What We Do In The Shadows: Season 3 TV Review

The third season of the US version of What We Do In The Shadows is finally here to resolve the bloody mess that Harvey Gillen's Guillermo created at the end of the last season.

Having embraced his heritage as a vampire killer, and slaughtered a multitude of vampires, Guillermo's put his master Nandor and fellow vampire housemates Laszlo, Nadja and Colin Robinson (Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demeotriou and Colin Proksch respectively) in a bit of a quandary.

Realising they must kill him to stick to the code of their race, the vampires are resigned to his fate, when Kirsten Schaal's The Guide makes a return. Forced to embrace a new position as heads of the Vampire Council (after they'd killed the incumbents), season 3 finds the clueless clutch of bloodsuckers facing the complexities of bureaucracy, forbidden loves and Colin's desire to find out more of his past ahead of his turning 100.

In other words, it's nonsensical business as usual for the Taika Waititi Jemaine Clement spinoff.

There's a little feeling of deja vu in the first four episodes of the new series, which were made available for review - and a bit of a feeling that the mockumentary's not quite hitting the heights of prior seasons.

The writing's turned Nadja into a power-crazed shrieking woman, made Laszlo indifferent to goings on and Nandor into more of a clown than he was before. Even some of the jokes with Colin feel a little flat this time around, and there's definitely been an increase in the more scatological edges from the get go.

Sure, there are elements of the powerless and clueless being promoted ahead of their skillset, as many workplace comedies go, but there is a feeling the freshness hasn't quite been injected into the veins of the latest season, with laugh-out-loud moments scattered too thinly on the ground.

There are deadpan moments, and a sense of the absurd puncturing proceedings which is welcome - and it is head and shoulders above other similar shows of their ilk, but maybe it's a case that the season hasn't quite hits its own high standards.

In truth, season 3 of What We Do In The Shadows doesn't suck - but it could bite its targets a bit harder and hit a more consistent rate as we've come to expect.

What We Do In The Shadows: Season 3 starts streaming on Neon on September 3 and SoHo from September.