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Recap / What We Do In The Shadows S2 E7 "The Return"

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While walking home from the movies, Laszlo and Nadja find Simon the Devious living in the sewers of Staten Island. Meanwhile, Colin has taken to becoming an internet troll to get his feedings.


Trope:

  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The sewers below Staten Island are big enough for the vampires to walk through while in human form.
  • Accidental Murder: Guillermo once again stakes a vampire in self-defense (in this case, Carol with a broken broom handle).
  • Arrow Catch: Simon snags Laszlo's arrow with his hand... and through the palm.
  • Call-Back:
    • The whole episode calls back to "Manhattan Night Club". Since the cursed hat set fire to Simon's club, he now lives in the sewer, badly scarred from the burns and living among what remains of his vampire posse and some new monster friends.
    • In "Manhattan Night Club", Simon says that he is relieved that Nadja and Laszlo haven't "settled" (something that the two of them are clearly guilty of). Here, he says that the fact that they "settled" is something he is envious of, seeing that in their lack of ambition, they have a genuine connection to each other instead.
  • Cursed Item: The witch's hat coveted by Laszlo and Simon.
  • Detect Evil: Carol can sense that Guillermo has killed vampires before.
  • Dirty Coward: Laszlo shoves Nadja in front of him while they're exploring the sewers, and unconvincingly argues that this is so he can "keep her safe".
  • The Dog Bites Back: As Simon sinks, none of his crew help him, as he just called their company unfulfilling.
  • Elvis Lives: It is revealed that Laszlo turned Elvis in the '70's and he now uses the basement as a recording studio.
  • Evil Is Petty: Simon feigns destitution and loneliness just so he can steal the witch's hat from Laszlo.
  • Fantastic Racism: The troll reveals that he considers the slang term "trolling" for being a Jerkass online to be a racial slur against his people, and insists that him being a troll in both senses of the term is merely a coincidence.
  • Gilligan Cut: When being invited down the sewers, Laszlo says "I don't think so, old boy." Cut to he and Nanja being in the sewer.
    Laszlo: We're being in a sewer.
  • How the Mighty Have Fallen: Simon has gone from being a Vampire Monarch owning the hottest undead nightclub in Manhattan with a "crew" of dozens of followers, to a pathetic hermit living in the sewers with just Count Rapula and Carol for company. Subverted, when it turns out this was a ruse to steal Laszlo's hat back, and he does in fact still have a huge crew of Leatherskins; then double-subverted when his actions cause them to abandon him for real.
  • Looks Like Orlok: Carol resembles a cross between Shuna Sassi and the prototype mask for The Green Goblin.
  • Not Quite Dead: The Stinger of "Manhattan Night Club" implied that the small bag of ashes where Laszlo found the hat was all that remained of Simon. It turns out that wasn't quite true, and Simon was able to drag his burned and broken body into a storm drain before the first responders got to him.
  • Not So Above It All: Colin's classic Internet-troll smugness about how he doesn't mean any of the things he says or care about any of the arguments that ensue, and is only in it to steal people's energy, starts to fade as his fellow troll's digs begin to actually get to him.
    Colin: If my dick were a pencil, why would I be typing this on a keyboard?!
  • N-Word Privileges: The troll ends up having trouble explaining why exactly he finds the use of the term "Internet trolling" to be offensive without using the term himself, and then gets in a snit, arguing that he's allowed to say it because he is a troll in both senses of the term. It turns out, of course, that this whole semantic meta-argument was a classic energy-vampire ploy by Colin to drain his energy before he can attack.
  • Pixellation: The troll is naked, and has genitals covered with a mosaic effect. Subverted when he turns to stone, as the censor disappears afterwards.
  • Remember the New Guy?: It's suddenly revealed in this episode that Laszlo is friends with Elvis, whom he sired back in the 70s, and the camera crew has just never happened to catch him coming by.
  • Shapeshifting Failure: Simon falls victim to a bizarre one of these, a form of Tele-Frag where turning from a bat to his human form caused his foot to merge with a metal grate, trapping him in place while the grate slowly sinks into the sewage. The shock that everyone displays shows that this doesn't typically happen when shapeshifting, and is probably just another wacky example of the hat's curse.
  • Shout-Out: Laszlo bouncing back and forth between cars repeatedly hitting him in the street is a shout-out to a notorious scene from Meet Joe Black. The Special Effects Failure here just adds to the Narm Charm.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: Nandor tries to clear Guillermo of suspicion for the slaying of Carol with this. Guillermo notes its counter-productivity.
  • Taking You with Me: The troll uses the last of its strength to grab Colin's arms while they are raised in victory.
  • Talking the Monster to Death: Colin subdues the troll by droning and draining him until sunrise, when the troll turns to stone. However, the troll still gets the last laugh as he manages to grab hold of Colin just before fully petrifying, thus trapping Colin as well.
  • Tom the Dark Lord: Carol's name is really the only human thing about her.
  • Troll: Colin's subplot involves him becoming — and interacting with — an internet troll, the latter of which happens to be a real troll.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: As soon as we find out that Elvis Presley has been part of the Staten Island vamps' circle of friends this whole time, he immediately defects to join Simon's crew and leaves never to return.

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