‘What We Do in the Shadows’ ending failed not only a favorite pairing, but also the show’s female characters

What We Do in the Shadows has entertained us for six seasons, and sadly the finale gave us closure for our favorite Staten Island vampires. While we hoped it could continue on forever, six seasons seems like more than enough. After all, there are only so many zany antics they can get up to without the formula getting stale. However, for such an anticipated finale, there were more than a few letdowns, and fans have rightfully been upset over it.

Let pme start off with this: What We Do in the Shadows has been one of my favorite shows for years. It manages to encapsulate the quirky Kiwi humor of its parent film, and even ttafter original creators and Executive Producers Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi departed the show the humor did not change much. I do want to say that even though I was let down with the finale, I will absolutely still rewatch this show. The vampires have become my third family, in a way (sorry, all, the Gallaghers are still my second family).

When you “will-they-or-won’t-they” too close to the sun

I would be remiss not to start off with one of the biggest disappointments: The relationship between Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and Guillermo (Harvey Guillén). This is not to say their arc this season wasn’t beautiful, because it was, and it was one of the rare cases of any sort of character development with Nandor. I still loved Guillermo’s fake out at the end of the documentary, just to come back to Nandor so they can go to his brand-new secret crimefighting lair.

However, it was the romance of it all that was the biggest letdown. It’s been no secret that Novak, especially, has been a champion of their relationship evolving into romance, and over the seasons their relationship has been teased time and time again, with several moments seeming like potential culminations for them admitting feelings. One example is an exchange with Nandor mentioning the cameras not being around all the time, to which Guillermo gives him a Look. In any other show this would have been The Moment, that breathless and heartfelt confession from the yearning that’s been percolating for years. It never happened, though Nandor and Guillermo did end the series as actual friends, so that is a win for me, I suppose.

Where have all the good women subplots gone?

One of the other problems in the later seasons has been the focus on its female characters. Though I am glad we got more of Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) and Laszlo (Matt Berry) together this season, much of her screentime felt shunted to the side to focus on Lazslo. Additionally, the Guide (Kristen Schaal), who has become a reoccurring role, was hardly seen at all this season. Mostly, her screentime consisted of Nandor’s one-sided infatuation with her.

They did at least get satisfying endings, so there is that. But I love these women, and I’ve loved every arc we’ve gotten that’s focused on them. Time and time again Nadja has proven that she doesn’t seen Laszlo to fight her battles for her, but that is still what it felt like. They pushed Jerry off to The Guide and then we hardly saw anything more of them. You could argue that these are just small details, but when the season does not give you much to go off of, every detail counts.

Simply put, they played it safe with the finale

Of course, we know that the vampires never grow or change–that has been the running bit from the beginning, a wonderful callback this episode with Nandor calling a house meeting and saying nearly the same speech that he does in the pilot. That does not mean, however, that things cannot change in the series finale. I don’t think I’m the only one who would have loved to see some sort of growth. Like maybe they won’t continue the same cycle they’ve been doing since, apparently, the fifties.

There were also many plots left unresolved: For example, is Cravensworth’s Monster ever going to end up turning into the Big Bad they teased him to be? And what about The Baron’s plan to take over the world?

I will say, though, I absolutely loved that they did three separate “hypnotized” endings. It was just the out-of-the-box thing I expected from a show like Shadows, and to me it cemented its legacy as one of the best to do it.