the other vampires to launch a daring rescue so that they can deprogram him.
2. “The Trial” (season 1, episode 7)
After an ancient vampire named Baron Afanas comes to visit and then dies when Guillermo lets sunlight in through the front door (it’s a whole season 1 story arc, but if you’re skipping to this episode, that’s all you need to know), the vampires have to stand trial for his murder. Presiding over the trial is the formidable Vampiric Council, which includes a jaw-dropping number of celebrity cameos and an incredibly weird opening dance number.
1. “The Cloak of Duplication” (season 3, episode 2)
Nadja and Nandor start learning the ropes after they’re named the new Vampiric Council of the American Eastern Seaboard. After they discover all the treasures and goodies in the Vampiric Council headquarters, Nandor gets the hots for a receptionist at his gym, but decides that he’s too shy to talk to her. Instead, he uses the Cloak of Duplication to get the other vampires to woo her for him.
There’s so much good stuff in this episode, it’s hard to believe they fit it all into 30 minutes. There’s Nandor and Nadja’s bickering over who gets to rule the council, and their first mission to collect dues. There’s the introduction of the Sire, which is both creepy and a bit of genuinely cool vampire lore. The best part, though, is Guillermo, Laszlo, and Colin all masquerading as Nandor using the cloak, which involves Kayvan Novak doing hilariously spot-on impressions of his fellow cast members.
(featured image: FX)
