Line #50 Recap/WhatWeDoInTheShadowsS1E7TheTrial


1	'''Season 1, Episode 7'''
2
3	!The Trial
4
5	The main trio must stand trial before an international tribunal of vampires for what they did in the previous episode.
6
7	!!Tropes That Appear In This Episode:
8
9	* ActorAllusion: Aside from the Vampiric Council themselves all being cast for this reason, Garrett (Creator/DaveBautista)'s description of how he plans to take vengeance against the real vampire whose crimes he's taken the fall for sound very reminiscent of [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Drax the Destroyer]].
10	-->'''Garrett:''' If I ever find out who did it, I will take a dagger... and stab them ''5,000 times'', with this hand, then switch hands, and stab them ''another 5,000 times''!
11	* ActuallyIAmHim: Garrett animatedly discusses the ways he would harm the vampire who framed him for baby-siring. He does this in front of Laszlo, the guilty party.
12	-->'''Garrett:''' I can fill up this book with the ways I would torture that vampire.\
13	'''Laszlo:''' Wouldn't want to be him...
14	* AffablyEvil: While the Tribunal are all vampires who are willing to execute Laszlo, Nadja, and Nandor for the Baron's death (even though none of them are all that beat up over the Baron being gone), they all come across as being camp in varying degrees.
15	* BaitAndSwitch: We see the well, hear screams, and see three charred skeletons... then Laszlo, Nandor, and Nadja are standing in the darkened part of the well, noting "That's just macabre."
16	* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Laszlo confesses to having been Jack the Ripper.
17	* BrickJoke: Laszlo mentions that he turned a baby into a vampire, which nearly landed him in hot water with the Vampiric Council. Near the end, when the council condemns the three vampires to death by sunlight for killing the Baron, a vampire baby is one of the council members calling for their death.
18	* CallBack:
19	** Deacon gets to do his erotic dance before the trial— and nobody interrupts him this time!
20	** The "familiar lounge" of the Vampiric Council themselves is a major upgrade from the one in "Manhattan Night Club"... in that it's a similar dingy bare basement room, but at least this one has a small water cooler, a cheap plate of vegetables and cheese cubes, and some folding chairs (which are all already occupied when Guillermo arrives).
21	** The basement corridor follows fire code, unlike the house in the original movie.
22	* TheCameo:
23	** Creator/KristenSchaal as the tribunal's messenger.
24	** Creator/DaveBautista as Garrett.
25	* CameoCluster: Nearly every member of the tribunal is a big-name actor who's played a vampire (or a half one). The members include Viago, Deacon, and Vladislav (Creator/TaikaWaititi, [[Music/FlightoftheConchords Jemaine Clement]] and Jonny Brugh from the original ''Film/WhatWeDoInTheShadows''), Tilda (Creator/TildaSwinton, who was in ''Film/OnlyLoversLeftAlive''), Evan, Princess of the Undead (Creator/EvanRachelWood, who was in ''Series/TrueBlood''), Danny (Creator/DannyTrejo, who was in ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn''), Paul (Creator/PaulReubens, who was in ''Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''), and Wesley the Daywalker (Creator/WesleySnipes, who was in ''Film/{{Blade}}''). Other members who are mentioned but not seen include "Creator/{{Brad\|Pitt}}" and "Creator/{{Tom\|Cruise}}" (''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire''), "Creator/{{Kiefer\|Sutherland}}" (''Film/TheLostBoys''), and "Creator/{{Robert\|Pattinson}}" (''Film/{{Twilight}}'').
26	* CassandraTruth: Guillermo explains to the Vampiric Council how he killed the Baron. Nobody on the Council believes him (presumably barring Colin Robinson, who saw the whole thing), because they won't believe that somebody as meek and unintimidating as Guillermo could do such a thing.
27	* {{Crossover}}: With the [[Film/WhatWeDoInTheShadows original film]].
28	* CouncilOfVampires: The International Tribunal of Vampires.
29	* DistinctionWithoutADifference: Lazlo insists that they did not "discuss" murdering the Baron, they ''"floated"'' the idea of murdering him. Vladislav points out that "floating around" the idea of killing someone and "plotting" their death are "very similar" concepts.
30	* EndlessCorridor: Nadja asks the messenger if they're walking through one of these, only to be corrected that it's "just a freaky long hallway".
31	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Siring a baby is considered a serious crime among vampires, Laszlo getting away with it (only doing it because he was bored) because a different vampire took the blame instead.
32	* ExtraStrengthMasquerade: The tribunal's messenger adds a sign to the floor plan of a civic building in New York saying "Basement: Vampire Tribunal" and no one bats an eye.
33	* ForTheEvulz: The reason Laszlo turned the baby.
34	* TheFriendNobodyLikes:
35	** Wesley (who has to call in via Skype) is hated by every other member of the tribunal for being a VampireHunter and a {{Dhampir}}.
36	** The Tribunal has no lost love for the Baron, [[EvenEvilHasStandards everyone commenting that he was a psychotic weirdo even by their standards]] and only going through with the trial and execution because it's the law.
37	* GoneHorriblyRight: Guillermo is cornered by a vampire trying to feed on him, and pulls a crucifix. The vampire recoils in horror, accidentally staking himself. Guillermo panics at accidentally killing a second vampire in 24 hours.
38	* HeroicBSOD: Guillermo is traumatized over having killed the Baron, to the point where he has a guilt-induced anxiety attack when he harms another vampire in self-defense.
39	* HollywoodTorches: The vampire tribunal is lit by spooky flickering torches. They're LED's. [[MundaneUtility The fire-marshal would have had a field day otherwise.]]
40	* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: Wesley apparently lets it go when the other Council members insult him for being a bastard half-vampire and being a traitor to his own kind, but gets very heated when they start criticizing him for having crappy wi-fi making his Skype stream [[ICantHearYou constantly glitch]], insisting that it's not his wi-fi (he seems to be in a hotel room) and "I got the best wi-fi!" (To be fair, he probably didn't even hear the other insults, because of, you know, the bad wi-fi.)
41	* JustTheFirstCitizen: Tilda has no special title compared to any other Council member, but Viago informs us that she's "pretty much our leader, makes all the big decisions".
42	* LargeHam:
43	** The Tribunal's messenger.
44	--->'''Messenger:''' We sent ravens. We sent '''''FIVE-HUNDRED RAVENS!!!'''''
45	** Paul likes ChewingTheScenery whenever the camera is on him.
46	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When the Vampiric Council discusses who couldn't make it, it's mentioned that [[Creator/BradPitt Brad]] and [[Creator/TomCruise Tom]] weren't interested, [[Creator/KieferSutherland Kiefer]] wanted to come but scheduling commitments got in the way, and [[Creator/RobertPattinson Robert]] wanted to put this business all behind him. Behind the scenes, all four actors were asked by the showrunners if they wanted to guest star and said no for the aforementioned reasons. Danny then comments that they aren't as committed as the present members are to Vampiric Council business, which can easily be read as ribbing on how the actors cameoing are committing to the joke of being actors who are vampires that have played vampires on-screen.
47	* MundaneMadeAwesome: Emphasis on the "mundane" part: Colin Robinson uses a patio umbrella to save Nandor, Nadja, and Laszlo— and feeds on them by discussing the means by which he got it.
48	* NoOshaCompliance: Subverted. Guillermo believes that a torch could warm him up, but the messenger explains that the council had to use LED lights for their hallways because otherwise fire marshals would've litigated them for having so many torches in the basement.
49	* OffScreenTeleportation: How the tribunal messenger moves in the building. Nadja keeps commenting on how impressive it looks.
50	* PetTheDog: Nandor defends Guillermo in front of the Council.
51	* PunchClockVillain: No one on the Vampiric Council is bothered by the Baron's death (aside from Deacon, perhaps), but they are legally bound to exact punishment for it anyway.
52	* RuleOfCool: The vampire tribunal has flickering LED torches, a crazy long corridor leading to it, and a spooky choreographed dance number to open it. The tribunal messenger points out that this is all more or less just because it looks cool.
53	* TheScapegoat: Everyone assumes that Guillermo is just a loyal familiar who's taking the blame for his master's actions with his ridiculously unlikely story of how he killed the Baron by accident (which is, of course, a CassandraTruth), but ended up perfectly willing to accept it anyway, since killing and draining a familiar is no big deal and they were all already hungry for lunch. Nandor surprises everyone by intervening and making ''himself'' TheScapegoat to save Guillermo, dooming himself and his roommates to the grisly execution that the Council was hoping to avoid.
54	* TheSilentBob: The gang is thrown when the Baron's familiar reveals that she can not only talk, but in perfect English, to make them look worse.
55	* SpannerInTheWorks: Throwing the vampires in the well would have killed them... had [[DayWalker Colin Robinson]] not come by with a huge umbrella.
56	* ThereWasADoor: Nandor is annoyed that the council sent [[RuleOfCool 500 ravens]] when they have a phone and could have just called.
57	* TokenGoodTeammate:
58	** Colin Robinson is temporarily made a member of the Council's tribunal, since their law apparently stipulates that the tribunal must have a representative from the local vampire community. He makes it pretty clear that he's helpless to influence their vote for execution, although he does end up coming through and rescuing our protagonists by showing up in daylight with an umbrella.
59	** Wesley the Daywalker is also vaguely hinted to be one of these, since -- in an obvious reference to ''Film/{{Blade}}'' -- he's said to be a "half-vampire" and a "vampire hunter", and one who [[LockedOutOfTheLoop barely seems to even know what's going on]] in the trial.
60	* TooDumbToLive: The three Household vampires are on trial for a capitol crime they know they (probably) didn't commit. They are constantly followed around by a film crew. They don't think to ask to see the footage of the crime that would instantly exonerate them. Colin Robinson even points out that some of the crew are trapped with the vampire council.
61	* TrueCompanions: Colin Robinson and the nightwalkers may have a [[VitriolicBestBuds vitriolic]] relationship with each other, but when the latter are in mortal danger, the former comes in and saves them.
62	* VoiceOfTheLegion: Appears to be one of Evan's special powers.
63	* WhatDidIDoLastNight: The vampires consumed so much alcohol- and drug-tainted blood on their night out that they genuinely don't remember whether they really killed the Baron or not.
64	* WhatTheHellHero: Nadja still chastises Laszlo for turning a baby 90 years ago.

Context Recap / WhatWeDoInTheShadowsS1E7TheTrial