Review: What We Do in the Shadows, “Headhunting” | Season 6, Episode 2
It’s another day at the office for a bunch of bloodsuckers… and also for our vampires.
For the second Shadows episode in a row, the documentary crew following our vampire friends becomes a part of the plot. I like it when this happens, because for me the best-written TV shows see narrative problems as creative opportunities. Or to put it plainer: the best-written TV shows see narrative problems.
Far too many sitcoms with a mockumentary format leave the camera crews out of the story entirely, because to remind the audience of their existence would raise too many questions. But I often think about an interview I did once with Vince Gilligan about Breaking Bad, where he described a writers’ room process that involved putting characters into inescapable situations and then brainstorming ways to get them out. Imagining complications and then concocting solutions is what makes a TV series feel alive.
In the case of “Headhunters,” the What We Do in the Shadows writers give themselves two problems to solve. First off, when Guillermo gets a job in the mailroom of Cannon Capital Strategies (after a Panera sandwich delivery gone awry), the film crew won’t let him spend a lot of time every day away from their cameras. So the producers lie to the main CCS honcho, Jordan (Tim Heidecker), and say they’re making a documentary about the firm’s innovations in global finance.