It’s a nice quiet evening on What We Do In The Shadows, perfect night for a mystery. In “A Weekend at Morrigan Manor,” the vampires spend a treacherous night at Morrigan Manor as one by one, the vampires disappear.
The Guide (Kristen Schaal) visits the vampires, dressed up for a night out. She invited the vampires to her art exhibit that night, but they don’t remember getting an invitation. They all say they are very comfortable sitting at home. The Guide is also there to inform them that they received a message from Perdita Morrigan and the vampires are all excited.
Perdita is a big deal. She is from one of the first vampiric families in America. Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) describes her as the Grand Dame of Vampiric High Society. Nandor (Kayvan Novak) says Perdita hosts a Met Ball after-party that is so exclusive, no one is invited. If it’s between the Guide’s art show and a trip to Morrigan Manor, the Guide is certain the vampires will pick her exhibit. They know how hard she worked on her paintings. They vampires pick Morrigan Manor.
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The Guide joins them, bringing her paintings with her. When everyone gets out of the car, they realize that Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) has a mustache. He says it took him two days to grow. They enter the house, but it’s dark. The Guide finds a note from Perdita, instructing them to go to the drawing room.
They find an old recording device in the drawing room with a message from Perdita. Perdita said something else came up and she can’t join them. But she invites them to enjoy the amenities of the Manor. She also warns them that the house can be treacherous. She instructs them to stick together and look out for each other like a family unit. And not like six individuals.
The vampires are bummed that Perdita is not there. Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) is concerned about the house being treacherous. The vampires aren’t worried about it. The sun will be up soon so they decide to go to sleep. Nandor instructs Guillermo to unload the luggage for them. The Guide’s paintings are also in the car, so Guillermo offers to get them for the Guide.
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“WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS” — “A Weekend at Morrigan Manor” — Season 5, Episode 9 (Airs August 31) — Pictured (L-R): Mark Proksch as Colin Robinson, Harvey Guillén as Guillermo, Kristen Schaal as The Guide, Natasia Demetriou as Nadja, Matt Berry as Laszlo. CR: Russ Martin/FX
The next night, some crazy things start happening. First, Laszlo (Matt Berry) practices his fencing skills. An opponent appears out of nowhere. As Laszlo fights him, he multiplies, doubling his numbers every few minutes. Laszlo has no problem handling two, four, and eight opponents. But 16? That’s too many.
Nadja looks for Laszlo and the Guide suggests he’s in the belfry, that’s filled with bats. They go to the belfry and are frightened by a loud bang. The Guide goes into the room to keep Nadja safe. She screams when she sees a shadowy figure and asks Nadja for help. Nadja runs away but falls through the stairs.
Perdita arranged for a hunt for the vampires. Nandor and Guillermo participate. Nandor wants Guillermo to track the scent of the humans, but Guillermo doesn’t want to. He pretends to run ahead, but runs back inside the Manor instead while Nandor continues the hunt.Nandor finds the Guide in a bear trap. She tells him that Nadja and Laszlo are missing. Nandor offers to help her out of the bear trap, but the humans return. Nandor runs for his life, leaving the Guide in the trap. As he runs away, he gets caught in a net and disappears.
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Guillermo returns to the drawing room where Colin Robinson is sitting. Colin Robinson accuses Guillermo of luring them all there to kill them. But it doesn’t make sense for Guillermo to kill Nandor if he kills everyone else who knows his secret. The Guide returns to the house and lets them know that Laszlo, Nadja and Nandor are all missing. Guillermo sees that she’s hurt and helps her raise her hurt leg. The Guide is moved by Guillermo’s kindness.
The Guide talks about how kindness can go a long way. It’s hard to always feel left out of a group of tight friends. Guillermo knows how she feels, but the Guide isn’t talking to Guillermo. She’s talking to Colin Robinson, who isn’t listening to her. So the Guide hits a button and Colin Robinson falls through the chair.
“WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS” — “A Weekend at Morrigan Manor” — Season 5, Episode 9 (Airs August 31) — Pictured (L-R): , Kayvan Novak as Nandor, Harvey Guillén as Guillermo, Mark Proksch as Colin Robinson. CR: Russ Martin/FX
Laszlo, Nadja, Nandor and Colin Robinson are all in individual cages in the basement. The Guide set up the whole weekend to teach them a lesson. The Guide knows Perdita’s social schedule and knew the Manor would be empty so she devised a plan to trap the vampires. All because they made her feel like an outsider. Nadja blames herself because of her hex, but the Guide set up the hex too. She did it so Nadja would turn to her for help and they would become friends.
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Guillermo is the only member of the group that treated her with kindness. And they treat him badly as well. She says Guillermo wants to be one of them so badly that he gave up on them and took matters into his own hands. Guillermo tries to change the subject, saying the vampires don’t purposefully exclude her. Nandor wants to discuss what the Guide meant when she said Guillermo took matters into his own hands. No one wants to discuss it, making Nandor realize that they all know something he doesn’t.
Guillermo confesses that he asked someone else to turn him into a vampire. Nandor says Guillermo could have asked him, but Guillermo did ask him for 13 years. Nandor says he had a lot going on during those 13 years. He asks who turned Guillermo. Guillermo says it doesn’t matter, then fesses up that it was Derek. Nandor vows to kill Guillermo. Then maybe himself. Laszlo says Guillermo is only half a vampire right now and Nandor is aware. He says Guillermo’s vampire killing cells are fighting off the vampire cells causing him not to fully turn. And that’s the answer to all of Laszlo’s research.
Laszlo turns to the camera crew and asks them to pull tapes from November 21, 2022. That night, the vampires sat in their drawing room talking about how awesome the Guide is. The Guide is moved by their words but wonders why they never said these nice things to her. It’s pretty simple. They’re vampires and they aren’t very good at being nice to people they care about. The Guide is embarrassed and agrees to let them all go.
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As the Guide releases Laszlo, Guillermo turns into a bat. He flies to Nandor’s cage and takes the keys. He asks Nandor not to kill him if he lets him go, but Nandor is way too angry with his familiar. Laszlo takes the keys and tells Guillermo to run. Gizmo turns into a bat again and flies away, as Nandor screams Guillermo’s name.
You can stream What We Do in The Shadows on FX on Hulu.
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
