4x09 Freddie

[7.9/10] It’s hard to put my finger on why, but the messed up relationship between Guillermo and Nandor is one of the best on television. What I appreciate about it is that there’s genuine affection on both sides. Guillermo is legitimately committed to Nandor and worries about his well-being. And while Nandor’s not good at showing it and stunted in his self-centered social skills, he genuinely likes Guillermo, as evidenced by Marwa showing such affection to him at the wedding.

But there’s also resentment and expectation there, one founded on a not great power dynamic and years of broken promises that means there’s genuine issues. I don’t know if “Freddie” is the peak of that, but it’s certainly one of the oddest illustrations of that dynamic between them, and also one of the most tragic.

You really feel for Guillermo. He’s so adorably excited about Freddie, his boyfriend from England, coming to visit. To see Nandor screw it up for him, by making this all about him in the way you’d almost expect, is downright tragic.

It’s also profoundly messed up. There’s something so strangely, Vertigo-esque about Nandor liking Freddie so much that he uses one of his wedding gift wishes to turn his wife, Marwa, into an exact replica of Freddie. It’s so creepy for reasons I can’t quite articulate. It feels invasive, violative, and also amusingly absurd given how it results in both couples wandering around doing NYC tourist stuff. In a strange way, the fact that they’re both enchanted by the same man points toward a certain romantic chemistry between Guillermo and Nandor, and I wonder if the show will ever explicitly acknowledge it, or just keep sidling up to it in subtext like this. And not for nothing, the fact that the two Freddies end up together at the end of the day is out and out bizarre.

The impact on Guillermo isn’t, though. His speech to Nandor about how important it was to have one thing that was his, to be so nervous about his first long term relationship and to have myopic Nandor mess that up in such a strange way is heartbreaking. Harvey Guillen does such a masterful job at delivering that sentiment, in his speech to Nandor, in his testimonial about what happened on the stoop, and in his facial expressions upon seeing his Freddie cheating with Nandor’s Freddie. As is so often the case on What We Do in the Shadows, the ridiculousness of the situation is only matched by the genuine emotions that rest beneath it.

Hell, there’s a weird way in which Nandor is mildly sympathetic here. What he does is terrible and frankly kind of gross. But he’s also just a dope who doesn’t really understand. You get the sense that maybe he’s jealous but doesn’t know how to express that, either because he hasn’t wrapped his head around his feelings about Guillermo or just because he covets someone else in a happy relationship. His misaimed efforts to make amends are naively sweet in their way. He’s just a big dummy who can’t fully comprehend what he did wrong, but in a weird way, means well. The fact that he sends his Freddie away represents that idea, and also provides a convenient and humane way to write Marwa off the show, which I was wondering how they would pull off.

Otherwise, in the pure comedy department, Lazlo taking Colin Jr. on the road was a hoot. For one thing, Matt Berry just spouting off vampire pun band names is an absolute delight. The puns are great and the delivery is fantastic. At the same time, Colin Jr. instantly turning into a teenager, giving up showtunes in favor of Papa Roach and Evanescence, declaring that he hates Lazlo, and seeming bored and disinterested in everything is a little on the nose, but still very funny.

The only part of this one I didn’t jive with was the Nadja story. I did get a kick out of the “celebrity special”, and Jim Jaramusch, of all people, almost stole the show with his low-key line-reads and obliviousness to his friends getting eaten. But Nadja hitting the sauce too hard and turning into a mess/yelling at child performers wasn’t fun or funny. That said, I guess Colin Jr. growing up provides them a good out for the nightclub, so on a practical plot level, I can appreciate that.

Overall, the insane but affecting Nandor/Guillermo story carries this one, with the Lazlo/Colin Jr. subplot bringing the laughs, and the Nadja subplot dragging the proceedings down a bit.