Recap and review of What We Do in the Shadows season 5 episode 8: The Roast

On the eighth episode in the fifth season of the award-winning vampire mockumetary series What We Do in the Shadows, Laszlo is depressed and the house mates struggle to get him out of his vampiric doldrums.

Laszlo is in a deep deep depressive funk and, while of the house mates have varying theories about why (all related to their own woes), nobody really knows the cause.

He just sits in the living room and stares out into a middle distance, saying “Yes, yes very good, thank you” whenever someone tries to talk to him.

What We Do in the Shadows season 5 episode 8: Roast him

When the housemates are brainstorming for a solution, The Guide quips that maybe they can throw him a roast to lift his spirits? Since it’s a cheeky enough event, it’s sure to be something that Laszlo might find amusing.

Everyone ignores The Guide’s suggestion though, until Colin repeats the same roast idea and then everyone gets into it, agrees it’s a good idea.

Laszlo is led blindfolded into the dining room and it’s revealed that most of Staten Island’s vampire society is there to honor him. The roast gets underway yet Laszlo (apparently his real name is Leslie Cravensworth) is still mostly confused and unresponsive.

The roast proceeds pretty well, Nadja, Nandor, Colin, and even Guillermo take their turn at pitching their best roasty jokes. But then Baron Afanas doesn’t understand Nandor’s introduction about Guillermo.

Something about this guy knowing a lot about roasting vampires. So The Guide explains that it was the familiar who burned him a few years back, unsuspectingly letting in sunlight one day.

What We Do in the Shadows season 5 episode 8: Who burnt The Baron?

Incensed, the Baron goes up on the podium and ruins the roast. Also, he’s pretty angry that the housemate shave been essentially harboring a Van Helsing under their roof in the person of Guillermo.

Nandor tells his familiar to run and the Baron chases after him. This must be one of the most FX-heavy episodes as the elder vamp displays pretty much all of the vampiric powers in his arsenal, including super speed, transforming into a black cloud, telekinesis, super strength, and just being a total gothic toughie.

But Guillermo eludes the old vamp and, in the end, the housemates need to intervene. They eventually capture and bind both Guillermo and the Baron (chains for the Baron, rope for the familiar), sitting them down in front of each other for their version of conflict resolution.

What We Do in the Shadows season 5 episode 8: Guillermo confesses

The Baron is unrelenting though, until Guillermo decides to tell him that he’s already been turned. To which the elder vamp responds gleefully, seeing it as a great move to turn a vampire hunter against his own kind. Guillermo however begs him to keep it a secret that he wasn’t turned by Nandor.

The Baron sees this is a much bigger problem than his grudge versus Guillermo. So he tells Nandor when he comes in that they have called a truce.

Everything seems to have worked out fine, and the Baron even takes Guillermoa side to give him a heart to heart about the consequences of betraying his master, but then it all gets screwed up again when Guillermo opens the door. It’s morning and the sun crisps the Baron. Again.

When the next night comes we see that the Baron has again been transformed into a charred raisin and is unrelenting about killing Guillermo, even if Nandor begs him for mercy.

What We Do in the Shadows season 5 episode 8: That’s a clone

For some reason Laszlo tells the Baron that Guillermo is in the tool shed and he comes back with what looks like Guillermo. But then Laszlo comes out of his funk once again to open up the body and tells everyone that it’s not Gizmo, rather it’s one of his aquatic clones.

Also, the thing is clearly pregnant. Weird ambulatory frog-like things begin to emerge from its split tummy.

The episode is tied up in a status quo fashion when the Baron forgives Guillermo and goes home with a clutch of clone frogs, delighting him and his roommate (the monstrous gargoyle-like Sire) like pets. Meanwhile Nandor finds Guillermo hiding inside his coffin.

He’s glad his familiar is safe.

What We Do in the Shadows season 5 episode 8: Gone soft after millennia

The Baron confesses that he’s gone soft in his advanced vampiric age and realizes that he should just embrace the delights of senior undead life. Though with his burnt visage he’s now scary again. And he really likes spooking the neighbors.

Meantime Nadja begs Laslzo to tell her what’s wrong and he finally comes out of his funk, revealing that he wasn’t at all depressed. Rather he was simply trying to think through, for three weeks mind, the re-arrangement of his mess of books.

He’s finally decided they need to be filed by author.

That’s the end of the roast and this episode, notable not for the lulz but for the cool moments of conflict resolution and resurgence between Guillermo and The Baron. The stuff about Laszlo, red herrings and setups all, aren’t really very entertaining or clever.

Cue snare and cymbal roll.

You can stream season 5 of What We Do in the Shadows on Disney+