What We Do in the Shadows: The Casino
September 18, 2021 10:20 AM - Season 3, Episode 4 - Subscribe
The vampires embark on a road trip from which they may never return.
AV Club: "A casino is a perfect place for a vampire. They don’t have windows or clocks, so you can never really tell what time it is. The place is full of people cross-eyed on cheap liquor, despair, or both—easy pickings for a snack between rounds on the Big Bang Theory slot machine. And it’s got to be exciting for a vampire to be in the bowels of an operation designed to suck the life out of the unsuspecting and gullible en masse."
After the Shadows with Shayne Fox, production designer
How ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Pulled off That Wild Casino Episode
AV Club: "A casino is a perfect place for a vampire. They don’t have windows or clocks, so you can never really tell what time it is. The place is full of people cross-eyed on cheap liquor, despair, or both—easy pickings for a snack between rounds on the Big Bang Theory slot machine. And it’s got to be exciting for a vampire to be in the bowels of an operation designed to suck the life out of the unsuspecting and gullible en masse."
After the Shadows with Shayne Fox, production designer
How ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Pulled off That Wild Casino Episode
Yeah, the end of the prize fight was a nice surprise. I really like how they add moments of violence to the show.
Okay, I sound like a monster.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 7:19 PM on September 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
Okay, I sound like a monster.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 7:19 PM on September 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
I, too, am completely incompetent after a single poor night's sleep. This show is so relatable.
I did not understand at first that Guillermo was being sent back to their ancestral lands - I thought he was going back to Staten Island to get more soil, because why would they have brought their whole soil supply to this hotel? - so I did guffaw at him in his middle seat to Heathrow. But yeah, the rest of his trip was fairly dull.
I liked that Laszlo's weakened powers manifested as turning into a sparrow instead of a bat.
posted by the primroses were over at 9:17 PM on September 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
I did not understand at first that Guillermo was being sent back to their ancestral lands - I thought he was going back to Staten Island to get more soil, because why would they have brought their whole soil supply to this hotel? - so I did guffaw at him in his middle seat to Heathrow. But yeah, the rest of his trip was fairly dull.
I liked that Laszlo's weakened powers manifested as turning into a sparrow instead of a bat.
posted by the primroses were over at 9:17 PM on September 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
The discworld reference just melted my heart.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:26 PM on September 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by miss-lapin at 10:26 PM on September 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
I yelped so loudly at the boxing match that one of my kids came running over in concern. Unexpected, grisly and just the right kind of complete mayhem for the show - the quiet devastation on the other boxer's face, the way the crowd reacts in hushed horror while the vampires are so pleased with themselves - there's such a fine line in the surreality of these monsters, and the show is very good at treading it. Also as has been pointed out elsewhere, just when Nandor is on the rooftop feeling utterly alone and unloved, Guillermo's plane comes into view. Guillermo's trip around the world must be a green screen special. The way he does it, so over focused on the vampires' orders/request and not for a moment thinking about himself is - it's very Guillermo.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:56 PM on September 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 10:56 PM on September 18, 2021 [3 favorites]
The discworld reference just melted my heart.
I first encountered the turtle on the back of four elephants in Small Gods, but, hahaha seriously, when I was a kid I mentioned it (summarized the book at tediously painful length and detail) to my Iranian father, he said it was a legend he'd heard as a kid. The only mention on the internet of this is as a Hindu legend -- and my dad always had very little interest in religion or mythology, so he wasn't more helpful beyond "oh yea I've heard of that turtle thing before" -- but if I were to recklessly speculate, there might be a Zoroastrian connection? I have absolutely no idea how widely known the world turtle story is among Persians these days (or during the time of Nandor the Relentless). It makes me wonder if this made it into the script purely as a Pratchett reference or if Kayvan Novak could've mentioned it as a funny potential contrast for the big bang model of the universe.
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:19 AM on September 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
I first encountered the turtle on the back of four elephants in Small Gods, but, hahaha seriously, when I was a kid I mentioned it (summarized the book at tediously painful length and detail) to my Iranian father, he said it was a legend he'd heard as a kid. The only mention on the internet of this is as a Hindu legend -- and my dad always had very little interest in religion or mythology, so he wasn't more helpful beyond "oh yea I've heard of that turtle thing before" -- but if I were to recklessly speculate, there might be a Zoroastrian connection? I have absolutely no idea how widely known the world turtle story is among Persians these days (or during the time of Nandor the Relentless). It makes me wonder if this made it into the script purely as a Pratchett reference or if Kayvan Novak could've mentioned it as a funny potential contrast for the big bang model of the universe.
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:19 AM on September 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
The World Turtle bearing elephants that hold up the world is a pretty wide-ranging mythos that has been mentioned in a couple different fiction series.
posted by FatherDagon at 8:39 AM on September 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 8:39 AM on September 20, 2021 [7 favorites]
The World Turtle has origins in multiple cultures, but in 21st Century "Western" pop culture, I'd say it's sort of a generic rejoinder to modern scientific origin stories for the universe, which tend to be both complex and counterintuitive. "It's turtles all the way down" is, by contrast, simple and superficially logical. Which fits in nicely with both Nandor's insane amount of self-assurance in his views on pretty much any subject, and Colin Robinson's desire to end any interaction he has with the other person being shook.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 9:27 AM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by lefty lucky cat at 9:27 AM on September 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
I enjoyed the Big Bang bits. Part of that was due to just how accurate Colin Robinson's wall notes were; I consider this an actual moment of character development for him, to discover he can just whip off a full scientific explanation of the big bang at a moment's notice. Plus the far left, illustrating what came before, cracked me up:
"nothing" --> ...
For some reason I can't explain, I find those quotation marks ticklishly funny. I guess part of what made each of the little details in the diagram funny is that they weren't just images, but were suggestive of whatever conversation they had been having at that moment, and I liked imagining that moment. I also liked Nandor's comment that the show was so true to the slot machine game; just because it's easy to dunk on the show doesn't mean we can't enjoy a nice one.
posted by chortly at 9:10 AM on September 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
"nothing" --> ...
For some reason I can't explain, I find those quotation marks ticklishly funny. I guess part of what made each of the little details in the diagram funny is that they weren't just images, but were suggestive of whatever conversation they had been having at that moment, and I liked imagining that moment. I also liked Nandor's comment that the show was so true to the slot machine game; just because it's easy to dunk on the show doesn't mean we can't enjoy a nice one.
posted by chortly at 9:10 AM on September 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
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posted by grandiloquiet at 4:02 PM on September 18, 2021 [1 favorite]