2x01 Resurrection

[8.0/10] Great beginning to the new season. For starters, this one had two of my biggest laughs in the whole show. The first was the gag about Colin Robinson blocking the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. The second was Nandor deciding that they must be at the necromancer’s place because there were a bunch of pale people scurrying about, only for Guillermo to retort that they were actually just at a performing arts college. (And Colin Robinson’s kicker that he was going to go feed on people seeing a play there followed by a Q&A was the icing on the cake.)

But even apart from those toppers, this was a great episode. I appreciate the continued exploration of the plight of Guillermo. The conundrum that he’s been staying up all night to protect his benefactors from the attackers sent by the Vampiric Council, but can’t tell them that or they’ll know he’s a vampire killer, is a great concept. It nicely extends the Van Helsing bloodline bit that the first season started.

I also got a big kick out of the inclusion of Topher (Haley Joel Osment!) here. The way he’s a standard hustle bro, taking credit for Guillermo’s work, trying to run an apple cider business behind Nadja and Lazlo’s back, and somehow getting preferential treatment from the vamps is a great bit. It provides more legitimate reason for Guillermo to be upset and feel underappreciated, and between Topher’s bro-y shtick and Guillermo’s increasingly aggressive passive-aggressiveness, it’s a great match.

I’ll admit, I didn’t love the necromancer bit at first. While the running gag of all Lazlo and Nadja’s familiar’s dying is a solid one, the notion of an upselling raiser of the dead was funnier in principle than in execution, even with Benedict Wong in tow. Still, once he started scatting over Topher’s corpse, and the reveal that the whole thing is a scam to get free, undead, license plate-making slaves was a great payoff to the whole thing.

The hijinks with Guillermo and Nandor versus Zombie Topher had impressive effects, but not the most laughs. Still, I like that in the end, Guillermo is gratified by Nandor saving him and convinced that his master really does care about him and want to protect him, with chekov’s mini-fridge full of stakes suggesting that this delicate balance won’t last forever, and that Guillermo’s closer to unleashing his frustrations (despite his masters’ obliviousness and rudeness) than ever.

Overall, this was a superb kick off to season 2, with two huge laughs and a lot of great setup for the season to come.