Colin receives a promotion at work and grows more powerful with every passing moment. Meanwhile, Nadja discovers a painting depicting Nandor raiding her hometown.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Colin cracks a joke at the projector going on the fritz, the others in the meeting actually laugh. Given the strong reaction it gives him, it is likely that they only laughed because he was the boss and didn't actually find it funny.
- A Day in the Limelight: A rare one for The Friend Nobody Likes Colin Robinson.
- Artistic Licence – History: Invoked in-universe. The painting of Nadja's hometown is revised to have Laszlo as a savior and Nandor in one of the burning buildings.
- Backhanded Apology: Nandor takes pride in his time as army-leader, so he isn't exactly willing to apologize for it to Nadja.Nandor: Okay, I'm sorry for doing my job...
Nadja: Oh, coward! - Bad Boss: Colin Robinson deliberately makes his employee's jobs harder just to feed on them. It proves to be so potent for him that he goes Drunk with Power.
- Been There, Shaped History: One of Nadja's keepsakes is a piece of Pablo Picasso's Guernica that had her as a model.
- Bunny Ears Picture Prank: Laszlo can be seen doing this in a painting. He calls it "painting bombing" and tells the viewer how he had to sit like that for seven hours in order for the painting to get made.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Nandor doesn't remember raiding Nadja's home, both because it was just another nameless village in his conquest and because he was drunk at the time.Nandor: Nadja's very angry at me for destroying her village. But it's like, calm down Nadja. We did those things 200 years before you were born. I barely remember what happened, it was so long ago.
- Connected All Along: It's revealed in this episode that Nandor in his human life pillaged and desecrated Nadja's village centuries before her birth, setting up her awful childhood that shaped her outlook on life.
- Death Montage: As Colin effortlessly feeds on all his coworkers while "Requiem" plays.
- The Dilbert Principle: Colin has never actually done anything at work but piss off and annoy his coworkers in order to drain their energy and impair their ability to work (he lampshades that he doesn't even know what the company is supposed to do). Which gets him rewarded with a management position, where he can do this far more effectively, and eventually leads to him destroying the company completely (like a too-successful parasite killing its host).
- Doomed Hometown: Nadja's village, raided by Nandor who spared only the deformed.
- Drunk with Power: Colin starts overfeeding on his coworkers and roommates after the promotion.
- Faking the Dead: The surviving Colin clone plays possum long enough to hear his eulogy.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: This episode is the result of Colin's growing dissatisfaction with being this for the other vampire housemates. Lampshaded as the vampires begin arguing over who invited him to live with them in the first place before Laszlo remembers that he "came with the house".
- Hidden Depths: Colin expresses ennui over how, whenever he is in Sincerity Mode, he does not know how to express it in a way that doesn't come across as him trying to feed off of people.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Colin's clones begin to feed on themselves and kill each other (well, two of them, one was just faking).
- Implausible Deniability: Nandor repeatedly denies any involvement with the devastation of Nadja's village, as depicted in a painting she discovered. And then it turns out there's a pretty obvious detail that shows it was him:Nadja: (lifts up the painting) THEN WHAT THE FUCK IS PERSIAN FRANK ZAPPA DOIN' ON A HORSE?!(cut to a close-up on the painting, showing Nandor on the horse)
- Kicked Upstairs: Much to Colin's chagrin, he gets a promotion in spite of how all he ever does is irritate his coworkers. He even admits that he has no idea what the company actually does.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When Nadja is accusing Nandor of being the one to raid her village (after discovering a painting depicting the event), Laszlo tries to play Devil's Advocate and state that they don't know that for sure... which promptly ends when she points out that Nandor is in the painting.Laszlo: (deadpan) Yeah. That's him.
- Leitmotif: As Colin goes Drunk with Power, Mozart's Requiem starts following him wherever he goes.
- Life Drain: Eventually, Colin's Vampiric Draining becomes so potent that he can literally knock people unconscious (even kill a potted plant instantly) with a gesture. Prolonged exposure to it causes the other vampires to rapidly age.
- Little "No": It's about all Guillermo can manage when Colin's clones prevent him from escaping the house and his presumed death by draining.
- Me's a Crowd: Colin gains the power of self-duplication.
- My Brain Is Big: Colin has an enlarged cranium while shaving after his promotion.
- Obliquely Obfuscated Occupation: It turns out Colin doesn't actually know what business his company is in and never has— his species apparently just gravitates to a Standard Office Setting and embeds themselves in it without ever having formally been hired.
- Out-of-Character Alert: It does not go unnoticed when Colin is uninterested in boring his roommates half to death about his workday.
- Pet the Dog: At the climax, Nandor and Laszlo urge Guillermo to make a break for it since unlike them, he still has enough vitality left from Colin's draining to stand a chance.
- Power Floats: With his newfound strength, Colin can now swim while floating.
- The Power of Hate: While Colin normally feeds on boredom and frustration, he learns that genuine hatred - whether it is the repressed hatred that comes with being a person's boss, or the anger in his roommates fighting - is much more potent. It is even implied that Nadja and Nandor's heated argument is being fueled by Colin's presence.
- Promotion, Not Punishment: Colin is interrupted from a typical morning, of irritating all his coworkers and disrupting their ability to function, to be called into his manager's office— and told that this behavior has gotten him a promotion, instead of the firing that he was expecting.
- Rapid Aging: Colin's feeding is so strong, it physically ages his roommates.
- Rapid Hair Growth: Colin's hair grows back as he builds strength.
- Refuge in Audacity:
- All Colin ever does is annoy his peers at work — not even knowing what his company even does — and somehow he gets a promotion.
- Colin said that he didn't actually sign up for his new job at the end of the episode. He just showed up, picked a cubicle, and will most likely not be found out.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Colin's mass feeding at his old workplace actually proved to be a heavy financial burden to the company because everyone was too drained to do their jobs. By the end of the episode, Colin has found a new desk job similar to the old one.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: As a show of power, Colin multiplies himself into three, who then have an argument that lasts an hour before they all drain each other to death. Subverted when it is revealed to be a gambit to get his roommates to like him, though it did actually kill his two clones.
